Call
for 'more serious intervention', Indian solutions and realities
S.
Akurugoda
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India would do everything possible
to find a political solution to the Sri Lankan Tamils' issue in view
of their sufferings due to the ongoing fight between the armed forces
and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to a news
report appeared in The Hindu dated 03 December 2008.
As per the news item, he gave this assurance on to an all-party delegation
of MPs from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, belonging to both the Houses
of Parliament, led by Union Shipping Minister and DMK parliamentary
party leader T.R. Baalu. They had called on him seeking the Centre's
"more serious intervention" to bring about a ceasefire in
the island nation.
It is also said that the Prime Minister of India has agreed to send
the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Sri Lanka in response
to a representation made by the CM of Tamil Nadu.
Since the above development has come when our nation is entering a critical
milestone in the history of war against terrorism focusing to provide
the necessary impetus to strengthen and expand development which in
turn can prevent terrorism in the future, while India is experiencing
one of its worst terrorist attacked in its history, it is worthwhile
to examine the motives and the effectiveness of Indian solutions at
this crucial stage.
Terrorism in India
Terrorism is not new to India. At least 200 innocent people were killed
and more than 327 injured in the latest terrorist attack in Mumbai.
Twenty six foreigners were killed in the firing including at least 4
Americans. 'All mighty' Indian security forces took 60 hours to clear
the affected areas from the terrorists.
The regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and
Kashmir, Mumbai, Central India and Seven Sister States (independence
and autonomy movements). Terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir continues
to pose serious challenges to the country's security framework. In addition,
wide areas of the country appear to have 'fallen off the map' of good
governance, and are acutely susceptible to violent political mobilization.
Mumbai has been the most preferred target for most terrorist organizations,
primarily the separatist forces from Kashmir. As of 2006, at least 232
of the country's 608 districts were afflicted, at differing intensities,
by various insurgent and terrorist movements. As per the available records
of India's assessment - 2007, 2,765 people died in terrorism-related
violence in India during year 2006.
The above data extracted from the Institute for Conflict Management
database is an indication of a failure of the largest democracy, in
spite of having a federal structure (as boasted by many peace merchants
in Colombo), when finding 'political solutions' to problems in its own
backyard with all the technology to win space and with all the advance
technology in nuclear weaponry.
Like many other countries in the world, India have unresolved, racial
issues, religious issues, economical issues, social issues and political
issues in addition to the terrorist issues. India's security operations
against terrorist group responsible for the Mumbai attack should not
be considered as a war against Muslims. India's security operations
against Punjab insurgency in the past should not be considered as a
war against Sikh. On the same basis Indian politicians should understand
that the security operations against the LTTE are not against Tamils.
Views of Tamils, other than LTTE proxies, on LTTE
If Indian politicians are genuinely interested in the Sri Lankan Tamils'
issue in view of their 'sufferings' due to the ongoing fight between
the armed forces and the LTTE, they should also listen to the views
of Tamils other than LTTE and their proxies TNA.
"The success of the armed forces against the LTTE was not a victory
for the Sinhalese people but a victory of the Tamil people of the North
who were being held as a human shield by the LTTE" as revealed
by Karuna Amman last week in the parliament. "The LTTE leader had
betrayed the Tamil people and did not make use of the opportunities
he was offered by successive governments to find a solution to the problem
and all he had done was to lead the young generation of Tamil people
to the grave. Today all that the Tamil people got from the LTTE were
22,000 tombs and nothing else," he said.
Douglas Devananda, another onetime leader of an armed group, who fought
against Sri Lanka security forces and now a government Minister said
he was thankful to the armed forces who had liberated the Eastern Province
and were now freeing the North from the LTTE terrorists who were keeping
the Tamil people under their control and using brain-washed children
of the Tamil people to fight a war for Prabakaran. "LTTE leader
Prabakaran was not leading the Tamil people to liberation but leading
them to their graves. Prabakaran had no intention to find a solution
to any problem but keeps killing people," he said.
In an open letter to LTTE leader Prabakaran under the heading "Sinhalese
civilians never killed Tamils" and appeared in The Hindu dated
26 June 2007, president of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF)
V. Anandasangaree has said "You (Prabakaran) should be held responsible
for the deaths of over 70,000 people of all faiths, of all age groups,
of both sexes of all communities in Sri Lanka not only at the battle
front but also in land and claymore mine attacks, hand grenade and bomb
attacks and also massacres of innocent ones in buses, trains, etc. The
Kepithigolawa and Aranthalawa massacres, attempt to sink the ship carrying
700 service personnel in mid-sea, the killing of the hundred odd Navy
personnel going on leave and returning for duty and many other massacres
in the mosques etc. cannot be justified. What harm did the 31 innocent
Buddhist priests you slaughtered at Aranthalawa do to you?
"Can you cite one single incident of this nature in which a Sinhalese
civilian got involved. Furthermore please take it for granted that up
to now not one Tamil life was taken by any one of those so called Buddhist
Sinhala chauvinist although some talk irresponsibly."
Terrorism in Sri Lanka and effectiveness of Indian
solutions
The extent of the involvement of India when creating the terrorist
problem in Sri Lanka is well known to the world and need no elaboration.
Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan MP (Karuna Amman), at a press briefing
(Oct 21), spoke of his 22 year relationship with LTTE and recalled his
own training in India with other separatist groups after 1983 and also
conformed how the LTTE (including himself) was benefited by the essential
needs sent by the Government of Sri Lanka on humanitarian ground in
the past.
Since then, many thousands of innocent lives of Sinlala, Tamil, Muslim
and others were lost and several thousands were wounded including those
of some Indians (when Rajeev Gandhi was killed). Many thousands of Sri
Lanka's security forces and those of Indian IPKF were killed and wounded.
Several prominent leaders of Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and one Indian were
killed. As a result of imposing a ceasefire with Indian intervention
in 1987 against the will of the wide population of the Sri Lankan community,
65,000 Sinhala youths had to sacrifice their lives. Billions of rupees
that could be used for the development of our country are spending each
year to combat terrorism abetted by external interested parties. Ironically,
thousands of innocent civilians who got injured and surviving relatives
of further thousands of those who died as a result of the terrorism
in Sri Lanka deserve an apology, and not another "more serious
intervention" from the perpetrators, for the losses incurred to
them due to terrorism.
Whenever the security forces with the full blessing of the peace loving
and 'suffering' people, irrespective of ethnicity, are trying to eliminate
the menace of terrorism from our soil, external forces are emerging
to rescue their creations. It appears that some quarters of India are
in confusion over its territories, despite its present and past failures.
It is time for those who blindly promote 'more serious intervention'
to realise that short term political gain 'to appease each other' could
face 'more serious repercussions than their past failures' in the long
run.
Soon after the Mumbai terrorist attack referring to the alleged involvement
of Pakistan, India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said
at a joint press conference that India's sense of anger and outrage
had been conveyed and that India has the 'right to protect its citizens
and its territorial integrity.' Finding solutions to the Sri Lankan
Tamils' issue or any other issue due to the ongoing fight between the
armed forces and the LTTE, by the same token, is the responsibility
of the democratically elected President and the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
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