The Hindu : The Mahabharata in Ravanapur

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Tuesday, Apr 23, 2002

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The Mahabharata in Ravanapur

By Subramanian Swamy

The dilemma for India is how to destroy the terror network of the LTTE without strengthening Sinhala chauvinists.

THE LONG-FESTERING civil conflict raging since 1948 in Sri Lanka is no more really for the just rights of the Tamils versus the Sinhalese obstinate determination to deny them. Nor is the recent peace process merely a beginning of the end of that conflict. The undercurrent in the conflict and bottom line in the proposed peace agreement represent the struggle between Indian integrity and those who wish to undo it. The crossfire between Sinhala chauvinism and Tamil terrorism arising from contrived ethnic differences has over the years killed or maimed the moderate citizens of Sri Lanka who had been pro-India. What is left is a polarised Lankan society fantasising on the mischievously fostered Aryan-Dravidian theory. The outcome of this clash between the two fundamentalist forces will have a deep impact on India's integrity since our unity is based on the melting pot concept and not on the North-South bogus racial divide that the British had designed.

Sinhala chauvinists are basically anti-Indian on a puerile belief in discredited Aryan supremacy, while Tamil terrorists, in league with the ISI of Pakistan and the narcotics lobby, are financing and arming secessionists not only in Tamil Nadu but in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Assam and some other States as well on the theory that balkanisation of India will help create a Akhand Tamil area for them. These two fundamentalist forces come together time to time only to meet a common but falsely perceived threat to the island from Indian composite culture and plurality. When Rajiv Gandhi sent the IPKF to protect the integrity of Sri Lanka, at the invitation of both Tamils and Sinhalese, the elements opposed to that decision were Tamil separatists in India and Sinhala chauvinists in the island. The Sinhala chauvinists led by Premadasa then co-opted the LTTE terrorists, and the latter received money, weapons and moral encouragement from Sinhala chauvinists to fight the IPKF. This Sinhala treachery ultimately facilitated Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

The LTTE also assassinated Tamil moderate leaders such as Amrithalingam and Neelan Tiruchelvam, and even killed pro-Indian moderate Sinhala leaders such as Gamini Dissanayake. It is a horrible surprise to us Indians that Sinhala leaders today such as the present President and Prime Minister or the so-called leaders of the Tamil National Alliance of Sri Lanka feel no sense of outrage or shame in negotiating with killers of their best leadersIn India, the whole of Tamil Nadu has risen as one united society to say no to the LTTE. For Tamils, Rajiv Gandhi's dastardly assassination may be 11 years old, but his loss is and will remain fresh in their minds.

But we must beware that there lurks the fond hope of some in India's neighbourhood that Tamil Nadu with the help of a few traitors can be made into another Kashmir. Indian patriots therefore have to forever exercise eternal vigilance as the price for India's integrity. Greenhouses for India's balkanisation will pop up from time to time. One such that may be set up soon is the proposed interim administration in Jaffna. Such a set-up is proposed to be handed over to the ISI-backed LTTE at an early stage of the Norway-brokered new peace process. India has therefore to put Sri Lanka on alert: an interim administration in Tamil area of north and east, without handing over Prabakaran and Pottu Amman to India is not acceptable and would invite a response from India if not today, then tomorrow. Sri Lanka should realise that India is not cursed to forever have weak Prime Ministers. India cannot any more be indulgent to those who have scant regard for our integrity. India has already lost heavily, in national security terms, during the past five decades first by being foolishly indulgent to the Sri Lankan Sinhala elites, and later by resorting to adventurism in aiding Tamil rebellion. India, for example, looked the other way when the British imperialists arbitrarily de-linked the island of Sri Lanka from the Indian mainland and made it an independent country. After all, the Sri Lankan leaders were members of the Mahatma Gandhi led Congress Party till 1948!

After their Independence, the first thing the Sinhala leaders did, encouraged by the British, was to ensure that those who had proximate connection with the Indian mainland were deprived of Sri Lankan citizenship. Tamils became the hapless victims because to qualify for Sri Lankan citizenship, they had to give the name, address, and employer of their great grandfather in Sri Lanka. In other words, a Tamil in 1948 had to identify who his ancestor was in 1850, and where that ancestor was working in that year! How many could do that? As a result, millions of Tamils were denied their citizenship, a horror in human rights and unprecedented in international law. But Jawaharlal Nehru acquiesced, so did Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Indira Gandhi, while spineless leaders in Tamil Nadu made no protest. At that time, even the Tamil elites in Jaffna had merely smirked because this requirement was for Tamils living in Sinhala majority areas only. With the Tamils of the south Sri Lanka rendered destitute, the Sinhalas turned their attention north soon enough. Few in the world took notice of this despicable discrimination that became soon enough a fertile breeding ground for a Prabakaran.

The dilemma for India is how to destroy the terror network of the LTTE without strengthening Sinhala chauvinists. And if India tries to fill the vacuum, then the Sinhala chauvinist and the Tamil terrorist would get together. The core problem is that the Tamils in Sri Lanka have no leaders left who can stand up to the terror either of the Sinhalas or the LTTE. That limits our options. Indians can wash their hands off as we are doing now, or roll up our sleeves and get in there. Abdicating our role in safeguarding our interests is a dangerous option because the end result of the peace process may fortify those who want to dismember India. We have no option but to get in there and play our role. It cannot be done right away. We have to wait till the present peace process fails, and demoralisation takes place in Sri Lanka. In the meantime, India has to, without associating with the peace process, ensure that Prabakaran is not legitimised by being allowed to head any administration. That would be a disaster for us because then the entire hawala, narcotics, and gun running rackets besides terror training will shift headquarters to Jaffna and be out of reach. This network will be directed at India. Jaffna will become the new Afghanistan for all international terrorists. With Kashmir and Northeast insurgency at hand, India cannot risk another festering secessionist sore. Today the Sinhalas are sapped and emotionally depleted people. Because they are, they have agreed to talk with the LTTE, and even hand over the northeast Sri Lanka to the LTTE. India cannot however afford to watch this slide. To allow that would be too dangerous for our national security. Hence, as the clock ticks away for India's intervention in Sri Lanka, our thinkers should design how that is to be structured, phased and executed. This has all the makings of a Mahabharata.

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