The Guardian says while India blames Pakistan for inaction after Mumbai attacks, it turns a blind eye to support of Tamil Tigers in India
LONDON: An article in The Guardian has drawn a parallel between Indias stance on Pakistan with regard to the Mumbai attacks and its own position on Tamil Tigers and their safe haven in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
In the article titled Indias double standards, the writer says while India blames Pakistan for inaction after Mumbais terror attacks, it turns a blind eye to a dangerous terror organisation the LTTE.
There should be no double standards in the global fight against terrorism, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared last week, according to the article. According to the article, the message was intended for Pakistan, but if Singh was concerned about double standards, he should look closer to home.
The article said that earlier in December, Sri Lankas state-run Sunday Observer published an interview with the countrys army chief, Sarath Fonseka, who, while expressing solidarity with India after the Mumbai attacks, criticised some Indian politicians for supporting the LTTE.
Fonseka had particularly used harsh words for the powerful Tamil Nadu politicians Vaiko Gopalsamy and P Nedumaran, calling them jokers and accusing them of being venal mouthpieces of the LTTE. He wondered why these men would support an organisation that had assassinated an Indian prime minister, and warned that they were a threat to Indias own integrity.
Within hours of the interviews publication, Tamil Nadus political establishment united in condemnation of General Fonseka. In a letter to the Indian prime minister, Vaiko demanded that New Delhi seek an apology from the president of Sri Lanka.
He wrote, In a democracy, army generals do not criticise leaders of a foreign country. Sensing trouble, Sri Lankas president issued a statement regretting General Fonsekas remarks, and last week the Sunday Observers editor Dinesh Weerawansa was summarily sacked. But all of this, far from diminishing General Fonsekas claims, only casts light on Indias own irresponsible role in the vortex of terror that threatens to consume Sri Lanka, the article in the Guardian said. It pointed out that the LTTE could not have grown without the support of successive state governments of Tamil Nadu in India. Founded in 1972, the LTTE has used Chennai as a safe haven, and their activities, as the Indian historian Ramachandra Guha wrote, were actively helped by the state government, with New Delhi turning an indulgent blind eye.
The 1987 pact signed by Rajiv Gandhi and JR Jayawardene put a temporary halt to this, and India agreed to send peacekeeping forces to Sri Lanka to help Colombo disarm the LTTE, an adventure so disastrous that one Indian journalist at the time called it Indias Vietnam. The Tamil Tigers retaliated by assassinating Rajiv Gandhi.
The article called the LTTE arguably the worlds most dangerous terrorist organisation. It is the only terrorist outfit to have successfully carried out assassinations of two heads of government. Its international cadres regularly extort money from Tamils situated in different countries.
It further said that the Tamil Tigers make Al Qaeda look amateurish. But because the LTTEs victims are not Western, it does not elicit the same kind of response that Al Qaeda does.
India banned the LTTE in 1992, but a report released by Janes Information Group last year identified Tamil Nadu as the principal source of LTTEs weapons; and Fonseka was not exaggerating when he said that the Indian politicians who support the LTTE are a threat to Indias own integrity much as the men who supported the Mumbai attackers are a threat to Pakistans.
The article accused New Delhi of consistently meddling in Sri Lankan affairs, stymieing Colombos efforts against an adversary that has used almost exclusively violent means to achieve its ends. The article said after the Mumbai attacks, Singh stated in emphatic terms that there can be no negotiations with terrorists, then, kowtowing to pressure from Tamil Nadu politicians, he agreed to send his foreign minister to Colombo to push the Sri Lankan government to do exactly that.
If this does not amount to double standards, what does? the article asked. app
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