Navigating Asia Away From Chaos: Sri Lanka’s Post-War Ramifications On Region – Analysis
By: Eurasia Review-August 14, 2012
Sri Lanka’s recent military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) spelled wide and deep ramifications for the whole of South Asia. Ripples of these consequences can now be felt in as distant destinations as China, thus widening the scope of relevance to include Asia in its entirety. The recent Tamil Nadu antipathy towards training Sri Lankan military personnel there spawned a fresh wave of discussion about the regional security dimension of the end of war in Sri Lanka, a hitherto under-analyzed aspect.The Tamil Nadu Crisis
Jayalalitha Jeyaram, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, has consistently been a strong and outspoken supporter of the LTTE. One of the most celebrated features of her election manifesto in the 2009 parliamentary elections was the pledge to dispatch Indian troops to establish an Eelam in Sri Lanka by force. Her allegiance to the LTTE was recently re-expressed in her opposition to training Sri Lankan military personnel in Tamil Nadu, where she accused the central government of having a “callous and adamant attitude” that demonstrated “utter disrespect to the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu.”
Location of Tamil Nadu in India
LTTE’s defeat still appears to be conditioning the collective mindset of Tamil Nadu, the result of which is the intolerance of even the presence of Sri Lankan military personnel there. Seeking to avoid domestic friction at all costs, Delhi promptly announced that the officers in question will be transferred to Karnataka, on the rather dull excuse that the training session hosted by Chennai was over and the next phase of the said training would be hosted by Karnataka.
