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The Jain Commission which probed the Rajiv Gandhi killing has said after four years what we always knew — and India denied — that it was India and Indian leaders who fed the Tiger cubs who grew up to finally kill one of her own sons.
The shaky Gujral coalition in New Delhi is in turmoil again over the Jain Commission report which has reportedly revealed that the DMK, three of whose members are in the cabinet, had connived with the LTTE which is being blamed for the killing of former premier Rajiv Gandhi. But the DMK is only one of those who nourished this monstrous organisation.
We haven't seen the Jain commission report — only a preliminary one so far — but we wonder whether it will deal with how Indira Gandhi met in New Delhi TELO leader T. Sri Sabaratnam who was later killed by the LTTE. At that time TELO was for an armed struggle for Eelam, a separate state in a friendly neighbouring country.
We have seen photographs of AIADMK leader M. G. Ramachandran with Prabhakaran and monies being given by that party to the LTTE and deposited in an Indian bank account. That was overt. Covertly, RAW trained LTTE cadres in Salem and other South Indian areas.
We in Sri Lanka cannot forget how India gave training, finance and succour to a terrorist movement that has brought devastation and untold misery to all our people — Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Burghers.
Now bilateral relations have been restrengthened and for all Sri Lankans, India still holds a sentimental attachment. We hope that India and the rest of the big boys in the world learn yet another bitter lesson that interfering in the internal affairs of another country can only bring about terrible consequences with a boomerang effect to themselves.
If the story of a rubber tapper's daughter who brought fame to herself and her country has turned into a nightmare for herself, then the hopes of a nation are also fast vanishing in a cloud of controversy.
The vulnerable village girl is now propelled into the bizarre city of intrigue, cut-throat politics, a life where you don't know who your friends are, and a pressure-cooker atmosphere for those at the top.
This is a sad story. We have seen this happen to several members of parliament, innocent as they are when elected from rural areas with high ideals and standards of morality, only to come to the capital and get befriended by and get entangled with smugglers, crooks, pimps and human vultures who feed on them. They eventually lose not only their seats but also their self respect.
The government must intervene in Susanthika's personal crisis where she says she cannot resume training or run again unless or until an authority at the Sports Ministry who is allegedly sexually harassing her backs off. The government must not just think of saving a cabinet minister close to the President, but of a girl who can bring unparalleled glory to Sri Lanka. The way she was insulted in parliament cannot help. The opposition too is obviously using her to their unfair advantage.
As for the media, we will not pontificate about scruples and about media behaviour other than to say that we will strive not to make matters worse for this sportswoman to get back on the track. We urge Susanthika herself to be watchful and to be mindful also of her talk, for the more she talks the more she seems to contradict herself. If not, she may run the risk of not only losing her promising athletic career but her self respect as well.
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