Part 3
'If Jaffna falls, there will be a flood of refugees to Tamil Nadu'

George Iype

Professor V Suryanarayan was the director of the Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies for over two decades. He has researched the growing refugee problem in India with special attention to Sri Lankan Tamils.

He is a visiting professor in the department of history, University of California, Columbus College in the University of Georgia, and the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

He was a member of the international team that monitored the presidential election in Sri Lanka in 1999. He has been demanding a national legislation to govern the 28 million refugees that India currently shelters. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:

Is there no law that particularly tackles the problems of refugees and protects the security interests of the country?

India has been facing the problem of displaced persons and refugees from the time of Independence. If you quantify the number of displaced persons and refugees who have come to the country after 1947, it would be about 28 million people. That is more than the population of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Singapore and Bhutan put together.

One beneficial fallout of the refugee influx has been that an administrative machinery that can tackle the problems of refugees at short notice has evolved. Look at 1969 and 1971 when more than 10 million refugees from East Pakistan came to India. That affected the north and eastern parts of the country. New Delhi could deal with that situation then.

Unfortunately the tragedy is that there has been no national legislation on the refugees. The refugees are now basically governed by the old Foreigners Act and the Passport Act. One reason why there is no new legislation is that the bureaucrats and politicians in India are very happy with the status quo. When you go in for a new legislation, you have to evolve a new administrative machinery. Only academics like me and sensitive social activists have been pressing for a new legislation.

You have been demanding the legislation particularly in the context of the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India.

Yes. There is an important humanitarian aspect to it. They have come to India because they fear for their lives. Though they have come from a poor country to a poorer country, there is absolute security for them in India. There are no midnight knocks at their doors, their children are not taken away by the authorities and the girls can move around without fear.

At the same time, one has to keep in mind the fact that the refugees were a leverage to India's foreign policy. After 1983, New Delhi followed a policy which had two characteristics -- mediatory and militant-supportive.

The militant-supportive policy led to a large number of Sri Lankan Tamils joining various militant groups and India actively encouraging that. Therefore, India deliberately created a political dimension with the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to ensure that they become a leverage to the country's foreign policy vis-à-vis Colombo.

But the Indian government's Tamil militant-supportive policy boomeranged when the LTTE started confronting the Indian Peace Keeping Force after the India-Sri Lanka Accord in 1987. The LTTE and the Tamil refugees living in Tamil Nadu began to become a security threat to the nation. It is necessary to recall that among the 26 accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, six were registered as Tamil refugees.

Did that make a difference to the case?

Yes, the case created an anomalous situation for India. Special Judge Navaneetham awarded capital punishment to all the 26 accused. The Supreme Court then confirmed the death sentence on four and awarded life imprisonment for three. The others were convicted for lesser offences under the Arms Act, the Explosives Act and the Foreigners Act.

But because they were in jail since 1991 and as they had already undergone imprisonment for these offenses, the court set them free. However, while the acquitted Indian nationals were set free, the acquitted Sri Lankan Tamils are still kept in special camps. If we had a legislation, which specifically states that any refugee who has committed a crime in India will be deported, these people could have been easily deported to Sri Lanka.

Are there any other cases involving Sri Lankan Tamils?

There are a number of such serious cases. The most well-known is the Ahat case. The Indian Navy and the Coast Guard intercepted the ship Ahat that was carrying weapons and ammunition to the LTTE in Jaffna. It was registered in Singapore and was flying a Honduras flag. After an exchange of fire, the ship was set ablaze; some Sri Lankan Tamils including LTTE leader Kittu committed suicide.

But the navy arrested some Sri Lankan Tamils from the ship. However, the Andhra Pradesh high court acquitted all the accused and ordered the police to hand them over to the state of Honduras.

Honduras did not want to take the Tamils; the Tamils did not possess Hondura passports. They did not want to go Sri Lanka either. So now they are in the 'safe custody' of the Government of India in Visakhapatnam.

The sad thing is that even under existing rules and regulations aliens working against the Indian national interest can be deported. But what is lacking in India is the political will to make difficult decisions. India, especially Tamil Nadu, cannot afford to become a soft state. A national legislation for refugees, combining humanitarian needs with the security interests of the state, should be immediately enacted.

What are the humanitarian needs that should be considered in the new legislation?

There are many aspects. The first and foremost is, do the refugees have the right to work in India? Yes, the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India have the right to work. But look at the case of the Chakma refugees in the North-East. They are not allowed to work. So different types of refugees in India are treated according to the whims and fancies of the government.

After Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, the educational facilities for Tamil refugees were taken away from the Tamil Nadu government. So it is high time the government spelled out a refugee law with clarity: whether the refugees have the right to work, the right of association, the right for education etc.

There have been a number of judicial decisions in favour of the rights of refugees in India. The most famous case is the National Human Rights Commission versus the state of Arunachal Pradesh in which the Supreme Court has made it very clear that the refugees have every right in India except the right to vote.

The Bangladeshi refugees in north India, especially in Delhi, have managed to enroll themselves as voters.

Yes, many illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have registered themselves as voters with the connivance of the local politicians. But in Tamil Nadu I do not think the refugees have registered.

How many Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are there in Tamil Nadu?

There are three types of refugees in Tamil Nadu. There are nearly 67,000 refugees accommodated in 129 camps across the state. Then there are some 80,000 Sri Lankan Tamil nationals outside the camps who are fairly well-off and who do not live out of the assistance from the government. But nobody for sure knows the actual number.

The Government of India asked all Sri Lankan nationals outside the refugee camps to register at the nearest police stations. But the response was very poor. Only 1,200 people registered. I am sure there are at least 80,000 Sri Lankan Tamils who are living in the state without any registration.

Then you have the third category of refugees called suspected militants. In 1991, there were nearly 2,000 militants belonging to different Tamil terrorist groups, mostly to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. But I am told that their number has now come down to 180.

Don't you think there is always a political dimension to the refugee problem? For instance, in Tamil Nadu, various Dravidian parties are competing for the rights of Sri Lankan refugees.

In Tamil Nadu, the Sri Lankan issue and the refugee problem have got enmeshed in the competitive politics of the two main Dravidian parties -- the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. They have been competing for one-upmanship invoking Tamil nationalism in the name of Sri Lankan refugees.

When political parties see the refugee issue as a vote bank, it is a matter of serious concern because it affects the basic security of the country. There is an imminent necessity to tighten the security machinery in Tamil Nadu.

The Rajiv Gandhi assassination proved that the LTTE assiduously built up a clandestine network in Tamil Nadu. LTTE manufactured weapons and uniforms in Tamil Nadu. In fact, the explosives that the LTTE successfully utilised in Sri Lanka against the IPKF went from Tamil Nadu. Guerrillas who got wounded when they were fighting the IPKF were brought to Tamil Nadu for treatment. So we can ill-afford to neglect the security aspect in Tamil Nadu. The LTTE is one of the most ruthless and disciplined organisations in the world. Political forces in Tamil Nadu should stop whipping up passion in the name of Sri Lankan Tamils.

But there are only fringe groups that support the LTTE in Tamil Nadu.

There are many groups that support the LTTE in Tamil Nadu. They have been lying dormant for some years now, especially after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. But as the memory of the Rajiv murder has faded, they are coming out into the open. Congress president Sonia Gandhi pleading for clemency for the accused Nalini has emboldened them further. These groups are now taking shelter under human rights. Now they have become very bold on the issue of whether New Delhi should support Sri Lanka or not. But these groups are taking the propaganda line that is unleashed by the LTTE.

Why do you think the refugee influx is low even though there is a battle raging in Jaffna?

The refugee influx is a demand and supply thing. I tell you there is no Tamil nationalism in the refugee influx. Poor Tamils from Sri Lanka pay lots of money to boat-owners to come to India. If there is great demand, the money may go up to Rs 30,000. There are not many refugees coming now because the Indian Navy has launched a massive patrol on the coast.

Then, the Tamil Nadu government is discouraging the refugees to come to the state. But if Jaffna falls to the LTTE, there will be a flood of refugees to Tamil Nadu. The first will be the non-LTTE Tamil political leaders because they are sure that [Velupillai] Prabhakaran [the LTTE chief] would certainly kill them.

Sri Lanka and India are not distant nations. The Palk Strait is not a barrier but a bridge through which ideas, people, religion and art forms of Tamils pass to and fro. I am fond of comparing the geographical contiguity and the nearness of these two countries to Siamese twins. Even if New Delhi and Colombo creates a Berlin wall in the Palk Strait, it will collapse.

Do you think more refugees will add to the strain on the Tamil Nadu government?

No. it is not the economic strain but the political fallout that often worries the Tamil Nadu government. What is important is the nature of the refugees. In their heart, they all support the LTTE. But if you probe further, they will tell you they do not want their children to join the LTTE.

All these refugees are the products of a particular political and cultural system. If you ask them to be apolitical in the camps, it will be impossible. So if a scenario arises when Jaffna falls and the influx of refugees becomes more, it will have an impact on Tamil Nadu. The Sri Lankan problem will get further enmeshed in the competitive politics of Tamil Nadu.

As far as the Centre is concerned, we all know that there are pro-LTTE forces that are part of the [Atal Bihari] Vajpayee government. It will be a great tragedy if India's Sri Lankan policy gets influenced by the considerations of political alliances and competitive politics of Tamil Nadu rather than the long-term interests of the country.

The long-term interests of the country will depend upon two plans. One, the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and second, social and economic justice to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. India must work for a political system in Sri Lanka which provides autonomy to the Tamils, creation of a Tamil linguistic state which protects the interests of not only the Sri Lankan Tamils but also other minorities like the Muslims in the east.

Concluded

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