sign in sign up
<<
Home , Biju Patnaik

ISSN 0970-8669 Review

India’s direct involvement in Sri Lankan politics surrender. sent its contingent, named the came to a halt when the last of the Indian Peace- Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), part of the Keeping Forces (IPKF) left the territorial waters Indian Army, to enforce the disarmament, and of Sri Lanka on March 24, 1990. The key players watch over the regional council. in the whole drama were the then Prime Minister V.P.Singh, External Affairs Minister Inder Kumar Although the Tamil militant organisations Gujral and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister did not have a role in the Indo-Lanka agreement, Karunanidhi. However the vital role played by most groups, including EPRLF, TELO, EROS, has never been highlighted. and PLOTE, accepted it. The LTTE rejected the accord and refused to hand over their weapons The Tamil insurgency in the island nation to the IPKF. After three months of tensions, LTTE was played about by many insurgent groups like declared war on IPKF on 7th October 1987. the LTTE, EROS, PLOTE, EPRLF and TELA.

When the Tamil Rebels Came Calling

Anil Dhir

The LTTE, which emerged as the main group, Soon the LTTE engaged in military conflict with had an anti-Indian stand since its inception. It the Indian Army, killing five Indian commandos. broke away from the other groups in 1986 and The Indian government ordered the IPKF to many bloody clashes occurred with the other disarm the LTTE by force and launched Operation groups. In July 1987, under pressure from Tamil Pawan to win control of the Jaffna Peninsula. The Nadu which saw a flood of refugees, India ruthlessness of this campaign, and the Indian intervened directly in the conflict by air-dropping army’s subsequent anti-LTTE operations, made food parcels into Jaffna. After negotiations, India it extremely unpopular, both among the Sinhalese and Sri Lanka entered into the Indo-Sri Lanka and the Tamils. Accord. The peace accord assigned a certain degree of regional autonomy in the Tamil areas, In 1988, Sri Lankan Prime Minister with Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Ranasinghe Premadasa kept his promise of Front (EPRLF) controlling the regional council withdrawing the IPKF if he won the Presidential and called for the Tamil militant groups to election. After taking over in April 1989, he

14 FEBRUARY-MARCH - 2019 Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 started negotiations with LTTE, and clandestinely In spite of distress conditions, the Andhra Chief handed over arms to the LTTE to fight the IPKF. Minister stood his stand and refused entry into In March 1990, the Indian government decided the port. After four days of very bad weather, to withdraw the IPKF. With the withdrawal of the ships and the passengers were asked to leave the IPKF, the LTTE had the upper hand. The the anchorage. Indian government knew that the other rebel groups which had supported the IPKF would be The Centre was at its wits end. Prime massacred by either the LTTE or the Sri Lankan Minister V.P.Singh spoke to many Chief Ministers, Army. They decided to evacuate them to India but nobody wanted to touch the Tamil rebels with and keep them in camps, till peace came to the a ten foot barge pole. It was at this juncture that nation. Biju Patnaik agreed to take them. The fact that he had been sworn in as the Chief Minister just On March 1990, two chartered ships, the four days earlier did not deter him from taking M.V. Harshavardan and the M.V.Tipu Sultan such a vital decision. He called a secret meeting were withdrawn from their scheduled sailings to with the top level bureaucrats and overnight the Andamans and sent offshore to Jaffna where decided to allow the EPRLF refugees to stay in a the Indian Navy helped in evacuating the EPRLF make-shift camp in Malkangiri. supporters. On March 6, both the ships, with 1,375 EPRLF supporters, arrived at the port of Amid tight security, the apprehensive Madras. Karunanidhi refused entry of the ships Andhra Police allowed the passengers to into the port, citing the presence of one lakh LTTE disembark. Right from the docks, they were taken Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu. He predicted that in Army trucks, escorted by the Andhra State there would be a bloodbath between the two Police, to the Odisha border. groups. For the pro-LTTE leadership of the DMK, the EPRLF men were traitors to the Tamil Within a week, Biju Babu extended his cause. humanitarian goodwill once again. An Ilyushin-76, named Mahabharata, had The ships were diverted towards taken off from Trincomalee with the remaining 275 Vishakhapatnam, while the Prime Minister and men, including the EPRLF General Secretary, K the Home Minister spoke to other Chief Ministers Padmanabha and the two Tamil ministers of the for taking the refugees in. Both Andhra Pradesh North-East Provincial Government. The flight was and West Bengal refused. slated for a State in Central India, most probably Madhya Pradesh or Maharashtra, where a The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, makeshift Camp had been made in an abandoned M. Chenna Reddy, allowed the ships to drop Army base. The Chief Ministers of these States anchor at the outer harbour of Vishakhapatnam too got cold feet, and refused entry. port and gave food and water, but refused disembarkation. He was worried that the Tamils The Prime Minister once again asked Biju were terrorists and would create unrest in the Patnaik for help, and on the midnight of 11 March state. There was a cyclonic condition in the Bay 1990, the IAF Gajraj Ilyushin transporter landed of Bengal; the ships were tossed in the rough sea. at Airport. The 275 EPRLF Tamils

FEBRUARY-MARCH - 2019 15 ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review on board were secretly taken to the Malkangiri For the Tamils who were left behind, it Camp. was not enough to make both ends meet. The refugees were allowed to engage in labour to earn Nearly 2500 EPRLF Tamils were settled their livelihood. Many of them opened small in the Malkangiri camp. They were given businesses in the Malkangiri town. They married permission to set up their headquarters in the local women and became a part of the local Camp and functioned as a government in exile. populace. However, strict rules were imposed on them, and they were asked not to leave the Camp without At the peak of the post-IPKF days, there permission. The Intelligence wing of the State were 133 Tamil Camps registered with the United Police was put in place to monitor them. Nations High Commission for Refugees. Of these, 132 were in Tamil Nadu, and one in Odisha. The tin-roofed structures at the Camp Today, only 55 Tamils are left in Malkangiri and were beyond endurance of the refugees. Biju Babu another 100 in other parts of the district. They took a personal interest in their welfare. Along with a small allowance, the Central Government have prospered and run successful businesses. provided rice at a subsidised rate through the Biju Patnaik was and still remains their hero. His Integrated Tribal Development Agency. They photo finds place in the household temples. were under the constant scanner of the State’s Postscript: When Biju Patnaik was and the Central Intelligence agencies. informed of the rising indiscipline in the Camp, he Most of the youth in the Camp had not said that they were fighters, and knew nothing been trained to do anything other than fight a war. else except struggle. The State Intelligence The leaders of the EPRLF were not happy with authorities gave many reports of undesirable the conditions at the Camp. They went on a activities by the inmates, but Biju overruled them. hunger strike and demanded that they be housed It is a known fact among the Police chiefs of the in camps in Karnataka. They frequently left for time that it was these EPRLF cadres who had Tamil Nadu without informing either the Central trained the Maoists in the making of Improvised or Odisha Governments. Biju Patnaik repeatedly Explosive Devices (IEDs). Prior to the Tamil got Intelligence inputs about the trouble the presence in the areas, the Maoists engaged only refugees were creating. By that time, the Centre in gun battles, it was only after 1990 that they had warned that the LTTE had sent killer squads started setting up booby traps, mines, tiffin bombs to eliminate the leadership. etc. which had the imprint of what the IPKF had faced in Jaffna, Velvettithurai, Elephant Pass and The entire leadership of the EPRLF other places in Sri Lanka. secretly left the Malkangiri Camp in the first week of June. They had gone to hold a meeting at Madras, where, on the 19thJune 1990, the LTTE gunned down 14 members in a crowded colony in Chennai. The EPRLF Secretary-General K. Padmanabha and other senior leaders were Anil Dhir, Independent Researcher, Bhubaneswar, butchered. E-mail : [email protected].

16 FEBRUARY-MARCH - 2019