I think the distiction should be made that the Srilankan Tamils are as such..Sri Lankan nationals.They should be supported in as much as any disenfrachised foreign nationals with political support and rehabilitaion.Direct support and arming would only harm the same populkation that it is purported to serve,this we have seen already.There must be reaching out and reconciliation that we should encourage and sup[prt within a united Sri Lanka.This would be in the long term interest of both SL and India.
Sincerely.
Kumaran

The moot point now is how to give the Indian Tamils a stake in Sri Lanka's peace. The Tamils here may be quiet now because their sense of defeat or loss is not unambiguous, but all that will be required for an upheaval in Tamil Nadu is just a news of some small act of omission or violence by the Sinhala populace or the Sri Lankan security forces. Can Tamils of India have easier access to their Tamil brethren of Sri Lanka (say, visa free travel or local phone call charges to talk to them?) Anything that makes the Tamils of India feel that the Sri Lankan government recognises their bonds with the Sri Lankan Tamils without compromising on the sovereignty of the island nation. A few more steps can be : tax-free access to Tamil Cinema between India and Sri Lanka, hassle-free citizenship by marriage, acceptance of Driving Licences issued in either country, validity of educational degrees obtained in either country. Let us get it right : the issue here has less to do with the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka and more to do with the sense of anxiety of the Tamils of Tamil Nadu. It is that that needs to be attended to in a creative way.

Indian government should tell the Srilankan government to repatriate all Tamils to Tamilnadu. This way Tamils can live peacefully in Tamilnadu. Sinhalas can do whatever they want with their nation. In the past 60 years Srilanka has never been a friend of India. With China already present in Srilanka, it is foolish to assume that they will want Indian help. If Srilanka had been really serious in providing a political solution to the problem, they could have simply provided one in the last 26 years. Nobody said that they have to wipe out LTTE first to provide or implement a political solution. I wonder what is the connection between a political solution and the eradication of LTTE.They should have gone ahead and implemented the 13th Amendment and the Indo-Srilankan accord. Why they did not do it till now?. Simple. Because, Sinhalese never wanted it in the first place. Hence, expecting a political solution from Srilanka now after the LTTE has been wiped out is height of hypocrisy.

The truth is though the peoples reaction in TN is muted,India has alienated itseflf from the Tamils. I know this better than you ma'am , cuz I am a Tamil living in Tamilnadu and last night all my friends were saying, they feel disgusted to be an Indian. Do you call this a victory?

Till now, Indian politicians were claiming that India cannot do anything to stop the genocide in Srilanka. Suddenly now, who has given them the right to interfere in Srilanka. How they rebuild their country is upto Srilankans.Why they cannot have a political structure similar to India?. India is also divided into lingustic states. Each state of India has a Chief Minister with power to run a state administration, to collect taxes, have its own police force, implement its own educational policy, generate and distribute electricity, develop infrastructure etc. Srilanka does not need 26 years to implment this. They could have implemented this 26 years back. The best solution would be to call back all the tamils to Tamilnadu so that they will live in peace. Politicians will definitely get additional votes so that they can cling on their seats.

Why in the world India should maintain good relations with Srilanka,When Srilankan army has killed fellow Indians badly in the name of war?

Muted reaction from TN? Seriously? What do you think should the TN people's response be? Burn down the SL embassy and allCentral govt. institutions? We may be an emotional ppl, but we r not that foolish. Ma'am I come from TN and I know the ppls feelings here. Last nite a dozen of my friends said something equivalent to, they were feeling disgusted to be an Indian. How would you call that a victory? What the Indian govt and ignorant north Indians have actually did was to alienate themselves from the Tamil people. This has only made us Tamils feel our seperate identity. Now many Tamils would say they are Tamils first.

i think we should mind our own business. We can become a superpower not by dictating terms to our neighbours but by addressing our problems first.
We need to address poverty/casteism/economy/unemployment/corruption etc before we start interfering in other countries internal affair.

Tamils in Srilanka wanted what each and every Indian states and Indian citizens have. Equal rights and the right to rule their own affair. In this age of internet as well as Tamil expats all over the world watching; an eye wash and fake solution is not going to work. Tamils all over the world are sad as well as angry. If a genuine solution based on equal rights is not offered, this conflict will turn for the worse...

India should help lanka establish a great democracy with certain principles like all are equal citizens of srilanka and importantly should gain credibility both in the eyes of sinhalese and tamilians which was lost in the indo-srilankan accord.

Good on you Indrani for writing a fairly neutral and a spot-on blog on this whole Tamil-SL tussle. Just want to add though that India needs to play a much larger role than it is playing right now. It needs to win the confidence of SL and provide them with more humanitarian as well as financial aid. We just can't afford to lose them to China who has, lets face it supported every country that the world condemns. The whole world condemned Iran, North Korea, Myanmar while China sat in front of them.

So many civilians were killed & India, the so called big player in South Asia was impotent. I doubt the Indian establishment would have kept quiet if some other ethnic was being cleansed like this in our neighbourhood. I am afraid this is going to haunt us. LTTE or similar organisations will come up 3-5 years down the line which will only add up to India's problem. On its part Srilanka will slowly move & start supporting china which suits them in their long-erm. India has more to lose by supporting the war. Rajiv Gandhi made a mistake by sending IPKF 25 years ago & the current govt has made another mistake. Hope the consequences are not as it was the last time

Diffuse the tensions between Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese. Heal the wounds. Let them prosper together. Make sure any kind of provocations or terrorism form both sides won't come up. Keep up the good relations between India and Sri Lanka

Indrani, the key here is for the victors to be magnanimous; the spoils of war are none, and the cost to be paid over the next couple of decades! Unless the Sri Lankan government manages to establish a pattern of self-governance that is non-autonomous and in fact is democratic in nature, it will be impossible for them to keep the tamils from feeling like captives. Unless India supports rebuilding of the "Tamil" north with peacetime initiatives such as rebuilding home/schools/places of worship, supplies for infrastructure, and vocational training for the displaced tamils, another conflict is but a charismatic leader away. The vast majority of Sri Lankan Tamils in Europe and NA will continue funding causes; the key for India and Sri Lanka is make sure these funds are diverted towards schooling and infrastructure. Rebuilding the tourism industry alone will go a long way in making sure the Tamil Sinhala relationship is restored to the pre-conflict era. Most of all, hopefully, people will refrain from deifying the two wretched fathers of the conflict - Jayawardene and Prabhakaran.

Sri Lanka is a pariah state.It practices apartheid like it was done in South Africa.The two countries are the only 2 remaining Roman Dutch Legal system in the world. South Arica would still have had apartheid if the great Nelson Mandela did not turn to arms in the 1960's.Would the world have rejoiced if Mandela was killed?NO! India practices double standards.Supporting blacks in South Africa and upholding sanction against the apartheid government.Most South Africans support the LTTE. The LTTE is not dead. South Africans will keep it alive.

The blog is justifying Srilankan Government and looking at LTTE as a culprit. If it is true and the srilankan government should be appreciated for it, Why not India do the same in Kashmir. Then may be the author think, here the situation is different. The fact is just because bloody congress leadership wants to make money and power, the people of this country are dying in different forms for different stories. I am not saying what ever LTTE did was right, but one has to look at the reasons, why it has happened. We need to look into ourselves, must understand, still we have not learned how to vote (More than 90% elected this time does not even deserve their deposit back). We should not allow any outsider to attack our parliament, instead we should do it for ourselves. Blow bloody all the 500 + Bs. Jaihind.

I am Tamil from Chennai and I can tell that I am absolutely relieved that the world's most dreaded terrorist organization has been eliminated the most feared terrorist has been killed. Judging from the reaction of all of my friends here in abroad(all Tamils, mind you), they all seem to have similar sentiment and reaction.

There is a lot of support and sympathy here in TN for the SL Tamils cause, but for LTTE. Now is the time for India and the TN govt. to push for a good degree of autonomy for SL Tamils, much likes the states in Indian Union.

It is a shame for this country. Our government's next step, I suppose may be allow the Boundary of Pakistan upto Maharashtra. I am disgusted to call myself an Indian.

We tamisl of Sri Lanka do not need teh help of India. We teach a Lesson to Murderous bofors theif Sonia. We still have Praba our Leader. We will get our freedom from Racist Sinhala Govt and Murdeorous italian theif led Indian govt

I am from Punjab. I feel sorry for Indian Govt doing nothing. I saw Tamils being killed by SriLankan forces. I wish V. Parbhakarn alive. But, we need to have autonomous regeion for Tamils in Srilanka. They should be treated with dignity, and respect. Sinhales killed the children without any hesitation. Where the UN is? Indian govt did nothing, zero, zippy to save its related. IMO, Congress is still trying to remember Rajiv? Yes, they control the Govt. DNK, AIDMK is worthless too. I support the Tamil of respect, and dignity.

Such duplicity. On the one hand we want the world to sympathize with India in Kashmir - on the other we want to side with the Tamils in Sri Lanka. No place for separatist movements - lets learn to integrate. PERIOD. Glad the Sri lankans skooshed this pointless movement. Now it is time for the Sri Lankan Tamils to peacefully integrate with the rest of their fellow country men in Sri Lanka. No automatic place for them in India we already have enough people in need.

Hello,

First of all congrates to everyone who believes in peace. Now I don't know how many people know that Prabhakaran had changed his religion from a tamil hindu to a christian so tamils don't need to cry as prabhakaran was running his own agenda rather than fighting for a tamil state...
Second thing someone ( vignesh) says in his post that he and his friend were ashamed of being an Indian well you have so many other best country like Pakistan,Bangladesh,Afganistan so you can go there and no one will stop you going there if those countries don't accept you,,you will always have Indian Ocean ..........

I may be off the mark, but I am going to draw parallels between Srilanka/LTTE with India/POK. People saying India should support LTTE should consider what their answers would be while Pakistan is supporting POK. What would they suggest then?

All these events are a well planned out strategy by our government.In the name of providing security to Dr.singh when he attended the saarc summit,our troops and navy numbering 2500 went into sri lanka,it was the indian defence forces which oversaw the whole operation with the sri lankan forces.India in the name of playing big brother has played a very risky game,it has whipped up the emotions of the tamils,i wouldnt be surprised if punjab manifests itself in TN in the near future.Sri lanka could not win for the past 25 years,what is it got now to win?.Indian help,this was one of the primary reasons why the media was kept out of the masterplan.If the media was involved ,international pressure would have brought both the parties to their knees.It is only a matter of time when the world comes to know of the horrific plight of the tamil civilians at the hands of the sinhala majority.A new rebellion will come up and the cause comes alive,this will give rise to tamils in india rising upto it and a new homegrown destabilization is cropped up in the once peaceful TN.Hope our government realizes it's folly and sorts out things before they go out of hand.

Such a LENGTHY introduction on what you are going to write tomorrow? With a misleading title to attract readership ?

Some people have just written emotional comments - they are entitled to; however, in my humble but accurate opinion, they are wrong. How can you expatriate tamils who are born and brought up in srilanka to tamilnadu? (by the way, we have a lot of tamilians in malaysia, singapore, canada, UK and on and on - let us bring them all to tamilnadu too; how about that?) If you are so emotional, hey, you go over to jaaffna. If that was it, then it should have been done 30 years ago. Without a bloodshed. This is an issue the Sinhalese and Tamils in that nation should figure out, which I believe they can (and they better do it) because of changed times and being fed up of peaceless life thus far. I do not know what Tamils in Lanka had been going through 40 years ago - and, I don't want to. But one thing I presume is that they were not blackmailed and kept under gun point by a terrorist, who just fought for his ego; so many ceasefires and peace talks were wasted.

Also, in the same note, "send all muslims in india over to Pakistan". How does that sound?

And finally, India's only interest at this point should be to make sure that we have no chinese influence there. Rest, let us leave it to Lankans to do. Let us do our business - take on kashmir issue, naga issue, assam issue, slums, education, corruption, infrastructure, on .. and on.

Politics as by its name and heritage will always try to grab undue advantage of crisis situations and make it worser. If there is a happy nation then our so called politics will never exist, which i feel our good hearted politicians will ever want. So there can be no practical politican solution to any problem in any country or in any civilation no matter whatsoever the face of the problem can be. Now the question lies here, can the people be smart enough to think what lies in their future in contrast to any step they take in order to promote violence or inequality? Today the Sri Lankans feel that they have achieved victory by erasing a group of rebellers. Is that correct? The countries/organisations that might have supported them for this act, are they sure that they wont inturn harm them in the near future? I personally feel its irrelevant for a government to support any demand for a separate state or country as its a question of its own integrity but better solutions does exist! I think the Sri Lankan Tamils wouldn't have turned rebellers if their voices were heard and measures were taken to a certain extent if not in its entirity. Terrorism has become such a common jargon these days that even people who fight for the good of humanity are tagged as terrorists. So lets not argue on who was wrong and lay more focus on WHAT WAS WRONG. If there was something really going wrong, what are the most feasible solutions to overcome them. It takes just a small match stick to flame up the entire forest. So just avoid the existence of the cause and the effect should be promisingly soothing. Thats my belief and hope!

The centrality of India in the outcome of the peace process in Sri Lanka is widely acknowledged. Most political groups and leaders in Sri Lanka have sought an Indian role in the ongoing peace process. The nature and scope of that role has however not been defined. There are also differing and often conflicting views on what India is expected to do. The peace process has stalled and even the human tragedy of tsunami affected consequences has not provided the much needed kick start to the peace process. The no-war-no-peace state in Sri Lanka continues to cause concern internationally and in India. The Indian role cannot be either conclusive or deterministic. The conceptual and operational contents of India’s role will continue to evolve. Indian security concerns and political dilemmas in the uncertain scenario in Sri Lanka will determine its role in the peace process. The limits and potential of that role are examined in this paper.

Role Perspectives

The ongoing peace process has a number of role players participating in it. Some are involved in facilitating negotiations, while others play a role as donors in the relief and reconstruction arrangements in peace process. Others have been prominent in placing the LTTE in the category of terrorist organisations. Some have played a role only to realise that deep pockets do not help obtain influence with the adversaries to the conflict. Others have found that assumptions based on past experience in conflict resolution in one part of the globe does not apply in Sri Lanka. There are different opinions in Sri Lanka on the success or failure of such role players, as well as on the agendas they are attempting to obtain

As an indian i have seen the attitude of tamils in tamil nadu and other states in india,and also every body in india has seen what happened in malaysia.The separatist activity of tamils and blackmailing of Tamil PM's for the UPA govt in india and supresing other state people of india in tamil nadu. Keeping in this mind i would support srilankan govt.My only sympathy is for common tamil people who caught in the conflict between LTTE and sirlankan army.

Atleast by seeing the situation in srilanka.All tamils should learn to mix with mainstream population of srilanka.As well as the tamils living in other states of india and tamils living in other part of the world also should to live to mix with mainstream population in that particular part

The various phases of the history of peace-making in Sri Lanka have consolidated collectively into an entirely separate segment in the chain of bloody events dragged on by the on-again-off-again war waged by the Tamil Tigers. For students of conflict resolution there are many Ph. Ds theses waiting to be teased out from the complex skeins of this peace process. The central issue of why the peace process has failed, despite the inter-actions of the many well-meaning and even sinister interventionists, can be turned into a profitable industry for academics and, of course, the hired NGOcoolies digging up dirt to throw at the Sri Lankan government.Their tendency to scapegoat the Sri Lankan government is like Hitler blaming the Jews for the ills of Germany. The international community stood in queues to appease Hitler despite warnings of those who knew of the evil that was dehumanizing Germany. Each time they came out with a piece of paper from Berlin they hailed it as a triumph for their diplomatic skills.

They repeat the same mistake in Sri Lanka. Even though the international interventionists are aware that the so-called “sole representatives of the Tamils” survive on inhuman force they are happy to deal with them like the way they dealt with Hitler’s Germany in the misguided belief that they could change his ways. Drifting into a state of denial they willingly accepted the manipulated and enforced Hitlerite jingoism as the will of the German people. Eventually, they had to manufacture, airlift and drop 80 million bombs over Germany for not reading accurately the evil signs of the times staring in their faces.India, which has its own Tamil population in the south, deployed a peacekeeping force in 1987 that left three years later amidst escalating violence. During the ensuing conflict, the LTTE emerged as a fearsome terrorist organization, famed for suicide bombings, recruitment of child soldiers, and the ability to challenge Sri Lankan forces from the Jaffna Peninsula in the north down through the eastern side of the island. The U.S. State Department placed the LTTE on its terror list in 1997. In 2002, Norway brokered a cease-fire agreement between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. Peace talks broke down the following year, but experts posit the fragile truce held in large part because of devastation related to the 2004 tsunami, which caused thirty thousand deaths on the island.

India seems to be in a precarious situation in this matter. India should start with giving humanitarian assistance for the displaced people. Then they should nudge the Sl gov towards finding a lasting solution. Sounding too much like a big bro might not be in the best interest though, since china is willing to give help without conditions. But too little involvement might send the tamils in india into chaos.

Why should India engage in other country's problem??? People who want India to poke into Srilanka matter are naive. They want Pakistan to engage in kashmir matter actually.

The SL Tamils are not looking up to India for any food or medical aid.They want equal rights as the Sinhalese in all aspects of political and economic life. Freedom from state terror (Please read the repeated state aided terror by Sinhalese supported by the govts. in power between 1956 and 1983 , and please note LTTE arose to combat that , and the Tamils will be grateful for the dignity they gave the tamils). India should stay out of SL. The tamils will never support them.They would like and prefer the Chinese play a more dominent roll in the country. Indians are fair weather friends.Look at Karunanedi's position now that the war is over and the elections are over. The Tamils were used by India in the past they will not succeed any more. Further SL will not honour the Indo Sl Pact they signed. The president has already said thet they will find a home grown solution ,meaning the 'Provincial Councils',which India did not agree to, the tamils do not agree to and even Denmark and other western nations do not agree to. But this time very tamely India will agree because there is no one to oppose them , and they want to hold on to Trincomalee facilities and other economic targets. But be sure the Tamils will rise up again. They will never forget the deceit ,trechary and double talk of the Indian Government. If Sl govt is victorius today it is because of the trechary of India,the arms and ammunition of China,Pakistan,and Russia.Traitors eventually fail and India will.

The tamils have been betrayed by the indian government .There will be the inevitable breakup of India .The north indians and the south indians are ethnically different .Thus this divide and dision and hatred will continue as displyed by India against tamils supporting SL but going against its own people .Sri Lanka will one day be the enemy that India never wanted.The Sri Lankans had never loved India .

This will mark the beginning of the yearning for a new Tamil Nadu, one that spans India and Sri Lanka. It is clear that the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka and the non-Tamilians in India either are utterly ignorant or have little empathy for the Tamil cause and culture which is much older than the Aryan culture in the North. Hopefully, this self-determination of a true Tamil Nadu can proceed without unneeded violence.

I disagree with Anand's earlier comment that SL govt should repatriate all Tamils to TN. Then in that case, are you also implying that all Muslims who have a soft corner for Pakistan should be sent to Pak? This is not a practical solution.

I would be more interested to see if SL President Rajpaksa keeps his promise on equality to Tamils. In his victory speech, he insisted about the fall of a terrorist group and NOT about knocking down Tamils. As long as there is peace and tranquility in the region and if everyone works towards the development of the country, then its a good sign.

Only time can tell.

RAW created LTTE then LTTE killed more than
1500 Indian peace keeping soldiers and a indian
priminister. All Sri Lankans Suffered 30 years.
India need Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka needs India.
But i wonder what Politicians need.

Bravo Timmy, That is the way to go. Someone said that sinhalas have no regard for India, which is false, I am one and we are buddhists and we consider India a sacred land from where the Buddhism spread. Sri Lanka needs aid and assistance and when part of it doesn't come from India then invariably they go to China, Russia or any other country. But if its forthcoming from India, SL will gladly accept as that keeps good relations with the big brother which we consider as top priority with lessons from the past

I believe difference will exist on land/sea wherever human exist. Immediate task should be to help all people in SL, who need help to rebuild their homes and restoring life. This help should reach each region of SL no matter whether T or S people live there.
SL should reborn again as a new country. Wheather India helps them as a neighbour or not, they should figure how to gain confidence of its own people who live in SL. People should come out of their ego to settle this. People should be taught to get over cultural differences. It was sad to see fight in these era. SL people living outside SL should help people to rebuld their nation and not misguide who are in SL. As a third person who does not live in SL can always have fancy ideas.
In summary help people in need and get over differences.

The Government of India has taken the right and measured approach with Sri Lankan problem. Extremism and humanitarianism are differentiated. Strategical aspects are well accomodated by India. Passing bad criticism on Politicians of Tamil Nadu is one thing. But administration of the country or state is another thing. Government has to take a comprehensive view of the problem and adopt a wholistic approach. All people at the hight of their emotions talk bad. But as things settle down and future unfolds new development, they realise that emotional reactions actuatlly damages peoples' interests. Hats off to the governments for their approach.

Its is the India who did the culprit thing and going to suffer in another 10 years. Because, SL is going to be pain for India. Whether its good or Bad Tigers protected Tamils from singalese so far.They did good.

MR G.Bhaskaran and Mr Sanjay please keep pipe dreaming that sinhalese brutes will bow to the international pressure and provide equal rights to the Tamils in a platter.I am very glad a few of our northern sikh brothers have understood the plight of Tamils of Srilanka.India has lost a readymade true ally in Srilanka.

Indrani, your blog comment brings a whiff of fresh air in the current polluted atmosphere in the southern part of our continent. While Sri Lanka is understandably euphoric about the destruction of LTTE (something like what we shall feel if Naxalites are eliminated), we in India are showing a bizarre lack of sensitivity towards the Tamils in Sri Lanka & their brethren in India. And this, perhaps largely because LTTE killed one of our promising, young P.M.s, which was, of course, reprehensible. In the vulgar mimicking of the Sri Lankan response, our TV media is repeatedly showing the close-ups of Prabhakaran’s blown off head, his eyes fixed in the deathly stare, and there is not one word of what is in store now for the Sri Lankan Tamils. The hypocrisy in this would be clear only if we realize the fact that, even with the most liberal interpretation, LTTE’s growth was a result of political bungling by India, as much as by Sri Lanka. Some of the contributions to other blogs in this e-paper seem to suggest a strange conclusion that what the Tamils are now getting is simply what they deserve.
Currently, the would be rulers in New Delhi are busy slicing up the cake of power, and the leaders of Tamilnadu are busy lapping up the crumbs thrown at them, slurping, and jostling for more. But this is the crucial stage when the welfare of Tamils in Sri Lanka needs to receive adequate & proper direction & content. India can & should stand up not only for a fair & human treatment of the Tamils, but also show in a demonstrable manner that it stands for mitigating this enormous man made tragedy through a long term plan of economic & political rehabilitation. It is not merely the need of the situation; India must atone for its sins of commission & omission in this worst ever botched up international operation of its own.

In any war there is collateral damage which,though unfortunate, is accepted by both sides. How many civilians did the allies kill during the bombing of Dresden,Hiroshima,Nagasaki and in Iraq ? How many did we kill during Op bluestar and the 1984 riots?
Hats off to the SL Govt for having the guts to go against attempts to disintegrate/ partition the country.
Just as Pakistan has no right to interfere in J&K we have no right to interfere in SL.
It is the duty of any immigrant to integrate with the people of the country he/she is living in. They are free to leave if they are not happy there I am sure no country will stop them. Simultaneously it also behoves the host country and its people to be fair in their dealings with the people of foreign origin living in their midst.They need to celebrate their cultural diversity rather than denigrate each other.
We need to be Indians first and Tamils/Punjabis/Maharashtrians etc etc last.
Our track record is nothing to be proud of and we need to put our own house in order before telling any one else what to do in their house.

In the past few months that saw escalated action against Tamil rebels by the Sri Lankan Army, the MEA its diplomats have played a supportive role by acting with restraint amidst the rabble rousing election rhetoric in Tamil Nadu.
Now comes the more challenging role, for India, of ensuring that stability is restored in the island nation and so also the confidence of the Tamils there. The stories emanating out of Northern Lanka are horrific. Today the Lankan government has blocked UN aid workers' access to the dispossessed people. Newspapers abound in harrowing tales of hunger, disease and neglect strongly reminiscent of genocidal methods of a bygone era.
Tamil Nadu's political parties, who until last week, were tripping over each other, espousing the 'Tamil' cause are in the grip of post election ennui or busy eyeing the spoils of office!Notwithstanding this, the Govt of India needs to keep up pressure on the Rajapakse government for an early settlement of the Tamil problem.
It is time the Sri Lankan ethnic strife is decoupled from the state of Tamil Nadu.Public opinion and support needs to be mobilised on a pan-India basis.

MR Vinod a commentator in this blog needs to correct his knowledge of Tamils history.For your kind information Tamils are not immigrants in Srilanka! PL dont mistake all the Tamils living in Srilanka with those who had gone as tea garden labourers during British regime.The majority of the Tamils living there are original settlers thousands of years back with no date.Few of the north Indians have properly understood the Tamils history,even better than Tamils own neighbours.Tamils patriotism need not be questioned by any outsiders.Tamilian are the original settlers of India and they will always be Indians. As Indians we should have first solved Tamils issue in Srilanka before silencing LTTE.Tamils have been the original settlers of Srilanka later the Buddists had arrived where is question of asking Tamils to integrate.Instead it is the vice versa which is expected of them.

After reading the so many comments on this blog, I have only a few things to say. The bloodshed must be stopped, Tamils and Sinhalas should live together with equality, respect and dignity. Its important to understand that before an ethnic makeup - we are humans and humans need basic amenities to live and prosper disregarding various ideologies - tamil, sinhala, hindu, muslim, etc. If we live together in this world with such kind of hatred and animosity, what are our children going to learn from us in the future. God made man and women, God wants us to live our life in a happy environment and ways so as to enjoy it - not with conflict and destruction. Seeing so many things in this world falling apart, the future holds some heavy destruction as their has been before in the world wars previously which defines our race. The question is who will survive it.

Roshan says: May 19, 2009 at 09:06 PM IST

Sri Lanka is a pariah state.It practices apartheid like it was done in South Africa.The two countries are the only 2 remaining Roman Dutch Legal system in the world. South Arica would still have had apartheid if the great Nelson Mandela did not turn to arms in the 1960's.Would the world have rejoiced if Mandela was killed?NO! India practices double standards.Supporting blacks in South Africa and upholding sanction against the apartheid government.Most South Africans support the LTTE. The LTTE is not dead. South Africans will keep it alive.

Roshan: Stay where you are. Nobody wants SCUM like you.

I think where Sri Lankans went over board, in killing Wife and daughter of Mr. Velupillai Prabhakaran, this is not fair and reasonable, this will create sympathy for LTTE in long run

Many people who posted their comments are glad SL forces wiped out rebel forces. I am sure time will tell them whether to be glad with themselves for their words. Also they now want SL tamils to integrate with sinhalese and live peacefully as if SL tamils were rebelling out in a peaceful country. These people do not know the history. Infact, sinhalese were not ready to integrate tamils and they dont want to give equal citizen status to them. That is where the problem started. All we know that is LTTE fought for them for 33 years. We failed to understand that even before LTTE, there were people who imposed Gandhian methods and fighting for their rights nearly 30 years. Nothing worked and no wonder it didnt work considering the hatred and ruthlessness sinhalese population and leaders had at that time point. Helplessly, SL tamils turned their support towards militants, becos at that time, they were the one who can protect them from dying at the hands of mobs trying to rout them out. But whether the rebel militants ideologies and methods implemented to fight for these poor people is definitely questionable. They shot at their own foot by supporting LTTE for long time. But hope both the parties learnt a lesson. World is a globalised village now, whether v r hindu, muslim, christian or black or white or brown, v should develop the culture to adjust each other. Down the road in 25 years my son or daughter may have to take a job in Saudi arabia, malaysia or america and live there. So no point in discriminating. Let us learn this.

Don't ppl know by NOW that the SL govt has mastered to art of lieing to its people??? They do this by straight out denial of events, which evidence can prove OR by chasing out all foreign journalists depriving the very concept of "free media" How dare they call themselves a democracy!!

When the UN aid agencies were claiming govt aerial bombings of civilian hospitals in the North, the SL govt simply lied and said they didn't despite there being satellite photos to prove such occurrences. Now do you think these aid agencies have any reason to lie??????????

SL govt is full of lies, giving money directly to the SL govt for "rehabilitation purposes" is a joke, you may as well put this money in their politician pockets so they can feed their fat bellies.

THERE HAS TO BE an International (not just India) OVERSIGHT BODY TO DOCUMENT THAT THE SL GOVT WILL SPEND ONLY FOR THE INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS OF THE NORTH AND EAST

NOW WHAT INDIA WANTS TO DO FOR TAMILS IN SRILANKA IS A MERE EYE WASH.NOW THAT THE REAL BARGAINERS ARE NOT IN THE SCENE WHAT BACK BONE IS THERE IN INDIA'S DEAL FOR TAMILS.ONLY A COMMITTE OF ORIGINAL TAMILS SHOULD BE THERE IN THE TEAM WHICH WILL STUDY THE PACKAGE FOR TAMILS NOT SOME REDDYS,MENONS,NAIRS,BENGALIS,OR SOME NORTH INDIANS.

@vineet from US

thanks for listing down those countries we Tamils could emigrate to...but then why should we??
after all you are the nomads. we are native to this land and also the north Indian lands you land-grabbing Aryans stole from us...I would rather suggest you emigrate to Central Asia....

@Indrani

The implication of this statement is that Sri Lankan govt helped the Indian govt to make the people of Tamil Nadu fools. Now with an attitude like this that you have towards fellow Tamils, which I believe every North Indian like you invariably has,how can you call yourself neutral? Apparently you do not even have any respect for the Tamil population, let alone concern.

"Interestingly, by staring down the domestic popular debate, the Indian government actually cured the Tamil bogey in Tamil Nadu."

Again a reflection of your attitude towards Tamils of TN. That we are second class citizens who are to be subjugated and brought under North Indian hegemony...

One word to describe you... Racist

@Indrani

Forgot to cut and paste the statement you made. The following is the one I'm talking about:

"To be fair to the Rajapakse government, they have been extraordinarily accommodating to Indian sentiments, specially in Tamil Nadu on the eve of the elections. While the operations of course could not possibly be calibrated with the elections, certainly Rajapakse did all he could to keep India's sentiments in mind."

It is not Prabhakaran's life or death i'm concerned about. I am only concerned abt how much India respects the voice of the Tamils and. from your statement I can gather neither the North Indians nor the Indian govt gives a damn.period.

@vineet from US

Why does Prabhakaran's religion comes into picture...in any case he was a Hindu and not a Xian like you pointed out. i dunno wer you got the idea that he was a Xian...i guess it's because his son was named Charles Anthony. fyi his son was the namesake of a fallen comrade.
only proves HOW IGNORANT YOU ARE...

First of all my suggestion to Vignesh:- You ought to look into yourself and reflect that how much hatred you have filled in your heart for all non-tamils and particularly North Indians. You still living in Before Christ period claiming Tamils to be original settlers and Aryans to be invaders. I don't think and frankly I haven't met a single person in my life(from north India)who claims him/her as Aryan and South Indians as dravids. Thats the baggage the YOU still carry not others.
Now for we north Indians being ignorant about Tamils. How much You now about Punjab militancy, its reasons, origins etc. or about the naga problem or say about the latest Meena-Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan. India is a big country and if you fail to understand that then it’s your foolishness.

You haven't seen the pain of partition nor have you faced any suicide bombing by Pakistan based terrorist in Tamilnadu to understand the attitude, that at Least I share as a North Indian, against the tactics adopted by LTTE. I have seen the bombing of Jaipur and Delhi. First you try to learn the reasons for others reaction and then try to implicate others for being baised against Tamils.

Now for being ashamed of being an Indian. Frankly, you should be ashamed of yourself and should go and live in some great countries like Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia or say any European country. I am sure you will find soon enough that how much better it is to live in India where Tamils are always and will always be first grade citizens.

And tell me how many times you are discriminated against on basis of your statehood/ethnicity in India. Don't tell me a Nothie favoring a Nothie.

Even I have seen marathi favouring a marathi, Bengali favouring Bengali and a TAMIL favouring a Tamil. If that is discrimination then let me remind you Indians have an affinity to personalize each and every aspect of their life and so comes these sort of biases in their behaviour.

And to be blunt, Tamils practice it more than others.

So don’t vent your anti-north India poison all over. You are just spoiling your own soul.

Anand you idiot. Why would SL tamils want to be repatriated to Tamil Nadu. Tamil Eelam is their land and they have been there before the Singahlese. Read a little history man and exercise your IQ.
What You indians don't understand is that Tamils in SL have a affinity with the people in India and especially Tamils. The Singhalese have never accepted India as their bretheren, but simply a tool to be used.
As a SL Tamil, I was totally upset by Rajiv Gandhi's death, but you cannot blame all Tamils for the doing of the LTTE. My biggest fear is speaking to Tamil youth, I have no doubt a more hardline grouup will form, and cause greater havoc. It took 26 years for SL Army to defeat 1/2 the Tiger movement (let's not forget Karuna fought on the SL army side). This positive thing about this issue it will unite Tamils like never before. Any new group forming will have much more support than LTTE ever did.

Your comments please. The following is from the defence.lk website of the Sri Lankan govt.

...According to the Asian Tribune the most recent case is the new Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna who urged us to address the "root cause of the conflict" by effective devolution of powers to all communities in the Island nation. I say to Mr. Krishna "Who are you to tell us, a sovereign nation how to run our country? You just mind your own business or wind up like that woman Navi Pillai. The choice is yours.

To India we say that not only will there be no devolution of any sort because it is the necessary and sufficient step to separation but also the Indo Lanka Accord forced on us by India will be annulled and thrown out so that we could cleanse this land of the last vestige of Indian hegemony. You created the LTTE with the intention of annexing our land. We liquidated what you created. You can annex the moon much easier than that...

The complete article is available in "http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090601_07"