Arre do something yaar?

"Tamil rebels use Indian boats to smuggle weapons into Sri Lanka, government says" - http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/16/asia/AS_GEN_Sri_Lanka_India.php

Well yes, weapons among other things. According to UN publications, money, personnel, food/drink and training cross the Palk Strait to infect an already festering wound. It has been time India did something since the death of Rajiv Gandhi. That it has yet to make any meaningful contribution to Sri Lanka's peace process is a testament to the political strength of Tamil Nadu, the weakness of the Indian central government, the failure of diplomatic effort of GOSL and the stupidity of the Sri Lankan navy.

This being said, India today is a rich and powerful country fully capable of wiping out the Tigers. It is my view that Sri Lanka should appeal to this sentiment. The GOSL should point out that India and Sri Lanka share many facets of culture and trade and that India should not stand by and watch as its friendliest neighbour in the region disintegrates. Despite what most Sri Lankans think, Tamils are far from being even an importan minority in India. If the GOSL convinces the Indian people that they are failing an important civic duty to help a friend in need, real change in Indian policy is possible. Since the GOSL clearly lacks an effective PR firm, I will do my civic duty and offer the following advice:

1. Mount a major PR campaign in Tamil Nadu using Sri Lankan Tamils who would much rather prefer to live in a unified Sri Lanka over living in Eelam with Uncle Prabha and crowd. This will convince Indian voters that not all Tamils in non-LTTE areas are locked up in prisons being tortured.

2. Offer Tamil Nadu businesses major concessions on investment in the North and East. Tamils will choose money over bloodshed any day of the week.

3. Appeal to non-Tamil Indians (NTIs). Every NTI I have met has expressed disgust with the situation in Sri Lanka, and shame when presented with evidence of India's assistance to the LTTE. NTIs hate terrorists, having to deal with them in J&K and Assam. NTIs also cannot stand the concept of seperate Tamil State threatening India from within or without.

4. Threaten to use Pakistani assistance if India refuses to even make token concessions. Pakistan will relish the opportunity to place its men or money anywhere near Indian territory. The GOSL's recent purchase of arms from Pakistan (after being rebuffed by Delhi) is a sign that atleast some people in Temple Trees are thinking out of the box.

5. Anyone who compares www.dailynews.lk (GOSL) to www.tamilnet.com (LTTE) will be able to tell who's winning the war of words. Please please please learn to leverage electronic media to highlight LTTE atrocities. Every badly aimed bomb, shell and bullet that lodges itself in a Tamil body is made into global news by professional LTTE news websites. These sites keep expatriate Tamils involved in the conflict at the click of a button. Further, since only one side of the conflict is reported, expatriate Tamils have a very skewed perception of the situation. The GOSL must stop treating expatriate Tamils as exiled criminals and appeal to them on a daily basis, using cheap electronic mass media, to stop supporting the LTTE or at the very least pressure them towards peace.

6. Stop issuing angry rebukes at the UN, NGOs and international news agencies. They are already struggling to stay impartial in reporting this conflict, as the vast majority of their readership is Tamil. To aggravate them further is suicide. Recent news articles and NGO reports have painted a bleak picture of the GOSL, making a democratically elected government sound like the worst communist dictatorship. This negative press also influences the perceptions of white, black and brown foriegners, shaping politics and policy. A U.S Senator taking the risk of travelling to the Wanni highlights what an emotive subject the SL conflict can be for distant voters. It also highlights which side is getting their message across.

7. Out of jokes, use the Sri Lankan cricket team as a model of racial unity. Murali is the undisputed star of our team and the team loves him. India of all nations will latch on to this metaphor of harmony as they once fooled themselves into thinking Muslims were fully integrated when Azhar was captain.

I understand that it is much cheaper and faster to train and equip soliders than PR experts. But it is exactly this sort of PR and political effor that both the U.K government and the IRA employed to bring their conflict a close.

Sri Lanka needs to reach out now or it may never get another chance to grab that elusive dove of peace.