India's stakes

Sir, - I have read and reread Ms. Malini Parthasarathy's masterly and dispassionate analysis of the goings-on in Sri Lanka as described in the article ``India's stakes in Sri Lanka's unity'' (TheHindu, May 6). The graphic account of the partisan perception of Tamil Nadu politicians vis-a-vis the LTTE's fascist rampage in Jaffna should serve as a pointer to the impending disaster to our country's strategic and political interests if the Vajpayee Government does not make it clear that in political and diplomatic terms it will throw its weight behind the Kumaratunga Government and that on no account it will offer even the slightest encouragement to the LTTE's separatist and fascist designs.

Obviously LTTE's main aim is to establish a separate Eelam which is strenuously backed by Tamil Nadu chauvinist parties. The determined and unabashed elimination of even moderate Sri Lanka Tamil leaders such as Padmanabha, Amirthalingam, etc., by the LTTE leadership makes it clear that the LTTE is not interested in solving the ethnic issue on democratic lines. In this context what is the guarantee that our hard won freedom will not be in jeopardy if some of the Tamil Nadu politicians, going by their battle cry speeches out of sheer expediency to come to power, advocate the vivisection of our country. Therein lies the danger. In the ultimate analysis it becomes doubly clear that the only sagacious course for the Vajpayee Government is to reiterate to the Tamil Nadu partners in the NDA that the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka should be solved through constitutional and political reforms as the Kumaratunga Government has offered as a way out of the morass.

P. S. Krishnan,

Chennai

* * *

Sir, - The escalating Sri Lankan war has turned Tamil Nadu politics hot again. Should India get involved in it? Or can it keep off? These are the vexed questions before the Vajpayee Government. The presence of the pro-LTTE parties in the coalition is an embarrassing factor which may upset the NDA applecart.

The LTTE supremo Prabhakaran projecting himself as the champion of the victimised minority shows little signs of tiring. His bomb squads maximise the mayhem hitting at will whenever a peace move is initiated. He did it when the Kumaratunga Government offered an autonomy package. His Jaffna action now is to abort the Oslo initiative. His ways to achieve the goal of Tamil Eelam are frightening.

As Ms. Malini Parthasarathy has rightly pointed out in her article, with the Tigers gaining ascendancy in the northern Sri Lanka ``the pro-LTTE forces in Tamil Nadu have begun to shed their inhibitions about demonstrating their LTTE sympathies''. There are already ominous signals which the Centre cannot ignore. The nation is aware how the Tamil chauvinists of the State supported the LTTE-inspired plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.

India has only one role. It is to bring Colombo and the LTTE to the negotiating table.

C. R. Narayanan,

Cuddalore (TN)

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