India’s Role in Sri Lanka
SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
Box 55292, 300 Borough Drive, Toronto, Ontario, M1P 4Z7, Canada
Hon. Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister
Central Government of India
New Delhi, India
Honourable Prime Minister Dr. Singh,
India’s Role in Sri Lanka
We are writing to send our warmest greetings and express our respectful
admiration for the clear and correct statement made by you with regard
to the legitimate role that India could play in the internal affairs
of your smaller independent sovereign state of Sri Lanka in response
to demands made by some of the leaders of the Legislative Assembly of
Tamil Nadu. We are happy to note that India under your leadership has
departed from the interventionism of your predecessors who are responsible
for training, funding and arming the militant Tamil groups of Sri Lanka
who have sought to militarily break up the island nation, which has
contributed to the lack of peace and the present instability, which
no doubt could have serious consequences for India as well had the objective
of dividing the country by armed force succeeded to any degree.
As you are well aware, the major problem in Sri Lanka is the militaristic
approach of the extremist Tamils led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE), an internationally designated terrorist group, which seeks
to create a mono-ethnic, mono-political, separate state by carving out
a large extent of Sri Lanka’s territory for the exclusive domain
of the Tamil people through armed aggression including suicide terrorism
and deep hatred towards the Sinhalese, claiming that the 80 million
Tamils spread across the globe do not have a sovereign territory of
their own. The LTTE has been receiving moral, financial and clandestine
aid from the political establishment and other separatist groups in
Tamil Nadu to pursue their misguided military campaign in Sri Lanka,
souring the good relations that exist between the two neighbouring countries.
The people of Sri Lanka from all communities including Tamils considered
dissidents to their cause have all suffered immensely during the past
three decades. The Government of Sri Lanka has taken retaliatory measures
against these terrorist forces and are nearing the task of removing
the armed threat posed by the LTTE. With the defeat of the forces of
terrorism, there will be space for all communities to work out an equitable
system of governance that is acceptable to all parties.
We would like to remind you that it is not only the Tamils who have
links to India, even the Sinhalese and Muslims have ties that exist
for a very long period. The Sinhalese people have had most cordial relations
with India which goes back over two millennia to the time of Emperor
Asoka and prior period. In fact, the Sinhalese became followers and
practitioners of the Dhamma taught by India’s greatest son, Siddhartha
Gauthama Buddha from ancient times dating back to over 2300 years, and
hence have deep emotional ties to India. Furthermore, Sri Lanka has
earlier formalised a treaty in Bandung known as the Pancha Seela Pact,
wherein our two countries drew up the terms of friendship based on non-interference
in the internal affairs of each other.
Whilst we have always respected India and even considered her our mentor,
we trust that you and the other leaders of India will take positive
steps to further improve the existing ties with Sri Lanka that would
mutually benefit our two countries in the years to come.
Yours very truly,
Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President
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