By Col R
Hariharan
[Here are
answers to e-mail questions raised by a legal analyst on the recent ECJ
judgement annulment of the inclusion of the LTTE in EU terrorist organisations
list.]
General Court of
the European Union PRESS RELEASE No 138/14 Luxembourg, 16 October 2014 Judgment
in Joined Cases T-208/11 and T-508/11 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) v Council
The Court
annuls, on procedural grounds, the Council measures maintaining the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the European list of terrorist organisations.
However, the effects of the annulled measures are maintained temporarily in
order to ensure the effectiveness of any possible future freezing of funds.
The Tamil Diaspora
is quite large here in the West but do you think that if the LTTE ban was
removed in India, it would pose a threat to our national security in India? A
step towards this was done in Europe by removing the sanctions on the group by
the European Court of Justice (ECJ) just few days ago.
Fortunately, the
ECJ does not advise Indian government on its policy. It does not matter to
European Union if they nurture one more terrorist organisation as they have
given refuge to scores of them historically in the past. These included Chechen
terrorists, Jihadi supporters, and Tamil terrorists till they posed no threat
to EU members.
But India has
been fighting extremism, insurgency, terrorism and a number of armed separatist
and anti-state armed movements for over five decades. Any threat posed by
the LTTE remnants to India's national security would be minuscule. The
ban on LTTE was not imposed based on its capability to pose a threat to
national security but based on its long history of extremism and terrorism and
waging war on a friendly neighbour using India as a source of assistance.
The ban on the
organisation which had engineered the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi
and scores of others who had sought refuge in India is unlikely to be removed
in the near future for two reasons.
At least three
instances of LTTE remnants attempting to revive the organisation using Tamil
Nadu as a base to recruit/train potential cadres for induction into Sri Lanka
have come light. Secondly, the threat of Jihadi terrorism using Sri Lanka
as a launch pad has become real after the apprehension of a few agents
belonging to Sri Lanka. And Tamil Nadu has been targeted by Jihadi
elements in the recent past. The unearthing of links of Bangladesh JMB
Islamic extremists in West Bengal have raised questions about their possible
linkages in Tamil Nadu.
The LTTE
has in the past used other extremist organisations like Maoists in
India to further its aim. So it would not be beyond the realm of probability
for Jihadi elements and LTTE using each other to further their interests in
India and Sri Lanka.
No security
agency would agree to take that risk of lifting the ban on LTTE at
present.
Do you think the
LTTE remainders have learned to embrace India since IPKF days?
This question is
not understood. Who wants LTTE to "embrace" India?
Since the IPKF
days, LTTE assassins murdered Rajiv Gandhi and 14 leaders and cadres of EPRLF
in India. Even after being wiped out in Sri Lanka LTTE remnants have not
"learned" to carry out a realistic assessment on their leadership and
organisational failure in the last Eelam War. The LTTE remnants are still
carrying out a black campaign against India for LTTE's failure to win a war
they "embraced" when they were offered a chance for peace with an
honourable agreement; not only that even now India is blamed for all that
is going wrong for Tamils in Sri Lanka and elsewhere.
I doubt whether
anyone in India including Kalaignar Karunanidhi and Ms Jayalalithaa who support
Tamil Eelam referendum want the LTTE anywhere near them. For that matter even
among Tamil Diaspora many do not want LTTE to come near them, let alone its
"embrace".
I don't see any
chance of a "Tamil Eelam" without Indian support but of course I
agree that the people who committed the atrocities in the last days of the war
should be punished.
Are you asking
me to comment on this? If anyone still expects India to support "Tamil
Eelam" they should revisit India's record against the creation of Tamil
Eelam as an independent entity. Support for united Sri Lanka is an article of
faith in India's Sri Lanka policy. It is also commitment India made in the
Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement 1987. Every Indian prime minister has reiterated this
commitment to Sri Lanka.
I agree with you
that all those committed atrocities in the Eelam war (why last days only?)
should be punished. But that should include the LTTE including remnants who
have sought refuge abroad.
(Col R Hariharan, a former
MI officer, served as the head of intelligence with the Indian Peace Keeping
Force (1987-90). Email:haridirect@gmail.com Blog: http://col.hariharan.info)
Courtesy: South Asia Analysis
Group Paper No 5808 dated Oct 21, 2014 http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/node/1639#sthash.5ks9m4Zn.dpuf
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