Honesty is the best policy. Principles make the best strategy. The two add up tostatesmanship. Dealing with the Sri Lankan crisis calls for statesmanship.
Honesty is the best policy. Principles make the best strategy. The two add up tostatesmanship. Dealing with the Sri Lankan crisis calls for statesmanship.The ...
Honesty is the best policy. Principles make the best strategy. The two add up tostatesmanship. Dealing with the Sri Lankan crisis calls for statesmanship.
The crisis was created by the Sinhalese, compounded by Indira Gandhi and complicated byRajiv Gandhi. They followed opposite policies. And brought similar results. Both involvedIndia in Sri Lanka's affairs. Both worsened the crisis.
Sri Lanka's civil war has reached a critical stage. The LTTE separatists aregaining ground. Without external help, the Sri Lankan nation could split. If Indiaintervenes, it could alienate its own Tamil population. If it doesn't intervene, itwould leave a vacuum which could be filled by hostile interests. Either course couldimperil India's security.
The most senseless thing the government could do would be to emulate Mrs Gandhi orRajiv. The next most senseless thing would be to get so scared by the past as to donothing. The government presently seems to favour the second course.
What should the government do? This is where honesty and principles help. Thegovernment is committed to respecting Sri Lanka's territorial integrity; torespecting the democratic rights of different ethnic groups; and to opposing terroristviolence. The escalation of Sri Lanka's civil war could destabilise all of SouthAsia. It could encourage motivated intervention by outside powers into the affairs ofSouth Asia. Therefore, South Asia needs to act in concert.
Sri Lanka has approached both India and Pakistan for help. It should not misunderstandif India sought to convene an emergency meeting of saarc. The first meeting could befollowed by a second to which representatives of the LTTE are invited. The LTTE might findit difficult to resist the moral weight of a consensual saarc.
Grappling with the crisis, Indians might learn to appreciate that present passive Tamilsympathy in India for the LTTE is, in its essence, not very different from militantlyactive Pakistani sympathy for Kashmiri separatists. Pakistanis might appreciate thatsecession is no guarantee of stability on any side.
Both might appreciate that ultimately, human rights and justice are guaranteed bydemocracy, not by sovereignty. That the security of South Asia is indivisible. That theSri Lankan crisis is more than a challenge. It is an opportunity.
The need is to get together
And not squabble and stall,
In our harsh times to jointly weather
Dilemmas that lure us to fall.