Topic: Politics
INDIA NEEDS IRON WILL TO TELL SRILANKA
TO STOP GENOCIDE
N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai
Why is Indian Government not melting to the woes of Eelam Tamils guillotined under the war machine of the Srilanka pursuing a vengeful agenda of genocide aimed at ethnic cleansing?
There is no difference between Adolph Hitler’s agenda against the Jews and Rajapakshe’s state terrorism against Eelam Tamils. USA under the George Bush administration has not applied its mind to identify state sponsored terrorism. It is high time world wakes up due to the relentless struggles of Eelam Tamils spread across continents and brands Srilankan state as terrorist state. Unless other nations initiate India will not take the first step to redeem Eelam Tamils from genocide. This impression is gaining ground and getting entrenched in Tamil psyche, as even Tamils of Tamilnadu feel like orphans within India, not because of the Indian nation but due to some mischief mongers in bureaucracy who have a common thread, racial sacred thread with the so called Aryan-Sinhalese.
In past when earnest efforts were made by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to resolve the Tamil Eelam issue, few misguided him, more prominent among them were Mr.Romesh Bhandari and Mr.J.N.Dixit. This time the needle of suspicion in the minds of Tamils living across the continents seems to point and suspect a rehearsal of that past with new players like Mr.M.K.Narayanan, National Security Adviser, misguiding Indian policies towards Eelam Tamils. It is normal that we in political class only will blame the political masters, and allows the bureaucracy to go scot-free, since bureaucracy is permanent and cannot defend itself on its own in public, unlike the politicians. But in the aftermath of Mumbai terrorist strikes, the Indian Home Minister Mr.Shivraj Patil, one who lost last elections but was inducted in cabinet due to his “slavish loyalty” as the leading New Delhi daily Mail Today described in its editorial dated 1st December 2008, had to quit office owning moral responsibility.
We congratulate Mr. P.Chidambaram, a Tamilian the new home minister, who had been Minister of State in the Home ministry with special charge of internal security in 1988 when Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister. “He is seen as a strong, assertive politician and close to Man Mohan Singh. But, he will be carrying some of Patil’s baggage. The former home minister was not the only one responsible for making a mess of the security situation. National security advisor (NSA) M.K. Narayanan, home secretary Madhukar Gupta, Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief P.C. Haldar, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Ashok Chaturvedi, and director-general Coast Guard Vice Admiral R.F. Contractor were responsible for making the country safe from terrorist strikes. Like Patil, they failed repeatedly. Yet, they have kept their jobs. In short, the government has sacked Patil but chosen not to dismantle the architecture of incompetence that surrounded him till his resignation on Sunday morning” writes Mail Today. It points the accusing finger on Mr.M.K.Narayanan, the National Security Adviser.” He failed in effective coordination between the intelligence and security agencies. Even the Prime Minister said such coordination was missing in pre-empting the latest attack. The PM now wants a mechanism for coordination between all security agencies. A shrewd operator and a survivor, Narayanan has been accused of undermining the IB and R&AW chiefs. He offered to resign when he met the PM on Sunday, but may have been saved by the TINA (‘there is no alternative’) factor. “The government does not have a replacement for the NSA’s position right now,” a senior PMO official said about the possible reason why Narayanan retained his job. On Sunday, the Prime Minister met Brijesh Mishra, former NSA in the NDA government. It set the rumour mills churning for a while, but the danger to Narayanan passed.” so says the daily.
In USA whenever new President or Party assumes office, new set of policies emanate with fresh leaders inducted into government. In India the cabinet system is supreme, but by-passing the cabinet system or the cabinet secretariat, imitating the West, we wrongly create posts like National Security Adviser, which erodes the authority of the Cabinet Minister or Cabinet Secretary. I would like to recall a comment by a columnist in a leading daily, where he said Indian Prime Minister Mr.Manmohan Singh started his innings as Prime Minister of India, but ultimately ended as Prime Minister of National Capital. This comment emanated to criticize the PM for going on creating committee after committee to induct all retired bureaucrats thereby catering to their power craziness. Once retired these bureaucrats must settle lives in grace and should not be inducted to disgrace the younger generations.
The Government of India, and even the Prime Minister’s lukewarm response, as reported in Tamil media, to the demands of the all party delegation led by Tamilnadu Chief Minister Kalaignar M.Karunanithi, is due to the wrong advice given by National Security Adviser and others like him in bureaucracy. The winter session of Indian Parliament is in session. North Indian Members of Parliament are raising many issues, stalling even proceedings, in the past. But Tamils are upset that the 40 Members of Parliament are neither articulating the views of Elam Tamils and the genocide they are subjected to nor doing justice to their people. The days when Nanjil Manoharan was the Leader of the DMK Parliamentary party, the DMK team included Mr.Era.Sezhian, Mr.G.Viswanathan, Mr.S.S.Marisamy and many others with oratorical skills. The Prime Minster Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was forced to assure DMK’s EVK Sampath that Hindi will not be thrust. Later Sampath ditched DMK is another story. DMK is not sending scholars or orators to the Parliament, it sends only people who will keep their mouths shut, unless the high command gives signal, no one participates in debates. This brain drain results in Tamilnadu issues, be it on Cauvery to Eelam Tamil issues, not being focused in national media. Even the all party delegation led by Tamilnadu Chief Minister was either not reported or reported with little importance in national televisions, because the DMK lacked orators in English who can present their views. So bureaucrats easily misguide Government of India. The Tamil politics remains a battle of words and statements in Tamil televisions and media, and not one of national debate. Unless this drawback is addressed people like M.K.Narayanan can misguide, and we will not be shedding new light to the national debate.
Why it is that Government of India’s memory is weak on the failed promises of Srilankan Government? What should be the approach of Mr.Pranab Mukherjee while he goes to Colombo /
Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, who was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Srilankan Government, and who is now the Leader of the SLFP, (M) the defecting faction, and sits in the Opposition said in an interview given to Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema which is reported in the “The Sunday Leader” of August 3, 2008. The question that he was asked, it states, I quote: “The Indian Prime Minister was reportedly assured by the government even during your tenure as foreign minister that a political package to resolve the ethnic issue will be submitted at the earliest but still there is no progress on that front. How serious has this development impacted on Indo-Lanka relations?” and what was the answer he gave? It states, I quote: “As you know, as foreign minister between the period of November 2005 and January 2007, I made six visits to New Delhi-twice with the President. At each opportunity, I had the honour of meeting the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh to explain the evolving situation in the country. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee also participated at these meetings. In fact, at each meeting, first the President and then I assured the Prime Minister that the final report of the All Party Conference (APC) will be issued by August 2006, the latest.”
That was two years ago. He further goes on to say, I quote: “However, as time went by, it was also clear to me that the government, especially with the pressure exerted by the likes of the JHU, Wimal Weerawansa and also the Defence Secretary, were all out to sabotage and cripple the workings of the APC. The APC, as far as the President and his people were concerned was a ploy to keep the international community at bay and also a means of showing the international community that the government was interested in negotiating a settlement while it secretly operated a military option. In fact, when I met Dr. Singh later that year, it was very embarrassing, as I, in order to protect the government, had to pretend that a solution was forthcoming. In December 2006, the duplicity was evident when I accompanied the President to New Delhi to attend Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s daughter’s wedding and met the Indian Prime Minister to brief him on the latest developments in Sri Lanka. At this meeting, we had in our delegation, Dr. Rohan Perera, who was an advisor to the Foreign Ministry and a member of the expert’s panel of the APC that was drafting the final recommendations. At the meeting, the President got Dr. Perera to give a brief presentation to the Indian side on the proposed recommendations. Dr. Perera gave a concise presentation where he said they would propose absolute devolution of power similar to that of the quasi federal Indian Constitution. However, we were in for a rude shock once we got back to Sri Lanka when President Rajapakse, who was extremely peeved by Delhi’s blackout of his photographs at the earlier visit, instructed that the experts committee of the APC be dissolved. Dr. Perera and other members were mercilessly attacked in government controlled newspapers and were forced to submit their resignations. The President presented a set of proposals to India, which he himself was to disown a few weeks later. At the Non Aligned Summit in Havana in September 2006, President Rajapakse again assured the Indian Prime Minister and the delegation that there would be no de-merger of the north and east. But he later instigated Wimal Weerawansa and the JVP to file action against the merger. Even today, it is a well-known fact the President is there behind the anti-Indian rhetoric of the JHU and the JVP. ”
Mr. R.Sampanthan, Parliamentary Group Leader Tamil National Alliance speaking in Srilankan Parliament told that “the Foreign Minister of this Government who was with the President of this country, at the meeting with the Indian Prime Minister in Havana where the President assured the Indian Prime Minister that there will be no de-merger. This is not being said by me. It is being said by a Foreign Minister of this Government and this is exactly what Mr. M. K. Narayanan, the National Security Adviser of the Indian Government told me and my colleagues when we met him in New Delhi before the judgment of the Supreme Court, after the President met with the Prime Minister in Havana. Mr. Narayanan told us that there was an assurance from the President that there will be no de-merger and that we do not have to worry about it; going further he told us that the Indian Prime Minister has told the President that if there was going to be a de-merger, India would have to keep all its options open. Those were the exact words of Mr. M. K. Narayanan, the National Security Adviser of India. Sir, where exactly is this government going? What is this government doing? Are you not cheating everybody, the people in this country, the international community and the much beleaguered Tamil people? In so far, Sir, as the sharing of powers of Government is concerned, the Thirteenth Amendment was rejected by the main Tamil political party of the Tamil people, the TULF as early as 1987 – 1988, and continues to be rejected by the main Tamil political party, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, the Tamil National Alliance, which has 22 Members in Parliament out of 23 Tamil Members of Parliament elected from the North and the East. It has not found acceptance with any Tamil political formation that does not carry out the dictates of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Such a worthless scheme can never be a solution to the Tamil question. Moreover, by seeking to implement the Thirteenth Amendment, President Mahinda Rajapaksa thereby seeks to set at naught all efforts to evolve an acceptable political solution between 1989 and 2007, including his own pronouncements and actions when he set up the APRC. The Thirteenth Amendment concentrates all powers in the Centre and the Provincial council is no more than a glorified local government institution. Such a worthless scheme can never be a solution to the Tamil question”.
These facts must be refreshed in the minds of Indian Foreign Minister Mr.Pranab Mukherjee, before he sets his foot in Srilankan soil next week. He should not go unprepared to argue. His visit is not a cosmetic exercise. It is the outcome of a unanimous resolution passed by Tamilnadu assembly and is a follow up to the appeal made by the all party delegation led by Dr.Kalaignar M.Karunanithi which met the Indian Prime Minister to request him to send a stern warning to Srilanka to halt the genocide and war against its own people. Mr.Mukherjee is not going to listen to same musical opera. Tamilnadu reminds him of his historical duty. His mission is not a fire fighting exercise. He needs strong words and not sugar coats. He needs iron will not will that will melt like ice in front of the red towel of Mr.Rajabakshe.
It is needless to say that Rajiv Gandhi’s murder is responsible for the inaction of Government of India towards Eelam Tamil’s plight. The LTTE factor is the reason, all know, and what would you say?
I cannot say poetically as Dr.Kalaignar M.Karunanithi, who said there are terrorists in many countries but nowhere bombing of civilians takes place to tackle terrorism. We in India all know the organization which was linked to the murder of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. The ban on that organization was short lived. It operates openly. I don’t think India can adopt one policy for Mahatma Gandhi and other for Rajiv Gandhi. We all know the Sikh connection to the Indira Gandhi murder, and the revenge killings of Sikhs, but that is past chapter. Now India has a Sikh Prime Minister, heading the same Congress party Government. Even if few Tamils of Eelam are connected to Rajiv Gandhi’s killings that should never be a reason to curse entire 10 crore Tamils spread across the world, nor the Eelam Tamils who are fighting for freedom sacrificing more than Indian sacrifice in Indian freedom movement. Nobody’s eyes were plucked in British prisons; no British sold Indian meat, such cannibals rule only in Srilanka.
Let me quote from the exclusive cover story of Indian magazine OUTLOOK dated 24th November 1997in its wrapper story: THE MISSING FILES. Crucial files concerning Rajiv Gandhi assassination case have either been lost or suppressed. Outlook investigates the mystery.
1. File No: 8-1-WR/JSS/90/Vol III - containing notings of bureaucrats regarding security arrangements for Rajiv Gandhi from November 1989 was lost from the Prime Minister’s Office in 1991. Later, it was doctored and reconstructed by the Narasimha Rao Government, before it was submitted to Jain Commission.
2. File No: 1/12014/5/91-IAS/DIII reported missing since 1995. It pertained to the terms of reference of the Verma and Jain Commission of Enquiry.
3. File containing intercepted messages from foreign intelligence services said to be addressed to Chandraswamy, destroyed by the senior officials of the PMO.
4. File on Intelligence Bureau’s assessment of the role played by Zail Singh and Chandraswamy in 1987 to topple Rajiv Gandhi missing.
5. File with records of official briefings by intelligence agencies on the assassination to Rao’s Home Minister S.B.Chavan missing. The former Minister confirms he was briefed orally.
6. The April 20, 1991, wireless intercept with the leading question-should Rajiv be killed in Delhi or Madras? Missing.
7. File relating to the Rao governments attempt to wind up the Jain commission is still withheld from the panel.
The whole article will be reproduced later, if necessary. But this investigative journal points its accusing finger in its title THE DEADLY DUE.
None from LTTE is branded as deadly due, the deadly duo has Congress connections, and hence Congress party must indulge in self introspection. Even if Eelam Tamils or drop outs from LTTE were tools, who directed these tools to hit. Tamil saying is there: i??amp;#381;a??i??a??a??a??i?? i??amp;#8225;a??i??i??amp;#8226;i??i??amp;#8226; i??amp;#8230;a??i??a??i??amp;#710; a??i??amp;#8249;i??amp;#8226;a??a??a??a?? ?
In all political parties in India many people with criminal background, convicted for murders, continue as members. Why the same OUTLOOK before a general election brought out details of 72 Members of Parliament charged with various offences including murders. With more than 30 murder charges, even an M.P known to me, was in Parliament. Does this mean the political party that patronizes those people should be banned? It is ridiculous. Even to highlight the plight of Tamils caught in a genocidal war before United Nations, India has hesitancy. India should not shirk from its moral responsibility as a super power in this region, to save Tamils. India by this time must have sent all help to Zimbabwe to save its citizens from cholera. Such gestures will enhance India’s moral standing. Indian shield for Eelam Tamils will not only serve Indian geo-political interests but also will go down in history as a nation that saved Tamils from genocide.
