Sudath Gunasekara PhD. (S.L A. S). President Senior Citizens Movement .Mahnuwara 15.July 2010
I reproduce below a news report by a special correspondent that appeared in the Hindu of 18th July 2010.
“CHENNAI, July 16, 2010
PM seeks views of Chief Minister on Sri LankaPrime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought views and advice of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on ways to be adopted for the process of genuine reconciliation to resolve the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka.
Responding to the Chief Minister’s letter of July 3, Dr Singh, in his reply of July 9, stated that “my government will certainly do all that it can to enable the Tamils in Sri Lankan to live a life of dignity and self-respect. We will use our influence and make efforts to help in the restoration of normal life in northern and eastern Sri Lanka through the rapid rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons [IDP].”
Pointing out that the Union government had committed Rs. 500 crore for the purpose, the Prime Minister said the government would also render assistance in the construction of 50,000 houses for IDPs. Besides, it was trying to restore normal economic activity in the areas by building infrastructure and promoting sustainable livelihood.
Thanking Mr Karunanidhi for his letter on the situation of the Tamils, Dr. Singh mentioned that apart from his discussion with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa last month, he had recently met a delegation of Members of the Sri Lankan Parliament who belonged to the Tamil National Alliance”.
Assuming the above news item as authentic we can come to the following main conclusions by reading that statement.
The Indian Prime Minister is convinced that
1 There is an ethnic problem in Sri Lanka
affecting (only) the Tamils
- He will take necessary steps to resolve it on the views and advice of the Tamilnadu Chief Minister
3 All Tamils of Sri Lanka do not live a life of dignity and self-respect
4 Tamils in the Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka now do not have a normal life and it need to be restored
5 He also has recently discussed this subject with a delegation of Tamil MPP from Sri Lanka and finally.
6 Both Manmohan Singh ad Karunanidhi appear to think Sri Lanka is a fiefdom of South India
7 Resolving the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka is part of his job as the Prime Minister of India and beside the steps he has taken stated in para 3 of the above statement he will also do all what his government can do to enable the Tamils in Sri Lanka to live a life of dignity and self-respect and he will also use his influence to resolve the problems of Tamils in Sri Lanka as pointed out by the Tamilnadu Chief Minister.
I do not think any Sri Lankan will oppose with the decision of the Indian government to help to restore the normal life of people in the Northern and Eastern Provinces in Sri Lanka as India had been the key partner in the destruction of the entire economy and the normal life of these people as she had been the main supporter of the LTTE terrorists who are solely responsible for this devastation. My only grievance is she has not realized that she needs to extend the same support for the restoration of such devastations the LTTE had done in other parts of the country as well.
But it is a sad tragedy to note that India continues to think and act as if this country is a regional state of India and thereby failed to accept the status of Sri Lankan state as an Independent Sovereign nation. India still appears to think it has a mandatory right to think Sri Lankan Tamils as her own citizens and therefore has a divine right to organize them against the Sri Lankan government as she did it in the past by training the LTTE and providing it with military assistance to carve out a separate Tamil state (EELAM) in the Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
The whole world knows that the Delhi government has to depend on Tamilnadu for the stability of its political power. But India should realize that it has no moral or ethical right to interfere with another country’s independence and sovereignty just to meet its own internal political ends. It is true that yearning for political power make politicians blind and as such they always do blind things. But such blindness should not be used to invade the sovereignty of another nation by destabilizing its internal governance. Such action is contrary to all accepted principles and covenants of international law. Why not India puts her own house in to order first before she tries to sweep the neighbour’s compound?
It is really sad to note that India never learn from its past blunders. It has already paid one of the biggest prices with Rajeev’s assassination in 1991 by helping the Sri Lankan Tamils against the Sri Lankan government and invading Sri Lanka in August 1987. The LTTE, what we have buried more than six feet below in Sri Lanka is still active in Tamilnadu and today it poses the biggest threat against the integrity, stability and future of the Indian state. Therefore is it not advisable to address its own internal problems that are perhaps more crucial for their own polity without trying to throw its weight around on the neighbouring sovereign states. Why can’t the present day Indian politicians give up their destructive and intriguing Chanakyan approach to politics and learn from their own history by following what Asoka and Gautama Buddha, the greatest ruler and the most illustrious and the greatest human being the world has ever produced had taught them or at least follow Jawaharlal Nehru’s foreign policy towards its neighbours?
Of cause the choice is theirs. It is never late even now for them to adopt a more rational and pragmatic political approach towards her neighbours. I can vouch for certain that the present day Indian leaders will never be able to go down in history as great men in history or be such men and women in their life time if they don’t change their present arrogant and narrow attitude and approach towards Sri Lanka and other neighbours. It may be we are too small to tell them this reality. But history will prove that reality is mightier than political greed for temporary political power that makes humans inhuman.