Who then is a terrorist?

As the end game, involving the lives and well-being of tens of thousands of civilians, is being played out on a tiny sliver of coastal land in Sri Lanka's North, Tamil Nadu's electoral politics is witnessing some strange contortionist feats and crossovers by the leaders of key political parties.

Each of the two main alliances, one led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the other by the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, hosts within it contradictory political positions on the separatist quest for 'Tamil Eelam.'

More materially, each alliance hosts within itself diametrically opposed positions on the character and legitimacy of the LTTE, which has been banned or designated as a terrorist organization by some 30 countries led by India.

Against this murky background, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's characterization, in an interview to NDTV 24x7, of LTTE supremo V. Prabakaran as "my good friend" and "not a terrorist", and his assertion that the terrorism that had regrettably crept into the movement was "not Prabakaran's fault" has stirred up a hornet's nest.

While the Congress has dissociated itself from the stand of its ally, AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister Jayalalitha has posed embarrassing questions to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

As if that were not enough, virtually every party in Tamil Nadu, other than the Congress and the DMK, has faulted the United Progressive Alliance Government for letting the Tamils down. Unlike many of the political leaders, the people of Tamil Nadu have been clear-sighted about Sri Lanka's principal national question.

There are plenty of indications that they are able to differentiate very clearly indeed between the fate of the terrorist LTTE, which they certainly don't want back in Tamil Nadu, and the lives, welfare, and democratic interests of the Sri Lankan Tamils, for whom they have strong feelings of solidarity.

The truth is that after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 by an LTTE squad under direct orders from Prabakaran (who is wanted by India as Accused No. 1 in the case), every government at the Centre and in Tamil Nadu has acted soberly and responsibly on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.

Among other things, they have been of one mind in continuing the ban on a terrorist organization that has carried out a large number of assassinations and massacred scores of innocent people - Tamils, Muslims, and Sinhalese.

It is worth recalling that the DMK Government concurred with the UPA Government on extending the ban on the LTTE for a period of two years from May 14, 2008. As for Chief Minister Karunanidhi's differentiation between the idealistic freedom-fighter Prabakaran, the LTTE's unchallenged supremo, and the "terrorism [that] crept into the outfit," it is like saying that Osama bin Laden is an idealistic Islamist and not a terrorist - but the al-Qaeda is! The Hindu