Now that India has refused to pull out its troops from Sri Lanka in the face of Sri Lanka’s request, a dangerous stalemate has emerged in South Asia. If this is not resolved expeditiously serious consequences would follow.
Sri Lankan foreign minister Ranjan Wijeratne has described the Indian troops as an “occupation army” and further stated that the “occupation army” would be “forcibly ejected” from Sri Lanka if it did not comply with Sri Lanka’s deadline of July 31 for their departure. To this India has reacted irrationally and threatened to break off all talks with Sri Lanka if it did not retract the above statement.
India is clearly to be blamed for the mess it has created in the region. Let us examine. The Indians trained Tamils in insurgency. warfare and latter inducted them in to Sri Lanka to protect the interests of the South Indian expatriates. Later when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam became a formidable force India sought to play a major and dangerous role by sending close to 80,000 Indian troops inside Sri Lanka under the terms of a bilateral treaty to control the Tigers. The troops are euphemistically called India Peace Keeping Force.
Indeed, there were several motives behind the ill-fated initiative: India sought to play the role of regional super power; Rajiv Gandhi had an eye on a Noble Peace Price; India tried to divert the world attention away from its serious domestic woes; from a long range perspective India seeks to control the strategic island with a view to extending its influence in the Indian Ocean.
The facade of peace keeping was soon to be undone. The Tigers cannot be controlled for they have popular support of the local inhabitants. Sri Lanka sensed the real situation and has decided to deal directly with the Tigers.
More ominously the behavior of the Indian troops has not exactly been exemplary in Sri Lanka. Amnesty International has reported several confirmed cases of murder, rape and torture of the Sri Lanka populace. Although technically and legally the India troops are under the official control of Sri Lankan authorities under the terms of the bilateral agreement the Indian officers and men have refused to respond to Sri Lankan court summons to answer charges of rape, looting and murder.
Notwithstanding the dangerous stalemate, reports have now emerged that India is seriously considering imposing a Cyprustype situation in Sri Lanka — that is, partition of the isJand, with Indian troops policing the Tamil half —the northern portion of Sri Lanka.
If this dangerous plan is implemented India will be creating a situation that would be not tolerated by the International community. It may help Rajiv Gandhi in the next elections but in the long run it would be counterproductive for it will confirm India’s newly attained reputation of a bully. While we sympathize with the plight of the minority group in Sri Lanka we urge India to act responsibly and at once vacate the illegal occupation.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 28, 1989
