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JNU student from TN harassed in Lanka

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

When some academics and students from India decided to travel to Colombo in the last week of April, while the war between government troops and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres was raging, they did not expect everything to be peaceful.

It was not.

In fact, it was a nightmare for some, as their linguistic and religious roots played havoc.

Bohra reformist Asghar Ali Engineer was taunted by the orthodox members of his community. They chased him in Bombay and Colombo. The Lankan government virtually detained Engineer at the airport for over six hours, forcing him to maintain secrecy about his movements in Lanka, and finally he was almost smuggled out the country.

For Thirunavukkarasu, a PhD student from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the entry in his passport mentioning 'Tamil Nadu' as his birthplace spelt doom. In the middle of Colombo, he was stripped partially, questioned and left with a warning about what his ethnic identity could bring.

The group had visited Lanka for a summer workshop organised by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo. The 10-day workshop, that began from April 16, was open to students, non-governmental organisation activists and select others under the age of 35. All participants were provided with to and fro flight tickets.

There were eight students from India, three each from Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and seven from Pakistan.

The workshop was held at Kaluthara, where the Kalu Ganga river hits the sea and is an entry point to Colombo district. The institute, whose executive director is a former Indian Army officer, Major General Deepankar Banerjee, has experts from all over South Asia on its governing body.

For this workshop, the institute had invited intellectuals like Engineer and Dr Vandana Asthana of Kanpur and academics like Dr P Saravanamuthu of the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives to lecture participants.

Trouble for Engineer began in Bombay itself, with some members of the Bohra sect trying to stop him from travelling. Once the police succeeded in getting Engineer onto a plane, the sect members alerted their supporters in Colombo. That night, when Engineer landed, he was stopped from leaving the airport.

Bohra leaders in Colombo managed to convince the war-rattled government that Engineer was a communal threat. He was detained at the airport for over six hours and allowed to proceed only after some members of the institute spoke to the authorities.

Engineer's stay in Lanka was then kept a secret. Even then, he got abusive calls at his hotel. This continued throughout his stay.

The seminar, a meet for 'expanding the knowledge and intellectual horizons of students' was a smooth affair. Thirunavukkarasu was among those who presented case studies. He spoke on 'Ethnicity and nationalism in South Asia'.

While most students spent April 26 shopping, Thirunavukkarasu met Dr P Saravanamuthu and Prof Jayadeva Oyangode of Colombo University, who had attended the session.

"I got into an autorickshaw driven by an old man. Dr Saravanamuthu's office was near the Prime Minister's Office, on Flower Road," recalls Thirunavukkarasu. Close to Chandrika Kumaratunga's residence, the security forces stopped them.

"The driver flashed his national identity card. I said I was an Indian. The soldier couldn't comprehend what I said and he walked down to call his officer." Then began the ordeal.

The officer walked up and ordered the JNU scholar to come out of the auto. Thirunavukkarasu got out repeating, "I am an Indian."

"Are you a Tamil?"

A frightened Thirunavukkarasu uttered: "Not exactly."

"I thought I could go. It was a mistake," he confesses.

The officer then asked for the passport and flight tickets, rudely questioning him.

His birthplace was entered as Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in the passport.

The angered the security personnel who started pulling out everything from his bag.

They then began to strip him. In the middle of Colombo's posh area, a few metres from the PM's residence, Thirunavukkarasu stood half-naked in the sun. They took off his belt to check if he was a suicide bomber. The scholar is researching relations between Dravidian movements and Tamil-Muslim organisations in the colonial period.

After prolonged harassment, he was allowed to go. The scholar reached the office of Dr Saravanamuthu. From there, he was smuggled out through a road without roadblocks and checkpoints.

"I was lucky that they did only that. I heard much worse stories."

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