The strong support base for Rajapakse’s vision of a united Sri Lanka (SL) is the electorally endorsed brutal genocide. The international community (IC) is concerned for the Tamils’ survival following the failure of its decades long urgings to the ruling SL regimes to resolve the Tamil issue humanely through negotiation. Both Delhi’s military (IPKF) style intervention and the Delhi South Block’s over appeasing diplomacy failed to end the genocide. The over appeasing raised the SL brutality for the massacres of tens of thousands, herding like cattle for indefinite interning in camps worse than Guantanamo of hundreds of thousands and massive human rights abuses to occur. A skeptical world now concurs that Sinhalese majoritarianism endorsing the genocide crimes is unlikely to ever agree to solutions for the two communities to live in harmony.
SL regimes offered several devolution packages to the Tamils but Rajapakse’s village level devolution offer comes from a regime intoxicated by its win over the three decades long armed Tamil resistance. Without the LTTE the strengthened Rajapakses callously downplay the Tamil issue and with it the much touted 1987 Indo-SL Accord devolution model thus making Delhi’s role in SL redundant. After administering this snub SL puts Delhi in a predicament especially when the Narayanan trio repeatedly assured TN to deliver on the Accord (with the Rajapakses then agreeing) as recompense to TN successfully mollifying the anger in TN over the Rajapakse brutalities. The inability of Delhi to deliver on the Accord now would constitute a further betrayal, alienating TN Tamils more. SL indirectly supports China’s plans to balkanize India inducing and nourishing TN’s alienation.
For the Tamils today the key concern is basically about their own survival that the standard menu offering voting rights, elections, jobs, language, land rights and development, become meaningless gimmicks. Hence the disdain the Tamils showed for the SL presidential elections. Their sole stake now is securing internationally guaranteed survival to replace the loss of the security the resistance (LTTE) provided over the past three decades. Delhi collaborated with the SL in destroying this protective umbrella without providing a viable alternative. Delhi’s impliedly guaranteed the lives of Tamils under the provisions in the 1987 Accord. With Rajapakse reneging on it and offering instead an untried village level devolution SL delivers another snub to Delhi. All this is part of the painful let down legacy of the Narayanan led clique whose prolonged strangle-hold over the Tamil issue though easing, does not guarantee Tamil survival even under the Accord when Sinhala regimes are hell bent on the physical elimination of the Tamils in SL. Narayanan Delhi also frustrated the UNHRC war crimes initiatives to deter SL committing more war crimes.
In view of these the Tamils need more reliable solutions like adopting the Cyprus model to guarantee Tamil survival in an Eelam as part of TN with a Pondichcheri status. Eelam becoming part of TN/India returns the Tamils to the glory of the Cholan and Pandyan ages.
The adoption of the Cyprus model would confer Indian citizenship automatically guaranteeing Tamil lives and Tamil identity, strengthen India’s own regional supremacy and secure India’s south underbelly. TN opinion is bound to bounce back strongly in support of the Cyprus (Pondichcheri) model as SL moves stridently Sinhalising SL totally. A less attractive alternative is the Israel model with the Tamils dispersed worldwide retuning to an Eelam free of Buddhist/Sinhala rule as the Jews did to their own state of Israel.
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