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The
reason why the Indians came
The
UNP and the JVP had asked the government to inform the people
of the content of the discussions, the three top Indian administrators
had, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. The government, apart from the Presidential
Secretariat press release, has maintained silence.
Every journalist knows that press releases are masks, that
hide the real matters discussed. The Presidential Secretariat
release was no exception.
An intense speculation is on about the ‘real intention’
of the unscheduled rush of the top delegation by Delhi. The
Sinhala side, as expressed by JVP general secretary Tilvin
Silva, see the visit as an attempt to prevent the army from
defeating the LTTE. Tilvin Silva and Sinhala media view the
visit as a repeat of the 1987 attempt, that aborted the second
and third stages of the Vadamarachchi operation.
The Tamil side views it from the opposite standpoint. They
see it as an attempt to prevent the LTTE, from switching into
the offensive mode and attacking Jaffna. They see it as a
repeat of the 2000 Indian stalling of the capture of Jaffna,
following the fall of Elephant Pass.
Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil press have speculated that, India’s
main concern was countering the government’s growing
dependence on Chinese and Pakistani arms. Indian media had
speculated that, the mission headed by National Security Adviser
M.K. Narayanan and which included Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar
Menon and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, had offered to bolster
non-offensive military supplies, to check the Chinese and
Pakistani influence.
The security of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the August
SAARC summit, the purchase of weapons from China and Pakistan
and the developments in the Eastern Province, were matters
that were discussed, between Delhi and Colombo for some time,
at higher political level.
Then why this rush by top administrators? The pointer comes
from the political developments in Delhi and the slight shift
in Delhi’s stand on Sri Lankan affairs. Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister M. Karunanidhi is in Delhi today. “I’ll
talk to them and try to settle the matter,” Karunanidhi
told the media in Chennai, on Monday.
Karunanidhi’s statement came after his meeting with Prakash
Karat, general secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxis)
and D. Raju, Communist Party of India, the bigger of the four-group
‘Left Alliance’ , which supports the Manmohan Singh
from outside. The other parties in that group are All India
Forward Block and Revolutionary Socialist Party. The group
has 60 members in parliament and their withdrawing support
would cause the defeat of the government.
Karunanidhi had already convinced the Communist Party of India
and the All India Forward Block, about the need to sustain
Manmohan Singh in power and Raju echoed Karunanidhi’s
argument that, unseating of the government would strength
the religious extremists headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Karat said, “We leave it to Karunanidhi, the most respected
leader in the governing group to settle the matter.”
The central government crisis is the result of the Indo- US
civilian nuclear agreement, which was reached two years ago
and which remains unratified by India. Manmohan Singh wants
it ratified, before he meets US President George W. Bush next
month in Japan, during the oil summit. The Left Alliance had
voiced its opposition on Friday, with the threat of bringing
down the government, if it brings the treaty to parliament
for ratification.
The Left Alliance had also pressed Manmohan Singh for some
time, to play a positive role in the Sri Lankan problem and
help work out a political settlement. Karunanidhi, though
adopting a tough public stand against the LTTE, had been pressing
Delhi to stiffen its stand. Was the rushing of the top administrators,
a measure to satisfy those two powerful forces?
In this context comes the meeting, the delegation had with
Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan. He had requested
a meeting with the Indian leadership for a long time. Indians
had avoided meeting TNA parliamentarians saying that, they
are LTTE’s proxies. Now, Narayanan and Menon met him
for 45 minutes.
Sampanthan told them that, Tamils were India’s loyal
friends and they are losing faith in India. He charged Delhi
of looking after its interest only and letting down the Tamils.
He charged that, when the east was separated from the north,
India had kept silent. India is keeping silent, he charged,
when Sri Lankan Air Force is bombing Tamil areas. He summed
up the frustration of the Tamils saying, “India has got
Trinco oil tanks and Tamils nothing.”
Indians, according to Sampanthan, gave the assurance that,
India is conscious of the rights of the Tamil people; it is
supporting the creation of a Tamil-speaking region in the
northeast and it would insist on a negotiated settlement.
From the reports available Indians raised these matters with
President Rajapaksa.
The following view expressed by LTTE’s theoretician,
V. Balakumaran to the Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation
last Tuesday should be noted:
Tamils regarded India’s interests as their own, since
the dawn of history. A scratch had appeared on that, since
the days India started looking at us, as unfriendly forces.
It is the duty of India to repair that damage,
The LTTE has moved from appealing for Indian help, to telling
it to mend fences. And what the LTTE now wants India to do
is, not to hinder its war effort. Its supporters in Tamil
Nadu have been activated, Vaiko of Marumalarchchi Dravida
Munnetta Kazhalagam wrote a strong letter to Manmohan Singh,
accusing India of assisting the massacre of the Tamil people.
The Tamil diaspora are conducting the Pongu Tamil and are
placing Tamil Homeland, Tamil Nation and Self-determination
as their slogans. They held the celebration in South Africa
on Saturday and in the Netherlands on Sunday.
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