Asada M Erpini

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The response of Suresh Premachandran, an MP of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to the report of the army inquiry, as mentioned in the media on 11 April, is hardly surprising. Leaving the genuineness, objectivity and the veracity of the inquiry by the armed forces aside, the TNA stance has always been anti-Sri Lankan and anti-armed forces.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Is it possible for the TNA to cite a single action or incident that would suggest even vaguely that it ever did anything to safeguard the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka? All that Sri Lanka hears and reads about is how TNA and its members ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” especially the MPs who are paid their salaries and are granted their perks at the (largely Sinhala) tax payerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s expense ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” go round the world denigrating Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Have the TNA MPs done anything to develop Sri Lanka or improve the lot of at least the Tamils of the North for whom the TNA sheds crocodile tears? It is sad that the $300 million annual war kitty (JaneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Defence Weekly) that the LTTE generated was spent on arms and for destroying Sri Lanka, instead of investing in industrial and commercial ventures, at least in the North, which would have benefited the Tamils and, in the meantime, saved billions for the Sri Lanka government to be spent on productive ventures.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ India was responsible for the protracted war. Period.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  That is the stark truth. The Defence Secretary is merely elucidating a fact that everyone except the TNA knows. Though the TNA MP is not ready to admit it, it is a bitter pill that he has to swallow. In fact, it is not only India, but the Tamils secessionists under various names, from the beginning of the 20^th century, who went on demanding special treatment for the Northern Tamils that are also culpable for the festering cankerous crime.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The history of the conflict from the pre-independence period, which Premachandran may find unpalatable, goes as follows. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Jaffna Association put forward the call for a 50-50 representation (50% for Sinhalas and 50% for Tamils and other minorities) in 1918. The Tamil Mahajana Sabha reiterated it in 1921. In 1923, Arunachalam founded the Ceylon Tamil Congress, and in 1926, Rasanayagam, the historian who is held in high esteem by the separatists, published his ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Kingdom of JaffnaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, which is the Bible for the separatists to back their claims (Incidentally, it described how Cankili massacred the Sinhala Buddhists living in Jaffna in the 16^th century). In 1939, while Ponnambalam took over the 50-50 representation demand, the Jaffna Youth Congress leader Balasingham wanted a federation with India for Tamils. What happened later is well known: the infamous ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Vadukkodai ResolutionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ of 1976 and the killing of 13 soldiers of the Sri Lanka army in a bomb attack in Jaffna in 1983 are events that are too recent for even Premachandran to forget or brush aside.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When there were signs that the JRJ government was leaning towards the West, Indira Gandhi thought it was her bounden duty (or so it was projected) to provide financial support and military training at IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s own military facilities to a rag tag bunch of street thugs from Velvetiturai and other parts of the Northern peninsula, transforming the latter to the most ferocious terrorists in the world. The Vadamarachchi Operation of 1987 of the Sri Lanka armed forces would have captured the LTTE leader, and the senseless bloodletting would have stopped, bringing normalcy to the country, if not for the fact that Rajiv Gandhi of India decided to lift Pirabhaharan to safety in India.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Today, the Central Government of India is pampering to the whims and fancies of a motley assortment of former film stars past their sell-by-dates, celluloid heroes, script writers, and many other loquacious blabbermouths from its Southern State of Tamil Nadu, merely to remain in power. What happens to

Sri Lanka, a member of SAARC, that never created any problems to India is of no concern to the mighty neighbour that Sri Lanka continues, or is compelled, to refer to as a friend.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Modern day India can never absolve itself of the crime that it has been committing against Sri Lanka for many decades. Premachandran may blame the forever-castigated ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sinhala governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and the Sinhala people, but it is his forefathers, aided and abetted by India that originated the mistrust and ensures that the divisions perpetuate. Sadly, the conflict will continue as long as the TNA and its supporters abroad fraudulently project the Tamil community in Sri Lanka as the innocent victim and continue with the intransigence that is their hallmark.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-All the mistakes are those made by the successive governments in Sri Lanka,” concludes Premachandran in his statement. Oh, what innocent babes the Tamil leaders have been! Sri Lanka government is a convenient scapegoat for the TNA to go on lambasting.