CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

When Santa Claus Came in June!

Dilrook Kannangara

Separatists of all kinds jumped for joy when a high powered Indian delegation arrived here last week. They came up with various theories to paint a rosy picture for the LTTE and the Tamil separatist movement. Escalation in violence, alleged and real human right abuses, lack of political will for a ‘political solution’, government’s gung ho approach towards the war, concerns of Tamil Nadu politicians regarding the alleged sufferings of Tamil people at the hands of the military and a host of other commonalities of war anywhere on earth were sighted as triggers of the visit. They expected India to give Sri Lanka the last warning. In short they asserted that Santa Claus has come to town. Little that they realised that Santa only gives you what your mum and dad gave him; nothing more!

Now it is clear that the most significant matter arose at the meetings the top military men from India had with Lankan authorities is far from sweet for the LTTE. India is going to boost military ties with Lanka. However it cannot boost military ties without a reciprocal gesture from Lanka. What more Lanka wanted from India at this stage? It is indeed starving for weapons, weapons that can beat the life out of Tamil Tiger terrorists!

The Chinese and Pakistani connection

What prompted India to make these friendly approaches towards its long forgotten friend? It has on most occasions taken Lanka’s friendship for granted. However, it can no longer afford to do so. China using its well crafted strategy to encircle India is fast moving to the last frontier which is towards the south of India. The southern opening has been very important for India as it is the only avenue for its navel movements. Things came to a head when Sri Lanka teamed up with China and its allies even stronger owing to the war with the LTTE. However India is divided between two vitally important issues of concern. On one hand it has national security and on the other Tamil aspirations. Unlike Sri Lanka, India made no confusion about what should be the priority! This time, remarkably, there are no conditions. India hasn’t demanded the implementation of a federal system or anything else regarding the ‘ethnic’ problem to co-operate with Lanka. It knows that if it waits until Lanka provides a political solution to the ‘ethnic’ problem, it will be too late to reverse Chinese incursions in the island. This is very favourable for Lanka which is not welcoming any form of outside consultation. It should be noted that the statement by the Indian delegation that there is no military solution was only a cover-up as it has no binding effect or obligation on Sri Lanka. This caused upset in some quarters, prematurely.

India’s continued support for the LTTE

The weight of Tamil influences on India from Tamil Nadu and from Sri Lanka is huge. It was only a few weeks ago that a few Lankan politicians went to India to plead for its involvement here. It was India that breast fed the LTTE with the intent of destabilising the island nation’s economy. It saved the terror group on a number of occasions from sure extinction. LTTE bases were allowed to function without any restriction in south Indian villages in the 1980s. The 2002 Norway brokered surrender agreement which was fancifully termed “ceasefire agreement” (CFA) - although firing never ceased following its signing - was an Indian brainchild. How the “ceasefire agreement” severely handicapped Lanka’s security and awarded LTTE a freehand is no secret today. It was too much for India to reveal its dirty hidden hand in the CFA that it chose to hide behind Norway. The cat jumped out the bag when Sri Lanka unilaterally withdrew from the CFA in 2008. This prompted Norway to go back to India for further instructions. Narayan who is widely regarded as the think tank behind the CFA had to eat the humble pie when he had to come down to Lanka to break the good news that it is going to enhance military co-operation. Another factor to consider is the LTTE ban reimposed by India recently. Reasons to continue with the LTTE ban relate to Indian interests only according to papers submitted to the Indian Cabinet. They make no reference for Lanka’s security concerns.

Although maritime patrols are conducted by India and Lanka together, this has failed to stop the LTTE bringing in large hauls of weapons across the strait. It habitually intermingles with South Indian fishermen to do its clandestine operations. India can certainly do more in this regard. The simple restriction of South Indian fishermen from entering Lankan waters will immensely cut down LTTE activities.

The Tamil National Struggle

Atop all these India knows that Tamil Nadu is a candidate for the Tamil nation. In fact the Tamil national struggle started from India. It tried its luck thereafter in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and the Maldives. The craving for a sovereign Tamil nation is very much alive and it should crop up from any one of the candidates. If it fails in Sri Lanka, there is a strong possibility of it re-emerging in Tamil Nadu.

On the other hand there is some chance of LTTE inciting interest in Tamil Nadu to join its Tamil Nation once it is created. However, this requires the fulfilment of two very unlikely tasks. First LTTE should manage to create Tamil Elam and it should be sustainable. Secondly Tamils in Tamils Nadu should have an urge and a desire to live under Parabakaran. The Panama like Tamil state would then emerge which lies on either side of the Palk Strait. Emerging dissent regards the LTTE in Tamil Nadu is bad news for such a move. Tamil Nadu becoming the premier Indian state for many of its industries is very unlikely to take up the struggle of the under-developed in Northern Sri Lanka. India has started to execute its language policy stronger in Tamil Nadu forcing all schools to compulsorily teach Hindi. This will integrate Tamils with other Indians very effectively as the use of a single language across a nation is the strongest bond possible. Unfortunately this has been made to mockery in Sri Lanka! Therefore although Lankan Tamil leaders look up to Tamil Nadu, the converse will never be true.

When considering the above two factors, bets are even for a separate Tamil nation in Tamil Nadu (in the event the Tamil nation project in Lanka fails) and for a Tamil Elam-Tamil Nadu tie up. Both are non-starters at this stage and do not cause too much concern for India.

A Slap on the face of moderate Tamil Elamists

Moderate Tamil Elamists expected much more from India. Firstly they hoped that India would force another ‘ceasefire’ on the GOSL so that ‘civilian’ casualties will reduce. Secondly they expected it to come up with a newer version of the 13th Amendment to give some sort of permanency to what the LTTE achieved so far through ethnic cleansing. Thirdly they anticipated some form of pressure on the Lankan government to come up with an ‘acceptable’ political solution to Tamils. At the very least they expected India to say something about alleged human rights violations, etc. Much to their dismay none of these happened.

However, this signals something far graver for them. This visit comes only weeks after a host of Lankan politicians pleaded with India to do something to save the LTTE (or at least its cause). India made it very clear to them not to burden them with Lanka’s issues as it has no interest in them. The self-proclaimed ‘moderate’ who begged India to retake Kachchativu in 2002 would be in jitters. The ‘moderates’ are told in no uncertain terms to satisfy themselves with whatever (if any) is offered to them.

War to turn more virulent

With the open support of India, Lanka war is set to turn more virulent. Lanka had to repeatedly SOS for arms in the 1980s only to have just two of its friends - they were nothing compared to today’s friends – respond. Not any more. It has a choice of Asian, European, etc. suppliers competing against each other. In return Lanka has just a little to offer; yet they are happy to be part of the war. Those who bombed the Pakistani High Commissioner in 2006 are given a dose of their own medicine.

The sheer amount of courage and conviction shown by Lankan defence authorities is remarkable. They were ably supported by aggressive diplomacy on matters of high national importance. Our batters have batted well; bowlers have bowled well and the keeper has kept clean. It was a multi disciplinary team effort. Sri Lankans who oppose the government’s war effort must now rally around it to continue its good work. Their wish of peace is the ultimate end of the war, if Lanka pulls through victory.

However, Santa Claus didn’t forget Tamil separatists either. He gave them a present too. Obviously it was worthless as Tamil separatists have no sponsor, parent or guardian today after their sole representative killed them all in style. Their present was a mere verbal remark which has been replayed off the same old tape.

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