Sri Lankan Prime Minister "revives" the LTTE in India
by N. Sathiyamoorthy
Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne told Parliament that the LTTE had three ‘secret camps’ across the Palk Strait, in the south Indian State of Tamil Nadu.
Independent of Jayaratne’s subsequent withdrawal, the damage had been done, particularly to the mutual trust between the two nations that was missing in between but was carefully re-built, brick by brick, in recent years. The credit for this on the Sri Lankan side should go to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who handled the India relations, personally, and at the highest levels of the second rung, otherwise.
If the Prime Minister were to rely on unverified media reports, as he has since claimed, and not on his intelligence agencies, something seems to be really amiss in the State of Sri Lanka. Worse still, Jayaratne, on parliamentary record, had attributed his information to intelligence agencies.
It is a serious lapse of responsibility, considering the fragile nature of bilateral relations with an immediate neighbour, which has serious consequences for both in more ways than one. If the Prime Minister and the Government of Sri Lanka are serious about the rebuttal since, the record could be set right, if at all, only if it is stated in Parliament.
It is sad that on matters of bilateral relations, particularly with the Indian neighbour but including the rest of the international community, too, flippant comments of the kind have come to be made by responsible – or, not so responsible -- individuals holding high offices in Government, from time to time.
Such instances takes away the seriousness of governance from the Government, and thus challenges the credibility, though not the legitimacy, of the institutions that such individuals have come to represent in the Sri Lankan State scheme. To comment in haste and rebut at leisure is not what diplomacy is about. Instead, it is about weighing the words and presenting it with care. Prime Minister Jayaratne would only have to ask his External Affairs Ministry, and they would tell him what diplomacy and parliamentary statements on bilateral relations are all about.
It is nobody’s case that the Sri Lankan political class should not make statements, based on newspaper reports on sensitive issues that involve the nation’s security. Nor can anyone deny them the luxury when their counterparts in the south Indian State of Tamil Nadu have been making rash statements of the kind, based on unverified reports, often palmed off by pro-LTTE segments of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora. It is a habit that does not die that easily. It is also fine for provincial politicians, most of whom are not even a part of the Government in Tamil Nadu. It is a different matter when the Prime Minister of a country to come up with such observations.
What makes Jayaratne’s observations flippant on the one hand, and a serious concern for bilateral relations is the fact that it involves the LTTE. Sri Lankans are not tired of reminding India, how it had armed and trained the LTTE in the past, in camps on Indian soil. In the immediate context, the Prime Minister’s statement contests the claims of his own Government that the LTTE had been routed completely. Ground reports since the conclusion of the ethnic war too have stood testimony to the Government’s original claim.
If nothing else, it begs the question why Jayaratne did not have his intelligence agencies verify the news reports before going to Parliament -- rather than go to Parliament first, and then have the media reports verified for their veracity. This is not how Governments act, and not in relation to the nation’s Parliament. Nor do they do so with the immediate neighbour, whom his President is not tired of reiterating was a ‘relation’, an elder sister, and not just a friend.
A predecessor of Jayaratne and UNP Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was not wide off the mark when he contested the Prime Minister’s parliamentary claim. Despite the rebuttal, Jayaratne’s statement has the potential to stir up the political scene in Tamil Nadu, during the current run-up to the Assembly polls in the south Indian State. In the land of ‘Rajiv Gandhi assassination’, LTTE is a bad word still, despite what anti-India hard-liners in Sri Lanka may want to believe. Those sympathetic to the LTTE still in Tamil Nadu are individuals. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is an institution.
8 Comments
This is the cumulative effect when you appoint to a high position a man woefully lacking in learning, diplomacy and basic courtesy. His only claim was he had a suit made ready years ago for the occasion. Under CBK he has threatened to jump from the 1st floor unless he was made PM. He made many Tamil women, whose husbands were abducted and missing, cry when he laughingly announced "they have all gone abroad - some taking their mistresses with them"
When Ranil questioned the Govt in Parliament a few months ago why over Rs.700 million is to be spent on an extension to the Parliament without a debate and discussion in the House, the wise man's reply was "there is no need for that.
The Cabinet has already approved that" His 3-page message to the nation on Feb 04 about to go to print was stopped at the last moment by more sensible men in Govt. It was a crazy ramble of nonsense aimed at praising the President. It is reported a High Priest in Kandy had publicly censured the man with the comment "no one understands what this man talks" Tamils in Matale
remember all too well his record in 1977 and 1983 - all of which well recorded by the Police.
Appointments of the Caligula type is old history. The country does not need a modern version of Andare as PM. The sooner the President silences this loose cannon the safer for the regime and the country.
ISS
Don't waste your valuable time on what this old man says in parliament or anywhere. He is so senile he doesn't know whether he is coming or going. He begged and cried before Rajapaksha to make him prime minister for one day before he dies. At the first cabinet meeting he got up and thanked Rajapaksha for making him the "president"!
The "Tiger" was "resurrected" by the prime minister,purely to justify the monthly reimposition of the Emergency. He is not a fool. He knew exactly what he was doing.He earler said that bands of LTTE are roaming the south, waiting to assasinate political leaders. Now, with this statement, he has improved the necessity to reimpose the Emergency.He knows that the president wishes the contiuance of the Emergency, without which he cannot reimpose his autocratic rule and survive for as long as he wishes.The prime minister hopes to survive in his post as well,by this "Tiger resurrection".
Did not the then Prime Minister Premadasa said in Parliament that there exist LTTE training camps in Tamil Nadu. Did not New Delhi kept denying existence of such camps during the JRJ regime. Is that along is not enough to question credibility of the standing of Indian government.
So this writer should not have get excited to condemn PM Jayaratna’s claim as a mare hoax. Indeed PM Jayaratna has cited the source for his out burst. If Sumanasiri Liyanage is a realists and a patriot, he should have put pressure on the media (The Hindu) that reported about the camps in the first instant and Jayaratna cited as his source to come out with the truth. That is what is important at this point of time when Blake and company are putting their dirty acts together to willfy our force that finish LTTE scourge for good. Trying to condemn PM Jayaratna as irresponsible is nothing but playing in to the hands of Blakes. It only assist to such people to portray vicious Tigers has become mare cats.
Did not Chief Minister Karunanidhi claimed Sri Lanka Navy had been killing Indian fisherman without an iota of proof. Liyanage should know that Chief Minister office in India too is a responsible institution as well. But we heard no member of Indian academia critisize Karunanidhi for being irresponsible.
Leela
In my comment here, I should have mentioned the name Sathiyamoorthy. By mistake however, I have written the name 'Sumanasiri Liyanage'. I regret for the error.
Leela
Our PM is perhaps correct, as long as the Tamil Nadu
is there . LTTE camps also in existence no doubt.
Just go through the history how LTTE was formed by
by whom and where. Now India is playing a baby boy
game with SL. So better to keep a very close look.
Rey Wetichcha waley, Davalley wetenne neheney
PM had made this statement without verifying and very unfortunate that India was hurt.
But the positive side of this is, it keeps the Sri Lankans memories alive about 25 years ago where India sponored Tamil terrorists officially in their soil thus causing the situation worst.
This sponsoring and supporting had caused many deaths in Sri Lanka including the deaths as a result of JVP violence which was triggered with Indian Forces coming to Sri Lanka. (We are v.glad that India had to face the bitter consequences)
Good part of the resposibility of all deaths as a result of terrorism and ethnic violence during 1980 - 2009 era must go to India.
When evaluating actions and reaction of India even during the latter stages of war against terrorism, it is very difficult to conclude that India is genuine in her stance on Sri Lanka.
It is always wise to be vigilent in India's role on Sri Lanka !!!
The PM is not a senile old man ,but a wily old fox. They the government can see what's happening right now in Libya and in the rest of the Arab world and they are worried ! .So out from the cupboard, the LTTE ghost is pulled out to put fear into the masses and thus keep them quiet.