By R Hariharan
Author: S Murari
Publisher: Sage, Rs 350
The book, besides outlining the history of Lanka’s Tamil problem, provides a few lessons on how to handle insurgencies and their aftermath, says R Hariharan
The history of Sri Lanka’s Tamil insurgency and its bloody end after 25 years of struggle at the hands of the Sri Lankan Army is a complex one. Veteran journalist S Murari’s The Prabhakaran Saga covers the Tamil Eelam armed struggle and Sri Lanka’s response in their multiple dimensions. The chronological coverage of mélange of conspiracies and assassinations, politics and perfidy, and the tragedy of mindless violence enables the reader to understand the complexities of the war and its root causes.
Murari has managed to write dispassionately about them all, including behind-the-scenes happenings. Written in journalistic style, his factual account has all the ingredients of a fictional one. As one who participated in the Indian Army’s ill-fated war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), I give full credit to Murari for bringing out a rare coherence in linking the backroom drama to what was happening on the battlefield.
However, I have a small problem with the title of the book, The Prabhakaran Saga. The saga of Tamil separatist struggle is much more than Prabhakaran; in fact, he was a product of this struggle. However, without Prabhakaran and his creation — the LTTE — it is doubtful whether the struggle would have lasted for over 25 years. In fact, he became the centrepiece of it after he eliminated other Tamil political and militant leaders. He brought global focus on the cause of Tamil Eelam while turning the LTTE into the most dreaded terrorist outfit in the world. The publishers may have favoured the title because Prabhakaran dead or alive has a brand value and a little spicing up the title with his name improves the book’s marketability.
The author has avoided being adulatory of Prabhakaran, while appreciating his strength.
The book is full of interesting first-hand anecdotes and vignettes of backroom political machinations that went on in Sri Lanka, India and elsewhere. Unlike many other texts of its genre, the book also covers critical developments in Sri Lanka to broaden the understanding of the issue. The author’s observations on events as they unfolded before him make the book useful for students of contemporary history.
Murari was the man on the spot on quite a few occasions when Sri Lanka’s history was in the making. The opening chapter — ‘When Colombo went into flames’ — covering the arrival of then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Colombo to sign the India-Sri Lanka Agreement with President JR Jayawardane should be read to understand the groundswell of opposition to the agreement in Sri Lanka. There is no doubt the agreement wounded Sinhala pride; and, probably both countries are yet to fully recover from its aftereffects.
India-Sri Lanka relations went into a perilous course after the Indian Army was inducted to ‘help’ implement the India-Sri Lanka Agreement. India got entangled in a conflict with the LTTE and this seriously eroded the benefits of Indian intervention. As a member of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, I remember meeting Murari when I was waiting for Amirthalingam at Taj Samudra on the day the Tamil political leader was assassinated by the LTTE.
After reading Murari’s factual an account of the conditions under which we fought in the chapter “Jaffna under IPKF rule”, I credit him as one of the few journalists who understood the IPKF’s thankless task of fighting the LTTE with one hand tied.
The LTTE’s assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in July 1991 turned the tide of politics both in India and Sri Lanka. Its aftermath is covered in two chapters: ‘The Impeachment Drama’ covers the failed attempt to impeach Sri Lanka President R Premadasa for arming the LTTE, while the chapter ‘India hits back gets isolated’ covers the ham-handed way India responded to the Rajiv killing.
Later day record of events in Sri Lanka is done fairly meticulously. In the chapters that follow the seamless events that were taking place before, during and after the 2002 peace process are covered cogently. Two chapters devoted to Prabhakaran provide an insight into his leadership lacunae in failing to reap full benefit from the peace process. His death is covered in the end, though the circumstance of his death is murky. Probably, the author will update at a later stage when more facts come to light on his death.
The Tamil Eelam war is one of the enduring tragedies of South Asia. It came about after political democracy failed to meet minority aspirations, allowing extremism to muscle in. And the book provides a few lessons on how to — and how not to — handle insurgencies and their aftermath.
Overall, the book is a good buy.
Courtesy: The Pioneer, Sunday, July 15, 2012
URL:http://dailypioneer.com/sunday-edition/sundayagenda/books-reviews/80560-the-eelam-struggle-saga.html
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