BETA

The Sinhalese as ‘fantastic practitioners of diplomacy..have(ing) an edge over us (India)’ ( Bhadrakumar ‘Blood in our hands’ Rediiff.com 19 May) created a disastrous log jam for Delhi thanks to the connivance of the South Block mandarins in the Delhi bureaucracy. They manipulated their political masters towards policies reflecting their anti-Tamil/Dravida prejudices but more importantly cause irreparable damage to India’s strategic interests. This is the essence of Delhi’s policies to end the Tamil resistance that created the far more disastrous log jam for Delhi.

Bhadrakumar mournfully attributes Delhi’s log jam to Delhi’s 'loss of political leverage over Colombo..in the post-LTTE era' (‘Sri Lanka: Rajapakse’s Final Resolution..’ Mainstreamweekly.net). The over appeasing Delhi mandarins freed Colombo of the LTTE factor to embolden SL into dangerously gambling with the China factor as leverage to counter Indian regional ambitions. Delhi is now earnest on working with the international (US) community to compensate for the loss of the LTTE leverage. Though the Tamil issue is inconsequential in post-LTTE era, ‘(India) will continue to make noises about ..a political solution to the Tamil problem’ (as)..our leaders.. publicly’ plead with SL to implement the provisions of the 1987 Indo-SL Accord. SL that enjoyed the benefits of India partnering in the SL genocide to free SL of the LTTE sees no compulsions to consider the Accord provisions despite India's pleas. Instead according to Bhadrakumar the solution Rajapakse envisages is a ‘systemic colonization by the Sinhalese of the Tamil homelands north of the Elephant Pass’...’ to cause an exodus of Tamils to India as a matter of state policy’. Delhi! what a grateful SL payback for all Delhi's pains; SL's export of the Tamil problem to TN/India clearly signals that India’s Accord inputs for the Tamil problem are no longer relevant. Delhi that repeatedly assured TN that the 1987 Accord provisions will be delivered in full (and SL agreeing then) and TN reciprocating to ensure UPA’s return to power; is politically embarrassed by SL rebuffing Delhi’s pleas. SL positions Delhi in the discomfort zone of earning a reputation for repeatedly betraying TN and sow the seeds of divisiveness in India itself. The conniving and patriotic(!) South Block mandarins silently rejoice over SL tiring out Delhi by dragging out on the Accord delivery to mischievously further strain Delhi-Chennai relations to a point creating conditions for a Central rule in TN.

The silence of the Delhi South Block mandarins when thousands of Tamils (civilians) in the India blessed ‘no fire zones’ were massacred and others taken prisoners of war for interning, in humiliating Nazi style concentration camps dangerously damages Delhi’s moral standing (already stained by its partnership in the SL genocide) encouraging SL to administer further massive snubs on Delhi. SL ignored Delhi’s pleas to allow the Vanangaman relief supplies to reach the desperate camp victims and not rot in the Colombo harbor. The South block mandarins turning a blind eye on developments also presented Delhi with a China gaining a strategic foothold/base in SL to counter India’s regional ambitions. SL allowing China a militarily significant foothold (Hambantota) in India’s soft under belly is ominous enough for India now to seek after international (US) support to counter the China factor. Hence a growing perception that the over bending pacification/support of the Delhi mandarins emboldened SL to embark on contributing to a big power play at the expense of Delhi regionally. SL had in the past used this style of diplomacy and extracted far reaching benefits beginning with India taking back nearly a million Up Country Tamils under the1964 and 1975 agreements. Under the guise of preventing a resurgent (a non-existent) LTTE type threat SL's frantic military buildup in the entire North coastline facing the Tamil Nadu exposing India's security sensitive assets in TN to the China threat makes a mockery of Delhi's diplomacy. Likewise SL’s haste in setting up observation posts to militarise Katchativu that is closest to TN is sure to surprise and anger Delhi. Do these matter now to Colombo?. Delhi hereafter has another border to closely watch the looming China’s threat. Thanks to the blundering inadequacies of the Delhi mandarins’ diplomacy China has moved the closest so far to the door step of the relatively safe Indian underbelly. The Sinhalese and China achieved these strategically significant and ominous goals behind the backs of the Delhi South Block mandarins who still flaunt the bona fides of working closely with their friendly Colombo counterparts.

The author in praising the Sinhalese as ‘highly sophisticated practitioners of diplomacy’ also confirms the blunderings of the dated South Block diplomats who bartered away the leverage they had (the LTTE) built at great costs to buy more pain. Now an assertive and aggressive SL focused on promoting an exodus of Tamils to India as a matter of state policy to de-stabilize TN/India is positively an unfriendly act against India. Will SL stop at this or piggy-back on China to become a major player like Israel in the Middle East?

V S Subramaniam