Political parties In the shadow of LTTE

Subramanian Swamy
First Published : 15 Oct 2008 02:30:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 15 Oct 2008 08:11:48 AM IST

Recently there have been hectic efforts to get the Government of India to pressure the Sri Lanka government to end the ‘genocide’ of Tamils and to enter into negotiation with the LTTE. Is there genocide going on in Sri Lanka? No, if one goes by the United Nations definition of genocide. The 1948 International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide signed by 135 countries including India and Sri Lanka has elaborately defined the term ‘genocide’.

By this definition that is available to any literate person by just going to the Google, we can say there is no genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

There are a large number of Sri Lankan Tamils who say that there is no genocide in their country, including well-known persons such as Anandsagaree of TULF, SC Chandrahasan of Ofer, Devananda presently a minister and Karuna MP. May be the pro- LTTE parties in India have a new definition of genocide, which is that if the Sri Lanka army kills then it is genocide, but if the LTTE kills then that is part of a freedom struggle. The truth is that the internationally banned terrorist organisation, the LTTE, is losing in the battlefield, and it is only a matter of time before its headquarters in the jungles of Jaffna is overrun.

This has activated certain political groups in India who depend on the LTTE for monetary support.Why is the LTTE on the run? It is because of their hubris. These terrorists killed at will even Tamils who were not only for Eelam but also opposed tooth and nail Sinhala majority hegemonism: Gandhian leaders such as Amrithalingam, Yogeswaran, Neelam Tiruchelvam, and militants such as Sri Sabaratnam were eliminated.

Obviously because the LTTE chief Prabhakaran thought he could get Eelam alone. He, of course, welcomes cheerleaders like Nedumaran and Veeramani because they slavishly serve him, but not independent Tamil leaders working for the goal of self-respect and autonomy for Tamils. Rajiv Gandhi sent 1,00, 000 troops to the island and de facto carved out a North and East Tamil area in Sri Lanka, with a full-fledged Tamil chief minister who was duly elected. The IPKF did not allow a single Sri Lankan soldier to enter the region.

But that was not good enough for the LTTE because Rajiv Gandhi wanted political plurality and leaders to hold office via elections.

Since the LTTE believes in a single party Marxist state Prabhakaran decided that Rajiv Gandhi should be killed. Hence, he decided to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi as soon as he found Indian collaborators who he mistakenly thought could protect him post the dastardly deed. That is hubris. His collaborators could not protect him however because Rajiv Gandhi had more courageous friends than he had thought, and Prabhakaran’s collaborators were cowardly. As a consequence, Prabhakaran is a now an internationally wanted criminal, a proclaimed offender for whom the Interpol is in search.

Should India intervene to prevent the inevitable decimation of the LTTE? That is the question of importance for us. Now is the moment of truth for clarity and transparency.

There is confusion now in our approach to Sri Lanka because of a hidden compulsion of the UPA government. The confusion is manifested in the following contradiction: On the one hand, the Indian government has banned LTTE as a terrorist organisation because of its murderous activities, including the killing of Rajiv Gandhi; on the other hand, despite the continuing assassinations by the LTTE of pro-Indian Sri Lankan politicians and its open interference within India by financing pro-LTTE politicians and training other terrorist organisations, the Indian government pontificates that the ‘peace dialogue’ of the Sri Lankan government with the LTTE must take place. This has in effect ended up legitimising the terrorist outfit and thus making the ban meaningless.

We have to remove the fault line in our policy towards the LTTE, and secure our geographical neighbourhood. We have to regard the LTTE a part of the problem and not part of any solution of the crisis because of that outfit’s links with India’s terrorists such as PWG, Naxalites and ULFA, and with ISI of Pakistan and even al-Qaeda as well as with de facto separatist Indian political parties such as the DMK, PMK, Dalit Panthers and not to mention 38 paramilitary connected terrorists outfits roaming the forest areas of Tamil Nadu.

I see five reasons why India has an obligation to assist in the elimination of the LTTE: First, India had trained the LTTE in the 1980s and created this Frankenstein’s monster. Hence, India must atone through actions to disband and unravel the LTTE.

Second, despite enjoying India’s hospitality for years, the LTTE betrayed India by entering into a shocking alliance with the Premadasa government and killing more than a thousand Indian army personnel of IPKF sent to the island to enforce peace and create an autonomous North and East Tamil region. The betrayal and loss of lives of our valiant jawans have to be avenged to keep up the morale of Indian armed forces.

Third, for assassinating Rajiv Gandhi, India is obligated to search for Prabhakaran and to teach the LTTE a lesson in a language it will understand, and to prevent it from engaging in any murderous and terrorist activities against India.

Fourth, the LTTE interferes in the internal affairs of India by financing stooge Indian political parties, in providing training to Indian militant and extremist organisations.

It also launders black money of Indian politicians through its illegal Eelam Bank in the Jaffna area. India cannot allow such erosion of law and order.

Fifth, LTTE is part of the international terror network and is aided by the ISI of Pakistan to smuggle narcotics into India, circulate fake currency notes to buy medicines and diesel, to smuggle out antiques to Italy, and engage in passport fabrication and hawala operations.
To discharge these obligations, India has to initiate action to assist the Sri Lankan government to take out the LTTE, and at the same time tell the Sinhala majority that following the end of the LTTE, India reserves the right to intervene militarily if they do not implement a proper devolution of powers for the Tamils under the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Second, India must assist and nurture the democratic elements among the Tamil population, those who have demonstrated capacity to stand up to LTTE such as S.C. Chandrahasan, Anandsagaree, Douglas Devananda and the breakaway LTTE group that opposed Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, viz., the Karuna group, to form a non-violent and democratic alternative to work out with the Sinhala majority a federal constitution that would serve the purpose of power sharing.

The time is at hand for India to effectively contribute to the war against terrorism and in promoting democracy by targeting the LTTE. We must seize this opportunity.

Let the pro-LTTE parties sing for their supper.

We need to pay no attention to them !

About the author: The writer is a former Union Law Minister