It was reported in ‘The Island’ of 5th December 2008 that the Indian Prime Minister had decided to send his External Affairs Minister to Sri Lanka to press for a ceasefire between the Government forces and the LTTE. This decision had been taken reportedly, after the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu had requested the Indian Prime Minister to send Mr Mukherjee to issue a ‘STRONG WARNING’ to the Sri Lankan Government, to announce a ceasefire immediately.

The Chief Minister must be told in no uncertain terms that we are not a vassal state of India and that we cannot be pushed around at their bidding. He must be warned not to interfere with the internal affairs of a sovereign state.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka ,he must be told are legitimate Sri Lankan citizens  and not citizens of India. Ironically ,when there was a large influx of illicit immigrants from Tamil Nadu into this country many years ago, successive Indian Prime Ministers including the late Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru refused to take them back as Indian citizens.The current conflict in its present form would never have occurred had not a former Prime Minister Indira Ghandi thought it fit to destabilise this country by training,arming and giving all possible help to the LTTE and other Tamil armed groups. The Tamil Nadu Government went one step further when their Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran donated a large sum of money and provided other logistical support to the LTTE. to fight the Sri Lankan Gvernment. The Indian government is therefore not only responsible for the deaths of over 60,000 Sri Lankan including Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslims but also for ruining the booming economy of this country which was leading India in many fields such as Health, Education and the standard of living of the people. ‘The Island’ of the 5th December also provides two articles, one by Parliamentarian V. Muralidaran (VM) and the other by the Bishop of Jaffna. V. M. very rightly states that the military success is a victory for the Tamils and not for the Sinhalese (this is a factor that all Tamils must realise). He also says that not only Prabhakaran and his men are fed by the Sri Lankan Goverment but that they are provided with medicine and fuel as well, while the LTTE has given the Tamils only graves (22000).

The Bishop of Jaffna has stated that the LTTE was not allowing the civilians to leave the war zone. The Bishop has also charged that the LTTE is using forced labour to build massive earth bunds etc.

It is inconceivable that the present Prime Minister of India whose former charismatic leader Rajhiv Ghandi was brutally assassinated by the LTTE is sending a delegation to rescue his murderer who has changed the history of two countries by his sordid acts of murder. What would have been the history of these two countries had celebrities such as Rajhiv Ghandi, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Atulathmudali, A. Amirthalingam, M. Tiruchelvam and many others had not been murdered by this megalomaniac.

The Eastern Province was liberated from the LTTE and one of their former child soldiers was installed as the Chief Minister after a democratically held election.The Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils are living in harmony and relatively peacefully in the Eastern Province in spite of sporadic attempts by the LTTE to cause panic.

The current situation orchestrated mainly by Tamil Nadu politicians makes the chances of a solution to the present problem even more remote as any devolution of power envisaged by the Sri Lankan Government may prompt Tamil Nadu politicians to further their interests and influence the Tamils in the North and East to move towards their ultimate goal of a greater  Eelam which will be dominated by Tamil Nadu. The Indian Government must be warned of the strong possibility of this happening if the Tamil Nadu politicians are allowed to interfere with the internal affairs of our  country.

The other unanswered question is how over 50% Tamils living peacefully in the South are going to benefit by any devolution of power to the North and East. Once the LTTE is defeated and suicide bombings etc. stops, any harassment to the Tamils in the South by way of arrests as suspected suicide cadres etc. will cease. The Sri Lankan government must then look into all the genuine grievances of Tamils and bring back the Communal harmony that prevailed in this country many years ago.