Is India Sending Tamil Fighters to Sri Lanka Again? (December 2009)
TAMIL TRIBUNE, January 2010 (ID. 2010-01-02)
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Abbreviations
1. End of Eelam War IV
2. Emergence of People's Liberation Army (PLA)
3. Is India Involved?
4. Remember What India Did in the 1980s
5. Be Cautious About India
ABBREVIATIONS
EPRLF - Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Army
IMF - International Monetary Fund
IPKF - Indian Peace Keeping Force
LTTE - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
PLA - People’s Liberation Army
USA - United States of America
VOA - Voice of America
1. End of Eelam War IV
Eelam War IV between the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil freedom fighters, the LTTE, ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the latter and the death of almost all top commanders. Most LTTE cadres were killed or in custody. Limited numbers have escaped to India and other countries; a few may be in hiding in Sri Lanka and hunted by Sri Lankan soldiers and police. Everyone thought that Tamil militancy is over at least in the near future. But an unexpected news item appeared in December 2009.
2. Emergence of People's Liberation Army (PLA)
According to the news report published in the South Indian newspaper New Kerala, a new group of Tamil militants, named People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was formed in eastern Sri Lanka four months ago and it would launch attacks on government and military targets. It has no connection with the LTTE. Its commander Kones told a reporter from the British newspaper Times that it has 300 members, including several who fought the Sri Lankan army in the 1980s but went dormant or left Sri Lanka after falling out with LTTE.
Who are these militants? Where do they come from? We do not know for sure. Description of the group seems remarkably like the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Army (EPRLF). EPRLF had its strength primarily in the east in the 1980s and we see that PLA is also located in the east. Both PLA and EPRLF have professed Marxist leanings. EPRLF fought the Sri Lankan army in the 1980s and clashed with LTTE also. When LTTE fought the Indian army (IPKF) which came and stayed in Tamil areas of Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990, EPRLF sided with the Indian army. When the Indian army withdrew from Sri Lanka in 1990, some EPRLF leaders and cadres fled to India. Most of them must now be in their 40s and 50s.
3. Is India Involved?
Is India sending some of them back to Sri Lanka to recruit new cadres and fight the Sri Lankan army? We are not sure but would not be surprised if India is behind this new People’s Liberation Army (PLA)?
Why would India that played a key role in the military victory of the Sri Lankan army over LTTE help create a new Tamil militant group to fight the Sri Lankan aemy? Why would India that, even after the war ended and LTTE decimated, worked against the interests of Tamil people by campaigning against a United Nations (UN) resolution that tried to help the internally displaced Tamil people and also campaigned against attempts by western democracies to deny a IMF loan to Sri Lanka, now help a new Tamil militant group? [See References 1 for Indian role in the war and Reference 2 for Indian role against the UN resolution and IMF loan.]
If it turns out that India is behind the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Tamil people and PLA should not fall under the illusion or raise false hope that India is helping Tamil people get their legitimate rights in Sri Lanaka. If India is, in fact, helping PLA, it is not doing so to help the Sri Lankan Tamils but for its own selfish strategic interests in Sri Lanka. India is playing the same foxy game that it played in the 1980s (about 1983-1987).
4. Remember What India Did in the 1980s
A detailed discussion of what India did in the 1980s and why it did so may be found in Reference 3. In the 1970s and early 1980s several Tamil militant groups emerged in Sri Lanka because of government discrimination and brutal oppression of minority Tamils. India took advantage of this situation to force certain strategic concessions from Sri Lanka; these concessions have nothing to do with Tamil grievances. It armed the Tamil militant groups just enough to bleed the Sri Lankan army but not enough to score a military victory. Of course, not only Sri Lankan soldiers but also Tamil militants died as India watched from the sidelines. Unable to defeat the militants whom India armed enough to withstand the Sri Lankan military, Sri Lanka struggled. India offered to disarm the militants if Sri Lanka would agree not to allow American navy ships into Trincomalee harbor and not allow expansion of Voice of America (VOA) broadcasting facilities in Sri Lanka. [What have American access to Trincomalee harbor and Voice of America facilities have to do with Tamil grievances? Nothing.] As for Tamil grievances India asked for and Sri Lanka agreed to a type of federal set up without specifying what powers would be devolved to the Tamil province. A federal set up means nothing unless adequate powers are devolved to provinces. While what devolution Tamils would get was left for future discussions AFTER the militant groups disarm, what India would get (Trincomalee and VOA) was clearly spelled out in a letter from the Indian Prime Minister to the Sri Lankan President. All militant groups except LTTE agreed to the India-Sri Lanka Accord, which was negotiated secretly without consultation with any militant group. LTTE wanted to know details about the devolution and hesitated to disarm fully until they are spelled out. Friction developed between India and LTTE and war started between the Indian army and LTTE in 1987. This is history.
5. Be Cautious About India
If India is sending former EPRLF members to Sri Lanka to form the new militant group People’s Liberation Army (PLA), I am afraid that what happened in 1987 could happen again. In the 1980s India was concerned about American (USA) presence in Sri Lanka. Today India is not only concerned about USA but also about Pakistan and China establishing a foothold in its southern neighbor Sri Lanka. This concern is already heard in recent months in Indian media and defense circles. India would arm and train PLA to put pressure on Sri Lanka on the issue of America, Pakistan and China. If and when Sri Lanka agrees to Indian demands on this issue, India would stop all aid to PLA and let is wither and die.
Tamil people and any new militant group should not forget what happened in the 1980s. Never trust India. India is not the friend of Sri Lankan Tamils.
[Additional Note: It is interesting that this new militant group People’s Liberation Army does not have the word Tamil or Eelam in its name.]
Nalankilli - Nalangkilli
REFERENCES
1. Nitin Anant Gokhale, Sri Lanka: From War to Peace (book), 2009.
2. Professor Boyle: India is Guilty of "Complicity" in Sri Lankan Tamil Genocide (by Thanjai Nalankilli), TAMIL TRIBUNE, August 2009 (11 KB)
3. Did India Help Sri Lankan Tamils until 1987? (by Yashoda Reddy, Siva Reddy and Thanjai Nalankilli), TAMIL TRIBUNE, May 2001 (25 KB)
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