Ghosts of the past

LTTE supremo Prabhakaran may be dead and gone, but his dream of a separate Tamil eelam lives on. The out-of-power DMK leader M Karunanidhi knows the emotive appeal of the Sri Lankan Tamil demand for a separate homeland. He has revived the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) with an eye on his own and his party's political future.

So when reporters asked the seasoned politician on April 30, the day he chaired a TESO meeting, whether Prabhakaran was alive, he said,''There is no death for warriors."

The so-called fourth Eelam war left almost 40,000 Tamils, including the entire LTTE top leadership, dead. But Tamils around the world haven't given up the fight. Expatriate Tamils are adopting various means to revive the struggle for Tamil eelam even as 9.97 million Tamils in northern Sri Lanka live under the watchful eyes of the 90,000-strong Sri Lankan Army.

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), formed by expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils and others based in Europe and Canada, are now  working to bring Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to book for war crimes before an international court.

In this situation, any voice supporting the Sri Lankan Tamil cause would be music to the ears of Eelam supporters. But Karunanidhi's attempt at revival of TESO has been greeted with scepticism. The DMK supremo had formed TESO in 1985 only to dismantle it later.

This time, the first meeting of the revived avatar of TESO was attended by four members, including DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan and Dravidar Kazhagam chief K Veeramani. Subsequently, a TESO conference has been planned in Vizhuppuram on August 5.

On June 3, Karunanidhi stated, on his 89th birthday, that the August 5 TESO conference would whip up support for a separate eelam for Sri Lankan Tamils. He also said that the conference will be held in co-ordination with Dravidar Kazhagam and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, two pro-DMK outfits.

''The TESO conference organised by Karunanidhi in 1986 in Madurai to project himself as a national leader making use of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It was attended among others by AB Vajpayee, N T Rama Rao, KP Unnikrishnan and Subramaniam Swamy in addition to representatives of various Tamil militant leaders," says Dr V Suryanarayan, a leading  analyst on South Asian affairs.

He adds: "If the objective of TESO was to mobilise all-India support for a separate Tamil eelam, it did not accomplish the purpose. During those years, DMK wanted India to carve out separate eelam through military intervention of the kind resorted to in Bangladesh. However, in the Madurai conference, no national political party supported the DMK stand."

According to Suryanarayan, TESO brought into focus the fact that Karunandihi did not have much clout in
the Tamil military groups. At the end of the conference, an appeal was made  to all Tamil military groups to sink differences to work for a common platform.

As if on cue, LTTE men attacked cadres of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), another prominent Tamil militant group, in Jaffna and killed many, including the organisation's leader Sabarathinam. "TELO and Sabarathinam were really close to Karunanidhi.” recalls Suryanarayan.

Retd Col Hariharan, expert on Sri Lankan affairs, feels that Karunanidhi may have revived TESO because of losing ground among the Tamil diaspora. ''During the 2009 parliament elections, AIADMK chief Jayalalitha made a 'U' turn from her earlier stand and announced that a separate Tamil eelam was the only solution for the Sri Lankan issue. The DMK was outwitted. Karunanidhi, who toed the line of the Indian government at that time as he was in power, is trying to bounce back by raising the Tamil eelam issue now that he is in the Opposition. But the outcome will depend on who aligns with him on this issue and what AIADMK is going to do in this respect.” he says.

''It is due to the failure of Rajapakse to settle the Tamil issue after the war that the demand for a separate eelam has not weakened. The Tamil diaspora is in despair. He should have announced an amnesty and asked expatriate Tamils to return to the country,” adds Col Hariharan.

Recently, following pressure from parties in Tamil Nadu, the Indian government supported a UN human rights resolution moved by US against Sri Lanka. Clearly, India is against a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

DMK might bring some national leaders and organisations on to the TESO platform as it did in 1986. The party has been pressing for a UN-sponsored referendum among Tamils living in Sri Lanka and outside to determine separate statehood.

The sudden revival of the issue by an important coalition partner of UPA could be an embarrassment for the Centre. But TESO is not finding any support among the leading Tamil eelam supporters. Vaiko and Nedumaran have denounced TESO saying that Karunanidhi  failed in 2009 to prevent massacre of Tamils during the end of the war.

But there is a belief that if a party like DMK throws its weight behind the call for a separate state of Tamil Eelam, it could force those who matter to take notice. But the experts TSI spoke  to see little sense in the revival of TESO. ''His demand for a separate state of Tamil Eelam is an indication that the wants to use the issue to stage a political comeback,” says Suryanarayan.

Prof. Ramu Manivannan, head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, Madras University is of the opinion that TESO has no future. ''Karunanidhi wants to use the eelam issue for the future of his political interests. With the bitter experiences of the past, no one will believe Karunanidhi and join TESO."