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Ex-envoy Jha raises a storm with statement on merger of Lanka's Tamil provinces

An Indian foreign policy advisor's remarks that acceptance of the Tamil demand for merger of Sri Lanka's northern and eastern provinces may help resolve the island nation's ethnic conflict, has raised a howl of protest in Colombo.

The national joint committee of Sinhala Nationalist Organisations ''vehemently condemned'' the remarks by N N Jha, former high commissioner to Colombo and convener of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's foreign affairs committee.

''The vast majority of Sri Lankan people has never supported the merger. It was...foisted on this country by a bullying Rajiv Gandhi,'' the committee said in a statement, referring to the temporary merger of the two Tamil majority provinces under the July 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka accord.

''Jha seems to be utterly ignorant of both history and the demographic composition of the two provinces,'' it added, and described his statement as an ''unfriendly act.''

''The people of Sri Lanka expect India to reciprocate their consistent and strict neutrality in India's internal affairs. In conformity with this, neither the government nor the people of Sri Lanka have ever commented on the vexed problem of Kashmir,'' it said.

Jha, who visited Colombo last week, told Indian correspondents that New Delhi may change its Sri Lanka policy from ''disinterest'' to one of ''friendly concern'', and help put out the fire in the southern neighbour's house.

Jha had also said that personally, he felt that the merger of the two provinces, which was a fundamental demand of all Tamil parties, would help break the current impasse in resolving the ethnic conflict.

His remarks were widely reported in the local newspapers. However, at a lecture two days later, Jha denied having made the remarks.

In an angry editorial on Saturday, The Island newspaper wondered if Jha's remarks were the official view of the Indian government or whether they were his own view of the Sri Lankan problem through the ''old Indira Gandhi prism of hegemonism''.

''If that happens, we will once again see contemporary Indo-Sri Lanka history repeating itself to the detriment of Tamils, Sri Lanka and India as well,'' it said.

It also cautioned the island's Tamils that the BJP government was ''very unstable'', with ''one foot in the grave and the other on a banana skin.''

''It cannot afford to make radical shifts in policy, particularly towards those that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is pushing for,'' it added.

''The India phobia, which in recent years had been exorcised through determined efforts by Sri Lankan and Indian leaders,'' could once again provide a backlash against the Tamils and strengthen the Sinhalese hardliners.

The Sunday Times, in its editorial, criticised Jha for his statement at the lecture that the new Indian government would drop the 'Gujral doctrine', and said it had helped India to a considerable extent to mend fences with its neighbours. ''Jha's doctrine'' might well undo all that and propel India once again into a confrontational course with Sri Lanka.

It hoped that the ''Jha doctrine'' did not mean sitting on the fence. ''What it should mean is an honest resolve to eliminate the menace of terrorism not only within India's borders but also throughout the world,'' it added.

UNI

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