Fourteen students from a Law College in the Chennai suburbs are on a indefinite hunger strike calling on the Indian government to influence a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. They entered 5th day of their hunger strike today. Visiting Tamil movie actor Sathyaraj attempted to persuade them to give up their strike in view of their deteriorating health conditions. Several other local political leaders also made requests for the students to give up their protest. However the students have chosen to pursue their struggle.
Gandhi’s principles of non violence (Ahimsa) seem to be inspiring even the current generation. But, in this day and age of PR stunts and violence, would a hunger protest along the lines of Mahatma Gandhi by 14 students in a corner of India attract the attention of a government, leave alone that of media?
While all the recent protests in Tamil Nadu have a common agenda: “Stop the war in Sri Lanka”, it may or may not be viewed as a public support for LTTE or an endorsement for independent Tamil Eelam.
One has to note that since the ban on the LTTE was placed by the Indian government 17 years ago, the organization gradually lost the broad support it enjoyed in the 80’s. There were still a section of the Tamil Indian society that viewed the Indo Sri Lanka accord as that of deceit. However Rajiv Gandhi’s death at the hands of some Sri Lankan elements, made the general population in India (including Tamil Nadu) move away from LTTE and its objectives. Tamil Nadu government and the general population stood behind India’s attempts to pack LTTE’s support base in its soil.
The peace initiative by Norway was closely watched by India and its population that had concerns for the Sri Lankan Tamils. LTTE prevailed the peace negotiations and projected a new face – Mr Tamil Selvan as the peace negotiator and political head. The derailment of the peace process and the subsequent killing of Mr Tamil Selvan by Sri Lankan forces brought disappointment to several Indians, but yet LTTE did not gain the sympathy as it enjoyed in the 80’s.
However the support for LTTE in India (Tamil Nadu particularly) has grown by leaps and bounds in recent months. Several weekly magazines such as Kumudam Reporter, Nakkeeran both with high readership in the state published Prabhakaran and Tamil Eelam maps in their cover. Posters sprung up in several cities and towns in south India proclaiming Prabhakaran as a revolutionist. Tamil celebrities raised slogans equating Prabhakaran with Subash Chandra Bose and LTTE cadres to Bagath Singh. Communist volunteers proclaimed Prabakaran as south Asia’s Che Guevara – an Argentine Marxist revolutionary. What caused this paradigm shift in the common mans opinion needs to be investigated.
If you are closely monitoring the recent developments in Southern India, you will agree that the way the war has progressed, has impacted the opinions of Indians to a large extent. The influx of war imagery and videos have caused even a mute spectator panic and cry for the Sri Lankan Tamils. Videos that show bombing of civilians by Kfir aircraft and the charred dead bodies of children in school uniform being pulled by parents has shaken the conscience of Tamil Indians. Images from videos that showed the mutilation and stripping of dead bodies of fallen female rebels by Sri Lankan soldiers were published in some magazines and has caused even those who held strong anti LTTE sentiments to cross the bridge and view the Sri Lankan army as barbarians.
Videos like these are just a tip of the iceburg.
Tamil Indians have seen counter insurgencies initiatives at home – in Punjab, Kashmir and the north east. However the images from Sri Lanka were not anything similar. The volume of casualties and atrocities by the Sri Lankan army were emotionally incomprehensible for most Tamil Indians.
Most will agree that, It is not the actions of LTTE or their goals and objectives, but the flouting of human values by the Sri Lankan armed forces that has caused the paradigm shift in the sentiments of south Indians.
Apart from national parties such as CPI(M) and BJP joining the Anti War bandwagon, We are hearing anti war sentiments from Colombo after the murder of Lasantha Wikrematunga by government agents. Asserting that Mahinda Rajapakse regime is “the darkest, the most brutal and the most ruthless,” that has ruled Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera, the convenor SLFP (M) and ex foreign minister of Sri Lanka – a Sinhalese by ethnicity, in an interview published in this weekend Sunday Leader, said
The SLAF has used more bombs than in Vietnam just in a few months. Even if Pirapaharan is captured and killed as some people like to speculate, we will only be committing another generation to the war perhaps to fight a far more ruthless LTTE than today.
Apologizing to the Sri Lankan people for “bringing this dark and evil regime into power“, he further said
The evolving situation is such that key journalists are fleeing the country. More than a dozen have already left and others are on the verge of leaving.
If Sri Lanka truly wants to win the war, it has to come up with a solution that is acceptable to the Tamils and that may prove more powerful than all the bombs and weapons they have been using against the LTTE. Only then will they find durable peace in the region.
Tags: Ahimsa, Army, BJP, chennai, CPI, Freedom, gandhi, Insurgency, law college, LTTE, Protest, Sri Lanka, Students, Tamil, War
5 Comments
Well written! One small thing, it’s the CPI and not the CPI(M) that is anti-war. Infact, the CPI’s Mr. Pandian was the first to express concern for the civilians who were at the receiving end of the barbaric Sinhala forces.
The fools at the centre are deliberately ignoring the genocidal war unleashed upon Tamil civilians by the Sinhala barbarians and passively supporting the Sinhala forces.
The LTTE is not the cause of the conflict. It’s just the symptom. The cause is Sinhala Buddhist fascism that will never recognise the rights of minorities living on the island to live with dignity and equality. It’s not without reason that Sri Lankan Tamils view the LTTE as their protectors and freedom fighters. Without the LTTE to protect them, the Sinhala fascist criminals would have exterminated them. That is what those criminals want – a pure Sinhala Buddhist state with everyone else either killed or driven out :-x
Fundamentalist Hindus appreciate Indira Gandhi who in the 1970s gave RAW a new role to suit the Indira Doctrine specifically asking it to undertake covert operations in neighboring countries in order to advance Indian dominance in the region. RAW was given a green signal to mobilise all its resources by creating, supporting and exploiting insurgency, rebellion and separatism in China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. RAW’s activities vary from country to country. Political turmoil in East Pakistan in 1971, continued unrest in Bangladesh and Pakistan, intermittent lawlessness in Nepal and in the recent past, uprising in the Tibetan regions of China could be cited as example in this respect. At present, Sri Lanka like Pakistan needs special focus as the country is rapidly advancing in eliminating RAW-backed militancy. Since 1970, the LTTE with the connivance of RAW developed connections with a number of Tamil Nadu political groups and the subsequent Indian chief ministers including key party organizers of Congress whose leader, Nedumaran also wrote a biography of Prabhakaran. Since 1983 when New Delhi took it as policy to support Sri Lankan northern insurgency, within years, the number of Sri Lanka Tamil training camps increased in Tamil Nadu. More than 50,000 Sri Lankan Tamil militants had been provided sanctuary, finance, training and weapons by the Indian government. In this context, specialised training was imparted by the RAW instructors in New Delhi, Bombay and other cities.
‘Those who take up arms will perish from the arms’ a saying by a world famous son of India. Why did LTTE not realise this. Videos are well directed, sound effects in the opening sequence found to be very good however only few actors show urgency and run pass the camera while the rest stand around. I am sure these weaknesses shall be overcome in the next production. Good luck
There is no room for an Eelam……In our splendid Island Lanka…get back,…get back to where you were.
Well, the comment above shows the root cause of the conflict and the reasons for the birth of an organisation like the LTTE. Eezham Tamils are as much the natives of the island of Sri Lanka as the Sinhalese. Maybe the Sinhalese should just get back to wherever they came from and leave the island to the Veddah people, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka.
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