In an interview with a Sri Lankan newspaper, the
Indian High Commissioner in Colombo, Mr Narendra Nath
Jha, has urged the Sri Lankan people to look at
federalism as a solution to the crisis in Sri
Lanka.
And, not unnaturally, the Tamil Times gave the
interview pride of place in its February issue. Mr.Jha
said:
"The word 'federal' should not scare people away.
Indians feel that federalism is not enough for India.
They want it to be a looser federalism. One of the
ways of resolving this conflict is by having a fresh
and close look at the various federal
structures".
Mr.Jha is a senior diplomat in the Indian Foreign
Service, even senior to the present Indian Foreign
Secretary Mr.M.Dixit and presumably Mr.Jha should know
what he is talking about.
But if that which Mr.Jha now proclaims are truly his
Government's views, why did not New Delhi match these
proclaimed views with its deeds and secure a federal
constitution in the 1987 Accord? Why did it instead
foist on the Tamil people the miserable 13th Amendment
and an executive Governor appointed by a Sinhala
President? Why did it foist on the Tamil people an
Executive Governor who held office at the pleasure of
the Sinhala President and who also controlled the
financial resources of the Provincial Council? We may
well ask Mr.Jha: Is that what you call 'federalism'?
Please do tell us. We are a reasonable people and we
will listen to reason.
Mr.Jha knows, ofcourse, that the real question is
whether India recognises that the Tamil people have the
right to self determination. The real question is
whether India recognises that the armed struggle of the
Tamil people arose in response to a systematic and
continuing oppression by a permanent Sinhala majority.
The real question is whether India recognises that that
armed struggle is therefore both just and lawful.
And, here we are not unmindful that the Indo
Sri Lanka Accord which was signed by the late
Mr.Rajiv Gandhi, recognised the Tamil militant movement
as 'combatants' in an armed conflict and in this way,
India has already recognised the legitimacy of the
armed struggle.
Will Mr.Jha bow to reason and agree that today, the
two parties to that armed conflict are the LTTE and Sri
Lanka and that the only way forward is for the two
parties to the conflict to talk to each other?
But , whilst the recent Canadian Human Rights
Mission calls for talks between the LTTE and Sri Lanka,
and the British High Com-missioner in Colombo suggests
the same, the Government which Mr.Jha represents
prefers to act as if the LTTE does not exist. What is
worse, far from recognising the LTTE as the only force
which has consistently and steadfastly struggled for
the Tamil Eelam cause, New Delhi seeks to annihilate
it. At the same time it seeks to nurture an
'alternative leadership' which will do its bidding.
New Delhi failed with Mr. Appapillai Amirthalingam
who was resoundingly rejected by the Tamil people at
the Provincial Council polls in December 1988 - a poll
which was held under the immediate 'supervision' of the
Indian Army. New Delhi failed again with Mr.Varadarajah
Perumal even though it sought to prop him up with the
direct intervention of the Indian Army - an army which
had come to Sri Lanka on a so called 'peace keeping
mission.'
But, as the recent visit of the TULF to Delhi shows,
the Government which Mr.Jha represents continues to
persevere in its search for Tamil quislings. It seems
that Mr.Dixit seeks to achieve as Foreign Secretary
that which he had failed to achieve as the 'Viceregal'
High Commissioner in Colombo in 1987.
Mr. Jha will agree, will he not, that the bottom
line is in the annexures to the 1987 Indo Sri Lanka
Accord? The bottom line is his Government's concern to
secure Indian hegemony in the region and secure that
broadcasting facilities and naval facilities in Sri
Lanka are not given to countries outside the region?
That is why Mr. Jha and New Delhi (and Mr.Gamini
Dissanyake) seek to keep the 1987 Accord alive and
continue to peddle the line that the conflict can be
settled within its frame.
Given all this, please forgive us, Mr.Jha, if we
take the view that New Delhi's current 'talk' of
federalism is simply an attempt to 'keep its oar' in
the conflict in the face of possible initiatives being
taken towards 'associative structures' in certain
Western countries.
Mr.Jha knows well enough, that the Sri Lanka
constitution is an unitary constitution. He knows that
the unitary provisions of the Sri Lanka constitution
are entrenched. He knows that the Sri Lanka unitary
constitution cannot be changed to a federal
constitution without holding an island wide referendum
- and that the Indo Sri Lanka Accord makes no provision
for that. In any case, Mr.Jha also knows that given the
belligerent Sinhala chauvinism which is deep rooted in
the Sinhala body politic , a referendum has always been
a non starter. What then is this 'federalism' that
Mr.Jha is talking about - and how is to be
achieved?
New Delhi's track record shows that it regards
the Eelam Tamils as an expendable commodity -
expendable in the altar of its own self interest. The
simple political reality is that New Delhi gave limited
support to the Tamil militant movement before 1987 with
the principal intent of destabilising Colombo and
making Colombo move towards New Delhi. The Annexures to
the 1987 Accord are proof enough of that
intent.
But all the time that New Delhi gave this 'limited'
support, it knew that young Tamils were giving their
lives for Tamil Eelam. It knew that these young Tamils
would not and did not give their lives merely to
further New Delhi's geo po-litical interests and so, it
led these young Tamils to believe that their liberation
struggle had New Delhi's support - and that a
'Bangaladesh' was around the corner. Herein lay the
hypocrisy and the dishonesty of New Delhi's policy and
actions.
New Delhi's hands are stained with the blood of
thousands of young Tamils who died for Tamil Eelam.
Having secured its hegemony through the Annexures to
the Accord, New Delhi then turned on the LTTE as it was
the only Tamil militant movement which stood dedicated
to the memory and the aspirations of the thousands who
had given their lives in the Tamil Eelam national
liberation struggle.
It is said that the wise learn by the experience of
others but that fools fail to learn even by their own
experience. Please do not take the Tamil people for
fools, Mr.Jha. We as a people have suffered much. We
are Tamils. We know that as Tamils, we are also
Indians. But, please, Mr.Jha, please do not give us
bull.
