New trends

I wish to record the trends that surfaced last week locally, in Tamil Nadu and globally among the Tamil people to help our readers to keep track of the possible new developments in the ethnic conflict.

Locally, besides the acceleration of the processes of polarisation between the Sinhalese and the Sri Lankan Tamils, a sense of insecurity seems to be growing among the upcountry Tamils and the Muslims.   The representatives of the political parties representing those communities gave form and content to their fears by presenting resolutions calling for the establishment of legislative units for them at the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) meeting held on November 10 and 11 at the BMICH.

Three separate resolutions were submitted, one by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the others by the Ceylon Workers Congress and Western People’s Front. In essence, the Muslim and Upcountry Tamil resolutions were almost similar. They called for a genuine power sharing arrangement that would satisfy the political aspirations of their communities.

The Muslims called for the creation of a separate unit comprising the areas in the north and east where they are in the majority. The Upcountry Tamil resolution called for a unit comprising the Tamil majority areas in the Central, Uva and Sabaragamuva provinces. The Western People’s Front has proposed that the unit should have a Chief Minister and a Board of Ministers with powers similar to those enjoyed by those in the Provincial Councils. Their proposal specially mentioned powers over land and the Police.

When I was told about these resolutions, I was reminded of the Thondaman-Ashraff pact the two leaders signed in 1986, a year before the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Pact of July 1987. It was signed at a time the TULF was demanding a merged North-Eastern Province and the newly formed Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, a separate Muslim unit with Ampara as the base and the Muslim majority areas in the rest of the North-Eastern Province attached to it.

I asked Thondaman (senior, of course) why he signed such an agreement that permitted Muslim majority areas in the Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts and in the northern province, to be attached to the Muslim unit, when the Tamil leadership was opposed to it, he said, “I’m laying the foundation for an Upcountry Tamil Unit.”

The Thondaman-Ashraff pact was forgotten following the Indo-Sri Lanka Pact and the 13th Amendment, but the seeds it sowed seem to be germinating and with the impatient young generations of both communities coming into the forefront, there are indications that the demand for separate units will grow.

In Tamil Nadu, there are signs of the youth taking over the agitation in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils and turning it into an anti-Delhi campaign. The Communist Party of India which organised the student demonstration in Delhi is providing the leadership for youth involvement. The pro-LTTE firebrands like Vaiko and Thitumavalavan are providing the emotional input. They are pushing the emotionally worked up youth towards supporting the LTTE.

This is a quote from the statement Vaiko issued on Monday:

“Tamil Tigers are the only armour that protects the Eelam Tamils. Sri Lankan governments plan is to make Eelam Tamils slaves by destroying the Liberation Tigers. The Indian Government is supporting that plot.”

 In this context, I wish to point out the decision made by the All Party Meeting with the Communist Party held on Monday to consider the Sri Lanka situation. Although the major political parties did not attend that meeting, a decision was made to call for a state-wide hartal on November 25. D. Pandian, secretary of the Tamil Nadu branch who announced the hartal decision said they would force the Indian Government to pressurise Sri Lanka to declare a ceasefire.

The letter Pandian sent to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 10 has warned him of the long term consequences of the Sri Lankan conflict: “Delaying and dodging to resolve the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, will lead to fissiparous tendencies to grow in various parts of India. As Indians, we feel that the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict should be resolved amicably, or else, the negative impact in India will have long term repercussions.”

This warning should be read in the context of the reports about the renewed activity of the Tamil separatist groups in Tamil Nadu.  The police intelligence says that there are about ten such groups working in different parts of Tamil Nadu and the present emotional climate is providing fertile ground for their propaganda. They are now placing before the people the question: What is the purpose of being part of India, if the central government is not concerned about the feelings of the Tamil people?

In this context, the results of a survey in the popular magazine Kumutham Reporter carried out among the university students in Tamil Nadu, revealed that over 50 percent of them regard LTTE chief Velupillai Prabahakaran a hero.

Globally, Tamils are getting united emotionally.  They are staging demonstrations in support of Sri Lankan Tamils wherever they are. Last week, demonstrations took place even in the Andaman Islands.  Karunanidhi, proposing the resolution, demanding a ceasefire in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly last Wednesday said he was doing so on behalf of the 80 million Tamils living in this world.  In Tamil history, this is the first time a Tamil Nadu Chief Minister spoke on behalf of all the Tamils living in this world.