Mumbai is Burning: Are These Terrorists Any Different From LTTE Terrorist?

It was a very sad day for the people of Mumbai, and the whole of India, for what happened yesterday, and I really hope they feel the pain that many Sri Lankans have endured during the last few decades. While my heart goes out to the victims and their families, I also believe this dastardly act was an abject lesson for Indian politicians and bureaucrats who feel that it is their God-given right “to poke their noses in” on the war against LTTE terrorism by the armed forces of Sri Lanka. They constantly feel obliged to tell the Sri Lankan government leaders how to protect their civilians, and how important is a political solution, etc, etc, thinking that this problem of terrorism is unique to Sri Lanka.

[ad#200×200]This is a moment of truth, for Indian political leaders and bureaucrats, who have never shown a genuine friendship and solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka in their protracted war against the Tamil terrorists (LTTE). In many occasions, not withstanding the fact that India trained, armed, and provided the logistics to the LTTE terrorists to carry out attacks against civilian installations such the central bank, and the Colombo world trade center, India prevented the Sri Lankan army from finishing off the LTTE terrorists.

While I sincerely feel sorry for the victims and their families affected by this wonton crime, I also feel that India as a country needs to learn a lesson from this kind of tragedy: the lesson is that terrorism is, no matter in what country, or in what city and what group is responsible and whatever their objectives, it is a barbaric act that must be condemned unreservedly. You should never suggest, for whatever your domestic political compulsions, that a legitimate nation-state should negotiate with terrorists. Terrorists have no boundaries or rules of engagement, and their only motive is to terrorize the people until they get what they want, and that is the cardinal truth Indian politicians and bureaucrats must learn from yesterday’s attack.

India cannot go on preaching to its neighbors the importance of negotiations with terrorists in order to please its own ethnic minorities for political reasons. India cannot fight terrorism on its own borders while asking its neighbors to do otherwise. That will never work with terrorists as they learn from each other. India is the home to over 80 million Tamils. To please that 80 million Tamil population, India has been interfering with Sri Lanka’s own effort to deal with LTTE terrorism. As far as South Indian politicians are concerned, there are no terrorists in Sri Lanka, but only innocent civilians. They have been demanding that the government of Sri Lanka must stop the war. What happened in Mumbai yesterday has been happening in Sri Lanka for the last 20 years in cities, villages, railway stations, bus-stations, and shopping centers.

But in responding to yesterday’s attack, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, preached from a completely different text:

“It is an act of cowardice which the people of India would fight back. It is time to be united and render the moral support to the security forces.”

Perhaps this is a tragic reminder to Indian political leaders and bureaucrats that “what goes around comes around.” India is fully responsible for the present tragic situation in Sri Lanka. India trained the LTTE, armed them, and provided logistics to destroy the little island. What was the reason? The mighty India felt that little Sri Lanka will economically prosper, will open their economy to the outside world, and will align with the western powers. India wants its neighbors to be “kowtowing,” and does not like its neighbors doing business with other nations. India is profoundly an insecure nation; despite its recent economic developments, Indians are very parochial, and as such, they constantly feel threatened by their small neighbors. For that reason, they will do anything to sabotage the political stability and economic growth of the neighboring countries. Perhaps, it is good that India should taste its own medicine every now and then.

If we review what Indian politicians and bureaucrats have frequently recommended to Sri Lankan leaders on how to arrest the problem of terrorism in the island nation, yesterday’s attack in Mumbai can also be interpreted as the result of “not enough devolution of power for the minorities.” Therefore, as Indian politicians tell Sri Lankans, “a military solution is not feasible for the problem.” India’s “military may kill the rebels, but India will not have those Muslims on its side.” However, “a political solution that will meet the aspirations of those communities can work.” Therefore, “all security personnel attending the scene should avoid killing the innocent civilians.” Manmohan Singh should immediately call an all-party conference to prepare a package of “devolution” to fulfill the “legitimate aspirations” of those rebels who attacked Mumbai. Perhaps, Sri Lanka should send a consignment of “relief items” to affected innocent civilians to be distributed through the “Indian Red Cross.”

One can only hope that this “Indian medicine” will work better on the ills of India than it has in Sri Lanka.

S. Hewage
Lankaweb