INDIRA GANDHI TOLD THATCHER: STOP HELPING LANKA-Wanted Thatcher to use influence with JR-Declassified document bares details
Posted on January 23rd, 2014
Courtesy The Daily News
London: Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had asked her British counterpart Margaret Thatcher to stop military assistance to Sri Lanka including training, to crush the separatist Tamil Eelam movement in the 1980s, according to newly declassified documents.
In a document relating to Sri Lanka, released by the National Archives here under the 30-year declassification rule, a reference was apparently made to India’s suspicion in 1984 that Britain’s elite Special Air Service (SAS) was training the Sri Lankan military.
Gandhi told Thatcher, “We hope that you will use your influence to persuade (Sri Lanka’s) President J.R. Jayewardene to give a positive lead by making constructive suggestions at the All Parties Conference. Military aid and anti-insurgency assistance are not enough to overcome a political crisis which has to be faced and resolved.”
According to another document, the British government under Thatcher allowed former SAS officers to train Sri Lankan security forces against the LTTE.
The new set of documents, that will intensify speculation over SAS operations in the region, suggest that in September 1984, Peter Ricketts private secretary to foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe wrote to David Barclay private secretary to then prime minister Thatcher about a request to allow a British company with SAS connections to work in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan government under Presi-dent J.R. Jayewardene was then tackling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forces and other groups in the north and east of the island nation.
Later, Ricketts said that the SAS was in Lanka for commercial purposes only.
– See more at: http://www.dailynews.lk/local/indira-told-thatcher-stop-helping-lanka#sthash.QAQjSkOM.dpuf
January 23rd, 2014 at 3:48 pm
JR was destroyed due to FEAR of being invaded, he could have finished off Tamils .
MR will be destroyed due to the failure to get rid of the OBEY INDIA POLITICAL SYSTEM created due to JR’s FEAR.
January 23rd, 2014 at 4:13 pm
At least UK had one IRON LADY. (She refused Endian demands not to train SL army.)
SL only has CARBOARD RULERS. (Always agree to whatever Endia says.)
Russia has Putin.
Endia has Modi.
USA has Obama.
Israel has Bibi.
Japan has Abe.
Zimbabwe has Mugabe.
Syria has Assad.
Tamils have Jeya.
Saudi has Fard.
All strong leaders.
When will SL have its own IRON LADY or IRON MAN ruler? Never.
SL is a ship without a captain just drifting wherever the wind takes it. Now some see a ROCK the ship will crash into. Others still dancing to a band. RATS (mino-RAT-ies) dancing in joy because when the ship crashes to the rock, they will be going to LAND!
January 23rd, 2014 at 5:45 pm
Regarding India’s role with her neighbors an article in Asia Times points to the Colonial relationship India has with Bangladesh where similar signs of the Indo Sri Lankan relationship are beginning to show. Once this article is read I sincerely hope Sri Lanka avoids the pitfalls that India is doing to Bangladesh where internal politics and New Delhi’s imperialist (a word I use with meaning) and colonialist decisions have wrecked havoc with the economy of Bangladesh:
India-US chasm opens over Bangladesh
By Hasan Mir
The 10th parliamentary election took place in Bangladesh on January 5 amid widespread boycotts, violence, vote rigging and without much fanfare. While the ruling Awami League claimed victory, it is hard to imagine a scenario where this election – where the fate of 154 parliament seats out of 300 were decided before a single vote was cast – could bring stability to this increasingly important country.
The Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, came to power in 2008 with a two-thirds majority. While opportunities abounded for the Awami League to start a new era of politics in Bangladesh, it willfully wasted every chance to do so. The Awami League’s fall from grace over the past few years can be directly attributed to widespread corruption by cronies of Hasina, violence against.
oposition members and intolerance of any type of opposition views.
The Awami League promised to nurture a democratic society with a progressive attitude towards governance. Buoyed by a strong mandate, the Awami League started to do the exact opposite from the get go.
During the Awami League’s reign, the stock market declined to a record low due to manipulation by corporate interests close to Hasina, leaving millions of people without their hard-earned money. High profile swindling cases by close associates of Hasina were much too common, and millions were squandered. While there are plenty of media outlets in Bangladesh, Hasina worked very hard to dismantle any exposing her government’s failures. Numerous news outlets were shut down and journalists were thrown into jail.
The people of Bangladesh took note of the widespread corruption, and the Awami League candidates were handily beaten in local elections. Hasina saw the writing on the wall and realized she would not come back to power under any free and fair election. Consequently, she amended the constitution to kill her own idea of a non-party caretaker government during votes, and amended the constitution to hold general elections under an interim government. This allowed Hasina to hold the election under her watch with plenty of options to rig the poll.
The recently concluded election took place despite calls to boycott from opposition parties. As mentioned earlier, the fate of 154 out of the 300 seats of the parliament was already decided as these seats each had only one candidate. The election for the rest came with reports of widespread vote rigging and stuffing of ballot boxes. The Daily New Age reported turnout to be less than 25% and it witnessed “small groups of people moving from booth to booth casting votes indiscriminately”.
Geopolitical chess game
Now questions can be raised as to what helps the Awami League ignore public opinion, world opinion and the minimum standards necessary to organize a free and fair election.
Brutal suppression of opposition parties makes sure any credible opposition to Hasina’s policies goes unprotested. Another very important factor behind the Awami League’s undemocratic activities can be traced to India’s undeniable support. India has always been an influential country in Bangladesh and it is using its cronies to make sure Bangladesh does not make a successful democratic transition.
Despite calls from the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and other allies, India has been acting as a spoiler in Bangladesh by supporting Hasina’s government. India’s interest in supporting a corrupt and inept regime is multifold. Since coming to power, Hasina’s government has made sure every demand of the Indian establishment has been met with nothing given in return.
India has been granted access to Bangladeshi ports and road networks for easier access to northeastern states. The Bay of Bengal’s lucrative gas blocks have been awarded to Indian companies without any due process and without the participation of other world-renowned companies. India’s security establishment has been granted unparalleled access to Bangladesh. India’s products have flooded the Bangladeshi market despite India’s reluctance to allow Bangladeshi products into India. India maintains a trade surplus of over US3 billion due to the various trade barriers enacted against Bangladeshi business. [
Policies taken by Hasina’s government have also had a detrimental effect on Bangladesh’s trade relationship with other countries. Hasina’s government, under pressure from India, crafted a tax policy that increased the tax and surcharges levied against Japanese cars while decreasing the tax for substandard Indian cars. This was despite the fact that Japan has been one of Bangladesh’s most important development partners for over four decades. Japanese car companies are losing millions of dollars worth of sales in Bangladesh as a result of these actions.
EU nations also saw the negative impact of Hasina’s irrational pro-Indian policies. India’s Bharti Airtel has been granted unfair tax advantages over European counterparts such Telenor-owned Grameen phone. Under the support of Hasina’s administration, Bharti has been pushing hard to take away the market share from the established telecom operators like Telenor. There are quite a few other examples of these kinds of unfair trade policies that not only hurt Bangladesh’s important development partners, but also prevent Bangladesh from fulfilling her true potential.
While Hasina’s government has been more than liberal in dishing out favors to the Indian government, India failed to reciprocate. Indian border security forces still kill hundreds of unarmed civilians along the border every year. Land exchange treaties signed between the two countries in 1974 are yet to be implemented and ratified by India.
India’s unilateral move to build dams in upstream rivers will create horrific consequences in Bangladesh. India has far failed to pay heed to any of these unresolved legitimate concerns of Bangladesh. And as long as Hasina is in power, by hook or crook, India seems to be happy with the outcome. India does not seem to have any interest in supporting the democratic process in Bangladesh. Neither does it concern itself over blatant human-right violations in Bangladesh by Hasina’s government.
To maintain this unnatural and one-sided balance of power between these two nations, India has been working overtime to prop up Hasina’s unpopular government. The opposition parties in Bangladesh are not so inclined to bow down to Indian pressure and India’s foreign policy establishment believes the end of Hasina’s tenure would mean a termination of this one-sided relationship.
India’s unprecedented interference in Bangladeshi internal affairs has soured the mood of the people in Bangladesh. Recently, Indian Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh visited Bangladesh to openly lobby political parties to join the sham election. These undemocratic activities go against the very fabric of a free society and need closer attention from the outside world.
Up until now, the US and other EU nations coordinated their Bangladesh policies with India. Over the past few years a chasm has grown between India and the US (and the EU to some extent). Other than India, all other countries would like to see a democratic transition in Bangladesh where elections reflect the true choice of the people of Bangladesh. India’s unconditional support for a brutal undemocratic regime in Bangladesh is influencing Western countries, especially the US, to rethink their Bangladesh policy seen through the prism of India.
A recent diplomatic snafu over the arrest of an Indian diplomat and subsequent retaliation from Delhi illustrate that policymakers from the US and India do not always see eye to eye. And that is not uncommon among nations. The point is that India will always pursue her interest regardless of what that means for the US.
India has proven that over and over again by granting nuclear contracts to countries other than the US, not procuring fighter jets from US companies, trying to create Afghanistan as the battlefront against Pakistan and thus fostering instability (as Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said). It would be foolish to think US policymakers are not seeing the same signs. It is high time the US pursued a foreign policy in South Asia that satisfies the needs of the US and Bangladesh, not India’s.
Bangladesh has become a very strategically important nation in the region in recent years. Sitting between South and Southeast Asia, it can be a bridge between these two fast growing regions. Bangladesh plays a prominent role in both the US and China’s version of the new Asian Super-highway/trade route that will connect Asian countries with an aim to boost trade and improve interconnectivity.
Bangladesh’s access to the Bay of Bengal is another important factor for the US, and others. Access to the Bay of Bengal and consequently to the Indian ocean is of significant strategic importance.
Bangladesh already has a long standing strategic relationship with the US. Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors of UN peacekeeping forces. Bangladeshi non-government organizations like BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) and the Grameen Foundation are also using their expertise and coordinating with the US to improve the lives of women in Afghanistan.
BRAC now employs over 3,400 people across Afghanistan and operates under five programs covering microfinance, health, education, capacity building and training and solidarity. Bangladesh also showed great acumen in aligning with the US and her gulf allies in organizations such as the Organizations of Islamic Cooperation on various important matters.
As a result of these multifaceted strategic partnerships between the US and Bangladesh, the US wants to see a democratic Bangladesh where democratic institutions thrive and prosper. That pits US policies directly against India’s policy of supporting the undemocratic regime of Hasina.
The people of Bangladesh already have a favorable opinion of the US when it comes to promoting economic development and supporting democracy in Bangladesh. The US is also the largest market for Bangladesh’s main export vehicle – readymade garments.
From Bangladesh’s perspective, a more intertwined strategic partnership between Bangladesh and the US can help both countries immensely. Under the current US administration, the US is pivoting towards Asia and as increasing involvement with various regional players. Bangladesh can play an important role in helping US policy by connecting South Asia with Myanmar and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Bangladesh can also gain significant advantage by letting US oil giants explore energy in the Bay of Bengal. In return, the US navy can help shore up naval security there.
Bangladesh also promises a very attractive market for the US market and the abundance of skilled labor in Bangladesh can be a boon for US businesses. Due to sustained growth over the past few years, Bangladesh has experienced a considerable boost in the size of the middle class.
Middle and upper income families in Bangladesh are now spending billions of dollars to accommodate their lifestyle and are buying products to maintain such way of life. An estimated $6 billion worth of trade took place during the month of Ramadan last year. That is not a paltry sum by any account.
In order to utilize the growing economic-strategic stature and keep India’s negative destructive influence at bay, Bangladesh should promote a closer partnership with US and EU. While China can also be a potential partner, its unwillingness to voice concern against India’s interference in Bangladesh is a significant barrier. Until India changes it course and foster a relationship with people of Bangladesh rather than just a segment of the society, Bangladesh should examine how the intensity of relationships between US and Bangladesh can be enhanced.
Bangladesh would benefit greatly from a deepening partnership, both strategically and economically. The US is already contributing greatly to the advancement of Bangladesh. Closer coordination and partnership between these two countries can cement the relationship even further and help navigate the challenges ahead.
January 24th, 2014 at 12:51 am
To Lorenzo’s query when will Sri Lanka have an Iron Man or Lady, I think Sri Lanka already has one in Mahinda Rajapakse and in fact more “Iron Man” than most mentioned in Lorenzo’s list. Had Rajapakse succumbed to pressure from India and the West combined, then Sri Lanka would still be fighting with the terrorists with no hope for peace in the foreseeable future.
January 24th, 2014 at 7:29 am
Edvige Antonia Albina Maino was born December 09, 1946 to Stefano and Paola Maino in Lusiana, a little village 30 km from Vicenza in the region of Veneto, Italy. Edvige Antonia Albina Maino spent her adolescence in Orbassano, a town near Turin, attending a Catholic school. In 1964, Edvige Antonia Albina Maino went to study English at the Bell Educational Trust’s language school in the city of Cambridge. She met Rajiv Gandhi, who was enrolled in Trinity College at the University of Cambridge in 1965 at a Greek restaurant while working there, as a waitress to make ends meet. In all three years of Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure at Trinity College had not passed a single examination. Edvige Antonia Albina Maino and Rajiv Gandhi married in 1968.Rajiv Gandhi changed his so called Parsi religion to become a Catholic to marry Edvige Antonia Albina Maino. Rajiv became Roberto. His daughter’s name is Bianca and son’s name is Raul. Quite cleverly the same names are presented to the people of India as Priyanka and Rahul. What is amazing is the extent of Indians’ ignorance in such matters. The press conference that Rajiv Gandhi gave in London after taking over as prime minister of India was very informative. In this press conference, Rajiv Gandhi boasted that he was NOT a Hindu but a Parsi.
Edvige Antonia Albina Maino was given the name ‘Sonia’ by her late mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi. But there is no notification in the gazette regarding this change in name. This change of name runs in Nehru family is to fool the Indian public for their votes. Indira Gandhi’s real name was Indira Priyadarshini. In 1935, Indira joined Shantiniketan,a school set up by Rabindranath Tagore. When Indira was found in the bed with her German teacher at Shantiniketan she was chased out of the Shantiniketan Rabindranath. Subsequently, she went to England and sat for the University of Oxford entrance examination, but she failed, and spent a few months at Badminton School in Bristol, before passing the exam in 1937 and enrolling at Somerville College, Oxford where she never finished her degree. Khushwant Singh, who has personally known Indira Gandhi, has said that she felt uncomfortable around educated people because she had no real education. During her stay in the UK, she frequently met Feroze Khan, whom she knew from Allahabad, and who was studying at the London School of Economics. Before Indira’s marriage, the then Governor of Maharashtra Dr Shriprakash had warned Nehru in a meeting and through a letter, that Indira was having an illicit relationship with Feroze Khan. Feroze Khan was quite sympathetic to Indira and Indira married Feroze Khan in a London mosque as per Islamic rites Feroz Khan after converting herself to Islam. Indira’s muslim name was Maimuna Begum and later both had changed their name to fool the public of India by an affidavit in a court to Indira Gandhi and Feroz Gandhi.
After Rajiv’s birth Indira and Feroze lived separately, but they were not divorced. Feroze used to interfere in Nehru’s political activities. Nehru got fed up and left instructions not to allow him into the Prime Minister’s residence Trimurthi Bhavan. The death of Feroze in 1960 before he could consolidate his own political forces came as a relief to Nehru and Indira. Feroze had even planned to remarry. The second son of Indira known as Sanjay Gandhi was not the son of Feroze Khan. Sanjay’s real father was Mohammad Yunus who served as India’s ambassador to Turkey, Indonesia, Iraq and Spain. Mohammad Yunus represented India at the Non-Aligned Summits at Lusaka, Algiers, Colombo, New Delhi, and Harare. Baby Sanjay had been circumcised following Islamic custom, although the reason stated was phimosis. Incidentally, Sanjay’s marriage with the Sikh girl Menaka took place quite surprisingly through a civil ceremony(on 23 September 1974)in Mohammad Yunus’ house in New Delhi. And the marriage with Menaka who was a model (she had modelled for Bombay Dyeing wearing just a towel) was not so ordinary either. Sanjay never attended college, but took up an apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce in Crewe, England. Sanjay Gandhi’s name was actually Sanjeev Gandhi. He was arrested for a car theft in England. Since his passport had been seized, the then Indian Ambassador to England Krishna Menon changed his name to ‘Sanjay’and procured a new passport for him. Mohammad Yunus who cried the most when Sanjay died in the plane accident.
At the end of Rajiv Gandhi’s five years in office, the Bofors Scandal broke out. Ottavio Quattrocchi an Italian business man believed to be involved was a friend of Sonia Gandhi, having access to the Prime Minister’s official residence.
In 1980 Sonia’s name appeared in the voter’s list for New Delhi prior to her becoming an Indian Citizen. At the time she was still holding Italian Citizenship. A violation of Form 4 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, which states that “Only the names of those who are citizens of India should be entered on the electoral rolls.” When she did acquire Indian Citizenship, in April 1983, the same issue cropped up again, as her name appeared on the 1983 voter’s list when the deadline for registering had been in January 1983.
Swiss magazine Schweitzer Illustrierte in 1991 claimed that Sonia was controlling accounts worth $2 billion US dollars in her son Raul’s name.
Harvard scholar Yevgenia Albats cited KGB correspondence about payments to Rajiv Gandhi and his family, which had been arranged by Viktor Chebrikov, which shows that KGB chief Viktor Chebrikov sought in writing an “authorization to make payments in U.S. dollars to the family members of Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi” from the CPSU in December 1985.
Payments were authorized by a resolution, CPSU/CC/No 11228/3 dated 20 December 1985; and endorsed by the USSR Council of Ministers in Directive No 2633/Rs dated 20 December 1985. These payments had been coming since 1971, as payments received by Sonia Gandhi’s family and “have been audited in CPSU/CC resolution No 11187/22 OP dated 10/12/1984.
In 1992 the media confronted the Russian government with the Albats disclosure. The Russian government confirmed the veracity of the disclosure and defended it as necessary for “Soviet ideological interest.”
In 2008 Sonia’s party appointed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Manmohan Singh was the only international leader to initially refuse data provided by the German authorities during 2008 Liechtenstein tax affair.
Indira didn’t have any knowledge about constitution and constitutional procedures.Indira furthered creation of democratic dictatorship, first kicked off by her father Nehru. Indira never trusted anyone but her family only and so made Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi heroes without any deed during her lifetime. Her leadership plunged India into depths of darkness. India needs enlightened leaders. But it has been getting stupid leaders because the population at large is not “enlightened.”
For India to get decent leadership, Indians have to change. Indians have to demonstrate that they can take the long view, that they are not willing to vote criminals into office.
Indians have granted “their obedience by their own consent” to dictators for a long while. The most recent in living memory is Indira Gandhi. Before that it was to their British overlords. Before that to the Islamic invaders.
January 24th, 2014 at 7:41 am
They say its difficult to hide wealth, when there is so much of it!
Business Insider and World’s Luxury Guide has named Sonia Gandhi as the third richest politician in the world! The other two are:
Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz – King of Saudi Arabia ($21 billion)
Hassanal Bolkiah – Sultan of Brunei ($20 billion)
and..Sonia Gandh – Widow of former Indian Prime Minister ($19 billion)
Michael Bloomberg: CEO of Bloomberg Inc. comes in fourth with $18 billion.
How did this widow and someone with no real source of income rub shoulders with the Business Tycoons, Kings and Sultans who are amongst the richest people in the world? She has often been said to have been the real beneficiary of the Bofors scandal, where although Rajiv Gandhi took the flak, but it was Sonia Gandhi who was the real person who got all the money…..
January 24th, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Thanks BW for the info on Bangladesh.
That explains many things about Bangladesh another country DESTINED FOR DOOM thanks to Endian control.
January 24th, 2014 at 4:09 pm
We are copying Endia.
“For India to get decent leadership, Indians have to change. Indians have to demonstrate that they can take the long view, that they are not willing to vote criminals into office.” – VALID FOR SRI LANKA too.
Now Criminality has become an unofficial qualification in Sri Lanka.
January 24th, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Doing what is right by the masses of any country = Iron Man or Woman.
——-
JRJ’s time was Cold War time :
Colombo went west. JVP went with the Soviet bloc as did India. Northern Tamil leaders wanted Eelam to get out to the Caste mess.
January 24th, 2014 at 9:57 pm
Surely, this must be the ultimate in hypocrisy and duplicity – Sonia Gandhi asking Margaret Thatcher to not allow the British SAS to help the SL military while she was the whole time arming, training and financing the Tigers!
January 26th, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Lorenzo: You are welcome. To judge a nation, sometimes it is good to see how that nation deals with her neighbors. If India is capable of such intrusions into Bangladesh then she is equally capable of the same with Sri Lanka….post Civil war. Her role in the civil war is well documented and need no further statement.
January 27th, 2014 at 6:10 am
The documents released after 30 years also shows Indira asked Baroness Thatcher to help to train Indian soldiers to crush Sikh uprising for Kahlistan. It was the so trained soldiers who stormed the Golden Temple. At that time India was buying a whole lot of arms and military technology from UK including helicopters.
January 27th, 2014 at 6:25 am
Thanks Nalla for the info. That is why the Third Eye used Indian puppet Parabakaran to kill Rajiv. He was not a fit and proper person to head the Hinduthwa Empire.