“The Government of India has given some technical support to the Sri Lanka but I can say we never gave any kind of military aid to the country. As I told you, the Government of India highly is concerned about three issues in Sri Lanka; one is the fisherman issue, second is the Sri Lanka Tamil issue and their reconciliation and third is domestic developments.”...........................................................................
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa
(November 26, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) “I can say on behalf of the Government of Indian, that the our government never supplied military hardware to the Government of Sri Lanka during the final Eelam War as some analysts accuse us” a top level Minister of the present ruling Congress Party government said in an exclusive interview to the Sri Lanka Guardian.
V. Narayansamy, General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee ( AICC) is the Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs, whom we met at his residence in New Delhi recently. He was born in 30, May 1947, in Puducherry, in South India. He finished his higher education at Tagore Art College, Puducherry; Madras Law College, and Annamalai University in Chennai. Mr. Narayansamy is a lawyer by profession.
Here is the text of the Interview;
Welcome on behalf of Sri Lanka Guardian and thank you for accepting our interview request. We would like to share your thoughts with our readers on the present political situation in India as well her policy towards neighbouring countries, especially Sri Lanka and Pakistan. What do you think about the present political developments in Sri Lanka after the bloody civil war that has taken hundreds of thousands of lives in last three decades?
Thank you. I think we are glad over the end of the terrorists- the so called freedom fighters, (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Lack of political knowledge and will, extremists military motivations, killing their own people (Sri Lankans) and killings the well known politicians and intellectuals etc., were the weaknesses of that organization and its leadership. They lost golden opportunities to find a sustainable political solution for the crisis and it had created worse situations in the country in last few decades. Now that the Tamil Tigers are eliminated, there are possibilities to find a solution that is based on people’s need.
The Government of India have best relations with its southern neighbour, (the Government of Sri Lanka) that it is based on the historical bonds, as well as at preset the GoI is logistically supporting Sri Lanka towards its developments. Recently our minister Pranab Mukarjee visited Sri Lanka for the deliverance of late Minister Kadhirgamar memorial lecture and he met the President also. In that meeting, the Minister had stressed again our policy towards Sri Lanka. India has well understood the need for urgent support for reconciliation and reconstruction in the areas that were affected by the war.
However, there are difficulties over Tamil Nadu fishermen who are fishering in the Indian ocean. Those poor innocent fishermen are being harassed and put into jailed and even few of them were killed by the Sri Lankan naval forces. We neighbours should live in peace and harmony. From our side, we are always with Sri Lanka and we highly respect its sovereignty. But we highly regret over the acts of the Sri Lankan naval forces.
According to your assessment, the Coast Guard Forces or Indian security as well as Indian people never hurt Sri Lankan fisherman. But in 2007, one of Sri Lanka’s leading trade union activists Canisius Fernando was killed in Madurai jail, Tamil Nadu. Even there are many complaints by Sri Lankan fisherman over harassments by Indian security forces. In this case you can’t say India’s hand is clean.
I am not/nor knowledgeable on the incident that you have pointed. But if it had happened, we regret very much. We should not allow any kind of acts that hurts our people in both the countries.
Will you say the Government of India’s policy on Sri Lanka is based on to help Sri Lanka in logistic developments? But it is widely claimed, the Indian Government had given military support to Sri Lankan forces during the final battle against the Tamil Tigers. Is it a misleading accusation isn’t it?
Yes it is misleading assertion. The Government of India has given some technical support to the Sri Lanka but I can say we never gave any kind of military aid to the country. As I told you, the Government of India highly is concerned about three issues in Sri Lanka; one is the fisherman issue, second is the Sri Lanka Tamil issue and their reconciliation and third is domestic developments.
Even we have conditioned zero tolerance on the LTTE over their acts against the people. They killed our great leader Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu. Indo- Lanka relations experienced turns during Rajiv Gandhi period and India’s position from the beginning is that it will not divided Sri Lanka and make another state within the island nation. India will be always opposed to separatism in the region and the Government of India accepts the sovereignty of other countries in the region.
But in 1971, the Government of India were supported the division of Pakistan?
We cannot compare Pakistan and Sri Lanka in similar manner. Even the Pakistan government distrusts the Indo- Pakistan friendly relation and has sponsored the ruthless terrorists. Even their state Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) - the intelligence department of the Pakistan trained and facilitated all facilities to the extremists Islam terrorists’ organizations. We can’t compare Sri Lanka and Pakistan together, and Sri Lanka never acted against India.
Before the Indo-Lanka Accord, the Government of India gave all military and other logistical support to the Tamil militancy. Do you think India sponsored terrorism in Sri Lanka?
Well… yes the Government of India have supported the militancy and have given other logistical equipments to the Tamil moments in Sri Lanka at the time when the regime in Sri Lanka was harassing and did not respect the minorities rights. But later the Tamil militancy movements swayed away from the purpose of winning the rights of the minorities and the Tamil Tigers violently occupied the Tamil politics. They made many mistakes after gaining support from India.
After crushing the Tamil Tigers by the security forces in Sri Lanka last May, some commentators says it is the end of Tamil political bargaining power against the Sinhala dominated ruling governance. Do you believe in this?
I do not believe that the LTTE is the sole-representative of the Tamil people or are the sole guardian of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. There are many Tamil political parties who can involve with the government to deal with the problems.
In his resignation letter to the President, the former Chief of Sri Lanka Army who achieved the eventual history by defeating the LTTE for the island nation has claimed that the Indian forces were kept on alert to deal with a possible coup. Is it true?
I cannot comment on the issue. Do not forget during election times, plenty of claims and counter claims are possible.
Will India help Sri Lanka if there will be a coup against the regime in the future?
I cannot comment on the issue. It depends on circumstances and our bilateral relations.
Well…. then let us know about the present offensive against the Naxalites?
The operation against Naxalite (Maoists) is going well, and the government believes this internal threat can be crushed soon. Especially, we are highly concerned about the ordinary people. The tribes are being used by the Maoists and are militarily motivated and innocent children have been used by them as child soldiers.
Is China supporting the Maoist in India as some Indian newspapers reported recently?
It’s difficult to comment over such newspaper reports. But he Ministry of Home Affairs is strongly concerned about the roots from where Maoists getting their weapons and other equipments.
-Sri Lanka Guardian
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