Rajiv Gandhi Assassination and India's Role in the Sri Lankan Ethnic Conflict
Thanjai Nalankilli
[First Published: July 2014]
OUTLINE
Abbreviations
Prologue
1. Background
2. Why India's Anti-Tamil Actions Before the Assassination?
3. Attempt to Assassinate LTTE Leader Prabhakaran in Jafna in 1987
4. IPKF War Crimes in Sri Lanka
5. What About Sri Lanka's Anti-Indian Actions?
6. Sri Lankan Support for Pakistan During the 1971 India-Pakistan War
7. Indian Soldiers in Northeastern Sri Lanka (1987-1990)
8. Concluding Remarks
9. Why Anti-Tamil Policies Even After the End of LTTE?
Abbreviations
IPKF - Indian Peace Keeping Force
LTTE - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
PROLOGUE
Purpose of this article is not to condone the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Purpose is to discuss if India is using this assassination in 1991 to justify its anti-Tamil actions starting in the mid 1980s and continuing as of now.
1. Background
Indian policies and actions in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tmils has been decidedly anti-Tamil in nature. During the armed conflict (war) between the Sri Lankan (Sinhala )military and the Tamil militant group LTTE, India provided military assistance to Sri Lanka [Reference 1]. It also provided much needed financial assitance. Indian state of Tamil Nadu has a population of about 60 million and they are linguistically, culturally and ethnically tied to Sri Lankan Tamils. Whenever someone in Tamil Nadu voices opposition to India's anti-Tamil policies, Indian government counters it by bringing up the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (presumably by Sri Lankan Tamil rebels, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)). Thus Indian government justifies its support for the Sri Lanka. For the purposes of this article, we will consider that LTTE was responsible for the assassination.
Is India using Rajiv Gandhi assassination merely as an excuse to justify its anti-Tamil actions? Let us examine it critically.
2. Why India's Anti-Tamil Actions Before the Assassination?
India's involvement in te Sri Lankan ethnic conflict and war did not start on May 21, 1991--the day former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. It goes back to, at least, early 1980s. Chapter 7 provides a brief discussion of India's anti-Tamil actions between the early 1980s to 1987 when Indian military went to Sri Lanka to disarm the Tamil militant groups and enforce the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 1987. Section 3 of Chapter 7 discusses:
India's Anti-Tamil Actions Before 1987
Anti-Tamil Nature of The India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 1987
Illegal Arrest of LTTE Leader Prabhakaran in New Delhi in 1987
Indian Army in the Traditional Tamil Region of Sri Lanka in 1987
Other Anti-LTTE Actions before the IPKF-LTTE War in 1987
Attempt to Murder LTTE Leader Prabhakaran in Jafna in 1987
We will not discuss them here, except to highlight the last point in the next Section.
3. Attempt to Assassinate LTTE Leader Prabhakaran in Jafna in 1987
The news of India's alleged attempt to assassinate LTTE leader Prabhakaran when he went for peace talks to the Indian military headquarters in Northen Sri Lanka comes directly from the Indian military commander in Sri Lanka in 1987, Major General Harkirat Singh. References to his interview and book and a brief quote from his book are provided in Chapter 9.
4. IPKF War Crimes in Sri Lanka (1987-1990)
(IPKF - Indian Peace Keeping Force) Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi sent the Indian army into the traditional Tamil region of Sri Lanka to disarm the Tamil militants and enforce the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 1987. India called this military force "Indian Peace Keeping Force" (IPKF). Some Tamils called it the "Innocent People Killing Force" (IPKF).
During the IPKF-LTTE war in Northeastern Sri Lanka (1987-1990), Indian soldiers killed LTTE fighters and LTTE fighters killed Indian soldiers. This is what happens in wars. Warriors on both sides get killed. What is not acceptable is that Indian soldiers raped Tamil women and massacred unarmed Tamil civilians. These "war crimes" have been well documented by international human rights organizations and may be found at their websites or archives. These aactivities happened before the Rajiv Gandhi assassination in 1991.
5. What About Sri Lanka's Anti-Indian Actions?
One reason India gives to justify its anti-Tamil, pro-Sri Lankan government actions is the Rajiv Gandhi assassination in 1991. We already discussed several anti-Tamil actions of India prior to 1991.
Now, what about Sri Lanka's anti-Indian actions? Read the following 2 sections.
6. Sri Lankan Support for Pakistan During the 1971 India-Pakistan War
[This section is a duplicate of Section 4.2 of Chapter 7. If you you have already read it, skip to Section 7.] India and Pakistan fought a major war in 1971, primarily in East Pakistan (that later became Bangladesh). West and East Pakistan were not land-linked. They are separated by miles of Indian territory. Pakistan had to move military supplies and soldiers from West to East by going around the Indian peninsula. The only landmass on this circuitous route is Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka allowed Pakistani aircrafts to land and refuel in Sri Lanka. This is a decidedly anti-Indian action on the part of Sri Lanka. This is an unprovoked anti-Indian action because there were no quarrels or conflicts between India and Sri Lanka at that time. How many additional Indian soldiers died in the 1971 war because of this Sri Lankan action? 10, 20, 100? Why those soldiers' lives were conveniently forgotten and India helping Sri Lanka?
7. Indian Soldiers in Northeastern Sri Lanka (1987-1990)
[This section is a duplicate of Section 4.3 of Chapter 7. If you have already read it, skip to Section 8.] India sent its military into the Tamil region of Sri Lanka (northeastern Sri Lanka) in 1987 and stayed there until 1990 to disarm Tamil militants and enforce the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 1987.
Although Indian military captured territories held by LTTE, it was unable to destroy LTTE. The newly elected Sri Lankan President Premadasa started peace negotiations with LTTE and asked Indian military to leave immediately. India refused and said that it would leave at an unspecified later date. Angered by Indian refusal, Premadasa secretly supplied truckloads of weapons and ammunition to LTTE to fight the Indian military in northeastern Sri Lanka. LTTE and Indian military were at war with each other. Indian soldiers were killing LTTE and LTTE was killing Indian soldiers. Sri Lanka, while not fighting the Indian military openly as LTTE did, secretly supplied weapons and ammunition to kill Indian soldiers. At the same time it was keeping "friendly" relations with India. How many additional Indian soldiers died because of Sri Lankan weapons? 10, 20, 100, 200? Whatever the number, Sri Lanka was indirectly responsible for those deaths. Yet India acts against the interest of Tamils and in support of Sri Lanka. Why are Indian government actions in Sri Lanka always anti-Tamil (1980s - today)?
8. Concluding Remarks
One reason India gives for its anti-Tamil policies and action in Sri Lanka is the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi allegedly by LTTE. In our opinion this is merely an excuse to pacify protests in Tamil Nadu opposing India's anti-Tamil actions in Sri Lanka. If India's actions are based on lost Indian lives, let us look at the balance sheet. Presuming LTTE was responsible for Rajiv Gandhi assassination, total number of Indian lives lost during the assassination is 8. So death count due to LTTE actions is 8.
What about the death count from Sri Lankan actions? As described in Sections 6 and 7, Sri Lanka is responsible for the death of dozens (may be, hundreds) of Indian soldiers. If lost Indian lives is the criterion for supporting one side or the other in the Sri Lankan ethnic war, then India should not be supporting the Sri Lankan government. Both sides, Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, are responsible for Indian deaths, then why support one side? Real reason is that Indian government does not want Tamil people getting any type of self-rule either as an independent country or as a province in a truly federal Sri Lanka. They cannot tell this real reason to the people of Tamil Nadu. That is why Rajiv Gandhi assassination is used as a convenient excuse for its anti-Tamil actions.
9. Why Anti-Tamil Policies Even After the End of LTTE?
If LTTE killing Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 is the reason for India's anti-Tamil policies and actions in Sri Lanka, why is India continuing with its ant-Tamil policies and actions even after the demise of LTTE in May 2009? It conclusively shows that Indian rulers (that is, Hindi politicians) have anti-Tamil views and it has nothing to do with LTTE actions. Chapter 1 discusses the reason for India's anti-Tamil actions in Sri Lanka.
Reference
1. Indian Duplicity in Military Aid to Sri Lanka as Impotent Tamil Nadu Watches: Part I, "Tamil Nadu and the Battle for Tamil Eelam (Chapter 2)," edited by Thanjai Nalankilli, Free e-book available where you downloaded this book.
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