THE TAMILS IN INDIA SHOULD THINK AGAIN

   An agitation is going on in Tamil nadu against the Central Government for the cause of Tamil people in Sri lanka. The love and kinship that the people of Tamil nadu feel for the Tamils in Sri Lanka is natural and understandable. However they should think again whether the protests against the Sri Lankan Government would ultimately help the war-torn Tamils in Lanka or harm them.  The scenario has completely changed, now the Tamils in Sri Lanka are at the mercy of the majority community there. The time when the support from Tamil Nadu inspired and rejuvenated them to fight against the Government in Sri Lanka is gone. Now there are no leaders for the Tamils there. They are leading a subdued  hand to mouth existence. They would not even be aware of the agitation taking place in the Tamil Nadu for their cause.

 The United Nations Human right Council is preparing to vote on a resolution that urges the Sri Lankan Government to make serious investigation in to the alleged mass killings of civilians during the closing days of war in May 2009.  The recently published chilling snaps of 12 year old son of late Prabhakaran and other reports of atrocities give credence to the resolution. The resolution sponsored by the U S is likely to pass in the voting.

  The resolution had its echoes in Indian politics too. The D M K which is an ally of U P A has withdrawn support to the Government in protest against India’s stand on the resolution in the U N. India will support the resolution but D M K is demanding more than that to include the word ‘Genocide’ by India in the U N resolution and also pass a similar resolution in Indian Parliament. The Government is prepared to introduce it in Parliament but shies away from using the word ‘Genocide’.  The State of Tamil Nadu always influenced the India Sri Lanka relations and now in the changed scenario at Sri Lanka, the Government is finding it more and more difficult  to meet their  demands without jeopardizing foreign policy line.

At any rate the resolution is unlikely to change the ground realities in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Government is prepared to conduct investigation. But it would not bring in any dramatic revelations. The last days of war were under a smoke and the media men were not present any where near it. The Sri Lankan soldiers were senseless at that time with the sight of long cherished victory near them and God alone knows what took place on those days at the war front.

The situation in Sri Lanka is different from other war-time trials round the world. The ruling party and its leader who lead the war have not changed and they enjoy full support of the majority people. It is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future and without their support Tamil community cannot live there peacefully. So the efforts should be aimed at restoring their love and support to the Tamils.The agitations against the Government in Sri Lanka would only help to stall the process of bonhomie between Tamils and Sinhalese  So a new way to improve the relations has to be found out which is not surely calling names against the Sri Lankan Government. It is a difficult situation any way.

 Apart from the War crimes, no fresh atrocities against Tamils are seen reported. The Sri Lankan Government says that during these peace years Sri Lanka army cleared land mines from large areas, rescued trapped civilians and rebuilt social and economic infra structure with zero civilian casualties. The Government says that it needs adequate time and space to solve such wide ranging, deep rooted issues of ethnic reconciliation. It is a reasonable demand.

The stats show that Sri Lanka made impressive gains on the economic front since 2005.The per ca pita income has doubled and poverty dropped from 15% to 7.5%. Almost all houses are electrified and there is impressive mobile and internet penetration. In 2011 Sri Lanka recorded more than 8% growth despite sluggish world economy. As the nation progresses the Sri lankan Tamils will also benefit from it and old wounds might heal slowly. As said earlier the interference from outside will help only to delay the process of settling in to a lasting peace.



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