“Needless to say, RAW did a good job. Soon it was evident of the capabilities of Tamil militants turned terrorists. However, JRJ did not give up. He militarily embarked on a bitter war against the Tamil Terrorists while politically maneuvering the Tamil separatists using the parliament and other means. JRJ was able to hold the devil at bay during the tenure of Indira Ghandhi, a politically tempered intelligent leader.”_________________________
by Kumara Kaluarachchi
(May 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Provincial government system is something thrust upon Sri Lankans by our big brother India. Tamil separatists were fighting a political battle to divide the country even before the independence. GG Ponnambalam’s infamous 50/50 demand was one such attempt done in the open. However most of the separatist attempts were carried out behind the screen with the participation of foreign elements.
The separatists had their golden opportunity when JR Jayawardene was elected in to the power in 1977. Being a capitalist and admirer of the western world, JRJ opened up Sri Lankan economy like never before. Western response was dramatic, with millions of US$ worth of direct investments in Sri Lanka. Our Big brother India, having a tightly controlled socialist type government at that time, did not like what JRJ was doing in Sri Lanka.
That was when Tamil separatists struck gold. Even though who first established contact remains a bit hazy, there was no question of India financing, recruiting training and deploying Tamil militant separatists against Sri Lankan interests. While the Research and Analysis Wing of India trained the military wing of Tamil separatists, the ruling Ghandhian dynasty elite in India were getting cozy with its political wing.
Needless to say, RAW did a good job. Soon it was evident of the capabilities of Tamil militants turned terrorists. However, JRJ did not give up. He militarily embarked on a bitter war against the Tamil Terrorists while politically maneuvering the Tamil separatists using the parliament and other means. JRJ was able to hold the devil at bay during the tenure of Indira Ghandhi, a politically tempered intelligent leader.
Whole picture changed suddenly when some Punjabis assassinated Indira. Her son Rajeev, a politically naive and inexperienced pilot, was pushed to the throne by the puppet masters of the Indian politics. It was the moment the separatist Tamils were waiting for; to influence an inexperience head of state in India and turn the tide towards their favor.
Leader of the biggest Tamil political party TULF, A. Amirthalingam was leading a political campaign to grab hold of the opportunity. He lost no time building excellent bridges with Indian leadership and found a more than a sympathetic ear in Rajeev. Quite suddenly JRJ’s found that his luck was changing.
Instead of the usual ally, Sri Lankans found a big bully in India. India was dictating terms to Sri Lankan Government on a day-to-day basis. When Sri Lankan Army cornered the Tamil Terrorist leader, Prabakaran, Rajeev ordered his Air Force pilots to invade Sri Lankan aerospace in a blatant violation of our sovereignty. None of the other countries made any significant statements criticizing India for this brazen act. Sri Lanka’s fate appeared to be sealed.
Now hold on a minute, we had a brilliant leader, JRJ. He was a man who was brave enough to wage war and even braver enough to accept the defeat while most of the Army and the resources intact. JRJ did not believe in fighting for the last drop of blood. He rather cleverly outsmarted Rajeev by “inviting” the “invading” Indian Army as a “peace keeping force”. Being naive and probably stupid, Rajeev swallowed JRJ’s hook, line and sinker. Thus came IPKF to Sri Lanka.
It was only matter of days till the next move by the cunning fox, JRJ. Sri Lankan armed forces, now reduced to an “observer” role, took charge of Tamil Terrorists who were trying to outsmart its Guru and Guardian, the RAW. JRJ knew the mentality of the Tamil Terrorist leader Prabakaran. In fact one only has to watch a MG Ramachandarn movie to decipher the mind of Prabakaran. JRJ knew that the Tamil Terrorist would commit suicide before bringing them back to Colombo, and that’s what exactly happened.
All Sri Lankans and perhaps even Indians except Rajeev knew what was going to happen next. The ugly head of Tamil Terrorist leader snake would bite back the very hand that fed him. And biting the hand he did, by starting a senseless war of honor with the IPKF.
Some say Rajeev wanted to get rid of Prabakaran and hand over a newly created Eelam to democratic Tamil leaders and Prabakaran got to know that. However what we know is that Prabakaran drew the first blood and what a pool of Indian and Tamil blood that turned out to be??
Nearly 3000 Indian soldiers died in Sri Lanka in the hands of Tamil Terrorists. Around 20000 Tamil terrorists and about half of that amount of civilians were killed by the IPKF. Both sides were killing the others with gay abandon.
Rajeev wanted to give Northern and Eastern provinces permanently to Tamils. In the 13th amendment, JRJ managed to outfox Rajeev again, by including a clause for a referendum for the permanent merger. Rajeev was planning to promote Varatharajah Perumal as Chief minister and help Tamil separatists achieve an Independent Eelam. Prabakaran lead LTTE were getting weaker by the day due to the killing spree by the IPKF.
Successor of JRJ, Ranasinghe Premadasa took India for a further ride by politely asking IPKF to pack off. By doing that Premadasa managed to weaken once very powerful Varatharajah Perumal, the chief minister of North Eastern province and the blue eyed boy of India. Once IPKF started its defeat march back to India, Prabakaran lost no time murdering thousands of Tamil civilians and militants who collaborated with the Indian controlled Varatharajah Perumal’s rule. Varatharajah Perumal himself had to flee to India, where he still lives as a guest of the Indian Government!
Being the revengeful villain of MGR fame, Prabakaran hatched planes and murdered both Rajeev and Amirthalingam subsequently. These brutal killings ended the sweet dream of independent Eelam. At last, Sri Lanka managed to alienate the Tamils from India, for which both JRJ and Premadasa should be considered for the joint man of the match award!
Perhaps Ranil Wickamasinghe should be nominated for the best bowler award for his Doosra which took the wicket of Karuna Amman, the second in command and the Commander of LTTE militia. The split between Karuna and Prabakaran is no small matter. It was the beginning of the series of events which separated the Separatist’s dream land Eelam in to two.
In 2006, JVP went to the Supreme court seeking a court order to de-merge North-Eastern province in to two entities, thus activated the Trojan horse JRJ inserted in to the 13th amendment.
The Supreme court has decided that the merger which was subjected to a referendum within one year was a temporary measure and upheld the plea to de-merge the North-East into two separate provinces. Mahinda Rajapakse Government was brave enough to take a decision to appoint a Governor to the Eastern Province to despite the visible anger of the Big Brother India.
By making matters worse for the separatist camp, SL Army managed to take back the Eastern province from the LTTE under the leadership of Mahinda Rajapakse. Not only LTTE lost Eastern Province to Sri Lankan Army, it lost its moral upper hand when the Sri Lankan Government held the Local Government elections few weeks back. By that time, the Military Intelligence was successful in dividing the already divided LTTE’s Karuna fraction in to two. The stronger Pilliayan group contested the Local Government Elections and won a decisive victory!
Going for the jugular, the Sri Lankan Government has decided to hold the Provincial Council Elections in Eastern Province, for the first time in 20 years. Fact that all the democratic parties registered in Sri Lanka are contesting the elections itself is a great victory for the Sri Lankan Government.
We Sri Lankans are fighting a battle against Separatist Terrorists who believe in mono-ethnic dictatorship. We Sri Lankans believe in Democracy. We believe in elected leaders. In that context, who ever win the forthcoming election, it is truly a win for Sovereign Sri Lanka and a decapitating blow to Separatist Terrorists!
- Sri Lanka Guardian
Is it worth fighting for a piece of land for centuries and spent all the resources and the lives of thousands of our young soldiers?I strongly believe the majority of the Tamils directly/indirectly support LTTE.Thatswhy they could survive from our army/Indian army for so long.
The real punishment is let those Tamils ruled by the LTTE and they will come back to us in few years
Much of what you have said is correct, except for the Karuna breakup. That would have happened, in the course of time, when Karuna became senior enough to see how the eastern Tamils were being treated - as the lower caste Mukkuvars who are expected to do the bidding of the Jaffna Tamils.
The LTTE and the TULF had the same denigrating attitude to the Hill-country Tamils. The TULF and the Arasu Kadchchi always talked of Tamikl Eelam as justified by the "Traditinal Homelands" in the North and the East - i.e., the Up-country Tamils are excluded from their club.
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