Sri Lanka in war

Just tune into TV or surf the net - all you hear are about wars everywhere. Islamic militia have taken over Mogadishu, Chechen rebels beheading people, 12 killed in Afghanistan and n killed in Iraq every day. It is sickening how we just can't stand each other and how we don't mind taking each others' lives for whatever cause or reason.

The one war that disturbs me personally is the Sri Lankan civil war. The Tamil tigers(LTTE) are back in action. The Sri Lankan army must be a greater terrorist organization as they don't mind bombing hospitals, churches and civilian areas.

I have fond memories related to Sri Lanka from my childhood. Our neighbours in Pondicherry are of Sri Lankan origin. They are Catholic Tamils from the city of Jaffna. Back in the 80s, India was still confused as to what it wanted to be - a socialistic democracy was the intended destination. Sri Lanka on the other hand was far more developed socially. Social indices such as literacy, life expectancy and capitalistic economy were more towards the South East Asian model rather than the South Asian poverty paradox. I remember my neighbours visiting Ceylon and bringing back gifts for the neighbours and kids in the entire locality. I had a soft ball and a puzzle book from Ceylon as gifts from them at different times.

Rupavahini is the official TV channel of the Sri Lankan state. We had three antennae on our terrace - one for local DD, one for Madras DD and one for Rupavahini. The quality of the Ceylon TV programmes was much better than our own DD's Krishi drashan and magic shows. I remember watching 'Woody wood pecker' on Ceylon TV and would be in awe of what quality programmes are shown there.

That was also the time the entire LTTE movement started gaining ground. There were supposed to have been some training grounds for the LTTE around the woods around Pondicherry. There was a huge amount of sympathy for the Tamil cause - because of the horror stories of suppression by the Sinhalese majority of the minority Tamils in the north and east of the tiny country.

India's own stand was that of sympathy for a long time until the Rajiv Gandhi murder in 1991. Well, that has a lot to do with further muddling in politics by the not-so-great-visionaries of the Nehru-Gandhi family in India.

India's experience in the late 80s made it a very silent spectator of the entire Sri Lankan fiasco. In my opinion, we should have taken much more active interest in the whole issue. It's one thing not to interfere in another country's affairs, but it definitely affects us in a big way. To see what I'm saying, just a visit to the refugee camps in Rameshwaram or Point Calimere would give a perspective on the burning issue there.

Sri Lanka lost a golden chance to resolve the crisis - but the turning point again was the election of the Sinhala hardliners in the Govt. Mahendra Rajapakse is a hawk - and with a terrorist leader like Prabhakaran - it's only expected that the situation would get worse. Today, India will face another refugee crisis. The north and east of Ceylon will go through another ethnic cleansing by both parties.

Those cherished days of a prosperous Sri Lanka where they showed woody wood pecker will just remain a dream. It's funny to see how two countries deal with minorities. In India we go overboard to make sure everything is okay for them from the Govt point of view. In Ceylon, votes are won on the basis of who is more oppressive. And all this is under a so-called Buddhist Govt? This confirms the theory that religion has nothing to do with the agenda of oppressive Govts and even more brutal terrorist organizations.