Ever since the independence of Sri Lanka and its emergence as a nation-state, the relation between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil-speaking people (about 18 per cent) have at best remained strained. The cultural, linguistic and constitutionally-promoted differences led to major ethnic conflicts in the years 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983. Especially, the 1983 pogrom of Tamils in many parts of Sri Lanka led to the ongoing civil war and the birth of militant groups in the Tamil-speaking areas such as the Northern and Eastern parts of the island.

Initially, there were many Tamil groups – some moderate and some extremist. Many of them demanded a separate statehood for Tamils, which they called Tamil Eelam. It was roughly around this time (1983), the Indian government headed by Indira Gandhi started involving itself in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. There were other reasons for the Indian government’s interest in the issue. Earlier, the US had evinced interest in setting up an American naval base in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Fearing American dominance in the Indian Ocean region, Indira Gandhi government, with the help of the then Tamil Nadu government headed by MG Ramachandran, started training camps for Sri Lankan Tamil militants in Tamil Nadu. Indira Gandhi’s game-plan was to use the Tamil militant groups as leverage against the Sri Lankan government to keep it under India’s controlling influence.

Thanks to the open support they enjoyed from the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu State government, the Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups flourished. There were many major groups then, such as TELO, PLOTE, LTTE, EROS, ERDP and EPRLF. However, soon the major Tamil militant groups got into a turf war among themselves. In the deadly game of one-upmanship that followed, LTTE, with its brutal ways, started emerging as a force to reckon with by methodically eliminating its rival Tamil group leaders one by one.

After the death of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi came into the picture. The young and brand new-to-politics Rajiv Gandhi was brimming with constructive ideas. Importantly, Rajiv got the Sri Lankan government to sign Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord with India on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. The accord was a win-win for the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Sri Lankan government. Under the terms of the agreement, the Sri Lankan government should devolve power to the provinces where Tamils lived; withdraw its troops from the Tamil areas; and the Tamil rebels should lay down arms and return to the political process.

LTTE leader Prabhakaran was upset with the accord, as he was not a party to the accord (in other words, he was not given the importance which he expected), and only reluctantly agreed to lay down arms. However, soon conflicts flared up in the troubled region. The Rajiv government sent the IPKF to maintain order and disarm the LTTE. Thus Indian peace keeping force got entangled itself in the bloody war. Finally, when the IPKF was pulled out by the Indian government, the focus of Tamil struggle – equal rights and removal of ethnic discrimination – had got totally lost in the mess created by the LTTE.

Prabhakaran used the IPKF operations in Sri Lanka as an excuse to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi. Maybe, he feared that if Rajiv Gandhi came to power again (Rajiv had then gone to TN for electioneering), the LTTE would be forced to surrender arms and would be relegated to background.

However, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was the greatest blunder that the LTTE had committed. Till then the militant groups enjoyed the sympathy and support of the Indian government. But after the assassination of Rajiv, India started seeing LTTE in its true colours – a Polpotist organization that would go to any length to ruthlessly eliminate opposition and secure power – and promptly banned it.

Today, as LTTE’s sins are coming back to haunt it, the organization and its chief have only themselves to blame for the sorry state of affairs. LTTE’s Tamil Eelam demand is flawed in every sense. Mere ethnic conflicts cannot be the reason for separate nationhood. If that is the case, then almost all the countries have to be divided into thousands of tiny nations. It is pity that the LTTE, instead of using the many opportunities offered in the past to arrive at a negotiated settlement of the issue, chose to chase a chimera called Tamil Eelam.

As for India, the Sri Lankan Tamil issue is not just about Sri Lankan Tamils. It is also about India’s security in the Indian Ocean region. Already China and Pakistan are providing arms support to the Sri Lankan government. India cannot remain a mute spectator and push Sri Lankan government into the waiting arms of China and Pakistan. Interestingly, the US recently offered to evacuate the Tamil civilians who remain trapped in the conflict zone by their marine force. But the Sri Lankan government did not give permission to do so, as it has thus far taken India’s nod before allowing another country to get involved in the issue. India should do nothing to lose such a reliable ally in the all-important Indian Ocean region. However, India has a moral obligation to the common Sri Lankan Tamils. While helping the Sri Lankan government remove the LTTE from the picture, it should get the island’s government to devolve equality and power to common Sri Lankan Tamils within the constitutional setup of Sri Lanka.