Why India considers Sri Lanka a friendly nation, wonders Karunanidhi- The Hindu Special Correspondent
Posted on March 13th, 2013
Continuing his opposition to IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Sri Lanka policy, DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday said he could not understand why the country still considered Sri Lanka a friendly nation even though it had ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-humiliatedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ all Indian leaders, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-It pains us and we are unable to understand why India is keen on protecting Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s interest though the country always ignored IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s advice,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ he said. He referred to Sri Lankan Ambassador Ravinatha AryasinhaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s announcement that his country would not negotiate with the US on the text of the US resolution before the UN in Geneva.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had urged Sri Lanka to hold talks with the US about the draft resolution.
But Sri Lanka rejected his suggestion. I donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t know what the basis is for IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s faith that Sri Lanka will listen to it. Whether it was Bandaranaike-Chelvanayam agreement or the Senanayake-Chelvanaygam agreement or the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene accord, Sri Lanka government never bothered to implement any of them,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ he said.
March 13th, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Why SL considers India a friendly nation wonders the ENTIRE SL.
March 13th, 2013 at 3:48 pm
friendly nations do not breed terrorist to kill the firends.
freindly nations do not rape their own mothers and sisters and become rape country of the world.
friendly nations do not set fire to human bodies in protests but value human life.
friendly nations do not lick the bum of americans.
freindly ntions do not produce SEMENS and VAIKOs and LOLLYTHAs.
if lankan like idian leaders they don’t hit them on the heads (well done Rohana Wijemunige )
March 13th, 2013 at 9:46 pm
“External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had urged Sri Lanka to hold talks with the US about the draft resolution.”
– mind boggling!
March 14th, 2013 at 1:35 am
I think USA has told MR to move AWAY from China and go to Japan.
MR is in Japan. According to some SL is going to sign a DEFENCE PACT with Japan. That will CERTAINLY anger China.
March 14th, 2013 at 3:39 am
“DMK president M. Karunanidhi …… “humiliated” all Indian leaders, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi”
Karunanidhi started to bray again. Any donkey in this world knows who murdered Rajiv Gandhi except karunanidhi. What a cunning dumb Ass. Hope he is suffering from Alzheimer stage 7.
Indian ex Prime minister was killed in 1991, by tamil terrorists in karunanidhi’s tamil country on karunandhi’s best friend LTTE leader, tamil terrorist Velupillai Prabakaran’s orders with the consent of karunanidhi, to fulfil C.I.A agenda.
Sri Nehru’s grandson, Indira Gandhi’s son Rajiv Gandhi, ex Indian prime minister of India, murdered in India is the biggest humiliation to India.
March 14th, 2013 at 3:40 am
Lorenzo your first one is damn correct. Majority in Sri Lanka thinks that INDIA is not our friend. They started the darkest era in Sri Lankan history and our people suffered a lot. India should take the responsibility for all the suffereings we had for thirty long years.
We will never believe in them or trust them. They should leave us alone and mind their own business. Do not worry Lorenzo our President have a vision not like the Opposition of ours,He knows who is the friend and who is our enemy. He is a Richmondite mind you like me a sportsman,visionary,leader, good father and a teacher to all citizens of our country. Listen to his words and see the difference between him and that Ranil the goat. One time he is a christian,one time he is a buddhist and another time a Muslim but actually he does not belongs to any religion. He is just a she man.
March 14th, 2013 at 5:13 am
Ranjit,
MR has BEATEN RW in light years. NO argument.
The yardstick is NOT RW.
But we expect MORE from his government. They must deliver what SL wants.
I agree there are things we DON’T know and we NEED NOT know. Hope he will defeat TEs again and save SL from TEs, WESTERN COLONIAL PARASITES and other threats.
March 14th, 2013 at 5:21 am
India would be a sincere friend if not for Tamil Nadu and TN’s Separatist issues (earlier / ongoing ?) and Tamil Caste/poverty issues. India will have to make sure that TN stays in the Indian Union, and Tamil leaders capitalise on that fact.
The fact that Sri Lanka, at present at least, depends on Tamil labor in the tea plantations is going to be Lanka’s next problem to address. Tamils came in massive numbers to work as Indentured Labor from Tamil Nadu during the British Colonial era to escape the Caste/poverty issues there, hoping for a better life in Sri Lanka. Britain held both India & Lanka as Colonies during that time. India had no say in the matter of Tamil Indentured Labor at that time. Tamil Indentured Labor for tea (Upcountry) & tobacco (North) created the greatest problem of Separatism for Sri Lanka. They provid eth numbers for Tamil leaders in Lanka. See the negative ramifications of Colonisation unfolding before our eyes now …… !
Sri Lanka will have to stop depending on Tamil Labor for the plantations sector. Modernise & Mechanise to allow in other ethnic groups as Labor. There is no other way out of the mess. TN has some 10-15 Million low caste/Dalit origin Tamils waiting to leave Tamil Nadu. Do not invite them to Sri Lanka – they are too troubled and Sri Lanka too small to handle their problems. Tamil Labor in Lanka has to be treated with kindness and compassion. At the same time, none dependency on Tamil Labor will disengage Sri Lanka from Tamil Nadu and will bring in better relations with India.
March 14th, 2013 at 7:14 am
Fran Diaz
they are too troubled and Sri Lanka too small to handle their problems- your vision is correct but SL have not got any other alternative – aggred this new TN labour will cause problm to SL in another 50 or 100 years later !
Fran Diaz we have to live in realistic world , as We both know in our living experiance , example why English man brought TN labar to SL tea plant because SL ( Sinhalese ) was not prepared to work their in bad condition & low wages!
same & similar thing is happing now !
We can not have both mustag & good soup ( meesai & kul ) in same time !
March 14th, 2013 at 8:39 am
Kumar,
I disagree with you in some points. We do have alternative ways to handle problems.
We have to disengage ourselves from Tamil Nadu (not so much India – Delhi). We cannot handle Tamil Nadu Caste/poverty
problems as these problems encompass some 10-15 Million Tamils and it is tied to the Hindu religion. Too much, too big for us to handle such problems. When we engage with TN Caste problems, we are dragging the west plus India to go against us at various international bodies on HR issues, and subjugate Lanka to the will of others, making it inimical for even and balanced growth, as the ‘divide & rule’ starts to operate via paid hirelings within the country.
No NEW Tamil labor for Sri Lanka should be taken in at all. I am saying never to get any NEW Tamil labor. It is the cause of all the problems. I say this as much as I feel sorry for caste bound Tamil people.
The British could not make the Sinhela people work in their tea plantations because the Sinhela people saw the British as INVADERS of their country. You know about the Uva/Wellassa massacre of Sinhela villagers, the incarceration of wealthy Sinhela heads of families (including Anagarika Dharmapala, after the Sinhala/Muslim riots of 1915, by the British ? The bad conditions and low wages were only side issues. That is why the British imported poor low caste Tamil people who fled Tamil Nadu to escape Caste binds. It was said that merely crossing sea water was enough to lose Caste. Caste was restored on any Tamil people returning to Tamil Nadu. How cruel.
As conditions for work in tea plantations change, with Modernisation & Mechanisation, all ethnicities will want to work in tea plantations. Have you seen the new machines available at reasonable prices for picking tea ? Even I in my old age can operate one of those for, I assume, 2 hrs a day ….. ! A monthly wage, new accommodation outside the plantations, schools etc. are incentives that can attract others to work in tea plantations. It is not such a difficult task to achieve. All this should be done to disengage from Tamil Nadu and Tamil Separatism in Lanka. No other reasons.
Tamil Nadu has to embrace the Four Great Yogas in Hinduism, especially Raj Yoga now widely practiced in North India. There is no other way. Otherwise TN is dragging the whole Indian Union into jeopardy. Also modernise their sanitary system. Canada & the UN can help.
March 14th, 2013 at 9:57 am
Fran Diaz is quite right. Also, it was natural for the Sinhalese to refuse to work for the invading British whose Governor had ordered that so as to never have another Kandyan rebellion, all men and boys be killed, all their villages be destroyed and burnt together with their crops and houses. The animosity generated by these acts was justifiably much more than anything experienced even after the South Indian invaders under Magha had plundered Anuradhapura and left,to periodically return and repeat the cycle.
Karunanidhi expects India to reject Sri Lanka because of the humiliation Rajiv Gandhi was subjected to when visiting Sri Lanka, but evidently does not have any qualms about Rajiv having been actually assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber right there in Tamil Nadu, and his DMK’s continued support of the LTTE who carried out that dastardly killing. What kind of reasoning is that???
March 14th, 2013 at 10:10 am
Fran Diaz / nilwala
My sinhala brothers, ok forget pass ,now come to present situation in SL !
why we need outsiders to cavest our paddy field (in EP police charged illegal indian workers who had visiting visa ) now ?
why Chinese unskill workers are all around SL now ?
are We ,our night become first world country to employ third word workers do our unskill works !!!
some thing is not balancing ????
I am not underminding our mother lanka ?
I may be wrong , I wish I am wrong !
March 14th, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Kumar,
Nilwala is quite right in pointing out some hard truths in this matter under discussion.
I forgot to add that Henry Pedris, one of sons of the Pedris family, a leading Sinhela/Buddhist family at the time of British rule, was killed by a British firing squad on the trumped up charge that he was a conspirator in the Muslim/Sinhela uprising of 1915. Young Pedris was a fine horseman, a crack shooter and a member of the local part of the British army. The Sinhela/Buddhits have not forgotten these atrocities and history is our great teacher.
As for Chinese workers, they are here together with the loans/grants on projects given to GoSL by the Chinese govt. It’s all part of the deal. This kind of inter country worker arrangement started with the building of the BMICH in Mrs B’s time. Chinese workers are generally very disciplined, not troublesome and mind their own business. They go back to China when work is completed unless maintenance work is continued as per project agreements. They do not claim parts of Lanka as theirs.
As for so called Indian workers on visa, I think this is a huge mistake. I am not at all sure whose land they are working in and which Ministry arranged for them to stay on visa on re-arrival. I understand they had been deported earlier. I have written to these columns earlier that allowing Indians who are not in a particular project to come and work on visas is a big mistake on the part of GoSL. Indians generally do not want to go back to India. It is always Indians (Tamils usually) who come to Lanka to escape Caste/poverty problems. I have not met with a single Indian worker on visa in Lanka yet to decide what type of person this is. Someone should post their photos and names on the web for us to find out who they are. In any case, they ought to be sent back. Over to you, Gota. The Min. of Defence ought to examine this matter carefully and remove the ‘worker on visa’ rule, unless it is part of the existing inter govt. project arrangements with foreign countries. It is really a Defence matter as I am sure Security issues are involved here.
Local labor must be attracted to local work with proper incentives with security. The problem in Sri Lanka is a Labor problem.
March 14th, 2013 at 1:09 pm
What is SL up to with Japan?
“Japan and Sri Lanka agreed Thursday to strengthen bilateral cooperation in Indian Ocean maritime security and coast guard patrols, including greater exchanges between their defense authorities to fight piracy.
At a meeting in Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to “upgrade and expand” bilateral cooperation and discussions to “effectively address maritime issues common to both countries,” they said in a joint statement.
On China, which is locked in a sovereignty dispute with Japan over the Japan-held Senkaku islets in the East China Sea, Abe called Beijing’s increased maritime incursions a “concern common to the region,” a Japanese official said.
While noting that the door to dialogue is always open, Abe told his Sri Lankan counterpart that an “attempt to change the status quo with force will be met with calm and resolute responses.”
Rajapaksa said it is best to resolve the dispute through dialogue, according to the official.”
– japantimes
IF Japan and SL have agreed to “address maritime issues common to both countries” AND if “Abe called Beijing’s increased maritime incursions a “concern common to the region”, it means SL ALSO concerned about China over the dispute.
ON THE SAME DAY, Abe said Japanese war criminals in WW2 are HEROES. They were WRONGFULLY charged for war crimes in what he called “VICTORS’ JUSTICE”.
What is happening?
Are we going AGAINST China now?
Has India fooled MR to go against China to win Japan back?
March 14th, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Japan has given SL 41 BILLION yen.
1 yen = 0.01 dollars
41 billion yen = 410 million dollars which is PEANUTS compared to help from China in BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
March 14th, 2013 at 2:10 pm
Lorenzo,
Here’s my view, for what it’s worth.
Sri Lanka is a Non-Aligned country. We accept help from friendly nations, past and present. It is not a case of against China at all. Shades of grey in friendships, not black and white ….
In WW II, Japan backed Germany thinking Germany was winning the wars. It seemed that way for a while. We know that a number of Asians at that time bought the Deutsch Marks (German money) thinking that Germany was winning.
However, it is Truth/truth that always wins, always. Pres. MR is right : ‘best to resolve dispute through dialogue”.
March 14th, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Kumar,
It also struck me later that certain areas in the Central region has/had contaminated water resulting in serious kidney disease.
Local Labor will avoid going into those areas until GoSL announces it is safe to travel to those areas.
March 15th, 2013 at 3:43 am
Fran Diaz / nilwala
My sinhala brothers , We have two things to solve our problm for ever !
1) fully implement 13A
2) fully implement LLCR
Will MR do before end of his political carry ? YES He will !!!
so give him some time thats all ,
Please VP & co do not get his saram wet by UN!
VP&co lived last 33 years with free food so they won’t disepaire easyly!
March 15th, 2013 at 3:49 am
Kumar (or Andylingam ?),
13-A: Must be removed forever as it is illegal (imposed under Duress during Cold War times).
LLRC: Selective implementation according to new needs in Sri Lanka.
Development of entire Sri Lanka – yes. For all the people – yes.
March 15th, 2013 at 4:27 am
Fran,
I agree completely.
But what matters is HOW China views it. Even a simple act of meeting Dalai Lama OFFENDS China. So SL leaders and SL cricketers KEEP AWAY from Dalai Lama.
I hope China will understand our NEEDS.
March 15th, 2013 at 5:43 am
Lorenzo,
Believe me, China understands our needs only too well.
Recently, the US/China minor dispute over China entrepreneurs crashing US business computer sites was resolved when China declared just yesterday or the day before that they are going to Dialogue with US over this and put a stop to website misuse by Chinese. They move fast. The new Chinese Chairman is committed to eradicating Corruption in China and more interested in internal matters within China than messing with other countries. Indo/China relations ought to improve from now on and that would be beneficial to Lanka. Any Peace in the region is beneficial to Lanka.
The Dalai Lama saga needs to be seen in the light of past history China faced with British traders who entered China and introduced Opium to bring down the morale of the country. China is watchful of foreign traders. I guess China saw Tibet as an unguarded weak spot which went too westward. Tibet was a great curiosity to the western intellectuals and a soft spot opening to enter China. That is why China took over Tibet and is not happy about Lanka connecting with the Dalai Lama. Great pity, as the Dalai Lama is a wise and wonderful person, and Lankans would have greatly benefitted direct contact with him.
March 15th, 2013 at 9:38 am
Fran
13A imposed under Duress during Cold War times- Agrred
Also Wesminter style democracy imosed under Duress during western colonalation to us against our king ruling !
as soon as We get independand have We changed back or change to any other style? NO because We know Wesminster system is better than any other !
same apply to 13A & LLCR We know these two are best solution for us to keep our country unit forever !!!
I know You do not want this because it may lead to separation in SL !
be honest I also fully agrred with that ,but We should put new clause like 16A in India if any party or person can not contest in election for separation mamufest !
Unity of diversity – no short cut !!!
United Provencial Council of Sri Lanka (UPCSL) !!!
Until that, Nampungal Naalai pirakkum Thamil Eelam ! like Jesus will back ( awating last 2013 years) !
March 15th, 2013 at 9:55 am
Kumar,
Totally agree with you on this part : ” I know You do not want this because it may lead to separation in SL ! be honest I also fully agrred with that ,but We should put new clause like 16A in India if any party or person can not contest in election for separation mamufest !”.
Also, there may be possibilities to improve on the Westminster style of governance. We now follow mostly the American style of governance with a President, Parliament & Judiciary. It suits the times we face. Even that can be improved on, I am sure.
Unity in Diversity is fine so long as there is no Separatist aspirations. There are many other factors too, like the law of the land, respect for life & environment in Lanka, etc.