Return to Sri Lanka: Indian soldier revisits a brutal battlefield

[manlion]

The argument was whether LTTE was helped by Sri lankan govt or not ? Answer that instead of writing a long winded misleading argument.

There re were mistakes made on all the sides no denying that but to end up blaming India alone is utterly ridiculous. You can dig further and find more atrocities committed by your own country men instead of conveniently blaming others.

Its an open secret - no denying that the then President of Sri Lanka - Premadasa - supported LTTE to drive IPKF out of Lankan/Eelam soil. Both viewed IPKF as an invading force, plus it was a poorly disciplined peace keeping force

Under the 'peace' pact - LTTE was supposed to dismantle and surrender its arm to IPKF - unlikely LTTE complied .. most likely it went underground. When IPKF started harassing local Tamils, LTTE had no choice but to take up arms to fight the new aggressors

straight from the horse's mouth (ex East commander of LTTE)

Karuna accuses IPKF of rape during LTTE war, Premadasa of giving arms

A Sri Lankan minister on Wednesday accused the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) of raping Tamil women during the LTTE war.

The 48-year-old Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan alias Karuna, who was a former LTTE leader and now a deputy minister in the Mahinda Rajpaksa government, told the parliament that the IPKF who conducted peacekeeping operations in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990, had raped several Tamil women while also killing Tamil’s.

“There is evidence for that,” Muralitharan, who was then the LTTE’s feared eastern leader said. The IPKF was invited into north and eastern Sri Lanka in terms of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987.

He accused former President Ranasinghe Premadasa of strengthening the LTTE by giving the rebels more weapons.

Muralitharan said that around 1989 only 350 LTTE cadres remained in the outfit but it eventually grew in numbers as a result of the actions of Premadasa. “He gave 5000 weapons to the LTTE. That 300 changed into 6000 in 3 months,” he said.

http://www.adaderana.lk/news/karuna-accuses-ipkf-of-rape-during-ltte-war-premadasa-of-giving-arms

 

[Thorough Pro]

He knows and stated the facts, rubbish is that is coming out of you

If you know facts comment , if not dont bother quoting me. I am not interested in your rubbish cheap troll post.

 

[manlion]

Jaffna Teaching hospital massacre occurred on Deepavali day (October 21 and 22, 1987) , when troops of the Indian Army entered the hospital premises and killed between 60-70 patients and staff.

Donating modern scanners to the X-ray division of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, the Indian government had recently requested the administration of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital to do away with the memorial site situated within the hospital, but the employees were firm in refusing to erase the memory of 21 doctors, nurses and other medical staff together with 46 patients were slain by the so-called Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in one of the brutal massacres witnessed in Jaffna when the invading Indian military was at war with the LTTE in 1987. The medical staff and the kith and kin of the victims, who remembered their co-workers, patients and family members on Monday, demanded a public apology from the Government of India.

 

[Gibbs]

I tagged others to get a different opinion, what makes you think you are the sole source of truth?

Just goes to show that you have very little or no knowledge of the subject except for random google search, There are poster here with way better knowledge about it than the two you chose to validate your argument with.. Lol

I never implied i'm the source of the truth, But i chose to dispute the article you posted filled with heresy and bias opinion on many facets of the civil conflict, Further more it's just a opinion piece without any verified facts

That was my crux on the matter, Not to argue if the Premadasa govt armed the LTTE or not, That is pretty clear no dispute, It was done in the higher interest of the country, The Indians were never there for altruistic motives as some of you may try to portray, They had their own hegemonic agenda

 

[kvpak]

@Gibbs @HeinzG

Here is all you need to know about Indian double dealings on the Tamil Eelam issue

 

[HeinzG]

Thats a little too much exaggeration.. SL Govt suporting LTTE..

Initially LTTE was very friendly with indian troops... but behavior and subsequent killings (and massacred by indian troops of tamils and others) made them turn their guns at their own supporters.

Meanwhile indian provincial govt of tamil nadu kept supporting LTTE...

Late Sri Lankan president, Mr. R. Premadasa was fond of LTTE as he believed was from the same social strata as he was. Therefore he believed that he could broke a deal between LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government. At the same time, LTTE was fighting desperately with the IPKF and they needed a solid ally. Premadasa was seen to LTTE as a perfect choice. Representatives from both sides met several times and SLG extended their helping hand to the LTTE by providing weapons and other military related items. In the mean time Premadasa worked hard to evict the IPKF from Sri Lanka and in the end he succeeded from doing so. But, he was not successful in taming the LTTE. LTTE took his life along with Rajiv's.

 

[Nilgiri]

Late Sri Lankan president, Mr. R. Premadasa was fond of LTTE as he believed was from the same social strata as he was. Therefore he believed that he could broke a deal between LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government. At the same time, LTTE was fighting desperately with the IPKF and they needed a solid ally. Premadasa was seen to LTTE as a perfect choice. Representatives from both sides met several times and SLG extended their helping hand to the LTTE by providing weapons and other military related items. In the mean time Premadasa worked hard to evict the IPKF from Sri Lanka and in the end he succeeded from doing so. But, he was not successful in taming the LTTE. LTTE took his life along with Rajiv's.

Look man, both Lutyens in Delhi and much of Colombo elite didnt quite understand what Jaffna Tamils are doggedly like way before even all this crap started in 20th century. It was a stupid folly for I.G to arm LTTE thinking these chaps are like mainland Tamilakam folks who have not had real "good ole" war for 100's of years (given British Raj)...and very stupid of Premadasa to think reverse in they are lesser evil or even good people that can be negotiated with once they picked up gun and tasted blood. Even in tamilakam, if you look at history, Tamil people inherently dont like to go for war on outset, but when they do (say complete breakdown in social stability/govt or lingering of something unresolved) they go proper fanatic, even suicidal till whatever objective is achieved and new more stable status quo etc....or simply die trying. Don't ever try to reason with Tamil people when they are in middle of waging this kind of war on you (and worse largely hijacked and accelerated by foreign extremist ideology, so they lose all connection to what has chance to pacify from inside them) and definitely dont arm them to defeat someone you dislike short term thinking they gonna like you after it....instead you must impress a cold calculated power on them (like Brits did and mughals and those before never could)...to contrast with their "heat" esp those of Jaffna who dont quite have cultural buffer space of main Tamilakam... SL I am afraid acted too late and much needless suffering happened in the interim.

When you dont understand the people and assume them to be something, you get massive policy failure....at cost of much extended drawn out blood and nightmare.

A great superpower US learned it too in Vietnam.

Also Grunts can never be 100% chivalrous etc, they will commit war crimes inevitably, because they have been inserted into an environment where the only thing they got for support is each other. It becomes tribalism essentially, and it gets exacerbated when you dont have a conventional enemy to fight and plan against. IPKF was a neither here nor there plan, JRJ should never have agreed to it (and also should not have done a siege tactic that affects whole population tbh because it just gives more room for intervention) and instead just gone ahead with a precise tactical operation against Jaffna and called Indian bluff and finish the war as early as possible...again target the Tamil fighters (esp core) intensely and you win. Rajapakse down the road finally got the right idea.

 

[HeinzG]

Look man, both Lutyens in Delhi and much of Colombo elite didnt quite understand what Jaffna Tamils are doggedly like way before even all this crap started in 20th century. It was a stupid folly for I.G to arm LTTE thinking these chaps are like mainland Tamilakam folks who have not had real "good ole" war for 100's of years (given British Raj)...and very stupid of Premadasa to think reverse in they are lesser evil or even good people that can be negotiated with once they picked up gun and tasted blood. Even in tamilakam, if you look at history, Tamil people inherently dont like to go for war on outset, but when they do (say complete breakdown in social stability/govt or lingering of something unresolved) they go proper fanatic, even suicidal till whatever objective is achieved and new more stable status quo etc....or simply die trying. Don't ever try to reason with Tamil people when they are in middle of waging this kind of war on you (and worse largely hijacked and accelerated by foreign extremist ideology, so they lose all connection to what has chance to pacify from inside them) and definitely dont arm them to defeat someone you dislike short term thinking they gonna like you after it....instead you must impress a cold calculated power on them (like Brits did and mughals and those before never could)...to contrast with their "heat" esp those of Jaffna who dont quite have cultural buffer space of main Tamilakam... SL I am afraid acted too late and much needless suffering happened in the interim.

When you dont understand the people and assume them to be something, you get massive policy failure....at cost of much extended drawn out blood and nightmare.

A great superpower US learned it too in Vietnam.

Also Grunts can never be 100% chivalrous etc, they will commit war crimes inevitably, because they have been inserted into an environment where the only thing they got for support is each other. It becomes tribalism essentially, and it gets exacerbated when you dont have a conventional enemy to fight and plan against. IPKF was a neither here nor there plan, JRJ should never have agreed to it (and also should not have done a siege tactic that affects whole population tbh because it just gives more room for intervention) and instead just gone ahead with a precise tactical operation against Jaffna and called Indian bluff and finish the war as early as possible...again target the Tamil fighters (esp core) intensely and you win. Rajapakse down the road finally got the right idea.

I don't think what India did back in 1980s were wrong when considering the geopolitical situation at that time. The blame should be mostly fallen on President JR Jayawardane. He completely mishandled the situation and antagonized India. He made a local issue an international incident, and defamed his country in the same time.

Premadasa was fond of LTTE was because of their social rank. LTTE was mostly made up of low caste, down trodden people who has lost the upward mobility of the society. Premadasa was from the same social strata and he expected a comradery between the LTTE and himself for the struggle against the upper classes. It was rumored that at one time he was calling LTTE "our boys" in contrast to the foreigners of IPKF. Moreover, I think he was genuinely duped by some Tamil politicians and his advisers about LTTE and the Tamil struggle.

However, there was no siege of Jaffna whatsoever. Jaffna was one of the prosperous agricultural region and they were well fed and self sufficient back in 1980s. The whole "siege" story was purposefully spread to legitimized the Indian intervention of Sri Lanka.

The war against LTTE was easily have been won if any of the President before Mahinda had any political will whatsoever. But, they just played it for time and to further their own causes. People suffered in the end.

 

[Sankpal]

Thats a little too much exaggeration.. SL Govt suporting LTTE..

Initially LTTE was very friendly with indian troops... but behavior and subsequent killings (and massacred by indian troops of tamils and others) made them turn their guns at their own supporters.

Meanwhile indian provincial govt of tamil nadu kept supporting LTTE...

Just Google it. There are many SriLankan army man's exploring truth. Videos are available on you tube and articles are available.

 

[Nilgiri]

I don't think what India did back in 1980s were wrong when considering the geopolitical situation at that time. The blame should be mostly fallen on President JR Jayawardane. He completely mishandled the situation and antagonized India. He made a local issue an international incident, and defamed his country in the same time.

Premadasa was fond of LTTE was because of their social rank. LTTE was mostly made up of low caste, down trodden people who has lost the upward mobility of the society. Premadasa was from the same social strata and he expected a comradery between the LTTE and himself for the struggle against the upper classes. It was rumored that at one time he was calling LTTE "our boys" in contrast to the foreigners of IPKF. Moreover, I think he was genuinely duped by some Tamil politicians and his advisers about LTTE and the Tamil struggle.

However, there was no siege of Jaffna whatsoever. Jaffna was one of the prosperous agricultural region and they were well fed and self sufficient back in 1980s. The whole "siege" story was purposefully spread to legitimized the Indian intervention of Sri Lanka.

The war against LTTE was easily have been won if any of the President before Mahinda had any political will whatsoever. But, they just played it for time and to further their own causes. People suffered in the end.

Yup fair enough analysis.