‘India postponed Operation Eelam and Blue Star intervened’

By Sam Rajappa 30 Oct 2012

Posted 29-Oct-2012 Vol 3 Issue 43 A quarter century of India’s military intervention in Sri Lanka, ostensibly to help find a political solution to the ethnic strife that has torn the island nation apart, has left the Tamil minority under occupation of the Sinhala military trained and equipped by New Delhi and their political rights almost extinguished. In contrast, the same Indian military was able to liberate the people of what was then East Pakistan subjected by the oppressive West Pakistan regime, in a quick surgical military operation lasting less than a month in 1971. India remains a mute spectator to the rapid Sinhalisation of Tamil homeland. A recently constructed Buddhist stupa in Tamil territory The reason for producing such a vastly different result is the present poor political leadership in Delhi. Colombo suffers from a Mahavamsa mindset and New Delhi from a Malayalee mindset. Both are detrimental to the interests of the Tamils of Sri Lanka and standing in the way of finding a lasting political solution to the ethnic problem. It remains to be seen whether the mandarins in the South Block are able to pull the wool over the eyes of the new External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, as they successfully did in the case of SM Krishna and his predecessor who is presently the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. To give just one example of how naïve our political leadership has been, a statement made by Mukherjee on 27 April, 2009, after a visit to Colombo accompanied by Shivshankar Menon, national security adviser, will suffice. He said: “The Sri Lankan security forces have been instructed to end the use of heavy caliber guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons, which could cause civilian casualties. “Sri Lankan forces will now confine their attempts to rescue the civilians who remain and give foremost priority in saving them. This is an important first step in addressing concerns for the safety and security of Tamil civilians and internally displaced persons trapped in the conflict zone.” Read More A huge Buddha statue at Kilinochchi