“ Should the Tamils have equal rights with the majority Sinhalese, and if this is denied, should they have the right to their own autonomous territory, Eelam”.

This argument is the one, the third party or the international community has to answer. Our friend and a great personality, Ron Ridenour has put this clearly in his wonderful article, given below.

When I first read the article, I was shocked by the way this great gentleman, a genuine friend of Tamils mentioned ‘Arumuga Navalar’. Please read his article under the caption, Tamil Eelam and tell your friends also about this site. This appeared in the America’s most popular political ‘News Letter, Counter Punch.’

http://www.counterpunch.org/ridenour11182009.html

Tamil Eelam
By RON RIDENOUR

Sri Lanka—formerly Ceylon, in English, and Serendib in Arabic (which gave rise to the word serendipity)—is commonly referred to as the “pearl of the orient” due to its beauty and wealth of natural resources, flora and fauna. Today, it is a land torn apart by hatred: racist government policies, ethnic cleansing, and terror war just ended albeit continuing in the form of incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Tamil people in the north. A key reason for this brutal hatred is the dispute over whether a minority of its people, the Tamils, should have: equal rights with the majority Sinhalese, and if this is denied (as will be shown it has), should they have the right to their own autonomous territory.

Sri Lanka’s first aborigines with continuous lineage are the Tamil people. It is not precisely known when they came to the island, but perhaps as many as 5000 years ago. Archaeologists date the first humans in Sri Lanka to some 34,000 years. Scientists call them Balangoda people, the name of the location where artifacts were found. These hunting-gathering cave dwellers have no current lineage.

Tamils were also known as proto-Elamites or Ela. These people in Sri Lanka call themselves Eelam Tamils, meaning “earthly people”. Tamils speak a Dravidian language, which has no ties to other language families. It was, perhaps, associated with Scythians and Urals. The Dravidian language and Tamils originated, perhaps, from Sumer and Ur: the “cradle of the first civilization”, now Iran. The Sumer and Tamils formed the first language of proto-grams on clay tablets. Tamil inscriptions and literature are at least 2500 years old. Today, 100 to 200 million people speak Tamil. (9)

The Christian Bible refers to Elam as “maritime nations in various lands, each with a separate language”. (10) In the myth of Noahs Ark, Elam was thought to be a descendant of one of Noah’s three sons on the ark. (11) Tamils were the first to use the wheel for transportation. They traveled to India and the island Sri Lanka, which had been connected to India. The first known manuscripts in India were written in Tamil. Other Tamils inscriptions have been found in Egypt and Thailand.

About 2500 years ago, the first Sinhalese came to Sri Lanka from India. This was hundreds of years after Tamils were settled in the kingdom in the north at Jaffna (Yazhpanam). Sinhalese is, perhaps, a term originating from King Vijayan, who was expelled from the kingdom of Sinhapura in India and arrived in Sri Lanka 543 BC. He and his people engaged in combat with the Tamil aborigines. They established the Kandi and Kottai kingdoms in the central and southern areas.

The Sinhalese are among many ethnic groups who speak an Indo-Aryan language, Pali, believed to have developed in Sindh, Gujarat and Bengal areas about 3000 years ago. They early became practitioners of Buddhism, an off-shot of Hinduism, which is the religion that most Tamils adopted. Buddhism was created by the prince, Siddhartha Gautama, in the 6th century BC. Most Sinhalese adopted Buddhism but some were converted to Christianity, which was first introduced by traders from Syria, in the 1st or 2nd century after Christ.

The Sinhalese and Tamils have distinct ethnic backgrounds, languages and religions. The vast majority of both peoples has always lived in separate regions of Sri Lanka and they have often been at war. The Sinhalese adopted the chauvinistic attitude that their language and religion were the only true ones and they must reign throughout Sri Lanka. All other religions were alien. This notion seems to have originated, or been fortified, by the historical poem Mahavamsa (“Great Chronicle”) written in Pali by the Buddhist monk Mahatera Mahanama. It covers nearly one thousand years of Sinhalese kingdom history in Sri Lanka.

Sinhalese maintain that Sri Lanka must be a Buddhist nation because, they claim, it has been so throughout history—although they count the beginning of national history with Mahanama’s account of the first Sinhalese kingdom of Vijaya, in 543 BC. The fact that Tamil Eelams had kingdoms in Sri Lanka for many hundreds of years is ignored.

When the first Europeans, Portuguese traders, landed in Sri Lanka, in 1505, they encountered three native kingdoms: two Sinhalese kingdoms at Kottai and Kandi, and the Tamils in Jaffna peninsula.  Although the Portuguese were traders, they brought fire power and eventually seized power militarily from the Kottai kingdom. Despite their superior weaponry, it took them decades to defeat the kingdoms at Jaffna and Kandi, yet resistance remained throughout Portuguese occupation. The Portuguese named the island Ceilão, which the English later transliterated as Ceylon.

In 1658, Dutch invaders arrived. The Dutch United East India Company sided with the Kandi resistance to defeat the Portuguese. But when the natives realized the Dutch sought total control, the Kandians organized guerilla warfare. In 1766, the Dutch took sovereignty over the entire coastline but not the entire island where some Tamils and Sinhalese remained independent.

In 1795, the British landed and kicked out the Dutch within a year. They realized there were two separate nations of natives. In June 1796, the British Colonial Secretary, Sir Hugh Cleghorn wrote to his government:

“Two different nations, from a very ancient period, have divided between them the possession of the Island: the Sinhalese inhabiting the interior in its southern and western parts from the river Wallouwe to Chilaw, and the Malabars (Tamils) who possess the northern and eastern districts. These two nations differ entirely in their religion, language and manners.”

It took the Brits a generation to defeat resisting natives. In 1811, they defeated Bandara Vanniyan and his guerrilla resisters in the Tamil Vanni territory. In 1815, the British finally captured the last of the Kandyan kingdom.

The European invaders were only interested in the riches they could steal. They converted the peasant based agricultural economy into an export one. The island was rich in cinnamon and other spices, coconuts and graphite. English colonialists converted much of the land into tea, coffee and rubber plantations.

Religion was used by the colonialists to dominate and pacify the natives. The Portuguese spread Catholicism in an organized manner. Some Tamils and some Sinhalese converted or were forced to convert. Both the Dutch and English continued the process with their Protestant missionaries, yet most natives held onto their beliefs in either Buddhism or Hinduism. Islamism was also introduced by Arab traders.

“Sri Lanka as British-ruled Ceylon was subjected to a classic divide-and-rule.”, wrote John Pilger.

The English had to have their tea so they created tea plantations in the mountainous regions, especially in the center of the country where Sinhalese lived. But Sinhalese would not work them so the Brits “brought Tamils from India as virtual slave labor while building an educated Tamil middle-class to run the colony,” continued Pilger (12). Only a few indigenous Tamils, however, ran anything, but some educated ones took the opportunity to sit on top of the bottom castes.

A hierarchy of “races”, classes and castes was perpetrated among native ethnic groups and new arrivals. In the mid-1800s, English and German scholars adopted an ideology of superiority first based on language and then on race. The English viewed Sinhalese as cousins in the large Aryan family. Brits (and Germans) were the “superior” white Aryans; the Sinhalese lesser Indo-Aryans, and Tamils were the colonialized proletariat, the “black inferior race”. This fit in nicely with the Sinhalese elite notion of superiority, based on their precious book of mythology, Mahavamsa. In the 1870s, a German scholar, Max Muller, writing about language origins, especially Indo-Aryan, first coined the term “Aryan race”—something he later regretted. (13)

Europeans took it for granted that Greek and Latin were superior languages, and they saw affinities with Sanskrit, from which Sinhalese is derived. Given this identity, it was easier for the colonialists to drive a wedge deeper between the indigenous peoples, and all the more so by allowing Sinhalese to own land without having to work the British tea and rubber plantations in the center of the country. The Brits left the aborigine Tamils stay in their homeland in the north and east, but brought between 800,000 and 1.5 million Tamils from India to work the fields; nearly one-fourth died in route. It is estimated that 70,000 Tamil Nadu died on route in the 1840s. Their story parallels that of Africans forced into slavery and brought to the Americas.

Ironically, it was protestant missionaries who contributed greatly to the development of political awareness among Tamils in the north and east, and led to a revival of the Hindu faith as a reaction against Christian domination. We find many examples of this in modern history, such as the increasing interest among Arabs in practicing strict Islamic customs, including separate gender rules, as a reaction to the invasions and occupations of Western imperialism in the Middle-East. Something similar is occurring in Palestine in response to the apartheid enforced by Zionist Jews.

Led by revivalist Arumuga Navalar in the mid-1800s, Tamils in the north and east built their own schools, temples, associations and presses. Literacy was used to spread Hinduism and its principles. Tamils published their own literature and newspapers to counter the ideology-religion of the missionaries. Tamils thought confidently of themselves as a community, thus lending to the legitimacy of their later assertion of the necessity to be treated equally with the Sinhalese or be granted—or take—their own autonomy as Eelam Tamils.

For some of the time that Britain ruled the island different colonial governors recognized equality of the native peoples, yet played one against the other. In 1833, the British mandated the administrative unification of the country while incorporating the different native administrative structures that existed earlier. The new legislative council was composed of three Europeans and one representative from the Sinhalese, the Ceylon Tamils and the Burghers—a Euro-Asian minority, Creole descendants of European colonialists who spoke a mixture of Indo-Portuguese. They had been converted to Protestantism.

Tamil laborers brought from India had no say nor did the few Arab Muslims. Racist Sinhalese massacred many in 1915. In 1930, another hard-working minority, Malayali plantation workers, were attacked by Sinhalese and most fled back to Kerala.

In 1921, the colonialists altered the legislative council so that Sinhalese acquired 13 seats to three for the Tamils. From here on out, Tamils developed a communal consciousness as a minority. In 1931, the Brits changed the rules again by incorporating the notion of universal franchise—one man one vote including for castes. Most Sinhalese opposed this progressive measure, seeking to maintain classes and castes while agreeing to part of the rule allowing them, as the majority, to have a decisive say over the minority Tamils. The issue of representative power-sharing, and not the structure of government, was used by nationalists of both communities to create an escalating inter-ethnic rivalry, which has been the dominant trend since.

Britain’s vacillating ruling strategy throughout their 150 year domination led to sporadic episodes of violence between Sinhalese and Tamils, often expressed as religious conflicts between Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims. More often than not, it was Buddhists who first attacked other ethnic peoples who held other faiths. The Brits often held police on the sidelines.

In the 1930s, and especially during World War II, Sinhalese and Tamils spoke out for independence. Various left-wing parties and coalitions arose, and some conservative groupings as well. Many natives hoped for a German victory over the hated English colonialists.

Tamils struggled to have their language placed on equal terms with Sinhalese, and replace English as the official language. Some Sinhalese leaders agreed but many did not. In 1939, a Tamil leader, G.G. Ponnambalam, spoke against the common Sinhalese notion, taken from the Mahavamsa, that their language should be the only official language and Buddhism the only official religion. Angry at the speech, Sinhalese mobs bashed and killed many Tamils. This time the British stopped the riots, but the roots to the upcoming 26-year long civil war had been laid.

Once WW II ended, the British Empire realized it had to give in to so many native peoples struggling for sovereignty. India won dominion status in 1947, a slight reform until full independence in 1950. The civil disobedience movement led by Mahatma Gandhi had succeeded yet he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist on January 30, 1948. Gandhi sought unity among all Indians, but most Muslims wanted their own State after colonialism. Many Muslims were killed in riots; many lost their homes. Gandhi believed it morally correct for India to compensate them with finances. Many Hindu nationalists opposed this, and it led to his murder.

Great numbers of Hindus in India discriminated against non-Hindus just as Buddhist Sinhalese discriminate against Hindus and Muslims. The percentage of Tamils in Sri Lanka has been reduced from 30% to 12.6%. Tens of thousands have been murdered before and during the recent war, and as many as one million have fled the country, part of a massive Diaspora, like the Jews. (14)

Ron Ridenour has written,”Cuba at the Crossroads”“, “Backfire: The CIA’s Biggest Burn”, Yankee Sandinistas, and many articles about Cuba.

Notes:

9. This condensed history is gleaned from many sources: author Maravanpulavu K. Sachithananthan (tamilnool@gmail.com); Latin American Friendship Association, Tamilnadu, India (mughil@gmail.com ); www.wikipedia.org many articles about Tamil Eelam, Sri Lanka and their histories, religions and languages; www.tamilnation.org/heritage/index.htm and many other sections in this comprehensive Tamil self-determination website. I am uncertain about the exactitude of origins, who came first, specific dates, or how to determine linguistic lineages. The record is unclear. But what is clear is that Sinhalese have judged and treated Tamils as inferior beings.

10. Genesis 10

11. Genesis 5-9

12. John Pilger, “Distant Voices, Desperate Lives”, New Statesman, May 13, 2009.

13. See chapter, “Understanding the Aryan Theory,” by Marisa Angell, a Usamerican Jew. The chapter is part of “Culture and Politics of Identity in Sri Lanka”, edited by Mithran Tiruchelvam and Dattathreya C.S., published by International Center for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1998.

14.Current population statistics of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka—so named since 1978—show a population of 21 million people. 74% (15 million) Sinhalese; 12.6% (2.5 million) Tamil; 7.4% (1.5 million) Moors; 5.2% (1 million) Indian Tamil. 93% of Sinhalese are Buddhists, and the remainder Christian. 60% Tamils are Hindus, 28% are Muslim and 12% Christian.

The release on the 6^th of July under the caption, “Tamil Eelam is too far from God, too close to India for success!” was well received. That is very encouraging!

Let me also call for your attention to have a look at the statement,” AN APPEAL FROM CONCERNED SOUTH ASIAN CITIZENS TO HALT THE MASS MURDER OF TAMILIANS IN VANNI AREA OF SRI LANKA“. Those great learned people addressing Eelam Tamils as ‘Tamilians in Vanni’, that speaks a lot of the Tamil unity and oneness .

Whoever visits this site, also please visit www.srilankacampaign.org, the first site linked to this one.

It is done beautifully and is very elaborate and informative. Youngsters who have very good literacy in computers have to be told about these sites and request them to take this message to their friends.

Today most of us are enlightened. As a human being, we can make mistakes, can be misled but at some point we have to review our actions and correct ourselves.

Below is an timely article written by someone who is very knowledgeable, sincere to our course,  has  rare quality and sees events,  interprets and presents them in an effective way.

ஆயுதக் குழுக்களின் குறுநிலங்கள் - சேரமான்

அணையாத நெருப்பாக கடந்த ஆறு தசாப்தங்களுக்கு மேலாகக் கொழுந்து விட்டெரியும் தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினைக்கு அரசியல் தீர்வை ஏற்படுத்துவதில் இற்றைவரை எந்தவொரு சிங்கள ஆட்சியாளரும் ஆக்கபூர்வமான நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈடுபட்டதில்லை. மாறாக தமிழீழத் தனியரசுக் கோரிக்கையின் அடித்தளமாக விளங்கும் தமிழீழ தாயகம், தேசியம், தன்னாட்சியுரிமை ஆகிய முக்கோட்பாடுகளை சிதைத்து, தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினையை ஒரு சிறுபான்மையினத்தின் பொருண்மியப் பிரச்சினையாக சித்தரிப்பதையே தமது மூலோபாயமாகக் கொண்டு, அரசியல் தீர்வு நாடகங்களை ஒவ்வொரு சிங்கள ஆட்சியாளரும் அரங்கேற்றி வந்துள்ளனர்.

டி.எஸ்.சேனநாயக்காவின் காலத்தில் இருந்து மகிந்த ராஜபக்ச வரை இவ்வாறான மூலோபாயத்தையே மாறிமாறி ஆட்சிக்கட்டிலேறிய சிங்கள ஆட்சியாளர்கள் கையாண்டு வருவது வரலாறு. அரசியல் தீர்வு என்பது ‘இன்ஸ்ரன்ற் நூடில்ஸ் அல்ல (உடனடியாகத் தயாரிக்கக்கூடிய நூடில்ஸ் அல்ல)’ என்று அண்மையில் மகிந்த ராஜபக்ச வெளியிட்ட கருத்தை இதற்கான சமீபத்திய உதாரணமாக நாம் கொள்ள முடியும்.
ஆனாலும் ஏனைய சிங்கள ஆட்சியாளர்களை விட தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினையை மிகவும் நுண்ணியமான முறையில் கையாண்டு, தமிழீழ தேசிய விடுதலைப் போராட்டத்தை மழுங்கடிப்பதற்கான காய்நகர்த்தல்களை மிகவும் நயவஞ்சகமான முறையில் முன்னெடுக்கும் ஒருவராக மகிந்தர் திகழ்வதை, அவரது கடந்த நான்கரை ஆண்டுகால நடவடிக்கைகள் கோடிட்டுக் காட்டுகின்றன: ‘குள்ளநரி’ என்று வர்ணிக்கப்பட்ட ஜே.ஆர்.ஜெயவர்த்தனவின் சூழ்ச்சிகளை விஞ்சும் வகையிலேயே மகிந்தரின் நயவஞ்சக நடவடிக்கைகள் அமைந்துள்ளன.

கடந்த 2006ஆம் ஆண்டு யூலை மாதம் மாவிலாற்றில் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளுக்கு எதிராகப் பெரும்போரை சிங்கள அரசு தொடங்கிய பொழுது, அதற்கு முழுமையான ஆசீர்வாதத்தையும், ஒத்துழைப்பையும் மேற்குலகம் வழங்கியிருந்த பொழுதும், யுத்தத்தில் சிங்கள அரசு ஈட்டக்கூடிய வெற்றி, எதிர்காலத்தில் இனப்பிரச்சினைக்கு அரசியல் வழியில் தீர்வு காண்பதற்கான வாய்ப்புக்களை இல்லாதொழித்துவிடக்கூடும் என்பதையும் ஓரளவுக்கு மேற்குலகம் புரிந்து கொண்டிருந்தது.

சிங்களப் படைகளுக்கு பெரும் இழப்புக்களை ஏற்படுத்தும் வகையில் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் தாக்குதல்களை நிகழ்த்திய ஒவ்வொரு சந்தர்ப்பங்களிலும், ‘இனப்பிரச்சினைக்கு படைவழியில் தீர்வு காண முடியாது’ என்றும், ‘அரசியல் தீர்வின் ஊடாக இனப்பிரச்சினைக்கு நிரந்தரத் தீர்வை ஏற்படுத்த முடியும்’ என்றும், ஒற்றைப் பல்லவியை மேற்குலக சமூகம் பாடிவந்தது. தமது படைவலிமையின் ஊடாக சிங்களத்தின் படைய – பொருண்மிய இயந்திரங்களை தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் நெருக்கடிக்குள் இட்டுச்சென்ற பொழுதும், இனப்பிரச்சினைக்கு அரசியல் தீர்வு காணப்பட வேண்டியதன் அவசியத்தை இந்தியாவிற்கும் சரி, மேற்குலகிற்கும் சரி அடிக்கடி உணர்த்திய முதன்மை சக்தியாக தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் படைவலிமையே திகழ்ந்துள்ளது.

முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் போருடன் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் படைவலிமை பின்னடைவுக்கு ஆளாகிய பின்னர், தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினைக்கு அரசியல் தீர்வை ஏற்படுத்துவதற்கு மேற்குலகமும் சரி, இந்தியாவும் சரி பிரயோகிக்கும் அழுத்தங்கள், சகட்டு மேனிக்கு வெளிப்படுத்தப்படும் கண்துடைப்பு நடவடிக்கைகளாகவே திகழ்கின்றன. கடந்த 1995ஆம் ஆண்டு சந்திரிகா குமாரதுங்கவுடனான பேச்சுவார்த்தைகள் முறிவடைந்த பொழுது, ஒரு அரைமரபுப் படையாகவே தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் அமைப்பு விளங்கியது.

அக்காலகட்டத்தில் தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினையின் அடிப்படைக் கோட்பாடுகளைப் புறந்தள்ளி சந்திரிகா குமாரதுங்க முன்வைத்த அதிகாரப் பரவலாக்க (Devolution of pouuer) தீர்வு யோசனையை ஒப்புவிக்கும் கருத்துக்களையே மேற்குலக சமூகம் வெளியிட்டு வந்தது. எனினும் 1999ஆம் ஆண்டின் இறுதியில் முழுமையான மரபுவழிப் படையாக தமது வலிமையை தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் வெளிப்படுத்திய பொழுது, களயதார்த்தத்தைப் புரிந்து கொண்ட மேற்குலகம், அதன் பின்னர் ஒருபடி மேலேசென்று அதிகாரப் பரவலாக்கத் தீர்வுப் பல்லவியைக் கைவிட்டு, சமஸ்டி (feederalism) முறையிலான தீர்வு யோசனையை வலியுறுத்தி வந்தது.

தற்பொழுது படைவழியில் முழுமையான மேலாதிக்கத்தை சிங்களம் செலுத்தும் நிலையில், சமஸ்டியை விட்டுக் கீழிறங்கி, அதிகாரப் பரவலாக்கத்தில் இருந்தும் பலபடிகள் சறுக்கி விழுந்து, உப்புச்சப்பற்ற அதிகாரப் பகிர்வு (power sharing) வழியிலான தீர்வு யோசனையை மேற்குலகமும், இந்தியாவும் வலியுறுத்தி வருகின்றன. இந்த மெய்யுண்மையை நன்குபுரிந்து கொண்டிருக்கும் மகிந்தர், ஒருபுறம் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் போராட்டம் மீண்டும் வீரியம்கொண்டு எழுச்சி பெறுவதற்கான புறநிலையை இல்லாதொழிப்பதற்கான எதிர்புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகளை முடுக்கிவிட்டவாறு, மறுபுறம் உள்ளிருந்து எழும் தீர்வு (Home-grown soluution) என்ற கோசத்துடன் மேற்குலகைத் திசைதிருப்பி ‘இலவு பார்த்த கிளி’யின் நிலைக்கு இட்டுச்செல்லும் நடவடிக்கைகளை கனக்கச்சிதமாக அரங்கேற்றி வருகின்றார்.

இதன் விளைவாக தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினைக்கான தீர்வாக கட்டப் பஞ்சாயத்து முறையை எதிர்காலத்தில் மகிந்தர் முன்வைத்தாலும் ஆச்சரியப்படுவதற்கில்லை. இந்தியப் பேரரசின் திரைமறைவு அனுசரணையுடன் மகிந்தர் முன்னெடுக்கும் இந்த நாடகத்தில், ஏற்கனவே அவரது இரண்டு கண்களாக விளங்கும் டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா, கருணா போன்றோருக்கு மேலதிகமாக, தனது நெற்றிக்கண்ணாக கே.பி என்றழைக்கப்படும் செல்வராசா பத்மநாதனையும் மகிந்தர் இணைத்துள்ளார். இதேபோன்று, ஏறத்தாள மூன்று தசாப்தங்களாக இந்தியாவில் அஞ்ஞாதவாசம் புரிந்த செல்வநாயகம் சந்திரகாசன், இரண்டு தசாப்தங்களாக ஒரிஸ்ஸாவில் ஒளிந்து வாழ்ந்த வரதராஜப் பெருமாள் போன்றோர், இந்தியாவின் நிகழ்ச்சித்திட்டத்திற்கு அமைய தற்பொழுது நாடுதிரும்பி மகிந்தரின் அரசியல் நாடகத்தில் இணைந்து கொண்டுள்ளனர்.
ஒருபுறம் தனது தாளத்திற்கு ஆடும் ‘தமிழ்த் தேசிய’ மூலாம்பூசப்பட்ட கைப்பொம்மையாக தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பை மாற்றியமைத்திருக்கும் இந்தியா, மறுபுறம் அதனை சமநிலைப்படுத்தும் வகையில் தமிழ் அரசியல் கட்சிகள் பேரவை என்ற அமைப்பை தற்பொழுது நிறுவியுள்ளது. சிறீலங்கா துணைப்படைக் குழுக்களான ஈ.பி.டி.பி, புளொட், பிள்ளையான் குழு போன்ற ஆயுதக் குழுக்களும், ஆனந்த சங்கரியின் தமிழர் விடுதலைக் கூட்டணி, மனோ கணேசனின் சனநாயக மக்கள் முன்னணி, சிவாஜிலிங்கம்-சிறீகாந்த தலைமையிலான தமிழ் தேசிய விடுதலைக் கூட்டமைப்பு போன்ற கட்சிகளும், செல்வநாயகம் சந்திரகாசனின் அணியினரும் இந்தப் பேரவையில் அங்கம் வகிக்கின்றனர்.

இதில் கே.பி, கருணா போன்றோரை இணைத்துக் கொள்வதற்கு டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா முற்பட்ட பொழுதும், சித்தார்த்தன், ஆனந்தசங்கரி, மனோ கணேசன் போன்றோரின் ஆட்சேபனை காரணமாக இந்த முயற்சி கிடப்பில் போடப்பட்டிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது. இதேநேரத்தில் தம்மிடம் சரணடைந்து தமது எதிர்ப்புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கு ஒத்துழைப்பு வழங்கி வரும் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் முன்னாள் உறுப்பினர்களைக் கொண்ட ஆயுதக் குழு ஒன்றை கே.பி தலைமையில் உருவாக்கி, அதனை அரசியல் கட்சியாக பதிவு செய்வதற்கான நடவடிக்கைகளில் மகிந்தர் ஈடுபடுவது தொடர்பான தகவல்கள் தற்பொழுது அரசல்புரசலாகக் கசியத் தொடங்கியுள்ளன.

ஏற்கனவே புலம்பெயர்வாழ் தமிழீழ மக்களிடையே குழப்பத்தை ஏற்படுத்தி அவர்களின் உளவுறுதியை சிதறடிக்கும் நாசகார பரப்புரை நடவடிக்கைகளில் கடந்த ஓராண்டாக கே.பி குழுவினர் ஈடுபட்டு வரும் நிலையில், மீண்டும் தமிழீழ தாயகத்தில் ஆயுதப் போராட்டம் தலைதூக்குவதை தடுத்து நிறுத்துவதற்கான யுக்தியாக, தற்பொழுது வடதமிழீழப் பகுதிகளில் கே.பியின் கட்டுப்பாட்டின் கீழ் இயங்கக்கூடிய ஆயுதக் குழுவை களமிறக்குவதற்கு மகிந்தர் தயாராகுவதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது. கோத்தபாய ராஜபக்ச, பசில் ராஜபக்ச ஆகியோரின் ஏற்பாட்டில் இது தொடர்பாக கடந்த சில நாட்களுக்கு முன்னர் டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா, தர்மலிங்கம் சித்தார்த்தன், கே.பி ஆகியோருக்கு இடையில் பேச்சுவார்த்தை ஒன்றும் இடம்பெற்றிருப்பதாக தகவல்கள் வெளியாகியிருக்கின்றன.

இதனை முழுமனதாக டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா ஏற்றுக் கொண்டுள்ள பொழுதும், இதனை ஏற்றுக் கொள்வதற்கு சித்தார்த்தன் தயக்கம் காட்டியிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது.
ஏற்கனவே தென்தமிழீழத்தை கருணா, பிள்ளையான் ஆகிய இரு துணைப்படைக் குழுக்களிடம் ‘குறுநிலங்களாகப்’ பங்குபோட்டு, தனது எதிர்ப்புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகளை முன்னெடுத்து வரும் சிங்களம், அதே பாணியில் வடதமிழீழத்தை ஈ.பி.டி.பி, புளொட் ஆகிய இரு குழுக்களிடமும் பங்குபோட்டுள்ளது. இதில் வன்னிப் பெருநிலப்பரப்பின் தென்புலப் பகுதிகள் புளொட் குழுவின் ‘குறுநிலமாகவும்’, யாழ்ப்பாணக் குடாநாடு ஈ.பி.டி.பி குழுவின் ‘குறுநிலமாகவும்’ மாற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது.

ஒருபுறம் தமிழீழ தாயகப் பகுதிகள் தோறும் சிங்களக் குடியேற்றங்களை நிறுவித் தனது ஆயுதப் படைகளைப் பரவவிட்டிருக்கும் சிங்களம், மறுபுறம் தமிழீழ மக்களிடையே சமூக விரோத செயல்களையும், தமிழ்த் தேசவிரோத சிந்தனைகளையும் தூண்டிவிடும் நோக்கத்துடன் தமிழீழ தாயகப் பகுதிகளை ஆயுதக் குழுக்களின் குறுநிலங்களாகத் துண்டாடும் நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈடுபட்டு வருகின்றது. இதில் குறிப்பாக வன்னிப் பெருநிலப்பரப்பின் வடபகுதிகளையும், யாழ்ப்பாணக் குடாநாட்டையும் கூட்டாக குறுநிலங்களாக குத்தகைக்கு எடுப்பதற்கான இணக்கப்பாடு, டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தாவிற்கும், கே.பியிற்கும் இடையில் ஏற்பட்டிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது.

முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் போரின் பொழுது புதுமாத்தளன் பகுதியில் இருந்து தப்பியோடி சிங்களப் படைகளிடம் சரணடைந்த தயா மாஸ்ரர் போன்றோர் இதில் முக்கியமான பாத்திரத்தை வகிப்பதாக கூறப்படுகின்றது. தற்பொழுது வடமராட்சியில் சுதந்திரமாக நடமாடும் தயா மாஸ்ரர், ஈ.பி.டி.பியின் பாதுகாப்புடன் கட்சிப் பரப்புரைகளில் ஈடுபடுவதாக அங்கிருந்து கிடைக்கும் தகவல்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. இதேபோன்று கே.பி – டக்ளஸ் அணியின் அனுசரணையுடன் தடுப்பு முகாம்களில் இருந்து விடுவிக்கப்பட்ட தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் முன்னாள் ஊடகப் பணியாளர்கள் சிலரும், மூத்த ஊடகவியலாளர்களும் தற்பொழுது கே.பி குழுவிற்கான பத்திரிகை ஒன்றைத் தொடங்குவதற்கான முயற்சிகளில் ஈடுபட்டிருப்பதாக தகவல்கள் வெளியாகியுள்ளன.
கடந்த 1980களின் நடுப்பகுதியில் தமிழீழத்திலும், பின்னர் இந்தியாவிலும் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் மூத்த உறுப்பினராக செயற்பட்ட கே.பி, டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தாவுடன் நெருங்கிய தொடர்புகளைப் பேணிவந்திருந்தார். சமூக விரோத நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈ.பி.ஆர்.எல்.எவ் குழு ஈடுபட்ட பொழுது, அதற்கு எதிராக நடவடிக்கை எடுப்பதற்கு தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் மூத்த தளபதிகள் முற்பட்ட பொழுது, தனது நண்பரும், அப்பொழுது ஈ.பி.ஆர்.எல்.எவ் குழுவின் இராணுவத் தளபதியாகவும் விளங்கிய டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தாவைக் காப்பாற்றுவதற்காக, அதனை கே.பி கடுமையாக ஆட்சேபித்திருந்தார்.

முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் போருக்குப் பின்னரான இரண்டு வார காலப்பகுதியில், தனது பால்ய நண்பர்கள் சிலருடன் நேரடியாகவும், தொலைபேசியிலும் கலந்துரையாடிய கே.பி, இனிப் புதிய பாதையில் தான் பயணிக்கப் போவதாகவும், மாவீரர் நாள் என்பது தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் போராளிகளுக்கும், தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் நேச அமைப்புக்களைச் சேர்ந்த போராளிகளுக்குமான நினைவு நாளாக மட்டுமன்றி, சகல இயக்கங்களையும் சேர்ந்த ‘தோழர்களுக்கான’ நினைவு நாளாக மாற்றப்பட வேண்டும் என்று வலியுறுத்தியதோடு, மாவீரர் நாளை நவம்பர் 27இல் இருந்து வேறொரு நாளிற்கு மாற்றியமைப்பது தொடர்பான யோசனையையும் முன்மொழிந்திருந்தார்.

இதேபோன்று, முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் போரின் இறுதிக்கட்டங்களிலும், அதன் பின்னரும் டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தாவுடன் நெருங்கிய தொலைபேசித் தொடர்பாடலில் கே.பி இருந்ததாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது. இவ்வாறாக, ஒருபுறம் ‘இன்ஸ்ரன்ற் நூடில்ஸ்;’ பற்றிப் பேசிக் கொண்டு அரசியல் தீர்வு நாடகத்தை அரங்கேற்றியவாறு, மறுபுறம் தமிழீழ தாயகத்தை ஆயுதக் குழுக்களின் குறுநிலங்களாகத் துண்டாடியும், புலம்பெயர்வாழ் தமிழீழ மக்களிடையே குழப்பத்தை ஏற்படுத்தியும், தமிழீழ தேசிய விடுதலைப் போராட்டத்தை நிரந்தரமாக சிதைக்கும் இலக்குடன் தனது எதிர்ப்புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கான காய்நகர்த்தல்களை மகிந்தர் முன்னெடுத்து வருகின்றார்.

இவற்றின் நடுநாயகமாக விளங்கும் கே.பியை நியாயப்படுத்துவதற்கு அவரது குழுவினரும், அவர்களின் ஊடகங்களும் முற்படுவது இதில் நகைப்புக்கிடமானது. ஈழத்தமிழினத்தை ஏமாந்த சோணகிரிகளாக நினைத்து, புலம்பெயர் தேசங்களில் கே.பியால் இயக்கப்படும் இந்தக் ‘காகிதப்புலிகள்’ நிகழ்த்தும் அறிக்கைப் போர் இதிலும் எள்ளிநகையாடலுக்கு உரியது.

நன்றி:ஈழமுரசு

]]> http://www.shadeonweb.com/%e0%ae%86%e0%ae%af%e0%af%81%e0%ae%a4%e0%ae%95%e0%af%8d-%e0%ae%95%e0%af%81%e0%ae%b4%e0%af%81%e0%ae%95%e0%af%8d%e0%ae%95%e0%ae%b3%e0%ae%bf%e0%ae%a9%e0%af%8d-%e0%ae%95%e0%af%81%e0%ae%b1%e0%af%81/feed/ http://www.shadeonweb.com/the-death-of-over-700-tamils-in-the-last-3-4-days-alone/ http://www.shadeonweb.com/the-death-of-over-700-tamils-in-the-last-3-4-days-alone/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:33:54 +0000 admin http://www.shadeonweb.com/?p=274 From the Editor’s Desk (Tuesday 06 July 2010)

“Tamil Eelam is too far from God, too close to India for success!”, consolingly concluded, a highly respected Journalist. This is the situation today.

Almost twenty years ago, the LTTE said,” Eelam Tamils have been looking upon Kalaignar as the only person who would rescue them from the woes and sufferings they have been undergoing at the hands of the Sri lankan army and now under the Indian army” (Tamil Voice International of 15th February 1989).

Appreciating the merits of these views let us see what Eelam Tamils of today, say of India. Some is of the view that India is the sole hope and only India can help us. Others say that India is the course of all the troubles and we all must learn to hate India.

PFLT works with the Right people and our sole aim is to win Eelam, our motherland.

Looking back, the year 2009 turned out to be the worst period, during which we lost our military strength! But the blessing in disguise is that the world is enlightened and the new nation of Tamil Eelam is there for us to take. Let us work with the Right people and make our task easy.

Now I am taking you all down our memory lane, a nasty exercise, so that we could remember the horrible days, our people in Vanni suffered and the demise of our great warriors, Thurka, Vithusa, Sornam, Banu and many others. We expatriates did street protests and all sort of desperate acts to draw the attention of the International Community in vain!

During that period, exactly on 10th April, 2009 an appeal from concerned South Asian citizens to ‘Halt the mass murder of Tamilians in Vanni area’, was made to Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, Navaneetham Pillai, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India.

In order to stress the importance of this appeal and to realize the great heartedness of these great personalities ,let me quote these high points;

“We are extremly concerned over reports that the Sri Lankan Government is using banned and illegal explosives, including bombs with possible chemical and nerve gases. More specifically there are serious apprehensions that ‘thermobaric’ bomb - a bomb that uses a fuel-air explosive capable of creating over-pressures equal to an atomic bomb, has been used, in this mass killing.”

Further, the appeal says,” It is very important that the truth about the actual use of these horrible weapons have been used, the IC should immediately initiate prosecution of the highest functionaries of the Sri Lankan state and the Government of the country that supplied these bombs for commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” The irony of the situation is that these great personalities, didn’t know at all that the Government of India did all that and is now in a pathetic situation like the proverbial monkey who dared to remove the peg from the half sawn timber. Indian government is different foom peoples of India, Tamils or non- Tamils.

AN APPEAL FROM CONCERNED SOUTH ASIAN CITIZENS TO HALT THE
MASS MURDER OF TAMILIANS IN VANNI AREA OF SRI LANKA

10th April, 2009
To
Hon’ble Mr. Ban Ki Moon
Secretary General
UN Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
United States of America
Hon’ble Ms Navi Pillay
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais Wilson
52 rue des Pâquis
CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland
Press-Info@ohchr.org
Hon’ble Shri Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi
India-110 011
Telephone: +91 11 2301 2312
Fax: +91 11 2301 9545 or +91 11 2301 6857
http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm
Sub: PREVENT THE VANNI FROM BECOMING THE GRAVEYARD OF 180,000
TAMILS!
We, Citizens of South Asia, are writing to express our serious concern about reports of mass deaths
of Sri Lankan Tamils trapped in a small geographical area of the Vanni region in northern Sri Lanka
in the weekend of 5th April, 2009. News reports in both the electronic as also print media, (7th
April, 2009) have reported the death of over 700 Tamils in the last 3-4 days alone, with only a
section of them being identified as LTTE cadres, meaning thereby that a large number of those
killed are civilians trapped in the area.
For several weeks, we have expressed our concern to a variety of national and international
authorities about the imminent massacre in case the Sri Lankan Government launches an all-out
assault. In fact we pointed out that the possibilities of almost close to 150-180,000 Tamilians dying
in the onslaught was not just conjecture but most probable. We also pointed out that the Sri Lankan
Government had been dangling the fruits of its declared `war on terror’ as the `final victory’ -
meaning thereby the annihilation of the LTTE and its top leadership - and that the Government was
pushing for the final solution before the soon-to-ensue Sinhala New year day falling on 14th April,
2009. And if several thousand Tamilians were to die, it was the price which had to be paid.
Memorandum to the UN Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens
Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens to halt the mass murder of Sri Lankan
Tamils in the Vanni Area of North Sri Lanka, 10th April, 2009.
2
Our worst fears are turning true. The sheer scale of artillery and explosive attacks and the massive
deaths of Tamils points out to the grave situation of the Vanni region becoming the graveyard for
the annihilation of thousands of Tamil civilians.
Most unfortunately the rest of the world remains silent, unconcerned and uninvolved. Those
countries who do raise concerns are immediately dubbed as `LTTE supporters’ by the Sri Lankan
Government which does not brook any comment, howsoever mild it may be. Any mention of a
ceasefire is considered by Sri Lankan officials as an unfriendly act and dubbed as interference in
their sovereignty. The Sri Lankan Government also never tires of repeating that their fight is a
principled fight against terror and that if at all there is any blame, it rests only with the LTTE. It is
their consistent claim that all allegations of human rights abuse by the state and its agents are
nothing but propaganda of the LTTE and that all those who repeat it have been influenced by the
LTTE.
So vicious is the attack by the Sri Lankan state on anyone daring to even remotely raise issues of
human rights concerns, that none have been spared the vicious and vituperative barrage of verbal
assault and name calling. From Louise Arbor, the former UN High Commissioner for Human rights,
the highest UN official in charge of human rights in the world body, to UN Special Rapporteur on
Extra Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Philip Alston, everyone has been treated as
terrorists themselves, without even the modicum of respectability of being `terrorist supporters’. The
brazen and insulting manner by which Sri Lankan authorities have attacked any person or agency
seeking accountability of the Sri Lankan Government to human rights standards can be gauged by
the fact that several British Parliamentarians were forced to take up the issue of being branded
terrorists by the Sri Lankan officials in a debate in the UK House of Commons!
The reality is that the Sri Lankan Government has utilised the `war on terror’ as a cover to
systematically destroy all democratic processes and institutions in Sri Lanka. While retaining the
facade of democracy, the government has turned the state into a terror apparatus, crushing not just
the Tamils, but also others challenging its actions. As a result, numerous non-Tamil, Sinhalese
citizens have also fallen prey to the Sri Lankan terror state. Journalists have been the major targets
with 19 journalists, both Tamil and Sinhala being killed in the last 2 years, over 35 exiled, driven
away from the country or silenced, and numerous publications closed down. The assassination of
Lasantha Wickramathunge, Editor of Sunday Leader, a widely respected Sri Lankan weekly in
January highlights the fate of anyone challenging the ruling dispensation.
Unfortunately the Sri Lankan Government cannot hide its record of terror as respected and expert
UN bodies have investigated and brought out reports about different aspects of the breakdown of
democratic and judicial systems. The May, 2008 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Philip Alston, and the February, 2008 report of the
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Inhuman, Cruel or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, Manfred Nowak highlight the systematic way by which rule of law has been replaced
with `rule of impunity’ in Sri Lanka.
Recently, on 9th February, 2009, 10 top UN Experts issued a statement sharing the deep concern of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights over the rapidly deteriorating conditions
facing civilians in the Vanni region and the significant number of civilian casualties. They also
deplored the restrictions on humanitarian access to conflict areas which heightens the ongoing
Memorandum to the UN Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens
Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens to halt the mass murder of Sri Lankan
Tamils in the Vanni Area of North Sri Lanka, 10th April, 2009.
3
serious violations of the most basic economic and social rights. Importantly they pointed out:
“Notwithstanding the severity of the abuses in areas of conflict, the Experts wish to highlight
that the problem is deeper and more endemic. The conflict deflects attention from the impunity
which has been allowed to go unabated throughout Sri Lanka. The fear of reprisals against victims
and witnesses, together with a lack of effective investigations and prosecutions, has led to a circle of
impunity that must be broken. The Experts continue to receive disturbing reports of torture, extrajudicial
killings and enforced disappearances throughout the country1″.
This is the character of the Sri Lankan state which is carrying on an attack of genocidal proportions
confident that no power on earth can restrain or contain it. It is important therefore that as world
citizens, we raise our voices of concern and demand that the UN and other governments, including
the Government of India, respond more directly and forcefully, to call for a cessation of hostilities
and an end to the war.
We are extremely concerned over reports that the Sri Lankan government is using banned and
illegal explosives, including bombs with possible chemical and nerve gases. More specifically
there are serious apprehensions that thermobaric bomb - a bomb that uses a fuel-air explosive
capable of creating overpressures equal to an atomic bomb – has been used in this mass killing.
Survivors of the cleansing that took place over the weekend have gone on record saying that the
bombings over the weekend by the Sri Lankan army were different in that the bombs and explosives
caused widespread and serious internal injuries indicating the probable use of such explosives
which would rain mass deaths in a wide region around the place where the bombs explode. These
stories have sparked widespread concern, anger and frustration amongst families of diaspora Tamils
as also amongst concerned world citizens in Tamil Nadu and other parts of the world.
The charge that the Sri Lankan government used banned and illegal chemical explosives cannot be
rubbished or pooh-poohed as conjectures, given the long track record of Sri Lanka security forces
using the banned cluster bombs and engaging in aerial targeted bombings of civilian areas which
are banned under the Geneva Conventions. Across the world there is a tremendous outpouring of
anguish and agony amongst the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora at the prospects that surviving Tamil
civilians will be mass annihilated through the use of weapons of mass killing. It is therefore very
critical that the UN urgently intervene and seriously restrain the Sri Lankan Government from using
banned and illegal explosives and weaponry, including explosives using chemical, nerve and
biologically destructive materials. It should be noted that the Sri Lankan Government has never
denied the use of cluster bombs.
It is very important that the truth about the actual use of these ‘weapons of mass destruction’
including thermobaric bombs be independently verified and its source of supply identified. If
indeed these horrific weapons have been used, the international community should immediately
initiate prosecution of the highest functionaries of the Sri Lankan state and the Government of the
country that supplied these bombs for commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
1
http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/336663129F8B047CC1257558005525C6?OpenDoc
ument @ 18 Feb 2009
Memorandum to the UN Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens
Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens to halt the mass murder of Sri Lankan
Tamils in the Vanni Area of North Sri Lanka, 10th April, 2009.
4
The unimaginable anguish of the global diaspora of families of the 150,000 Tamils caught in the
Vanni needs to be settled with independent verification of the nature of weapons and explosives
used in the recent mass killings. That is the least that those who perished in the brutal assault of last
week deserve. And if indeed, banned or illegal chemical or other agents have been used, the
international community should initiate necessary humanitarian interventions including prosecution
of the highest functionaries of the Sri Lankan Government for commission of war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
We, as world citizens, would also like to point out that the humanitarian crisis has been made worse
because the Sri Lankan Government has banned independent observers of UN agencies, the ICRC
and other independent institutions from operating in the war zone. IT IS IN THE ABSENCE OF
INDEPENDENT REPORTING FROM THE AREA THAT PEOPLE HAVE TO DEPEND ON
INFORMATION FROM UNVERIFIED SOURCES. It is of utmost importance that independent
observers are sent both to monitor the war as also to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the area.
The innocent Tamil civilians have been living a precarious life without food, water and health
supplies for the last 8-10 weeks. Emaciated, starved, severely malnourished and seriously injured,
the women, children, aged persons and remaining men are already dying. They deserve the
protection that can be offered by concerned world citizens who by demanding an end to the war will
also be asserting a chance for these innocent men, women and children to live.
It is important that saner voices around the world get together and call the bluff of the Sri Lankan
Government. Despite its arrogant stance of not being bothered, the Sri Lankan Government cannot
afford to anatagonise world community, especially when it is seeking to obtain funds from the IMF
and the World Bank for a tranche of $ 1.9 billion, partly to offset the economic costs of the war. As
world citizens we need to ask all the National Governments to oppose all forms of financial aid to
Sri Lanka until it ceases the war against its own citizens and ensures humanitarian aid and relief to
be reached to the suffering thousands caught up in the Vanni region.
As citizens of the world, we therefore demand that the UN and the International Community
immediately intervene to ensure immediate cessation of the brutal and savage war in the Vanni
region of Sri Lanka and ensure immediate humanitarian relief to the suffering thousands caught in
the middle of the war. In any case, even by the Sri Lankan government’s account, almost the entire
top hierarchy of the LTTE has been eliminated and all the land is now under their control. There can
be no justification in carrying on the war any longer.
As citizens of the world, we would also demand that there be an independent monitoring of the
Camps where civilians are being lodged and that independent observers, including from the free
media both Sri Lankan and outside be permitted to visit the region and collect accounts from
people.
Of still greater importance is that urgent medical supplies be reached to the area with permission for
doctors and medical personnel so that they can provide urgent humanitarian medical assistance.
These measures can brook no delay. The difference would be between dying in war or dying in a
war zone – neither is going to help people to survive.
We also ask of the Indian Government to use its moral influence to persuade Sri Lanka to give up
its belligerent and abusive attacks on anyone raising humanitarian concerns regarding the crisis in
Memorandum to the UN Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens
Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens to halt the mass murder of Sri Lankan
Tamils in the Vanni Area of North Sri Lanka, 10th April, 2009.
5
the Vanni region and to seriously consider cessation of hostilities. Despite the realities of an election
process, the Indian Government has a higher moral duty to ensure the safety and survival of
thousands of innocent Tamils caught in the middle of a war over which they have no control. India,
as the land of Gandhi, cannot shirk its ethical and moral duty to ensure immediate end of the war
and safety and security of Tamils.
As citizens of South Asia, we therefore demand that the UN and the International Community,
effectively intervene to ensure immediate cessation of the brutal and savage war in Sri Lanka and
ensure immediate humanitarian relief to the suffering thousands caught in the middle of the war. We
also call upon the Governments in the South Asian region, viz., the Government of India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives to intervene forcefully to stop the genocidal war that
threatens peace not just in Sri Lanka, but in all of South Asia.
Tapan Bose Pushkar Raj, General Secretary,
People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), India
Endorsed by:
K.G.. Kannabiran, National President, PUCL, Hyderabad
Justice Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court
Arundhati Roy, Journalist, New Delhi
Pamela Philipose, Women’s Feature Service, New Delhi
Swami Agnivesh, Social Activist, New Delhi
Prof. Amit Bhaduri, Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Rt Rev. P J Lawrence, Bishop of Church of South India, Diocese of Nandyal, AP
Praful Bidwai, Columnist, New Delhi
Sumit Chakravorty, Editor, Mainstream Weekly, New Delhi
Rita Manchanda, South Asia Forum for Human Rights, Nepal
Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy, School of International Studies and President, JNU Teachers
Association, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Ernest Deenadayalan, Bangalore
Pradip Prabhu, Kashtakari Sanghatana, Dahanu/Mumbai
Prashant Bhushan Advocate, Supreme Court, New Delhi
M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd), Chennai
Sukumar Murlidharan, Journalist, New Delhi
Rev. Dhyanchand Carr, Madurai
Henri Tiphagne, People’s Watch, Madurai
MSS Pandian, Chennai
Sushil Pyakurel, Former Commissioner, Human Rights Commission of Nepal, Kathmandu,
Mubashir Hasan, Lahore, Pakistan
V. Suresh, President, PUCL – Tamil Nadu & Puducherry
and others
Memorandum to the UN Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens
Appeal from Concerned South Asian Citizens to halt the mass murder of Sri Lankan
Tamils in the Vanni Area of North Sri Lanka, 10th April, 2009.
6
For Further Enquiries:
The Statement of Concerned South Asians has been coordinated and circulated by:
Chennai
Dr. V. Suresh,
President, People’s Union for Civil Liberties – Tamil Nadu & Puducherry,
Hussaina Manzil, III Floor, 255 (Old No. 123), Angappa Naicken street, Chennai 600 001.
Phone Nos: Office: +91-44-25352459 / +91-44-42621386; Mobile: +91- 9444231497)
New Delhi
Sahana Basavapatna (+91 9968296202)
Bipin Kumar (+91 9868280198)

இலங்கையின் தமிழ் அரசு கொசொவாவை ஒத்த ஒன்றாகவே அமையும்

இன்று தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் இயக்கத்தின் தலைவர் வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன் இலங்கையின் சிங்கள அரசினால் பயங்கரவாதி என்று அழைக்கப் படுகிறார். இக்கூற்றை ஏற்கும் பல நாடுகளும் அப்படி அழைக்கின்றன. யாரறிவார் இன்றைய பயங்கரவாதியாகக் கூறப்படும் வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன் இலங்கைத் தீவில் அமையும் தமிழ் அரசின் தலைவராகவும் உலகினால் போற்றப்படக் கூடும்.

யாருக்காவது ஞாபகம் இருக்கின்றதா, இஸ்ரேலின் ஏரியல் சரண், மெனாசிம் பேகன் ஆகியோர் பயங்கரவாதிகளாக இருந்தவர்கள் என்பதை. அவைபற்றி இப்போ பேசப்படுவது இல்லை. இந்தோனிசியாவின் சுகார்னோ, சைபிரசின் பேராயர் மக்காரியோஸ், அயர்லாந்தின் ஏமன் டிவலெரா, இந்தியாவின் பண்டிதர் நேரு, பாலஸ்தினத்தின் யசிர் அரபாத், சிம்பாவேயின் றொபேட் முகபே, தென் ஆபிரிக்காவின் தபோ ம்பெக்கி, ஆகியோரும் ஒரு காலத்தைய பயங்கரவாதிகள். அமெரிக்கப் புரட்சியின்போது போராடிய நாட்டுப் பற்றாளர்கள் ஜோர்ச் வாசிங்ரன், தோமஸ் ஜெபர்சன், பெஞ்சமின் பிராங்கிலி;ன் அகியோரைவிட இ;ன்னும் பலபேர் பயங்கரவாதிகளாக அழைக்கப்பட்டார்கள். அவர்களில் சிலர் உலகத் தலைவர்களானார்கள். இதில் இப்போ எவருமே பயங்கரவாதிகள் பட்டியலில் அடக்கக்கூடியவர்களாக இல்லை. இவர்கள் எல்லாம் சலவையில் போட்டு சுத்திகரிக்கப் பட்டு விட்டார்களோ தெரியவில்லை.

இன்று வட அயாலாந்தின் அல்ஸ்ரர் யூனியனிஸ்ற்ரினருக்கும் சின் பெயின் கட்சியினருக்கும் பயங்கரவாதிகள் என்று அழைக்கப் பட்ட அக்கட்சியின் படைப்பிரிவான ஐஅர்ஏ யையும் உள்ளடக்கி ஒரு சமாதனத் தீர்வுக்கான பேச்சுவார்த்தை நடக்கின்றது. நாளை வட அயர்லாந்தின் எதிர்கால அரசு பயங்கரவாதிகள் என அழைக்கப்படும் ஐஅர்ஏ யை உள்ளடக்கியதாகவும் அமையலாம். அப்படி அமையும் ஒருங்கிணைந்த ஆட்சியல் அங்கமாகும் ஐஅர்ஏ யை பயங்கரவாதிகள் என்று அழைக்க எவருக்கும் அப்போ துணிச்சல் வராது. நேற்றைய பயங்கரவாதிகள் இன்றைய அரசியல்வாதிகள் ஆவதற்கு இதுவும் ஒரு எடுத்துக்காட்டு.

பயங்கரவாதிகள் என்று அழைக்கப் படுபவர்களது நோக்கத்திற்கு ஒரு மதிப்பு வழங்கப்பட வேண்டும். பல நாடுகளினதும் நாட்டுப் பற்றாளர்கள் பிறநாட்டு ஆக்கிமிப்பாளர்களை வெளியேற்ற பல வழிமுறைகளைக் கையாண்டார்கள். ஒஸ்றிய, பிரஷ்யா (முன்னைய ஜெர்மனி), ருஷ்சிய ஆகிய நாடுகள் சேர்நது 1795ல் கூட்டாக போலந்து நாட்டை இல்லாது செய்ய முயன்றன. தங்களுக்குள் ஒப்பந்தமிட்டு போலந்தைத் துண்டாடி தங்களுடன் இணைத்துக் கொண்டன. காலப்போக்கில் அடையாளமிழந்து போலந்து என்ற நாடு இல்லாது போய்விடும் என்று எண்ணின. ஆனால் அவர்கள் தரம் குன்றிய சிந்தனையின் திட்டம் நிறைவேறவில்லை. தனது துயர்நிறை நாட்களில்கூட இரு குடிமக்களை போலந்து அமெரிக்கப் புரட்சிக்கு அர்ப்பணித்துள்ளது. முலாவது உலக யுத்தத்தின் பின் சாம்பலிலில் இருந்து போலந்து என்னும் பீனிக்ஸ் பறவை மீண்டும் எழுந்தது. அழிக்க முயன்ற நாடுகளால் அதை அழிக்க முடியவில்லை. மீண்டும் 1930க்களில் சோவியத்தும் நாசிகளும் சேர்ந்து போலந்தை உலகப் படத்திலிருந்து இல்லாதொழிக்கப் புதிய திட்டம் வகுத்தன. இரண்டாவது உலகப் போருக்கு முன்னோடிகளில் ஒன்றாக அமைந்த இத்திட்மும் நிறைவேறவில்லை. இரண்டாவது உலகப் போருக்குப் பின் போலந்து தன்னை ஒருநாடாக உருவாக்க முயலும்போது அமெரிக்காவால் சோவியத் ஒன்றியத்திற்கு விற்கப் பட்டது. இதன் விளைவு 1944ல் இலப்லினில் ஒரு பொம்மைப் பொலிஷ் அரசு நிறுவப்பட்டது. அச்செயலுக்கு வலுவூட்ட ஜிப்ரோல்டரில் நாடுகடந்து வாழ்ந்த போலந்து ஜனாதிபதி ஜெனரல் சிக்கோஸ்கி அதே ஆண்டு சோவியத் அமெரிக்கக் கூட்டில் படுகொலை செய்யப்பட்டார். ஆக்கிகிரமித்தலும் இணைத்தலும் புதிய கதைகள் அல்ல. கஷ்மீரும் திபேத்தும் புதிய தளத்தில் திரும்ப ஆடப்படும் போலந்து ஒதடத ஒரு நிகழவே. இரண்டுமே இனச் சுத்திகரிப்பு அடிப்படையில் நிகழ்பவை. கோசோவாவில் ஐ நா நடத்திய நடவடிக்கையை ஒத்த நடவடிக்கை மூலமே இலங்கையிலும் கொசொவாவை ஒத்த நாட்டை நிலைப்படுத்தலாம்.

எல்லாமே ஒன்றுதான். இன்று பயங்கரவாதிகளாக முத்திரை குத்தப்பட்டுள்ள இந்த ஆட்கள் ஒரு காலத்தில் அதுவும் வெகு விரைவில் கஷ்மீர், தீபேத்து, தமிழ் ஈழம் ஆகிய முன்று சுதந்திர நாடுகளின் அரசியல் தலைவர்கள் ஆவார்கள். 1956ல் தங்கள்நாட்டை ஆக்கிரமித்த சோவியத் ஒன்றியத்திற்கு எதிராக கிளர்ந்து எழுந்தவர்களை பயங்கரவாதிகள் என்று அழைப்பது எவ்வளவு தவறோ அதேயளவு தவறுதான் கஷ்மீர், தீபெத்து, இலங்கை ஆகிய நாடுகளின் விடுலைப் போராளிகளைப் பயங்கரவாதிகள் என்று அழைப்பது. அமெரிக்காவால் பயிற்சி அளிகப்பட்டு சோவியத் படையை ஆப்கானிஸ்தானில் முறியடைத்த ஆப்கானிதானிய முஜாடீன் (தலிபான்) விடுதலைப் போராளிகளும் பயங்கரவாதிகள் என்றே அழைக்கப்படுகிறார்கள். வழமையைப்போல ஒரே மக்களை அழைக்க எமக்கு இரு பெயர்கள் உள்ளன. ஆக்கிரமிக்கும் அந்நியப் படைகளுக்கு அவர்கள் பயங்கரவாதிகள். ஆனால் ஆக்கிரமிக்கப் பட்டுள்ள நாட்டின் மக்களுக்கு அவர்கள் விடுதலைப் போராளிகள். உண்மையில் இது நோக்கும் வித மாறுபாடுதான். இந்த விடுதலைப் போராளிகள் நூற்றாண்டுகளுக்கு முன் ஒஸ்றியாவின் சுவிற்சலாந்திய ஆக்கிரமிப்புக்கு வில்ஹெல்ரெல் செய்த அதையே செய்கிறார்கள். வரலாற்றில் யாரும் அவரைப் பயங்கரவாதி என்று அழைக்கவில்லையே. ஏன் கஷ்மீரிய, தீபேத்திய, தமிழ் போராளிகளை பிரித்துப் பயங்கரவாதிகள் என்கிறார்கள். கஷ்மீரும் தீபேத்தும் தமிழ் ஈழமும் சுயநிர்ணய உரிமை கொண்டவை.
பெரிய நாடுகளும் அவர்ளின் அடிவருடிகளும் என்ன சொல்கிறார்கள் என்பது முக்கியம் இல்லை. இது களத்து உண்மை. அதன் பெறுமதியை உணர்ந்து நாம் அதை ஏற்கவேண்டும். இதுவரை 46,000 வரையிலான கஷ்மீரிய ஆண்கள், பெண்கள், குழந்தைகள் அங்கு ஆக்கிரமித்துள்ள இந்தியப் படைகளால் சித்திவைதைக்கு உள்ளாகியும், கொல்லப்பட்டும் பாலியல் வல்உறவுக்கு உட்படுத்தப்பட்டும் உள்ளார்கள். படைகளின் எண்ணிக்கை இப்பொழுது 546,000 வரை உயர்ந்து விட்டது. தீபேத்தைப் பொறுத்த மட்டில் கொல்லப்பட்ட ஆண்கள், பெண்கள், குழந்தைகள் எண்ணிக்கை அளவு புரியாத ஒன்றாகி விட்டது. இலங்கையில் கொன்று குவிப்பு தொடர்கிறது. தீபேத்தில் நிலைகொண்டுள்ள ஆக்கிரமிப்புப் படைக்கு எதிராகப் போரிடும் கம்ப இன மக்களை சீனா பயங்கரவாதிகள் என்கிறது. ஆனால் அவர்கள் நாட்டுப் பற்றாளர் வகையில் இம்மியும் குறைந்தவர்கள் இல்லை. அவர்கள் நாட்டை ஆக்கிரமிக்கும் சீனப் படைகள் வைத்திருக்கும் மிக வலுக்கொண்ட ஆயுதங்களை எதிர்த்துப் போரிட்டுள்ளார்கள். இன்று இலங்கையில் நடக்கும் போரில் விடுதலை கேட்கும் ஒரு மக்கள் படை தங்களைப்போல் 20 மடங்குகளுக்கு மேல் எண்ணிக்கையில் உள்ள படைகளை முன்னேறாது தாக்குப் பிடிக்கிறது. உலகம் ஒதுங்கி நின்று நவகாலணித்துவ சக்கிகள் ஆக்கிரமிப்புப் பகுதியில் நடாத்தும் படுகொலை, பாலியல் வல்லுறவு போன்றவற்றை பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருந்துள்ளது.

நவகாலணித்துவத்திற்கு ஒரு சிறந்த எடுத்துக்காட்டு கிறிஸ்தவப் பகுதியான கிழக்குத் தீமோர். 25 ஆண்டுகளாக நிலைகொண்டிருந்த இந்தோனிசியப் படைகள் கிழக்கு திமோரிய மக்களை தங்கள் விருப்பப்படி கொன்று குதறினர். அவார்களுக்கு இருந்த ஒரே பாதுகாப்புச் சுடர் சனான கஸ்மாவோ தலைமையில் நாட்டில் நிலைகொண்டிருந்த இந்தோனிசிப் படைகளுடன் போராடிய விடுதபை; படைகளே. அவர்கள் பயங்கரவாதிகளாக இந்தோனிசியாவால் சித்தரிக்கப் பட்டார்கள். அண்மையில்தான் அந்த மக்கள் ஐ நா வால் இந்தோனிசிய ஒடுக்குமுறையிலிருந்து விடுவிக்கப் பட்டார்கள். 1963ல் எற்பட்ட கென்னடிய நிர்வாக உடன்பாட்டின் ஒரு அங்கமாக 1964ல் கிறிஸ்தவ மேற்கு நியுகினியா, இந்தேனிசியாவிடம் கையளிக்கப் பட்டது. எப்பவுமே இந்தோனியாவின் அங்கமாக இல்லாதிருந்த நியுகினியா அதற்கு இருந்த இறையாண்மையை மீள் நிலைநாட்டி 1963 டிசெம்பர் முதலாம் திகதி தனி நாடாக மாறியது. அந்த மீள் நிலைநாட்டுப் பணிக்காகலே சுதந்திர ஆதரவுப் பிரிவின் தலைவர் தேஸ் எலுவே தன் உயிரையும் இழந்தார். அதன் தேசிய மக்கள் சபை இந்தோனிநியவிடம் கையளிப்பதை எதிர்த்தது. எதிர்ப்புக்கு மத்தியில் தேசிய சபையை அமெரிக்கா அங்கிகரிக்க மறுத்த சூழலில் இது நிகழ்ந்தது. கிறிஸ்தவப் பகுதியான அந்த மொலுக்காஸ் தீவுகள் இன்னும் இந்தோனிசிய அடக்கு முறையிலிருந்து விடுபட வேண்டிய நிலையிலேயே உள்ளன. விடுபடும் நாள் விரைவில் வரும்

இதை இவர்களுக்கு கொடுக்க விரும்பவில்லை என்று நேரடியாக நாம் சொல்லத் தேவையில்லை. பாசாங்கு வேலைகளும் பாரபட்ச வேலைகளும் வெளிக்குகத் தெரியாமலே நடக்கின்றன. காரணம் பாரிய ஆதிக்க சக்திகள் பின்னணியில் உள்ளன. ஆனால் மக்கள் ஆட்சி உரிமை சரி சமனாக எல்லோருக்கும் உள்ளதால் உலகில் எவருமே வேறு எவருக்காகவும் இன்னொருவரினது சுதந்திரத்திற்காக தரகு வேலை பார்க்க முடியாது. இதில் விதி விலக்கும் கிடையாது.

நிலைகொண்டிருக்கம் அந்நியப் படைகள் விலகுவதன் மூலம் கஷ்மீர், தபேத்து, தமிழ் ஈழம் ஆகியவற்றின் பிரச்சனைகளை விரைவில் தீர்க்கலாம். இதற்கு சீனா தனது படைகளை தீபேத்திலிருந்தும் கஷ்மீரின் ஒரு பகுதியிலிருந்தும் தரும்பப் பெற இணங்க வேண்டும். அதேபோற் செய்ய இந்தியாவும் பாகிஸ்தானும் இணங்க வேண்டும். இதே வழியைப் பின்பற்றி இலங்கையும் பின்பற்றி தனது படைகளை த் தமிழ்ப் பகுதிகளிலிருந்து விலக்க வேண்டும். தீபேத்தியரையும் க்மீரியரையும் தமிழர்களையும் அவர்கள் பிரச்சனையை அவர்களையே தீர்க்க வடவெண்டும். அமைதியான உலகை நாம் காணலாம். சீனா தீபேத்தையும் கஷ்மீரின் ஒரு பகுதியையும் கோருகிறது. இந்தியாவும் பாகிஸ்தானும் கஷ்மீகை; கோருகின்றன. இலங்கை பிரதேச விரிவாக்கப் பேராசையினதும் படை வலுவினதும் அடிப்படையில் கோருகிறது. இவை எவ்வித சட்டபூர்வத் தகைமையும் அற்ற நிலையில், காட்டுத் தர்பார் முறையைக் கடைப் பிடிக்கின்றன. தீபேத்து தீபேத்தியருக்கு மட்டுமே, கஷ்மீர் கஷ்மீரியருக்கே. தமிழ் ஈழம் தமிழருக்கே. ஏந்த வெளிநாட்டுச் சக்தியும் அவர்கள் உள்நாட்டு விவகாரத்தில் அதிகார ஆணையிட முடியாது.

இறுதியாக ஒரு பயங்கரவாதி விடுதலைப் போராளியா என்பதையும் ஒரு விடுதலைப் போராளி பயங்கரவாதியா என்பதையும் யார் தீர்ப்புக் கூறுவது? இது நிச்சயம் நாங்கள் காணும் வளைந்து கொடுக்கும் அரசியல்வாதிகளாக இருக்க முடியாது.

இக்கட்டுரையை எந்தக் கோணத்திலிரந்து பார்த்தாலும் தப்பெண்ணம் ஏற்படுத்தாத வகையில் உள்ளதை உள்ளபடியே கூறி நீதியானதும் நேர்மையானதுமான ஒரு கருத்து உருவாகவேண்டும் என்பதைக் கவனத்தில் வைத்து எழுதி உள்ளேன். ஊண்மையைச் சொல்லும்போது கண்டனத்துக்கு உள்ளானால் அது அப்படியே இருக்கட்டும். உண்மை எவரினது அரசியல் நிகழ்வுக்கு ஏற்ப மாறும் ஒன்று இல்லை.

The Geneva Declaration on Terrorism, passed May 29, 1987 by the UN general assembly, points out that the main perpetrators of terrorism are governments striving to keep down parts of their populations or other peoples. In this document, at that time, the main culprits are the United States, Israel, South Africa and the many dictatorships in Latin America at that time.

“State terrorism manifests itself in: 1) police state practices against its own people to dominate through fear by surveillance, disruption of group meetings, control of the news media, beatings, torture, false and mass arrests, false charges and rumors, show trials, killings, summary executions and capital punishments;”

“The terrorism of modern state power and its high technology weaponry exceeds qualitatively by many orders of magnitude the political violence relied upon by groups aspiring to undo oppression and achieve liberation.”
“…peoples who are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination have the right to use force to accomplish their objectives within the framework of international humanitarian law.” (36)

This document applies to the situation of the Sri Lankan governments since 1983 as well as to the LTTE, and the proportions of the use of violence are as written by the general assembly. The LTTE did, however, after time, go beyond the framework of international humanitarian law.

One voice regarding terrorism and what lies behind these atrocities appears so credible to me, and so tragic in itself, that I quote him extensively to show that all warring parties in Sri Lanka acted as terrorists. Here are some of the last words of Sri Lankan journalist Manilal Wickrematunge Lasantha, a Sinhalese, who predicted his assassination shortly before it occurred, on January 8, 2009. His newspaper, “The Sunday Leader”, published his own “obituary” three days later.

“Terror, whether perpetrated by terrorists or the state, has become the order of the day. Indeed, murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty…

“Our commitment is to see Sri Lanka as a transparent, secular, liberal democracy…Secular because in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society such as ours, secularism offers the only common ground by which we might all be united…

“…we have consistently espoused the view that while separatist terrorism must be eradicated, it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka’s ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror, and made no secret of our horror that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens…

“The LTTE are among the most ruthless and bloodthirsty organisations ever to have infested the planet. There is no gainsaying that it must be eradicated. But to do so by violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting them mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma [the teachings of Buddha, which lead to enlightenment] is forever called into question by this savagery, much of which is unknown to the public because of censorship…

“What is more, a military occupation of the country’s north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect…

“It is well known that I was on two occasions brutally assaulted, while on another my house was sprayed with machine-gun fire. Despite the government’s sanctimonious assurances, there was never a serious police inquiry into the perpetrators of these attacks, and the attackers were never apprehended. In all these cases, I have reason to believe the attacks were inspired by the government. When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me.

“The irony in this is that, unknown to most of the public, Mahinda [Rajapakse, the president] and I have been friends for more than a quarter century… “Sadly, for all the dreams you had for our country in your younger days, in just three years you have reduced it to rubble. In the name of patriotism you have trampled on human rights, nurtured unbridled corruption and squandered public money like no other President before you…” (37)

When Lasantha’s dramatic editorial appeared, he had already been murdered on his way to work by four men on motorcycles. The probable conspirator behind the execution was Lasantha’s “friend’s” brother, war secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, a naturalized citizen of the USA. In December 2008, he had censored the Sunday Leader from publishing any criticism of his actions. He had earlier threatened the careers and lives of other journalists. (38)

A week before Lasanth’s murder, G. Rajapakse’s army captured the capital of the de facto Eelam state, Kilinochchi. LTTE guerrilla army fled but not all the civilians had evacuated before the government’s troops entered and butchered scores or hundreds. On August 25, 2009, England’s Channel 4 News broadcast footage showing Sri Lankan forces executing nine Tamils stripped naked. One of the military’s soldiers had filmed this atrocity on his mobile telephone. Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (Sinhalese and Tamils) obtained the film and presented it to Channel 4, which showed it after verifying its authenticity.

The United States government praised Sri Lanka for its military offensive. The US embassy in Colombo issued this statement: “The United States does not advocate that the Government of Sri Lanka negotiate with the LTTE…” (39)

Following this crushing defeat, the LTTE was reduced to an area of a few square kilometers. Many thousands of civilians had left their homes to reach so-called No Fire Zones, which the S.L. army began setting up on January 20th. Conditions were sub-human (and they continue to be so for over two-hundred and fifty thousand interned civilians in various camps as of this writing), and they were (are) forced to remain. Amnesty International—more often than not a reliable observer of international conflicts, one of the few NGO’s that does not take money from any government or political party—recently published a report about these camps. Sri Lanka is violating rules established by the United Nations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, applying to displaced persons. (40)

Here is an excerpt from a civilian inmate

“Knowing that many civilians were not able to move, the government restarted shelling. They even hit the No Fire Zone so even that small area was not protected…When we heard the supersonic Kfirs [Israel jets] overhead we used to rush to the bunker and hide…That was our life for months just squatting in bunkers.”

Amnesty stated: “The Government of Sri Lanka exacerbated this isolation by restricting access by outsiders to the conflict area. In September 2008, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaska issued a directive ordering all humanitarian and UN agencies to leave the Vanni and remove all equipment and vehicles.” This order also applied to journalists, opposition politicians and humanitarian organizations. (40)

John Pilger described Sri Lanka’s isolation strategy this way:

“The Sri Lankan government has learned an old lesson from, I suspect, a modern master: Israel. In order to conduct a slaughter, you ensure the pornography is unseen, illicit at best. You ban foreigners and their cameras from Tamil towns like Mulliavaikal, which was bombarded recently by the Sri Lankan army, and you lie that the 75 people killed in the hospital were blown up quite willfully by a Tamil suicide bomber.” (12)

From 2006-7 onward President Rajapakse was spending nearly one-quarter ($1.5 billion) of Sri Lanka’s national budget of $7.5 billion (2008 figures) on war. By January 2009, the Sri Lankan military, refortified especially by Israel, Pakistan and China, had recaptured much of the Tamil Homeland. From the end of 2008 to Sri Lanka’s military victory over LTTE, it had indiscriminately bombed Tamil civilians even in the “safe zones” where the government had told them to flee. Many thousands were killed.

After the fall of Tamil Eelam’s de facto capital, it still took the far superiorly armed and manned army four and one-half months to defeat the guerrilla army. There were few close contact battles. The LTTE fighters and civilians in the remaining Homeland area were subject to shelling from the air and by long-distance artillery. Amnesty International reported:

“Eyewitness accounts of the final months of the war painted a grim picture of deprivation of food, water and medical care; fear, injury and loss of life suffered by civilians trapped by the conflict…both the LTTE and Sri Lankan government forces committed violations of international humanitarian law…The LTTE forcibly recruited children as soldiers, used civilians as human shields against the Sri Lankan army’s offensive, and attacked civilians who tried to flee. The Sri Lankan armed forces launched indiscriminate attacks with artillery on areas densely populated by civilians. Hospitals were shelled, resulting in death and injuries among patients and staff.” (40)

Sri Lanka’s military achieved victory by murdering any Tamil “in its way”, and because of the extensive military force provided to it by many capitalist and so-called socialist states. Here are the major players:

1. India has provided weaponry, radar and training to Sri Lanka’s military since 1987. It often hides what aid it gives or sells since so many of its citizens are against S.L.’s brutality against Tamils. After a period of providing little military assistance, it increased its aid at the end of 2008 when the government launched its all-out offensive. As late as April 2009, India sent three fast attack boats and a missile corvette (INS Vinash), part of $500 million in total aid. It has also turned over LTTE fugitives to S.L. India sees its traditional role as the dominant nation in South Asia being replaced by China’s fast-growing presence, which is another reason for its support to Sri Lanka’s Buddhist government despite the fact that 80% of India’s 1.2 billion people practice Hinduism with less than 1% Buddhists. On the world plan, India hip hops from one antagonist force to another. There is no clear direction.

2. The United States of America has been arming and financing Sri Lanka for most of the civil war period. (41) The Indian Ocean is a vital waterway in which half of the world’s containerized cargo passes through. Its waters carry heavy traffic of petroleum products. The US signed a ten year Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) with Sri Lanka on 5 March 2007 which provides, along with other things, logistics supplies and refueling facilities. The US already has Voice of America installation at Tricomalee, which can be used for surveillance. From at least the 1990s, the US has provided military training, financing and weapons sales averaging $1.5 million annually. During the cease fire, in 2002, this sum went down to $259,999 for military training only. Bush was especially glad for Sri Lanka’s terrorism, and encouraged Colombo to resume the civil war, in 2006, which his government financed with $2.9 million. The Pentagon provided counter-insurgency training, maritime radar, patrols of US warships and aircraft. At the end of Bush’s second term, the US was forced to cut back on aid given that it was bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq. That, coupled with critical public opinion, organized by the Diaspora, of state terrorism and systematic discrimination of Tamils, prompted congress to make noises about abuses of human rights by not only LTTE but also about the use of children in “paramilitary forces of the Sri Lankan government.” Nevertheless, in 2008, $1.45 million in military financing and training was granted the government out of a total of $7.4 million in total aid. The US made noises about killing a ‘humanitarian crisis’ when the Sri Lankan army was about to finish the war but it never took affirmative action to bring the war to an end. It’s howling about human rights is only a veiled threat to the Sri Lankan government, that it should not do anything prejudicial to its interests, that is, keep China at bay.

3. Israel was officially re-awarded diplomatic relations, in May 2000, after Sri Lanka had severed them, in 1970, in protest at Israel’s continued illegal expansion into Palestinian territory. Nevertheless, Israel continued to operate inside S.L. out of a special interests office set up in the US embassy. Under the table, however, Sri Lanka’s successive regimes embraced Israel’s military advisors, a special commando unit in the police, and Mossad counter-intelligence agents—who sought to drive a wedge between Muslims and Tamils. After S.L. military defeat at Elephant Pass, it appealed to Israel for military aid. Israel sent 16 of its supersonic Kfir fighter jets, some Dvora fast naval attack craft, and electronic and imagery surveillance equipment, plus advisors and technicians. Israel personnel took part in military attacks on Tamil units, and its pilots flew attack aircraft. Tigers shot down one Kfir. Just before the end of the war, Prime Minister Wickremanayake was in Israel to make bigger deals with Israeli arms supplies. (42)

4. U.K./EU In 2005, British arms export rose by 60%, according to John Pilger (12). In 2008, £1.4 million in arms export was approved. France sent patrol boats, and other EU countries continued but reduced military aid. The EU had never been required to offer much aid given that its major allies were so much engaged.

5. Japan has long been Sri Lanka’s greatest economic donor until China overtook that position in 2008-9. Japan has sold technology and offered generous loans, but it has also outright donated millions more every year. In 1997, for instance, it granted $52 million outright but $26 in technical cooperation. In 2001, aid was at $310 million. It also paid for the government television station, Rupavahini. While Japan’s aid, sales and loans are not directed at defense, these huge sums allow the Sri Lankan governments to use more of its budget for war. (43) This is the case as well with several other Asian countries.

6. Iran “We don’t need your money (with all those strings)”, a Sri Lanka treasury functionary purportedly told World Bank officials last year. (44) “The international community” (US-EU governments) had begun to cut back on aid and even to ask questions about treatment of Tamil civilians, whose cries were being heard from the Diaspora. So, Sri Lanka played one power against another: India-Pakistan/China, US-China, Israel-Iran/Libya—the West-NAM. In 2008-9, Iran provided $1.9 billion in credit to build an oil refinery, in order to process S.L.’s crude oil, and it donated $450 million for a hydropower project. Iran is US’s most important inside ally with the Quisling Iraq government. And Libya has most recently been approached for a $500 million loan by Sri Lanka. Libya is with and against Iran.

7. Pakistan came into the Sri Lanka debacle, in 2008, at the encouragement of China. At the beginning of 2009, it provided $100 million in military assistance loans; it gave Chinese-origin small arms, and offered pilot training for S.L.’s new Chinese aircraft. Pakistan is also an ally of the US in its terror war “against” terror. Its governments are part of the war against Afghanistan, which has spread throughout most of Pakistan and split the population. Here have we a country allied with Cuba and ALBA et al. in NAM at the same time a partner with the world’s greatest terrorist state.

8. China entered the picture in 2005.China is the world’s no 2 oil consumer after the United States. China has stepped up efforts to secure sea lanes and transport routes that are vital for its oil supplies. In April 2007, just one month after the US’s ACSA deal with SL, China’s Poly Technologies supplied $36.5 million arms to Sri Lanka. A $150 million contract was given to China’s Huawei, which has close links with the Chinese intelligence wing MSS, to build a country-wide infrastructure for communications. In 2008, China invested five times over what it did in 2007. Its biggest investment is a vast construction project at Hambantota on the southern coast, which it will use as a re-fuelling and docking station for its navy. “Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March 2007, China has given it all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tigers, without worrying about the West,” wrote The Times (London). (45) China acts without asking questions about the treatment and conditions of workers and minorities. In April 2007, S.L. made a deal to buy Chinese ammunition and ordnance for is military. China gave it six F7 jet fighters after a Sky Tiger raid that destroyed ten military aircraft, in 2007. One Chinese fighter was soon shot down by Tigers. China has also given or sold on credit: an anti-submarine warfare vessel, gunboats and landing craft, battle tanks, anti-aircraft guns, and air surveillance radars. In June 2009, after the conclusion of the civil war, it signed an $891 million agreement for the Norochcholai Coal Power project. Chinese companies were granted an Economic Zone for 33 years. Huichen Investments Holdings Limited is to invest $28 million in next three years in the Mirigama Zone. For the first time a specific area was given to a foreign country. China is making major inroads into Sri Lanka, causing concern in the US-India Axis.

In the last few months of the war, Sri Lanka’s military used China’s weapons to systematically bombard what was left of the Tamil Eelam homeland. British media reported that 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed just in the last five days. Yet President Rajapakse claimed that “not one Tamil civilian was killed by military shelling.” (46)

According to the pro-imperialist The Times (London), “aerial photographs, official documents, witness accounts and expert testimony” tell a story of the Sri Lankan’s “fierce barrage” of three weeks constant shelling in a five-kilometer area where 300,000 Tamil civilians were. The Times’ estimated that about 1,000 civilians were killed each day for three weeks until May 19. With most of the leadership dead, and tens of thousands civilians slaughtered, the LTTE surrendered.

One of The Times’ sources for these figures, and that responsibility lay with SL military, is the Catholic priest Amalraj, who was there until May 16. At the time of article, May 29, 2009, he was interned in the militarized Manik Farm camp along with 200,000 others.

Even the editor of the pro-imperialist “Armed Forces of the UK” magazine contended that it was not the Tigers who fired upon their own people but that is was the Sri Lankan government, which used imprecise air-burst and ground-impact mortars to annihilate anything alive.

The Times piece ended on this sad note: S.L “was cleared of any wrongdoing by the UN Human Rights Council after winning the backing of countries including China, Egypt, India and Cuba.”

Notes:

12. Ibid. John Pilger, “Distant Voices, Desperate Lives,” New Statesman, May 13, 2009.
36. htt://i-p-o.org/GDT.htm
37.http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090111/editorial-.htm
38. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotabhaya_Rajapaksa
39. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11769
40. http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18368.
41. http://www.cdi.org/PDFs/CSBillCharts.pdf
42. http://www.dailymailnews.com/dmsp0204/dm44.html
http://niqnaq.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/wayne-madsen-on-israel-and-sri-lanka/ http://adamite.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/sri-lanka-israels-dirty-secrets/
43. http://www.tamilnation.org/tamileelam/aid/index.htm
44. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42075 and http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/sri-lanka-takes-a-step-to-the-east-20090522-bi83.html
45. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6207487.ece
46. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6383449.ece and
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/tamil+medic+describes+camp+conditions/3346512

Before going to the article let us see what led to this. We are not alone, we have friends expecting us to work with them! (Editor’s Note).

Date: 2 June 2010 22:49
Subject: [SHADE] sri lanka tamil genocide
To: Ron Ridenour

Bala, Don’t know how otherwise to reach you. Recall your letter to me and now I send you my latest piece on the conflict. See www.dissidentvoice.org or June 2, “Eva Golinger misinterprets solidarity: Support Sri Lanka Tamils not War Criminal Government”

‘Bride of Venezuela’ Eva Golinger misinterprets Solidarity: Support Tamils NOT Sri Lanka’s Criminal War Government

]]> http://www.shadeonweb.com/eva-golinger-misinterprets-solidarity-support-sri-lanka-tamils-not-war-criminal-government/feed/ http://www.shadeonweb.com/%e2%80%98government%e2%80%99s-security-forces-were-engaged-in-a-humanitarian-operation%e2%80%99-sri-lankan-hc-uk-tells-channel-4-news/ http://www.shadeonweb.com/%e2%80%98government%e2%80%99s-security-forces-were-engaged-in-a-humanitarian-operation%e2%80%99-sri-lankan-hc-uk-tells-channel-4-news/#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 12:27:36 +0000 admin http://www.shadeonweb.com/?p=225

“All internationally accepted standards and norms of [such] operations were followed in the prosecution of the humanitarian operation by the security forces which were under strict orders to follow a zero civilian casualty policy,” said the Sri Lankan High Commission in London in a statement.

The High Commission of Sri Lanka was responding to a new London’s Channel 4 News bulletin of ‘dramatic new evidence’ on alleged ‘war crimes’ by Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

Full report from Channel 4 as follows:

Channel 4 News: Sri Lanka Tamil killings ‘ordered from the top’

By Jonathan Miller

Exclusive: a senior Sri Lankan army commander and frontline soldier tell Channel 4 News that point-blank executions of Tamils at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war were carried out under orders.

In August 2009 Channel 4 News obtained video evidence, later authenticated by the United Nations, purporting to show point-blank executions of Tamils by uniformed Sri Lankan soldiers.

Now a senior army commander and a frontline soldier have told Channel 4 News that such killings were indeed ordered from the top.
One frontline soldier said: “Yes, our commander ordered us to kill everyone. We killed everyone.”

And senior Sri Lankan army commander said: “Definitely, the order would have been to kill everybody and finish them off.

“I don’t think we wanted to keep any hardcore elements, so they were done away with. It is clear that such orders were, in fact, received from the top.”

Despite allegations of war crimes, Sri Lanka’s government has managed to avoid an independent inquiry. But the evidence continues to mount.

‘Body blows to humanitarian law’

So decisive was Sri Lanka’s victory over the Tamil Tigers last year that other nations facing violent insurgencies are now citing the “Sri Lanka option” as a model for crushing rebellion, writes Channel 4 News foreign reporter Jonathan Miller.

International lawyers, human rights and conflict prevention groups are alarmed, accusing the Colombo government of riding roughshod over international law.

Last night Louise Arbour, a former chief prosecutor in international war crimes trials, told an audience at Chatham House – the foreign policy think tank – that “the [Sri Lankan] government’s refusal to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants” and the “sheer magnitude of civilian death and suffering” dealt what she called “the most serious of body blows to international humanitarian law”.

Now, the International Crisis Group, of which Ms Arbour is the president, has joined forces with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to demand an independent international investigation into what they brand “massive human rights violations” and
“repeated violations of international law” – by both sides.

The Sri Lankan government has repeatedly rejected the charges of civilian deaths as grossly exaggerated and has denied that any of its security forces have committed war crimes or violated international humanitarian law.
Tonight Ms Arbour will appear live on Channel 4 News to outline options available to the international community to prevent the “Sri Lanka option” gaining currency. A new ICG report entitled War Crimes in Sri Lanka defines this option as “unrestrained military action, refusal to negotiate, disregard for humanitarian issues, keeping out international observers including press and humanitarian workers”.

Ms Arbour will also be responding to dramatic new evidence contained in a film we will be broadcasting tonight. The fresh evidence, detailing extremely serious allegations of possible war crimes, has been gathered in an extended undercover investigation in Sri Lanka. Testimony from soldiers interviewed by Channel 4 News corroborates persistent allegations aired by this programme since the end of the war a year ago.

Chief among these: the accusation that Sri Lankan soldiers were responsible for extrajudicial executions - as graphically illustrated by the disturbing video we aired last August. The video – long dismissed as a fake by the government in Colombo – was authenticated by the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions in January this year.

The clamour from international rights groups for an impartial investigation into alleged atrocities contrasts sharply with the failure of the UN to demand accountability from the Sri Lankan government. Last year, the Sri Lankan president promised the UN Secretary General that he would look into the question of accountability.

On Monday President Mahinda Rajapaksa named an eight-member panel to glean lessons learned from the war. But members of the group say they have no legal power to investigate alleged abuses. “If this is ‘it’,” Louise Arbour said last night, “there’s no reason to expect from the government’s past record that it’s got any intention to investigate or put in place an appropriate accountability mechanism.”

The UN Human Rights Council seems to provide little hope of investigating war crimes, having congratulated the Sri Lankan government on its victory, within days of the war ending.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council holds out no hope at all. The Sri Lankan issue has failed to force its way onto the UNSC agenda – and were it to do so, China and Russia would likely stand in the way of any unlikely referral to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

The secretary general has also so far failed to appoint international experts to investigate – as he’s previously promised he might. Amnesty and the ICG have taken the UN to task for its failure to act decisively to push for accountability. Crisis Group went so far as to recommend that the UN should open an inquiry into its own conduct in Sri Lanka. Last night Louise Arbour – herself a former UN human rights commissioner – talked of the UN’s “silence – verging on complicity” with the Rajapaksa regime.

In January 2009, as the final chapter opened in the 30-year-long Sri Lankan civil war, I was in Gaza, picking over the humanitarian disaster left after Israel’s three-week war there. Between 1,200 and 1,400 civilians were killed during the aerial bombardments and subsequent ground offensive. In the final weeks of the Sri Lankan government offensive on the “no-fire zone”, Ms Arbour believes a figure of 30,000 civilian deaths “is not implausible”.

Within months of the Gaza conflict, the UN Human Rights Council had dispatched Judge Richard Goldstone to investigate possible war crimes. He produced a damning report.

There has been no investigation in Sri Lanka. Local journalists who’ve raised their heads above the parapet have been jailed or disappeared or killed. The UN has done nothing concrete in moving towards an impartial inquiry. There has been no Goldstone in Colombo. Even the UN rapporteur for extrajudicial executions has been denied a visa for the past four years.

You can kind of see why the “Sri Lankan Option” might just catch on.

A statement from the Sri Lankan high commission

The High Commission of Sri Lanka in the United Kingdom totally deny the allegations made against the Government of Sri Lanka and its armed forces. As it has been repeatedly stressed and supported by evidence, Government’s security forces were engaged in a humanitarian operation with the objective of rescuing the civilians held as human shields by a terrorist outfit: the LTTE, which was banned in many countries including the UK. All internationally accepted standards and norms of such operations were followed in the prosecution of the humanitarian operation by the security forces which were under strict orders to follow a zero civilian casualty policy.

The government of Sri Lanka is now in the process of rebuilding and reconciliation. The President of Sri Lanka has established the “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” of eight eminent persons reflecting all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka to inquire and report institutional administrative and legislative measures which need to be taken in order to prevent any recurrence of such concerns in the future, and to promote further national unity and reconciliation among all communities.

This High Commission is not in a position to make comments on specific allegations said to have been made in the video without viewing it. Therefore, we appreciate it if you could forward the said video to the High Commission for viewing and for verifying its authenticity prior to the telecast.

High Commission of Sri Lanka
The United Kingdom
18 May 2010

Please be informed that the former ‘viduthalai pulikal makkal munani’(People’s Front of Liberation Tigers’ - is now registered as a major political party in the UK.

You may visit the UK government, gazette site;
http://registers.electoralcommission.org.uk. (Avoid using www.) Click Registers, the second sub. Heading, Go to the lengthy boxes & click all, political parties in alphabetic order, go to People’s front of Liberation Tigers). You can see the emblems too.

The three of us, given the responsibility, are well known to our leader and well informed. There was big doubt whether this move would work. Anyhow we won and they are highly satisfied and thrilled. For some reasons this is not welcome by our organizations and media. That is only a complex and will soon go away. At the same time people who are well read and informed are already very happy and excited. Please give this the due publicity.

Can you recollect the words of Jonathan Miller, the CH 4 Foreign journalist, in the famous summary execution of our boys? He said,” The Rebel Tamil Tiger Army was vanquished”. That is what our Tigers are; ‘Rebel Tamil Tiger Army’.
The great right personalities all over the world, many journalists all over the world are regretting that they in vein branded the tigers as terrorists. They are regretting and are all out to make amends.
Alienating the Tigers from the Tamils was the strategy, the SL govt. used. Can we also do that? The soft peddling and armchair critics among the Diaspora in the UK on the advice of the Govt. of UK started doing this even while the genocide was going on during the May 2009 period. We in the UK were mislead to act in a way as if we were not concerned about the Tigers but only the civilians. In my opinion that made them to carry out the crime easily. Anyway, let us move on!
We are going to have a prominent office with Tiger emblems. Very soon membership enrollment forms will be distributed. There are many more advantages. Let us see.

1. The real and true Tamils who respect our National Leader and gave true support will get new encouragement and happiness. Now they are downhearted, shocked and silent or inactive.

2. This will be complimentary and not competitive to GTF (in the UK) or Transnational or any other genuine body.

3. The complex; ‘LTTE, the Terrorists’ will go away and ‘LTTE the great freedom fighters’ will come around as a compliment.

4. Youngsters and teens will be joining in large numbers without any prejudice, but with enthusiasm, being encouraged by their parents and friends. Their classmates can’t say, “you Tamils are Terrorists!”

5. Parents will stop discouraging their children from taking part in Tamil’s freedom activities. In fact they will start encouraging their children to take part in our activities.

6. Those who want to support, but shying away because of the ‘Terrorist’ branding, will come out openly, with more enthusiasm.

7. A big blow to SL Govt. They have to accept the reality.

8. A big embarrassment for the countries, which supported SL in the UNO, or elsewhere.

9. LTTE leadership has to be given the due recognition to get to know the truth in Nanthikadal and Mullivaikkal and that will help us to take the genocide and war crimes forward.

10. First solid step to get the ban removed; even otherwise it would be irrelevant.

11. Can approach British public without any hesitation.

12. We don’t need to buy main parties like, Labour, Conservative or Liberal parties (relevant to UK), making heavy donations, dinners to candidates. Instead we can discuss political matters in equal terms as colleagues.

13. Now SL Govt. and the UK govt. are all out to milk the expatriates. There will be no more room for that.

14. We can contest elections and canvass support from our Asian and other friends. Minority nationalities like Sikhs of India, Kurds and others will support us to give us more momentum to our struggle.

15. The Right Groups and the intellectual individuals will get more encouragement to support us and uphold our freedom, i.e. Separation.
16. Recently, President Rajapakse while addressing a meeting of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) members in Beliatta electorate in the south, he pointed out that the powerful nations in the world are still continuing their fight against terrorism. He said that, “The Sri Lankan security forces conducted the humanitarian operation to liberate the people in the north and east from the terrorists while protecting the civilians.” This news is the appropriate answer. Don’t you realize this at least? Come on!

A Lesson from History

Our National Leader formed PFLT when there was a need. When the armed struggle, took over it was side-lined. Now arms are silenced and naturally, PFLT which was dormant, is being given a new life, as instructed by our leadership. Gradually the truth will come out and Tamils will be happy and thrilled.

We would like to know your opinion too.

GTF did very well in the UK and it was a big success. Keep up the good work will you. We will give all the support and let us all march towards Eelam together!

“In real-politics, non-violence and violence are not alternatives but complementary. The enemy knows this and for him, peace is theft and war is robbery of the oppressed”. Ram Mohan

Pl. join us and give all your support.

P.S We are about to open our first office in Croydn

The address is; G11, Lombard Business Park
2 Purley Way
Croydon
Surrey
CR0 3JP

With kind regards and wishes. P.S Visit www.shadeonweb.com

N.Balasubramaniam