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India and Sri Lanka
Big brother is watching you
Oct 23rd 2008 | COLOMBO
From The Economist print edition
Renewed Indian interest in their country worries many Sri Lankans
FROM shanty houses to parliament, Sri Lankans are transfixed by one topic: Indias impact on the governments war with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This follows protests in the Tamil-majority Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where there has always been sympathy for fellow Tamils in Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadus ruling party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), is part of the coalition government in Delhi, led by Manmohan Singh. Nineteen DMK lawmakers have threatened to resign if the government does not persuade Sri Lanka to declare a truce by October 29th. The DMK accuses Sri Lanka of a genocide of Tamil civilians trapped in the rebel areas of the Wanni, where fierce fighting is causing daily casualties on both sides.
The pressure from an important coalition partner has forced Mr Singhs government to act. In a phone conversation on October 18th Mr Singh urged Sri Lankas president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to start a process towards a negotiated political settlement. This sort of thing makes Sri Lankans nervous. They recall 1987, four years into the civil war, when an Indian peacekeeping force was sent to Sri Lanka. It was much resented by many members of the islands Sinhalese majority, and had disastrous consequences. The Tigers, who assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, a former Indian prime minister, in 1991, are banned in India. But as representatives of a minority seen as suffering discrimination, they still enjoy some support in Tamil Nadu. Another direct intervention in Sri Lanka is not on the cards. But India is the regional superpower and hard to ignore.
Sri Lankans are now even more preoccupied with Indias role than with the fighting in the north. Sri Lankan soldiers are battling torrential downpours as well as the Tigers, outnumbered but resilient. The army is closing in on the Tigers stronghold of Kilinochchiwhich it has said it will capture by the end of the year.
India has dominated headlines in Sri Lankas press. Influential Buddhist monks have urged it to keep out of Sri Lankan affairs. Questions have been raised in parliament. In response to the frenzy, President Rajapaksa summoned media bosses on October 21st to tell them that India had not asked his government to halt the war. The Rajapaksa government attributes the furore in Tamil Nadu to coalition politics and electioneering, ahead of the general election due in India by next May.
A senior presidential aide admits to concerns about the rumblings in Tamil Nadu. But he insists the Indian government understands Sri Lankas fight against terrorism and will be satisfied so long as Sri Lanka doesnt discriminate against the Tamils and gives them food and humanitarian assistance. That, however, may be underestimating the concern felt in India and elsewhere: not just at the humanitarian crisis in the Wanni, but also at the apparent lack in the Sri Lankan government of any will to pursue a political settlement acceptable to most of its Tamil minority.
Big brother is watching you
Oct 23rd 2008 | COLOMBO
From The Economist print edition
Renewed Indian interest in their country worries many Sri Lankans
FROM shanty houses to parliament, Sri Lankans are transfixed by one topic: Indias impact on the governments war with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This follows protests in the Tamil-majority Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where there has always been sympathy for fellow Tamils in Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadus ruling party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), is part of the coalition government in Delhi, led by Manmohan Singh. Nineteen DMK lawmakers have threatened to resign if the government does not persuade Sri Lanka to declare a truce by October 29th. The DMK accuses Sri Lanka of a genocide of Tamil civilians trapped in the rebel areas of the Wanni, where fierce fighting is causing daily casualties on both sides.
The pressure from an important coalition partner has forced Mr Singhs government to act. In a phone conversation on October 18th Mr Singh urged Sri Lankas president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to start a process towards a negotiated political settlement. This sort of thing makes Sri Lankans nervous. They recall 1987, four years into the civil war, when an Indian peacekeeping force was sent to Sri Lanka. It was much resented by many members of the islands Sinhalese majority, and had disastrous consequences. The Tigers, who assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, a former Indian prime minister, in 1991, are banned in India. But as representatives of a minority seen as suffering discrimination, they still enjoy some support in Tamil Nadu. Another direct intervention in Sri Lanka is not on the cards. But India is the regional superpower and hard to ignore.
Sri Lankans are now even more preoccupied with Indias role than with the fighting in the north. Sri Lankan soldiers are battling torrential downpours as well as the Tigers, outnumbered but resilient. The army is closing in on the Tigers stronghold of Kilinochchiwhich it has said it will capture by the end of the year.
India has dominated headlines in Sri Lankas press. Influential Buddhist monks have urged it to keep out of Sri Lankan affairs. Questions have been raised in parliament. In response to the frenzy, President Rajapaksa summoned media bosses on October 21st to tell them that India had not asked his government to halt the war. The Rajapaksa government attributes the furore in Tamil Nadu to coalition politics and electioneering, ahead of the general election due in India by next May.
A senior presidential aide admits to concerns about the rumblings in Tamil Nadu. But he insists the Indian government understands Sri Lankas fight against terrorism and will be satisfied so long as Sri Lanka doesnt discriminate against the Tamils and gives them food and humanitarian assistance. That, however, may be underestimating the concern felt in India and elsewhere: not just at the humanitarian crisis in the Wanni, but also at the apparent lack in the Sri Lankan government of any will to pursue a political settlement acceptable to most of its Tamil minority.
