YASIN MALIK IN CHENNAI
During his recent address in Chennai, JKLF Chief Yasin Malik may have received a standing ovation when he said that, "Tamil Eelam is the goal of each and every Tamil person" and probably, even won over the audience to support the Kashmir cause. However, in accepting the invitation to speak on the issue of ‘Tamil Eelam’ in Chennai, Malik may have unwittingly committed a serious faux pas for two reasons- first, the timing of this meet and second, the audience he chose to address. No doubt that as a Kashmiri leader championing the cause for ‘the right to self determination’, which is being suppressed with military might, Malik feels the pain and anguish of the ethnic Tamils of Sri Lanka who are facing a similar situation as the people of Kashmir and sympathises with them. However, for a leader to sacrifice rational thinking on the altar of emotions is dangerous, as it can harm the ongoing movement which he is spearheading.
Having steered clear of expressing sympathises towards the Sri Lankan Tamils earlier, Malik’s decision to do so now, and that too on the eve of the death anniversary of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran tantamounts to the admission of an ideological convergence between the separatists of Kashmir and the LTTE which is a terrorist outfit. And coming from his mouth, this perception gains more credence as it is Yasin Malik who was the pioneer of the ‘armed struggle’ in Kashmir. It can be argued that there is nothing wrong with Malik expressing solidarity with the Sri Lankan Tamils for a separate homeland. However, by making this announcement at a meeting organised by ‘Naam Tamilar’, a pro-LTTE outfit, the impression that Kashmiri separatists support violence as a means for attaining ‘Eelam’(Independent State) by the Tamils of Sri Lanka, is further reinforced.
Malik’s criticism of the Sri Lankan government for foiling efforts of the international community to mediate with the LTTE and thus restore peace during the final stages of the ethnic war was clearly aimed to draw a parallel with New Delhi’s stubborn refusal for any international mediation in Kashmir. And the expression of his regret that India failed to intervene and stop the genocide in the island nation was obviously aimed at telling Pakistan that it was not doing enough in this regards. But, Malik failed to realise that drawing parallels can be ominous. And by attempting to do so, he has only trivialised the ‘right to self determination’ movement (which has the explicit sanction of UN resolutions), by comparing it to a civil war in which the State was confronting the LTTE that had been declared a ‘terrorist organisation’ by the UN! Certainly, there will be no takers for Malik’s misplaced logic or unconvincing arguments.
Our leaders fail to realise that the movement for the ‘right to self determination’ has tremendous intrinsic strength and wide international acceptance. However, it is the ‘armed struggle’ component, which has associated itself with this movement that makes international intervention difficult for two reasons. The first reason is that whenever a nation is engaged in combating armed uprisings, international convention views it as an internal matter and the ‘sovereignty’ clause precludes overt intervention (Syria is a live example). Secondly, in today’s world, any armed resurrection is perceived as ‘terrorism’ and thus, even if a country supports an ideologically righteous movement, it remains wary of any direct involvement. What better example of this can be given than that of Pakistan, which while whole- heartedly supporting the Kashmir cause, publically denounces violence as a means to resolve this issue!
No doubt that the separatist leadership must use every opportunity and fora to highlight the plight of the Kashmiris and espouse their ‘right to self determination’. However, it needs to be more discerning in choosing the occasion and platform from where this should be done. While the Sri Lankan government stands indicted for gross human right violations during the final stages of their battle with the LTTE, this outfit still remains on the list of proscribed terrorist groups of every influential nation. So, anything, which even remotely tends to connect the movement in Kashmir with the LTTE or its sympathisers, should be avoided as this could prove to be extremely detrimental to our cause.