The contrast of international and domestic travellers at Southern India's Chennai international airport stands unique from all others.
For some passengers, their baggage is only old cartons that earlier held Red Label whisky or cigarettes, Sony or National TV sets. Others had rolled their belongings into a bundle covered by polythene or shopping bags that advertised different makes of silk saris. A few who stood in queues for flights headed to South Asian capitals were sarong clad, even barefoot. Mingling alongside were others with their Samsonite or American Tourister luggage. They hopped around in joggers or classy leather shoes. The blend of extremes, from the lowest to the upper fringes of budget travellers is perhaps better exhibited in Chennai.
There is chaos. Those who succeed in moving ahead in queues are the most aggressive, pushing the less able ones and their baggage behind. Often, they are shown the way by friendly airport staff who are said to be part and parcel of an organized ring of smugglers.
Amidst all this disorderliness, some irate Sri Lankans found there was more the Chennai international airport (the new one, after their old building was accidentally bombed by Sri Lankan terrorists operating from that city some years back) had to offer them. The experience of one tells the story. It was near midnight and he, a high profile Sri Lankan, had cleared his baggage, obtained his boarding pass and joined a lengthy queue to pass the Immigration Desk. When it came to his turn, a female Indian Immigration Officer had made a strange find. The photograph on the passport of this Sri Lankan, she decided, did not belong to the holder.
So, the man was held for more than 35 minutes. First, the bespectacled officer walked away with the Sri Lankan passport to her senior officer. There was an animated conversation. Later, she returned to her desk to place the passport under the scrutiny of a machine. As this went on, she asked the Sri Lankan to turn his head in different directions, remove his pair of spectacles and even look up at the ceiling. "The person in this picture is not you," she said.
The unruffled Sri Lankan began to laugh. "Who could it be then?" he asked and pointed to many visas in the passport. Those visas to US, Britain and other countries held the same photograph. The Immigration Officer relented and apologized. She was to confess that the Immigration Officers at the Chennai International Airport had been given an additional task - screen every Sri Lankan passenger boarding flights from Chennai to other destinations. The reason - they were on the lookout for members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who infiltrated into Tamil Nadu from the fighting in Sri Lankan and were now trying to escape to other countries. The Sri Lankan asked the Immigration Officer "you thought I was (LTTE leader Velupillai) Prabhakaran running away." She replied "that is what we want to find out."
That encounter by the Sri Lankan told the official mood in Tamil Nadu. Though political parties, both in Government and in Opposition, in the southern Indian state, urged an immediate ceasefire and return to peace talks in Sri Lanka, it was different for the officialdom. Even in Tamil Nadu, they were taking a strong stance against Tiger guerrillas. That is why the hawk-eyed immigration officers were looking for guerrillas in every Sri Lankan who passed through the Immigration Desk in Chennai. The dividing line was clear - whilst the centre in New Delhi strongly backed President Mahinda Rajapaksa's own 'war on terror', even in the Southern Indian state, measures against the guerrillas were being strongly enforced by central government officials.
That cracks appearing on both sides of the dividing line, between political caucuses in Tamil Nadu and the Centre in New Delhi are becoming clearer. This is whilst fuel to further ignite the issue having emerged following recent interactions between New Delhi and Colombo.
The Tamil Nadu political leaders, particularly Chief Minister, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, have been incensed by the failure of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to send his Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Colombo. There was speculation in New Delhi that Mukherjee would visit Colombo ahead of Sri Lanka's February 4 Independence day. However, the move to send Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon to Colombo ahead of the Mukherjee visit has been a snub and humiliation for Karunanidhi.
Adding insult to such injury were reports after the Menon visit.
They had spoken of Menon urging the Government of Sri Lanka to enforce fully the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The remarks drew an angry retort by Karunanidhi in New Delhi. He declared that the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution was something that was forced down on the Tamil community by the late President J.R. Jayewardene. That was ironic, to say the least, because the vast majority of the country felt, and still feel that the 13th Amendment was forced down the Sinhalese populated areas merely to provide devolution to the North and East, and as a solution the LTTE's demand for a separate state.
According to reports from Chennai, embarrassed by the Centre's humiliating treatment, Karunanidhi and his Dravida Munnetra Kazakham members want to quit the Congress Government. Ostensibly, that is to show their protest. However, in reality, the worry for Karunanidhi and his men is how they would fare at upcoming parliamentary elections in Tamil Nadu. With sentiments running high in this southern state, getting fewer votes appears to be Karunanidhi's concern. A DMK pull out would naturally trigger another crisis. The Congress Party's support for the DMK government in Tamil Nadu will also be naturally withdrawn forcing it to collapse in the State Assembly there. And his main rival, Jayalalitha Jeyeram is quite confident that her strong, almost virulent anti-LTTE stance is as popular with the Tamil Nadu electorate as Karunanidhi's pro-LTTE stance.
Against this backdrop, further embarrassment was to come in the wake of the Menon visit. Foreign Minister, Rohita Bogollagama, now well versed in the fine art of formulating creative media releases, had his own interpretation of talks Menon had with Sri Lanka leaders. This assumed greater significant in the light of the inability of both New Delhi and Colombo to issue a joint statement after the Menon visit.
The embarrassment for New Delhi came when Bogollagama's statement issued by the Foreign Ministry described Indo-Sri Lankan relations reaching today "unprecedented level of depth and quality".
Was it a diplomatic ploy to rub salt over Tamil Nadu wounds? Some in the corridors of the Foreign Ministry conceded the message was directed at all adversaries including those in Tamil Nadu. Others argued that it was more to score points with the Sri Lankan voters and ridicule all reports that Indo-Sri Lanka relations were on the down turn. And still others contend that India has - post Mumbai attack - taken a different view of cross-border terrorism and appreciates Sri Lanka's position a little more than before.
Firstly, the assertion of relations being at an "unprecedented level of depth and quality" raises some interesting issues. It comes at a time when New Delhi, diplomatic sources say, was unhappy that Colombo had not delivered on a number of promises. One was an assurance to go through a legal process to merge the North and East. The two provinces, merged consequent to the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement of 1987 were demerged following a Supreme Court order. Others include the fuller enforcement of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution as a first step, the conclusion of the All Party Representative Conference (APRC) and the restoration of 'democracy in the East'. In the light of this, Bogollagama's spin ended up giving the wrong message even to the centre in New Delhi.
Secondly, there is no doubt this embarrassed officials in New Delhi. In diplomacy, sometimes Government's do not publicly rebut remarks made by friendly leaders. This is particularly so when they are laudatory and speak rosily of relations. Yet, New Delhi was compelled to set the record right. Firstly it said it was not consulted over the Foreign Ministry statement. Then, India did it in its own diplomatic way by issuing a statement on the talks Menon had in Colombo. Whilst setting out details which were already known, India made it a specific point to avoid making any reference to claims that relations were at an "unprecedented level of depth and quality today." In doing this, New Delhi made clear it was not in accord with the Bogollagama spin.
The Indians set out what they wanted the public to know about Indo-Lanka relations. The Indian statement said:
"Discussions during the visit covered bilateral relations, the situation in Sri Lanka and developments in the region. The Foreign Secretary was informed of recent developments in Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa indicated his desire to rapidly move on from military success to a political solution of Sri Lankan issues. The Foreign Secretary urged early movement towards a peacefully negotiated political settlement in the island, including in the North. He reiterated the importance of a political understanding within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, wherein all communities, including the Tamil community, live in peace and dignity. In this connection, he welcomed the Sri Lankan Government's commitment, reiterated to him during the visit, to fully implement the 13th Amendment and devolve further powers to the provinces.
"In his meetings, the Foreign Secretary also conveyed India's concerns at the humanitarian situation in the northern part of Sri Lanka and the need to ensure the safety and security of the internally displaced civilian population. He underlined the importance of preventing civilian casualties as a result of ongoing hostilities. The Foreign Secretary announced India's intention to provide further assistance of relief material consisting of medicines and shelter material. As part of this assistance, he handed over the first consignment of medicines to Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, MP and Senior Advisor to the President. India had earlier provided 1680 tonnes of food and other relief assistance through the ICRC for the affected population in the Vanni."
Noticeably though, this statement made no reference whatsoever to the demand by the DMK coalition partner to call for an end to the fighting in the Wanni, where the LTTE was getting more than roughed up by the Sri Lankan Security Forces. The only reference, if at all, to the fighting was a call to ensure that the civilians trapped in the cross-fire are cared for.
Earlier, the case against those involved in the vandalizing of the statue of the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at a town called Puduchcheri, 24 km north of Chennai was taken up. This was allegedly caused by those in Tamil Nadu who are protesting the attitude of the Centre on the 'Sri Lankan issue'. As everyone knows, Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE in Tamil Nadu while electioneering, arguably the biggest mistake the LTTE hierarchy made in its quest for a separate state in Sri Lanka. And his widow Sonia remains the head of the ruling Congress Party in New Delhi.
This week, lawyers in Chennai protested the Indian national cricket team visiting Sri Lanka, while on a more serious note the Tamil Nadu State Assembly made a 'final appeal' to the Centre on Friday to stop the fighting in the island-nation "today itself". It was Karunanidhi who moved the resolution, calling for an immediate cease-fire. Jayalalitha Jeyaram's AIADMK and its ally MDMK walked out of the Assembly before the resolution was moved calling it a DMK "drama".
The Sunday Times last week referred to one aspect of the Bogollagama-Menon talks which went otherwise unnoticed. That was Menon's reiterating India's request to hand-over Prabhakaran to India, if captured by the Sri Lankan Security Forces. Does this give a greater insight into the New Delhi mind-set on its actual feelings on the LTTE?
In these very columns we reported how Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has a different view on the matter. Asked in a live TV interview last week about the possibility of Prabhakaran's extradition to India if captured in Sri Lanka, he made it patently clear that the LTTE leader must be tried - and hanged, in Sri Lanka for all the crimes he had committed. Pressed on the subject, he said that finally it would be his brother, President Mahinda Rajapaksa who would decide on any possible extradition, but he maintained his position that Prabhakaran should be tried locally.
Prabhakaran is wanted in both countries. He has a 200 year sentence on him in Sri Lanka in connection with the Central Bank bombing on January 31, 1996, and in India for the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. President Rajapaksa has said publicly that he will hand him over to India.
It is against this background that rumours started to float about Prabhakaran's whereabouts. Army chief Sarath Fonseka says there is a possibility that the elusive terrorist leader had already fled the country. Malaysia was reportedly on high alert for his arrival. In Colombo, southeast Asian embassies were, like the Chennai Immigration Officer, scrutinizing all Sri Lankan passports with hawk-like eyes. Not that Prabhakaran is going to apply for a visa and take a flight out of the Bandaranaike International Airport, but then, who expected the southern terrorist leader to masquerade as a proprietor tea planter while denouncing capitalism.
Sightings of what looked like an aircraft, some say sea-plane, later reportedly a low flying satellite over the North-Eastern seas have created a buzz that Prabhakaran, if he is still holed up in the Wanni - as his erstwhile deputy Vinayakamoorthy Muralidaran alias Karuna seems to think, is waiting to escape the clutches of the advancing troops.
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