They went, saw and returned'

The meeting of the representation from Tamil Nadu led by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi with the Prime Minister of India on Thursday failed to achieve its basic objective of convincing the Indian government to take a stand against Colombo’s war on Tamils, revealed journalistic circles in Chennai.

The silent listening of the Indian Establishment may have several meanings. Perhaps Dr. Manmohan Singh is not the authority to respond on this particular matter. But the message to Eezham Tamils is clear: either they ought to fight back the war thrust upon them, or face genocide, and probably they knew it long back, commented the circles.

The focal issue of the delegation from Tamil Nadu was to request the Indian government to take immediate steps to stop the war waged by the Colombo government against Tamils.

The Indian government is on record for abetting the war in the island by providing arms, training, intelligence, technical assistance and even personnel to the Sri Lanka government.

On earlier occasions at least as a matter of formality the Indian Establishment used to come out with the rhetoric that there was no military solution to the crisis. But nowadays even the rhetoric is conspicuously missing.

The Tamil Nadu delegation on Thursday was a result of an extraordinary uprising of angered masses in Tamil Nadu, in support of Eezham Tamils, demanding the Indian government to take action to stop the war and killing of Tamils in the island immediately.

The delegation was also a follow up of unanimous resolutions enacted in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly, Human Chain Protest, relief fund collection and two All Party Meetings, initiated by the Chief Minister.

Earlier on Tuesday, 34 Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu and Puduchery submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister to take effective measures to stop the war in Sri Lanka against ‘civilian Sri Lankan Tamils’.

When the delegation met, the Indian Prime Minister silently listened to them but didn’t respond anything positively, journalistic circles said.

A Congress member of the delegation while agreeing that something has to be done expressed concern about ‘LTTE sympathisers’ getting benefited by the campaign, it is learnt.

Other members countered him by saying that they had gone there only to convey the will of the people of Tamil Nadu and not to talk about the LTTE.

Another member of the delegation reportedly pointed out to the Prime Minister about the need for always upholding a universal etiquette not to encourage war and to call for stopping it. But the PM was silent, it is said.

It was Kalignar Karunanidhi who finally suggested the PM to send Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Colombo for talks. It was accepted by the PM but what to talk was not specified. It looked as though the decision was primarily meant for giving an impression that there was some outcome from the delegation, said media circles.

Later on that day, speaking to media after a brief bouquet presentation meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Karunanidhi said that Mr. Pranab Mukherjee will take up the matter with the Colombo government, but media persons didn’t fail in noticing the lack of zing in the countenance of the Chief Minister.

The people of Tamil Nadu may have to further pressurize the governments of Chennai and Delhi said D. Pandian, the state secretary of CPI in a press meet on Friday after returning from Delhi.

Tamil Nadu people and politicians have every right to demand the Congress President Sonia Gandhi to stop playing puppetry and to come out open on the question of Eezham Tamils was the comment on the sidewalks by a politician from Tamil Nadu.

Media circles in Tamil Nadu indicate that the post November 26th scenario in India, the stand off between India and Pakistan, millions of people taking to streets in the Indian cities protesting the Mumbai killings, the mood created by the visiting US and Russian dignitaries – all have considerably diminished the importance of the plight of Eezham Tamils.

They also indicate the need for Delhi to woo Colombo in case of an escalated crisis between India and Pakistan. One may guess what Pranab will be actually talking in Colombo.

How the Eezham Tamil struggle is an altogether different phenomenon from the Pakistan-linked threat to India and even from the crisis in Kashmir, which from the very beginning a military situation internationalized than a national question, have to be made clear to the Indian public to avoid manipulation of national and international elements of vested interests, said some political circles in Tamil Nadu.

It is not new to Eezham Tamils that whenever their crisis needs concentrated involvement from India, some forces coordinate the situation with larger geopolitics and hijack it. Indra Gandhi’s 80s are a good example.

Encouraged in every respect and unchecked, the Colombo government has embarked upon bold air and artillery attacks on civilians using prohibited weapons of mass destruction in Vanni, stepped up killings in the East and arrests in the South, and has intensified all efforts needed for physical and structural genocide of Tamils.

By using Cluster Bombs on known civilian targets, that too when the war-torn population was suffering a natural disaster, the Colombo government and its abettors seem to pass a message, i.e., ‘surrender to us’. It may look a folly to expect a people struggling for a cause for decades to surrender, after all their sacrifices, without the sight of any solution.

The Colombo government is reportedly having a large stockpile of cluster bombs. Except some powers the vast majority of the civilized world has decided to ban the weapon for deployment. As an emotionally charged IDP at Tharmpuram said on Thursday: “There are elements to supply this weapon to Colombo, knowing that it will be used against the people of a national struggle. Those who voiced against child recruitment are silent when children are killed by state terrorism. We are puzzled, wondering who the international terrorists are.”

In the meantime, an obviously unhappy Chief Minister Karunanidhi reiterated the public in his typical literary way of his relentlessness in safeguarding Tamils.

But the reality is that the power centres never yield in, unless the arms are twisted.

The impressive delegation from Tamil Nadu consisted of the following representatives of political parties and social movements:

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and senior leader Anbazhakan representing DMK, K. V. Thangabalu and D. Sudharsanam of the Tamil Nadu Congress, Dr. S. Ramadoss and K.K. Mani of PMK, D. Pandian of CPI, Thol Thirumavalavam of VCK, K. Veeramani of DK, RN Veerappan of MGR Kazhagam, Vijaya T. Rajendar of AILDMK, Tirupur Al Dab of TN Muslim League, Bishop E. Satkunam of Social Justice Movement, Kadar Moideen and Abdul Fasid of Indian Muslim League, P. V. Kathiravan of FB, Radhika Saratkumar of AISMK, L. Ganeshan of PMDMK, Dr. Krishnasamy of Puthiya Thamizhakam, Hydel Ali of TMMK, Jagath Ratchakan of JMK, and Jaganmoorthy of PB.

The AIDMK of Ms. Jeyalalitha, Vaiko’s MDMK, CPI (M) and Actor Vijayakanth’s DMDK were not represented in the delegation.