India & the Struggle for Tamil Eelam
A.P.Venkateshwaran, Former Indian Foreign Secretary
[see also
Rajiv Gandhi's War Crimes
- நெற்றிக்கண் திறப்பினும் குற்றம்
குற்றமே...]
"...as
an Indian I feel ashamed that under the
Indo Sri Lanka agreement, our forces are fighting with Tamils whom they
went to protect. Speaking of blaming the Indian soldiers, soldiers are
meant to carry out commands, but I do believe that in our own Indian ethics,
soldiers are not merely meant to carry out commands because if you look at
the history and the mythology and the culture which is Indian...We are
supposed to fight only for Dharma. Only if the war is righteous shall you
fight it.... I believe that the Indian Government had betrayed its
own culture and ethics. For the first time, it has sent out soldiers to
fight when there was no cause for us to fight. There was no purpose for us
to fight. When I speak to the Indian army officers, whom I know and who have
come back after serving in Sri Lanka, they are the most puzzled and most
unhappy people because they do not know the cause for which they are
fighting. The guilt, therefore, rests entirely on those who sent them to
do this dastardly business of fighting in Sri Lanka against our Tamil
brothers and sisters..."
Tamils are the
oldest inhabitants of the sub-continental region...
I am truly happy to be in your midst identifying myself with your hopes
and aspirations. When the meeting started, it was done in a very picturesque
and poetic manner with the lighting of a lamp and it reminded me of a Vedic
hymn which is very appropriate when we remember the struggle which is taking
place in Sri Lanka.
When there is a conflict, truth is the first casualty. The first line
says, 'lead us from untruth to truth', the second, 'from darkness lead us
into light', and the third, 'from death lead us to immortality'. I think
everyone who has died in this struggle has become immortal.
The Tamils are
the oldest inhabitants of the sub-continental region; this is accepted
by historians peeping into the mists of time. There is evidence to show this
in the inscriptions of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, the Indus Valley
civilisations. They are supposed to have moved down further south with more
powerful invasions and, don't make a mistake, the successful invaders are
usually the barbarians. Throughout history, civilised nations have been
conquered by barbarians, not by the civilised. So the Tamils moved out and
populated further southerly parts of the Indian sub-continent. So to try and
deny them the right to their own homeland, when all others who had come
after them were already there, is the height of irony. I believe that this
is the root of the problem which we see today, that is, the world does not
recognise the injustice which is sought to he done to the Tamils of Sri
Lanka.
I think the
Tamils taking
to arms in Sri Lanka was more than justified...
What has been the character of the Tamils? Generally speaking, in the
sub-continent, we have been a peace loving and law-abiding people. The
Tamils have been especially so; even amongst the sub continent we are e the
most peace-loving and the most law abiding people. So what has made the
Tamils now from that earlier categorisation to be described almost as a
martial race. Why are they fighting? Why are they dying? What is behind
their struggle?
I believe that it is a gross injustice which has been done to them.
The fact is that
their rights have been totally removed, and that they have been
humiliated.
Pacts have been made only to be broken. So in this situation what will
not justify a person taking to arms.
I
think the Tamils taking to arms in Sri Lanka was more than justified.
And as an Indian I feel ashamed that under the
Indo Sri Lanka agreement, our forces are fighting with Tamils whom they
went to protect. Speaking of blaming the Indian soldiers, soldiers are meant
to carry out commands, but I do believe that in our own Indian ethics,
soldiers are not merely meant to carry out commands because if you look at
the history and the mythology and the culture which is Indian, we do not
believe in the British concept of the Charge of the Light Brigade, 'Theirs
is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die'. No. We are supposed to
fight only for Dharma. Only if the war is righteous shall you fight it.
The
Indian Government had betrayed
its own culture and ethics...it is a dastardly business..
By that yardstick I believe that the Indian Government had betrayed its
own culture and ethics. For the first time, it had sent out soldiers to
fight when there was no cause for us to fight. There was no purpose for us
to fight. When I speak to the Indian army officers, whom I know and who have
come back after serving in Sri Lanka, they are the most puzzled and most
unhappy people because they do not know the cause for which they are
fighting.
The guilt, therefore, rests entirely on those who sent them to do
this dastardly business of fighting in Sri Lanka against our Tamil
brothers and sisters.
And why should this have happened, despite repeated knowledge of the
nature of the gentleman with whom our Prime Minister has signed the Accord,
that he is the most slippery customer, that he has consistently over all the
years of his life (in which I don't think he has really achieved a single
constructive creative thing), always gone back on his word?
We know that Mr. G.Parthasarathy, Chairman of our Policy Planning
Committee, went to Colombo
after the atrocities were committed on the Tamils all over the island,
(and these atrocities were clearly inspired by the Sri Lankan Government and
many lives were lost and many displaced from their homes) and that
Annexure C scheme was agreed upon between President Jayewardene and Mr
Parthasarathy and no sooner had Mr Parthasarathy come back immediately after
concluding this understanding than Mr Jayewardene went back upon it..
In the two
or three years
when I dealt with the affairs of the foreign office in Delhi, there was
not a single instance where the Sri Lankan side had not gone back after
giving certain assurances...
In the two or three years when I dealt with the affairs of the foreign
office in Delhi, there was not a single instance where the Sri Lankan side
had not gone back after giving certain assurances concerning the situation
of the country.
It was a regular feature and it really puzzles me and strains my
credulity as to how anybody could take this gentleman's word at its face
value. When I was at my desk, we did send the TULF delegation twice to
Colombo. The reason for that was that the TULF members represented the
parliamentary constituencies of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. They had
discussions, some of which appeared hopeful and worth pursuing but on which
the Sri Lankan side began sliding back. Then on 19th December 1986 there was
a ministerial delegation which went to Colombo led by Mr Chidambaram and
certain under standings were reached but not implemented. When the
Indo- Sri Lanka Accord was suddenly concluded, what was agreed upon in
1986 was further changed.
I am not sure whether many of you know that the
Indo-Sri Lanka Accord came about in a matter of two weeks. The first
draft came from Colombo. There was not really too much for negotiation on
it. That itself should make any normal person very suspicious as to why
there had been a change of heart in a gentleman who had not been willing to
give even a fraction of what is in the Accord, at least in words, earlier.
The reason became very clear for the Accord, because
in the December 1986 discussions the maximum that could be achieved was
the agreement on the part of the Sri Lankan Government that there would be
an association between the Northern and Eastern Provinces but the Eastern
Province would be minus the district of Amparai. As you know, Amparai had a
much less Tamil population than the other two districts of the Eastern
Province. So there was a fair chance that such a union could survive.
All right, even if it looked generous on the part of Mr Jayewardene that
the agreement included this Amparai district when the Accord was being
concluded, anybody should have had alarm bells ringing in his head when a
further clause is put in the Accord
that there would be a referendum taken regarding union by the end of
1988.
Of course, none of the points which had been included in the Accord has
really been implemented. In fact, the developments in the Accord have been
most tragic in the reverse direction than in the direction which people were
hoping things would move. So in a sense what happened to the Accord was a
self destructive agreement. The Sri Lankan side is ensured that they get
merit for doing something which they knew well before hand would not work,
but would blow up. And this is exactly what has happened because I don't
think anyone, even the most optimistic observer anywhere in the world, can
say that the Accord has succeeded in what it set out to achieve.
It is a grotesque
travesty that the Indian Peace Keeping Force should he now so clearly on
the side of the Sri Lankan Government in its oppressive actions....
The story of the conflict with the IPKF is also equally disastrous. It
started on 10th October, after the arrest of 17 LTTE cadres by the Sri
Lankan Navy. The President requested them to be sent to Colombo; they all
swallowed cyanide capsules and 14 of them died. The result of this action
was the inflammation of opinion and the fighting which started then has not
ceased. But I have never understood how when you have a peace keeping force,
the efforts of the peace keeping force are to continue this conflict. In any
peace keeping force anywhere in the past, under the UN now, the peace
keeping force would shoot back only if it were shot at. A peace keeping
force also by definition never took the side of one party or the other. So
it is a grotesque travesty that the Indian Peace Keeping Force should he now
so clearly on the side of the Sri Lankan Government in its oppressive
actions.
I am afraid that what is happening now would lead to bitterness for many
decades to come, in our own kith and kin in Sri Lanka and ourselves. Barbara
Tuchman, the well known historian, in a recent book called 'The March of
Folly', makes a comment. She says a phenomenon noticeable throughout history
regardless of the place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies
contrary to their own interests. She defines folly as 'the pursuit of policy
contrary to the self-interest of the constituency or state involved'. I
think the Government of India's action in this particular. ease-comes very
clearly into the definition of folly as stated by Barbara Tuchman.
Where do we go
from here?...
One last word before I leave you in peace and that is "where do we go
from here?" I think the only way we can go is to have an immediate
cease-fire. There was a cease-fire in Sri Lanka some months ago at a time
when I believe some 18 Indian soldiers were being handed back by the LTTE
which was received with very grudging acceptance by the Indian side which
again was most peculiar. In fact they even went on saying that they were
dead and would not be handed back. When they were handed back I do not think
there was even a sense of appreciation, or let alone appreciation, of even
acceptance that something decent had been done. But at that time there was a
48 hour cease-fire and after the 48 hour cease-fire the fighting was
resumed; not by the LTTE, it was resumed by the IPKF.
Pirabaharan has sent a number of messages asking for a cease-fire and
there have been messages from civilian groups in Sri Lanka asking for a
cease-fire and they are falling on deaf ears. Here I believe what is
necessary is a greater effort on the part of the Sri Lankan Tamil community
in educating the Tamils in Tamil Nadu. They have done a good job educating
Tamils in the United Kingdom and in organisations in Europe and other
countries.
But the biggest group of Tamils obviously lives in Tamil Nadu
and unless that effort is made, a true Tamil consciousness cannot
develop and unless that true Tamil consciousness is developed inside
India we would not be able to get the constituency in India which we
need to strop this kind of situation which has taken place due to the
Indo Sri Lanka Accord.
The only way that the Government in India can be made to move in the
proper direction would be by influencing opinion in Tamil Nadu which has
changed a bit already because earlier there was a chief minister of Tamil
Nadu, Mr M G Ramachandran, who was not keeping good health and he was
persuaded to go along with the policy of the central government. At that
time since the people in Tamil Nadu adored him, they felt that going against
what he felt was right would be an act of disloyalty to him. But he is
now dead and many are now struggling to take his place.
This is the right time for you to take initiatives.
Tamils from all over
the world, not only Tamils from Sri Lanka, should carry the message to
the Tamils in Tamil Nadu that they are being fed a type of lies through the
television, the radio and the press. One-sided pictures are being presented
to them and they have really no way of understanding what the truth is. But
if people who have connections, relations, friends, speak to them, write to
them, it would make a very big difference and once that tide starts to
develop I do not believe that the Government, even the Government of India
under the present Prime Minister, can carry on such a foolish policy
