Tigers and proxies prostrate before India

by Janaka Perera

President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week presented a strong case for Indian action against the LTTE after the Sri Lanka Navy destroyed a trawler load of Tiger arms and equipment near the Indo-Lanka maritime border. And curiously in the midst of these arms smuggling operations the LTTE leadership and its proxies seems to have developed a great `love' for our giant neighbour these days.

On November 5, Sea Tiger leader Susei told the Sinhala weekly 'Mawbima':

"We have a great respect towards not only the people of Tamil Nadu but also the whole of India. We appeal to India not to fall into the Sinhala Government's trap. India should consider the reasons for our just struggle and come forward, since it is our belief that only India can lay the foundation for our people's welfare and their peaceful existence"

In same interview Susei said:

"Once battles at sea start no one can overcome us. The navy that our leader Prabhakaran has organized and established has become a fortress protecting not only the Tamil Eelam people but also people living in Tamil Nadu's coastal areas. It has also become a bulwark against foreign forces threatening India!"

And the `Sun God' in his `Maveerar' (Heroes) Day speech thanked the people and leaders of Tamil Nadu for the support they extended to the Tamil people's 'freedom struggle.'

Perhaps he is toying with the idea of incorporating the South India State in a Greater Tamil Eelam if it ever becomes a reality - so that his `Tamil Nation' will have a homeland extending to what is presently Indian Territory. In any case no nation can have two homelands - Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka's North-East.

This Wanni ventriloquist has also been trying to make his desperate voice heard in India through his Tamil National Alliance dummies after Delhi snubbed TNA parliamentarians who sought a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Earlier VP tried a similar tactic unsuccessfully by getting Anton Balasingham to apologize to India for Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and build a rapport with the Indian Government.

But few can beat the interview that TNA's, Jaffna Distrct MP, M.K. Sivajilingam gave in this connection to the Indian weekly, Tehelka, in October. It is among the worst of derogatory anti-Sri Lankan statements that pro-LTTE Tamil politicians (the late Kumar Ponnambalam being the most notorious among them) have uttered from time to time.

Sivajilingam's interview is an undisguised attempt not only to create friction between the Sri Lankan and Indian Governments but also to instigate communal violence here.

Excerpts from the interview:

"What do you expect India to do in this situation? Are you indirectly asking India to help the LTTE?

India should recognize the liberation struggle of Tamils. There would be security in the region only if we (Tamils) achieve liberation. We consider India as our motherland. Our culture is rooted in India. In the long run, the Eelam would be an asset to India.''

"Is it true that LTTE and Indian intelligence agencies have re-established contacts?"

"We don't have any information on that. But the day is not far when the LTTE would join hands with India.

The LTTE has appealed to India to forget the past. It has understood the reality that they can achieve nothing without India's support."

"Do you foresee the days when India would give military assistance to the LTTE?

A situation is emerging that would force India to such a position because of the activities of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Pakistan (in the region).

Are you saying that emergence of the Eelam would be in India's security interests?

"Yes. We are a small country. We cannot antagonize a country like India. We would have very good relations with India. We will not allow America or Pakistan to get a foothold in the region."

Sivajilingam has the nerve to ignore the deaths of Indian soldiers (IPKF) and later Prime Minister Gandhi at the hands of the LTTE but wants Delhi to realize the `importance' of the Wanni Tigers and their Tamil Eelam in defending India's security interests in the long run!

If as he says Sri Lanka's Tamils have always considered India their motherland and even cheered her during Sri Lanka-India cricket encounters ("The Tamils in Sri Lanka support India even in an India-Sri Lanka match") it is really surprising that he and those Tamils who share his views did not revoke their Sri Lankan citizenship and apply for the Indian one all these years. After all he is doing his best to convince the Sinhalese and other Sri Lankans that Tamils are really aliens in this island.

If a community of people are loyal to another country while being Sri Lankan citizens they are not fit to be citizens here. Wonder why these Tamil `Indians' did not make a single protest when the Tamils' `sole representatives' killed the soldiers of their `motherland' (India) in 1987-88 and later her Prime Minister.

By stressing that all Sri Lankan Tamils are pro-Indian, this Sivajilingam is insinuating that (a) Sinhalese are anti-Indian and (b) they should be made to realize they are an insignificant minority in the face of the combined strength of Sri Lankan and Indian (Tamil Nadu) Tamils.

We suggest that as a first step Sivajilingam and company should move out of the South of Sri Lanka and settle in Tiger-dominated Wanni instead of living in government-controlled areas (especially among `Sinhala racists') until such time the LTTE is kicked out of the Wanni too. Thereafter the Sivaji is free to migrate to India - that is if she is willing to accept Tiger puppets like him.

Will India or any other country tolerate their MPs trying to gain a foreign government's sympathy for a separatist group that is trying to bisect one's own country, alleging that she is working against her immediate neighbours? It is only in Sri Lanka that politicians are free to display such treachery and getaway with it. And Sivajilingam has done exactly that.

Now that both India and Sri Lanka (during the Premadasa Government) have learnt bitter lessons after flirting with the Tigers, it is unlikely that either country would again listen to the `lullabies' of Tiger sympathizers. Their real aim is obviously to Balkanize India via separatism which is bound to have an impact on Tamil Nadu. This is obviously the real motive behind this sudden LTTE outpour of `love' for India.

Yet Prabhakaran's only achievement after 23 years of fighting is that he has succeeded in taking, in TULF Leader V. Anandasangaree's words, "the Tamil people back to the bullock cart age."

The likes of Sivajilingam seem to revel in their misery.

Let us conclude this commentary with the following observation that N.V. Kanapathipillai made 10 years ago in article titled, `Lessons of the war for Tamils' (Daily News February 09, 1996)

"Since the claims of the LTTE is a Tamil homeland in the North and the East, and barely disguised interest in making another claim, with military backing, for more later on, the Sri Lankan State has no option but to keep up the fight. If the LTTE is able to keep up the struggle, so must the Sri Lankan State."