Tsunamis won't stop jihadis

Some security aspects of the widespread tragedy caused by the December 26 tsunamis have not received the attention they deserve.

The first aspect relates to the fact that areas inhabited by ethnic minorities have been very badly affected in the Tamil-majority Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka and in the Car Nicobar area of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India.

The fact that about half, if not more than half, of the fatalities in Sri Lanka are of the Sri Lankan Tamils in these two provinces has not been highlighted either by the Sri Lankan authorities or by the media. Even international media have been focusing their coverage of the tragedy on the areas inhabited by the Sinhalese majority, and there has been very limited coverage of the impact on the Tamil minority.

According to statistics circulated by the websites of pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organizations in the West, 16,656 Tamils have been killed - 14,212 of them in the eastern province and the remaining in the Northern province. More than 18,000 are missing; 18,481, including 13,731 of them in the Eastern province and the remaining in the Northern province.

There is so far no reason to disbelieve these statistics. The LTTE seems to have done a better job of estimating the human loss and material damage in the areas under its control than the government has in the areas under its control, and also in organizing relief and rehabilitation. It has been organizing this with its legendary thoroughness and the motivation of its cadres.

The LTTE alleges that the government has not been paying the same attention to the relief and rehabilitation of the minority Tamils as it has been doing for the majority Sinhalese and that the Tamil minority areas are not getting their fair share of the international assistance flowing in.

Even if one allows for a certain level of disinformation by the LTTE for exploiting the present situation to win back the loyalty of the Tamils of the Eastern province - who had been showing increasing signs of alienation because of the allegedly discriminatory policies of the Northern-dominated LTTE political leadership - the emergence of perceptions even in some sections of the Tamil population that they are being treated as second-class citizens in the matters of relief and rehabilitation would further alienate the Tamils from the Sinhalese and add to the difficulties of finding a negotiated solution to the Tamil problem.

The Andaman and Nicobar island territory of India, which has been the most affected in India, is inhabited by a large number of settlers from mainland India in the Andaman District. The Car Nicobar group of islands, which is less developed and more isolated, despite its strategic importance as a window on Southeast Asia and a watchtower on the Malacca Strait, is largely inhabited by indigenous tribals.

Going by media reports, there seems to be a perception that the relief and rehabilitation measures for the local tribals are not as satisfactory as those for the people from the mainland. While this is due to extraordinary difficulties arising from the isolation of some of the islands and the almost total disruption of shipping transport services for the first few days after the tsunami struck the islands on December 26, there seems to be an unfortunate perception of governmental inadequacy in rushing to the relief of the native tribals.

Taking advantage of this, Western non-governmental organizations (NGOs) seem to be exercising pressure on the government of India to let them go into Car Nicobar to attend to the relief and rehabilitation needs of the tribals. Keeping in view the strategic importance of the area, the government of India has rightly rejected their demands. Its refusal to let them go in would carry conviction with the international community only if it steps up its own efforts on a crash basis. If Western NGOs continue to give sermons to India on its obligation to let them go into Car Nicobar, New Delhi should not hesitate to tell them to first go to the US naval base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to estimate the humanitarian needs of the people there.

The havoc wrought by the tsunami has led to an admirable outpouring of international assistance and sympathy for which the countries of the region have reasons to be grateful. The United Nations should have taken over the leadership of this massive international aid effort. Instead, the United States has taken over the leadership and has reportedly roped in India too as its partner. US naval ships and military personnel have started moving into the affected countries to organize the relief effort. It has been reported that about 1,300 US marines are likely to be deployed in Sri Lanka alone.

India has done well to reject US and Western European offers of assistance. It has enough financial, material and human resources of its own to be able to take care of the relief and rehabilitation needs of its population, whether on the mainland or in the island territory.

The large-scale deployment of highly visible US troops in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand could make them attractive targets for al-Qaeda, the Jemmah Islamiyah and other jihadi terrorist organizations and add to the internal security problems of the affected countries.

It would be wishful thinking to believe that because of the enormous tragedy, the jihadi terrorists will refrain from acts of terrorism in the tsunami-ravaged countries due to a fear that this could antagonize the local population. The tragedy in Thailand has not prevented jihadi terrorists from continuing their acts of terrorism in the Muslim-majority provinces of southern Thailand. They have never cared for public opinion and fears of public revulsion have never been an inhibiting factor for them.

B Raman is additional secretary (retired), cabinet government of India, New Delhi, and currently director of the Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai, and distinguished fellow and convener, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai chapter. E-mail: corde@vsnl.com.

The last 2 paragraphs are the most important:

"The large-scale deployment of highly visible US troops in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand could make them attractive targets for al-Qaeda, the Jemmah Islamiyah and other jihadi terrorist organizations and add to the internal security problems of the affected countries.

"and add to the internal security problems of the affected countries. "

---Could be the major reason why Sri Lanka and Thailand refused the Isreali aid team.

With the billions in food medicine and cash flowing in like there is no tomorrow...the muslims
will be able to really step up the jiihad...

thanks everyone for your refusing to be 'wise as snakes'....but still 'gentle as doves'....

imo

"If Western NGOs continue to give sermons to India on its obligation to let them go into Car Nicobar, New Delhi should not hesitate to tell them to first go to the US naval base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to estimate the humanitarian needs of the people there. "

The line about "humanitarian needs" "in Diego Garcia" is proof positive that merely because some third world native learns to read and write English, there is no reason to assume that said third world native has mastered Western thought processes.

Please note that this pseudo-intellectual was too lazy to even check with good old Google.com (or Free Republic.com) for the actual tsunami damage situation at Diego Garcia.

The reason the NGO's didn't mention Diego Garcia's damage is that there wasn't any.

And the fact that we have a substantial amount of resources there, not to mention that rather large airfield should rapid deployment of resupply material become necessary, should have been obvious to even the dimmest of intellects.

When the attacks start, then its time to get them out. Its like Somalia. I feel sorry for the Somalis who really want US help, but so many others there are too crazy and on drugs. But Somalia is hardly a country, its like a tribe of warring bands. Its like afghanistan was. Indonesia has a gov't that can exert some coercion on the populace. We just have to be careful about where all that aid goes.

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