Focus on Indians in Arab jails too

Tamil Nadu has found a distraction from the rather raucously dramatic and on occasion tragic breastbeating over J Jayalalithaa being packed off to jail after being held guilty of corruption Under the new law that has disqualified Lalu Prasad Yadav from contesting elections and holding public office for his role in the infamous fodder scam Jayalalithaa too stands stripped of office and power That understandably is cause for much grief among her fansBut I digress This is not about Jayalalithaa or her current misfortune It is about why Tamil Nadu is in ferment all over again Five Indian fishermen in Sri Lankarsquos custody have been held guilty of smuggling heroin and along with three Sri Lankan nationals presumably their accomplices given the death sentence The judgment of Colombo High Court has led to renewed outpouring of anger among Tamil lsquonationalistsrsquo in Tamil Nadu They are at once outraged and inconsolableFive Indian fishermen in Sri Lankarsquos custody have been held guilty of smuggling heroin and given the death sentence by the Colombo High Court The Government of India has committed itself to trying to secure the repatriation of the convicted men representation PicGetty imagesThe facts which are known and over which therersquos no dispute are simple The five men had sailed forth from Rameswaram in November 2011 ostensibly to fish in the high sea Their boat was intercepted by a Sri Lankan Navy patrol and the men were arrested Subsequently they were charged with smuggling heroin The families of the five men and Tamil lsquonationalistsrsquo who have been waging a relentless campaign against President Mahinda Rajapaksa ever since he decimated the global terrorist organisation called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam insist the men were framedSri Lankan authorities insist that the charges are genuine that the trial was fair and that the five Indians along with three Sri Lankans were given the death sentence in accordance with that countryrsquos law to combat trafficking in narcotics The Indian High Commission in Colombo whose consular officials have been tracking the trial and providing assistance to the Indians has not categorically stated that the trial was unfair or the charges baseless The High Commission has said it will help the convicted Indians contest the verdict in the Supreme CourtSince Tamil lsquonationalistrsquo sentiments transcend party affiliations in Tamil Nadu and politicians are prompt in pandering to those who rage against Sri Lanka both the AIADMK and the DMK have demanded that India should immediately intervene and secure the release of the five convicted men due process of law or sovereign rights of Sri Lanka be damned It has even been posited that India should take a cue from Italy which has been playing ducks and drakes with Indiarsquos justice system to save its marines who killed Indian fishermen off the Kerala coastThe Government of India has committed itself to trying to secure the repatriation of the convicted men A precedent has been found The death sentence given to two Indians in a previous case was commuted to life sentence and they were repatriated to serve time in an Indian jail In the event the Supreme Court upholds the High Court verdict it is hoped the President will commute the death sentence If the verdict is struck down then the task becomes that much easierIt would however be in the interest of Indiarsquos own attempts to combat trafficking in narcotics and transnational organised crime to address two issues First the Government of India should make public its own assessment of the charges against the five convicted men and the trial in Colombo High Court Have the charges been proved Was the trial fair Second the Ministry of External Affairs having committed itself to helping the convicted Indians in Sri Lanka should now make a larger policy announcement That it will henceforth extend all help to Indians arrested for violating the laws of other countries As a first step the Ministry must publish full details of Indians held in prisons in Arab countries the charges against them and the nature of help provided by the government in each case In the event of any Indian being sentenced to death the government must promise to exhibit similar alacrity in rushing to their defenceAnything less than this would suggest that the Government of India continues to be led by its nose on the lsquoTamil issuersquo and is not particularly perturbed by questioning the legitimacy of a sovereign nationrsquos laws Those laws may be repugnant to our sensibilities but that does not invalidate them Sadly we see no difference between poaching in Sri Lankan waters and smuggling drugs till 2009 our fishermen were also smuggling arms and ammunition into that country Yet we wouldnrsquot be so callous and disdainful with say Saudi Arabia What does that tell of us as a nationThe writer is a senior journalist based in the National Capital Region His Twitter handle is KanchanGupta