Press Reports say that his visit was aimed at promoting peace. What kind of peace?- I fail to comprehend. The internecine warfare between the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and LTTE ended a good 30 months back, in May 2009. There hasn’t been any major unrest since then. What sort of a peace process is our former president trying to broker?

In a war that had more collateral damage than direct, the SLA wiped out LTTE. News reports indicate that the northern region of Sri Lanka saw Tamilian killings and forced evictions at the hands of the army. In what can only be called a fiendishly orchestrated genocide, the SLA murdered dozens of thousands of innocent Tamils, with the Indian Union Government turning a blind eye. Many European countries including the U.K vehemently condemned Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksha for unleashing a run of terror on his own subjects. What did Dr. Kalam say about this genocide?

During his Presidential stint, scores of Indian fishermen were murdered by the Sri Lankan navy on specious grounds that they ventured into their waters.  If not as an influential Tamilian in office, at least as the President of the world’s second most populous nation, he could have done something to alleviate the miseries of poor fishing folk. If my memory serves me right, he did not do anything great. The former President is no stranger to the ordeal suffered by fishermen. Having born into an impoverished fishing family, Kalam did experience himself all the pain during his early days. However, he never took a concrete stance when it came to the slaying of Tamil fishermen at the hands of Sri Lankan Navy. Also remarkable was his muted silence about the Godhra pogrom. He assumed office barely six months within the riots, riding on the support of the party whose C.M was allegedly behind that national shame. He didn’t utter a single word against the then Union as well as Gujarat governments.

Two and a half years have elapsed since the war got over, yet there hasn’t been any respite to the Sri Lankan Tamils. Sinhalese from the southern parts were relocated to the original Tamil strongholds of north, thereby displacing the locals, condemning them to the sub-human conditions of IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps. By visiting the island nation, Dr. Kalam has no doubt endorsed Rajapaksha and his barbaric acts.

sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13772407

http://www.thehindu.com/news/article2828241.ece

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kalam-proposes-pura-for-lankas-rural-development/223273-3.html

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2009/08/monsoon_miseries_of_manik_farm.html

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2470599.ece

http://groundviews.org/2009/04/17/sri-lankas-idp-camp-manik-farm-is-what-it-is-but-what-is-that/