When Emperor Dharmasoka was reigning in India around 250 BC, India was indeed the greatest friend of Sinhale. However that is past history. Analyzing the actions of India in recent times according to the quotation of Winston Churchill given above one has to conclude that India is indeed no longer a friend but an enemy of Sri Lanka.
When Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, training camps were established in India for Tamil separatists from Sri Lanka. These Tamil separatists were provided with arms and then sent to destabilize Sri Lanka. For three decades thereafter the terrorist trained by India caused immense destruction to life and property in Sri Lanka. However the political leaders of our country referred to India as our friendly neighbor. Perhaps it is happenstance that India continued to be called a friend and not a foe.
When Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India, the Sri Lanka Army was poised to defeat the LTTE in the Jaffna peninsula. The notorious Parippu drop and the Indo Sri Lanka Accord forced on Sri Lanka by Mr. Rajiv Gandhi prevented the irradiation of LTTE terrorism from this country at that point of time. This was then the second occasion that India interfered in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and it resulted in the continuation of destruction to life and property for two more decades. However our political leaders still kept referring to India as our friendly neighbor. Perhaps it was a coincidence that India decided to act against Sri Lanka for the second time.
With Mr. Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of India, on the 22nd of March 2012 India voted against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions in Geneva. This then was the third occasion in recent times that India has acted against Sri Lanka. Will our political leaders still continue to call India a friendly neighboring country? It is time our political leaders learned to call a spade a spade without trying to whitewash the hostile actions by India against Sri Lanka for the third time. Agreeing to disagree without being disagreeable may be diplomacy but will such diplomacy succeed with a big bullying nation such as India?
At the recently concluded UNHRC Geneva sessions all the countries in the Asian region except India voted against the resolution brought forward by America on Sri Lanka. It is said by those who are still inclined to defend India that it was the pressure from Tamil Nadu politicians that made India vote with the west breaking rank with the Asian countries. If that is so India is indeed in deep trouble with the central government in India unable to take decisions in the national interest without bowing down to the whims and fancies of Tamil Nadu politicians. Is this a situation where the tail is wagging the dog?
Tamil Nadu has been a problem to Sri Lanka throughout history. It is from Tamil Nadu that invading forces were sent to this country to destroy our ancient civilizations in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. The constant invasions from Tamil Nadu in ancient times were one of the reasons for the Sinhalese kingdom to move to interior parts of the country.
The politicians in Tamil Nadu way back in the 1963 carried out a campaign to separate from the Indian configuration and to establish an independent and sovereign country for the Tamils. The central government of India under Prime Minister Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru crushed this campaign and changed the constitution of India to prevent any separatist activity by states in the Indian configuration. The Tamil Nadu politicians who failed to establish a country of their own for the Tamils in India next began to encourage politicians in Sri Lanka such as S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, Q.C. who had similar aspirations to establish a separate Tamil nation called Eelam by dividing Sri Lanka.
A Tamil political party in Sri Lanka named the Tamil United Liberation Front had on the 14th of May 1976 adopted the Vadukoddai Resolution which stated that Tamil Eelam shall consist of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. The word Eelam has been used to connote the impression of the existence of a land of the Tamils. However the Tamil lexicon published under the authority of the highest seat of Tamil learning the University of Madras in page 328 describes ILAM as the land of the Sinhala people. The term ILA in Tamil means “SINHALA” having its origin from the word HELA, by which term the ancient people of LANKA were known.
Thus ILAKKACHU in Tamil means “Sinhala Coins”, ILA means Sinhala and KACHCHU means Coins. Similarly, since NADU means land, ILANADU means Sinhala land. According to the said Lexicon the word ILANADU was derived from ILAM. The foregoing establishes the fact that the word ILAM (Eelam) never referred to any Tamil land but always signified the Sinhala land. Therefore if the Vadukoddai Resolution was to ask for ILAM (Eelam), what is being asked for is the traditional land of the Sinhala people.
The central government of India was wise enough under Prime Minister Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru to stamp out separatist activity encouraged by Tamil Nadu politicians. However the central government of India under Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh has now been foolish enough to dance to the tune of Tamil Nadu politicians and to encourage separatism in Sri Lanka by voting for the resolution against Sri Lanka at the recently concluded UNHRC sessions in Geneva. India encouraging separatism in Sri Lanka would amount to helping Tamil separatists to establish a foothold or a bridgehead in a neighboring country from where they could work sans much hindrance towards establishing a sovereign and independent nation of Tamil Nadu in India. If this ever becomes a possibility this will encourage other states in the Indian configuration too to fight for independence and the liquidation of India would result sooner than later.
Be that as it may Sri Lanka however after being thrice let down by India in the recent past should learn to consider India not as a friend but as a foe and should take all necessary steps to prevent India from further destabilizing Sri Lanka. The government of Sri Lanka should immediately reconsider the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with India for which there is much objection from the business community in this country.
It should also seriously study the illicit immigration problem from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka. Before the LTTE took control of the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka illicit immigration to the country was prevented by the Task Force for Illicit Immigration. During almost three decades when this Task Force was defunct there is reliable information that the LTTE encouraged illicit immigration from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka.
During a visit to Kanagarayankulam last year with SUCCESS Colombo to conduct a medical camp for Tamil people who were resettling in this area I met a person by the name of Subramaniam in the presence of Brig. Ranawake the Brigade Commander of 561 Brigade.
Since Subramaniam was very fluent in Sinhalese I had a long discussion with him about himself and his family. He told me that he was an Indian Tamil whose parents lived in an estate in Deniyaya. Though he lived in Deniyaya with his parents as a youth he later left them and commenced a small business in Galle. In 1972 soon after the JVP problems he relocated himself in Kilinochchi. While in Kilinochchi he had got married. Two of his sons joined the LTTE and one was killed in battle while the other went missing.
His family was made a Mahavir family after the death of his son in battle and was given ten acres of land in Kanagarayankulam by LTTE leader Prabhakaran. Prabhakaran had also requested him to bring his relations in Tamil Nadu to help him to cultivate this land. He was however unable to do so as he had lost all contact with his Tamil Nadu relations. When I asked if other Mahavir families had got down relations from Tamil Nadu he said that some of them had done so. He also said that there were about fifty to sixty families resettled in Kanagarayankulam who were not citizen of this country. He also said that all of them have now obtained letters from Grama Niladharies saying they had lost their national identity cards and that they were former residents of Kanagarayankulam. I brought this information to the attention of the Secretary of Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapakse and he requested Major General Kapila Hennawithana to commence investigations in this regard.
India has offered to construct 50000 houses and also to rebuild the railway line to Jaffna. Like the Chinese who brought in their own labour to build the BMICH and subsequently the Hambantota habour will the Indians too request the same facility? Chinese labour working in Sri Lanka have and will return to China but Indian labour that come to build houses and the railway line may well decide to get married to Tamil women in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and settle in this country. A newly built house would indeed be a good incentive for labour from Tamil Nadu to marry and settle in Sri Lanka. While the aid offered by India for the development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka should be accepted, Sri Lanka government should not forget that India is not a friend but a foe. Therefore when it comes to receiving aid from India the government of Sri Lanka should be like a cunning fish that eats the bait without swallowing the hook.
India should not show favoritism to the Tamils and have a one sided view.
