From: Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC <pmarc2008@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 8:46 AM
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - Exclusive: Asian Tribune / It is India that must be grateful to Sri Lanka
To: Dalits Media Watch <PMARC@dgroups.org>
Dalits Media Watch
Exclusive
Asian Tribune
It is India that must be grateful to Sri Lanka
http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/06/01/it-india-must-be-grateful-sri-lanka
Tue, 2010-06-01 03:36 — editor
By Shenali Waduge
It was the nationalist thrust with a clear message that Sri Lanka wanted thirty years of terror to end that galvanized and provided courage to the Government of Sri Lanka to firmly commit itself towards the military defeat of the LTTE.
It is this same nationalist thrust that is now gathering momentum to ensure that Sri Lanka's sovereignty is not ridiculed and humiliated and solutions to Sri Lanka's problems are solved internally and not according to any dictates by any foreign nation.
The eyes on Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's geographical presence has been the major reason or rather the guiding principle behind the endeavors of both well-wishers and heinous thinkers to create a stake for themselves in our nation. It is a pity that past leaders have not been patriotic and country-centric and lacked the wisdom not to allow the country to be prostituted as it has been over the years. Our leaders have allowed nations of the world to dictate terms to us, humiliate its people and end up a nation burdened with debt. It is desired that the present governance will have better wisdom than to travel the same path as that taken by previous leaders.
Today, Sri Lanka's position is very different. We do not have a war that looms over the country, we do not have terrorist activity – we do have problems but these are internal in nature and nothing that is difficult to solve on our own that we need to go for expertise elsewhere or even for approvals. No MP elected to office has been given any mandate to go to foreign shores to show drafts and obtain their approval. If we are a sovereign nation we must not only behave so we must be forthright in telling all other nations even India that we are a sovereign nation and to treat us so.
The foolhardy actions of our past politicians have resulted in countries deciding to intimidate us including India. When opposition and government politicians go running for "advice" and "approvals" from foreign leaders…why does the country need to elect these people, can they not function without a nod from these nations, must we continue this sordid practice (of going to foreign shores for advice and approvals) that has humiliated our nation in the past?
Sri Lanka needs to tell its politicians that we do not approve of this practice and it must stop. True, we could not end the war alone – when nations that we had traditionally being aligned with adapted double-dealing approach, it was nations like China, Pakistan, Iran and Russia that backed Sri Lanka's military with equipment & the training needed. While we will always be grateful to these nations it was in the end the leadership given to our military that secured success – it is a fete that Sri Lankan's need to be proud of. We need not humiliate our own achievements by agreeing to any proposals that will Again tie our nation to any ulterior plans and reverse all that we have gained.
It is India that must be grateful to Sri Lanka
The logic behind India's reasoning that it fears the buildup of LTTE presence is one of the most farcical of statements given the hand India had in operating covert and overt operations that largely was responsible for developing the LTTE from a guerilla movement to a terrorist entity. The acceptance of this fear can be attributed to the LTTE's surprising decision to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi but despite his assassination India never stopped aiding the LTTE – so are we to buy this story? While we accept that following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination most North Indian politicians did want to crush the LTTE it was the all-powerful Indian bureaucracy that didn't allow it, for the greater plan was to use the LTTE to carve out a separate state and then eventually quote India's territorial security and merge Sri Lanka totally ridiculing Sri Lanka's sovereign status. India's role in the last months of the war was purely confined to ensuring that publicity prevailed to showcase India was a key player in the defeat of the LTTE.
India's sole reason to behind the scenes assist the GOSL was not for any fear of LTTE uprising but mostly due to two main factors – the buildup Chinese presence and securing of ties between China, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the fact that India wanted to be a part of the Sri Lanka's success story and not be overshadowed after the LTTE defeat.
The backing of these countries would ensure Sri Lanka would be able to fend off any western thrusts even through agents like India. To counter this India was tying its loose ends & this explains much of the diplomatic trips, the aid channeled and quick decisions to set up economic ties – all troubleshooting solutions. The reality is that rather than Sri Lanka being grateful to India for eliminating the LTTE, India must be grateful to Sri Lanka….it is a known fact that LTTE was having ties with the ULFA, Maoists, Naxalites….even going so far as to train and provide arms to them. It would only have been a matter of time that the LTTE stepped up these partnerships which would have resulted in India being attacked from all corners in a much more sophisticated way than it is presently suffering from. LTTE would have acted as mercenaries for countries that would have desired to destabilize India & India would not have known how to counter these internal problems when the crux of their time is spent in planning to plot against their immediate neighboring nations.
If India has any feelings of guilt, which it certainly should, then India needs to now start departing from how it has previously functioned. To divert Tamil nationalism from Tamil Nadu the Indian Government suavely created the separatist struggle in Sri Lanka so that demands for separatism in India would be stalled and nationalist thinkers would be keenly watching things unfold in Sri Lanka, towards the success of this India ran dubious operations that would provide two-fold results and ultimately ensnare Sri Lanka into running to Delhi for guidance and assistance.
India flouted diplomatic decency when it entered Sri Lanka's airspace and dropped essentials on the guise of taking care of the Tamil people; it won plaudits from Tamil Nadu politicos who in return ensured political backing for the Indian Government at crucial elections.
However, India's larger interests never lay with providing dignity to any ethnic group including the Tamils it was purely interested in dominating and functioning as a bully. The importance of Sri Lanka's natural harbor in Trincomalee and desire to lock it into its fold resulted in the creation of the North-East merger following the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord which again was without the mandate of the people of Sri Lanka and almost signed by force. Cries for devolution presently is not without sinister motives and much of these calls certainly echo that India is following orders from western shores as well as to use the Tamil cause to advance its strategic interests in the region.
The damage India has done to Sri Lanka even after the elimination of the LTTE outweighs any and all of its goodwill for it has created a lasting impact amongst the people of Sri Lanka that India is merely functioning as an agent of the US and UK and totally against the interests of Asia and its cultural heritage.
India's sordid foreign policy clearly shows how it has by its actions and inactions tarnished its relationships with its direct neighbors – the SAARC nations to fulfill deeper desires to claim itself as "the" powerful nation of the region. India must understand that by antagonizing or playing "bully" to its neighbors is hardly going to put India into the mantle as a superpower. It needs to shed itself from the bully image and certainly depart from the intricate maneuverings it adopts through its intelligence services to destabilize other nations. India little realizes that while spending time formulating plans to upset the peace of other nations India is falling apart in all corners internally.
India is today a dangerous nation – it is being targeted from not only one separatist movement, calls for division comes from not only one ethnic group….before long India will realize it cannot hold its own as the country is now seen falling apart. Yet, India is unlikely to be learning a lesson from this – India is now demanding to set up offices in the North and in Hambantota…while we may understand the reasons to have an office in Jaffna (Sri Lanka has 3 missions in India) it is baffling why India should want to open an office in Hambantota? Obviously it is because of the Chinese presence. Fortunately, it is the Chinese presence which will balance the scales and the bullying that India is currently directing upon Sri Lanka, which insists that Sri Lanka's Government does not end up humiliating itself by ludicrous moves that will diminish the pride of place that Sri Lanka today deserves as a nation for being the only country to rid the world's worst terrorist movement including its leadership. Countries that assisted Sri Lanka will also be judging how far Sri Lanka can actually assert its integrity and sovereignty without doing anything foolish. It is best that Sri Lanka ensures its house is in order first and that our politicians do not end up doing anything foolish now that Sri Lanka need not go hanging to any nation to change things for the better in Sri Lanka.
We may take some years to build up the nation from the abyss it has fallen into. We cannot blame the LTTE for all the ills that has prevailed. A large amount of blame must lie at the doorstep of our leaders and also at the public….there are certain follies that could have been avoided. We could have improved systems that should have not required legislative changes. Why cannot a police station located in areas where the public speak Tamil not have an officer to take down grievances in Tamil? Does this require changes in legislation or an order from a court? These are simple changes that could have been done by the police station itself. Similarly, why could not public officials ensure that correspondence to Tamil homes were in Tamil….these are simple remedial actions that could have been taken by public officials had they too been country and people centric. That people have not been has resulted in much of the simple issues being taken to global forums and showcased as gigantic problems for which the only solution is to carve out a separate state. Little have these solution formulators taken into consideration that the majority of Tamils actually live and work amongst the Sinhalese.
Are the Tamils in Tamil Nadu without any problem? Should Tamil Nadu realistically be the Tamil Homeland since 66m Tamils live there whereas hardly a million Tamils live in Sri Lanka's North and East? Is this not a state that suffers from the enough of discrimination against its own people? 11million Tamils in Tamil Nadu are Dalits (20% of Tamil Nadu population), 50% of this number live far below the poverty line, over 90% of these Dalits have no right to own property.
Over 90% of Dalits are illiterate, infant mortality amongst Dalit community stands at 104.2%...when neither the Indian Government nor the Tamil Nadu state has answers to the pitiful conditions of these Tamil Dalits who have suffered & continue to suffer. There are approximately 167 million Dalits in India, constituting over 16 percent of the total population. About 300 million Dalits have been facing social inequality and the stigma of low-caste for 3,000 years in India. In a historic turn of events in 2001 over 50,000 Hindu Dalits embraced Buddhism shouting slogans against the upper caste Hindu's oppression. These numbers are daily rising - why does the Indian Government wish to dictate terms on how Sri Lanka should treat its people, when it should first rid its nation of caste differences and the social stigmas attached to the millions of people accepted, treated and termed as "untouchables" where Indian society has done little to accept the dignity to live respectably in society?
Obviously, India will continue to dictate terms to Sri Lanka. Rationale thinking or action cannot be expected from India. Having said that, Sri Lanka's politicians should have concluded this and devised how to counter the dictates from any nation especially India. Sri Lankan's politicians should know that the public does not understand given the nature of India's role in Sri Lanka vis a vis the LTTE, why we need to now go begging for approvals from India….is there something that the public has been hidden from? Sri Lanka would much rather have friendly ties with India rather than distrust every move India makes.
Moving forward, we need to now build the nation & for that we need to first believe that we can take our nation from the abyss it has fallen into. We must also be firm that our problem is internal & as such one that can be internally solved. What is the point in saying we have an internal problem and then sending drafts for approval to foreign leaders?
The damage to Sri Lanka's image was created not only by the LTTE alone. Our so called peace crusaders – those employed in organizations that call themselves as "peace" have successfully portrayed a pathetic situation in Sri Lanka bloating isolated issues into generalizing Sri Lanka's situation and applying enough media publicity into making the world accept their foregone conclusions. A very lethargic foreign service with equally lethargic public officials cared little to counter these to show the world the errors of these conclusions. As such the country had to suffer the humiliations it did over the years. Those that visited the nation now see the reality and are able to decide for themselves the true story.
Yet, media institutions that are usually owned by powerful bodies often aligned to political parties end up being mouthpieces and carry stories that are often misleading and serving to deceive the public. Today, the media of Sri Lanka has lost its place amongst the ordinary people so much so that people do not believe much of the stories it runs. This is not a good scenario as media are expected to present facts and not their version of the facts – people must decide from the facts given.
We cannot dictate terms to any nation similarly no foreign nation should dictate terms to Sri Lanka. To build our nation, we now need to focus on core areas needed to create sustainable development.
For this effort we need to match government mechanisms with efforts by the people. Ours must be a multi-pronged solution that covers all areas…no area of our country should be denied and no ethnic group should be intentionally sidelined.
The public sector seriously needs to be reshaken…its officials need to change the way they function. Politicians alone cannot create the change; the people must also be a part of the change. Having said that as the direct interface with the international community, the people of Sri Lanka does not expect the Government to continue to follow previous practices that only led to Sri Lanka being prostituted and its people humiliated on global platforms. We now expect better and wiser governance from a Government that has been given a clear mandate that now spells the need for action that matches the type of action taken to eliminate the LTTE for which the people showered gratitude at the resoluteness of the Government – that same resoluteness must prevail in future as well.
India needs to be firmly told that there is a limit to its interference in Sri Lanka.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
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