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Wednesday 31 July 2013

What is India up to? - II

In the interview given to the “Daily Mirror” of 22nd July 2013, Vignesvaran, the Chief Ministerial candidate of the TNA, at the Northern Province Provincial Council elections further states “If not for the support of the international community, particularly India, Sri Lanka could not have got rid of the LTTE so swiftly. So India, on its part although it was not done in the 80s, it was done in 2009 and therefore, I don’t believe it is a ground to set aside 13A, which takes root from the international agreement between India and Sri Lanka. You cannot play the fool with such agreements and without the permission of India; it is not possible for Sri Lanka to act unilaterally.” This is queer logic to say the least and by this answer Vignesvaran attempts to claim that the Indo Sri Lanka Accord is still valid. It would be interesting to find out what the Accord said in this regard. It is given in clause 2.9.

“2.9 The emergency will be lifted in the Eastern and Nothern Provinces by Aug. 15, 1987. A cessation of hostilities will come into effect all over the island within 48 hours of signing of this agreement. All arms presently held by militant groups will be surrendered in accordance with an agreed procedure to authorities to be designated by the Government of Sri Lanka.

Consequent to the cessation of hostilities and the surrender of arms by militant groups, the army and other security personnel will be confined to barracks in camps as on 25 May 1987. The process of surrendering arms and the confining of security personnel moving back to barracks shall be completed within 72 hours of the cessation of hostilities coming into effect.”  

Though the security personnel were moved backed to the barracks, as well known, the process of surrendering arms were not completed within 72 hours of the cessation of hostilities that should have come into effect  within 48 hours of the signing of the agreement. As subsequent events showed the hostilities were not ceased within 48 hours of signing the accord and the Accord became defunct within 48 hours. That meant that there was no Indo Lanka Accord after the 31st of July 1987. It was India that did not fulfill the requirements expected from her and thus unilaterally abrogated the Accord. Even if it is assumed that hostilities were ceased within 48 hours of signing the Accord the LTTE did not surrender the arms within 72 hours of the cessation of hostilities coming into effect. It implies that by 4th of August 1987 latest the Indo Lanka accord became null and void as a result of India unilaterally abrogating it.

Now Vignesvaran defending India that forced the TNA to nominate him as the Chief Ministerial candidate as Sampanthan himself has admitted to Thinakural and Virakesari of 22nd of July, claims that though India did not do what it was required to do in the eighties it did so in 2009. It is good of Vignesvaran to admit that India did not comply with the Indo Lanka Accord in the eighties. However India was not given indefinite time to accomplish its tasks and in terms of the Accord India should have been in possession of the arms of the LTTE by 3rd of August 1987 the latest. The accord did not envisage of defeating the LTTE in 2009 with India supporting the Sri Lankan armed forces in the humanitarian operations. In any event there was no Indo Lanka Accord to be honoured or violated after the 3rd of August 2009, and even if Vignesvaran’s claim that if not for the support given by India, Sri Lanka would not have defeated the LTTE so swiftly is correct, it does not imply that India honoured the Indo Lanka Accord in 2009, as there was no agreement valid by then. In any event the Indo Lanka Accord does not mention anything on defeating the LTTE by 2009.

Now what about the claim that if not for the support of India and so called international community the LTTE would not have been defeated so swiftly? It is said that India has the fourth largest army in the world, but we all know that it could not make the LTTE surrender its arms let alone defeating it militarily. What is the support that the so called international community meaning the western countries including Japan, and India gave the Sri Lankan armed forces to defeat the LTTE? The western countries were interested in seeing the Sri Lankan forces being defeated by the LTTE  but there was no way that they could directly interfering with the “war”. They supplied everything from arms to funds not only through the NGOs but directly through their embassies and even Catholic clergy. At the last moment they wanted to take the LTTE leadership including Prabhakaran, and Nambiar  the special envoy of the UN Secretary General who is only a puppet of the USA, was in Sri Lanka with the intention of bringing a ship to take the LTTE leadership to the west. However it failed and it is this fiasco that led the Channel Four and other western agencies to come out with propaganda against the President, the Defense Secretary and the Armed Forces, falsely accusing them of violation of human rights etc.

India did not want the LTTE to establish an Eelam (Eylom of Suntharalingam) as it could not handle Prabhakaran the way it wanted. Prabhakaran was prepared to obey the west but not India as he did not want his Eelam to be dictated by the big brother. He did not approve of the Indo Lanka Accord and did not surrender arms to the IPKF. Finally he made sure that Rajiv Gandhi was killed and he wanted an Eelam established directly without going through so called devolution of power, federation (confederation), Eelam, with the assistance of India. He probably knew that an Eelam established with the help of India would become a state of India together with the other parts of Sri Lanka realizing the dream of Nehru and his dynasty. In the third stage of Tamil racism in Sri Lanka, India did not want a non Vellala Prabhakaran to lead the armed struggle to establish an Eelam.

We have now entered the fourth stage of Tamil racism in Sri Lanka. At the end of the third stage in the Nandikadal Lagoon the Government of Sri Lanka gave a political solution to the so called Tamil problem as “warfare” is nothing but an extension of politics by other means. All the agreements signed during the second and third stages of Tamil racism became null and void with the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. However the government was not able to convert the political victory into law due to the non availability of a two third majority at that time and also due to the hegemonic western knowledge that is imparted to us through schools and the universities. It is time to abolish the thirteenth amendment, on which there is no agreement between India and Sri Lanka though it may be a result of the now defunct Indo Lanka Accord. Sri Lanka does not have to consult India or any other country to amend its constitution.


In the meantime India has not given up Nehru’s dream of making Sri Lanka another state of india, and is working towards that goal slowly and gradually. India would attempt to have leaders of the so called Tamil speaking community in Sri Lanka according to its whims and fancies and in this regard they would not tolerate any leader with the slightest connections with the LTTE or Prabhakaran. India is working on the formula devolution of power, Federal state or confederation, Eelam, wars between Eelam and the rest of Sri Lanka, and finally a new state of India in the Indian Ocean. It could also lead to wiping out of Buddhism in South Asia finally. The “choice” of Vignesvaran as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the Northern Province provincial council is the first step in this direction. Having become the chief minister Vignesvaran will agitate for police and land powers with the help of India with the intention of establishing a federal state. It is the “little now more later” policy of Chelvanayakam that India advocates and it is in the interest of a Unitary Sri Lanka that the government amends the relevant provisions of the thirteenth amendment if not abolish it without delay.            

Nalin De Silva

31-07-2013