Some time back a NDTV program called Walk the Talk, featured the President Mahinda Rajapakse with veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta. Everything went well until he posed the harsh question. The question that many Indians would have had in their minds.."deporting the IPKF(Indian Peace keeping Force)". Shekhar digs into the matter and asks why they were treated so badly by the Sri Lankan people. May be due to the fact that wants to keep India happy or due to utter lack of intelligence, Mahinda shrewdly hides the facts which made IPKF so unpopular in SL at that time. He goes on to state that it was opportunistic politicians etc.,but the real matters which led to such unpopularity he fails to highlight.
Many Sri Lankas are aware how India interfered with the Sri Lankan conflict during the 80s. From training LTTE carders in TamilNadu, to interfering with the Vadamarachchi Mission and dropping "Relief Aid" over Jaffna in a show of force, Indian state had done more than enough to tick Sri lankans off. And when they heard that the ongoing mission to capture Prbha will be aborted and an Indian Peace Keeping Force would enter the country it really went off. Of course at that time there also were opportunistic opposition politicians who tried to make matters worse by tagging extreme nationalistic ideologies to the matter but at the end of the day it was apparent that IPKF was not welcomed with open arms by most Sri Lankans.
"Supplies of Aid and Food stocks being dropped over Jaffna by Indian Air Force"
Of course there can be logical explanations to why this chain of events unfolded,but the fact of the matter is that non-of these events were highlighted by the President in an attempt to appease the Indian State. Of course his stance cannot be criticized also because even now India can decide where this conflict could go and who can come out winners at the end. The SL government is doing all they can putting forward various offerings(The Lanka IOC, the Trinco Oil Refineries, Mannar Oil Exploration rights etc..) to keep the Indian State on their side but it seems that Indian State's ultra motive is still not about Sri Lanka but about their own well being and appeasing TamilNadu Politicians.
This week's newspapers were littered with the news of three top Indian officials visiting Colombo for highlevel meetings with government officials. Namely Indian Security Advisor M.K Narayan,the Defense Secretary Vijay Singh and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon. We can all believe that this quick rush to meet the SL government officials is not solely because they would want to discuss the SAAR summit arrangements?? No way! Even the much popular Indian News broadcaster NDTV highlighted the fact that this hasty meeting is more about the ongoing conflict in the North than anything else.
Why would India want to rush into diplomatic meetings with the Sri lankan government at a crucial stage of the 4th Eeelam War, when the Sri Lankan Army holds an upper hand in the conflict keeping the Tigers on the defensive?? Of course there should be a political solution to this conflict but the main matter is that we should not give terrorism time to breathe and rejuvenate themselves because of our own foolish mistakes. Its up to the state to make sure that the ongoing offensives against terrorism do not become another failed "Operation Liberation"
The commanders of "Operation Liberation" commonly known as "Vadamarachchi Operation". From left to right: Lt Col. Vipul Boteju, Lt Col. Sarath Jayawardane, Col. Wijaya Wimalaratne, Brig. Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Maj Gotabaya Rajapakse [1987, Jaffna].
The commanders of "Operation Liberation" commonly known as "Vadamarachchi Operation". From left to right: Lt Col. Vipul Boteju, Lt Col. Sarath Jayawardane, Col. Wijaya Wimalaratne, Brig. Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Maj Gotabaya Rajapakse [1987, Jaffna].You Tube Videos of Walk the Talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKZ_KO8AEVk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJxCIuReoi8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJxCIuReoi8
Awesome/Patta Post!
ReplyDeleteIndia doesn't give a shit about Sri Lanka. The only thing they r concerned about is there freakin foreign policy!!! India doesn't want Sri Lanka to be Taiwan in front of China. So they'll do anything in their power to stop Sri Lanka from developing and prevent any other foreign power from interfering in it's matter. For example when US troops landed in Sri Lanka to help with the aid process when the tsunami struck India was furious about it, and when the Chinese agreed to build the harbor in Hambantota they were accusing the Chinese of takin control of South Asian seas!!
ReplyDeleteThis war is the perfect stage for India and any other country to get involved in Sri Lankas internal affairs. Once they cut the aids our Siripalas would go begging behind there backs pleadin for aid. War forever would be the trump card specially for India to put a cats hand into our country. So it shall be like that, like a beggars wound never healing!!!! God save Sri Lanka....
the first para is very interesting... when MR says "opportunistic politicians" he is directly relating to himself isnt it... he was the one of those who campaigned against the IPKF....
ReplyDeleteHmm... I got linked here from Sam's blog.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that India interfered quite a lot earlier, and had no business doing so, so obviously Lankans are not too happy with our government, but saying that India now wants to annihilate SL is a bit much.
As a people, we rather like having SL for a neighbour. And we have no problems with your development. And most common Indians would like it if your damn civil war ended, you see, because we're already too deep with refugees.
The Indian govt., at this pt. has greater problems than the war in SL, because, for 1, it isn't our war. We have our own wars to fight, and those are tough enough. We don't need to fight somebody else's war.
Tamil politicians are not only a problem for SL, obviously, they are a greater problem for India. The common man/ woman/ voter in India doesn't give too much, but these Tamil politicians are such a pain in the arse, that even the Indian Govt. does not know how to deal with them too well.
I didn't see that interview with your president, so I don't really know what happened there.
India was not furious about any aid reaching SL, why would we be? Infact, when the US wanted a way of reaching out to all the countries who had suffered through the tsunami, they actually asked India for strategic help, and the Indian Govt. helped them in getting aid into SL. I'm not harping about it. Neighbours should help each other.
When the tsunami struck, the Indian Navy mapped out the sea base for SL, something your Navy Chief said they had been wanting to do for a long time, but had not yet succeeded.
For some reason, and I'm sure it's quite logical, just that I don't understand it too well, I've seen that you Sri Lankans are always out for India. Sure India fucked up badly earlier, but you fail to see the utter love people here have for people of your nationality. It's a bit sad, because the average Indian really does like the average Sri Lankan.
We also like Murali and Sanath, but that's besides the point.
hmmm..well first of all its great to see an Indian's point of view on this issue. Well its not about Srilankans hating Indians, if you count the number of hindi movies,tv shows and fans that dominate the Srilankan culture(though im a not big fan of it) i dnt think many Srilankans hate Indian people, and i personally know as i have also been there that Indians are friendly, helpful and quite hospitable. But the fact is that the actions taken by the Indian government regarding the conflict in Sri lanka seem to be solely based on their own interest(well any country would be like that anyway)and even doesnt seem to reflect the true view of its people..imagine if Rajiv Ghandhi was not killed? Dont you think Indian state will be more sympathetic towards the Tigers(just to appease tamilnadu?)even though they are a ruthless bloody terrorist outfit? And just take this fact into consideration, when SL Gov buys arms from China or Pakistan they are furious about not buying weapons from India, but India only provides defensive arms which are not what SL need to fight terrorism, dnt u see any hypocrisy init?
ReplyDeleteget this straight. Sri Lankans as a nation has no hostility towards other countries. But we are a seperate, individual , unique , independent country. And We are hostile toward Peeping Toms. We Sri lankans never let others interfere with our country and our affairs. so stay away from us. whether its India or any other stupid country who has no control over their own affairs(states, ha ha, india has states)Get this Straight.Sri lanka Has No States. We Are One Country. As For India. God, India is So Stupid. Do India even know where their country ends and Pakistan begins. That's sad, but get this straight....We have Ocean surrounding Us. We are a seperate , unique island and SL is extremely beautiful. India stinks when they try to do immature things like this. And don't think we hate india. Do you know who we support when SL is not playing cricket? Indian Team. That's because we consider You neighbors. That's all you are to us. Stay that way. You can't stop Us.Ever. We are a free nation!!!!!!
ReplyDelete