"SELF DETERMINATION IS KEY TO THE WORLD PEACE"
Thursday, July 07, 2011 8:04 PM IST
Spotlighting Lankan Tamils
Spotlighting Lankan Tamils
Anuradha M Chenoy
Last Updated : 06 Jul 2011 11:28:41 PM IST
Jayalalithaa has submitted a memo to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that lists demands from post-conflict Sri Lanka. She has said that the Sri Lankan regime should be held accountable for war crimes during the last days of the fratricidal war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), where thousands of civilians were killed, hundreds of thousands became refuges, Tamil areas of the north were reduced to rubble, and humanitarian assistance to Tamils were denied. Jayalalithaa has asked that the Colombo to immediately transfer adequate powers to the north and east of the island nation so the Tamils can have autonomy of governance, a long-standing demand of Tamils. Jayalalithaa has insisted that India should impose economic sanctions against Sri Lanka if they do not comply. In effect India should change its policy to Sri Lanka.
Jayalalithaa’s position will have shaken the Rajapaksa regime, especially since the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a unanimous resolution on this. Rajapaksa however, even in the face of the United Nations verifying that civilian massacres took place, has denied the brutalities of his army in its final triumph. He has refuted UN reports and resolutions. Reports show, that the rehabilitation of Tamil refugees is not only unsatisfactory but also their homes and livelihoods are not being returned to them.
The Rajapaksa regime has mobilised the majority Sinhala nationalism to consolidate his power by closing any discussion on what the post-war order should be. He has curbed dissent and increased military controls and declared on May 2009 that: “There are no minorities in this country; after the conclusion of the war all Sri Lankans are divided into two main categories — patriots and traitors”. This kind of oppression on minorities and independent voices cannot bring peace to Sri Lanka. It is generating new grievances, and will damage democracy and pluralism. It is bound to have severe long-term repercussions.
Jayalalithaa’s words will also disturb the complacent czars of the Indian foreign policy establishment. As the International Crisis Group noted in a recent report on India and Sri Lanka, India is a country with the greatest influence over Sri Lanka, but its policies to encourage the Sri Lankan government towards sustainable peace are not working. This is because even though India is giving significant aid, it is not putting sufficient pressure to ensure that demilitarisation of the north takes place. It is not loud enough that minorities get their due rights, are fully rehabilitated and that democratic freedoms and institutions that were curbed are reinstituted.
India instead, is more interested in regional geopolitics of competing with China and Pakistan and does not want to alienate the Sri Lankan regime. China’s growing influence on the Rajapaksa regime is seen as a potential destabilising factor in India-Sri Lanka relations. Second, New Delhi needs Colombo’s support for its aspirations for a UN Security Council permanent seat. Third, it wants Sri Lanka to keep its economy open for Indian business. Fourth, India has had a history of counter-productive interventions in Sri Lanka and fears a nationalist backlash.
Should Indian foreign policy to a neighbour like Sri Lanka be based on such unwarranted fears about India’s interests? Why will Sri Lanka not develop relations with China, even if India does everything to placate the current regime? Should norms and values that India hold dear, like minority rights, be sacrificed at the altar of geopolitical gains? Is a militarised, authoritarian Sri Lanka of greater interest to India or a democratic stable one? Moreover, India’s own Tamils are saddened and restive to see the plight of Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka. Surely that should be part of India’s realist calculations as well.
It is a positive sign that after Jayalalithaa’s victory and unambiguous statements, Indian policy on the minority question in Sri Lanka has become more proactive. Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and national security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon made a hurried but relevant trip in June to Colombo and argued for a devolution package building on the 13th Amendment; a genuine reconciliation process; an early and just settlement of displaced persons; an investigations into human rights violations and restoration of normalcy.
But despite the Indian foreign secretary’s persuasive powers, Colombo is unlikely to budge so easily. India will have to do more than one visit and some good statements. It’s support for negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance, that began in January 2011, needs to be pressured to move much faster within a fixed timetable. The talks should have devolution of powers and demilitarisation as priority objectives. India should monitor its aid and rehabilitation projects and have transparency and oversight mechanisms for these. India should insist on working through the local government in the north and east for its rehabilitation packages to ensure that aid gets to where it is most needed.
The Rajapaksa government’s response has been that it will not deal with India’s states (Tamil Nadu), but with India. But Rajapaksa should know that India, unlike Sri Lanka, is what its states make of it. That Indian federalism, despite all its shortcomings, like Indian secularism and pluralism, is the backbone of Indian democracy. So instead of rejecting the resolutions of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, he would be wiser and Sri Lanka a better place to live for both majority and minority communities, if he were to accommodate institutional mechanisms of devolution.
And what better time to do this than after a triumphal victory? This should address the anxieties of Sri Lanka and give it an opportunity to renew its social contract with all its peoples. Winston Churchill once said: “In war, resolution; in defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity.” It will be useful to follow such advice, since it appears to have worked well in history. Rajapaksa will serve the Sri Lankan nationalist cause more if he delivers minority rights and reassures his majority community that they can be secure and progress can be faster when their policies and state institutions are inclusive, rather than exclusive and jingoist. The Sri Lankan Opposition also should not indulge in nationalist chest-thumping outbidding each other. Such haggling has led Sri Lanka through enough tragedies.
As for India’s policy on Sri Lanka, New Delhi should thank Jayalalithaa in reminding it that India’s legitimacy in South Asia, and indeed internationally, will not lie in its deft geopolitical manoeuvres but in the values and norms that an aspiring great power exhibits.
Anuradha M Chenoy is director, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. E-mail: chenoy@gmail.com
Atlast North Indians have woken up to the call from Tamil Nadu, we hope Central Government of India get it into action and get the Tamils in Sri Lanka their legitimate rights,quickest way is ,to recognize Thamil Eelam before Sri Lanka colonize and Sinhalize. 
By sivananthan
7/7/2011 5:53:00 PM
Kindly watch Channel 4 about tamil killings and have a look at News Today at 11.00pm ,, i think no human can view this more than few min.. India should wake up and topple the current lanka govt VS Balajee
By VSB
7/7/2011 5:31:00 PM
Thank U Professor Anuradha for such an enlightening and truthfull article.Hope this opens the eyes of the Indian Political Elite who fail to see Srilanka’s dubious connections with China. It is not merely Tamil’s problem. The bloody war and the human rights abuses of the SL Army are are a mockery of humanitarian principles.It’s high time the world does something to uphold humanity.If we fail then we will not be able to prevent another war monger who will shed innocent blood for mere power!
By Anup
7/7/2011 4:24:00 PM
Excellent article. It was India which created and supported the ‘LTTE’ and all other armed groups, then helped Sri Lanka to kill ‘Ltte’. Isn’t it India’s duty to solve the Tamils’ problem one and for all? Tamils are being used as pawns by India and Sri Lankan politicians for too long. The two nations, The Tamils and The Sinhalese always lived seperately and they never got on well, according to the history. The two nations have seperate culture, way of living, different languages and land etc. It was the British who merged the two nations together for their administrative purposes. India must do its duty to save the Tamils from the genocidal Sri Lankan leaders and take necessary action for Tamils to live with dignity and safely in their own motherland. In the 80s, Sri Lankan government blocked the food delivery to the north, Indian army delivered food parcels from the air, inspite of ‘Sri Lanka’s sovernity etc.
By Bavani Dash
7/7/2011 3:38:00 PM
Excellent article. It was India which created and supported the ‘LTTE’ and all other armed groups, then helped Sri Lanka to kill ‘Ltte’. Isn’t it India’s duty to solve the Tamils’ problem one and for all? Tamils are being used as pawns by India and Sri Lankan politicians for too long. The two nations, The Tamils and The Sinhalese always lived seperately and they never got on well, according to the history. The two nations have seperate culture, way of living, different languages and land etc. It was the British who merged the two nations together for their administrative purposes. India must do its duty to save the Tamils from the genocidal Sri Lankan leaders and take necessary action for Tamils to live with dignity and safely in their own motherland. In the 80s, Sri Lankan government blocked the food delivery to the north, Indian army delivered food parcels from the air, inspite of ‘Sri Lanka’s sovernity etc.
By Bavani Dash
7/7/2011 3:27:00 PM
This is a wonderful article with more analysis on the current situation. Wishes to the Author and Indian Express . I wish UN,India will act right on Lanka to ensure the Tamil people live in their mother land ( ie North and Eastern Region of Ceylon ). Lanka conducted a Genocide war and the same is now going to impact the sinhala community as a whole.
By Senthil
7/7/2011 2:48:00 PM
Jayalalitha is the Hon Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu which has not committed any war crimes. Sri Lanka is a failed state which is to face the international courts for war crimes. So she has every right to protect the citizen of the free world from murderous regimes. The world did it against Hitler, Failed to do against Pol Pot failed in Kosovo any many places. She does not want to fail. Nowadays decent men are raising their voices to stop brutality on animals. Whats wrong in acting to protect human lives. When a country is failing we cant afford to sit and wait. We saw what happened in Bangladesh. Sri Lanka is a country which was able tho travel in the first class with a platform ticket. It is high time we stop them
By Lanka Liar
7/7/2011 1:09:00 PM
The only way to resolve the problem of Sri Lanka and its "welcome China" policy is to annex Sri Lanka with India. It is not Tamil probelm anymore. It is now Indian security problem. The Delhi old walas should wake up and make efforts to create the union state of Lanka. If they can’t they shold move over and let others to do it.
By Rajesh Gohil
7/7/2011 11:35:00 AM
Dear Professor Anuradha, It is thanks to the integrity and wisdom of people like you that time to time India is reminded of the humanitarian aspects of issues rather than the ‘personal’ benefits of a few and/or the strategic interest of the nation. Students of JNU have come out with very strong statements in the past on the issue of Tamils in lanka and now I see the reason behind it. Reading your article shows that their knowledge and attitudes are guided by people of honour. In addition to the humanitarian aspects you have highlighted, there’s another reason why India should support the Tamil cause. The Tamils’ fate depends on convincing India of this simple and clear truth and ousting the corrupt intelligent agents who have been misguiding India from their positions. 1. Sri Lanka has always viewed India as its natural and eternal enemy. 2. It has always supported China and any other Enemies of India. These are facts known to anyone who is familiar with the sri lankan
By kana sivanantha
7/7/2011 11:18:00 AM
This is a very small part of very long cruelty of srilanka state terrorism aganist innocent tamil civilians since 1948. Only this time the woprld is able to know srilanka state terrorism’s war crime, crime aganist humanity, and genocide because of the intenal conflict between Rajapakasas and Fonsekas. This the most creul warcrime by a state terrorism aganist unarmed and innocent civilians in recent human history. If these crimals weren’t brought to the justice then the international laws and institutions (UN, ICC, HRW, ACF, UNHRC, UNHCR, AI, and Red Cross) all loss their meanings.
By Tamil Victim
7/7/2011 6:03:00 AM
Excellent article!! Very timely! Kudos to Indian Express group for such articles that question the dubious policies of the current Congress administration! Lankan Tamils deserve justice. It is high time India does something so that Tamils can live in their ancestoral land of Northern Sri Lanka peacefully and freely.
By Dr. Sammy
7/7/2011 12:23:00 AM
Who is Jayalalitha to order Sri Lanka? We know very well Tamils belongs to Tamil nadu. That is there country. Ask it from Prime Minister of India. Not from Sri Lanka
By Nailn
7/7/2011 12:07:00 AM
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Global Peace Support Group UK Ltd is a registered organisation based in London. The organisation dedicated to be involved in humanitarian and other related issues. We also work along with other similar organisations to promote peace and harmony among various societies..
GLOBAL PEACE SUPPORT GROUP - UK - TIRELESSLY WORK ON THE CONCEPT OF:
"SELF DETERMINATION IS KEY TO THE WORLD PEACE"
MOURNS ON THE CONTINUED TRAGEDY OF THE PEOPLE OF North & East of Tamil EELAM WITH THE HOPE OF ALL OF OUR ENDEAVOURS WOULD BRING AN END TO THOSE SUFFERING DURING THE YEAR AHEAD.
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