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Round The World
Sri Lankan Crisis
DIPLOMACY UNDER TAMIL PRESSURE
By Monish Tourangbam
School of International Studies (JNU)
New Delhi, October 27, 2008
As reports pour in about the Sri Lankan Army’s military
offensives on various strongholds of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE), including a claim of complete domination
over Western Kilinochchi, the UPA Government is under pressure
at home to actively respond instead of following a hands-off
policy.
Earlier, an all-party meeting in Chennai called upon the
Manmohan Singh government to help bring about a ceasefire in
Sri Lanka and ask Colombo to go for a negotiated settlement.
Here, Tamil Nadu MPs threatened to resign en masse, which if
carried out, can reduce the Union government to a minority.
The DMK MPs have unhesitatingly put in their papers. However,
the resignation letters have been handed over to their leader
and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi to be passed on to
the presiding officers of both Houses of Parliament, at an
appropriate time.
This apart, Karunanidhi had called for a human chain across
Chennai, to protest the “human rights violations” in the
strife-torn country. He wanted the Congress to draw
inspiration from Jawaharlal Nehru’s words in 1939 on the
plight of Indian-origin people abroad. “India is weak today
and cannot do much for her children abroad. But, she does not
forget them, and every insult to them is humiliation and
sorrow for her. A day will come when her long arm of
protection and her strength will compel justice for them”, he
quoted Nehru. Reflecting on India’s emergence as a responsible
power, particularly in South Asia, he added, “We are only
saying that today should be the day Pandit Nehru was referring
to.”
True to the tradition of coalition politics, the Union
government is under pressure from its southern ally, the DMK.
Manmohan Singh had a telephonic conversation with the Sri
Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and pressed on the latter
to ensure the safety of Tamil civilians in the increasingly
volatile situation in the neighbourhood. According to reports,
New Delhi’s concern over the deteriorating humanitarian
situation in northern Sri Lanka and the plight of civilians
was firmly conveyed. A section of the Government too expressed
the need for External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to
visit the island nation, to demonstrate New Delhi’s concern,
though no decision has yet been taken.
Speaking on the sidelines of the IBSA meet, Manmohan Singh had
reiterated the need for a positive solution and not a military
victory in Sri Lanka, as per the prevailing situation. Here,
it is worth recalling that Rajapaksa on October 11 had said he
believed in a political situation and was confident that this
would be best addressed after defeating the terrorists
militarily.
One of the major issues raised between the Manmohan Singh-Rajapaksa
talk was New Delhi’s long-standing demand from Colombo not to
target the fishermen. Singh made it amply clear that killing
of fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy is unacceptable. The two
leaders agreed to chalk out a practical arrangement to prevent
such incidents. Further, Singh emphasized the need for
continued and uninterrupted relief supplies to the internally
displaced persons and to nurture democratic process in the
Eastern Province.
Following Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee’s intervention,
Karunanidhi has expressed satisfaction and deferred any major
intention of the DMK to pull out of the government and derail
it. In addition to the vagaries of coalition politics, New
Delhi has also been equally worried over more than 200,000
people in Sri Lanka abandoning their homes and planning to
cross to Tamil Nadu, thus raising the fear of an acute refugee
crisis.
On its part, Sri Lanka has chosen not to comment on the
all-party meeting in Chennai saying it was an “internal
matter” for India. Subsequently, senior adviser to President
Rajapaksa, Banil Rajapaksa, re-emphasized the interim report
submitted this January, in which the All Party Representative
Conference (APRC) had recommended steps for total
implementation of the 13th Amendment of the Lankan
Constitution, made following the India-Sri Lanka Accord, 1987,
holding elections to the Eastern Provincial Council and an
interim political set-up in the north as a prelude to holding
elections to the Northern Provincial Council.
Efforts are being made for a continued engagement between the
two countries to clear the concerns regarding the ongoing
issue. India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Alok Prasad,
has had a few important meetings, including one with President
Rajapaksa, in which he reiterated New Delhi’s concerns, served
on the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner in Delhi by
National Security Adviser M.K.Narayanan. Prasad also called on
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and conveyed
New Delhi’s ‘grave concern’ about the humanitarian crisis by
the ongoing clashes between the government forces and the LTTE.
Moreover, a day after Pranab Mukherjee said that India would
do everything in its power to save innocent Tamilians facing
the brunt of the Lankan offensive against the LTTE; Foreign
Secretary Shivshankar Menon summoned Sri Lanka’s Envoy
C.R.Jayasinghe and expressed anxiety over Tamil civilians’
plight.
The continuing clashes have delivered a severe blow to a large
number of the internally displaced. According to reports in
the Hindu, the United Nations is fortunately not deterred by
the fact that the 50-truck World Food Programme convoy was
forced off the route after a dangerously close exchange of
heavy fire across the A9 route. In a statement, it said that a
second attempt would be made to send a convoy of food to the
civilians displaced, behind the lines of confrontation in the
north. At the same time adding that it has received “renewed
assurances from both parties to the conflict” that the convoy
would be able to proceed unhindered. The trucks were carrying
about 750 tonnes of food for an estimated 2,30,000 displaced
civilians.
While India tries to play safe in its response towards the
evolving situation in Sri Lanka, the Lanka Defence Ministry
reports that the LTTE is making a desperate attempt to retain
its last major foothold, on the north-western coast of the
island, which “is their lifeline across the Palk Strait.” This
apart, there are signs that President Rajapaksa will, very
soon, be sending a high-level delegation to New Delhi to
discuss with the UPA government the issues raised and their
response.
Till then, in an important development, symptomatic of the
much-touted “re-emergence of Russia”, the Lankan Defence
Ministry has claimed “Russia having endorsed its measures
against terrorism,” obviously drawing comparisons to the
action taken by Russia against the “Chechen terrorists”. ---INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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