‘Taste of Humbug, Risk of Danger’

Johnson’s article, though flawed in its premise that British colonialism held in check ethnic warfare, did hit the mark on India’s actions toward settling its own internal communal disputes--the Muslims of Kashmir, the Sikhs of the Punjab, etc. Johnson was also accurate in his descriptions of India’s infringement on the internal problems of neighboring states.

If India has its way in Sri Lanka, as it did in Bangladesh, it will lead only to the creation of more misery. Bangladesh is the blatant example. Not only is “Bengali-nation” an economic disaster, it is a country that has violated every civilized criteria we measure human rights with. It has dealt with its tribal minorities of the Chittagong Hill Tract area by mass slaughter and driving them from their land. It has dealt with its Urdu-speaking minorities by confiscating their homes and herding them into internment camps.

For 15 years Bangladesh has maintained 66 internment camps where currently 300,000 of its Urdu-speaking minorities are kept in such deplorable conditions of squalor that words cannot describe the horror. I have been in 13 of those “Bihari” camps in Dhaka and speak from firsthand viewing of them.

Having seen for myself the results of India’s intervention as well as the hypocritical policy in dealing with its own internal communal problems, we should view the intervention in Sri Lanka with alarm. What we do not need is to divide another already tiny country in that region along ethnic and linguistic lines.

The solution is to allow Sri Lanka to solve its internal problems. The Tamils either must be willing to consider themselves part of that country or face the consequences. Sri Lanka has the right to limit immigration as does any sovereign nation. Sri Lanka also has the right to combat terrorism and secession with force if necessary.

If India is so keen on supporting the creation of a sovereign Tamil state, then let it create it within its own borders.

LORAINE MIRZA

Los Angeles