Karunanidhi protects the murderer of Rajiv

"The Sri Lankan government has to liberate the Tamils in and around Kilinochchi from the LTTE, to defeat the terrorist who has taken up arms against the government to establish a separate state, and to see that the murderer of a Prime Minister of a friendly country is punished. All talk of discussion of a so called political solution with Prabhakaran or his representatives is nothing but rubbish, and those who insist on so called peace negotiations with the LTTE purposely ignore the gravity of the problem."

by Nalin de Silva

(0ctober 22, Colombo, Sri Labnka Guardian) Karunanidhi has no idea of what is happening in Sri Lanka and he is interested only in saving the skin of Prabhakaran. The Chief Minister should be exposed not only by the Sri Lankan government but by the Indian government as well without giving into the manoeuvrings of the former. Anybody who is obstructing punishing the murderer of Shri Rajiv Gandhi cannot be a friend of India, in addition to not being a friend of Sri Lanka.

Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu is up to his old tactics in protecting Prabhakaran, and we have been compelled to postpone the writing of the next installment of Indianization of India. It is not only the elections that have made Karunanidhi to come forward to utter his usual rhetoric on the protection of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi is interested only in protecting Prabhakaran and he is competing with Vaiko to be the man who saved the life of Prabhakaran. We would not know how Prabhakaran would die eventually but it is certain that Karunanidhi is going to fail in his attempts.

The government of Sri Lanka is interested in Lankan Tamils, as it is interested in the other communities living in the country, much more than Karunanidhi who is only paying lip service in order to camouflage his real motives. Ms. Jayalalitha knows more than anybody else of the intentions of Karunanidhi and she did not send any representatives of her party to the so called All Party Conference convened by the DMK. If the Tamils in Sri Lanka have to be protected from anybody it is from Prabhakaran and Karunanidhi, not to mention the western powers and the NGOs financed by the latter.

The parties that represent the Tamils, other than the TNA - the proxy party of the LTTE or rather Prabhakaran, have already stated that the government of Sri Lanka is doing its best to protect and feed the civil community "trapped" in Kilinochchi, and if Karunanidhi is not prepared to believe a spectrum of Tamil politicians from Anandasangaree to Karuna then it is clear that the former has no interest in the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan government has been engaged in humanitarian operations to liberate the Tamils in the Northern and Eastern Provinces from the so called liberators. When a government has to liberate the people from their so called liberators it speaks volumes for the liberating activities of the fascist LTTE. If Karunanidhi does not believe in the claims of the government of Sri Lanka all that he has to do is to listen to Anandasangaree, Karuna etc., on that count without going behind the TNA. However, Karunanidhi wants to hear only what he believes and does not want to listen to any opinion that contradicts his views. If he is not satisfied with Anandasangaree and Karuna he can come to the Eastern Province himself to find out what is happening there.

The Sri Lankan government may be one of the few governments in the world, if not the only government, to feed a terrorist group that has taken up arms against the government and also to treat the wounded terrorists in the government hospitals. If the Sri Lankan government has treated the terrorists in that manner there is no point in claiming that the government does not look after the innocent people. It is the LTTE that has fired at the convoys sent by the government carrying food to the Tamils in Kilinochchi.

Has Karunanidhi spoken a word against the LTTE firing at the convoys? He only misleads the people in Tamil Nadu, mainly in Chennai to achieve his ambition of saving the life of Prabhakaran. If Karunanidhi is interested in the Tamils in Sri Lanka he should have spoken against conscription of children and old people including women by the LTTE. Perhaps Karunanidhi does not consider Tamil children and old Tamil people as Tamils in Sri Lanka. As far as Karunanidhi is concerned there appears to be only one Tamil in Sri Lanka.

What is Karunanidhi up to? Prabhakaran is a murderer wanted by the Indian government for the assassination of Shri Rajiv Gandhi and the President of Sri Lanka is on record having stated that the murderer would be handed over to the Indian government if he is arrested alive. There are many Sri Lankans who would want Prabhakaran to be tried in Sri Lanka but if the President of the country has other ideas it is very unlikely that their wish would materialise.

Prabhakaran, if he is in Kilinochchi, is now surrounded by the armed forces and only the monsoons have given him some breathing space. The writing is on the wall for Prabhakaran, and his mentors, advisors, sponsors etc., are naturally worried. They do not want to see Prabhakaran being captured, and do whatever they can do to save the murderer’s skin. Karunanidhi appears to be the main person involved openly in the process though there are many others including the NGO peace mongers who hide behind Karunanidhi.

It should never be forgotten that Shri Rajiv Gandhi was killed in Tamil Nadu and if my memory is correct Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister of that state at that time. I am not implying that Karunanidhi had anything to do with the assassination, but he is going out of his way to protect Prabhakaran. If Karunanidhi really admired the then Prime Minister of India then the Chief Minister has more than a duty to see that the murderer who was behind the killing of the Prime Minister in his state gets punished. Instead Karunanidhi in the name of the Tamils in Sri Lanka on behalf of whom he has not appealed to the LTTE is now doing everything possible to protect the murderer.

The Sri Lankan government has to liberate the Tamils in and around Kilinochchi from the LTTE, to defeat the terrorist who has taken up arms against the government to establish a separate state, and to see that the murderer of a Prime Minister of a friendly country is punished. All talk of discussion of a so called political solution with Prabhakaran or his representatives is nothing but rubbish, and those who insist on so called peace negotiations with the LTTE purposely ignore the gravity of the problem.

Many pundits would say that there are no military solutions to political problems, but the irony is that all military solutions have resulted from some kind of political problems. The wars are not fought for pleasure but for political reasons. Politics is about power and wars are a way of deciding who has power over whom. Thus political problems could have military solutions and the so called ethnic problem in Sri Lanka has to have a military solution at least as a part of the solution.

On the other hand so far the proponents of the pure political solution have not formulated the problem. A problem can be solved only if the problem is clearly defined. We have been asking the peace mongers two questions for about twenty years without satisfactory answers. Would they please define the problems (injustices) that the Tamils face as a result of being Tamils and not due to something else. If there are such injustices how can those be solved by devolving power to the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

The majority of the Tamils in Sri Lanka live outside these two provinces and the so called injustices to those Tamils living outside the provinces would not be solved by devolving power to the provincial councils or any such body based on the provinces. Let us first define the problem, if any, and then try to find a solution. In any event the APRC is meeting and it could be considered as a discussion among the political parties to find a solution to the so called aspirations of the Tamils. The aspirations of the Tamils are very vague and just because some community says that they have aspirations the other communities do not have to accept them. However a discussion can proceed on the basis of declared aspirations and one may even agree to fulfil some of those so called aspirations even if one may not agree with the formulation, with the objective of developing the country. I think discussions of the APRC should proceed on that basis and in that sense they complement the military solution.

Karunanidhi has no idea of what is happening in Sri Lanka and he is interested only in saving the skin of Prabhakaran. The Chief Minister should be exposed not only by the Sri Lankan government but by the Indian government as well without giving into the manoeuvrings of the former. Anybody who is obstructing punishing the murderer of Shri Rajiv Gandhi cannot be a friend of India, in addition to not being a friend of Sri Lanka. - Sri Lanka Guardian