By R Hariharan –
Col. (retd) R.Hariharan
Recently, even as Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena was in New Delhi on a two-day visit to India to talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Chennai the Tamil Nadu chief minister Ms Jayalalitha was celebrating her party’s unprecedented victory in the assembly elections belying pollsters who predicted a close call. There is a seamless connection between the two events because the woes of Sri Lanka Tamils is the grist of Tamil Nadu political discourse from the time of Sri Lanka’s infamous anti-Tamil pogrom in 1983. Regardless of what was happening in Sri Lanka’s never ending conflict, for Tamil Nadu politicians Prabhakaran’s armed struggle for Tamil Eelam was the focus.
The latest assembly election was no exception though the Sri Lanka Tamil issue was on a lower priority in campaign presumably because the Tamil Tigers have been defeated and Mahinda Rajapaksa, the man who defeated them was no more in power. But it did not make a difference to some parties like the Naam Tamizhar party, known for its strong devotion to Prabhakaran, campaigned with his posters on display. Ms Jayalalitha was more specific; speaking at an election rally in Tiruchi said she would continue to work for ushering in a separate Tamil Eelam and enable Tamils live with full freedom and self respect.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister’s statement created a flutter among Sinhala political and nationalist lobbies across the Palk Straits. However, answering a media query President Sirisena brushed aside its importance, pointing out the context of the election campaign in which it was made. He said one need not get exercised over it as generally politicians were known for making a number of statements during elections. That is true. But the Tamil Nadu chief minister, affectionately named ‘Amma’ by her devoted followers who fall at her feet, is known for making good of her election promises. Her campaign was spun around this USP. This time also she did just that: immediately after swearing in, she signed a slew of orders to deliver the goodies she promised the people. But the question is can she deliver on her promised to continue to work for creating an independent Tamil Eelam?
In a way President Sirisena’s contention was correct; Sri Lanka formed only a small part of the Tamil Nadu chief minister in her virulent focus on the DMK and her bête noir Karunanidhi, its leader. Her statement on Tamil Eelam was in the context of her accusation of the DMK leader betraying the interests of Tamils not only in the state but also in Sri Lanka. Apart from speaking in support of Tamil Eelam, Ms Jayalalitha also said her party would press the Centre to provide dual citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamils in Tamil Nadu so that they could get employment opportunities easily. She added that Sri Lanka Tamils living here should be repatriated with their full consent, only after complete normalcy and full protection was ensured for them back home.
At the political level, Sri Lankan Tamil polity is not looking for support for Tamil Eelam from Amma. Typical was the reaction of Sri Lanka’s Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesman and MP Sumanthiran to Amma’s statement. He appreciated her for the emotional support for Tamils and hoped she would turn it to promote the Tamil cause in a constructive way. He added that the Lankan Tamils no longer demand a separate Tamil Eelam but want a political solution in line with their expressed aspirations in a united Sri Lanka.
Not all Sri Lanka Tamil parties vocalized their stand on Tamil Eelam because they have been thriving on the issue. But in TNA, it is Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) with the largest following that calls the shot. Despite pulls and pressures within, TNA is a little more pragmatic and seems to have accepted the political reality after the defeat of LTTE. However, Northern Province chief minister C.V. Wigneswaran who is in power with TNA support does not share the TNA’s view. He feels the sincerity of the Sirisena government to do justice to Tamils is suspect. He was apparently elated with the Tamil Nadu chief minister’s statement.
Ms Jayalalitha’s reply to the Northern Province chief minister’s letter of congratulations on her victory indicated how she was likely take up the Sri Lanka Tamil issue further. Thanking him for the good wishes, she said she would continue to make efforts to ensure justice is done to “Sri Lankan Tamils of the Northern Province, through the government of India.”
So the iron lady, known for her shrewd political understanding, knows the way the cookie is crumbling in India-Sri Lanka relations ever since both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Modi came to power almost at the same time. The writing on the wall is clear: Tamil Nadu’s power play that had shackled India’s Sri Lanka policy in the past is gone. Prime Minister Modi’s BJP won a majority in parliament in 2014 elections just as Sirisena did with a promise of yahapalanaya (good governance) and equitable treatment for Tamils who voted him to power. Both the leaders are rewriting their narratives and synergising their strengths to build better relations, for the mutual benefit of their people.
Amma is in a unique position to give a positive tweak to Tamil Nadu’s negative discourse on Sri Lanka that has lost its relevance. The immediate problems of Tamils are survival: food, a place to live and making a living. And that includes thousands of widows and 12000 Tamil youth, who had followed their leader into the war and freed now.
As the Tamil Nadu chief minister has promised, she can bring back dignity to their lives by a few things that are within her realm. A few ideas that come to mind are opening up the engineering colleges which have few takers to Sri Lanka Tamils on the same fee structure as our students; evolve a holistic plan with industrialists to invest in Tamil areas to start businesses that provide gainful employment to thousands of educated students and women. These actions would add to her popular image of doing what she promised. And that would bring back the smile on the faces of Sri Lanka Tamils and people of Tamil Nadu would feel they were contributing meaningfully to their brethren in distress.
*Col R Hariharan, a retired MI officer, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force from 1987 to 90. E-mail: haridirect@gmail.com Blog: http://col.hariharan.info
shankar / June 10, 2016
“And that includes thousands of widows and 12000 Tamil youth, who had followed their leader into the war and freed now.”
most of them were forcibly conscripted by the LTTE during jan and feb 2009.They did not follow their leader because they knew he was all brawn and no brain.
Typical of the selfish LTTE who were so called fighters for tamil freedom.
They blasted and ruined all these young lives for a war that they knew was over.
When they got the chance they dumped their so called leader and he was caught with his pants down thinking they are going to save his arse.Good for them because why fight and die for him when rajiv saved his arse in 1987 they would have remembered how he thanked him.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / June 10, 2016
Shankar,
” Lives must be sacrificed to keep nations alive”. Please read this interesting article in the following link:
https://www.libraryofsocialscience.com/ideologies/docs/rk_azw.htm
We made our blood sacrifices too in the name of a ‘nation’ that was conceived by our politicians. The only tangible result is the damnation it has left behind.
Let ‘Amma’ do something on the lines of what the author has suggested.
Dr,Rajasingham Narendran
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Rohan / June 11, 2016
Yes but you are very silent about Sinhalese racism and genocide that started this war and killed more than 300000 innocent Tamil civilians and chased away over a million Tamil from their homes. Even the UN report states the biggest culprits were the Sri Lankan armed forces and the people behind them.Very selective
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shankar / June 12, 2016
rohan
i have read the testimony of women being gang raped regularly and youths being tortured severely in the so called rehabilitation camps.During the daytime they are given some vocational courses and during the nighttime they are given sex education.Most of them were virgins too.They all go straight to the toilet to wash up and don’t talk about it to each other.
All of them were forced into the LTTE by senior women LTTE members in 2009 at gunpoint.What a pariah thing to do to ruin the lives of these young people knowing full well that the war was lost and they were going to die anyway.I don’t agree with Dr.RN that we should die just to keep the dream of a country alive.Life is too precious and we must respect the life of others in order to bring some respect to our own lives.
your contention that the LTTE was created by sinhala chauvinism may be true,but to try to whitewash all their crimes is a crime in itself.
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Rohan / June 12, 2016
I am not whitewashing anyone’s crimes it is you and many here constantly harp on the LTTE and its lesser crimes and completely ignore the far bigger crime that the Sri Lankan state, establishment and the armed forces committed on the island’s Tamils genocide and large scale ethnic cleansing and killing, done deliberately since independence to reduce the island’s Tamil population and to steal their lands homes ETC using the might of the Sri Lankan government and armed forces. This is a far bigger crime as this was committed by a state that was supposed to protect and safeguard all its citizens and not just the Sinhalese as the Sri Lankan state has done since independence.
Just because the LTTE forcibly recruited these helpless young boys and girls to fight for them in the dying days of the war in May 2009, does not give the Sri Lankan state and armed forces to rape torture humiliate and kill many of these youngsters. This is a are crime. They were4 fully aware of what really happened but still used is an excuse to kill rape tortured and humiliate the Tamil population, including young children, like the usually do. This is what you and the rest of your ilk are doing and this a very big crime. Oh the LTYTE forcibly recruited them, so we Sinhalese every right kill rape and torture these Tamil youngsters and what fun. After all we are the victorious ruling race and thanks to India and their Tamil hating Brahmin/Malayalee establishment, Pakistan China Saudi Arabia Russia ETC. You disgust me.
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shankar / June 12, 2016
rohan
you still did not get my point.If the LTTE had not forcibly conscripted them at gunpoint they would not have fallen into the clutches of the armed forces.When there are young girls in the rehabilitation camps with soldiers who have the power of life and death over them,then they are at the mercy of them to do as they like.Who put them into that situation?
Though you whitewash the LTTE,i do not whitewash the armed forces.Those like you who think all these teenagers are expendable in your quest for eelam make me puke.You are in comfort in foreign climes while these poor children have gone through unimaginable suffering because of the LTTE and not even a word of sympathy for them from cockroaches like you.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / June 12, 2016
Shankar,
You have misunderstood the import/ thrust of Konnenburg’s article. It indeed condemns a political culture that calls for blood sacrifices in the name of nations. I agree with his thesis.
Dr.RN
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Thamilan / June 10, 2016
You Tamilnadu politicians who created this rift/war between the Singhalese/Tamils in Sri Lanka and you are still writing about it!
Being a retired MI officer, can you do something to solve it?
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Paul- Real Siva Sankaran Sarma. / June 11, 2016
You are no Thamilan but a Chingkallavan. DO not blame India the west Tamil Nadu politicians or any others for the Mahavamsa mentality and the racist attitude of the Sinhalese towards the island’s Tamils that created all this problems.
The sooner you Sinhalese realise and repent and stop trying to blame other and the Tamil victims for your faults the sooner there will be peace. However sadly this is only not going to be sooner but a very distant dawn.
Remember this was not a Sinhalese only land. From ancient times there were two nations occupying this land. The Sinhalese nation in the south west and central parts and the Eelam Tamil nation in the north and east. Just because the British united the Sinhalese and Tamil parts of the island in 1833 for their own convenience and called it Ceylon and then 1948 gave the island to the largely Tamil hating racist Sinhalese majority on platter with no protection for the island’s Tamil population does not make this island yours. You are using your brute majority to steal what is rightfully belongs to the island’s Tamils. Their lands homes jobs farms and state everything is mine because the British gave it to us. The British had no right to have done this without the consent of the Tamil people. They should have divided the island as they found or created a federal form of government.
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sekara / June 10, 2016
Thee still are special detention camps in Tamilnadu (initiated by Karunanidhi) where Sri Lankan Tamil terror suspects are detained. I recently read testimonies by three detainees, including the eminent Hill Country Tamil writer and social activist Ira Sivalingam who settled in India in the 1980s.
The book, சிறப்பு முகாமா சித்திரவதை முகாமா? (‘Special Camps or Torture Camps?’ of which an English version should exist) authored by “Comrade Bala” was released last year. It reveals that Tamilnadu police and other officials are no kinder to detainees than their Sri Lankan Sinhalese counterparts.
Will Jayalalitha in this term as Chief Minister ac to order the closure of these camps?
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Paul / June 10, 2016
There is more about these camps in Tamilnadu here.
https://www.facebook.com/specialcamps.tamilnadu?fref=nf
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sekara / June 11, 2016
Thanks Paul
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Pacs / June 10, 2016
Hopefully Amma will continue MGR’s wish regarding Eelam. The Indian People soon realise the Leader Pirap was the real patriot of India who did barter anything against India. The veil placed by the media will get removed miraculously.
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justice / June 10, 2016
The war was over long ago, but the civilians in the former war zone are under the iron grip of the Military.
It is a military regime in all but name, which rules the northern and eastern provinces.
The Governors fully assist in this by pretending that military rule does not exist.
The military intelligence forcibly enter venues of all peaceful civic and even religious functions, and also intimidate participants by showing video cameras, as if some great crime is being recorded.
Grama Niladharis are assaulted unnecessarily.
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=38279
This is only the tip of the iceberg of repression of civilian population and public servants.
Tamil Nadu polity and civic bodies, are aware of these happenings, hence the support of the Chief Minister and her government for justice, equality and some measure of self government for the two provinces, within the constitution of the Republic – which is also Socialist and Democratic, but only in name in the two provinces.
Amma knows the plight of thousands of widows and orphans – so do the international fraternity.
The army is on the prowl each night, seeking female victims who dare not complain due to social ostracism.
Men are under threat to keep mum.
No police station will entertain any complaints against the army.
It is a life of misery for most of the populace.
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Diluk Dias Desinghe / June 11, 2016
My gut feeling is that you are a economic refugee who fled the island sometime back and continue to spew venom in the name of a utopian Eelam.
You make the North sound like a Nazi concentration camp where men are killed and women are raped with impunity. I can even wager that you haven’t set foot in the Country for several years and are extrapolating on the heinous propaganda of the diaspora, angry and hurt by the defeat of the LTTE.
I consider myself a liberal Sri Lankan but I too believe that there MUST be a strong military and police presence in the previously war torn areas for several decades to come…..even more so with the politically motivated and rather disturbing utterances of Jayalilatha.
If she is so keen on creating a Tamil Eelam, her only option is for Tamil Nadu to secede from the Indian Union and form a nation of its own……let me know how that turns out.
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Rohan / June 11, 2016
Most probably your guts are very heavily infested with the Sinhalese racist bug and the Mahavamsa fairy tale
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Paul-Real Siva Sankaran Sarma / June 11, 2016
You consider yourself a liberal! Don’t make me laugh. Your full of hatred for the Tamils and it is oozing out from your post. You are like one of these people who state I am not racist but and then come out with a very racist comment. If you are a liberal Sinhalese then I shudder to think what a extremist Sinhalese thinks of the Tamils.
I also notice your middle name is Dias. This means you most probably belong to one of these recently Sinhalised Indian Tamil low caste indentured/slave labour, who were imported into the island by the Portuguese and Dutch colonials and settled along the western and southern littorals. Now their Sinhalised Buddhist and Catholic descendants make up 50% of the present day Sinhalese population and are the biggest anti Tamils and supporters of the Sinhalese Aryan myth.
I am liberal minded. Go and check the dictionary for the meaning of liberal minded. There is nothing liberal about your post. Full of venom and hatred for the island’s Tamils. You want the racist Sinhalese army to remain in the north and east so that can steal more Tamil lands homes and farms build more Buiddhist temples for your ultimate Sinhalisation of the north and east.
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PattiGona / June 11, 2016
Paul Siva Sanka Sarma
You have NEVER stepped into SL in recent years have you? You are a LTTE propaganda bile duct spewing venom. It is understandable that you hate people and are living with hate, but come back and visit instead of filling LTTE coffers and changing bedsheets in French Motels please.
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Paul-Siva Sankaran Sarma / June 11, 2016
How do you know what I do or whether I have stepped into the island or not. Are you God? and what has me stepping into the island or not stepping into the island got to do with the racist third treatment still given to the island’s Tamils by the Sinhalese establishment the armed forces and Sinhalese like you. I don’t have to step into the island to know what is happening. Typical racist Sinhalese mentality by trying to deflect and side step the issue with all sorts of unnecessary diversions.
Why do I have to step into the island for Tamil rights to be granted? I never knew that my existence was so important to grant Tamil rights. I am just a poor Tamil Brahmin from Jaffna. I am not necessary for the Sinhalese to repent and the granting of Tamil rights.
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Rohan / June 12, 2016
Most probably you are also one of this arm chair patriotic Sinhalese who now live in the west and hardly visit the island but accuse the Tamils of the same.
Most Tamils fled the island due to the persecution they faced at the hands of the Sinhalese establishment however what was the reason for you and other hundreds of thousands of Sinhalese to flee to the west? The answer is only greed and the yearning for a good life.
Many of them pretended and claimed that they were Tamil or of part Tamil ancestry to claim asylum in the west.
Now all this opportunistic arm chair patriots who fled the sinking ship are the biggest Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists, urging the Sinhalese back home to continue to ill treat the islands Tamils and not to reconcile in the name of Mahavamsa and Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism.
All this done from the safety of the west, to where they fled like rats abandoning a sinking ship.
The Tamil diaspora in the west are fighting for the rights of their people who are still left behind and for their dignity, as they are the only ones who can do it. Not the Tamil population left behind or the 100000-200000 poor Sri Lankan Tamil largely from the Vanni and the east languishing in refugee camps in India under horrible conditions that the author of this article another Tamil shamefully ignores.
It is because of the actions of the Tamil diaspora that the international community was forced to take action. Not because of India or any one else. If they had their way they will want the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka to remain buried forever.
This is the reason the Sinhalese the Sri Lankan government and the anti Tamil Brahmin/Malayalee Indian establishment hate them and the Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu and their leaders like Jayalalitha who still keep the issue alive in a key important state like Tamil Nadu. This may be opportunistic vote catching reasons but it works. However Jayalalitha has history of delivering what she promised.
The Sinhalese diaspora on the other hand only wants the Tamil to remain as third rates in their own land. Many of them despite living in the liberal west and enjoying its values, way of life and being treated with dignity and respect there, do not want this for the island’s Tamils but want them to be slaves of the Sinhalese and ultimately destroyed as a people.
Go to any Sinhalese extremist site you will notice two things 1) 80-90% of the contributors and blogger belong to the recently Sinhalised largely low caste Indian Tamil immigrants who were imported into the island by the Portuguese and the Dutch as indentured/slave labour. From their surnames you can say they are largely from the Karawa, Durawa, Salagama Etc, 2) Many of them are now living in the west and enjoying the good life but want racism and chaos to still prevail in the island, in the name of Sinhalese and Buddhism. It never occurs to them that a few generations ago their ancestors were not Sinhalese or Buddhists but Tamil and Hindu and when all these ancient glorious wars that they are fond of referring to, were taking place, their ancestors were not living in the island but somewhere in hated Tamil Nadu or Kerala.
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Pacs / June 10, 2016
Hopefully Amma will continue MGR’s wish regarding Eelam. The Indian People soon realise the Leader Pirap was the real patriot of India who did not barter anything against India. The veil placed by the media will get removed miraculously.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / June 10, 2016
The Indian government has banned Indian fisherman fishing in our waters for 45 days. I hope it will become permanent. Let us see how ‘Amma’ will react.
Dr.RN
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sekara / June 11, 2016
Annual 45-day fishing ban in Tamil Nadu begins on Friday
The 45-day annual ban on deep sea fishing along Tamil Nadu’s East coast will come into force from Friday, a Fisheries department official here said on Thursday.
About 10,000 mechanised boats would not go for fishing during the ban, aimed at facilitating breeding of fish and conservation of fish stock in marine ecology, assistant director of Fisheries here Gopinath said.
[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Annual-45-day-fishing-ban-in-Tamil-Nadu-begins-on-Friday/articleshow/51836192.cms]
Anything to celebrate?
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shankar / June 11, 2016
Dr.RN
“Let us see how ‘Amma’ will react.”
no reaction.she is vegetarian.
also election is over.
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shankar / June 11, 2016
Dr.RN
“Let us see how ‘Amma’ will react.”
however i don’t know whether she eats fish on the sly,though she is brahmin.Then there will be a reaction.Only way to find out is to go sing to her”amma kannu summa sollu asai illayo,meen mel asai illayo(amma just tell whther you love fish) and see the reaction,whether a good laugh or a bad tempered frown.
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Diogenes / June 10, 2016
Yes,Dr.Rajasinham Nerendran.`Let Amma do something`!
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / June 11, 2016
The Minister of Fisheries says,” The Indian Government has suspended fishing by Tamil Nadu fishermen in Sri Lankan territorial waters for 45 days, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said. He said the Sri Lankan Government would request New Delhi to extend the fishing ban to prevent poaching by South Indian fishermen. The minister said he would visit New Delhi shortly to convince Indian authorities the importance of continuing the ban because Sri Lanka incurred losses of up to Rs.5,400 million annually because of the illegal fishing by South Indian fishermen who violate Sri Lanka’s International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and in the process destroy marine life. A Sri Lankan fisherman is said to lose between Rs.2 and Rs.4 million annually. “Studies conducted by the Fisheries Ministry has found that South Indian fishermen catch 312,000 metric tonnes of fish annually. The Tamil Nadu Government of Jayalalitha never listens to our requests not to let her fishermen to engage in Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters as the illegal business is carried out by the politicians of her state government,” the minister said. He said the government had arrested 2,313 South Indian fishermen in 2015 and 2016 and taken into custody 460 fishing craft. The fishermen will be released after producing them in courts but the fishing craft will be confiscated. The minister said the illegal fishing has affected the livelihood of fishermen in the districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Puttalam and Mannar. He expressed his gratitude to the Indian Central Government for banning fishing in Sri Lanka’s waters and preventing Tamil Nadu fishermen from leaving South Indian Ports to poach in Sri Lankan waters. (Sandun A Jayasekera) – See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/110772/India-imposes-day-fishing-ban-on-TN-fishermen-in-SL-waters#sthash.K11Lgg21.dpuf“.
If this is correct, we will not need anything from Amma , but stop poaching in our waters!
Dr.RN
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sekara / June 11, 2016
THIS STORY IS FROM THE TIMES OF INDIA (If true, this does not speak much for whatever is said to have been secured!)
Annual 45-day fishing ban in Tamil Nadu begins on Friday
The 45-day annual ban on deep sea fishing along Tamil Nadu’s East coast will come into force from Friday, a Fisheries department official here said on Thursday. About 10,000 mechanised boats would not go for fishing during the ban, aimed at facilitating breeding of fish and conservation of fish stock in marine ecology, assistant director of Fisheries here Gopinath said.
[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Annual-45-day-fishing-ban-in-Tamil-Nadu-begins-on-Friday/articleshow/51836192.cms]
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Joseph / June 11, 2016
The Sinhala-Buddhist majority are always anti-Indian. In fact they prefer to align with Pakistan and China rather than India. If there a-is no autonomy for Tamils, their future will be destroyed and they will become a slaves of the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. This will be engineered by the occupying army in the North and East. If India does not support the autonomy of Tamils, it will have No friends left in SriLanka. Finally India will be surrounded by enemies.
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shankar / June 12, 2016
joseph
sinhala bhuddhists are not anti india.How can they be when they know that they also can trace their origins to india.I remember when i was a schoolboy when hindi films were allowed the packed theatres and they will run on forhundreds of days.I too would have seen Aradhana with rajesh khanna and sharmila tagore more than ten times and shikar with dharmendra more than five times at least.
Then they banned the hindi films because nobody was going to see gamini fonseka with his chandiya parts with all these hindi films.There was no translation too so we could not understand the words,even so by seeing again and again we could undrstand the story.
if the sinhalese were anti indian how could you expalin this?
It is only when india becomes intrusive as when rajiv did,that they become anti indian,but it quickly passes off after the policy towards srilanka changes.So what the indian policy makers should realise is that the sinhalese love india but also fear it because of its size and proximity and so india should be very careful about how it handles srilanka,n a more gentle,mature and patient manner than the young immature bloke rajiv like a bull in a china shop.there is no love for the pakistanis or chinese but they are making inroads into srilanka because they are very proactive in cultivating the relationship so that they can threaten india from its backside too one day.
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Paul / June 13, 2016
You use a Tamil name but in reality a Sinhalese. All your comments/posts are all very pro Sinhalese trying to justify the Sinhalese ill treatment of the Tamils
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shankar / June 14, 2016
paul
you want india to bully the sinhalese,but it will result in the sinhalese starting to bully the tamils again.
sinhalese don’t have a counterbalancing force like tamilnadu.So they have a minority complex.That is why they are scared to give any powers to tamils,thinking that one day they will align with tamilnadu,instead of with them.ideally they would like the tamils to mix with them and lose their identity.If not for tamilnadu there would not be a problem.
If you don’t like these ground reality facts then i can’t help you.
I can’t give you facts that you want to hear,so that you can call me a tamil,which i would like to hear.I have to give you the truth.
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Mano Ratwatte / June 11, 2016
Mr. Hariharan, Did you know IPKF came to be known as the Innocent People Killing Force by Sri Lankan tamil people?
I want to direct your Hindu Malayali attention to a heinous crime against innocents that happened in India because you mention the anti tamil pogrom.
I lived in Punjab during the infamous Hindu Pogrom against Sikhs which began on the night of Oct 31st 1984.
Thousands and thousands of Sikhs were burnt alive, raped and murdered by angry HINDU Congress I gangs. This was a pogrom organized by Cong- I goons including people like Jagish Tytler. The target was innocent Sikhs around Delhi, Gurgaon and in some parts of Haryana. My Delhi wallah Sikh friends who lived with me in Ludhiana were afraid to go back. They cut their hair and removed their turbans. I remember hearing stories of people carrying loudspeakers and asking Hindus to turn in Sikhs. My colleague Surabh Gupta lived in a neighborhood that was mixed. His family was about to leave on a family vacation when their Ambassador car had a problem with the Handle and Lock on the trunk. The neighbor an older Sikh who was a good handyman offered to help them fix it and went to Pahar Ganj(If my faded and jaded memory serves me right). He never returned.
I remember how my friends who were Hindu (just like the Sinhalese were afraid of the goon UNP thugs and JSS workers who led the pogrom against our innocent tamil brethren) HINDU gangs of HINDI speakers(no violent acts happened against the Sikh minorities in the Tamil South or Kerala etc) and being frozen in place. Sri Lanka’s pogrom was carried out by UNP thugs. India’s pogrom was carried out by Congress I thugs.
My good friend from Jalandhar was also angry at this hindu pogrom against Sikhs where a week of carnage was allowed by Rajiv Gandi to purge Sikhs. Number of Sikhs who were murdered was much higher than in our own filthy disgraceful pogrom in 1983. You know the difference as to why India was not labeled a pariah nation? Because it is a huge powerful nation with powerful friends.
And unlike in the case of Sri Lanka, there was NO foreign government that was arming, training and financing terrorism like the Indians did against Sri Lanka and there was also no external crisis as Pakistan was not involved and Sikhs did not flee to a foreign nation. In case of Sri Lanka, most innocent Tamil refugees fled to Tamil Nadu. Thus the long term ethno political and geo political crisis between India and Sri Lanka.
I had a chat with a wonderful Sadarji from Amritsar recently. He talked about how his sister still cries when she recalls the system HINDU pogrom against Sikhs. I admire Sikhs, I had wonderful trustworthy Sikh friends. They work hard, they drink hard and party hard and are genuine.
When I had a fight with Mizo tribesmen who gatecrashed my party, my Sikh landlords who also were drinking on New Year’s eve came up to our flat and threatened to beat the shit out of the Mizorami tribesmen. The Mizos were angry that my very well off Naga roommate and buddy(whose father was a Veterinarian in Kohima) was dating a hot Mizo girl and did not want a Naga to date a Mizo girl. I stepped into protect my roommates but I was outnumbered. I suffered a broken nose because of the fight but I still remember and respect how my giant Sardar landlord came up, Lifted this Mizo tiny fellow and held him over the balcony and threatened to drop him a good 20 feet if they did not scram.
India Fucked Sikhs over and totally wiped out Khalistani movement at great cost. DO you know why the world does not discuss it ?Because India is HUGE, powerful and rich. Pakistan and China are their enemies or bogeymen but neither nation misused the Khalistan crisis to destabilize India. Pakistan does use the Kashmir issue to foment terrorism but it did not use the Khalistan crisis.
I admire Sikhs. TO this date I am ashamed at the Hindu Hindi speaking pogrom in India. You will find Tamil, Malayali, Telugu, Gujarati, Bihari beggars in India all across the slums and big cities. BUT YOU WILL NEVER find a Sikh beggar in India. They are proud industrious people who live mostly in the Granary of India where the Green Revolution started and which fed rest of Indians. Every Summer you could see destitute, desperate migrant workers from Rajasthan and Bihar, All Hindus flocking to Punjab to work the fields and harvest and plant crops.
I don’t want to bore Indians in Denial about the facts leading up to Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, Golden Temple fiasco etc. I will leave it for another day to educate you old chap.
BOLEY SO NIHAL SAT SRI AKAL. PROUD TO be friend to Sikhs.
Mano Ratwatte
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Paul-Real Siva Sankaran Sarma / June 11, 2016
You were part of the IPKF that came to the north and east on the pretext of keeping peace and raped and looted. I was there and witnessed what unfolded, so know what really happened. You are also part of the Indian Tamil Brahmin/Malayalee axis in the South Block and elsewhere, that was mainly instrumental for the Eelam Tamil genocide and the present plight of the Eelam Tamils. I am a Brahmin myself from Jaffna. So you cannot accuse me of being an anti Brahmin Dravidian extremist. Jayalalitha is also another Brahmin.
The LTTE were no angels but they were only responsible for around 5-10% of the violence and atrocities that happened and unlike the IPFK or the Sri Lankan armed forces no one can accuse the LTTE of raping or looting. Most of the violence was by the Sinhalese Sri Lankan armed forces Police and their home guards and more than 95% of their victims were innocent Tamil civilians. Under the guise of attacking the LTTE they were deliberately targeted raped killed and tortured.
Around 300000 Tamil civilians have been killed at the hands of the Sinhalese state, racists armed forces and also the IPKF. Around 70000-145000 in May 2009 with the blessing of the then Indian government and around 1 million of them ethnically cleansed and chased out of our lands mostly to the left. Only the poorest of the poor fled to India and their plight is very pathetic. Compared to the refuges who arrived from Tibet and other places, the Indian Central government hardly spends anything on them and ill treats them. No wonder they want to escape from there. They are not allowed to go out work and live on a very miserable stipend. All this because they are Tamils. If they were Muslims Bangladeshis or Buddhist Tibetans the story is different. What are you doing about this? Compare them and to the One million Eelam Tamil refuges who fled to the west. They are thriving and many of them have become rich and successful and very well integrated into these western societies.
The LTTE is the child of Sinhalese racism and Indian opportunism. There was not LTTE when all Sinhalese led governments started to kill loot ethnically cleanse and discriminate the Island’s Tamils Indian origin and indigenous. The LTTE is dead and gone however the discrimination raping killing and ethnic cleansing of Tamil and stealing their lands in the North and east still continues. India and certain other countries may have aided and abetted this, for their own selfish ends but it is the Sinhalese and the governments they elect that are to blame, as it is they who instigate this.
Trying to justify this discrimination with incidents of genocide and ethnic cleansing in other countries or anti Sikh riots in India or American involvement in Western Asia does not work and is pathetic.
Most Eelam Tamils applaud what Wigneswaran is stating and his stand. He is a very educated man was Supreme Court Judge. His two sons are married to Sinhalese women and of daughter in law’s father is a staunch ally of the Rajapakse’s. SO no one can accuse his of being an uneducated racist bigot. Yes he is correctly concerned about the plight of the Eelam Tamil nation like most of us. So is Jayalalitha and we applaud her too. No one can accuse her of a Dravidian extremist too as she is a Brahmin.
SO far nothing has been done to alleviate the problems of the Eelam Tamils or their plight, other than some cosmetic exercises of building some token schools and releasing a few thousand acers of their stolen land to hoodwink the world. The occupying racist Sinhalese army is still there busy raping looting stealing more Tamil lands to settle Sinhalese. Buddhist temples are cropping up everywhere whilst the Hindu temples and Christian churches of the Tamils are still in ruins. In the east we have the further problem of these fake Arab immigrant Indian Tamil Muslims who came to the east as refugees fleeing Portuguese and Sinhalese persecution in the west and central parts of the island, 300 years ago, now joining hands with the illegal state sponsored Sinhalese settlers to steal the east from its real owners, the eastern Eelam Tamils and the Tamilised Veddah who have been living there for thousands of years and ruled themselves.
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sach / June 11, 2016
Sixteen years ago , exactly on a day like today 11th of June, LTTE massacred 700 police personal who surrendered during peace talks
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Native Vedda / June 11, 2016
sachooooooooooooooooooooooooo the stupid II
“Sixteen years ago , exactly on a day like today 11th of June, LTTE massacred 700 police personal who surrendered during peace talks”
With arms supplied by the army.
The murderers were feted by MR and made minister while he and his clan were looting this island’s coffers.
I thing you are getting old and can’t remember history.
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Rohan / June 11, 2016
Amma and Vigneswaran and the TNA giving lots of positive tweaks but lots of negative tweaks from current Sri Lankan government,the Sinhalese and the India Brahmin/Malayalee mafia.
We know that Sirisena will soon be travelling to the north to get an opportunistic selfie and open a school or two, before his western tour, so that he can hoodwink them on how good he is to the Tamils.
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Mano Ratwatte / June 11, 2016
Mr Hariharan,
In your interesting articles you have NEVER talked about the geo political games and destabilization of Sri lanka by India.
India under Brahmin Kashmiri Hindu Indira and Rajiv Gandhi fell afoul of our cunning and racist UNP regime of the late Hon JRJ. So India started arming, training and financing Tigers and other separatists. Similarly, the Cong-I led government helped the Khalistani movement and in particular Jarnail Singh Bindranwale to SPLIT the loyal Akali Dal vote in Punjab so they could grab state power.
In Sri Lanka, we Sinhalese and our blind racist language policies caused a division and split between two ethnically linked populations(Sinhala and Tamils are predominantly Dravidian with the same DNA). And amongst Tamils there were so many caste divisions and arrogant racism thinking they were superior to everyone else. Those Tamils helped the lower caste Tamils to rise up in insurrection but they like India thought they will be able to control the agenda. No they could not.
That 1983 pogrom was carried out by UNP thugs and murderous goons in their heyday of absolute and total control. JR I am ashamed to say despite being a Royalist, tried his best to blame others for what his own government did.
I have already mentioned the target HINDU Hindi speaking pogrom against Sikhs in India(I have not mentioned Babuji Modi’s role in the targeted Hindu pogrom against Muslims that led to the US NOT GIVING him even a Tourist visa for a long time).
The difference Bahi Saab, is that in case of Sri Lanka’s tragedy, the external power due to local politics of T.Nadu and geopolitical hegemonistic games, that exacerbated the situation and armed and trained terrorists and separatism was INDIA. In case of Khalistan, there was no external force fishing in troubled waters.
So please ask AMMA to visit SL. SL under astute leadership of RW should also move aggressively to woo TN now. TN is the 5th biggest economy in India and is booming and progressing in one way despite all its caste problems. SL can benefit immensely. India illegal immigrants mostly Tamils are already enjoying life in Sri Lanka again. Some trade and employment fact may benefit both states.
But ask AMMA NOT To raise the flag of Tamil chauvunism. Ask her instead if she really wants a Dravidian Nation as some Tamil Indians did in the 1960s to establish Eelam in Madras/Chennai.
As BABUJI Modi not to arm separatists again either because he has to deal with Pakistan and of course China; we all know how India is afraid of China after the asswhupping your poorly trained, poorly equipped army received in 1962 which by the way was stopped with the help of Mrs. B and Ceylon too. HOWEVER, for most of the post independence history Ceylon/Sri Lanka and India have had tremendously good relationships and co-existed.
During the 1971 Insurgency India sent in supplies and helicopters, were ready to evacuate the government and there were many warships in Colombo. Yet, the relationship was not one of subservience as in the case of Nepal or Bhutan. Sri Lanka still maintained a semblance of independence mostly due to personal friendships.
It was the foolish UNP and JR whose top leaders including Premedasa went around insulting Mrs. G with “India chased out the cow & calf and we will do the same in Sri Lanka” in 1977 and the openly hostile outlook the idiots had towards India that made India teach SL a lesson. UNP leaders to this day are pathetic fools who cannot acknowledge this. Long before real issues and the heinous evil barbaric 1983 pogrom, India was arming separatists(read Subramaniam Swamy and Dixit). Rest is history as India prevented the SL army from defeating the Tigers with the threats, Parippu drop and IPKF.
Now why is that you can never accept and acknowledge the FACT that India armed, trained and financed terrorism and separatism. Are we Sinhalese blameless ? Hell no.. We created the political conditions that led to us being estranged from our own Tamil brothers and sisters(who by the way are not Indian). Even LTTE did not like the IPKF!
Now come back to SL and go to Jaffna. You can see a booming and chaotic city but also the same problems as Sinhala youth plaguing Jaffna youth in alcoholism and drug use and even rape as rich spoilt Tamils receive money from their relatives in the west. But only those in the west want war and separatism. I was in Jaffna twice, once in the immediate aftermath of the war and recently. The infrastructure changes are amazing. With more travel between Sinhala and Tamil areas and with more people talking to each other we hope Tamil racism and Sinhala racism will subside. CM Wigneswaram was right when he told Tamil people to learn Sinhala. He was logically sound when he pointed out that Tamils who went West as Economic refugees (like the Sinhalese )or as true refugees ALL Adapt and learn the language of the host nation. If they can learn Italian, and Norwegian, French and English and whatever else, they should learn the language of the majority in the land they live in or be left behind. Sinhalese are now learning Tamil and while this will take time, Sinhala officers will be speaking and writing in Tamil at greater numbers soon. Thus the language barrier we hope will be lifted and the walls will crumble.
As for old Chappie, GO to SL again, VISIT Jaffna and Kilinochchi. The wounds of the people are still there. Their sorrow at losing loved ones is the same sorrow Sikhs feel to this date. YOu come to BC in Canada and you will see how Sikhs view your Hindu Indian government which destroyed their lives in 1984 and with the subsequent actions to defeat Khalistani separatism. Again, let me remind you why SL was judged more harshly than India for the same sort of thing. It is because India is a huge, wealthy powerful nation with strategic importance to the West. So Western media was mute and did not label India a pariah nation after the heinous Hindu pogrom in 1984. We SL paid the price of Karma and foolish leaders for too long and we deserve some of the shit we got after we allowed innocent Tamils to be killed in 1983. But SL did not deserve foreign powers arming, training and financing terrorism and separatism to meet their own geo-strategic objectives out of fear of the USA back then.
Tell Amma to visit SL and ask Babuji Hinduvta Saffronized India’s PM Modi Sahib never to arm separatist and ask Amma to tell Indian fishermen to stop steealing the livelihood of Ceylon Tamil fishermen while claiming to want to help them. Best way to help poor Tamils is to stop poaching with bottom trawling vessels.
I look forward to seeing you at the Taj Samudra and having a Steak or Chicken Tikka Masala with a Lion Beer old chap. Indians are all over SL now and doing business and visiting as tourists. There are over 25,000 illegal errr I mean “undocumented” Indians in various places across SL now. Things cannot be that bad eh Amma? If Amma says things are terrible why are they coming to SL now like how Mexicans come to USA?
I think sometimes you get your Intel wrong. That is probably because you are retired but then again you did not find Tigers pliable and bendable to Indian diktats even though you were all sure of that when IPKF invaded SL no?
BOLEY SO NIHAL SAT SRI AKAL
Mano Ratwatte
ps: please Amma not to get carried away with this pathetic god like worship S.Indians have of their actor and actress turned politician kind of leaders. I was in India when Telugu people thought Telugu Desam NT RAMA RAO was a god just because he played a god. In SL people voted in Jan 2015 to defeat a man who was beginning to think like a MGR etc.
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Dr Gnana Sankaralingam / June 11, 2016
Dear Mano Ratwatte,
Do not be in a hurry. It is increasingly becoming clear that MS/RW government is not going to solve the ethnic problem. They are now trying to hoodwink the international community with support from few rogue states to cover up atrocities committed by security forces on non-combatant Tamils. Regarding political solution, they are going back on the promise given to Tamils and are trying to sell to foreign countries a solution which no Tamil with self respect will accept.
International community will not be ever complacent to these gimmicks by present government similar to Mahinda’s government. They want the ethnic problem in Srilanka solved according to international norms. They are giving a chance to Srilanka to solve it internally and are not going to wait indefinitely till majority of Sinhalese become enlightened. Similar problems all over the world had been solved only by foreign intervention and Srilanka is not an exception. Prabaharan was given six years to comply and when he did not, he was eliminated physically. Mahinda Rajapakse was given five years to comply and when he refused, he was eliminated politically. This government will also be given similar leverage and if they fail, then foreign intervention becomes imperative. Yes India is weak Vis-a-vis China militarily, but that is in the northern front. In the southern front China is no patch to Indian supremacy. When western countries give the green light to India to invade, they will make arrangements to checkmate China in the northern front as what Russia did during liberation of Bangladesh. With the present government unable and more correctly unwilling to dislodge China from the shores of Srilanka, the more the need for India to take control of Srilanka. India knows about the bluff RW/MS are carrying out in relation to keeping China permanently resident.
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Native Vedda / June 11, 2016
Dr Gnana Sankaralingam
Please read the following article published recently in Indian Express:
China wants its Lankan projects to be international joint ventures
By P.K.Balachandran Published: 06th June 2016
COLOMBO: China wants its projects in Sri Lanka to be Joint Ventures either with local Lankan companies and state organizations or with foreign companies, including Indian companies, says the Chinese Ambassador in Lanka, Yi Xianliang.
He told the Regional Center for Strategic Studies here on Monday that the common Lankan and Indian perception that Chinese projects are primarily meant to bolster China’s strategic interests in the region will be dispelled if they are Joint Ventures with local entities and foreign companies and run as commercial enterprises.
China has no hidden agenda, he emphasized. The entire 21 st. century Maritime Silk Road project is meant to promote development all across its route so that every country on the route benefits from it, he said.
If development is placed in the forefront, other conflicts and disputes in the region will not pose the kind of threat to regional stability as they do now, he reasoned. To illustrate, the envoy cited the Sino-Indian consensus on promoting economic cooperation while “managing and controlling the border dispute.”
China-India-Pak Axis
The envoy said that mutual antagonism in South Asia will be mitigated if China, India and Pakistan form an economic alliance and co-opt Lanka and other South Asian nations. Lanka and India should sign the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), he said and added that he had discussed a China-India-Pakistan-Lanka business link up with the Indian envoy in Colombo and found him to be responsive.
China is already opening up its projects in Lanka to non-Chinese participation to allay India’s fears about their strategic impact. Ambassador Yi Xianliang said that the Marketing Manager of the Chinese company executing the US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City project had gone to India recently and found that Indian companies were willing to invest in the mega project about which India had reservations earlier.
What Lanka Must Do
However, Yi Xianliang made it clear that if foreign investment, including Chinese investment, is to come to Lanka, the island nation will have to put its house in order so that there is policy stability, the procedures are simple and there is no overlapping of authority. Policies should also not change with a regime change, as was the case when the Rajapaksa regime was replaced by the Srisena-Wickremesinghe government, he said.
Dispelling the notion that China had exceptionally close ties with the Rajapaksa regime, the envoy said that China deals with Lankan state and not with any particular regime.
Stand On Reconciliation
On China’s unqualified support for Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, which annoys the world human rights lobby, Ambassador Yi Xianliang said that China is against outside interference in domestic affairs. He also advised Lankan leaders to see that the reconciliation mechanisms suggested by the UNHRC do not themselves create new conflicts. He also said that it would be ill advised to put reconciliation before development because it is only all round equitable development which will prevent social, political and economic conflicts.
newindianexpress.com
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Dragos / June 12, 2016
China does not believe in fairness of domestic law and order and above all China does not believe in god but CEO.
Humans need comfort in the face of pain and suffering,
Wealthy countries are less religious.
But a god-shaped hole seems to exist in our species’ neuropsychology, thanks to a quirk of our evolution.
Across cultures, people who are more religious also tend to have more children than people who are not. Even among religious people, the more fundamentalist ones usually have higher fertility rates than the more liberal ones.
China is a half and half society- Money is the key like water it must flow.
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Dr Gnana Sankaralingam / June 12, 2016
Dear Native Veddha,
Chinese ambassador is trying damage control. He is not honest about Colombo port city, in which 70 hectares has been sold to China permanently where Srilankan flag cannot be hoisted, 170 hectares have been leased out to China for 99 years and only 233 hectares will be owned by Srilanka. He is not clear whether Indian or any other foreign companies will be allowed to set up business in the two areas under Chinese authority. Secondly he is silent about Hambantota development where the harbour may be used in the future by Chinese warships to control Indian Ocean, though the areas around may be granted for companies to set up business. To say that India is only worried about business interests and not security concerns by the presence of Chinese in the region is outright foolishness. Indian ambasador has only acted tactfully though in reality India knows about Chinese machination. China knows that it cannot claim Indian land by military power due to opposition by othr world power and hence this talk about managing border affairs jointly. China will never allow India to set up such facilities in a neighbouring country like Vietnam.
About reconciliation, he says he is against outside interference in domestic affairs, but if the Sinhalese are intransigent, then do you expect the Tamils to keep quiet. Does he expect Tamils to be kept suppressed like how they do it in China. He says Lankan leaders to see that reconciliation mechanisms suggested by UNHCR do not create new conflict. Does he mean that do not create new conflicts, but it does not matter that if the present conflict carries on affecting Tamils only. He says it is ill advised to put reconcilliation before development, and equitable development will prevent conflicts. One thing is that he is insulting Tamils by saying that if you give them money they will forget their rights and the other is that he is completely clueless about the struggle of Tamils to be first class citzens which will never materialise under any development programmes. To emphasise this when Tamils clearly rejected Mahinda’s development program bypassing justice and reconciliation, is a big joke.
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Dragos / June 12, 2016
“”70 hectares has been sold to China permanently where Srilankan flag cannot “”
how can non national buy permanently?
real estate is all they get.
perhaps to the embassy but then what for?
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / June 13, 2016
I pity your ignorance. 20 hectares have been permanently sold to China, the same way Russia sold Alaska to USA. It is a no go area even for the President of Srilanka without the permission of the Chinese government. Embassy compounds are different as they are protected by international laws, and if both countries sever diplomatic relations then the guest country loses the ownership. In the case of port city, even if Srilanka severs diplomatic relations with China that part will remain in Chinese possesion for ever, unless Srilanka invades and occupies it chasing China away, which is a tall order for a puny state like Srilanka. This applies to another 170 hectares on a 99 year lease. Like in Hong Kong, untill the lease agreement expires, Srilanka cannot do anything in that piece of land without Chinese permission. I can take a safe bet, any country which is hostile to China including India will not be allowed to invest in these two areas. Even if a Srilankan citizen is killed in these areas, they will be tried under Chinese laws. I challenge the Srilanka government to send their police or army into those two areas to demonstrate its sovereignty. This riot act was read to both MS & RW by China.
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Dragos / June 13, 2016
“that part will remain in Chinese possesion for ever,”
fiction writer like a features journo?
Gibraltar the monkey rock was a gift not for common people.
It fails to answer the question,
Why did SL sell Port city plot to China?”
Why did China want to buy this plot when it could have bought the bank as with SA, Barclays etc.
Where is proof of sale? It was not debated at parliament either.
Its hard to believe hearsay of a lease.
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Native Vedda / June 13, 2016
Dr Gnana Sankaralingam
“One thing is that he is insulting Tamils by saying that if you give them money they will forget their rights and the other is that he is completely clueless about the struggle of Tamils to be first class citzens which will never materialise under any development programmes.”
You don’t need Chinese to insult Tamils, they do it fantastically well to themselves if they are left to their own devices.
If “Our Leader, right honorable, National Leader” was not an insult to Tamils then what is?
One thing Tamils must realise is that there is a consensus among the International Community even though they may not see eye to eye on many other issues.
The consensus now appears to be the long term stabilization of this island, making it into another money laundering centre of excellence under various guises, a fantastic playground for the rich and the upper middle class tourists, working class are also welcome, a large casino for people with deep pockets, ……….. providing Kandyan (Thai, Chinese, East European,, …..) hospitality for the rich and the poor tourists, a Rest and Recreation place for the hard working foreigners, packaged in Heritage Tourism, Sun and Sand, …..or Ramayana Trail (excluding Hanuman Bridge), etc.
So think about the future of the people, Tamil, Sinhalese and the Muslims.
Hindians believe whatever China build in this island, evrything belongs to the Sinhala state of Hindia.
Leave the worrying to Hindia. Let the complacent Hindians deal with China. Make sure in that process the people of this island are not taken for another expensive ride, though every other permutation and combinations are also possible.
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Dragos / June 12, 2016
“”They are now trying to hoodwink the international community””
Neither the Sinhalese or Tamils hoodwinked the Americans.
You get what you see- No transnational Justice was made clear..more to come.
The security forces are being trained to serve US interest worldwide as peace keepers UN.
China is there to stay as long as the Americans want them to.
The defense pact Russia-India is of concern to IC and America.
India short on defense procurement from an unwilling west.
The fact is India cannot trust Tamil or Sinhalese but Sinhalese are the government of 80%.
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Mano Ratwatte / June 12, 2016
Mr. Hariharan,
There were amazing parallels between Bush’s invasion and debacle in Iraq and India’s military misadventure in Sri Lanka. In Iraq, the white christian lords led by Paul Bremer who had never even stepped into an Arab nation was appointed by Bush the born again Christian fanatic who spoke to his “Higher father” to invasde Iraq. Little Paul had no clue about Arab culture or local politics and the Sunnis and Shias and Kurds. He and his team in sunglasses and suits and private security contractors strutted around like Lords. They purged the Iraqi army and the Baathist officers. That led to the total falling apart of the organized structured Iraqi military machine. Result ? Chaos ?
Now this invasion came after IPKF called the “innocent people killing force? by Sri LAnkan tamils after they had to fight the LTTE and engaged in excesses such as rapes, looting and killing civilians. Before that in 1987, when the Indians landed after threatening Sri Lanka, they strutted around like Paul Bremer and his white cohorts did in 2003.
Old boy now late Mr. Dixit (rhymes with dipshit) was bullying and talking down everyone and issuing orders to everyone and humiliating the Sri Lankan government of the day. He too, like Paul Bremer who came later had no clue about Sri Lankans or even the Tamil issue or the LTTE and their resilience and fierce independence. Rest, as we say is history.
IPKF’s debacle is called India’s Vietnam. That may be a bit too harsh, but the LTTE rang rings around them with their inferior SLR 7.62 guns and old Bren Guns and totally inappropriate warfare tactics. LTTE must be applauded for outwitting them even if they were a racist facist outfit.
The Indians were caught with their knickers at their knees. But by the time it ended they were smarter and had wised up to guerilla warfare and urban warfare. Sadly by then our paranoid Premedasa had played his nationalist card adn armed the LTTE. But the initial period where the SL army was restricted to barracks and Dipshit errr I mean Dixit the Brahmin Hindu Malayali (born in Madras)overlord was bossing everyone and bullying everyone is identical to how little boy Paul Bremer acted later. Big powers with arrogant attitudes always suffer from the same malady. No need to talk about geo political games, strategic chess games, cold war, JR and UNP stupidly wanting to join ASEAN(the bugger was an idiot and got egg on his face because SL is in S.Asia and NOT in SE Asia) and the US camp back then and India viewed those developments with suspicion and JR’s dumb open hostility towards India was very harmful at the end.
Recently an innocent Muslim India was hacked to death for eating Beef near New Delhi. The admirable SECULAR nature of India is slowly drifting towards Saffronization and Hinduvta Politics. It is scary. I have spoken already about the HINDU pogrom against Sikhs and the pogroms in Gujarat against Muslims by people linked to Babuji Modi’s party. In SL BBS type thugs are bullying people. In Bangladesh innocent Hindus and Buddhists are being killed by muslim radicals.
What the hell is going on in S.Asia which brags so much about being ancient civilizations . Whatever happened to secularity? At least Cong-I managed to keep India secular. I shudder to think of what will happen if India invades again, this time with US backing if SL does not get its act together.. China factor is what has brought India and US together.
In addition, Indians in US are a very powerful lobby and Indian Americans like Keshap and little Ms. Biswal(who is a naturalized American from Gujarat) are very pro Indian and they even view SL from an Indian point of view. They will never criticize India or Indian follies. That is because of their inherent bias. Even if there is another pogrom against Muslims or Sikhs they will make sure India is never labeled a pariah nation unlike SL(which deserved that label after the horrific 1983 pogrom)
Hillary Clinton is very close to Indian and Tamil Tiger lobbies. Without a doubt there is trouble on the horizon for SL if Hillary wins. The Indian origin diplomats(with their inherent cultural biases towards their motherland India) and even the Indian community in the US are extremely influential now. They may not be like AIPAC(America’s pro Israeli lobby) but they are at all rungs of State and Federal government now at very significant numbers.
However it will be dumb for the US to believe the so called GTF which is really rich Tamil Tiger supporters rather than people like CM Vigneswaran, MP Sumanthiran, Anandasangaree or Sambadan or Mano Ganeshan(remarkable man who said even all the Sinhalese and Muslims chased out by the fascist LTTE from Jaffna will be resettled back in Jaffna; what a great man). Rich Tamil lawyers and doctors from NY like the self appointed leader Rudra will never go back to live in Jaffna. They should respect and listen to CM Vigneswaran and others.
Remember how born again Christian George W Bush believed the convicted felon Ahmed Chalabi about Iraq and wanted to install Chalabi as a puppet? How did that pan out? Same way I hope US respects and listens to Tamil and Sinhala and everyone else living IN Sri Lanka rather than economic refugees as myself who live outside.
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
Mano Ratwatte
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / June 13, 2016
Dear Mano Ratwatte,
When an invasion takes place with good intention to deliver justice it will win, and if done with ulterior motives it will fail. You are not quite correct about Indian and US adventures in other countries.
In bangladesh, India went in with a good intention of liberating Bengalis from the Pakistani murderers and they succeeded. In Srilanka they did not come to liberate Tamils from Sinhala murderers, but to continue subjugation of Tamils by Sinhalese with a skewed solution, and that is why they failed. Had they liberated Tamils like what they did to Bengalis, or if they enforced a fair solution for Tamils to rule themselves in their historic lands with high degree of autonomy without Sinhala interference, they would have won with peace restored, and Sinhalese could not have done anything about it.
Similarly when US invaded Kuwait, they went in with a good intention of liberating Kuwaitis from Saddam Hussain’s murderers and they won. While in Iraq they went in with a bad intention of toppling Saddam Hussain and install their puppets and failed. Had US gone into Iraq with the good intention of liberating Kurds and Shia Muslims from Saddam Hussain’s murderers and allow Saddam to continue to rule Sunni Muslims in the rump area, they would have won, and there would have been three different states with peace returning to the region.
Even now if India invades Srilanka to liberate Tamils from the Sinhala murderers, they will definitely win. If they come with other ideas such as subjugating Srilanka economically while allowing Tamils to continue to suffer, they will not win. India is in this sorry plight on Srilanka due its cock-eyed foreign policy based on anti-Tamil racism espoused by North Indian racists and corrupt Keralites. India can never dominate Indian ocean without the support of Tamils.
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Agnos / June 13, 2016
Dr. Sankaralingam,
“When an invasion takes place with good intention to deliver justice it will win, and if done with ulterior motives it will fail.”
I am not sure such a sweeping statement can be made.
I remember well that the current US VP, Joe Biden, who was a Senator during the invasion of Iraq by Bush II, made clear after a visit there that only a division of Iraq into separate regions for the Kurds, Sunnis and Shia, would work. I thought along the same lines. Not only were there no takers within the Bush administration, but Biden himself wasn’t so sure about it later. Some things may be just too complex for easy solutions; there will be a lot of blood shed either way, but a solution like that might work when other options have been exhausted.
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Paul_Real Siva Sankaran Sarma / June 13, 2016
You are 100% correct
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