Sri Lanka Has To Act Patiently, But Stern In Diplomacy – OpEd

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By Noor Nizam

The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India HE. Prasad Kariyawasam has blamed “fringe pro-LTTE groups” in the state of Tamil Nadu for the violence against visiting Sri Lankans, but underlined it will not affect robust ties or the visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India later this month. “It’s an unfortunate aberration, especially given very warm and robust relations between India and Sri Lanka,” The High Commissioner has told this to journalist Manish Chand of the IANS during an interview at his office when asked on the recent targeting of Sri Lankan pilgrims and tourists in Tamil Nadu.

India - Sri Lanka Relations
India – Sri Lanka Relations

When analyzing the political background run-up to these episodes since India voted with the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka, it is very clear that India, without understanding it’s geopolitical responsibilities was carried away by the “sweet political talks” of Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and the anti-China lobby group in the UN. India is definitely in the fault and has to take complete responsibility of the repercussions that are being experienced, and the final result will be that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will end up as the most failed PM of India in the coming months, notwithstanding the fact that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa will tide through the difficult time ahead, with the support of Sri Lanka’s real friends in the international arena and the unprecedented local support he commands which will be ascertained further as a result of the great victory his political alliance, the UPFA will win at the elections of the 03 provincial councils, especially that of the Eastern provincial council which is being held on the 8th., of September 20102.

It is a fact that recent media revelations have exposed the atrocities of the Indian armed forces against women, political interferences in the judiciary, bribery and corruption of politicians, misuse of political power, oppression of the media and swindling of state resources, all allegations that the anti-Sri Lanka west has labeled little Sri Lanka into bullying to accept the commands of the West and the US with regards to their stand in the affairs of the Indian Ocean Ring and geo-politics of the Bay of Bengal. Then how come that India conspired with the US, UK, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands to accept the framing of such charges against Sri Lanka in March this year in Geneva, when India is herself guilty of all such crimes framed.

Tamil Nadu has a population of 75,634,672 Tamils who think that the 934,392 Tamils living in Sri Lanka North are their cousins while the total Tamil population of Sri Lanka has been derived to be 1.5 million according to the recent census conducted. It is estimated that about 1 million Sri Lankan Tamils are living abroad after crossing the oceans to the West, Australia and North America. Being their cousins, it has been the desire for Tamil Nadu to be engaged in all and every matters of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Moreover, the Central Indian government since the time of India being a colony of the British has reiterated the fact that Sri Lanka is a province of India. Indian political leaders the like of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first PM of India had publicly stated this claim in many occasions. But it was Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Bengali poet who bonded these ties through his wonderful poetry that later changed into film songs. But this people to people interaction and warm feelings through culture, traditions, poetry, and a continuous traffic of visitors from both nations was devastated after Tamil Nadu was used by Indian PM Indira Ghandi to nourish, train and fund a militant Tamil group that later became the world’s most ruthless terrorist set-up in the world which dared to run a de-facto state in the Northern region of Sri Lanka for nearly 30 years.

Come what may be, the Sri Lanka nation did not grudge what the Indians and the Tamil Nadu government did to build up the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with established bases in Tamil Nadu and supported by RAW, the Indian secret services apparatus. All the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu are guilty of the heinous crime against Sri Lanka, which was carried under the disguise of the Tamil Nadu Tamils helping their cousins in Sri Lanka, but the gut truth was, international geo-politics and the struggle for power in the Indian Ocean ring region and the Bay of Bengal – China being the target. Was this because of the saying of the former US Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914)

“Whoever controls the Indian Ocean dominates Asia. This ocean is the key to the seven seas in the twenty-first century, the destiny of the world will be decided in these waters.” quoted by Cdr. P K Ghosh in Maritime Security Challenges in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, 18 January 2004.

The closer relationship between Sri Lanka and China has been a political headache for the US and India in recent times. With the building of a very large port and an international airport in Hambantota under Chinese support, this has created threats to the maritime power of the US in the Indian ocean region. The failure of the US to take control of the Trincomalee habour and India not in a position to bring it under it’s wing, Chinese presence in the South of Sri Lanka seas by building this great habour has turned out to be a nightmare for these super-powers. No doubt the prophecy of the former US Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914) is turning out to be in favour of China in the present geo-political context. The US and India feels that the politics of Tamil Nadu can now be used to their benefit.

So what is this blurting out by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha to draw attention about their cousins in Sri Lanka and to use her powers to go to the level of sending back the Royal College Soccer team that was on a friendly soccer tournament tour of Tamil Nadu which instigated a handful of pro LTTE rumps and activists of the Naam Tamizhar Iyakkam headed by film director Seeman, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and P Nedumaran-led Tamizhar Desiya Poduvudamai Katchi who staged a violent protest, asking a group of nearly 184 pilgrims visiting Tamil Nadu to go back to Sri Lanka. Is this part of an agenda that Jayalalitha is fulfilling to keep any promises made to Hilary Clinton when the duo met in Chennai on 20th., July 2011. There is much evidence that the duo discussed the main issues of the UNHRC resolution and also Hilary Clinton is on record expressing her deep concerns of the Sri Lanka Tamil issues at this meeting. Is this bullying of Sri Lanka by Jayalalitha and Tamil Nadu got to do with a regime change conspiracy in India, ridicule PM Manmohan Singh as the most failed PM of India and elevate Jayalalitha as the PM of India by the vested interests, specially the US and UK in the next Lok Sabaha elections in 2014.

Thus what the Sri Lankan High Commissioner has told to journalist Manish Chand of the IANS that “fringe pro-LTTE groups” in the state of Tamil Nadu are blamed for the violence against visiting Sri Lankans, but underlined it will not affect robust ties or the visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India later this month. It is in the interest of India and the Indian National Congress that the friendly ties of Sri Lanka and India and both the governments should be preserved and safeguarded from any geo-political conspiracy or conspirators and much understanding between the centers should be maintained solemnly, rather be doubted unintentionally. Sri Lanka has to act patiently, but stern in diplomacy.

The views expressed are the author’s own

6 thoughts on “Sri Lanka Has To Act Patiently, But Stern In Diplomacy – OpEd

  • September 8, 2012 at 12:52 pm
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    Indira Ghandi Armed, trained, fed tamil Tigers to harm sri Lanka – What happened to her ?
    Rajiv Ghandi – Armed, trained tamil tigers, gave personal bullet proof vest to Prabakaran the most efficient killer after Hitler – What happened to Rajiv Ghandi ?

    Jayalalitha or Manmohan singh, please go ahead and take action to harm Sri lanka – see what the end will be like.

    Whoever tries to harm Sri Lanka shall have a sorry ending – be it humans or countries !!! Some people never learn.

    Sri Lanka is the country that was designated to preserve Buddhas teaching in its purest form. Whoever tries to harm SriLanka shall have a sad ending.

    Reply
    • September 10, 2012 at 3:28 am
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      Well said the truth. Jagath’s reply is ideal for all questions and queries being made by narrow minded and history-ignorant people who blame at Sinhalese Buddhists for everything while enjoying immence freedom given by Sinhalese.

      Reply
  • September 8, 2012 at 12:58 pm
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    High Commission of that country will not talk fact but the media need to find facts and publish facts. Publishing misleading information can not be considered as media rights or freedom

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  • September 9, 2012 at 4:19 am
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    The writer has hit the nail on the head with his insightful writing. The US, having nightmares over the glorious rising power of China and its own ignominious decline, is hell-bent on punishing Sri Lanka for its proximity to China which is altering the geo-political strategy of the US, West and India in the Indian ocean. So, from time to time the US, covertly supported by India, finds a human rights forum here and there to haul Sri Lanka over coals as it has a clean record. The unprecedented violent attacks on the Lankan pilgrims and visitors in TN had been designed to coincide with the visit of the Chinese Defence Minister to Sri Lanka. Who must be behind it is anybody’s guess. Well, there’s a long way to decide the next PM of India. I bet my money on Rahul or Modi. As for now, Jayalalitha is worried that the estrangement of Vijayakanth, kingmaker in TN, will dent her prospects at the Rajya Sabha elections. Hence, she is trying to ‘better’ Karunanidhi’s TESO farce by giving a free hand to cowards to attack Lankan interests. All that Sri Lanka could do to remove the steam and contain the LTTE rump in TN is to ask the central government to ban the fringe group Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam that resorts to violence in TN. It must repeat this several times, and the violence will cease as it is not a political party. For sure, this will work.

    Reply
  • September 9, 2012 at 10:09 am
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    Will the Tamil Tiger activists stop the lies about Lankan Tamil ethnics wanting self-rule now that they have lost the Eastern Provincial Council Elections? Tiger-affiliated Tamil National Alliance won just 11 of the 37 seats in the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC). The United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the multi-party coalition that is in government at the national level, won 14 seats. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), which is in the UPFA coalition at the national level but not provincial level, won 7 seats. This effectively gives the UPFA 21 of the 37 seats in the EPC. It highlists the absurdity of the Tamil nationalists’/Tamil Tiger activists’ claims are that the eastern part of the island should be included in a Tamil ethnic homeland ruled from the island’s north. It also highlights how out of touch these groups are with average Lankan Tamils, and that – despite their appeal to Tamils in southern India, Malaysia and the West – they are nothing more than fringe groups in the Sri Lankan Tamil political landscape.

    Reply

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