Hostility Towards Indians In Sri Lanka And Hostility Towards Sri Lankans In India
By Namini Wijedasa -September 8, 2012
Namini Wijedasa
For the first time ever, Colombo last week issued a travel advisory requesting Sri Lankans not to travel to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu “until further notice.” And across the Palk Strait, the Indians were rather taken aback.“Travel advisory” is a dirty term in Sri Lanka. While some governments take it at face value, here it is viewed as a political tool used predominantly by the West to penalize regimes it doesn’t like. Now Colombo is using the same tool “against” India.
New Delhi did not issue a travel warning when Indian spectators were repeatedly harassed during the India-Sri Lanka cricket series in July-August.R.K. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu newspaper’s Colombo-based correspondent, tweeted widely about hostility towards Indians (including obscenity-strewn verbal assaults and objects being thrown at them) during four of the cricket matches.
Cricket matches
But officials from Sri Lanka’s Ministry of External Affairs said earlier in the week that the advisory was temporary. The warning followed several developments in Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jeyaram in August asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop training Sri Lankan service personnel in her state. She then ordered out two Sri Lankan schools’ football teams from Tamil Nadu saying their presence “hurt the sentiments of the Tamil people.”
The immediate trigger, however, was the mobbing on Monday of 184 Sri Lankan pilgrims visiting the ancient Poornimatha Church in Thanjavur. Despite heavy police security, protestors later stoned the buses that were taking them to the airport for an early flight home.
Indian media then reported that some demonstrators on Thursday tried to barge into a hotel in Madurai alleging it employed Sri Lankans – and calling for their immediate expulsion. While diplomats downplay these incidents so as not to exacerbate tensions, it is not yet certain which way the pendulum will swing.
There will be disagreement on whether what transpired at the cricket matches in Sri Lanka was as serious (or as organized) at what is happening now in Tamil Nadu. But one concern is this: The animosity displayed against Indians during the ODI series preceded the unpleasant events in New Delhi. This means that anti-Indian sentiment in Sri Lanka is a deeper phenomenon not connected exclusively to Tamil Nadu politics.
Diplomatic sources said there is concern in India that its subjects would be similarly treated when they visit Sri Lanka for the T20 World Cup from September 18 to October 7. Whether or not New Delhi takes the path of travel advisories remains to be seen.
But one thing the Central Government in India must do is to rein Tamil Nadu in.
Violence against ordinary citizens is a deliberate act of provocation. Surely it would be easier to stop such criminal activity than to reverse the damage caused by it to bilateral relations? The attacks on Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu – whatever the ideologies that might be fuelling them – are acts of aggression against foreign nationals on Indian soil.
Indians have condemned the acts, carried out mainly by “small” Tamil political outfits such as Naam Tamizhar Iyakkam and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. The first is led by Seeman, a film director and actor; the president of the second is Thirumavalavan, a Chennai lawyer. Editorials have criticized Tamil Nadu politicians for their short-sightedness and called on the centre to act.
The immediate trigger, however, was the mobbing on Monday of 184 Sri Lankan pilgrims visiting the ancient Poornimatha Church in Thanjavur. Despite heavy police security, protestors later stoned the buses that were taking them to the airport for an early flight home.
Indian media then reported that some demonstrators on Thursday tried to barge into a hotel in Madurai alleging it employed Sri Lankans – and calling for their immediate expulsion. While diplomats downplay these incidents so as not to exacerbate tensions, it is not yet certain which way the pendulum will swing.
There will be disagreement on whether what transpired at the cricket matches in Sri Lanka was as serious (or as organized) at what is happening now in Tamil Nadu. But one concern is this: The animosity displayed against Indians during the ODI series preceded the unpleasant events in New Delhi. This means that anti-Indian sentiment in Sri Lanka is a deeper phenomenon not connected exclusively to Tamil Nadu politics.
Diplomatic sources said there is concern in India that its subjects would be similarly treated when they visit Sri Lanka for the T20 World Cup from September 18 to October 7. Whether or not New Delhi takes the path of travel advisories remains to be seen.
But one thing the Central Government in India must do is to rein Tamil Nadu in.
Violence against ordinary citizens is a deliberate act of provocation. Surely it would be easier to stop such criminal activity than to reverse the damage caused by it to bilateral relations? The attacks on Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu – whatever the ideologies that might be fuelling them – are acts of aggression against foreign nationals on Indian soil.
Indians have condemned the acts, carried out mainly by “small” Tamil political outfits such as Naam Tamizhar Iyakkam and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. The first is led by Seeman, a film director and actor; the president of the second is Thirumavalavan, a Chennai lawyer. Editorials have criticized Tamil Nadu politicians for their short-sightedness and called on the centre to act.
