India’s inspiration: Sri Lanka now turns its weapon against Diaspora Tamils

“India was one of the instrumental nations who helped oppress the voice of Tamils through deadly military operations against Tamils which, according to the Sri Lankan government, destroyed the LTTE and put incarcerated the Tamils in Nazi-style camps in Vavuniya without basic facilities.”
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By Satheesan Kumaaran

(September 26, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) After keeping hundreds of thousands of Tamils incarcerated in Nazi-style camps in Vavuniya, after killing nearly 30,000 Tamils in Vanni earlier this year, after wounding tens of thousands of Tamils, Sri Lanka has now turned its fullest dictatorship attitude weapon against Diasporic Tamils. Sri Lankan agents continue issuing threats to Tamil Diaspora organizations and individuals in almost all the western countries where Tamils live in large numbers.

Many countries, despite the fact they cried foul when the Tamils faced genocidal war, are now forgetting what happened to Tamils and now they are supporting the Sri Lankan State indirectly: Sri Lanka’s new phase of war directed against Diaspora Tamils.

Neighbouring India claimed to maintain a hands-off policy towards the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka after India lost its former Prime Minister in May 1991 for jeopardizing the freedom of Eelam Tamils. However, India supported Colombo’s genocidal war on Eelam Tamils. Even now India continues to declare open war on Diaspora Tamils. This is clear evidence that India is poking its nose once again not only in Sri Lanka, but outside of its region and reaching the western world where the Tamils are making a decent life, moderately wealthy and prosperous.

Narayanan’s actions not fruitful

India’s National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, who is one of the architects of Indian central government policy towards Eelam Tamils, always comes out strongly against Eelam Tamils. His words and deeds are heavy and contain vehement antagonization toward Tamils. Although he is hailed from the southern Indian State of Kerala, he always acts against Tamils who are also Dravidian in origin.

On September 14, 2009, while addressing Director Generals and Inspector Generals of Police, M. K. Narayanan informed the Indian government of the need to keep watch against Tamil Diaspora reviving the LTTE and cautioned the government to be prepared for any eventuality. He said, “The funding lines of the LTTE are still intact and there is always a possibility that disgruntled elements in the Tamil Diaspora across the globe could get together to help the terror outfit regroup and rearm.”

The panic expressed by Narayanan is nonsense since he has no right to intervene in the sovereignty of Eelam Tamils who are fighting peacefully and militarily since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948 – one year after India gained independence from Britain. India, as a leading peace-building country and always taught peace (Ahimsa) and which also produced great philosophers such as Buddha and Gandhi who advocated for peace, now becomes the eagle of the world targeted to catch and eat the Tamils as inferior animals.

While the Tamils were fighting in Eelam for the right to self-determination both peacefully and in the early part of Eelam militancy, India was supporting Eelam Tamils. India did it because India, at that time, aspired to become a global power especially during the cold-war period. Then after India became a recognized regional superpower in south Asia, India showed its true face by supporting Colombo for its own benefits. And India started to play against Tamils in Sri Lanka. India took the lives of thousands of Tamils in the late 1990s. And it did not stop. It supported Colombo’s war machine in the guise of taking revenge on the LTTE for its anti-India actions although LTTE was claiming that they were looking to India as their fatherland.

India was one of the instrumental nations who helped oppress the voice of Tamils through deadly military operations against Tamils which, according to the Sri Lankan government, destroyed the LTTE and put incarcerated the Tamils in Nazi-style camps in Vavuniya without basic facilities.

In a swift change to calm down the sentiments of Tamils in the southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu, Narayanan sent out a letter to Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the Sri Lankan President, in which he underscored India’s concerns. He has also expressed fears that continued presence of IDPs in camps could endanger the stability of the region. These statements are just a white-wash and to hoodwink the Tamil community in India, but the self-proclaimed world Tamil leader and current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, will no doubt praise Narayanan for his letter to Sri Lanka about the IDPs. Karunanidhi, too, bears the responsibility for the killing of thousands of Tamils and for the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Tamils because his party is one of the coalition partners in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Karunanidhi worries only about how to bring his kith and kin to power and how to make money through his huge corporations which are earning billions of dollars while the general Tamil population in his own State are fighting even for a meal per day. After what happened to Tamils in Sri Lanka, Karunanidhi, too, lost the faith of Tamils around the world and lost the credibility even to claim himself as the global Tamil leader. However, as a great orator and script writer for movies, he is a well known artist who can manipulate once again to get the global Tamil support and that’s why he urges the Indian central government to help Eelam Tamils. But he knows very well that if he takes actions he could bring central government to his knees and recognize the Eelam Tamil as a sovereign nation and their right to self-determination within matters of days.

So, Narayanan’s statements are not going to bring fruit to Tamils whatsoever, but it will only help the politicians in India. And to be frank, India has declared open war on Diaspora Tamils for their support in helping their brethren in Eelam achieve their freedom for which they have sacrificed enough. India is taking real revenge on Tamils, but it will certainly one day stab the back of Colombo whenever India wants to secure its rightful place in the Indian subcontinent, especially as it is building up its navy in the Indian Ocean.

Colombo challenges Diaspora Tamils

With the boosting of India and through its open declaration of war on Diaspora Tamils, Sri Lanka is enjoying shaky support globally targeting Diaspora Tamils. With the capturing and abducting of KP from the south-east Asian country, Colombo assumes that it could enjoy the same when dealing with other Tamil activists around the world especially with the support of India and other foreign intelligences.

Indeed, Sri Lanka has opened up the door for the open war through its well-paid agents acting in every corner of the world where Tamils live largely. They have started issuing threats and many Tamil organizations in Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and the U.S. received such warnings and also some individuals who work for Tamil organizations are receiving telephone and letter warnings to stay away from supporting the LTTE or the so-called organizers of the PTGTE (Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam).

Tamil organizations and individuals express their shock and anger saying that the Sri Lankan government, after causing heavy damage to Tamils in Eelam, have now turned their guns towards the Diaspora Tamils who live peacefully and as respectful taxpaying citizens of their countries.

Sri Lanka is also planning to create an internal fight among the Tamil youths among the Diaspora Tamils in order to create a bad reputation among the Diaspora Tamils and thereby Colombo could demand the countries to deport the individuals to show the world that the Tamils in general are as terrorists. Many other forms of destabilizing Tamil society is on the way by the Sri Lankan paid agents who are very active in the recent past especially after Sri Lanka celebrated its military victory in May 2009 in the northern part of the island.

As the first step, the Sri Lankan government appointed high-ranking military generals and other senior commanders as high commissioners and sent a good number of intelligence officials to foreign countries to work in the high commission offices to keep the Diaspora Tamils at bay.

In any eventuality, the Diaspora Tamils will have no choice but to fight from their front peacefully against the open war declared by Colombo and New Delhi. Tamils will have to stay alert and they must keep the Sri Lankan government and Indian government agents’ plots to spoil. Tamils the world over pray that the Diaspora Tamils will not face the same consequences as their brethren in Vanni faced in the final phase of the war instigated by Colombo. Let’s pray for the Diasporic Tamils not to fall prey to New Delhi’s and Colombo’s sinister plots and pray for Tamils in Eelam to achieve their dignity and freedom through recognizing Eelam Tamils as a distinct sovereign nation and their right to self-determination after spoiling any sinister actions carried out by the anti-Eelam activists.

They are of the opinion that by doing this the Sri Lankan government is inviting another crisis in national life. Such a step will take a heavy toll not only on Sri Lankan economy, but also on social life. Because, still Tamils are part of Sri Lanka, so any step against Diaspora Tamils through branding them LTTE supporters, will go against overall interest of the country.

It is India which fielded the LTTE against the government for creation of an independent and sovereign country for Tamils. But later, budging from its stand, it took the side of the government and helped it crush the LTTE till the last.

Now it is encouraging the Colombo government to go against the Diaspora Tamils in the name of eliminating LTTE supporters across the world. The ultimate target of India is to see a weaker Sri Lanka and it is going to achieve that by creating division between Tamils and Sinhala people.

Sri Lanka should not fall into this trap of India and it has to realize this reality without any delay. The earlier, the better.

(The author can be reached at e-mail: satheesan_kumaaran@yahoo.com)

-Sri Lanka Guardian