Reincarnation/Rebirth Of The Indo-Lanka Accord
S. V. Kirubaharan
Reading this headline, extreme Singhalese may say, ‘another……. paving the way for a separate state’, extreme Tamil nationalists may say, ‘another one going against the independent state’, but the wisest from both communities may say, ‘the right thinking at the right time’.
Twenty five years ago on 29th July 1987, when the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the Sri Lanka President J. R. Jayawardene signed the Indo-Lanka accord, it was a day of mourning in the South of Sri Lanka, a day of confusion in the North and East and a miraculous day for India, especially for the Gandhi family. In the South, half of Colombo was on fire. The majority of the people, politicians, the then Prime Minister, many cabinet Ministers and the present President were angered by India. The people of the North and East were in the dark, knowing nothing about the Indo-Lanka accord. At the same time, it was a miraculous escape for the Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who was attacked by a Sri Lankan Navy soldier with a rifle in an attempted assassination. Fortunately the heavy blow which landed on Gandhi only injured his shoulder, while he was inspecting the guard of honour in Colombo. If the Navy soldier’s strike had hit as planned, today’s history of Sri Lanka would have been very different.
I read with interest the recent articles by Col. R. Hariharan and Major General Ashok Mehta entitled ‘25 Years On, IPKF…..’. Both served in the Indian Peace Keeping Force – IPKF in Sri Lanka. Their articles spoke about the shortcomings and pessimistic views of the Singhalese and the Tamils towards the Indo-Lanka accord. In both articles wrong terminology was used to indicate the status of the Tamils in Sri Lanka! But one cannot expect military personnel necessarily to use the correct political terminologies. If Tamils in Sri Lanka are‘minorities’, there would have been no Indo-Lanka accord and no third party mediation or involvement.
