Sri Lanka III

Casualties cross 1000 in SLA's attempt to capture civilians

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29105

ANC calls for ceasefire, supports independent Tamil homeland

http://tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=29104

Civilian killings in Sri Lanka discussed in UN, leaked documents and double standards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtIW-Kx7QRQ

On Sri Lanka, France Requests UN Briefing, Nambiar's Slow Return, Ban's Tilt
http://www.innercitypress.com/bansri4lanka042009.html

Scores arrested in Paris Tamil protest on Sri Lanka

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LK36550.htm

SRI LANKA: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE - Part 1 of 6

http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=20184065001

SRI LANKA: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE - Part 2 of 6

http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=20179652001

SRI LANKA: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE - Part 3 of 6

http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=20179654001

SRI LANKA: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE - Part 4 of 6

http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=20184066001

SRI LANKA: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE - Part 5 of 6

http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=20184063001

SRI LANKA: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE - Part 6 of 6 

http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=20179651001

Media: If you are not covering Sri Lanka right now, why not?

http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/3159/2009/03/21-215015-1.htm

Tamils: Drop that flag

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/worldnextdoor/archive/2009/04/21/tamils-drop-that-flag.aspx

30,000 Tamil protesters pack Parliament Hill

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090421.wsriprotest0421/BNStory/Front

Sri Lankan 'civilians dying'

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2009/04/22/9199596-sun.html

Countdown in Sri Lanka

http://www.newsy.com/videos/countdown_in_sri_lanka/

'Hundreds of civilians' killed or hurt as Sri Lankan army encircles Tamil Tigers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/22/civilians-sri-lanka-tamil-ti...

Sri Lanka: 'Civilians are dying, and the hospital is paralysed'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/22/sri-lanka-civilian-deaths

Sorry for the long article again....I received this by email.

Is a post Eelam Sri Lanka inevitable?

by Ilaya Seran Senguttuvan.

More than one Lankan academic of note dared envision in recent years the more than distinct possibility of a Sri Lanka after the coming of the much contested Eelam - in the North Eastern part of the island where Tamil-speaking people live today under conditions described as "horrible and sub-human" inviting unanimous condemnation of the world community. Tamils have been living in these areas as the majority community for thousands of years - a reality supported by history and archeology.

In the nature of the sharp dispute between the Sinhalese and Tamils that gathered momentum in recent times, even this is disputed for reasons that can only be described as mischievous. While the State of Eelam is yet to emerge formally chances are sooner than later this is inevitable - largely due to the obstinacy and suspect political manouverings of Sinhala politicians. Indiscriminate attacks from the air and sea where thousands of civilians have perished and vital infra-structure including schools, hospitals, places of worship were targeted have hardened the Tamil resolve to secede. The callous rapes of young women, killing of youth suspected to be militants and other genocidal acts continue in gay abandon to the point Tamils want to be left alone. The call for restraint by the international community in the matter was ignored by the armed forces - often believed to be out of the control of the political hierarchy. Gross sub-human treatment of Tamils in the conflict zone subjecting them to de-housing, starvation, shortage of essential medicine, destruction of their sources of livelihood have all contributed to this cumulative demand to go separate ways. Tamils see through a conspiracy to reduce their influence in numbers in the North is now clearly evident where the Eastern political leadership is made a mockery with the Chief Minister claiming "he does not even have the power to appoint a peon". This after loud assurances from the highest levels he will be given almost everything to build the District. The much-heralded transformation of Batticoloa for her people to enjoy the fruits of democracy is clearly a sham - which the Tamil people have not failed to take notice of.

The situation has reached the stage of no-return since Sinhala political rulers at different times and in various ways worked up the Sinhala mind homing on them this was, is and will be the Land of the Sinhalese majority. They rubbed it in by adding "minorities can live only on our magnanimity and pleasure. That too only if they behave" - a refrain eloquently expressed loud and clear by the Army's I-give-a-dam-to-anyone Sarath Fonseka joined by the Defernce Secretary Gothabhaya Rajapakse " to boot the President" brother.

Different political groupings among the majority and the head of the now politically and numerically powerful army have made clear what is in store for Tamils and the minorities in the future. There is no reason to believe this has not registered in the minds of the targeted audience.. The outside world has found it somewhat puzzling why the virtual Sinhala-only armed forces - now around 300,000; ultra-modern and equipped with sophisticated gear; required such a vast number to battle a rag-tag, shoeless army of LTTE cadres numbering less than 2,000 (Government figures) generally equipped with small firearms. It is curious why even today within the claimed single square mile a militant strength of less than 2,000 has not been hounded out - after weeks of assurances to the people. The bulk of the meager resources of the country that could have gone into useful development projects is deliberately squandered in the purchase of expensive equipment for the (note, not by the) forces - many of which & nbssp; reported to be at highly inflated prices. Much of it predictably siphoned off overseas. That this insensitive claim of Sinhala hegemony was not effectively contested by competing Sinhala political forces in the South is an indication of its unanimous acceptability among the wider Sinhala population.

However, more for cosmetic reasons than objective, the UNP - the Sinhala right-wing party that has been in power several times - lets off a grunt or two in feeble but lackluster opposition to this preposterous claim in what is referred to in the Constitution as a multi-racial, multi-ethnic secular society centered on equality before the law. The Army chief or the Defence Secretary and their fellow-thinkers do not necessarily concur with what the 1978 Constitution lays down. It is now a Buddhist theocratic society run by a Buddhist clergy-lead political grouping that holds more effective power and influence than what the country's ineffective Parliament does. At any rate, the average attendance in Parliament is no more than 15% we are told, with Ministers hardly in their seats to answer questions from the Opposition of which due notice is given several days earlier. That is the plight of governance in Sri Lanka today and for some years now.

The demand of the Tamil people for their rights for language, State employment and for safeguards in higher education for their children that gathered momentum in 1956 were greeted with contempt bordering on mockery. Their sad lot was decades of disappointment and step-motherly treatment. State players and resources, meanwhile, were utilized to weaken the Tamils and their traditional homeland in the North-East Province. Open and surreptitious State-aided colonization in Tamil majority areas in the Eastern Province continued unabated despite strong opposition from the Tamils. Whereas there was already significant land hunger on the part of the Tamil and - to a lesser extent, the Muslim people of the area; Sinhala colonists, mainly from the deep South, many of them hard-core criminals, were settled here with the State lavishly using resources meant for the use of all communities. This calculated move was engineered from the time of the late D.S. Senanayake in the 1950s to rapidly alter the demographic pattern of the district against the Tamils in the area. The population statistics of the area from the 1950s todate will reveal the real story.

There is room to believe governing sources in the Sinhala south coming from the two major political parties found convergence in this policy as they incorrectly figured, and indeed advised their followers, unless Tamils are rendered unto minority status in the Eastern Province, local Tamils will link with adjoining Tamilnadu in South India and eventually swamp the Sinhalese. This is a falsehood upon which platform many pro-Sinhala nationalist parties have come to power. Though this fear is unthinkable in the modern world, the vast mass of Sinhalese believed or "wanted to be believe" such a theory. It is possible much of the hatred and prejudice against Tamils is based on this delusionary fear.

However, in the final analysis, the coming into two of a hitherto singular political unit (from British times) along language lines - that was right along avoidable - does not necessarily mean the end of the world for both sides.

The writer argues both States can still function within a modified Sri Lanka with necessary political and structural arrangements to follow. There is absolutely no need for a blood-bath reminiscent of that.ignominy that took millions of lives when the Indian sub-continent split into two during 1947/48. Looking at history in sober terms what is being discussed is, in fact, the restoration of the Status Quo that was altered with the coming of the Portugese early in the 17th century - the first colonial power to set foot in the island. The separate Tamil, Kandyan kingdoms and Low Country political reality were unified by the British for reasons of "administrative convenience" when they held sway in the Island.

Tamils in the North-East and Sinhalese in the South were the pre-dominant races until that time which also had a minority of Muslims. Later Tamils of recent origin, who arrived early in the 19th century brought in as workers in the Plantations. They are settled mainly in the Central Hills of the Sinhala South. A rupture of this nature is not new to the region considering Singapore engineered a bloodless divorce from Malaya in 1965. The separation did not see the shedding of blood on a wide scale, loss of assets or properties of the Malays in Singapore or Chinese in Malaysia. In retrospective, it would appear both Singapore and Malaya would have mutually destroyed each other's capacities and future if they allowed their own rocky marriage to continue with the bitter relationship they endured. Today thanks to the resolve, industry and commitment of both Malaysians and Singaporeans both countries have reached NIC level with Singapore in the first world league. The powerful and liquid Tamil diaspora believes though they do not have the right and capacity to get GoSL and her hardline Sinhala leadership to change course at this late hour, they may be in a position to help their Tamil brethren to begin their shattered lives afresh. They have pledged to invest billions of dollars in the new entity purely to enable it to get on its feet. Even amounts of US$10,000 to 50,000 per person per year in the half of a diaspora close to 800,000 this appears sufficient to build a viable new State.

Then there is the possibility of at least 4 successful Tamil billionaires in Malaysia, USA and the UK who have the influences to build valuable infra-structure in the nascent State. Understandably, there will be some hiccups in the initial stages of the estrangement but this will work out gradually. Now that the Buddhist-priest led Sinhala State made the relationship unworkable one hopes the Sinhala side will gain the resolve and the muscle of its own indigenous and diaspora strength to rebuild her own shattered economy. There is no reason at all they cannot. Singapore gets its life-giving water from Malaysia and both countries did not interfere with the free movement of either people to and fro. Both operate on the basis of mutual survival - a philosophy ideal for Sri Lanka and the new State. In the nature of the lawless situation where much of the law and order machinery has been hijacked by criminal and lawless elements here - many of them under State protection - the rupture might not be as smooth as in the Malacca Straits. This is where the international community should step in and ensure a smooth transition.

The convergence of views of Tamilnadu's feuding Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha where both have now openly declared their support for Tamil Eelam coincides with the publication of these views. India and the international community will very likely go along with this option that can put a stop to the long blood-letting and enable GoSL to start afresh - now that they were unwilling or unable to prevent the haemorrage for over 50 years.

Stockholm,

The people they are fighting for will not be treated with dignity as the allies have done in WW2. Instead they will be treated as expected by Nazi Germany. If the International community steps in and takes responsibility for the Tamil people, you don't even have to ask the LTTE to surrender; they will all bite their cyanide capsule happily knowing that the Tamil people are in better hands then the racist Sri Lankan government.

As a person part of the International community and a person who cares so much for the lives of Tamil people are you up for that task?

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Also if I were you I would hold on to the Tamil Tigers being crushed. They been in worst situation before only to come back more powerful, more determined and with hell lot of support. You should read up on the Indian intervention where they were locked up in pitch battle with the Indian Army in the jungles and in frustration the Indian army took it out on the civilians specially the women. LTTE lost so much fighters and many well known commanders only to produce a new generation that would take the LTTE to a new level.

Another article by email

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Assuming the worst for both Tamil and Sinhala innocents

by Kusal Perera

Over 100,000 Tamil civilians have crossed over to be in the "safety" of the SL government, says official sources. The 20 sq km "no fire zone" was bifurcated the day before and another 12 sq km had been taken over by the military, according to latest reports. The SL war against the Tamil Tigers will be concluded within 48 hours from now (23 April night) according to government propaganda. The State media hypes the influx of civilians in to government controlled land as the "biggest ever humanitarian evacuation" as proudly announced by President Rajapaksa himself.

Within that hype, the 01% Nation Building Tax (NBT) that was imposed last year was increased to 03% without much notice among the public. The Opposition was only bothered it would further increase prices. Beneath all of that there is also city talk of the top few leaders of the LTTE having slipped out of the country, a few weeks ago. Some diplomatic types were eager to have the talks making rounds, confirmed either positively or negatively.

None could confirm, at least positively. Therefore, the only possible way was to logically eliminate the "impossibilities". When the LTTE decided to roll up their 06 year old mini State from Mannar in the West through Killinochchi to Mullaitivu in the East, they would have definitely worked out a fall back option, is a strong argument. Could it have been fleeing the country though ? Wouldn't the LTTE have thought they could slip into the Mullaitivu forests and occupy South Alampil and the Eastern Province once again as a guerilla out fit ? Yet the manner in which they gave up Killinochchi without a shot fired and the town completely deserted, it was more like they were abandoning the fight all together. Then the question is, why did they have the civilians move with them in such large numbers, if that was the case ?

First is that most of the civilians would have expected the LTTE to hold the government security stay put at some areas West and South-West of Kilinochchi and thus decided they could move to areas East of Kilinochchi up to Mullaitivu. There is no doubt, those Tamil people have very much less trust on the wholly Sinhala dominated military, they know of only as a very ruthless opposing military and nothing else. Its therefore obvious, their first choice what ever difficulties they would have to face, is to be in their own Wanni and out of government control.

When the LTTE started moving out of Kilinochchi too and retreating into Mullaitivu, they probably had no option but to follow the orders of the LTTE. As for the LTTE, it had two very sound reasons to have the civilians with them. One, the SL security forces were held at bay and delayed their forward push giving the LTTE time to rearrange their fall back options and two, the damages, co-lateral or not, gave them a humanitarian platform to campaign on, in the West and lobby international agencies.

The LTTE leadership nevertheless would have known such international campaigns would not guarantee security of their lives in Mullaitivu. Totally empty Wanni does not allow any possibility of survival even as an underground group. With sea lanes almost lost with Indian satellite intelligence strengthening the SL Navy patrolling, would cut their supply routes almost completely. That deprives the LTTE leadership of going under ground in the forests and in Eastern province. In EP they have a military supported para military group waiting to pounce on them and for the leadership it would be suicidal to enter East.

That line of argument leaves two options for the Tiger leaders. Fight to a definite decimation and then commit suicide. Or get the cadres to put up stiff resistance and gain an exit to slip out of the country. But go where ?

No part of India is safe soil. Not even the heated Tamil Nadu, unless the RAW for some reason wants the Tiger leaders to continue the fight at a low profile, for India to continue with its interests in the island nation through the conflict. For now, that does not seem the case. None of the Western countries would have them either, with the LTTE listed as a terrorist organization and with the international community as a bloc holding the Tiger leaders equally responsible as the SL government for the human tragedy in the Wanni. Most would suggest the retreat to be South Africa. That had been soft towards the LTTE and the large Indian origin population makes it conducive too. There is also Malaysia and Indonesia with far less spoken Fiji on the list, according to some who wish to guess.

Yet the question is, what could they do from a foreign location ? Yes, they wouldn't have much visibility for some time in SL. Not if this government makes a very nasty turn around to devolve power to the peripheries in an adequate manner to install some Tamil leaders. At least to be seen as more effective that Pilleyan. All chances and any sane guess would say 'no' not this government. Here is a government that's trying to marginalize even the Muslim leadership in Colombo. Even those in their own political party. A fate that had befallen the Fowzies at this Western Province elections. Colombo hereafter would be led by a Sinhala political leadership. Such a political leadership would not provide any space for devolution of power.

Political space and the call for rallying would be thus available. But there would be no supportive social links for armed activities for some time more to come. It would therefore remain a "Diasporic" movement. The strongest Diasporic movement that any oppressed minority in a country had ever stirred to aggressive life. In London it mobilized over a hundred thousand and continues to press the British government in to action. In Canada the Parliament Hill it was reported had over 30,000 demanding the Canadian government to intervene. Berlin had a huge rally they never see in modern Germany. The crowds were as large as those of Hilter's Brown Shirt rallies, according to some. This Diaspora now shows a difference to what was seen a few years ago. It is now more youthful, having drawn the second generation too into political activity. Its "M.I.A" generation now that shows up in rallies and are very agitated. They are also very much more educated and tech savvy than their parents. It's a new educated generation of Tamils that have come together as the dynamo of the Tamil Diaspora.

They clearly mean that the LTTE and Prabhakaran had done their historical role in planting the Tamil cause on the world map. It's the turn of the next generation now to take the baton. But how would they wield it ? It's a tough guess. So let's wait for the first signs to emerge.

But meanwhile let's remember, a very well educated generation on the offensive could be far more dangerous than a dumb and brute leadership. It may leave all, Sinhala and Tamil innocents on Sri Lankan soil as victims of circumstances.

War Journey by Maveeran Captain Malaravan,1990
E-Book - English Translation by N Malathy, 2007

http://www.tamilnation.org/books/Eelam/malaravan.htm

Tigers And Jackals

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne020509tigers_and.asp

Sri Lanka must end its civilians' ordeal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/24/sri-lanka-tamil-tigers

'Mentally and physically tortured' by war

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/623675