The Accords continues.....

The Indo–Sri Lankan Agreement was the result of a bold initiative by

Rajiv Gandhi. It is easy to criticize this initiative if one is not involved

personally in the process. This process was long and arduous. The nature

of the ethnic crisis did not permit a linear solution.

Fulfilling the legitimate

aspirations of the Tamils who were relegated to the position of second-

class citizens in their own country and at the same time preventing the

island nation from breaking up and keeping the meddlesome external

powers out of the region were the main planks of India’s strategy. India’s

perspective on the ethnic crisis was shaped by Rajiv Gandhi, and the strategy

devised by him was fundamentally sound. It must be remembered that if

India had not guaranteed the implementation of the agreement, no

agreement would have been possible. Similarly, it is an undeniable fact

that India’s timely intervention saved the lives of ordinary Tamils of Sri

Lanka who were subjected to a well-planned military campaign by their

own Government. So, non-intervention was not an option. But India did

not go over the line and its overall objective in Sri Lanka had the acceptance

of the international community.

The political changes that took place in Sri Lanka in 1989 subsequently

made the agreement a non-starter. After the departure of the IPKF, the

LTTE reoccupied Jaffna and restarted its violent campaign. Sri Lanka was

back to square one.

Many years later, in a well-planned and well-executed army campaign,

Prabhakaran was killed and his comrades were wiped out. Civilians in the

Tamil areas suffered grievously at the hands of the security forces. Militancy

did not achieve anything. It only brought untold miseries to the Tamils in

Sri Lanka. The events that unfolded in Sri Lanka in the next two decades

unmistakably proved that the Indo–Sri Lankan Agreement would have

provided a rational basis for finding an honourable and durable solution

to the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka.

To be continued....