Asada M Erpini

A report attributed to the new High Commissioner of India to Si Lanka that appeared on 10 August under the title, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-New Indian Envoy to Sri Lanka Keen to Improve TiesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ mentions that he is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-keen to build on existing ties between the two countriesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

The issue of building upon ties that the High Commissioner refers to seems fine on superficial browsing. But on careful examination, the discerning reader would wonder what and where these ties are that the gentleman wants to improve upon. And, many Sri Lankans, on the other hand, will be able to point out numerous examples of the scheming, manoeuvring, arm twisting and open hostility that India had initiated and carried out, which have led to India having very few Sri Lankans treating it as a friend.

At the Human Rights Council sessions held in March 2012 and March 2013 India found it proper to take the side of the US ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a country whose human rights record in its operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and, prior to that in, Vietnam is abysmal ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” to vote against Sri Lanka on a US-sponsored human rights resolution when Sri Lanka had only been involved in safeguarding its sovereignty and putting down a terrorist insurrection within its own territorial boundaries. Many know that the US is the very same country that had Madeleine Albright, its then US Ambassador to the UN, responding to a question on 12 May 1996 in a 60 minutes TV episode about the reported half a million Iraqi children killed because of the UN sanctions, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-I think this is a very hard choice, but the priceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”we think the price is worth itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

India from the times of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi has been financing and providing training opportunities in its military training facilities to various terrorist groups from Sri Lanka.

Dixit, IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s on-time ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”viceroyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to Sri Lanka has said that the boys (LTTE) were trained by India from 1977. Karunanidhi has been reported as having said that the LTTE and other groups ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” they were naturally militants to him ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” since 1982, and that Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi encouraged and trained the LTTE and other Tamil terrorists.

It is reported that the first group of tigers received their training in Chakrata, Uttarakhand. Other groups followed, with training in Himachal Pradesh. Tamil Nadu provided training facilities to eight other batches of LTTE.

In the Vadamarachchi operation of 1987, when Pirabaharan was about to be caught by Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s armed forces, India intervened and evacuated the LTTE leader to India, thus helping to prolong the terrorist insurrection in Sri Lanka for another two decades, resulting in tens of thousands of unwanted deaths.

In June 1987 India sent warships to Sri Lanka that lay anchored off Colombo harbour and despatched five Mirage fighters violating the airspace of sovereign Sri Lanka to accompany the infamous ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”parippu dropƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, and with 35 national and international journalists aboardƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  to record the Indian ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”bravadoƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ for posterity.

The Prime Minister of India, to satisfy the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, as well as to ensure that he retains power at the help of the oft-quoted ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”largest democracyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, keeps on repeating that he will ensure that the Tamils (of Sri Lanka) are masters of their own destiny within a united Sri Lanka and that he wants the Tamils (of Sri Lanka) to live with dignity and self respect ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” as if any law-abiding Tamil is deprived of this manna from heaven that the Indian Prime Minster is going to bestow on the former. The poor gentleman does not seem to realise that there are 70 million Tamils living in Tamil Nadu to whom he can give all these wonderful benefits, without worrying about the citizens of another independent, sovereign country.

Before India thinks of building upon existing ties, which many would say are in shambles and have hit rock bottom in living memory, it has to take concrete steps to at least attempt to repair the damage that it has done over past few decades. For a start, India has to stop treating Sri Lanka as a vassal state of the Maha Bharat Empire and not allow the vociferous Eelam supporters in Tamil Nadu, led by its current as well as once-had-been political leaders to dictate terms to New Delhi on how the Central Government should formulate its foreign policy vis a vis Sri Lanka.

In this connection, it may be worth quoting Shenali Waduge, a very frequent writer to Lankaweb, to conclude this essay: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-No amount of diplomatic or PR tamashas can ever change the fact that Sri Lanka does not trust India and will never trust IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2013/07/28/india-armed-trained-financially-sponsored-ltte-terrorists-and-sri-lankan-tamil-militants/).