End of the Chennai drama

No quarter can be given to LTTE

by Inder Malhotra

(October 31, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) From day one it was clear that the simulated anger and agitation in Tamil Nadu, masterminded by none other than the state Chief Minister and patriarch of the Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam, Mr M. Karunanidhi, was nothing more than political playacting. Its denouement on Sunday amply confirmed this assessment. Mr Karunanidhi, who is also a key ally of the Congress in the United Progressive Alliance ruling in New Delhi, was whipping up sentiment ostensibly on behalf of the Tamil minority of Sri Lanka but actually his objective, with an eye on the approaching Lok Sabha election, was to see to it that the reprehensible Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), now at the end of its tether, could somehow be saved from total defeat.

No wonder then that he confronted the Union government with a demand that was both untenable and impossible to accept. He wanted New Delhi virtually to force the government of Sri Lanka immediately to order a ceasefire in its fight against the LTTE, one of the worst terrorist outfits in the world. Failing that, he warned, all MPs from Tamil Nadu or, at any rate, all members belonging to the DMK and its allies in the state would quit. He then orchestrated the comic opera of these “loyal” MPs, including his estranged nephew Dayanidhi Maran, submitting their resignations not to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or Chairman of the Rajya Sabha but to Mr Karunanidhi himself.

In doing so, Mr Karunanidhi, who is serving as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for the fifth time, conveniently forgot that during the years the Government of India, with the consent of the Sri Lankan government, was engaged in peace-making and peace-keeping, he had condemned the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF), and insulted it when it returned home. Unsurprisingly, his main rival in the state, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, pertinently asked him whether India could interfere in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs without encouraging other powers to interfere in India’s internal affairs. She, as chief minister, had cracked down on the LTTE after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991, and is opposed to giving any encouragement to this dangerous organisation even behind a smokescreen of sympathy for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, especially those stranded in the field of battle between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan security forces.

After a while things started getting out of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s hands, partly because he had overdone things. Some of the groups that had agreed with the so-called all-party conference of Tamil Nadu (quite a few organisations, including Ms Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, had stayed away) developed second thoughts over resigning. More importantly, the people of the state saw through that Mr Karunanidhi was trying to divert attention from problems that, apart from the anti-incumbency factor, would make things difficult for him in the parliamentary poll. He alone may not be responsible for the phenomenal price rise, but can he absolve himself of the blame for the prolonged power shedding against which he is being flooded with telegrams?

Moreover, Mr Karunanidhi’s tactics inevitably triggered a competition in wild rhetoric. The general secretary of the MDMK, Mr Vaiko, who had parted company with the DMK sometime ago, had to be arrested because of his fire-eating speeches, giving a call for arms to defend the Sri Lankan Tamil race, “threatened with extinction”, and even hinting at Tamil Nadu’s secession from India, should New Delhi fail to impose a ceasefire on Sri Lanka. All the time Mr Karunanidhi also knew that while his intransigence might create problems for the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, estrangement with the Congress could jeopardise his own government in Chennai, too

It was in this context that constructive discussions took place between the governments of Sri Lanka and India. After these, the UPA’s man of all seasons, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee flew to Chennai, met Mr Karunanidhi, and the crisis “blew over”.

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa sent to New Delhi his special adviser and brother Basil Rajapaksa (incidentally, another brother is that country’s Defence Secretary) who addressed Indian concerns satisfactorily. At the same time, President Rajapaksa in Colombo assured the Tamil minority that it would be safe under his government.

About the only legitimate demand of the Karunanidhi-led combination was that the innocent Tamil people stranded in the battle zone called Wanni should be provided with food, fuel, medicines and other essential goods unavailable so far. The visiting Lankan envoy assured his interlocutors that this would be done. India is dispatching 800 tonnes of essential supplies that would be distributed through the agencies of the UN, the International Red Cross and the Indian government. It might have been better if this had been arranged earlier but then, as they say, better late than never. Other countries are expected to join the humanitarian mission, and there is some talk of persuading Norway to resume its role of facilitating the process of settling the conflict politically rather than militarily.

India has done well to impress upon Sri Lanka that there must be an earnest effort to implement, as quickly as possible, the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution that embodies the agreed plan for devolution of powers to provincial governments within the framework of a united and federal Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksa government has agreed.

An encouraging development in Sri Lanka amidst a lot of negativity has been that, because of a major split within the LTTE ranks, the democratic process of sorts has begun in the eastern province. This must be strengthened. Significantly, Sivanesathurai Santhirakanathan, formerly an LTTE fighter and now the Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, has pointed out, in a newspaper interview, that “excessive pressure” by India on the Government of Sri Lanka would only be to the advantage of the LTTE, which was trying to “extricate itself militarily” through the “emotional outpouring in Tamil Nadu”. These are wise words.

Another voice of sanity, which the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister should heed, emanates from the leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Mr V. Anandasangaree, who has discussed with President Rajapaksa details of the arrangements for the relief and welfare of the nearly two lakh Tamils stranded in the war zone. He has, in fact, written a letter to Mr Karunanidhi emphasising that if these luckless people are not able to come out into “cleared areas” it is because the LTTE is not allowing them to leave. It is indeed using them as human shields. - Sri Lanka Guardian