New Delhi: National Security Adviser MK Narayanan has left for Sri Lanka to review the situation in that island nation. The visit is being held a day after President Mahinda Rajapaksa formally announced that the war against the Tamil Tigers was finally over and that the rebel group has been eliminated. Ahead of his visit, Narayanan met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and briefed him about the developments in Sri Lanka. Narayanan said that India's primary concern is to ensure that Sri Lankan Tamil civilians are taken care of. On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee urged the Sri Lankan Government to reach out to Tamils and build a political accommodation that protects the rights of all citizens. Mukherjee said the Sri Lankan Government should settle the issue of ethnic minorities, including Tamils. Sri Lankan troops finished off the last of the LTTE resistance on Monday, wrapping up a three-year offensive to destroy the separatists and win a 25-year civil war. The Sri Lankan Government has to provide basic assistance and services to an estimated 265,000 people, who fled the fighting in the northern part of the country. This latest massive influx of people, who have endured extreme conditions, will put an even greater strain on the camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) that are already buckling under the pressure of the existing IDP population. Mukherjee said India had already offered a package of Rs. one billion as relief to Sri Lanka and was considering another package of five billion rupees.

Lankan Tamils here wary of Rajapaksa's outreach

     Pune: Several Sri Lankan Tamils based in India have responded warily to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's outreach after the elimination of the LTTE and its chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran. Mariasoosai Sakkariyas is one such. He and his family fled Sri Lanka 29 years ago in a flimsy boat across choppy waters to Tamil Nadu. He longs for the day he can return to his homeland. "I will only return if there is evidence that all Tamils displaced by the recent fighting are rehabilitated, and are given a free, democratic space to exist. I don't want to return to a forced democracy where Tamils have no voice," Sakkariyas told the Christian Science Monitor. He was not impressed by President Rajapaksa's promise to protect the Tamil-speaking people of Sri Lanka. Sakkariyas's skepticism hints at the uphill battle Sri Lanka faces in achieving political reconciliation now that the conventional phase of the war between the military and Tamil rebels has ended. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had fought for a separate homeland for the island's Tamil ethnic minorities. Some Tamils in Sri Lanka also viewed Rajapaksa's conciliatory tone warily. "If the president's speech had announced a tangible political package for Tamils, I would be a million times happier," says Chris Kamalendaran, a Colombo-based reporter of Tamil origin, adding that other Tamils he had spoken with echoed his dismay that the president didn't offer a more concrete political vision. "After 26 bloody years, the conflict is over - that's great," continues Kamalendaran, noting that he had never supported the LTTE. "But the cause of the conflict still persists." The resentment between Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority (who make up 18 percent of the population) and the Sinhalese majority (74 percent) stretches back decades. P. Radhakrishnan, a Tamil politician and a deputy minister in Rajapaksa's government, offers a more optimistic take on Sri Lanka's future. He hails the president's message as a "confidence-building speech." The end of the war could allow Tamil politicians to work more actively to improve conditions for the Tamil community, Radhakrishnan says in a phone interview.
- May 20, 2009