International

www.tamilarangam.netMrs. Indira Gandhi and Sri Lanka:What are her options ?It is a fact not widely remembered thatthe Indian government had been registeringits concern over violence againstTamils in Sri Lanka long before the Stateaidedanti-Tamil pogrom of July 1983.Repeated expressions of Indian "concern"— has been an old, old story!The first such "expression of concern"was made by the Morarji Desai governmentin August 1977. That was the time,seven years ago, when within one monthof the Jayawardene government ridinginto power with an unprecedented Parliamentarymajority, a massacre of Tamilsbegan. Particularly badly hit were theTamils of recent Indian origin in theplantation areas.On August 24, 1977, the DMK underthe leadership of party president M. Karunanidhicalled a one-day hartal in Madrasas an expression of sympathy to the fellowTamils in Sri Lanka. The hartal was almosttotal. The DMK also took out a massiveprocession from the Anna statue on MountRoad to the office of the Deputy HighCommissioner of Sri Lanka.O)CMO)3"O to5 2.. .ci i8EThe then Congress president BrahmanandaReddi and several Indian M.Psraised their voices against "the climateof violence and intimidation againstsettlersof Indian origin and also a section of Indiancitizens" (HINDU: Aug. 28, 1977).The Prime Minister Morarji Desai senta personal message to the (then) PrimeMinister of Sri Lanka J.R. Jayawardenevoicing his concern and expressing thehope that normalcy will be restored soon.The Prime Minister also> replied to themessages sent by Chief Minister of Tamilnadu• M.G. Ramachandran and DMKleader M. Karunanidhi assuring them thatthe Central government will do its best to"ensure the safety of the Sri LankaTamils".But that safety has remained unensuredever since. Sporadic anti-Tamil riotinghas continued, in varying proportions, in1979, 1980, 1981, climaxing in the majorpogrom of July 1983.Five days before last July's holocaustbegan, there occurred in New Delhi anevent which assumes greater significancein retrospect. Sri Lankan envoy BernardTillekeratne was summoned to theForeign Office. He was told by the thenForeign Secretary Shankar Bajpai — thedate was Tuesday July 19 — of India'sconcern over killings of Tamils in Jaffna,and particular reference was made to theemergency regulations that compelleddisposal of dead bodies without inquests.When the Sri Lankan envoy wanted toknow whether the Indian government wasconveying the feelings of the governmentand people of Tamilnadu, Mr. Bajpai madeit clear that he was expressing the concernof the government of India "at the highestlevel".The next few days saw the ColomboPress going into hysterics. BIG BRO-THER, STOP MEDDLING IN SRILANKA'S INTERNAL AFFAIRS - wasthe theme of all editorial writers.Then came the big blow to the governmentand army morale when an armyunit in Jaffna careered headlong into a"Tiger" trap and thirteen soldiers diedinstantly in the midnight ambush ofSaturday July 23. The massacre of Tamilsbegan the next day. The events of thatdark period horrified the whole world.At that point of time India's options onSri Lanka were wide open. Even the worldjkpo;j; Njrpa Mtzr; Rtbfs;would have accepted (maybe after atechnical protest) whatever action Mrs.Gandhi chose to take, not excludinglimited military intervention, so shockedwas world opinion on the burnings andbrutality that took place. Indian nationalsand Indian property were themselvesattacked. But Mcs. Gandhi held her hand,and subsequently earned encomia for her"restraint" even from President Zia of°akistan!Intervening in the debate on Sri Lankain the Lok Sabha on August 5, Mrs. Gandhimade a statement which seemed to spellout the course of policy that India proposedto adopt thereafter. That policyhas obviously not changed even after theevents of the past one year, as could beseen from the interview she gave "LaFigaro" of Paris early in July (seePage 13).One noteworthy question which hadpuzzled and disappointed Tamils both inSri Lanka and in Tamilnadu was: Why didMrs. Gandhi have to go out of the way tolimit India's options voluntarily, in the faceof the continuing defiance and anti-Indiacampaign by the Jayawardene government? ^-11