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© Suranimala Perera Senaratna ~ World Council Of Sinhala Peers ~ For LankaWeb

25th Aug.2006

There is nothing new about Pakistan's role in Sri Lanka's war against LTTE terrorism and if this is a consternation for India which has conveniently chosen the back burner to pontificate about the direction the Sri Lankan Government has chosen to take in order to eradicate terrorism in Sri Lanka where the logistical assistance and support proffered by Pakistan is readily accepted that is India's prerogative!

That Pakistan is playing an increased role in Sri Lanka's counter-insurgency operations against the Tamil Tigers should be something India should be happy about rather than attempting to play dog in the manger and should be no cause for concern for India beyond a neglect which by rights should have the iIndians contemplating on one of their more apparent lapses towards regional safety where they have even hedged and backtracked on the Defence Accord which was supposed to have been set in place yet circumvented due to the LTTE lobby from Tamil Nadu Parliamentarians.

To the contrary the Indian Government should be relieved that the responsibility has been taken off its shoulders where lessons should have been learned after the botched stint by the Indian Peacekeeping Force during the tenure of the Late Rajiv Gandhi and if reluctant to play any active role in Sri Lankan matters pertaining to terrorism should stay out of it and let those genuinely concerened get on with the job rather than hampering it towards maintaining their status quo in South Asia in a scramble for superiority.

The report where Indian intelligence sources are said to be claiming that a group of Pakistani officers were drawing up plans jointly with the Sri Lankan Air Force for "a decapitation strike from the air, with bunker-buster bombs, to kill Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is in all probabilities accurate and a course of actions which should have been taken aeons ago as a leaderless LTTE would have taken a direct course to the Indian Ocean and hence Tamil Nadu which perhaps is also worrying the Indian Authorities as a possible repeat as they have already had a foretaste of what the LTTE are capable of instigating by way of mayhem where they once virtually ran amok in that Indian State until banned and thrown out in the aftermath of the Gandhi Assassination!

Recent speculations by the Pakistani authorities indicated in media reports suggest that India in a state of agitation over Pakistani involvement in Sri Lanka's terrorist woes could easily make a decision to counter by providing covert and undeclared support to the Tami Tigers in a worst case scenario which of course would be literally putting a noose around their own necks considering the world condemnations it would initiate but the possibilities according to some analysts exist where India might throw caution to the winds but in all probabilities unlikely as the need to maintain their image in the region as well as globally that their integrities lean towards the good rather than the bad which in this case is the terrorist identity of the LTTE.

While The Tamil Tigers and the worldwide diaspora of Tamils in support are attempting to win Indian sympathies towards their cause without much success. India albeit opposed to everything the LTTE stands for bar a few agitations from despots like pro LTTE Indian agitator Vaiko and a handful of other confused voices in the Indian Parliament, in the face of direct Pakistani involvement in Sri Lanka could nevertheless play a countering role to Pakistan's open support to Sri Lanka by pumping up the LTTE surreptitiously as speculated by some analysts but a bastardization of their original stance against the LTTE and a catch 22 situation for India should the circumstances ever arise.

With much cordiality maintained between Sri Lanka and Pakistan for many decades, Pakistan unlike India have pledged unconditional support for Sri Lanka's cause in the war against terrorism where India of late has merely maintained lip service and a dialogue towards negotiation.Thereby it does not seem at all untoward in the face of increased LTTE attrocities recently that the Pakistan Air Force officers have reportedly been guiding the Sri Lankan Air Force officers in effectively carrying out air-mounted operations against the LTTE.

Pakistan, which has already been playing a discreet role in assisting the Sri Lankan security forces in their operations against the LTTE even before the present administration of Mahinda Rajapakska came into effect, is purported to have further increased involvement in the counter-insurgency operations which from a Sri Lankan standpoint is very positive towards the well being of the nation and an added boost towards ridding the Nation permanently of the terrorist scourge which has been around for much too long!

The cringing scum which presents itself as the LTTE leader Prabhakaran must surely have his days numbered as a coward who hides in bunkers in the Wanni. A gutless wonder yet a ruthless murderer by every term of the definition needing to be flushed out and put out of his misery alongside of his top order cronies and what better way to do it than with a few bunker busters regardless of where it comes from and who provides the added logistics! Professor Hudson Maclean probably has something to add to this being one of his favourite themes!

An interesting euphemism to this story has been provided by Asiantribune's H.L.D.Mahindapala quoted here as saying " India destabilised Sri Lanka when Mrs. Indira Gandhi was allied to the Soviet Union. She opposed Sri Lanka moving closer to USA under J. R. Jayewardene. Will India do it once again because Sri Lanka is getting closer to its old enemy, Pakistan? Is all this going to take the Sri Lankan crisis to a new level? Above all, is South Asia about to burst into a huge conflagration with the two nuclear giants of the region testing their nerves and strengths in Sri Lanka?Analysts believe that India will not make the same mistake twice of tying up with the Tamil Tigers, particularly with the Indian mood running against the Tigers who has admitted to the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.

At the same time, if India feels threatened by Pakistan getting closer to Sri Lanka then there is a possibility of India using the Tigers to beat Pakistan in Sri Lanka."Looking at the new development from any angle there is no doubt that India has to take the blame for Sri Lanka's slide towards Pakistan," said a leading sociologist. "It is India's failure to take a firm stand against separatist terrorism in Sri Lanka that has opened the space for Pakistan to enter. India's interventions in the region -- from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka -- have been a disaster for India in particular and SAARC in general. If India decides to go with the Tamil Tigers the repercussions will be disastrous. India can afford to lose the support of the last remaining 4% Tamils in Sri Lanka. But it can't afford to lose the 80% Sinhalese who are there to stay unlike the Tamils who prefer to run away from the raging violence," end quote

If Pakistan has chosen to play the role which by rights should have been India's in the first place it is India's Faux Pas or perhaps even a missed opportunity to set right some of the woes of the IPKF infamy! and no reason for India to bicker over and there should be no competition set in place where the two Nuclear Giants of South Asia might end up in a proxy war in Sri Lanka as speculated which would of course set off greater ramifications in the overall scheme of things but sounding more like speculation ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.

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