by Wakely Paul, November 20, 2004
sangam.org/articles/view2/650.html
Re: SRI LANKA
The article in the Colombo, Sri Lanka newspaper The Island entitled “ALL LANKAN EGGS IN INDIAN BASKET” on November 10, 2004 reveals India’s renewed effort to extend its military influence into Sri Lanka as it did in the 80’s and early 90’s. At that time the Indians suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the LTTE and were ousted by President Premadasa, who strongly opposed President Jayawardena’s invitation to the Indians to bring their military forces on to the island.
The present government, in a desperate bid to jettison the peace talks with the LTT, is once seeking Indian support to quell the LTTE, the other party to the Peace Talks. The government is attempting to bolster their desire to end the peace talks with another fantasy. The latest ploy, abetted by the Sinhala press, is that the LTTE is crumbling and therefore not the party with whom a peace treaty should be negotiated. This trumped-up excuse is belied by the facts which can be countered by any independent international body entering the Vanni or the LTTE-controlled areas of the NorthEast. This is one more example of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese cooking their conclusions to suit their own ends; and of trying to maintain a tight discriminatory hold over the Tamil population in the NorthEast.
The effort to end the peace talks should send a chill through the spines of all neutral entities interested in the peace process. It is time the International community shook things up and blew the whistle on the Sri Lankan government’s continued determination to drag their feet and foil the peace effort.
The President’s coalition partner, the Communist-oriented JVP, in the meantime, have claimed they do not wish to have support from the World Bank or the IMF. Who do they expect to turn to for financial help? The Soviet Union? Or, do they possibly imagine than they can tame their expanding financial deficits on their own? These fiscal buffoons, trapped in their communist shell, are willing to risk uncertainty from every corner in order gain political power, which will be gifted to them by a Sinhalese population more concerned with thwarting Tamil aspirations than uplifting the economy of the nation. Playing with economic brinkmanship is preferable to conceding any semblance of authority to the Tamils. The JVP seem to prefer to yield to this fiscal charade rather than yield to the idea of having a Federal Constitution. There is another symptom that underlies such insular decisions, i.e. that the JVP does not wish to see the NorthEast rehabilitated with foreign aid.
These stepped-up endeavors to trample on Tamil aspirations are no more than the continued Sinhalese objective ever since the island obtained independence from Britain. Some of the Sinhalese desire to expand its base into the Tamil homeland began even earlier, with D.S. Senanayake’s colonization policies,
The Sinhalese fail to realize that they can never inspire Tamil loyalty by holding on to some of the Tamils’ territory and coveting the rest. Their short-sighted policies have been the cause of the civil war. The LTTE wound up as the the only true Tamil savior. This has been recognized by almost every Tamil party today. The few renegades that shiftily support Sri Lankan government efforts to undermine the LTTE are the exception rather than the rule.
It is time that both America and India faced these facts instead of clinging to the outmoded notion that the LTTE are unacceptable terrorists. The LTTE are the only true representatives of the Tamil people; and the only party that has maintained unwavering support for the peace process.
It is time for the great nations of the world to lend more support to the devastated Tamils rather than support a discriminatory government. The very thought of democratic, justice-loving nations supporting Sinhalese governments that have an unenviable history of violating human rights and dishonoring the very concept of equal rights is shocking.
By asserting that the international community supports the peace talks; yet they lend clandestine support; open military advice and supply arms covertly to this undemocratic government. By doing so, they can rest assured that they will ensure the election of the Communist-oriented JVP in the south at the next election, while the NorthEast will remain solidly behind the LTTE. Attempting to help the government resecure more of the Tamil homeland will only fuel an insurgency of the kind that the Sinhalese and everyone else will deeply regret. It is time all concerned learned from their past experiences.
Sincerely yours,
Wakeley Paul
Barrister at Law, Middle Temple, London. B.A.[Cantab] Law, Cambridge University, England L.L.M. [Stanford Law School] California