When India acted tough with Sri Lankan Tamil leaders Anton Balasingham, Chandrahasan in 1985
India has a track record of treating refugees from Sri Lanka with kid gloves. A few weeks ago, a 44-year-old IT professional, who was born
India has a track record of treating refugees from Sri Lanka with kid gloves. A few weeks ago, a 44-year-old IT professional, who was born in Sri Lanka; brought up in India and is now residing in the United States, approached the Madras High Court to save himself from being declared “stateless.” On several occasions in the last five-six years, the High Court resolved the issue of “statelessness” in respect of many refugees who were covered under the 1964 and 1974 bilateral agreements and provisions of the Citizenship Act. In the case of the IT professional, the court directed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to file a detailed counter affidavit and the Indian Embassy at Washington DC to keep in abeyance till then the operation of a notice issued to him to surrender his passport. But, there were occasions when the Indian government acted tough and, at least once, went to the extent of deporting even a few prominent Sri Lankan Tamils. The deportation took place in August 1985 and the personalities involved Anton S. Balasingham, who became the best-known international face of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and S.C. Chandrahasan, founder of Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR). July 8, 1985 saw the commencement of the famous Thimpu talks - named after the venue of the event - between the Sri Lankan government and representatives of Tamils to find a political settlement to Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis.
Held at the initiative of the Indian government headed by Rajiv Gandhi, the talks were conducted in two rounds. They were represented by Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), the LTTE and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), all of which formed a bloc called the Eelam Liberation Front (ENLF), apart from the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). The talks, which came to an end on August 22, 1985, turned acrimonious at one stage and, in the words of the TULF secretary-general A. Amirthalingam, they had made “no headway.” Within a few days of the negotiations’ conclusion, Balasingham and Mr. Chandrahasan were served orders to leave the country within 48 hours. While the former was seen as one who had played “a major role” in calling for the termination of the talks, there was no clarity about the move to deport the latter. In general, the operation was seen internationally as an attempt by India to exert pressure on the Tamil militants to arrive at a settlement with the Sri Lankan government. India was drawn into the Sri Lankan Tamil problem after the anti-Tamil riots erupted in the neighbouring country 43 years ago. Regardless of the motive behind the deportation, the move did not bring good name for the Congress government of Rajiv Gandhi.
The BriefWire