Tamil Nadu's solidarity with Lankan Tamils swells

- The Sudar Oli Editorial

(August 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ananda vikatan, a prestigious Tamil weekly, has revealed the results of an opinion poll, which spells out that the solidarity of the Tamil nadu people with Sri Lankan Tamils is increasing. But New Delhi ignores the aspirations and the feelings of the Tamil Nadu people and has proposed a motion at the Colombo SARRC Summit for a mutual Legal Aid agreement under which there can be exchange of suspects arrested for acts of terrorism. This is suspected as a move by New Delhi to trap the LTTE which is the sole representative of the Tamil people in sorting out Lankan ethnic problem.

In the back drop of the result of the opinion poll and in the back drop of the move by the New Delhi, one can view the audacity with which New Delhi ignores the feelings of the Tamilnadu people.

This conduct of the New Delhi in showing utter disrespect to the opinion of the Tamilnadu people and the Tamilnadu leaders, when the Central Government depends on the mercy of the DMK and Tamil nadu Chief Minister for its survival, is deplorable.

According to the Vikadan survey, 55% of the people of Tamilnadu have expressed their support to the LTTE, only 28% are for the continuance of the LTTE ban, while 48% are for the lifting of the ban on the LTTE. Only 43% want LTTE leader to be arrested for the assassination of Rajiv Ghandhi, while 57% are of the view that he is not guilty.

New Delhi that holds hands with the Lankan government and makes such moves must consider another issue, which the LTTE political wing leader Nadesan has clearly pointed out.

"Sri Lankan diplomatic strategies have always been detrimental to the foreign policy of India. They have been having contacts and links with forces that are inimical to India. The politics of the Sinhala parties have always been anti-India and this anti-Indian trend has reached its height in the back drop of today's war situation" - these are the pertinent views expressed by Nadesan.

It is therefore explicit that New Delhi has failed to determine who India's friends are and who India's foes are. Therefore, it is necessary that the Central Government view the whole issue in such a light and chalk out its strategies accordingly in the future.

As expressed by LTTE political wing leader Nadesan, Tamil people of Sri Lanka await a change in the foreign policy of India. Will New Delhi respond to the result of the opinion poll of Tamilnadu?

(An English translation of the Editorial in The Sudar Oli, a Tamil daily, based in Colombo)
- Sri Lanka Guardian