A right medicine, says Karunanidhi

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JUNE 6. The DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, today defended his Czechoslovakia-type solution to the Sri Lankan crisis, asserting that any ``mutually agreed'' political solution by the parties to the conflict should not pose any danger to India or Southeast Asia.

Lashing out at the ``hasty critics'', Mr. Karunanidhi urged that Sri Lanka end the war. It should hammer out a permanent political settlement agreeable to both sides, one way or the other, as the military option was no acceptable solution.

``It is one thing to sit in a cozy air-conditioned room and affirm that Sri Lanka should not be split, but an altogether different thing to speak bearing ground realities in mind,'' he said in a statement here. ``I realise that a citizen of one country has no right to moot partition of another country, but what is the situation prevailing in Sri Lanka ?'' he asked.

Mr. Karunanidhi hoped that ``ivory-tower theorists'' would come down and see his remarks in their totality. ``How long could the civil war in Sri Lanka continue, how many more should die on both sides and how many thousands should come to Tamil Nadu as refugees?'' he asked. It was in view of these concerns, ``I have been saying that only a political solution will work.'' Asserting that a political solution could involve either a `quasi-federal' or `confederal' set-up devolving more powers to the Tamils there or the Czechoslovakia way, Mr. Karunanidhi maintained that his proposal was based not on any ``linguistic chauvinism'', but on humanitarianism. Sri Lanka could choose from any of the three alternatives to find a permanent political solution, so that peace prevailed in India's backyard.

``This will be a right medicine, even if it is bitter, to permanently cure the plague of ethnic enmity and hatred festering for more than a quarter century,'' he said, adding his proposal only strengthened the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee's recent statement that Sri Lanka should give up its ``anti-Tamil policies''.

Tracing the genesis of the ethnic conflict to a cluster of factors, commencing from the non-honouring of the Bandaranayake- Chelvanayagam pact, the declaration of `Sinhala only' as the official language and the gradual deprivation of educational and job opportunities for the island Tamils, Mr. Karunanidhi said the Tamils had not gone there as ``coolies''. They were among its ``original inhabitants''.

Amidst erosion of basic rights, the island Tamils ultimately found their voting rights also restricted. They initially took to the peaceful Gandhian path, but had to resort to a different method after ``massive repression'' was unleashed on them by the Sri Lankan Government, he said.

Arguing against any interim solution, Mr. Karunanidhi said the clamour for freedom was respected worldwide. Even Britain had solved the centuries-old problem relating to Scotland and Wales by devolving more powers.

Adverting to the hawkish stance of the Buddhist clergy and the reported desertions from the Sri Lankan armed forces, Mr. Karunanidhi said sending ``mercenary forces'' whenever the island Government was in deep trouble would not help in finding a lasting and purposeful solution to the problem.

Mr. Karunanidhi also ridiculed his ``communist friends'' who accused him of indulging in double-talk over this issue. ``I don't belong to a party which changed its policy from even district to district,'' he said.

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