CEASEFIRE DEMAND: A TEST TO CM/ TN; PM/ GOI ; MR/ GOSL!!!???

'Chennai's ceasefire' - a dilemma
Upul Joseph Fernando

President Mahinda Rajapaksa embarked on his tour of India at a time when the entire Tamilnadu is boiling over with resentment against him. No Sri Lankan Leader has ever before confronted such opposition during his /her tour to India. During the period of J. R. Jayewardene's Govt. too the Tamilnadu has levelled accusations against Sri Lanka (SL ) of committing genocide of Tamils. Yet, during those times , Tamilnadu even produced films jointly with SL.
But, today the position is different, Tamilnadu actors and actresses are staging fasts and satygraha in protest against Mahinda's Govt. Tamilnadu cinema actor Rajanikanth who is not only popular in Tamilnadu and across the whole of India , but also in Japan while taking part in the fast against the Mahinda Govt. made an emotion charged speech : " the urgent need is to stop the war, the voice that we raise over here must be heard by Rajapaksa … Rajapaksa ! what are the Tamils demanding ? equal status, it is in your best interest if you recognize their rights ; you have the three armed forces : the Army, the Navy and the Air Force , but have you been able to wipe out all the Tamils who have been fighting for their rights ? You have not been able to do this in the past two years of the war . As in the past thirty years , you are unable to accept your defeat .Because , for you , it is a question of ego , accept the truth and grant them equal rights……."

Actor Kamalahasan also spoke in the same vein as Rajanikanth directly accusing the SL Govt. of Mahinda Rajapaksa when making his speech. Kamalahasan like Rajanikanth is a popular actor among the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka (SL). Hitherto, they have never evinced so much interest over the Tamils' issue in SL. But now, not only the actors and actresses, even the businessmen and an entire cross section of Tamilnadu are demonstrating with regard to the Tamils’ ethnic issue against the SL Govt. week after week.

Mahinda's visit to India is in the midst of this storm of protests, and when mounting pressure is being brought to bear on the Indian Central Govt. by the protest campaign to make it force a ceasefire announcement in SL.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister ,Karunanidhi joined the protest campaign to compel SL to stop the war and go for a ceasefire exploiting the campaign against war as the theme. It is a question mark whether he abandoned this campaign after Basil Rajapaksa's tour of India. It is the view of the Opposition parties of India that Karunanidhi is making a false pretense . Even today Karunanidhi is engaged in splendid play acting. When India's opposition, actors , actresses and a large cross section of the society are pressurizing the Indian Central govt. to stop the war and install a ceasefire in SL , Karunanidhi on the other hand has made a strange observation : if the SL Govt. is to be compelled to go for a ceasefire via the Indian Central Govt., he states, the LTTE stance on the ceasefire must first be made clear ,adding that the SL Govt. cannot introduce a ceasefire of its own accord. Besides , if the SL Govt. agrees to a ceasefire bowing to pressure from the Indian Central Govt., but still, if the LTTE rejects it the situation can get more complicated. Hence, an endorsement from the LTTE before seeking a ceasefire will be most appropriate, Karunanidhi asserted.

Thereupon ,the Tamil Nadu Communist party (C.P.) Leader D. Pandian who was very vociferous in favour of the ceasefire asked the LTTE for its endorsement to what Karunanidhi was seeking. No sooner Pandian made this overture than the LTTE political leader Nadesan replied that their Organisation is ready for a ceasefire at any time.

It is obscure whether Karunanidhi used the C.P. and obtained the necessary LTTE sanction for the ceasefire , or the Opposition jointly with the C.P., along with the LTTE's support has trapped Karunanidhi . No matter what, going by Nadesan's confirmation , it is evident that Karunandhi is trapped , while at the same time Karunanidhi too has led the Indian Central govt. into a trap. It is possible that Mahinda Rajapaksa who is now on a tour of India is also getting enmeshed in this plot.

Mahinda is in India with Nadesan's sanction in his hands at a time when Karunanidhi is pressurizing the Indian Central Govt. to compel SL Govt. towards a ceasefire announcement. Now that Nadesan has given the sanction , Karunanidhi has no escape route until he has secured the ceasefire announcement in SL with Indian Central Govt.'s pressure . The question however is whether the Indian Central govt. can tell Mahinda to stop the war and declare a ceasefire . The other issue is whether Mahinda can declare a ceasefire merely on the insistence of the Ind. Central govt.

After Basil Rajapaksa 's Indian tour , Mahinda openly declared that he will not bow to conditions imposed by external forces and foreign powers . He reiterated this when presenting the budget 2009 too. Whether he made these remarks with reference to India, or to the European Union which has underlined the need for strict adherence to the terms and conditions governing the granting of the GSP + concessions, is not clear.

In any event ,Prabhakaran, Karunanidhi and the Communist party including other parties and Organizations appear to have set a clever trap in India for Mahinda Rajapaksa to make these same utterances there what he made in SL. Otherwise, there is no need for the ceasefire issue to surface in all its fury as soon as Mahinda stepped into India.

From the standpoint of Prabhakaran and the Communist party including other parties and Organizations the ceasefire is an instrument to test Karunanidhi. The latter on the other hand sees this as an instrument to test the Indian Central Govt. while the Ind. Central Govt. is employing it to test Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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