SPY EYES

A skeleton apparently dropped out of the Indian cupboard when a slice of the disgusting Indian role in the Sri Lankan war was openly written about today in our press. Even in cold print, it stinks of dead carcasses rotting under the tropical sun, and the sight of the vultures feeding on them is simply appalling.

The point is, India can never get rid of the smell of Sri Lankan blood on its hands. The blood coagulated over the past 3 decades and now all the waters of the Indian Ocean cannot wash it away. What is needed is a truth and reconciliation commission so that the Indian establishment can go through a genuine catharsis.

Now, where do we begin? I think a good starting point is NOT Rajiv Gandhi’s assasination but what drove Velupillai Prabhakaran to order the killing. So, let us go back to the early 1980s when we were on ‘talking terms’ with Prabhakaran.

That was also the time I worked as a diplomat in the Indian mission in Colombo handling political work, but like Lord Palmerston said famously about the Schleswig-Holstein Question, I’ve forgotten all about it.

Fortunately, however, we have still serving our establishment three officials who may remember and can possibly tell the whole story at its genesis, and the truth and nothing but the truth as to what made Prabhakaran turn an enemy — West Bengal governor M.K.Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and the Permanent Representative to the United Nations H.S.Puri.

Let us constitute a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sri Lanka. Knowing the truth about Sri Lanka’s war and reconciling with the truth is becoming terribly important for our country, too. As the flip-flop in the Indian stance at the UNHRC voting in Geneva yesterday shows, opportunism bordering on political cynicism still rules the roost in India’s Sri Lanka policy; and, it is bereft of principles, beliefs, consistency or any trace of morality.

India is playing with fire. It shouldn’t be that the life of one former prime minister was lost in vain, when it was cut down in its prime.

Equally reprehensible it indeed is if our country is still having a blood feud with its small neighbour. An honest bit of soul-searching will do us a world of good. Now, how do we begin? Let us begin by asking M.K.Narayanan first, who would probably have a complete memory of the violent life and times of Prabhakaran. But before doing that, read the story in the Business Standard first so that you’d know what to ask him.

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