Sam posted a story on our news tab which shocked me right out of my ankle-stupor; at first, it seemed slightly ho-hum, since it was about India sending radar to help Sri Lanka prevent LTTE attacks. Then…
I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place, to start (when you read you begin with…). Via The Hindu, which is the original news source:
India had resumed non-lethal military aid to Sri Lanka with the supply of two indigenous radars in 2005. This year in January it sent another military radar to Sri Lanka which was followed by the despatch of a similar radar in June. The radars were sent on behalf of the Indian Air Force, the sources said.
Yes, fine, fine. That’s not what made me jolt awake. This is:
Ironically, both radars were sent from the Hindon military base on the outskirts of Delhi. This was the place from where helicopters were despatched via Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu to rescue the LTTE leader V. Prabakaran at Vadamarachchi on the northern tip of Jaffna after the Sri Lankan Army had cornered him in the late 80s. [The Hindu]
Here’s what I had read on our news tab:
Tucked away in one line in The Hindu today (August 06, 2007) is one of the untold secrets of Indian intervention in Sri Lankan affairs: Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tiger terrorists, was helicoptered out of Sri Lanka by the Indians when he was cornered by the Sri Lankan Army at Vadamarachchi in the 80s. [sm]
So I HAD found the “obscure” part of The Hindu article which Sam’s tip mentioned, which is what fascinated me in the first place! I know nothing about this conflict (that’s what you are here for, dear readers…to edumacate me in your inimitable way)– but even I could sense that this seemed like a rather big deal.
Back to radar, for those who can still focus on that aspect of this news:
Diplomatic sources here said India’s supply of radars, said to be in the non-lethal category, in no way compromised its desire for a political solution to the Tamil issue.
India claims it was forced to supply the radars to prevent Pakistan and China from fulfilling Sri Lanka’s need. New Delhi was uncomfortable with the idea of Islamabad or Beijing-built surveillance equipment being installed close to its shore. [The Hindu]
Fair enough.
In March this year, LTTE aircraft had targeted a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) base near Colombo leading to speculation that the radars supplied by India were defective. However, Sri Lanka later said the reports were wrong. [The Hindu]
Anyone have further information about all of this, from news or other sources which don’t rant about how India was stupid to save the man who ordered Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination? I appreciate everything you mutineers do, especially the time and the effort you expend posting intriguing, relevant stories on our news tab, but sometimes, a link leaves you wanting more. Well, more than this:
The Indian RAW – the equivalent of CIA – was running clandestine operations training, providing, arms, financing and applying diplomatic pressure hoping that they could use Prabhakaran to destabilize Sri Lanka and manipulate Sri Lankan leaders to serve Indian foreign policy objectives. During this time India was in the Soviet Russian camp. Sri Lanka, under J. R. Jayewardene, was moving toward the American camp. India used the Tamil dissidents to manipulate both the Tamils and the Sri Lankan government.
In the end Prabhakaran paid back by assassinating the son of Indira Gandhi who took under the protective wing and mothered them. Ironically, the bullet she aimed at Sri Lanka ricocheted and killed her and her son.
Ranjith Soysa, spokesperson for the Melbourne-based Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights, (SPUR) told the Asian Tribune that “India had to pay heavily for her stupidity.†He added: “This shows that India cannot be trusted as a reliable friend, partner or neighbour. Our politicians like Ranil Wickremesinghe who run to India asking for help should open their eyes and realize at least now that Indians will always be unreliable cut-throats. India has not yet learned from history. India is still playing the double game.†[Asian Tribune]
Whoa there, tiger (no pun intended!). Do you see why I crave additional, more conventional links??
LeftyProf listed “balanced” sources for more info on Sri Lankan history here. (And there’s a damn good remix of Bucky Done Gun too.)
Thanjavur… what an interesting place to dispatch helicopters from. Did you know they’ve found oil in Thanjavur?
Rajiv Gandhi and Prabhakaran did negotiate in Madras in 1988/1989. Could this have been the helicopter ride that the Hindu referred to?
Another interesting fact: in 1988 India paid (bribed?) the LTTE $500,000 to support a peace accord. Guess that didn’t turn out so well.
I was looking around on Wikipedia–all very vague. I have been told that the Tigers were initially trained in-by India–most of the leaders and initial cadres were university students angry about revisions to the education system. Re: Rajiv Gandhi’s assasination, see:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169302/
Way back in the 1970’s, India supported the Tamil Tigers in their fight for “independence”. This support was spread out amongst many “pro-Tamil” groups fighting in Sri Lanka, however. The LTTE, in order to rout out these other groups, attacked the most prominent Tamil and Eelam “factions”, gaining complete hegemony. Eventually, the violence spiraled out of hand and the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) entered Sri Lanka. At Rajiv Gandhi’s discretion, India tried to force both the Sri Lankan and LTTE (liberation tigers of tamil-eelam)towards peace. The LTTE refused, and the IPKF began a through, though unpopular, campaign to suppress the LTTE. The IPKF campaign became more and more unpopular in Sri Lanka, even amongst the majority Sinhalese ethnic group, but Rajiv kept the forces there regardless.
Eventually, the LTTE brazenly assassinated Rajiv Gandhi through suicide bombing – ( The suicide bomber, “Gayatri”, was one of the first recorded female suicide bombers).
Since that time, the LTTE has been listed as a terrorist group by a number of U.N. member nations, and India has an antagonist relationship with the group.
It’s a long story, but I want to caution people that LTTE is huge on disseminating biased information on the internet – the wikipedia article is dubious, to say the least. Look for a strong reputable source before researching this subject.
Btw, Anna, I heard you speak at the IALI conference and you were great! Keep up the good work – you are greatly appreciated!
2 · runnerwallah in 1988 India paid (bribed?) the LTTE $500,000
Cheapo’s!! You can’t retire to miami beach on that!!
India aiding and abetting terrorism in neighbouring countries — what’s new? India’s complaints against Pakistan of sponsoring “cross border terrorism” reek of hypocrisy when we all know that India sponsored the LTTE and prominent ministers allied with the central government continue to support them politically. Gun running from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka continues to take place unabated. And India’s supply of crappy radars to Sri Lanka was just because they didn’t want Sri Lanka to get radars that actually worked from China.
Rob – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169302/ (The Terrorist) is an awesome movie. Perhaps the best movie to come out of India in the last decade. I wouldn’t use it as a history lesson though. I was a kid living in India back when Prabhakaran was in his (bad) element, & a lot of the political-historical complexities escaped me. The Tamil Tigers are credited with ‘inventing’ suicide bombing. I would love to read up about it. I thought that with the death of Anton Balansingham (the LTTE political guru) & the ris of the Karuna faction, Prabhakaran was on the wane.
The bad joke when I was in school was “Where in the newspaper would you read about the LTTE everyday?” Letters To The Editor 🙁
Lots of intrigue surrounding Prabakharan’s ties with Indian arms dealers it seems. I never realized Sri-Lanka’s strategic importance and India’s manoeuvres to prevent their Pakistani and Chinese rivals in arms in moving into what India views as a sphere of influence.
Does anyone know who is arming the LTTE?
And does anyone know how much sympathy/solidarity Indian Tamils have with the Sri-Lankan Tamil independence movement? I stress the Tamil independence movement and not the LTTE.
\
Well, the vast majority of the Tigers’ war material comes from the SL Army itself–although recent success by the SL army would indicate some level of competence, for the most part they’re unable to secure their own guns and the proximity of these depots is really too tempting for the Tigers. In the past, they’ve also succeded to intercepting ships carrying such material from foreign defense contractors (Zimbabwe was a popular choice in the 90s).
The second most popular (but by far the smaller source, only 5-10% in the past year), is Cambodia.
Of course, they learned how to do this from the Government. There was a longstanding joke in Colombo, the gist of which was that if all the casualty reports from the Tigers and the Government were true, the war should’ve been over a very long time ago.
India’s never been able to conduct itself like the US in foreign policy matters–in order to project force, you need much more than a couple thousand malnourished soldiers, like the IPKF in 87-90, you need aircraft carriers, air support, and willing accomplices on the island.
By creating the position of ‘executive president,’ in addition to prime minister, this cheery fellow basically ensured that every EP to come after him could pursue war with impunity–it really didn’t matter whether the public was for or against anything–the EP could stay on for a good 6 years without danger of facing a ‘no-confidence’ vote.
I urge people to watch the BBC doc on the ’83 riots and the conflict afterwards–the interview with old Junius, after the ’83 riots, is absolutely chilling.
Almost seems like, India would be a lot better served in it’s diplomatic goals acting as negotiator and trying to help resolve the conflict between the two and thus ensuring a stable SL. Anyone has any idea about the history of India vis a vis SL in this role as a conflict negotiator? I don’t recalling much ever.
-quote- And does anyone know how much sympathy/solidarity Indian Tamils have with the Sri-Lankan Tamil independence movement? I stress the Tamil independence movement and not the LTTE. –quote-
Which independence movement? At this point in time, the LTTE has successfully culled the alternatives. Perhaps that is the biggest tragedy for Sri Lankan Tamils – even genuine aspirations will be swept under the carpet (if they haven’t been lost already) if the LTTE is the only representative left standing. It is so very easy for the LTTE to cry quisling when an alternative warlord (like Karuna) enters the fray.
muralimannered, are you making a serious suggestion that the LTTE’s well oiled propaganda machinery is in any way comparable to the bumbling ineptness of the GOSL? A recent spurt of competence (which won’t last) still puts the government organizations far behind the LTTE.
The ‘sea tigers’ carry the arms into Sri-Lanka from places as far away as Zimbabwe?
Mahinda Rajapakse seems to popular in Sri-Lanka, would anyone agree? I don’t like him, however.
Wiki article on suicide bombing. Interesting read. It does credit LTTE with popularizing this method, though it had been used before in Lebanon.
By the way, another piece of info missing in this discussion is that the Sl government actually armed the LTTE against the IPKF (its an open secret in SL at least).
14, backstory,
this has been the perpetual tragedy of many violent self-determination movements. When thugs (i.e. in most cases, the state) attack your group (your community, religious group, ethno-linguistic group etc.), only the most thuggish elements of your own group are overwhelmingly willing to respond in kind; for some time this is very popular with your own group. But gradually as the thugs in your own group gain power their thuggish ways do not diminish; on the contrary they then lord over the rest of you. And so the thuggery (on both sides) continues. It is thus imperative to at least have a parallel preferably non-violent and civilized movement not run by the thuggish elements of any group (too bad the state itself does not qualify).
there will be others along (who have actually lived in TN) to tell you more about this (or correct me), but it seems like a mixed bag. some of the TN political parties support the independence movement, solely based on the concept of dravidian unity or a separate tamil state (after all, the DMK and its successors have called for secession of TN from the indian nation itself). but there has also been talk of direct help to the LTTE, esp. by karunanidhi who might be/have been under investigation for this.
apart from the government, i see a lot of tamilians who are unable to separate the independence movement from the LTTE ways – i.e. the view that all tamil sri lankans (whether they vocally profess secession or not) are associated with the tigers. on the other hand, some tamilians from TN support not only the independence movement but, apparently, the LTTE, as well (4 from the NY area were busted by the FBI recently).
IRA?
I think this is the worst part of independence movements. Issues to which most people would normally be sympathetic become eclipsed by the tactics or strategy used by one (of many) groups, and yet all suffer. 🙁
India’s domestic politics were a reason for India to step into the Sinhalese-Tamil divide. MGR was born in Sri Lanka and had good relations with Prabhakaran. MGR was a loyal ally of Indira Gandhi. So the Congress accepted MGR’s advice that India should help Prabhakaran. But things did not work out.
The Tamilians of Tamil Nadu feel that Prabhakaran is too tough to be an object of pity. They are willing to give small doses of humanitarian help, but anything beyond that—all bets are off.
This was the place from where helicopters were despatched via Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu to rescue the LTTE leader V. Prabakaran at Vadamarachchi on the northern tip of Jaffna after the Sri Lankan Army had cornered him in the late 80s.
–> Wasnt this the same period where TN politicians across the spectrum(Vaiko to MK to MGR(before he kicked the bucket)) supported LTTE and encouraged its rise at the expense of other SL tamil groups ? And when the neophyte Rajiv Gandhi didnt know what he was doing especially with respect to SL tamil problem ? To me, India’s involvement in SL affairs is a tragedy and an example of how incompetence and callous disregard for indian lives can lead to utter disaster(for India).
I don’t know whether suicide bombing was used by IRA. Of course, wiki pages are not always the most accurate sources, and this particular article makes no mention of IRA or Ireland. This is what the wiki article says:
The first modern suicide bombing involving explosives deliberately carried to the target either on the person or in a civilian vehicle and delivered by surprise was in 1981; perfected by the factions of the Lebanese Civil War and especially by the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, the tactic had spread to dozens of countries by 2005.
Anyway, getting OT here. 🙂
Amit, actually now that I think of it I bet the first “suicide bomber” was Guy Fawkes.
It could be argued that for SL, as well 🙁
Krishnan, this is an excellent summary of the combination of opportunism and bungling that is characteristic of Indian involvement in this affair. And Vaiko, at least, continued spouting his LTTE support till well into the mid 90s before JJ threw him into jail using POTA (used for terrorist abettors, suspends habeas corpus, and other such good stuff), mainly to settle some scores. He seemed to have his tail tucked firmly between his legs when he got out, and hasn’t played much of a role in Tamil politics since. I think that the current climate makes it difficult for any of the parties to actively support the LTTE, which is pretty indelibly identified with the Tamil independence movement.
The history of Indian intervention in Sri Lanka is long and complex. From Indira Gandhi’s suspicion of a Sinhala-US/UK axis to Premadasa’s stabbing Rajiv in the back to Prabhakaran’s final F…You to Rajiv.
For a description of the politics I found an excellent series written by K T Rajasingham who I think was PLOTE leader. (warning: this is several weekends worth of serious reading)
http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DF29Df01.html
(The link points to one of the last of the series, you can follow the link at the bottom to previous chapters)
oh and you must have figured out by now, H. L. D. Mahindapala in my books represents the worst Sinhala racist stereotypes.
Further reading:
“Assignment Colombo”: JN Dixit on the politics
“Broken Palmyra”: On how Indian soldiers were trapped in a Insurgency which is more familiar to people today after Iraq. http://www.uthr.org/BP/Content.htm
“Bharat Rakshak” on the Indian Army in SL http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/History/1987/index.html
#8 :
Having grown up in southern TN in the 80s, I remember that the public sympathy for LTTE (which was synonymous to the independence movement then) was near unanimous. During elections, the campaign posters of the candidates from the Dravidian parties (DMK and ADMK) would indeed have doctored pictures of the candidate and Prabhakaran (in his full military regalia) posturing shoulder to shoulder. Only after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi did the major Dravidian parties distance themselves away from LTTE and the public sentiments turned away from the LTTE. However, there was still a small market for LTTE/Srilankan Tamil sympathy and smaller dravidian parties like the MDMK (splintered from the DMK, started by V. Gopalsamy, aka vaiko) catered to that market. But at the present moment, the Srilankan Tamil issue is largely off the mainstream radar, since people have more important issues to care about, like Sivaji the Boss.
Also Anita Pratap has a book on it “Isle of …. (forget what)” read some parts of it.
The best way to learn of course would be if anyone has access to the archives of the “The Hindu” of that era.
Also before I leave a reply for “Mushkil”
If you read the references above you will see how throughout the conflict the goal of the Indian government was to form a stable broad-based government in Sri Lanka, one that would protect the rights of the Tamil minority and give them some degree of autonomy while preserving the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. Sure things are not perfect, violence was part of the strategy at times and many mistakes were made.
This is in contrast to Pakistani policy in Afghanistan which has consistently undermined the formation of a government which will represent all Afghans in favour of a proxy. This chosen proxy was Hekmatyar at one point and later the Taliban. For instance read about the Peter Tomsen mission in Afghanistan (1989-91) and how it was sabotaged.
Prabhakaran’s daughter studies medicine at University College London.
True. It’s tough to identify the turning point, if there was a single turning point. One good candidate event is the LTTE assassinating 13 members of the EPRLF and 2 Indian civilian bystanders in Chennai in 1990. This is the equivalent of a married couple getting into a fistfight and instead of throwing things at each other, they barge into their neighbors’ place and throw the neighbors’ things at each other. There was a bomb blast set off by the LTTE at the Madras airport in 1984 which killed 33 people, not that it made a difference to the politicians who subsequently supported every Tam, dick and hairy terrorist.
Traditionally, Tamil politicians have had even more pressing things to worry about than a Rajnikanth movie, such as a statue of a fictional character in a Tamil epic. An anonymous contributor on Wikimapia summarized it perfectly.
23
“The history of Indian intervention in Sri Lanka is long and complex. From Indira Gandhi’s suspicion of a Sinhala-US/UK axis to Premadasa’s stabbing Rajiv in the back to Prabhakaran’s final F…You to Rajiv.”
But nowadays, India confirms her alliance to the US in fighting terrorism, right? The LTTE are truely isolated, then. I have a problem with that because abuses by the SL security forces must now be going completely unscrutinized by Sri-Lanka’s neighbours and the rest of the world. Everyone all over the world is obsessed with taking out the terrorists – the ‘you can’t make an omlette without breaking a few eggs’ attitude which has led to an estimated 1 million displaced Tamils in Northern Sri-Lanka who are fleeing from place to place
I’ve heard that the SL air force are dropping bombs at random in LTTE-controlled territories without any concern for the civilians they are killing along the way in the hope that they will get rid of some LTTE fighters.
31
India is in no position to do anything in Sri Lanka, its history is too deep. It is the one party that is both loved and hated by all groups, hence it can never be a convincing neutral party. Even the most innocent statement out of New Delhi like “There should be greater respect for civilian lives” will be spun a hundred different ways by each group for its own ends.
The reason that I rank the government ahead of the LTTE, when it comes to propaganda, is not because of their methods but because of how it is received and who takes it seriously. The LTTE preaches to the converted through their satellite TV programming and web content–however the Government is recognized by the UN and all major western and eastern powers as the only legitimate governmental authority on the Island. GOSL doesn’t need to be slick, or convincing, in order for power brokers to take them and their ‘facts’ seriously.
Granted, the Tigers’ propaganda would probably sway surface-scratching, Che Shirt-wearing, first-year college students, but for any serious student of international politics it would seem pretty obvious that they were reading/watching propaganda.
It doesn’t seem to matter to the rest of the market-economy, lib-democracy world that Rajapakse is Stalin-style marxist, carries deep sympathies for the rural, JVP-affiliated Singhalese (terrorists in their own right) who are far removed from the conflict in the north and east and that he’s willing to give the war bikkhus a voice and influence in the actual governing of the country.
sounds a bit like neo-con apologia for the Iraq war, no? I think you should expand upon your last sentence a bit more–Indian intervention in SL, like others have described on this thread, was at it’s best a colossal failure.
India didn’t give GOSL just radar equipment as a way to prevent Chinese/Pakistani ELINT devices on their southern coast line–they limited the ‘aid’ package to non-offensive weaponry so that it would be clear to the LTTE that India was not interested in hastening a military solution to the problem–an approach it should have taken in the years of the IPKF.
This has puzzled me for long and I hope some, esp those Tamils from SL or TN, can answer it for me.
A key factor quoted by Tamils in SL and TN for supporting the SL Tamils’ fight is the very biased and discriminatory policies of the Sinhala-dominated SL Govt. For instance, the policies require SL Tamil students score higher than SL non-Tamils to gain admittance to universities.
At the same time the Govt in Tamil Nadu has very discriminatory policies that require so-called Forward Castes (i.e., mostly the Tamil Brahmins) to score higher than the rest to gain admission to universities. How is that TN Govt policy different from the SL Govt policy? The Indian Tamils and the TN Govt that (used to, and some still do) support the SL Tamils plight don’t seem to realize they are themselves beneficiaries of the same policy.
That wasn’t the sole factor, or even the most important. The GOSL had adopted, by the time of the affirmative-action policy, an official, state stance on what was to be ‘the’ national character–Buddhist believing, Singhala-speaking and Singhalese in acculturation. All of my relatives speak Singhala fluently–it would be impossible to find the opposite situation in the south, i.e. scads of Singhalese who can speak Tamil fluently.
In fact, the only reason that Singhalese security personel learn Tamil words is to flush out ‘terrorists’ at checkpoints in Colombo.
21 Camille:
To me, India’s involvement in SL affairs is a tragedy and an example of how incompetence and callous disregard for indian lives can lead to utter disaster(for India). It could be argued that for SL, as well 🙁 –> (At the risk of coming across as callous) SL was going to the dogs anyway before India intervened(A culture that actively encourages ethnic cleansing is a shameful one anyway). SL(Jayawardene and Premadasa in particular) played India very well during that period. I could care less about the LTTE and SL lives lost. For me, the defining moment of the problem is the treatment(instead of honours) given to returning indian soldiers at chennai port by the f-ing tamil politicians(MK, Vaiko). While IPKF is not blameless in terms of atrocities in SL, to turn one’s back on your soldiers especially after being a party to sending them to fight in SL, was the height of irresponsibility and callousness.
22 Rahul
Vaiko, at least, continued spouting his LTTE support till well into the mid 90s before JJ threw him into jail using POTA (used for terrorist abettors, suspends habeas corpus, and other such good stuff), mainly to settle some scores. He seemed to have his tail tucked firmly between his legs when he got out, and hasn’t played much of a role in Tamil politics since.
–> I think it was the sign of the times. I come from what is considered to be Vaiko’s stronghold(south TN) and we didnt bat an eyelid when he took out cycle rallies in favour of LTTE’s “suffering”. We didnt think of IPKF as suffering especially when you have political leaders raving about their atrocities on fellow tamils. Nowadays, I think the sensibilities in TN politics has moved on to caste consciousness from language consciousness, hence the parties like PMK, Viduthalai siruthaigal and so on.
Krishnan,
what is exactly was/is your metric for ‘going to the dogs.’ And are you suggesting that there was a monolithic Sri-Lankan culture of genocide?
My family was doing quite well, in the fiscal sense, before the ’83 riots. They certainly were not ‘going to the dogs’ but donating money to charities in TN.
By that standard, nebulous as it is, could you not say that in TN, at least judging from the movies, there is a culture that glorifies high caste-low caste rape, senseless maulings and suicide as a means of escaping soluble problems?
Irony: They would argue that prior to reservation that Brahmins and other forward castes had discriminated actively against the lower castes, a power relationship that did not exist in SL. This is true and I don’t really have any patience for those who would argue with this historical fact. However I am against reservation because it doesn’t work and secondly in Tamil Nadu many socially advantaged landowning castes (my own included) have lobbied to be reclassified as “backward” even though they were very much the primary agents, rather than Brahmins, of discrimination against Dalits. Please, lets’s stay on topic
What a good little nationalist you are! Please remind us all of this sentiment, the next time a natural disaster occurrs in the TN area.
In fact, I would encourage you to inform all of your acquaintances of your rather cavalier attitude towards human suffering–it should give them ample time to prepare for the day of their greatest need in which you giggle and shamble away.
muralimannered, arguing mostly as a devil’s advocate, I would put to you that the rest of the world cares about Rajapakshe’s politics and his dalliance with the JVP – but they too lack a credible alternative candidate to support.
I would politely disagree with your assessment about the weight of LTTE propaganda. Were it a simple matter of convincing Che tshirt wearing college students of the justness of their cause; then that’s one thing. Fox News could learn a thing or two from the LTTE media machine and that’s saying something.
Krishnan, that’s an interesting blanket generalization. At the risk of sounding combative, would you by the same token call Hindu culture in India shameful for the policies and actions of say … a fringe movement like the Shiv Sena?
I think we’ve reached the point where a supporting source is needed. And I don’t think I was clear enough earlier–the LTTE only needs to reach out to members of the Tamil community, who are/were only too aware of life under a singhalese-majority government. The propaganda they feed my community is secondary because it serves only as a reminder–not a catalyst for changing a person who is aware of the LTTE’s proclivity to murder members of the Tamil communty into a fervent Tiger supporter.
Muralimanered: Ok, the discrimninatory “affirmative-action” policy wasn’t the sole or most important factor. What I’d highlight is several of the other factors you quote–Singhala-speaking, Singhalese in acculturation, etc.–equally apply to the TN experience. The TN Govt and political parties pushed a Tamil-speaking, Tamil in acculturation, etc. policy, in addition to the very lopsided “affirmative-action” when it comes to college admissions, that seem a close approximation of what transpired in SL. Starting in 1970 or so and gaining momentum significantly in the couple decades that followed (and therefore, even in timing matching the process in SL)
So why do the Tamils in SL or TN not realize how they were partaking in and enjoying the benefits of what they decry and protest against in SL?
How different would things have shaped out if the affected in TN took the path that the LTTE and others did in SL?
I guess you don’t watch as much Fox News as I do. LTTE propaganda focuses on both real and fabricated/embellished GOSL military strikes on civilian targets and casts this mishmash of lies/truth as hard news. Fox News mainly serves to glorify and make legitimate, the military ventures of US, in the advancement of foreign policy. They still do trump up hearsay, and non-identifiable sources, but this tactic is really secondary to tapping into the xenophobic feelings of ‘patriots.’ Rather, i think the LTTE could learn more from Fox News.
Irony: Why does Muralimannered need to answer that ? He is SL Tamil, not Indian
here is my response: They would argue that prior to reservation that Brahmins and other forward castes had discriminated actively against the lower castes, a power relationship that did not exist in SL. This is true and I don’t really have any patience for those who would argue with this historical fact. However I am against reservation because it doesn’t work and secondly in Tamil Nadu many socially advantaged landowning castes (my own included) have lobbied to be reclassified as “backward” even though they were very much the primary agents, rather than Brahmins, of discrimination against Dalits.
Muralimannered:
Actually, the IPKF, if I remember correctly, deployed some 102,000 troops to SL. If you consider the size of the area where they were deployed, that’s a huge number. They had air support etc, too.
One IPKF officer told me at the time that the Indian objective was to stay in SL for 15 years or more. “When we have a foothold in another country, why will we let it go?” he said. As it turned out, the 102,000 troops were routed by a much smaller guerilla force. An Indian General later referred to the SL disaster as “our Vietnam.”
I think that India’s role in this conflict is a lot more complex (because confused). On the one hand, trying to act on Indian Tamilian sympathy for the SL Tamils (leading to support for the Tigers). On the other, the desire to create stability (leading to support for the SL government). Third, power projection desires, muscle-flexing, and preventing U.S. interference. Etc. Etc.
This is why I think bongdongs‘ assessment of Indian motives is much too simplistic and generous:
I don’t think the Indian government really gave a crap about the rights of ordinary SL Tamils. In my dictionary, “Mistakes were made” is a platitude that ranks right up there with phrases like “collateral damage.” Having come from a fauji family myself, I have few illusions in the benevolence of the Indian military.
I know of SL Tamils whose families were kidnapped, tortured, and brutalized by the IPKF. Women were raped. Villages were mowed down because they were suspected of “harboring” LTTE fighters. How can you claim that the goal of Indian policy was to “protect the rights of the Tamil minority” when the IPKF itself conducted heinous violations of the rights of the very same people?
Incidentally, when people read up on all of this, please note that two organizations/parties that are constantly referred to in a lot of the literature as “leftist” or “marxist”, the JVP and the SLFP, are actually neither leftist nor marxist–they are in fact right-wing populists with a Sinhala-chauvinist orientation. Just a heads-up.
Louiecypher” It would take a particularly biased person to not see that the parallel in SL. FYI–the Singhalese in SL too claim the SL Tamils discriminated actively against the Singhalese, benefited disproportionately from the British and colonial period, exercised power far in excess of their representation in society, etc. and the new policies were meant to address those discrepancies. Not that different from what the TN politicos have been advocating as well….
This is very much ON topic. It draws a compelling parallel with events in SL and TN. Please don’t suggest it’s off topic because it’s an angle you are personally uncomfortable with.
Irony- A message to you: I see that you enjoy viewing your community as the most put upon in India. I have taken my community to task for its historical wrongs in my comments, perhaps you can do the same.
SL Tamils did not bar Sinhalese from temples, restrict their access to education, abuse them as ritually unclean. They merely took advantage of the new social order imposed by the Brits and took up English & English language education. That this analogy does not work only evades people who have the same mindset as white apologists for the Jim Crow South
45
There is many a slip between the cup and the lip. I will stick by “protect the rights of the Tamil minority” being one of the aims of GOI policy. The IPKF did not go into SL to kill tamils but the situation on the ground turned into such that eventually that is what happened, how it happenend is complex and the LTTE is largely to blame (with Premadasa closely behind). The failure of Indian government policy was in allowing its soldiers getting trapped into counter-insurgency operations. Nobody in the world has figured out how to do these correctly and Indian soldiers are no better (and I’m sure many wil say worse) than any army in this situation.
To add to LeftyProf (#45), the IPKF carried out two helicopter assaults (one on Jaffna). They were well supported, they had decent resupply – in short, they were a vastly superior force. The IPKF wasn’t a second string afterthought.
The perceived threat of long-term occupation was precisely what led Premadasa to allegedly arm the LTTE. To place the comment in context, at that point the state was fighting a war on two fronts. The JVP in the south of the country and the LTTE in the north. No doubt the LTTE was seen at the time as the lesser of the two evils. Evicting the foreign army (ie:, the IPKF) was also a useful nationalist rallying cry for the politicians. Feelings about the “indian occupation” ran high in the late 80s. In obviously 20/20 hindsight, perhaps supporting the LTTE wasn’t the best of plans.
Umm. The JVP recruiters/rank and file in the party spew Marxist rhetoric. Ultra-nationalist yes, but their economic policies are very much socialist/left leaning. As are the SLFP. The UNP (the other major party after the SLFP) are perceived as right-wing because they espouse a free market economy and other capitalist (non-leftist) aims. It’s the whole Commies are lefties! no, they’re right wing! Cold War era argument.
muralimannered, I’ll probably come up short but I’m looking around for an illustrative source to make my case. You probably haven’t seen the articles by the pro-LTTE sites justifying violence against those Tamils in the north and east who voted in the last election, for example.
An almost relevant tangent: anyone remember this guy?