New Delhi has refrained from a tough stance against Colombo for its war crimes against the Tamils, but can it ignore the issue any longerIJ
The Congress-led UPA Government is under tremendous pressure from its important ally, the DMK, to vote against Sri lanka for the latter’s violation of human rights at the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva later this month.
The DMK and other political parties of Tamil Nadu want a toughening of stand against Colombo. This was a refrain in the parliamentary debates last week, when not just the Tamil parties but even the BJP spoke for the Tamils in Sri lanka.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha urged a tough line in view of the fact that the Sri lankan Government, despite four years of pressure, had done nothing to address the concerns of the Tamils.
The resolution will come up for voting on March 22. last year, India voted with the US for a resolution asking Sri lanka to investigate abuses by its military during the final phase of war with the lTTE in 2009. The Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Government was upset with New Delhi but the UPA Government had to send a signal that it would like an expeditious settlement of the Tamil issue.
One year on, there is little evidence of the lankan Government’s intent. Mr Rajapaksa’s cavalier attitude has frustrated both New Delhi and Tamil Nadu’s political parties.
The UPA has refrained from a strong line because the relationship with Colombo has changed over the years, with issues like trade and commerce also playing an important part. A section of the Government believes that Tamil issue alone cannot be the criterion of India-Sri lanka relationship.
Also, competitive politics in Tamil Nadu is making it difficult for New Delhi to tackle the ticklish issue. The ruling AIADMK and the DMK are on the same page regarding Sri lankan Tamils. Parties like the MDMK and the PMK too are voicing sympathy for their Tamil brethren. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has used the issue to hit at the Centre asking it to take a stand against the war crimes committed by the Rajapaksa regime.
After becoming Chief Minister in 2011, she got a resolution passed in the State Assembly seeking economic sanctions against the island nation. A canny politician, she knows that the Tamil issue has enormous political value. She wants to be a key stakeholder in Delhi and plans to make the Tamil issue one of the talking points in the 2014 general election.
She did not permit Sri lankan athletes to set foot in her State last month. last September, she disallowed Sri lankan students from playing a friendly football match in Chennai. She was also opposed to the Centre training Sri lankan military officers in Ooty and Avadi without informing the State Government.
The simmering anger against the Sri lankan Government has erupted after Channel 4 telecast a ghastly video on the killing of the 12 year-old son of lTTE chief Prabhakaran recently.
Tamil Nadu’s political parties are concerned about the expanding Sinhalese settlement in Tamil areas. They fear that the expansion of the Armed Forces and establishment of cantonments in the Tamil areas may further reduce the Tamil population in that region.
Mr Rajapaksa, who neutralised the lTTE and almost all the Tamil groups, is not in a hurry to find a political settlement, even though it was promised that the 13th Amendment would be the basis of a political solution. He delayed it, using the Fourth Eelam war as an excuse, but no political solution is in sight even after the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution last year.
Things have come to such a pass now that New Delhi will have to take into account the domestic concerns in the India-Sri lankan policy.
With the Rajapaksa Government snubbing India by ignoring its concerns, New Delhi cannot dilute the issue now. Although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not categorical about India’s stand in the UNHRC later this month, all indications are that it will vote against Colombo.
There are at least three reasons why New Delhi should do so: The Congress cannot afford to annoy the DMK; New Delhi realises that it does not have the same clout with the island nation which it had in the eighties and nineties and has to restore the balance; and not the least, New Delhi has to prove to the world that it has not yielded its place to China in the neighbourhood.