This Shameless Obeisance Must Stop
By K. Godage
Indira Gandhi let loose a 30 year war upon us
I have little doubt that the first foreign visit of our next president would be to New Delhi to pay homage/obeisance to the ‘gods’ there. This shameless business must stop. In the past 20 years have we had a single Indian leader visit this country? No; the only instance was when India’s External Affairs Minister came here on a 24 hour visit to attend the funeral of the late Kadirgamar; this is how they have treated us, whereas we keep rushing there at the drop of a hat, at times to their embarrassment.
In the recent past, two of our opposition politicians visited India, no doubt to give the impression to Colombo that they were meeting Indian leaders to solicit support for their campaign. India certainly would not wish to involve herself in our election in any way.
They would be able to do business with whoever wins, but by such visits they only embarrass the hosts (their leaders incidentally do not find the time to meet those who force themselves on them). I have been told even by certain heads of missions here that they too have faced the same problem, where local politicians visit their countries and give a false impression to the government here.
Be that as it may, to return to the subject of our relations with India, surely our leaders must learn to safeguard the self respect and dignity of this country. They may demean themselves but please do not demean us. India will never again threaten to invade us as that woman did; they have indeed learnt their lesson and paid heavily in terms of Indian lives for it. Yes, it was that imperious woman Indira Gandhi, ably assisted by that satanic character Dixit who destabilised this country and let loose a 30 year war upon us.
That great Indian journalist Shaker Gupta informed the world in an article titled ‘Ominous Presence’ in the magazine India Today of the large number of training camps which Gandhi had got the RAW to set up with the assistance of the Indian army, to arm and train Tamil militants. No tears are shed in this country for the price they paid. This can never happen again.
It is useful to revisit and recall the reason as to why Gandhi destabilised this country. In the first instance she disliked President JR, but that was not the cause, President JR had opened the economy after this country was virtually bankrupted, which India herself did 10 years later. I could state with authority, as I served as the Secretary-General of the first Board of Investment (the GCEC), that the President’s intention was entirely to have us promote foreign investment into this country, there was no political dimension to it.
He stated that he had three priorities – jobs, more jobs and still more jobs – he directed us to go west for, as he said the capital we need is there, as are the markets and the ‘know-how’. He never intended to endanger India’s security. He repeatedly told us that he wanted Sri Lanka to be the Switzerland of Asia.
Gandhi read us wrong, and not merely because this was during the Cold War, but out of hate and her imperialistic desire to subjugate this country. They achieved this partly through the ‘Letters’ which were exchanged after the signing of the Indo – Lanka Accord which circumscribe our sovereignty. That Accord is now passé, it is time to forge a new agreement in keeping with the changing conditions of the world we live in. In the first instance any new agreement must be based on the Punchseel principles first enunciated in an agreement between Nehru Ji and Chou en Lai. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence or ‘Punchseel Principles’ were as follows
1) Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty
2) Mutual non-aggression
3) Mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs
4) Equality and mutual benefit
5) Peaceful co-existence
The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were first put forth by Premier Zhou Enlai of China at the start of negotiations that took place in Beijing from December 1953 to April 1954 between the delegation of the Chinese Government and the delegation of the Indian Government on the relations between the two countries with respect to disputed territory.
These five principles must form the basis of a new agreement with India. I do most sincerely wish that India adopts the Gujral Doctrine as the basis of her foreign policy, particularly in her relations with countries of South Asia.
The Gujral Doctrine is a set of five principles to guide the conduct of foreign relations with India’s immediate neighbours, as spelt out by Gujral, first as India’s External Affairs Minister and later as the Prime Minister. Among other factors, these five principles arise from the belief that India’s stature and strength cannot be divorced from the quality of its relations with its neighbours. It thus recognises the supreme importance of friendly, cordial relations with neighbours. These principles are:
1. With neighbours like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, India does not ask for reciprocity, but gives and accommodates what it can in good faith and trust.
2. No South Asian country should allow its territory to be used against the interest of another country of the region.
3. No country should interfere in the internal affairs of another.
4. All South Asian countries must respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
5. They should settle all their disputes through peaceful bilateral negotiations.
According to Shri Gujral, these five principles, scrupulously adhered to, would achieve a fundamental recasting of South Asia’s regional relationships, including the difficult relationship between India and Pakistan. Further, the implementation of these principles would generate a climate of close and mutually benign cooperation in the region, where the weight and size of India is regarded positively and as an asset by these countries. Our wish is that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi base India’s future foreign policy on these principles to ensure absolute stability in the Indian Ocean region.
In recent days there has been much concern in New Delhi about our relationship with China, particularly about the Chinese building our new harbour in Hambantota. They have only themselves to blame, for the first offer had been made to them and India’s notorious bureaucracy had dragged their feet on it, as they have done on a number of other projects which we have proposed to them. Even the private sector has been ‘promising’ but not forthcoming, not due entirely to their fault at least in one instance.
This instance is regarding a very important project, the Mahendra and Mahendra IT Park; the government must surely be able to give this the priority it deserves and allocate the land they require in the place they require for it. Yes, our relations must be rooted in close economic cooperation – and all investments from India, particularly in the service sector, must be in the form of joint ventures to lay at rest the fears of the Sri Lanka business community who fears that they could be swamped by Indian corporates.
To revert to the issue of the Hambantota harbour and India’s concern, particularly because of China’s huge naval expansion and the growing importance of the Indian Ocean to both emerging super powers, I would urge that we enter into a Defence Cooperation Agreement with India that would lay at rest all of India’s concerns. Let us propose to them that we conclude a Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation with India and also revive the Defense Cooperation Agreement which was almost finalised in 2003 (I believe it was an initiative of Minister Milinda Moragoda when he was a member of the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration). These two initiatives would not only further cement our relationship but would put an end to the fears that India has about our relations with China; of equal importance is that we need to assure the Indians that the political track will keep pace with the military track and that we would address the grievances of the minorities and empower them politically.
Indian politicians not the Indian and people whom I have personally down there. Their politicians have always played a monkey see monkey do game with our economy. Recently Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga mentioned how Mahinda Rajapaksa helped India’s Congress party win the General Elections in Tamil Nadu last year by reaching an agreement with the Indian government to stop using heavy weapons during the last stages of the war, which India’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says that they will await more details on claims made by Sri Lanka.We always help and get layed.During JR reign our economy sky rocked from 1980-1983 which most of our people was dead at that time and reincarnated today and don’t remember that era to well with tremendous hatred. So you remember that darling air drop which humbly and force ably sawed it up our throat . Through seer jealousy they broke our nation apart and tried very hard to destabilize our economy by training terrorist, operating bases, funding and marketing them internationally as Tamil freedom fighters then came retribution and their adorable state leader was assassinated by this prabakaran brute .This kept numbed due to trouble in its backyard the Mumbai incident. During the last stages of the war they tried to stop the war and failed but succeeded breaking the war mechanism by separating the general against the rest. Our Mongols don’t really understand what international conspiracies are and just behind our back yard
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the trouble with srilankans is they a some of the poorest and least educated and backward people with a poor political and ecomical withno forward looking policies.they think like the superpower with no natural resources and human resources.most them are working as labourers and maids for middle east teheducated sinhalese and tamils are out as the srilankan ship is sinking.with aid from west and imf and world bank and money sent by maids the gosl is fooling the peple that they are a ecomic might.wake srilanka.you don’t follow any of budda,s teaching either.and u are talking of pachasela.get your head out of your sand or worst.god help srilanka.
Any respect for any country depends on how it treats its minorities. Sri Lankan is the First country that sent back people who were born and worked here next to Idi Amin and de-citizenised plantation workers next to Hitler of Jews in Germany.
Mrs Gandhi wasn’t the first to destablise this country it was the JVP that did the destabilization twice. India came to the rescue on the request of Mrs Srimavo Bandaranayake.
Mrs Gandhi tried to resolve the oppression and discrimination of Tamil speaking minorities by encouraging local rebels to arm themselves but later her successor facilitated us to finish the rebels and proted us at UN from probing the war crimes and rights abuses committed in that process.
We are now in the process of dividing the country by mortgaging it to non-democratic, aucratic and abusers of human rights. One good example is that we refused a true Buddhist (while claiming to be a Buddhist nation) Dalai Lama entry to visit us because of the fear of antogonising a country that invaded and persecuted Buddhists in Tibet. That is the sort of bankruptcy of morality that our leaders are suffering from.
We also invited the brutal dictater of Burma/ ‘myanmar’ who shot hundreds of buddhist monks on peaceful demostration and also killed/jailed hundreds of civilians.
The writer keeps mentioning China, India, US and other global palyers as if they dont have any thing else more important to mess with. Sounds hilarious to me. Grow up start working , no one is interested to destabilize you its all your karma dude, you as a majoriy sinhalas have to bend over backward to appease your minorities.
We are divided hence show total weakness as a country,Imagine if We are united as One Nation immaterial of your religious beleif but as SRILANKANS will be way ahead.Travel around the globe to see to yourself the success achieved y Srilankans as Individuals but as a Nation,We are having an Election with 20+Parties all trying to serve themselves from the Buffet.Nobody has vision,No leader is selfless born to serve the people to take this nation forward…Hope remains a Dream for this nation
Does this author has Mental blockage ? He claims no Indian leader visited Sri Lanka in past 20 years. Prime Ministers P.V.Narsimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, all visited SriLanka during their premiership. At least the editor should have checked it. Agreed Indira Gandhi was not a saint, but JR was not a saint either. Didn’t he allow Paki air-force planes transit through Colombo during Indo-Pak war ? This author is spewing venom by claiming all of SriLanka’s problems are due to India and Sri Lankans did not do anything. Indians did learn their lesson. Now that the daemons have died, its time for Sri Lankans to learn their lesson and work hard to develop their country.
India interfered directly in Srilanka’s internal affairs by way of training militants
and forcing JR govt for a ceasefire with the support of IPKF to maintain it.Indira
initiated and Rajiv took care of it.This much happened and that’s written in
history.Come up with as much reasons as possible but none will qualify to say
“no we didn’t do it”.India is not a big country,it’s a huge democracy.It could have
been more generous towards it’s tiny neighbours in terms of assisting them in
all their endevours.But India chose to threaten it with it’s muscle power and it
didn’t go waste.Present regime offered the whole country instead of the north
in return for the spectator role india played,unlike under JRJ.
Now,who played the saviour and who played the traitor? Who puts who under
microscope? Srilanka was not allowed to forge ahead with its new economic
reforms introduced by JR.My question is,can India honestly say,no we have
nothing to do with it? It’s no wonder MR band running to Delhi even for a caugh
and the opposition doing likewise to keep in shape.
Read “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
I believe humility will win over power!
MR GODAGE SHOULD DO SOME RESERCH BEFORE WRITING THIS ARTICLE.INDIA INVOLVED FOR LANKAN MATTERS BECAUSE LANKAN GOVERNMENT DICRIMINATE TAMIL POPULATION AND CONTINUESLY KEEPING TAMIL HOMELAND AS IT’S TERRITORY.SRI LANKA BELONG TO VEDDA PEOPLE.IT WAS INVADED BY NORTH INDIAN SINHALESE 2600 YEARS AGO AND FORCEFULLY SETTLED THERE.SOUTH INDIAN TAMILS ARRIVED TO THE NO MANS LAND OF NORTH LANKA AROUND 2300 YEARS AGO AND SETTLED THERE AS SETTLERS.BOTH LIVED UNDER THEIR OWN KINGS.
1505 PORTUGESE OCCUPIED JAFNA KINGDOM AND SAMEPERIOD OCCUPIED THE SINHALA SEETHAWAKA KINGDOM TOO.THEIR TERRITORIES LATER PASSED TO HOLLAND AND THEN TO BRITISH,1815 BRITISH OCCUPIED THE WHOLE ISLAND.
BRITAIN RULED THE ISLAND AS ONE UNIT AND NAMED IT AS CEYLON.1948 GIVEN INDEPENDENCE AS ONE COUNTRY.
SINHALESE LED GOVERNMENTS STARTED DISCRIMINATION AGAINST TAMILS AND THEY STARTED TO FIGHT TO REGAIN THEIR LOST COUNTRY.
THE REST ALL YOU KNOW UP TO NOW.
if you think India did wrong why are you running to India to worship in their temples.Don’t you have trust and faith in budhism.
cut all the crap.sop whining and get to work and see that all ethnic minorities are happy in sri Lanka.what about taking care of our economy.where is the war budget that was passed for this year.Use the money to look after the tamils whom he GOSL dis[laced out of their homes.Its a disgrace to Sri Lanka.Rebuild the infrastructure and get to work.
stop whining.
Thank you very much Mr.Godage for your valuable article.We learn something new from such type of materials and even print for the future references.
In this instant I wish to remind “The Indian Intervention in SriLanka” ,Dr.Rohan Gunaratne’s well researched document(I still have the book) from where our students of political science could find Basic Facts behind a problem.
“our leaders must learn to safeguard the self respect and dignity of this country” – You are joking right? This is typical Sinhalese behavior…they have a major inferior complex thus they need assurance from India.
Dear Gentlemen,
I’m reiterating again – I have said this in the same blog some 20 days earlier.
You can never survive without the help of India – as long as your leaders remain puppets in the hands of Govt of India.
DO you think you could won this war without the help of Indian military assistance? stop ..your false pride has may holes in it!
forget the past…you may start projects..you may encourage tourism again…you can write all ifs and buts…BUT India will decide what you want to be AND if you think otherwise or try to bypass them…LTTE on a diff name would be encouraged on a diff name by the same powers to be.
Need of the hour is unity among yourselves..In India there are 27 diff languages and cultures living together and still they are considered as formidable powers in Asia like china!!
Why can’t just Tamils and Sinhalese co-exist with one rule for all…until you do this..you are digging your own grave.
Don’t think you have completely abolished the Tamil race in Lanka…you will regret later, NOW IT’S TIME TO CHANGE YOUR FACE IN THE WORLD, YOU MAY WRITE IN NEWSPAPERS WHATEVER YOU WANT TO APPEASE YOUR PEOPLE….BUT.. THE WORLD STILL CONSIDER US A WAR CRIMINAL…AND ONLY NEXT TO SUDAN..
WE need to Change..we need to change
ISN’T A SHAME FOR US
Dear Citizens,
I would like to inform Mr Godage that during the IPKF operations in 1989 – JR very well knew where Prabhakaran was there and indian RAW was the one who let live Prabhakar – why then did JR did not insist to finish him…
There is an article written by one srilankan General in the Indian Magazine OUTLOOK in 1992 after the IPKF operations where over and after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated – that Srilankan President, Army,IPKF Force where witihin 1000 mtrs radius of prabhakaran’s den and they could have easily captured him BUT Indian Govt did not want that!!
Dear readers it’s all POLITICS – we are all just spectators in the drama.