India is a self-respecting country jealously guarding her sovereignty. She fought hard for her independence, and recently she has fought attempts to dismember her. The first attempt to dismember India did not arise in the Punjab, Kashmir or Assam. It arose in her south as Tamil chauvinists wanted to carve out a Dravidastan. In pursuit of these aims, Tamil Nadu political parties pursued a campaign of separatism even after independence, as well as an attendent opposition to the unifying official language of Hindi. This Indian Tamil separatism ended with the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Indian Constitution, whereby espousing separatism was banned. Tamil separatism ceased to exist in India.

However, Tamil separatism did not die entirely. It survived in Sri Lanka. Tamil groups in Sri Lanka had always had close ties, going back to the last century, with Indian Tamil separatists and their idealogues. The recent commission of inquiry and the trials in connection with the murder of Rajiv Gandhi amply reveal the connection between Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil separatism. This threat to Indian sovereignty still exists in the form of the LTTE and their Indian and Tamil supporters.

The Indian Government has already recognised this danger. The Gazette Notification of the Indian Government banning the LTTE says, "The LTTE’s objective of a separate homeland for all Tamils disrupts the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and thus falls within the ambit of an unlawful activity" [and] "continues to be an extremely potent terrorist force in Sri Lanka, and is presently one of the deadliest terrorist organisations in the world, having connections in Tamil Nadu". (The Gazette of India Extraordinary No. 300, Thursday May 14^th 1998.)

India has consequently been wary of Sri Lankan separatists. A few years ago, it deported a number of Sri Lankan academics suspected of being LTTE ‘front’ men. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan Government took no action against them when they returned to Sri Lanka. The Indian Government has always been much more vigilant than its Sri Lankan counterpart, or perhaps has greater political will.

But one avowed admirer and keen supporter of the LTTE, with very close links with Tamil nadu, has escaped the notice of the Indian Government. He is Mr. S. Thondaman.

In the pursuit of its aims, the LTTE has killed tens of thousands of people, including its Tamil opponents, Sinhalese and Muslims. Following the example of Hitler’s pogroms, it has ethnically ‘cleansed’ the North of all Sinhalese and Muslims. It has killed the leaders of India and Sri Lanka. It has brutalised a genaration of Tamil children, forcing those as young as ten years to march to their deaths as suicide brigades. It has trained its women cardres, under an Australian nurse, to spear and kill the children of the villages they attack. Their war against the country has directly or indirectly cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

Mr. Thondaman has called for the handing over of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka to be ruled by the LTTE, without even an election. This will be a direct threat to the security of India. The results could make the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi pale into relative insignificance.

Mr. Thondaman regularly visits Tamil Nadu, and if we are to judge him by his words, obviously pursues his support for the LTTE there as well. As such, we believe that his trips to India are a threat to the security of both countries.

We are an organisation committed to the elimination of terrorism and the prevention of further bloodshed. Several of our members have lost their loved ones due to the actions of the LTTE.

We wish to bring the above facts to your immediate consideration. We humbly request you not to grant visas to Mr. Thondaman for the purpose of visiting India, as we believe that these visits assist the LTTE in their campaign of terrorism. If he has already been issued one, we humbly request you to cancel it immediately.

We are also releasing this letter to the media so that the people of our two countries will be made aware of the dangers facing us. We believe this to be in the interests of both India and Sri Lanka.

Aruna Batuvanthudave

(for) NATIONAL MOVEMENT AGAINST TERRORISM