Author: BR Haran
Publication: Udayindia.org
Date: January 1, 2011
URL: http://www.udayindia.org/content_08jan2011/cover_story.html
Sri Lanka may have solved its Tamil problem
by defeating the LTTE. But, if recent trends are any indication, Tamil separatists
have shifted their focus to India. With the present UPA government at the
centre focussing its wrath only on the so-called saffron terror, though it
is yet to be proven, separatist terrorists have been emboldened in Tamil Nadu.
BR Haran reports.
The seeds of Tamil separatism were sown by
the European Christian missionaries, the moment they landed on Madras, Tranquebar,
Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Pondicherry four centuries ago. Later it extended
to Sri Lanka also. The missionaries deliberately identified the Tamils as
a separate "Dravidian Race", which concept was fully utilised by
the 'Justice Party' in the early twentieth century, although a Christian convert
by name John Rathinam founded the 'Dravida Kazhagam' in the late nineteenth
century (1892) itself. John Rathinam could not succeed and so was Justice
Party, which made the 'Kannadiga' EV Ramasamy Naicker to form "Dravidar
Kazhagam"in 1944. "Dravidian Land for Dravidians" was the slogan
coined by EV Ramasamy, who even sought the support of Mohammed Ali Jinnah
for the cause of "Dravidastan". But, Jinnah ignored his request.
'Quaid-e-Millat' Mohammed Ismail, who was
a member of 'Muslim League' then, led the party in the south with the blessings
of Jinnah. He even prodded Jinnah to help create "Moplahstan". With
the creation of Pakistan, Muslim League became defunct in India. But, when
Indian Muslims went to Pakistan and attended the Muslim League Conference
on December 14-15, 1947, Jinnah advised them to form "Indian Union Muslim
League" by telling them that the Indian Muslims must always keep fighting
politically, socially and economically, for their safety and security. At
the end of the conference, Quaid-e-Millat was officially made the leader of
Indian Muslims and Liyakat Ali Khan was made the leader for the Pakistan side.
A Pakistani ML leader by name Sardar Abdul Rab Mishtar stated that, a strong
Pakistan is necessary for the protection of Indian Muslims, and Jinnah assured
the Indian Muslims that Pakistan would be always ready to help them. After
returning from Pakistan, Quaid-E-Millat focused on developing the "Indian
Union Muslim League" and shifted his domicile to Kerala.
Forgetting 'Dravidastan', the Kannadiga Ramasamy
changed his stance to "Tamil Nadu for Tamils" and even after the
split in DK with the formation of "DMK" by Annadurai in 1949, both
the DK and DMK maintained their stand for separate Tamil Nadu. Lack of support
from the people forced them to drop their separatist agenda in 1962, with
the advent of Chinese aggression. In the immediate aftermath, In 1963, on
the recommendation of the National Integration Council, the Indian Parliament
unanimously passed the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, in order to
"prevent the regional, linguistic and other kinds of secession and to
preserve the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity" of India.
But then, the constitutional amendment could
not help in complete eradication of separatism. In fact, the Church became
very active in the northeast and the Pakistani hand played its devious games
in Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Naxalite Movement came into being in 1967 in West
Bengal and supported by alien forces from behind, the Naxal-Maoist menace
slowly spread to Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh. As of now, it has spread across over 220 districts in 20 states.
Apart from the usual smuggling of drugs and indulging in extortion, storming
of security camps, attacking police stations and hijacking trains by the Maoists
have also become common nowadays.
Tamil Nadu has always been vulnerable to chauvinism
and to some extent separatism too. Even the Maoist-Naxal menace is not new
to Tamil Nadu, and in fact, it has a history spanning more than three decades.
The districts of Salem, Dharmapuri, Theni, Dindigul and Madurai were notorious
for Maoist activities. Although naxalism grew alarmingly in the seventies
in the areas of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri, it was brought under control due
to firm action taken by the state police then. Since then it has been cropping
up in hill terrains then and there, particularly in the Karnataka and Kerala
border areas. Even now areas like Pazhani and Kodaikanal are under surveillance
due to Maoist activities.
At one point of time, when the sandal brigand
Veerappan was running amuck in the Karnataka-TN hilly terrains, poaching wild
animals, felling huge sandal woods, kidnapping and killing people, a dangerous
nexus developed between him and Tamil separatists, who were later joined by
the Naxals and all of them took training from LTTE cadres. 'Tamil Nadu Liberation
Army' (TNLA), the most notorious outfit, came into being in the early eighties
and it was affiliated to 'Communist Party of India--Marxist-Leninist' (CPI-ML).
As the parent organisation was not willing to support the idea of formation
of separate Tamil Nadu, the CPI-ML split at the state level, leading to the
formation of 'Tamil Nadu Communist Party-Marxist-Leninist' (TNCP-ML) in 1984-85.
From 1986 to 2005, the TNLA indulged in 7
bomb blasts (bombing railway tracks, television towers, etc) and three attacks
on police stations. They also indulged in extortion and kidnapping. Meanwhile
in the late eighties another outfit by name "Tamil Nadu Retieval Troops"
(TNRT) was also formed by Tamil extremists with the objective of forming a
Greater Tamil Nadu comprising Tamil Nadu and Tamil Eelam. Both had several
front organisations in the form of 'Liberation Party', 'Farmers' Union', 'Women's
Movement', 'Rights Activists Forum' and 'Youth Forum' etc.
Both TNLA and TNRT had close links with Veerappan,
as his area served as a safe haven for them. Both the outfits helped him in
the kidnapping of Kannada Matinee idol Dr Rajkumar. In December 2000, the
Tamil Nadu government wrote to the center asking it to proscribe TNLA and
TNRT and the central government banned both the outfits in July 2002. Despite
the ban, the cadres of TNLA operated under a different name "Thamizhar
Viduthalai Iyakkam" meaning "Tamilians Liberation Movement".
When the Sinhala oppression exceeded all limits
in Sri Lanka, the Tamils genuinely revolted against the Sri Lankan government.
But unfortunately, the Tamils split into various groups and certain groups
took to arms. The feeling of one-upmanship between them led to frequent fights
and killings and ultimately the "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam"
(LTTE) reigned supreme. When the Eelam issue started gaining momentum in the
early eighties with the "heroics" of Prabhakaran, the Tamil separatists
here openly ventured and started the above mentioned outfits TNLA and TNRT
in the guise of serving the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils.
Both TNLA and TNRT had very close links with
the LTTE and helped it to infiltrate into India and to smuggle arms, ammunition,
fuel and other necessary things. As TNLA was functioning as an 'Arms Wing'
of TNCP-ML, it took help from LTTE in weapon training and field craft. As
the LTTE trained Maoist and Tamil separatists, the dangerously unholy "LTTE-Maoists-Tamil
Separatists-Veerappan" nexus turned out to be a violent chapter in Tamil
Nadu's history of law and order.
Although there was a lull after the killing
of Veerappan by the Tamil Nadu Police in October 2004, Tamil separatism again
raised its ugly head when the Eelam War IV was in full peak. In April 2009,
hooligans belonging to Tamil separatist/pro-LTTE outfits like Tamil Desiya
Viduthalai Katchi (Tamil Nationalist Liberation Party) and Tamil Desiya Podhuvudamai
Katchi (Tamil Nationalist Communist Party) conducted protest demonstrations
against the Indian government's so-called indifferent attitude to the Sri
Lankan Tamil issue, and attempted to burn the Indian National Flag.
In another incident, hundreds of activists
belonging to similar Tamil separatist organisations such as Tamil Desiya Iyakkam
(Tamil National Movement) and Tamizhar Ilaignar Iyakkam (Tamilian Youth Movement)
apart from MDMK (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), PDK (Periyar Dravidar
Kazhagam) and PUCL (Peoples Union of Civil Liberties) attacked an army convoy
in Coimbatore in May 2009. This attack was also in support of the LTTE and
against the Indian government.
Though hundreds of hooligans were involved
in both the incidents, only a handful was arrested. The police registered
cases against those goondas under sections 147 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience
to an order promulgated by a government servant) of the Indian Penal Code
and Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 (amended
2003) and only three were slapped with the National Security Act. Later all
of them were released on bail after mild punishments.
Initial investigations and interrogation of
the apprehended hooligans confirmed a huge conspiracy behind the daring act
of attacking Army convoy. The Police registered cases against 250 persons
including Ramakrishnan, general secretary of PDK, Ponchandran of PUCL, and
Sivapriyan of Tamil Nationalist Movement. Many hooligans have allegedly escaped
to Chennai and Madurai and crossed over to Kerala.
The police were able to identify the culprits
and gather evidence against them from complete video recordings collected
from media personnel. The police strongly suspected that many culprits could
have crossed over to Kerala as pro-LTTE elements have a safe refuge there
in the coastal areas. PDK leader Ramakrishnan reportedly had close connections
with LTTE boss Prabhakaran, and according to police records, even visited
North Lanka to meet him in the 1980s; he reportedly conducted photo-exhibitions
on the war-front and sufferings of Lankan Tamils.
Besides the pro-LTTE and Tamil-chauvinist
elements, the involvement of PUCL members gave a different dimension to the
issue. The Chennai edition of The Times of India (May 4, 2009) reported that
PUCL members were involved in the attack. In the past two decades, PUCL has
been known to have become a front for Naxalites, Maoists and Jihadis, and
its sustained campaign against the Army in Kashmir and in support of secessionists
and terrorits in the name of human rights, is characteristic of its anti-establishment
functioning. It has acted against the governments in Gujarat and Odisha (Kandhamal)
in the aftermath of communal riots.
It must be noted that Binayak Sen, PUCL vice
president, was incarcerated in Chhattisgarh for allegedly helping Maoists.
It was also reported in the media that PUCL office bearers like Kavitha Srivastava
attended the 'National Political Conference' in February 2009 in Calicut,
organised by the 'Popular Front of India,' an amalgamation of Islamic terror
outfits.
Most PUCL office-bearers (majority of them
advocates) are involved in activities helping terrorist and separatist forces
in the name of 'human rights; KG Kannabiran, president PUCL, is one of those
"celebrities", who have advocated 'clemency' for terrorists like
Afzal Guru. The organisation gave a tough time to the government and men in
uniform in support of Rajiv Gandhi's assassins and sandalwood brigand Veerappan's
aides.
The attack on Army convoy was first of its
kind in Tamil Nadu. That was a typical Maoist style of attack and hence confirms
the fact that the infiltration of Maoists and their proximity with Tamil separatists
and LTTE. The 'Communist Party of India (Maoist)' was actually formed in September
2004 with the merger of two banned Naxalite parties, namely the 'Communist
Party of India (Marxist- Leninist)' and 'Maoist Communist Centre of India'.
As this new formation was given to violent anti-national and anti-social activities,
the Tamil Nadu government banned it in July 2005. With the advent of the DMK
government in 2006, there was an alarming increase in LTTE and Maoist activities.
A dozen Maoists, clandestinely engaged in recruitment of cadres, were captured
along with some of their more notorious leaders who had managed to escape
police dragnet for years. Among the captured, one was an engineering student
(Muthuselvam) and the other a law student (Velmurugan).
When questioned by the police, all those apprehended confessed that they had
been recruited by the PWG (People's War Group) to create a 'liberated zone'
in the Western Ghats and that they had links with Maoists in Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar and Nepal. Maps of Chennai and Madurai, along with blueprints of vital
civilian installations, were seized from them. As the Tamil Nadu police tightened
its grip, LTTE sought safe refuge in north Andhra Pradesh. Both LTTE and Maoists
have been covertly using many industrial units without the knowledge of the
proprietors to make key components for rockets, grenades and mortars and many
such consignments have been seized by police in both states.
It may be noted that the PDK (Periyar Dravidar
Kazhagam) was clandestinely distributing CD materials in support of LTTE throughout
the state when the Eelam War IV was going on. PDK president Kolathur Mani
was imprisoned under NSA for seditious speech. Mani was known to have organised
training camps for LTTE cadres in his village Kolathur near Mettur, in the
early eighties, when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister. He was also an accused
in the case relating to the escape of over 40 LTTE cadres from inside Vellore
Fort in 1995 and later he was acquitted. The Jain Commission Report on Rajiv's
assassination described Kolathur Mani's conduct as "extremely dubious".
He was believed to have had connections with Rajiv murderers.
Tamil Nadu Liberation Front, Free Tamil Movement,
Tamil National Liberation Front and Dravida Peravai are some of the other
outfits, which are still active, though in a small scale. Another outfit by
name 'Tamil National Liberation Movement' participated in the seminar titled
"Azadi-The Only Way", conducted by a Maoist Front organisation by
name "Committee for the release of political Prisoners" in New Delhi
on October 21, in which, Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Hurriyat Conference,
PWG supporter poet Varavara Rao, Dr N Venuh, secretary general of the Naga
Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), Har Charanjit Singh, president
of Dal Khalsa, Malem Ningthouja from the Committee for Peace and Democracy,
Manipur (CPDM), GN Saibaba, deputy secretary, Revolutionary Democratic Front
(RDF), Sujato Bhadra, Gursharan Singh, writer Arundhati Roy and Parliament
attack fame Professor SAR Geelani also participated.
Thiagu, general secretary of Tamil National
Liberation Movement had excused himself from personal attendance due to unavoidable
domestic exigencies, but sent his note of solidarity titled "My Name
is Kashmir". His note said, "It is the birthright of the Kashmir
nation to determine whether it is to remain part of India, or to join Pakistan,
or to retrieve its old status. For as a nation it is entitled to the right
to self-determination. Those who think it is well and good that Kashmir should
be with India are of course free to go to the people of Kashmir and mobilise
support. What sort of democracy is this to occupy and keep Kashmir by force
of military strength and repressive laws?..."
Thiagu's note must be viewed in the backdrop
of another seminar (sic) organised to observe the death anniversary of LTTE
commander Dileepan on September 26 in Thirunelveli. The meet was organized
by an LTTE Front called "May 17 Movement". The special invitee for
the meet was none other than Parliament attack fame SAR Geelani, who spoke
in length about the "sufferings" of Kashmiris under the clutches
of Armed Forces, which have caused "death and destruction" in the
valley and the only solution being "Freedom" for Kashmir from India.
Though the organisers were disappointed by his not making any mention about
the struggle for Tamil Eelam, they seemed to have deliberated him in detail
about the LTTE and Eelam struggle and requested his support for their movement.
Poet Kasi Anandan, a pro-LTTE man and Lena Kumar, Thirunelvel District Convener
of May 17 Movement, have requested Geelani to organise a meet in Kashmir in
support of Tamil Eelam, as the sufferings of the people in both the places
are similar. The organisers have plans of bringing Vara Vara Rao from Telangana,
Jagmohan Singh from Punjab and Syed Ali Shah Geelani too to Tamil Nadu to
talk in support of LTTE and Tamil Eelam. They have plans of forming a national
alliance, and the participation of Thiagu in Delhi and Geelani in Thirunelveli
clearly confirms the fact.
Meanwhile, president of Viduthalai Chiruthai
Katchi (VCK) Thirumavalavan, a well-known supporter of LTTE and who was also
a part of the all party delegation, which went to Kashmir, has been openly
talking in support of Kashmiri separatists since his return. A majority of
vernacular newspapers and magazines, which are flooded with Dravidian racists,
Marxists and fundamentalist minorities as columnists, writers and correspondents,
have been regularly publishing essays and reports in support of separatist
movements.
Even while LTTE was active before and during
the Eelam war IV, they used to train the Naxalites and Maoists in handling
arms and ammunition. It has been widely reported that even a section of Islamic
terrorists have also got LTTE connections then. The connection of LTTE to
Islamic Terrorism goes far back to late seventies and early eighties (1976-1984)
during which period they were getting training from "Popular Front for
the Liberation for Palestine" at the Bekka Valley in South Lebanon, where
the concepts of "taxation", martyrdom (suicide), political assassinations/killings,
war memorials, and "internationalising" the cause of the LTTE were
borrowed. The PLO office in Delhi was also in regular touch with the late
LTTE leader Prabhakaran. The PLO representative had been clandestinely interacting
with Prabhakaran, the late Kittu and other LTTE leaders (likely also extending
financial assistance to them).
The LTTE was training terrorists in Afghanistan
in the nineties. Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group
(ASG) both of which are closely linked to al-Qaeda have also got training
from LTTE. The LTTE's Islamic connection had continued for more, as evidenced
by the frequent visits of LTTE's chief procurement officer Kumaran Pathmanathan
alias KP to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Dubai.
The LTTE was also believed to have trained
the Coimbatore-based "Al Umma" activists, who were the perpetrators
of 1993 RSS office blasts in Chennai and 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts. Indulgence
in trafficking narcotics, smuggling drugs and extortion rackets has caused
the connection between LTTE and Islamic Terror Groups. Though the LTTE has
been comprehensively defeated within Sri Lanka, the Island Nation is wary
of the fact that the LTTE is still active in US, Canada and European Countries
through many of its front organisations. Sri Lanka points to the formation
of a "Transnational Government" by the LTTE and has requested all
those countries, which have considerable Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora, to clamp
down those LTTE front organisations.
As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, Tamil Separatism is like burning embers,
kept alive by dubious organisations like Tamil National Liberation Movement,
May 17 movement and many others mentioned above. These organisations are well
connected with the other LTTE Front organisations in US, Canada and European
Countries. Foreign-funded NGOs and Christian missionary organisations help
them in many ways financially and politically, like how they caused the separatist
movement in North-East. After all the Christian control on LTTE is an open
secret!
The rise of Popular Front of India, an amalgamation
of South India-based Islamic fundamentalist organisations such as MNP (Manitha
Neethi Pasarai), KFD (Karnataka For Dignity), NDF (Naional Development Front),
Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), People's Democratic Party (PDP)
and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), etc, causes huge concern. The
name "Popular Front of India" is similar to that of "Popular
Front for the Liberation for Palestine". This organisation has been growing
not only in south but also in northern cities like Lucknow and Goa in the
west. Its immediate focus is on Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Kashmiri separatists, Tamil separatists, Maoists
and separatists from the North-East have all come together. LTTE connection
is quite visible. Jihadi connection is quite observable. 'Champions' of human
rights and civil liberties and Christian and Islamic terror front organisations
are all behind this unholy and dangerous union. The nation is in peril, but
the Congress-led UPA government is concocting "Hindu Terror" and
"Saffron Terror". A huge disaster is in the offing!
