PRE- CHOGM REFLECTIONS FOR ‘SOUL SEARCHING’ BY INDIA
Posted on November 5th, 2013
Nihal Pathirana – Former Deputy Director Geological Survey Department.
We in Sri Lanka were pleased to hear of the ‚ -ËœTimes of India-â„¢ report ‚ that ‚ India has resolved its ‚ differences with China. India has signed nine agreements with China, including pacts on border cooperation and on sharing of trans-border rivers. The agreements on border defence will boost communication between the two sides about manoeuvres along the frontier, jointly combat smuggling there and assist each other in locating people who may have strayed across the line.
“We have agreed that peace and tranquillity on border must be the foundation of growth in the relationship between the two countries. We have decided to institutionalize greater exchanges between the armed forces of India and China ,” Man Mohan Singh said. He further added that the agreement on Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) will add to “existing instruments to establish peace and tranquillity on the borders of the line of control. ‚ ‚ ‚ Li ‚ said that Wednesday’s meeting will “inject new momentum and vitality into the China-India relations
This will be great news for CHOGM to be held in November in Colombo and augurs well for the peace in the region as well for global peace. We are conscious that many irritations eventually leading to conflicts between countries have their origin in border issues.‚ This is the opportune time for India, in the same sober spirit,‚ to revisit some of the issues it has with the neighbour Sri Lanka.‚ We appreciate that in times of elections some‚ political moves are taken by governments to please certain elements. But countries should have mature long term foreign policies based on mutual respect to sovereignty of other countries.
India should appreciate that Sri Lanka went through a 30 year struggle with the fierce separate terrorists who also took away a valuable life of a great Indian leader. Some Indian political analysts showed that the terrorists were a threat to India-â„¢s internal territorial integrity as much as to Sri lanka. They were ‚ aware of the insidious plans to tear apart India and that LTTE terrorists would have served as a powerful instrument to achieve that end. They were also mindful that the desire for Tamil Nadu to break away as a separate state at the time of India-â„¢s independence has not completely‚ died down.
The 13th amendment which was virtually forced down Sri Lanka-â„¢s Parliament contained some obnoxious provisions, the details of which cannot be discussed in a brief note like this . Suffice it to refer to the provision relating to land which gives virtual ownership to the provincial council. Fortunately for the sovereignty of the country, the Supreme Court comprising of some eminent Tamil judges ruled that the central government has the ownership and rights of the land in all parts of the country.
Even today tensions are created by India ‚ ‚ by allowing Tamil Nadu State fisherman to poach in the Sri lanka waters. If they are genuinely concerned about Tamils in Sri lanka, they must realize that they are depriving the livelihood of Tamil fishermen by encouraging such encroachments.‚ There are reports in India-â„¢s news papers that the assets are best shared between Tamil Nadu and Sri lankan fishermen. ‚ ‚ ‚ Where in the world are the boundaries of countries ‚ ‚ being shared by individuals?. ‚ As a signatory to international conventions, India should respect the international maritime boundary. The ‚ daily transgression of South Indian trawlers contravenes the bilateral Maritime Agreement signed between Sri Lanka and India in 1974 and disregards Sri Lanka -â„¢s concerns for the sustainable management of marine resources. Moreover, bottom trawling used by South India trawlers destroy Sri Lanka -â„¢s marine resources and damage the marine ecosystem. Bottom trawling is an extremely destructive and enormously wasteful form of fishing, banned by the Fisheries Ministry of Sri Lanka. The loss incurred by Srilanka due to poaching by Tamil Nadu fisherman in Sri lanka waters has been estimated at over us$ 750 million annually ‚ as stated by Mr. Roshan Fernando the chairman of the Exporters Association when he met the Fisheries minister Mr. Rajitha Senaratne‚
In recent times we had caved in substantially in respect‚ our relationship with India, with a view to maintaining good relations with our neighbor. ‚ We have ‚ ‚ allowed embassies to be established all over the country. ‚ including future strategic points like Hambatoota. We have given a place to locate the Sampur Power plant knowing well that the scale weighed in favour of India. Unlike all similar projects which we eventually own at the end of an stipulated period,‚ thereis no such provision in the sampur agreement. We have‚ given oil Tanks in ‚ Trincomalee ‚ to an Indian oil company. Indian business is thriving and expanding in our land.‚ There should be reciprocation to such good gestures.
We can never have a antagonistic mindset against India because for us it is land of birth of Lord Buddha. It is the land from which we got the greatest treasure -” Buddhism. However in the same breath we have fiercely fought through millennia for our territorial integrity. We have a history of taking on mighty empires and repelling many invasions. That resilience is still in our blood. Few nations would have survived a 30 year bloody conflict with a terrorist group that had the backing of powerful states.‚ It cost us many lives.‚ Bur we have come out unscathed not only economically‚ and socially but psychologically as well.‚ We have-â„¢nt lost‚ our spirit.
As much as we aspire to maintain good relations with India, we will continue‚ our cordial relationships with China. We recall‚ the‚ helping hand that China gave to us from the time of the rice rubber pact in 1950s. The mega investments with Chinese assistance will bring enormous benefits to present and future generations.‚ A grateful Sri Lanka thinks of China as a great friend‚ who stood by its side in times of a seeming crisis at the recent UN Human‚ Rights meeting.
‚ It is a fitting tribute to China that we hold the CHOGM conference in the‚ Bandaranaike international Conference Hall, which was gift of goodwill by China ,to be remembered with great gratitude‚ for long years to come.
‚
‚
November 5th, 2013 at 4:25 pm
IF Endia has reached peace with China that is BAD NEWS for SL.
That means China will NOT come to SL’s rescue as Endia (as always) try to disturb SL.
As a small country we can survive by creating RIFTS between others. Not peace.
But fear not. Endia and China will NEVER be friends because Endia is such a greedy country.
Man Moron lost FAITH in USA after the US SPY SCANDEL. Endia is the MOST SPIED country by USA!!!
Fool should not support US sponsored resolutions against SL in 2014.
November 5th, 2013 at 4:56 pm
“We can never have a antagonistic mindset against India because for us it is land of birth of Lord Buddha. ”
Does not make sense,
Buddhas never born or die. Buddha peacefully fought the whole India for
1. stupid cast system – Buddha said “No one is a great man by birth, but by action”
2. stupid unnecessary slaughter of animals to worship stupid Indian gods.
Buddha peacefully conquered the whole India and South Indians reversed his victory.
November 5th, 2013 at 6:18 pm
This is a very FOOLISH thing to say.
“We can never have a antagonistic mindset against India because for us it is land of birth of Lord Buddha.”
Lord Buddha DOES NOT belong to Endia. He is a UNIVERSAL figure.
There was NO Endia at that time!!
Actually the area he was born is NEPAL today.
This is the SAME foolish attitude Americans have for Israel.
“USA can never have a antagonistic mindset against Israel because for USA it is the land of Jesus and the Bible.”
So Israel can go killing, bombing, etc., etc. others but USA as the world’s LARGEST Christian country bails Israel out.
Endians may also think.
“We can forever have a antagonistic mindset against SL because for us it is the land of Ravana.”
Such generalizations DIRECTLY GO AGAINST Buddha teachings.
November 5th, 2013 at 6:34 pm
Dham,
“Buddha peacefully conquered the whole India and South Indians reversed his victory.”
You are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.
They tried many times to do the same in SL.
The first attempt was ELLALAN who INVADED SL to WIPE OUT Buddhism that was introduced to SL only 60 years earlier.
Clearly the bugger was after Buddhism.
I think that was why Emperor Asoka BYPASSED Toilet Nadu intentionally when he sent his son Mahinda to SL with Buddhism. If Mahinda went through Toilet Nadu he would have suffered the same fate of the Buddhist monk in TN early this year.
Cholan, Magha, Chelva, LTTE all invaded SL to wipe out Buddhism and turn SL back to Hinduism like they did in Endia.
THEY FAILED!
Why? Because SLs killed them all saving Buddhism. Nepal was not so lucky. Nepal was turned back into Hinduism.
Bhutan survived thanks to difficult terrain.
If you look carefully the tiger in LTTE flag is a HINDU. It is wearing 3 line of Vibhuthi on its forehead!!!! An obvious give-away.
November 5th, 2013 at 6:54 pm
I fully agree on your theory and on both of your comments.
But Buddhism survived the 1st attempt because there were a lot of Arahants that time and few survived. Only relatively recently that it got almost wiped out and thanks to the king and the king of Siam and Upali Thero from Siam , they managed to re-install.
November 5th, 2013 at 7:13 pm
“We can never have a antagonistic mindset against India because for us it is land of birth of Lord Buddha. ”
Does not make sense (Nanda)
This is a very FOOLISH thing to say (Lorenzo)
It is WE who tie ourselves with our OWN minds to unnecessary stakes and set fire to our own selves. If gratitude is what it is all about, then we have been ultra grateful…irrationally grateful: stupidly grateful. Exaggerated gratitude is NOT a virtue but a weakness, an exploitable weakness and countries are doing so to us unscrupulously. One such country, in fact the most preponderant and pernicious, is precisely INDIA. What it continuously keeps resonating in Sri Lanka’s ears is ‘do not forget…do not forget…we did this and we did that for you’. And so they keep us tethered to chains of our own making.
Sri Lanka reached adulthood long ago. If not for us they would never have know that king Asoka ever existed !!!! But do they ever remind themselves of that? No. for India we are a permanent vassal state that has rendered itself its slave by donning the chains of ‘gratitude’.
It is unbelievable that a full fledged nation with a history such as ours continues to act like an infant when confronted with India. If we maintain the attitude of ‘irrational gratitude’, of ‘wanton gratitude’, of ‘enforced gratitude’, we will always be sticking out our bottoms for whacks by all to whom we ascribe maternity and paternity over us.
We broke the umbilical cord with India millennia ago. We still pay our self generated tribute of ‘GRATITUDE’. When we get down to brass tacks this aimless, groundless ‘gratitude’ is a permanent rope we have placed around our own neck.
As for this ever regurgitated theme of receiving Buddhism from India, let us not forget that is was a diplomatic act by India to pull us into its sphere of ‘power play’. India sent such delegations to all neighbouring countries during that same period to ensure its power and security, by making satellite states of all of them. And then what did India herself do to Buddhism? After having bound us hand and foot with that particular chain, India cut herself free and threw Buddhism out of the main door. That was the regard India had for Buddhism.
The Buddhism that we follow is NOT the Buddhism of India. Let us get this point clear. It is a Buddhism developed according to the imperatives of our own country, according to own needs. It is a Buddhism which we owe to the Sinhala Kings and the Sinhala Monastic Order, the Maha Sangha, in short to the founders of the SINHALA nation.
After having played on our sense of gratitude, India continued invading us repeatedly over the millennia of our history populating this country with Indian HINDUS and saturating it with HINDU gods and temples. They subsequently did everything in their power to destroy Buddhism. Buddhism was a gift offered by GREEKS, and as the hallowed saying goes beware of Greeks even when they offer gifts. Buddhism will always remain a binding chain so as long as we consider it a GIFT of India. It was historically more a RUSE than anything else. Even now after striking us with repeated blows, they make up by sending us a relic around which our entire nation flocks…we flock and forget the fundamental fact that what is occurring is a RUSE.
The Buddhism we practice is historically OURS and NOT THEIRS. It is the Buddhism linked to the Mahavamsa which is OUR history, a history that enabled India to discover itself because India never knew the sense of history. The Sri Lankan Hindus who decry and condemn the Mahavamsa are also trying, at the very same time, to dismantle and destroy Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
It is so strange that after a glorious history of 2600 years we have failed to understand this, that Buddhism was not given to us on a golden platter as an offering, as a prasad.
Even at this late stage let us break and tear away the bonds that bind us and BE FREE.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
November 5th, 2013 at 7:37 pm
Mario,
True except “2600 years we have failed to understand” .
Time to time it is natural to have stupid leaders and slack period. We need not reiterate our weaknesses.
If Sri Lanka want to be a Buddhist, follow Buddha ! DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH FOOLS AND LOW BEINGS. In short do not associate with India !
Play the game correctly. Do not LIE. Do not repeat “India is our friend” like stupid parrots. Follow Buddha ! Destroy illusion !
November 6th, 2013 at 7:45 am
“We have agreed that peace and tranquillity on border must be the foundation of growth in the relationship between the two countries. We have decided to institutionalize greater exchanges between the armed forces of India and China ,” Manmohan Singh said”. So Regional Co-operation is happening. Fantasatic !
The Buddha happened to be born in India. His teachings are Universal, and not confined to India, never will be. Truth is Universal and will always be so. India may sway with the times for her own survival, but the Teachings of the Buddha are Eternal. It is the same with the Teachings of Jesus Christ. They are all on the common ground of Self Realisation, Peace & Bliss.
November 6th, 2013 at 2:57 pm
This is what we want to hear: EQUAL TREATMENT for Sinhalese as well!
……………………
Sri Lankan Tamil movement says Sinhalese should be allowed to live in Jaffna
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 06, Colombo: A Tamil movement in Sri Lanka says that Sinhalese who wish to live in the Jaffna peninsula should be allowed to do so.
The Jaffna Tamil Buddhist Association says Sinhalese should not be prevented from living in Jaffna.
President of the Association, Ravi Kumar issuing a statement has said that Sinhalese and Tamils in the North should be encouraged to live in harmony without any differences.
He has pointed out that Tamils live peacefully with Sinhalese in certain areas in the South.
He has made this comment in reference to statements made by some Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members against Sinhalese settling down in the North.
According to Kumar, Sinhalese and Tamils should be allowed to live together and they will be able to find solutions to their issues.