Asada M Erpini

NIE reports, as quoted by the local media on 15 February, that a Tamil Nadu group, going by the name Hindu Makkal Katchi, has petitioned the Madras High Court for the closure of the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka. For once, the large majority of peace-loving Sri Lankans have got something on which they can agree with the noise makers in Tamil Nadu and a demand that they would wholeheartedly support.

India was never a friend of Sri Lanka, except in the bygone days of Emperor Asoka and those of his ilk many moons ago.

Coming to the more recent past, starting from the time of Indira Gandhi, all that India did was geared at undermining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the island nation.

Military training offered by India at its military bases in Dehra Dun and other places transformed a rag tag bunch of street thugs, who originated in Velvetithurai in Jaffna, to a killing machine that had the audacity to take on the military forces of a sovereign nation head on.

When Rajiv Gandhi was at the helm of power, he had no qualms about sending IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s euphemistically-termed Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka in 1987. Many Indian mediawallahs as well as a large number of other Indians, even today, keep on stating that the Indians were invited by the Sri Lanka President at the time with the aim of bringing peace to the country: when the Indian air force planes had violated the Sri Lankan airspace in the infamous parippu drop over Jaffna and there were Indian warships menacingly hovering near Colombo, all that a powerless nation could do was to sign an ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”agreementƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that was thrust upon it. Many would say that the action of India was far worse than what the Italian mafiosos are reputed of doing.

Whatever peace that Sri Lanka has achieved today is not the result of the actions of the IPKF or of any other peace merchants: it is the many young men and women from the rural areas of the country who had joined the armed forces and had made tremendous sacrifices, that had given a peaceful period to the entire population, including the Tamils in the North, since May 2009.

With the dawn of peace in Sri Lanka after the annihilation of LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s military wing by the valiant armed forces of the country, Sri Lanka has had a deluge of things Indian:

Bajaj tuk tuks are there in every nook and corner, Marutis and Suzukis from India ply every available road space and many Indian businessmen have ventured into building hotels, opening shopping malls and investing to build luxury condominiums on the most valuable real estate in the country. Any fool knows that all this clamour to have a piece of the pie is not because of the IndiansƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ desire to help in the reconstruction of the infrastructure or contribute to the welfare of the Tamils about whom every Tom, Dick and Harry in Tamil Nadu (someone in the past had referred to the Tamil Nadu noise makers as clowns or jokers) sheds copious tears.

India is an important member of SAARC. Yet it considered it proper to side with the US in March 2012 to back the most prominent human rights violator ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the US – when the latter instigated a motion against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council. The same action is likely to be repeated in March 2013 when the US is going to table another anti-Sri Lanka motion at the UNHRC sessions.

All that Sri Lanka has been asking for is to be left alone to deal with its problems as best as it can. In May 2009 the armed forces rescued 300,000 Tamil civilians who had been detained for use as a human shield by LTTE. But that has been completely forgotten by the so called international community, and all that Sri Lanka had been doing is being projected as committing war crimes and genocide against the Tamils. If India is a true friend, it can do a great deal to counter the allegations, but that is wishful thinking.

Let Hindu Makkal Katchi go ahead with its legal move. The writer earnestly hopes and prays that it succeeds.