Lost opportunities for the Tamils
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has almost been militarily defeated. The fate of its leaders and the remaining cadres is not clear. It seems only through a miracle that the LTTE would bounce back and capture at least one or two districts in the north to wield its rule in them as they did earlier.
Even if the outfit would bounce back and roll back the advances of the security forces it would take decades for it to bring the areas that were under their control back under their rule. However, it is more likely to be wishful thinking on the part of the LTTE and its allies to anticipate another comeback by the rebels given their present setback.
The LTTE or for that matter the separatist movement did not come to being in a vacuum. Also separatism was not created in one man’s mind. It has its own origin, history and evolution. During the initial stages of the secessionist movement even the intelligentsia among the majority Sinhalese sympathized with it. The leftist movement including the JVP with some of the present JHU leaders in it justified the demand for secession with the Marxist theory of “Self determination of nations” in the early eighties of the last century.
They too reasoned the Tamil struggle to the disfranchising of Tamil estate workers in 1949, Sinhala Only Act in 1956, Standardization of university entrance in 1963 and the alleged state sponsored Sinhalese colonization in traditional Tamil areas in the north and east by various development projects under various governments. The Tamil armed groups then had the backing of Tamilnadu as well as the Indian Central Government. Indian Central government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi provided them with money, weapons and military training in the eighties.
They drew a great amount of sympathy from the international community that they managed to get a resolution recognizing Tamil Eelam passed in the US Massachusetts House of Representatives in June 1981.
They now have lost almost all. India , the US , Canada and 25 countries in the European Union have designated the LTTE as an international terrorist organization. Australia and Malaysia are considering banning of the outfit. The organization has lost control of almost all the lands it wielded power in the north and the east. In a situation where the LTTE is now in, it is natural for anyone to recall the good old days when the outfit had ruled the roost and the opportunities that Tamils lost in the search for a real solution to the ethnic problem. Indeed the LTTE and other Tamil organizations and political parties lost too many chances for the resolution of the ethnic problem in view of a lack of political will on the part of the governments as well as the intransigence of the LTTE and other Tamil groups.
One would see five major opportunities where Tamil leaders could have won political as well as administrative powers so that they could look after their own affairs except those powers considered to be detrimental to the unity and territorial integrity of the country. First and decisive among them was the Indo Lanka Accord of 1987 which even changed the nature of the Sri Lankan state.It was a time when India under Indira Gandhi had virtually subjugated President JR Jayewardene’s government in Sri Lanka by displaying its readiness to intervene in the internal matters of Sri Lanka by military means. India sent a flotilla of ships to the Sri Lankan waters and Indian planes violated the Sri Lankan air space to remind the island neighbour about her hegemony in the region before the Accord.
After displaying her military might India forced a “political solution” down the throat of the Sri Lankan Government. Though it was far below the expectations of the Tamil armed groups the provincial council system introduced through Indo Lanka Accord shifted the nature of the Sri Lankan state from a unitary form to a basic federal form. Also it gave the opportunity for the Tamils to look after their own affairs in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Had the LTTE accepted it, Tamils could have run the amalgamated two provinces with the blessings of India .
One important aspect that was ignored throughout by the LTTE and its allies was that India would not allow anyone to establish a separate Tamil state in the northern part of Sri Lanka which might become a base for the secessionist elements in its southernmost state of Tamilnadu. Therefore the Tamils in Sri Lanka lost a major opportunity in respect of their demands in 1987.
Two other opportunities were given by Presidents Ranasinghe Premadasa and Chandrika Kumaratunga for the Tamil leaders to rule over their own community through peace talks. Even the LTTE’s ideologue Anton Balasingham at the opening of the LTTE courts complex in Kilinochchi in 2003 said they could have accepted the famous “package” offered by President Kumaratunga. But it was too late.
The golden opportunity that was offered by a Sri Lankan government to the Tamil leaders for a resolution was the Norwegian sponsored peace process under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. It is true that the very nature of the peace process agreed upon by the two parties laid an “international safety net” and created a vast rift in the military machine of the LTTE which was a major cause for its present predicament. But the Wickremesinghe government was too amenable then for the Tamils to win over a lot except for a Tamil Eelam.
However all these are now “spilled milk”. What is worrying the ordinary Tamils might be the lost opportunities and the damaged prestige of their community with the military defeat of the LTTE. It is also a serious challenge for a government that wants not to pass the seeds of separatism on to the future generations to assimilate this hurt community into the Sri Lankan society.
dailymirror.lk
Monday, February 2, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
NO PLAN TO ALLOW TAMILS IDPs TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES URGENTLY!!! WHY???
Our top priority, safeguard civilian lives!....Minister:Rishad Bathiudeen
BY........... By Dhaneshi YATAWARA
With a huge influx of displaced people, the Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Ministry has undertaken the gigantic task of providing shelter until they are ready to return home. Minister Rishad Bathiudeen explained this most complicated yet feasible task in an interview with Sunday Observer. Here are excerpts of the interview:
Q: According to the information you have received up to now, what is the present status of the civilians entering the cleared areas?
Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishad Bathiudeen
A: Well, the most painful problem we face is the difficulty in getting the people out of uncleared areas, as the LTTE is holding them by force.
This is a very inhuman and unethical attitude on the part of the LTTE. Presently 2,254 people belonging to 837 families are with us in the Welfare Centres in Vavuniya.
And in Jaffna, approximately over 1800 people who had escaped recently have been sheltered in centres.
Q: Did the government expect such an influx of people?
A: At any rate we always welcome these innocent people. Actually we expected there would be at least 200,000 people coming out of the uncleared areas, depending on the statistics that were available.
Under the directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa we have used every possibility to safeguard the lives of people.
We expect all the people still trapped to come out. Since the last quarter of 2008, the Government continuously invited the people to come out.Leaflets were dropped from air informing the civilians on `no war zone' areas, safety passage etc.
We have also informed them through UN agencies, District and Divisional Secretaries as well.
Q: Were we ready to face this challenge?
A: Definitely. We have good past experience in taking care of over 200,000 displaced people in the East and resettling them. It was a huge challenge. With the support from Presidential Advisor, Basil Rajapaksa and the Presidential Secretariat we have a very practical and sustainable plan for the welfare of the currently displaced people.
Q: How does the Ministry plan to provide these newly displaced people with their basic needs?
A: At the moment we have arranged to provide these people with cooked meals.
It is handled by our Ministry. Mobile health units are functioning with the assistance from doctors and the staff of nearby hospitals. This is going on without a break.
We have placed ambulances at the welfare centres. Water and sanitation facilities have been provided and we are in the process of building individual housing units for each family providing them with cooking utensils and dry food rations in the near future.
Q: What are the new measures taken in relation to the latest developments?
A: President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave a directive to release a total land area of 1000 acres in the Vavuniya district to build three villages for the displaced people.
Resettling programs can take a long time and will be laborious as the respective residential areas of these people are laid with LTTE's Anti Personnel Mines.De-mining and clearing these areas and then to obtain a Safety Assurance Certificate from the Security Forces need a considerable time considering the workload they have to perform.
Q: How will this novel concept be activated?
A: We have planned to build three relief villages - Ramanathan Relief village, Kadirgamar relief village and Arunachalam relief village. These villages will have facilities for people to lead a normal life. We will provide education for the children, water, electricity, telephones and other basic facilities.
Q: How will these services be extended to these people?
A: Though these people have become IDPs, earlier either they were government servants, businessmen, farmers, fishermen etc. They can contribute within their capacities. The State employees can play a major role. There may be school principals, teachers, directors, clerks etc. They need to continue with their work. We only need to coordinate this properly. This is not impossible.
Q: What is the status of resettlement programme?
A: In the East 95% is over now. The balance is in progress and definitely we will be able to finish it within this year. Resettling people in a war affected area is not that simple. First and foremost we need to assure that the area is safe.Then the rest will follow. With the recently liberated areas we will start from Mannar. De-mining process, especially in the Silavatura and Musali areas is in progress. Then we will move into Vavuniya, to Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu as the Security Forces move on consolidating their positions.
Q: What are the obstacles?
A: Resettling had to be adhered to certain internationally accepted ethics. These are not really obstacles. We have to fully assure the safety of these people and their future. First and foremost, we need to check those who are willing to return to their homes because some may not be willing with the trauma they had gone through.We can't resettle people without their consent. After the areas have been de-mined the officials will have to evaluate the sites, establish Government offices and then restore the basic infrastructure facilities.
dailynews.lk
BY........... By Dhaneshi YATAWARA
With a huge influx of displaced people, the Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Ministry has undertaken the gigantic task of providing shelter until they are ready to return home. Minister Rishad Bathiudeen explained this most complicated yet feasible task in an interview with Sunday Observer. Here are excerpts of the interview:
Q: According to the information you have received up to now, what is the present status of the civilians entering the cleared areas?
Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishad Bathiudeen
A: Well, the most painful problem we face is the difficulty in getting the people out of uncleared areas, as the LTTE is holding them by force.
This is a very inhuman and unethical attitude on the part of the LTTE. Presently 2,254 people belonging to 837 families are with us in the Welfare Centres in Vavuniya.
And in Jaffna, approximately over 1800 people who had escaped recently have been sheltered in centres.
Q: Did the government expect such an influx of people?
A: At any rate we always welcome these innocent people. Actually we expected there would be at least 200,000 people coming out of the uncleared areas, depending on the statistics that were available.
Under the directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa we have used every possibility to safeguard the lives of people.
We expect all the people still trapped to come out. Since the last quarter of 2008, the Government continuously invited the people to come out.Leaflets were dropped from air informing the civilians on `no war zone' areas, safety passage etc.
We have also informed them through UN agencies, District and Divisional Secretaries as well.
Q: Were we ready to face this challenge?
A: Definitely. We have good past experience in taking care of over 200,000 displaced people in the East and resettling them. It was a huge challenge. With the support from Presidential Advisor, Basil Rajapaksa and the Presidential Secretariat we have a very practical and sustainable plan for the welfare of the currently displaced people.
Q: How does the Ministry plan to provide these newly displaced people with their basic needs?
A: At the moment we have arranged to provide these people with cooked meals.
It is handled by our Ministry. Mobile health units are functioning with the assistance from doctors and the staff of nearby hospitals. This is going on without a break.
We have placed ambulances at the welfare centres. Water and sanitation facilities have been provided and we are in the process of building individual housing units for each family providing them with cooking utensils and dry food rations in the near future.
Q: What are the new measures taken in relation to the latest developments?
A: President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave a directive to release a total land area of 1000 acres in the Vavuniya district to build three villages for the displaced people.
Resettling programs can take a long time and will be laborious as the respective residential areas of these people are laid with LTTE's Anti Personnel Mines.De-mining and clearing these areas and then to obtain a Safety Assurance Certificate from the Security Forces need a considerable time considering the workload they have to perform.
Q: How will this novel concept be activated?
A: We have planned to build three relief villages - Ramanathan Relief village, Kadirgamar relief village and Arunachalam relief village. These villages will have facilities for people to lead a normal life. We will provide education for the children, water, electricity, telephones and other basic facilities.
Q: How will these services be extended to these people?
A: Though these people have become IDPs, earlier either they were government servants, businessmen, farmers, fishermen etc. They can contribute within their capacities. The State employees can play a major role. There may be school principals, teachers, directors, clerks etc. They need to continue with their work. We only need to coordinate this properly. This is not impossible.
Q: What is the status of resettlement programme?
A: In the East 95% is over now. The balance is in progress and definitely we will be able to finish it within this year. Resettling people in a war affected area is not that simple. First and foremost we need to assure that the area is safe.Then the rest will follow. With the recently liberated areas we will start from Mannar. De-mining process, especially in the Silavatura and Musali areas is in progress. Then we will move into Vavuniya, to Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu as the Security Forces move on consolidating their positions.
Q: What are the obstacles?
A: Resettling had to be adhered to certain internationally accepted ethics. These are not really obstacles. We have to fully assure the safety of these people and their future. First and foremost, we need to check those who are willing to return to their homes because some may not be willing with the trauma they had gone through.We can't resettle people without their consent. After the areas have been de-mined the officials will have to evaluate the sites, establish Government offices and then restore the basic infrastructure facilities.
dailynews.lk
SEE HOW IGNORANT MINISTER CHAMPIKA!!! OVER 90% OF TAMILS/MUSLIMS CAN SPEAK SINHALA LANGUAGE!!!....WRONG STATEMENT!!!
Military exercise until Mullaitivu is freed - Minister Champika Ranawaka
by Shanika SRIYANANDA
Mahinda Rajapaksa Government would not stop the military exercise until the whole of Mullaitivu is liberated. Internal or the external forces cannot compel the Government to stop the war against the LTTE, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said.
In an interview with the Sunday Observer he said that still some hidden conspiracies were propping up to save the LTTE, but the Government is committed to bring a meaningful freedom and a durable solution to the country’s national problem. “We have almost won the battle and defeated the LTTE. The Government does not have any conspiracy with India to stop the battle”, he confirmed.
Following are the excerpts of the interview:
Q: The war in the North will end very soon but people in the South are speculating about the development process of the East. Is there a well planned development strategy for the North?
A: No one can criticise the development activities taking place in the East. Developing the East is one of the priorities of the Government.
The Government has a comprehensive politico-military strategy which consists of three Ds - Demilitarization, Democratization and Development. These three Ds have been successfully implemented in the East now. Like in the East, the military is to defeat the LTTE in Vanni. That is the Demilitarization. Once the North is totally liberated the Government will implement the democratization. After resettling the displaced civilians elections will be held to select their representatives. The development of the North needs a properly planned strategy.
Q: Does the JHU believe that the Tamil people have grievances which were not met yet?
A: I do not think that the Tamils have problems just because they are Tamils. But they too have the same problems like lack of job opportunities to match their education, issues related to agriculture and poverty, which all other communities have. These are common problems to all the communities - Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim. These problems will be addressed under the democratization process. Instead of bureaucracy and elitism, the Government will implement meritocracy to give all communities equal opportunities without being biased towards any particular ethnic or religious group.
Q: Will the Government take steps to resettle the Sinhala and Muslim population who were there earlier in the Northern areas?
A: Yes. It is their right. I do not think that this should be done immediately as the Government’s first priority is to restore peace. When the trust is gradually developed between these communities, this will happen naturally. In 1981 there were 81,000 Sinhalese and 44,000 Muslims in Jaffna. Don’t you think that these people have a right to live in their original habitats.
Q: One of the main demands of the Tamils is about their language rights, which is said to have fuelled the whole conflict. What is your view?
A: It is not a problem only for the Tamils and as I said earlier it is common for others including Sinhalese. The children born in the North and East get the birth certificates in Tamil. This problem can be overcome when the communities learn each others’ languages. Over 90 percent of the Tamils and Muslims can speak Sinhala language.
Q: If you say that the Tamils do not have their own grievances to meet, then what is the use of having the APRC?
A: The JHU has decided to take part in the APRC for two reasons. One is we wanted to identify the so-called problems and to explain our stand to solve those problems. If someone can prove that the Tamils have problems and they have a right to have a separate state, as Buddhists we will agree with them. But we want to say one thing we are not ready to give into these demands at gun point.
It is only possible through discussions. If there is constructive evidence to say that the Tamils need a separate state the JHU is ready to agree with them.
The second reason why we have joined the APRC is that we wanted to emphasize the rights of the Sinhalese who lived for ages in the North and East. They have also faced many injustices due to the LTTE. They were killed or threatened and chased away. They were displaced for years.
Q: Are you confident that these conflicts could be solved through the APRC?
A: There is a Parliamentary Committee to change the country’s election system since 1994. Up to date the Committee has failed to reach to a common agreement to solve the matter. Therefore, the issues that are discussed in the APRC will take time to reach a common agreement. We cannot do things according to the aspirations of some individuals.
The APRC is a good forum because all the other agreements starting from the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam, Dudley-Chelvanayakam, Indo-Lanka Agreement by the J.R. Jayewardene, Provincial Council system, Chandrika Bandaranaike’s package and upto Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Ceasefire Agreement, all these are `palace conspiracies’. No other political party was given opportunity to make their contribution to these agreements. That means these agreements were not drawn according to the consensus of the ordinary people of this country. A group of two to three Colombo based people drafted these agreements. Then in 1992 the foreign diplomats, who wanted to make this country a confederal country, joined these groups. Then the `elite’ or ‘palace conspiracy’ became a `diplomatic conspiracy’.
The APRC is a forum for all the political parties to contribute towards the future of this country. This is the first time that all the political parties got an opportunity to contribute their views to solve the national problem. So the outcome of the APRC is strong and will remain longer than the decisions of the elites.
I think that the war against the LTTE has brought many `victories’ to the country. The Mahinda Rajapaksa Government has been able to defeat elite and diplomatic conspiracies while re-establishing the democracy in the war torn areas.
Q: The Government is talking about 13th Amendment to solve the national problem and how is it possible under the three Ds?
A: Yes, it comes under democratization process. But, the JHU is against giving Police and land powers to the Provincial Councils. India which devolved police powers, has taken the decision to keep it with the Central Government after the Mumbai terrorist attack. The JHU oppose implementing everything in the 13th Amendment. What is needed is a careful identification of the things that are appropriate for the country.
Q: Do you propose the `Gamsabha system’, which was proved very efficient system to devolve power?
A: Yes, it is a very efficient system and we have tested it with the `Gama Naguma’ program. What we suggest is that we should give more powers to the Pradeshiya Sabhas which help to develop the infrastructure facilities for the villagers and solve their problems at village level.
dailynews.lk
by Shanika SRIYANANDA
Mahinda Rajapaksa Government would not stop the military exercise until the whole of Mullaitivu is liberated. Internal or the external forces cannot compel the Government to stop the war against the LTTE, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said.
In an interview with the Sunday Observer he said that still some hidden conspiracies were propping up to save the LTTE, but the Government is committed to bring a meaningful freedom and a durable solution to the country’s national problem. “We have almost won the battle and defeated the LTTE. The Government does not have any conspiracy with India to stop the battle”, he confirmed.
Following are the excerpts of the interview:
Q: The war in the North will end very soon but people in the South are speculating about the development process of the East. Is there a well planned development strategy for the North?
A: No one can criticise the development activities taking place in the East. Developing the East is one of the priorities of the Government.
The Government has a comprehensive politico-military strategy which consists of three Ds - Demilitarization, Democratization and Development. These three Ds have been successfully implemented in the East now. Like in the East, the military is to defeat the LTTE in Vanni. That is the Demilitarization. Once the North is totally liberated the Government will implement the democratization. After resettling the displaced civilians elections will be held to select their representatives. The development of the North needs a properly planned strategy.
Q: Does the JHU believe that the Tamil people have grievances which were not met yet?
A: I do not think that the Tamils have problems just because they are Tamils. But they too have the same problems like lack of job opportunities to match their education, issues related to agriculture and poverty, which all other communities have. These are common problems to all the communities - Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim. These problems will be addressed under the democratization process. Instead of bureaucracy and elitism, the Government will implement meritocracy to give all communities equal opportunities without being biased towards any particular ethnic or religious group.
Q: Will the Government take steps to resettle the Sinhala and Muslim population who were there earlier in the Northern areas?
A: Yes. It is their right. I do not think that this should be done immediately as the Government’s first priority is to restore peace. When the trust is gradually developed between these communities, this will happen naturally. In 1981 there were 81,000 Sinhalese and 44,000 Muslims in Jaffna. Don’t you think that these people have a right to live in their original habitats.
Q: One of the main demands of the Tamils is about their language rights, which is said to have fuelled the whole conflict. What is your view?
A: It is not a problem only for the Tamils and as I said earlier it is common for others including Sinhalese. The children born in the North and East get the birth certificates in Tamil. This problem can be overcome when the communities learn each others’ languages. Over 90 percent of the Tamils and Muslims can speak Sinhala language.
Q: If you say that the Tamils do not have their own grievances to meet, then what is the use of having the APRC?
A: The JHU has decided to take part in the APRC for two reasons. One is we wanted to identify the so-called problems and to explain our stand to solve those problems. If someone can prove that the Tamils have problems and they have a right to have a separate state, as Buddhists we will agree with them. But we want to say one thing we are not ready to give into these demands at gun point.
It is only possible through discussions. If there is constructive evidence to say that the Tamils need a separate state the JHU is ready to agree with them.
The second reason why we have joined the APRC is that we wanted to emphasize the rights of the Sinhalese who lived for ages in the North and East. They have also faced many injustices due to the LTTE. They were killed or threatened and chased away. They were displaced for years.
Q: Are you confident that these conflicts could be solved through the APRC?
A: There is a Parliamentary Committee to change the country’s election system since 1994. Up to date the Committee has failed to reach to a common agreement to solve the matter. Therefore, the issues that are discussed in the APRC will take time to reach a common agreement. We cannot do things according to the aspirations of some individuals.
The APRC is a good forum because all the other agreements starting from the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam, Dudley-Chelvanayakam, Indo-Lanka Agreement by the J.R. Jayewardene, Provincial Council system, Chandrika Bandaranaike’s package and upto Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Ceasefire Agreement, all these are `palace conspiracies’. No other political party was given opportunity to make their contribution to these agreements. That means these agreements were not drawn according to the consensus of the ordinary people of this country. A group of two to three Colombo based people drafted these agreements. Then in 1992 the foreign diplomats, who wanted to make this country a confederal country, joined these groups. Then the `elite’ or ‘palace conspiracy’ became a `diplomatic conspiracy’.
The APRC is a forum for all the political parties to contribute towards the future of this country. This is the first time that all the political parties got an opportunity to contribute their views to solve the national problem. So the outcome of the APRC is strong and will remain longer than the decisions of the elites.
I think that the war against the LTTE has brought many `victories’ to the country. The Mahinda Rajapaksa Government has been able to defeat elite and diplomatic conspiracies while re-establishing the democracy in the war torn areas.
Q: The Government is talking about 13th Amendment to solve the national problem and how is it possible under the three Ds?
A: Yes, it comes under democratization process. But, the JHU is against giving Police and land powers to the Provincial Councils. India which devolved police powers, has taken the decision to keep it with the Central Government after the Mumbai terrorist attack. The JHU oppose implementing everything in the 13th Amendment. What is needed is a careful identification of the things that are appropriate for the country.
Q: Do you propose the `Gamsabha system’, which was proved very efficient system to devolve power?
A: Yes, it is a very efficient system and we have tested it with the `Gama Naguma’ program. What we suggest is that we should give more powers to the Pradeshiya Sabhas which help to develop the infrastructure facilities for the villagers and solve their problems at village level.
dailynews.lk
THE TAMIL RESPOSIBILITY!!!LOOKING BACK!!!MOVING FORWARD!!!
The Tamil responsibility
Looking back, moving forward:
By Skanda
On 2 January, the Sri Lanka armed forces brought the town of Kilinochchi, the administrative capital of the Tamil Tigers, back under government control. The win was not entirely unexpected, as speculation that the military was attempting to recapture the town, which the government lost in 1990, was rife by November last year. LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had, however, ridiculed Colombo's effort to capture the city, dismissing it as a daydream of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Yet Kilinochchi fell to the security forces within a span of weeks, with the LTTE's famed military machinery collapsing like a pack of cards.
What happened? How was it that an organisation once described as the most ruthless guerrilla fighting force in the world folded up so quickly? What explains the fall of Kilinochchi?
Changing perception
The answer lies in the Tamil people's changing perception of the LTTE.
Unlike the reality in the late 1970s and 1980s, when Tamils saw the armed struggle as an extension of their political fight for equal rights, in the current context they were beginning to recognise the LTTE as part of an oppressive structure. In following his dream of supreme power in an independent Tamil Eelam nation state, Prabhakaran and the LTTE killed thousands of Tamil men and women who, though deeply committed to the cause of the Tamil people, did not espouse the LTTE ideology. Among others, Tamil intellectuals such as Rajini Thiranagama, Neelan Tiruchelvam and Appapillai Amirthalingam, as well as politicians of the calibre of Sam Thambimuttu and Yogeswaran, were all murdered.
With their cold-blooded killing of thousands and their subjugation of the organisations these individuals represented, the LTTE projected an aura of invincibility, instilling great fear in the Tamil fold. This fear drove many to blindly support any act by the LTTE, even leading some to inform on their neighbours for disloyalty to the group - encouraged acts that ultimately created an atmosphere of distrust akin to that of Nazi Germany. An absolute and abject culture of silence was soon built up within the Tamil community. Sullen and repressed, people began accepting LTTE diktat, not daring to disagree. In addition to this emotional burden, the LTTE also treated the public under their command with contempt: heaping taxes on them, instituting unreasonable laws (such as taxes on government and public servants, and even on items such as sand or bricks for construction or bricks) and forcing Tamils to perform numerous indefensible tasks, including providing a child to the organisation on pain of death.
Tigers' tyranny
The Tigers' tyrannical and disdainful treatment of Tamils resulted in the community moving further and further away from the group in spirit, but continuing to obey its orders due to a lack of alternatives. Whereas militant youths had initially joined the struggle out of a sense of common purpose, this spirit of unity had vanished by the middle of this decade. They were now fighting because they had been ordered to do so, and were afraid to refuse. Commitment to a cause had giving way to conscription. For every Tamil youth it killed, the LTTE was now gaining at least a dozen enemies. Fear still prevented the growing dissidents from taking concrete action, but history has shown that an oppressed people will eventually find ways to get back at their oppressors. Soon, information on enemy positions and movements began to dry up. The majority of the people no longer went out of their way to offer protection to cadres, hide arms and ammunition or provide food. And at the crucial moment during battles, the new recruits began to cut and run.
They began either surrendering to the Sri Lankan military or even informing the security forces about LTTE fighting strategies and plans.
Amidst such an evolution, Prabhakaran was already on the run before the fall of Kilinochchi, but that event had grave repercussions for the movement. The longstanding myth of invincibility had already been shattered following the fall of the east, and the capture of the northern bases. By January, the LTTE's defeat seemed imminent, finally giving the Tamil community the courage to begin criticising and later providing information on a guerrilla force that had so long inspired fear and hate.
In this situation, one would have expected Prabhakaran to chew on the cyanide capsule he is said to wear around his neck. But chew on the capsule he will not. Prabhakaran's strength (and weakness) has been his total commitment to his idea: he does not have the capacity to change, can never give up the idea of a separate state while he remains at the helm. What this means is that the Tamils living in the small area still under LTTE control will have to continue to suffer a little longer, until the few remaining cadres are vanquished or desert.
The tragedy of it all is that history will ultimately remember Prabhakaran as the man who failed to grasp the many opportunities given to him. When in power, for instance, President Chandrika Kumaratunga offered him complete control of the then-amalgamated Northern and Eastern Provinces, which he rejected - and later attempted to assassinate her.
Despite the steadfastness described earlier, Prabhakaran has also always been exceedingly cunning, and has always been at pains to protect himself. Thus, even as this article is being written, potentially reliable information suggests that the rebel leader might no longer even be in Sri Lanka.
No popular support
Indeed, the rapid folding of LTTE resistance to the Sri Lankan military is the surest signal that he may have already fled the country. If their leader were indeed gone, the cadre would see no reason to defend a particular position unto death; thus, the military would be able to overrun LTTE defences in rapid succession.
Even if such rumours are not true, the vanquished LTTE is still in no position to conduct a long, drawn-out guerrilla war. The common man is now battle-weary, tired of this war without end, this immoral war where brother kills brother. And without popular support, recruiting guerrilla fighters is simply not possible.
Looking back, moving forward
Against this backdrop, what will be the fate of Sri Lankan Tamils? Where do they go from here? Where do they stand as a community in the face of a military victory that is seen by many Sinhalese as their win over Tamils? Perhaps prophetic are President Rajapakse's own words, spoken from his quarters in Kandy on 17 January 2009: "Soon the lion flag will fly from every housetop from Point Pedro to Dondra Head ... from Colombo to Trincomalee." What this means for Tamils is that the community may well have to learn to live in the shadow of the conqueror. The community vision of a land where Tamils could live free, as equals with other communities, died a long time ago. As with every dream, it is now time to wake up and take stock of the realities.
Tamils let down
It is also time to face the horrific mistakes and crimes that were committed by Tamils in the name of that dream of independence. It is time to accept that recent leaders representing the community - be they from the LTTE, other militant groups or the politicians in Parliament - all let Tamils down, more often than not treating the people as their vassals. In his (or her) own way, at different times and to varying degrees, each of these leaders oppressed the very people on whose behalf he (or she) was taking up arms. It is time for Tamils to make peace with and amends to their neighbours in the Muslim community for the degradation, ethnic cleansing and untold suffering they have experienced at the hands of the Tamils' self-styled 'sole representatives', while the Tamil community silently watched with nary a word of opposition. It is a time to ensure that Tamils will never again let themselves be blinded, nor be wilfully blind nor condone crimes and faults committed by members of their community.
On the political front, the community must never forget the many chances that were offered but rejected out of hand. Nor should Tamils sink to cheering wildly and in gross ingratitude, biting the very hand that fed them, as occurred during the war against the Indian Peace-Keeping Force during the 1980s and with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Tamils have much soul-searching and community-building to do, to ensure that they not allow the victor to impose a new oppressor from within Tamil ranks upon the community. While there will be no separate state, Tamil political parties will need to make the most of powers to be devolved under the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, in order to rebuild the shattered lives, economy, education and spirit of the Tamil people and land.
(Courtesy Himalmag.com)
Looking back, moving forward:
By Skanda
On 2 January, the Sri Lanka armed forces brought the town of Kilinochchi, the administrative capital of the Tamil Tigers, back under government control. The win was not entirely unexpected, as speculation that the military was attempting to recapture the town, which the government lost in 1990, was rife by November last year. LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had, however, ridiculed Colombo's effort to capture the city, dismissing it as a daydream of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Yet Kilinochchi fell to the security forces within a span of weeks, with the LTTE's famed military machinery collapsing like a pack of cards.
What happened? How was it that an organisation once described as the most ruthless guerrilla fighting force in the world folded up so quickly? What explains the fall of Kilinochchi?
Changing perception
The answer lies in the Tamil people's changing perception of the LTTE.
Unlike the reality in the late 1970s and 1980s, when Tamils saw the armed struggle as an extension of their political fight for equal rights, in the current context they were beginning to recognise the LTTE as part of an oppressive structure. In following his dream of supreme power in an independent Tamil Eelam nation state, Prabhakaran and the LTTE killed thousands of Tamil men and women who, though deeply committed to the cause of the Tamil people, did not espouse the LTTE ideology. Among others, Tamil intellectuals such as Rajini Thiranagama, Neelan Tiruchelvam and Appapillai Amirthalingam, as well as politicians of the calibre of Sam Thambimuttu and Yogeswaran, were all murdered.
With their cold-blooded killing of thousands and their subjugation of the organisations these individuals represented, the LTTE projected an aura of invincibility, instilling great fear in the Tamil fold. This fear drove many to blindly support any act by the LTTE, even leading some to inform on their neighbours for disloyalty to the group - encouraged acts that ultimately created an atmosphere of distrust akin to that of Nazi Germany. An absolute and abject culture of silence was soon built up within the Tamil community. Sullen and repressed, people began accepting LTTE diktat, not daring to disagree. In addition to this emotional burden, the LTTE also treated the public under their command with contempt: heaping taxes on them, instituting unreasonable laws (such as taxes on government and public servants, and even on items such as sand or bricks for construction or bricks) and forcing Tamils to perform numerous indefensible tasks, including providing a child to the organisation on pain of death.
Tigers' tyranny
The Tigers' tyrannical and disdainful treatment of Tamils resulted in the community moving further and further away from the group in spirit, but continuing to obey its orders due to a lack of alternatives. Whereas militant youths had initially joined the struggle out of a sense of common purpose, this spirit of unity had vanished by the middle of this decade. They were now fighting because they had been ordered to do so, and were afraid to refuse. Commitment to a cause had giving way to conscription. For every Tamil youth it killed, the LTTE was now gaining at least a dozen enemies. Fear still prevented the growing dissidents from taking concrete action, but history has shown that an oppressed people will eventually find ways to get back at their oppressors. Soon, information on enemy positions and movements began to dry up. The majority of the people no longer went out of their way to offer protection to cadres, hide arms and ammunition or provide food. And at the crucial moment during battles, the new recruits began to cut and run.
They began either surrendering to the Sri Lankan military or even informing the security forces about LTTE fighting strategies and plans.
Amidst such an evolution, Prabhakaran was already on the run before the fall of Kilinochchi, but that event had grave repercussions for the movement. The longstanding myth of invincibility had already been shattered following the fall of the east, and the capture of the northern bases. By January, the LTTE's defeat seemed imminent, finally giving the Tamil community the courage to begin criticising and later providing information on a guerrilla force that had so long inspired fear and hate.
In this situation, one would have expected Prabhakaran to chew on the cyanide capsule he is said to wear around his neck. But chew on the capsule he will not. Prabhakaran's strength (and weakness) has been his total commitment to his idea: he does not have the capacity to change, can never give up the idea of a separate state while he remains at the helm. What this means is that the Tamils living in the small area still under LTTE control will have to continue to suffer a little longer, until the few remaining cadres are vanquished or desert.
The tragedy of it all is that history will ultimately remember Prabhakaran as the man who failed to grasp the many opportunities given to him. When in power, for instance, President Chandrika Kumaratunga offered him complete control of the then-amalgamated Northern and Eastern Provinces, which he rejected - and later attempted to assassinate her.
Despite the steadfastness described earlier, Prabhakaran has also always been exceedingly cunning, and has always been at pains to protect himself. Thus, even as this article is being written, potentially reliable information suggests that the rebel leader might no longer even be in Sri Lanka.
No popular support
Indeed, the rapid folding of LTTE resistance to the Sri Lankan military is the surest signal that he may have already fled the country. If their leader were indeed gone, the cadre would see no reason to defend a particular position unto death; thus, the military would be able to overrun LTTE defences in rapid succession.
Even if such rumours are not true, the vanquished LTTE is still in no position to conduct a long, drawn-out guerrilla war. The common man is now battle-weary, tired of this war without end, this immoral war where brother kills brother. And without popular support, recruiting guerrilla fighters is simply not possible.
Looking back, moving forward
Against this backdrop, what will be the fate of Sri Lankan Tamils? Where do they go from here? Where do they stand as a community in the face of a military victory that is seen by many Sinhalese as their win over Tamils? Perhaps prophetic are President Rajapakse's own words, spoken from his quarters in Kandy on 17 January 2009: "Soon the lion flag will fly from every housetop from Point Pedro to Dondra Head ... from Colombo to Trincomalee." What this means for Tamils is that the community may well have to learn to live in the shadow of the conqueror. The community vision of a land where Tamils could live free, as equals with other communities, died a long time ago. As with every dream, it is now time to wake up and take stock of the realities.
Tamils let down
It is also time to face the horrific mistakes and crimes that were committed by Tamils in the name of that dream of independence. It is time to accept that recent leaders representing the community - be they from the LTTE, other militant groups or the politicians in Parliament - all let Tamils down, more often than not treating the people as their vassals. In his (or her) own way, at different times and to varying degrees, each of these leaders oppressed the very people on whose behalf he (or she) was taking up arms. It is time for Tamils to make peace with and amends to their neighbours in the Muslim community for the degradation, ethnic cleansing and untold suffering they have experienced at the hands of the Tamils' self-styled 'sole representatives', while the Tamil community silently watched with nary a word of opposition. It is a time to ensure that Tamils will never again let themselves be blinded, nor be wilfully blind nor condone crimes and faults committed by members of their community.
On the political front, the community must never forget the many chances that were offered but rejected out of hand. Nor should Tamils sink to cheering wildly and in gross ingratitude, biting the very hand that fed them, as occurred during the war against the Indian Peace-Keeping Force during the 1980s and with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Tamils have much soul-searching and community-building to do, to ensure that they not allow the victor to impose a new oppressor from within Tamil ranks upon the community. While there will be no separate state, Tamil political parties will need to make the most of powers to be devolved under the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, in order to rebuild the shattered lives, economy, education and spirit of the Tamil people and land.
(Courtesy Himalmag.com)
TIME FOR TAMIL DIASPORA OR SONIA TO SAVE TAMIL CIVILIANS!!!
Time For Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora To Speak Out
By B. Raman
"An organisation headed by a leader, who understands only terrorism, is unlikely to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of the international community. Prabakaran is a liability for the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Tamils in the post-9/11 world. The time has come for the LTTE leaders and the Sri Lankan Tamils—-including their overseas diaspora—- to do an introspection on their future course of action. If they have to preserve the gains made by thousands of their cadres since 1983, they have to find a new leadership. Prabakaran is no longer the man of the future. He is passe. He has become a liability for the Tamil cause. The sooner the Sri Lankan Tamils realise it, the better for them."
Extract from my article of January 22, 2007, titled LTTE AVOIDS BATTLE OF ATTRITION IN THE EAST available at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers22/paper2105.html
The reports regarding the desperate plight of about 1,50,000 Sri Lankan Tamils caught up between an advancing Sri Lankan Army and a retreating Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Wanni area of northern Sri Lanka are confusing.
2. Many have reportedly died and many, including many children, have been injured in the exchange of artillery fire between the two sides. In a situation like this, it is impossible to establish whose artillery killed whom. All one can say is that innocent civilians are paying a heavy price for the heavy exchange of artillery.
3. The Sri Lankan Army is disinclined to agree to a ceasefire to let the civilians be evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) lest the LTTE take advantage of it to regroup. The LTTE is disinclined to let the civilians move to the safety zones set up by the Government lest this facilitate the advance of the Army.
4. The international community, including the Government of India, are unable to effectively bring pressure on both sides to help out the civilians. The Sri Lankan Army has estimated that it is only a few weeks away from totally eliminating the capability of the LTTE for conventional fighting and it is determined to achieve that objective even at the risk of some collateral damage to the civilians. The LTTE is afraid that if it lets the civilians go, it will have a face-to-face confrontation with the Army in which it is unlikely to do well.
5. Prabakaran, who is believed to be still commanding the retreating LTTE fighters, does not seem to realise that the chances of the LTTE staging a spectacular come-back as it did in the 1990s and recaptured Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu are remote. The loss of control over territory in the Northern Province is not so devastating for him as the loss of control over the Tamil population in the Eastern Province. In the past, many of the conventional fighters of the LTTE came from the Eastern Province and many of the terrorists from the Northern Province. It is no longer possible for him to get new recruits from the Eastern Province. The recent fighting in the North has indicated that the LTTE’s shortages in arm and ammunition and explosives are much more serious than originally estimated. With the rapidly decreasing possibility of finding replacement of human and material resources, his chances of staging a come-back conventionally are much less than what they were in the 1990s.
6. The terrorist wing of the LTTE also seems to be facing severe problems due to a shortage of explosive material, a drop in volunteers for suicide terrorism and the lack of time and space in the midst of a furious conventional war to motivate and train new volunteers and mount operations.
7. The use of the civilians to avert an impending final defeat on the ground should be condemned by all the political parties in Tamil Nadu, by the Government of India and the international community. Prabakaran has been living in a world of illusions just as Hitler was in the final days of the defeat of the Nazi Army before he and his mistress committed suicide in a Berlin bunker to avoid being captured by the advancing Soviet Army. Till he decided to kill himself, Hitler was fondly hoping that a reversal of fortunes was still possible. So too, Prabakaran seems to be having a fond hope that he and his men can stage a come-back even at this stage.
8. It is time for the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to assert itself and call upon the LTTE cadres to overthrow Prabakaran and other leaders, arrest them, hand them over to the Sri Lankan authorities and proclaim a unilateral ceasefire. It is time for the diaspora to come to terms with the reality and act before more civilians are killed. If they fail to do so and continue to encourage Prabakaran in his irrational illusions, history will judge them harshly.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
www island.lk
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WTRF would like ask Mr.Raman and other Indian politicians that rather than Tamil diaspora, Sonia Gandhi+Congress party have the moral duty and real ability to saveguard Tamil civilians as Tamils are true friends of India because of close religious, linguistic, cultural loyality with India and Indians! If war broke out between India and Pakistan/China you have no friends in Srilanka if Tamils are completely destroyed!You knew very well Sinhala leaders are with whom in the past!!!
When Sinhala soldiers were in big trouble in Kilaly,GOI helped them!!But today Tamil civilians are in big trouble!We hope and pray Lord Shiva,Vishnu,Ganesh and Muruga to guide India in this crucial movement to safeguard helpless/powerless Tamils in SL!!!
If India failed, you see Pakistani/Chinese flags in Jaffna/Katchativu as well as in TN!!! WE ARE WAITING FOR INDIA'S URGENT DECISION!!!WE WANT TO SEE AN INDIRA GANDHI IN SONIA GANDHI!!! GOODBYE OUR FRIEND RAMAN!!!
By B. Raman
"An organisation headed by a leader, who understands only terrorism, is unlikely to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of the international community. Prabakaran is a liability for the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Tamils in the post-9/11 world. The time has come for the LTTE leaders and the Sri Lankan Tamils—-including their overseas diaspora—- to do an introspection on their future course of action. If they have to preserve the gains made by thousands of their cadres since 1983, they have to find a new leadership. Prabakaran is no longer the man of the future. He is passe. He has become a liability for the Tamil cause. The sooner the Sri Lankan Tamils realise it, the better for them."
Extract from my article of January 22, 2007, titled LTTE AVOIDS BATTLE OF ATTRITION IN THE EAST available at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers22/paper2105.html
The reports regarding the desperate plight of about 1,50,000 Sri Lankan Tamils caught up between an advancing Sri Lankan Army and a retreating Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Wanni area of northern Sri Lanka are confusing.
2. Many have reportedly died and many, including many children, have been injured in the exchange of artillery fire between the two sides. In a situation like this, it is impossible to establish whose artillery killed whom. All one can say is that innocent civilians are paying a heavy price for the heavy exchange of artillery.
3. The Sri Lankan Army is disinclined to agree to a ceasefire to let the civilians be evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) lest the LTTE take advantage of it to regroup. The LTTE is disinclined to let the civilians move to the safety zones set up by the Government lest this facilitate the advance of the Army.
4. The international community, including the Government of India, are unable to effectively bring pressure on both sides to help out the civilians. The Sri Lankan Army has estimated that it is only a few weeks away from totally eliminating the capability of the LTTE for conventional fighting and it is determined to achieve that objective even at the risk of some collateral damage to the civilians. The LTTE is afraid that if it lets the civilians go, it will have a face-to-face confrontation with the Army in which it is unlikely to do well.
5. Prabakaran, who is believed to be still commanding the retreating LTTE fighters, does not seem to realise that the chances of the LTTE staging a spectacular come-back as it did in the 1990s and recaptured Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu are remote. The loss of control over territory in the Northern Province is not so devastating for him as the loss of control over the Tamil population in the Eastern Province. In the past, many of the conventional fighters of the LTTE came from the Eastern Province and many of the terrorists from the Northern Province. It is no longer possible for him to get new recruits from the Eastern Province. The recent fighting in the North has indicated that the LTTE’s shortages in arm and ammunition and explosives are much more serious than originally estimated. With the rapidly decreasing possibility of finding replacement of human and material resources, his chances of staging a come-back conventionally are much less than what they were in the 1990s.
6. The terrorist wing of the LTTE also seems to be facing severe problems due to a shortage of explosive material, a drop in volunteers for suicide terrorism and the lack of time and space in the midst of a furious conventional war to motivate and train new volunteers and mount operations.
7. The use of the civilians to avert an impending final defeat on the ground should be condemned by all the political parties in Tamil Nadu, by the Government of India and the international community. Prabakaran has been living in a world of illusions just as Hitler was in the final days of the defeat of the Nazi Army before he and his mistress committed suicide in a Berlin bunker to avoid being captured by the advancing Soviet Army. Till he decided to kill himself, Hitler was fondly hoping that a reversal of fortunes was still possible. So too, Prabakaran seems to be having a fond hope that he and his men can stage a come-back even at this stage.
8. It is time for the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to assert itself and call upon the LTTE cadres to overthrow Prabakaran and other leaders, arrest them, hand them over to the Sri Lankan authorities and proclaim a unilateral ceasefire. It is time for the diaspora to come to terms with the reality and act before more civilians are killed. If they fail to do so and continue to encourage Prabakaran in his irrational illusions, history will judge them harshly.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
www island.lk
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WTRF would like ask Mr.Raman and other Indian politicians that rather than Tamil diaspora, Sonia Gandhi+Congress party have the moral duty and real ability to saveguard Tamil civilians as Tamils are true friends of India because of close religious, linguistic, cultural loyality with India and Indians! If war broke out between India and Pakistan/China you have no friends in Srilanka if Tamils are completely destroyed!You knew very well Sinhala leaders are with whom in the past!!!
When Sinhala soldiers were in big trouble in Kilaly,GOI helped them!!But today Tamil civilians are in big trouble!We hope and pray Lord Shiva,Vishnu,Ganesh and Muruga to guide India in this crucial movement to safeguard helpless/powerless Tamils in SL!!!
If India failed, you see Pakistani/Chinese flags in Jaffna/Katchativu as well as in TN!!! WE ARE WAITING FOR INDIA'S URGENT DECISION!!!WE WANT TO SEE AN INDIRA GANDHI IN SONIA GANDHI!!! GOODBYE OUR FRIEND RAMAN!!!
MR-GOVT FAILED TO BUILD UP DEMOCRACY AND RULE OF LAW IN SOUTH!! HOW TO DO IN NORTH/EAST???
NOTEBOOK OF A NOBODY
Minding the end game
by Shanie....................(A HIGHLY RESPECTED WRITER BY TAMIL DIASPORA)
The war, in its current phase, is nearing its end. There was never any doubt that the security forces, with their superior manpower, superior arms and control over the skies and sea, would in the end prevail over the LTTE in conventional operations. But the question was as to the extent of lives that would be lost, totally or partially, in regaining the territory under the control of the insurgents. Many in civil society, including religious leaders, had urged a softer approach with an occasional temporary truce. That was in the hope that such an approach would result in less trauma for those affected, both combatants and civilians caught-up in the crossfire and their families, and less loss of military, LTTE and civilian lives. The end result of this soft approach, even though it would have taken longer to achieve, would have been the same. But the defence establishment preferred a hard line approach, pushing for victory over the LTTE in the shortest possible time, irrespective of the increased trauma and casualties that such a strategy would have entailed.
The bulk of the LTTE’s fighting cadres are now holed up in and around Puthukudiyiruppu. But with them are also an estimated 230 to 250 thousand civilians. The Government has announced a ‘safety zone’ into which these civilians can move. It makes sense for these civilians to move into such a safety zone and there can be little doubt that the majority of them would prefer to do so. But the LTTE’s strategy, as expected, is to keep them as human shields. If all the civilians move out, their cadres would be sitting ducks to the fire power of the security forces. So the civilians are forced to remain in the cross-fire. But it is the duty of the Government to be mindful of the helplessness of these civilians. Subjecting them to artillery fire or preventing food from reaching them should not be employed as a strategy to force the civilians to flee at immense risk to their lives. It is within the capacity of the security forces, at least at this stage, to change strategy to ensure civilian safety. After all, they have the LTTE almost surrounded and there is no possibility at this stage of the LTTE regrouping and re-arming itself. Instead of working to political imperatives and election deadlines, it will be in the long-term interests of our country and our people if the security forces now show total commitment to the welfare and safety of the trapped Tamil civilians, a commitment that the LTTE has hardly ever shown. Such a commitment by the government will not be lost on the Tamil civilians.
The future after the end game
The future for the people of the North – and the East, despite claims of its ‘liberation’ – is a matter of concern to the country. The LTTE has been a monolithic outfit, totally under the control and direction of one leader. History has shown that any non-democratic organization will quickly collapse in the absence of its authoritarian leader. That surely will be the fate of the LTTE if its leader is captured or killed. If however he is able to go (or has gone) underground and continue leading the LTTE, then the outfit will go back to what it was in its early years and operate as a guerrilla force. It is difficult to predict if they will be a more deadly as guerrilla outfit, rather than as conventional insurgents.
But even as a guerrilla outfit, the LTTE’s effectiveness would be nullified if the Government commits itself to winning the hearts and minds of the Tamil people in the North, a commitment which they have not shown during the past three years. Replacing the LTTE with another armed group is not the way to go about providing democracy to the people of the North. The Government should have by now learnt the lessons of that policy in the East, where the LTTE has now re-emerged and is now making its militant presence felt. The Government dismisses the Tamil National Alliance as a proxy of the LTTE and has not even invited the TNA to make a contribution to the deliberations of the All Party Conference or the APRC. The irrelevance of the APRC today is of course not due to the absence of the TNA, but allowing only the armed groups to represent the Tamils was a disastrous decision. The TNA remains the only democratically elected representative of the Tamil people and by ignoring them the government has shown that it prefers to do business with armed clones of the LTTE rather than with elected representatives. After all, the TNA received over 90% of the votes in the Jaffna District.
After the assassinations of the early leadership of the TNA (and the earlier TULF), over the last ten years the TNA has lost leaders with a broad vision like Neelan Tiruchelvam, Joseph Pararajasingham and Nadarajah Raviraj to the assassin’s bullet and Veerasingham Anandasangari to intra-party politics. Only R Sambandan remains. He may be surrounded by hawks and chauvinists, but he is a person respected by the Tamil people and the government would have done well to recognise him with respect as an elected leader of the Tamil people.
The fear of the Tamil and Muslim people in the North and East is of continuing to live under discrimination and authoritarianism, even after driving out the LTTE from controlling any part pf the country. The government has shown no inclination so far to implementing the provisions of the 13th Amendment in its entirety, leave alone bringing any new meaningful devolution proposals. Armed groups still go round abducting, killing, robbing and harassing people in the ‘cleared areas’ of the North and East. And there are credible reports of planned colonisation of Muslim and Tamil lands by Sinhala settlers, implemented by chauvinist and fascist groups who are part of the government. That was the same disastrous policy followed in the nineteen seventies and eighties that gave birth to the LTTE. President Rajapaksa will understand the truth of the well–known saying of George Santayana about the danger of repeating the mistakes of history. Those who cannot remember the past, wrote Santayana, are condemned to repeat it. That is, those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors, are destined to repeat the same mistakes.
Post-war administration
To win over the local civilian population to the cause of peace and democracy, it is not enough to make pronouncements to that effect. In addition to the implementation of political devolution proposals in terms of the Constitution, there will be a need for a strong civilian administration. Such an administration should be manned by strong independent professionals. Even in a non post-war situation, politicians and military officers do not usually make good administrators. There have been exceptions no doubt. In the Uva, we have an ex-politician who is keeping the provincial politicians on their toes, irrespective of party politics. In the East, in an earlier era, we had an ex-military officer who provided an impartial administration. But in the current situation, we need independent Tamil or Muslim professionals who will be able to provide leadership to the people without having to be confined to their offices surrounded by security. We need professionals who will be above politics, above partisanship and who will be able to stand up both against political meddling as well as against armed groups of all types. Only such an administration can prevent militancy from raising its head once again and crucially win the hearts and minds of the civilians, who have undergone decades of harassment from various quarters.
A military presence will still be necessary but it will have to be a not-so-visible one. After years of fighting an ethnic insurgency, mindsets of the security forces will be difficult to change. A re-orientation programme will be necessary to effect a change. But there will be chauvinists and fascists who will not want that mindset to change. How the governments handles this will be crucial to the development of democracy and good governance in the region. It can be questioned how a government that has failed to build up democratic freedoms and adherence to the rule of law in the rest of the country can do in the new situation in the North.
The only hope is that political expediency will be less of a factor in the North. But we are doomed if the government succumbs to political expediency and installs an armed group there.
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Minding the end game
by Shanie....................(A HIGHLY RESPECTED WRITER BY TAMIL DIASPORA)
The war, in its current phase, is nearing its end. There was never any doubt that the security forces, with their superior manpower, superior arms and control over the skies and sea, would in the end prevail over the LTTE in conventional operations. But the question was as to the extent of lives that would be lost, totally or partially, in regaining the territory under the control of the insurgents. Many in civil society, including religious leaders, had urged a softer approach with an occasional temporary truce. That was in the hope that such an approach would result in less trauma for those affected, both combatants and civilians caught-up in the crossfire and their families, and less loss of military, LTTE and civilian lives. The end result of this soft approach, even though it would have taken longer to achieve, would have been the same. But the defence establishment preferred a hard line approach, pushing for victory over the LTTE in the shortest possible time, irrespective of the increased trauma and casualties that such a strategy would have entailed.
The bulk of the LTTE’s fighting cadres are now holed up in and around Puthukudiyiruppu. But with them are also an estimated 230 to 250 thousand civilians. The Government has announced a ‘safety zone’ into which these civilians can move. It makes sense for these civilians to move into such a safety zone and there can be little doubt that the majority of them would prefer to do so. But the LTTE’s strategy, as expected, is to keep them as human shields. If all the civilians move out, their cadres would be sitting ducks to the fire power of the security forces. So the civilians are forced to remain in the cross-fire. But it is the duty of the Government to be mindful of the helplessness of these civilians. Subjecting them to artillery fire or preventing food from reaching them should not be employed as a strategy to force the civilians to flee at immense risk to their lives. It is within the capacity of the security forces, at least at this stage, to change strategy to ensure civilian safety. After all, they have the LTTE almost surrounded and there is no possibility at this stage of the LTTE regrouping and re-arming itself. Instead of working to political imperatives and election deadlines, it will be in the long-term interests of our country and our people if the security forces now show total commitment to the welfare and safety of the trapped Tamil civilians, a commitment that the LTTE has hardly ever shown. Such a commitment by the government will not be lost on the Tamil civilians.
The future after the end game
The future for the people of the North – and the East, despite claims of its ‘liberation’ – is a matter of concern to the country. The LTTE has been a monolithic outfit, totally under the control and direction of one leader. History has shown that any non-democratic organization will quickly collapse in the absence of its authoritarian leader. That surely will be the fate of the LTTE if its leader is captured or killed. If however he is able to go (or has gone) underground and continue leading the LTTE, then the outfit will go back to what it was in its early years and operate as a guerrilla force. It is difficult to predict if they will be a more deadly as guerrilla outfit, rather than as conventional insurgents.
But even as a guerrilla outfit, the LTTE’s effectiveness would be nullified if the Government commits itself to winning the hearts and minds of the Tamil people in the North, a commitment which they have not shown during the past three years. Replacing the LTTE with another armed group is not the way to go about providing democracy to the people of the North. The Government should have by now learnt the lessons of that policy in the East, where the LTTE has now re-emerged and is now making its militant presence felt. The Government dismisses the Tamil National Alliance as a proxy of the LTTE and has not even invited the TNA to make a contribution to the deliberations of the All Party Conference or the APRC. The irrelevance of the APRC today is of course not due to the absence of the TNA, but allowing only the armed groups to represent the Tamils was a disastrous decision. The TNA remains the only democratically elected representative of the Tamil people and by ignoring them the government has shown that it prefers to do business with armed clones of the LTTE rather than with elected representatives. After all, the TNA received over 90% of the votes in the Jaffna District.
After the assassinations of the early leadership of the TNA (and the earlier TULF), over the last ten years the TNA has lost leaders with a broad vision like Neelan Tiruchelvam, Joseph Pararajasingham and Nadarajah Raviraj to the assassin’s bullet and Veerasingham Anandasangari to intra-party politics. Only R Sambandan remains. He may be surrounded by hawks and chauvinists, but he is a person respected by the Tamil people and the government would have done well to recognise him with respect as an elected leader of the Tamil people.
The fear of the Tamil and Muslim people in the North and East is of continuing to live under discrimination and authoritarianism, even after driving out the LTTE from controlling any part pf the country. The government has shown no inclination so far to implementing the provisions of the 13th Amendment in its entirety, leave alone bringing any new meaningful devolution proposals. Armed groups still go round abducting, killing, robbing and harassing people in the ‘cleared areas’ of the North and East. And there are credible reports of planned colonisation of Muslim and Tamil lands by Sinhala settlers, implemented by chauvinist and fascist groups who are part of the government. That was the same disastrous policy followed in the nineteen seventies and eighties that gave birth to the LTTE. President Rajapaksa will understand the truth of the well–known saying of George Santayana about the danger of repeating the mistakes of history. Those who cannot remember the past, wrote Santayana, are condemned to repeat it. That is, those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors, are destined to repeat the same mistakes.
Post-war administration
To win over the local civilian population to the cause of peace and democracy, it is not enough to make pronouncements to that effect. In addition to the implementation of political devolution proposals in terms of the Constitution, there will be a need for a strong civilian administration. Such an administration should be manned by strong independent professionals. Even in a non post-war situation, politicians and military officers do not usually make good administrators. There have been exceptions no doubt. In the Uva, we have an ex-politician who is keeping the provincial politicians on their toes, irrespective of party politics. In the East, in an earlier era, we had an ex-military officer who provided an impartial administration. But in the current situation, we need independent Tamil or Muslim professionals who will be able to provide leadership to the people without having to be confined to their offices surrounded by security. We need professionals who will be above politics, above partisanship and who will be able to stand up both against political meddling as well as against armed groups of all types. Only such an administration can prevent militancy from raising its head once again and crucially win the hearts and minds of the civilians, who have undergone decades of harassment from various quarters.
A military presence will still be necessary but it will have to be a not-so-visible one. After years of fighting an ethnic insurgency, mindsets of the security forces will be difficult to change. A re-orientation programme will be necessary to effect a change. But there will be chauvinists and fascists who will not want that mindset to change. How the governments handles this will be crucial to the development of democracy and good governance in the region. It can be questioned how a government that has failed to build up democratic freedoms and adherence to the rule of law in the rest of the country can do in the new situation in the North.
The only hope is that political expediency will be less of a factor in the North. But we are doomed if the government succumbs to political expediency and installs an armed group there.
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THE GREAT TAMIL LEADER OF SRILANKA: SIR PON. ARUNACHALAM !
Sir.Pon Ramanathan
Sir.Pon Arunachalam
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam:
True nationalist and patriot of Ceylon
The Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam Memorial Oration, delivered by Dr. Brendon Gooneratne on January 19, 2009
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam
Ponnambalam Arunachalam was the youngest son of Gate Mudaliyar A. Ponnambalam. He was born on September 14, 1853 to a highly respected and very well-educated, professional family from Manipay.
His eldest brother Ponnambalam Coomaraswamy had a distinguished career as a Proctor and was the Nominated Tamil Member of the Ceylon Legislative Council from 1893.
The next eldest child of the family, his brother, Ponnambalam Ramanathan, an Advocate, succeeded their uncle, Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, as the Nominated Tamil Representative, serving from 1879 to 1893, and later on from 1921 to 1924.
Ponnambalam Ramanathan was also elected to the Legislature as member for the Northern Province (Northern Division) seat and occupied it from 1924 till his death in 1930. In addition to this appointment, Ramanathan was the island’s Solicitor-General from 1893 to 1906 for a period of 13 years, acted as Attorney-General on several occasions, and retired as a pensionable officer in 1906.
Education
Both the elder brothers of Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam were educated at the Colombo Academy (now Royal College), and then at Presidency College, Madras.
Like his older brothers Ponnambalam Arunachalam, had his early education at the Colombo Academy, but, having won the English University Scholarship in 1870, he entered Christ College, Cambridge.
He took with him a reputation as a student of exceptional merit, recommended by Sir Walter Sendall, Director of Public Instruction.
At Cambridge, he proceeded to annex the Foundation Scholarship. As a student, Ponnambalam Arunachalam was in a position to watch the changes made by Disraeli to the voting system in Britain and stored his observations for future reference.
Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, who was Arunachalam’s mother’s brother, had been a friend of Lord Houghton, Palmerston and Disraeli, in the London of the 1860s. Disraeli’s unfinished novel, Falconet, which was published in the London Times after the author’s death in 1881, featured a character named Kusinara, ‘an inhabitant of Ceylon’, who, although a Buddhist, is thought to have been modelled upon Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy. Sir Muttu was the first Ceylon Tamil to receive a knighthood, and the first non-Christian Asian to be called to the English Bar.
Lord Houghton had this to say of him: “I held him in great esteem. He has never received due credit for the energy with which he opened the Bar of England to all Eastern subjects of the Empress of India.”
Brothers
Sir Muttu’s only son, Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy, world-famous art critic and author, who played a pivotal role in the cultural revival of India and Ceylon, died in 1947 in Boston USA where he had worked in the Fine Arts Department for many years.
The three Ponnambalam brothers and their cousin Ananda Coomaraswamy grew up in the cultural atmosphere provided by Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, under his kindly protection and guidance. They thrived on it.
While at Cambridge, Arunachalam distinguished himself in both Classics and Mathematics. In the records of Christ College he is referred to as ‘a brilliant mathematician and an able classics scholar’. Among his tutors at Cambridge were Fletcher Moulton (afterwards Lord Chief Justice), Professor Reid, Dr. Peile and Rev. Skeat.
He moved in some interesting circles which included the two Lyttletons, Gerald and Eustace Balfour, Professors Maitland and Foxwell, Rev. Cunningham, Lord Tennyson (eldest son of the Poet Laureate), Alexander Harris and Edward Carpenter.
Carpenter, a notable radical, cherished a warm, life-long friendship with Arunchalam and paid a most eloquent tribute to his friend after his death by publishing a selection of Arunachalam’s letters to him in a book entitled ‘Light from the East’.
Arunachalam had qualified for the Bar and was looking forward to a legal career, but on his return to Ceylon in 1875 his uncle Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy persuaded him to sit for the Civil Service examination. He did so, and his talent and academic excellence ensured that he was the first Ceylonese to enter the Civil Service through open competition.
Scholar
Arunachalam was now appointed to the Government Agent’s office in Colombo and then to a series of judicial posts in various parts of the island. This was a policy unofficially adopted by the British Government of the day, which effectively debarred outstanding Ceylonese from taking high office in Government and instead appointed them to various parts of the island in different capacities, such as District Judges, Police Magistrates and Commissioners of Requests.
Another talented person who was given the same runaround was Paul Pieris, later Sir Paul, the scholar and historian.
Sir Paul Pieris put his time in the provinces to good use, by researching and writing excellent books on successive periods of Ceylon’s history, of such distinction that he was later to become the first Asian to receive a Doctor of Letters degree from Cambridge University.
Arunachalam’s talent and hard work attracted the attention of Sir John Phear, a great Chief Justice of Ceylon, who specially commended his work to the Governor and the Secretary of State. Sir John said that only two men in Ceylon rose to the standard of what judicial officers ought to be one was Berwick, the other was Arunachalam.
When he was District Judge of Batticaloa and in the Fourth Class of the Civil Service, Sir Arthur Gordon appointed Arunachalam over the heads of about thirty seniors, among whom was Mr. (late Sir) Alexander Ashmore, to act in the office of the Registrar-General and Fiscal of the Western Province. A protest memorandum was lodged with the Secretary of State. But Sir Arthur Gordon, who obviously recognized merit when he found it, had his way and Arunachalam took office as Registrar-General.
Corruption
Arunachalam now set himself to reform the Fiscal’s office which had become a den of corruption and inefficiency. He reorganised the Departments of Land Registration and Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages, for which he was warmly congratulated by the Governor.
The Times of Ceylon, reporting at the time Arunachalam entered the departments, on the Administration Reports on Land Registration and Vital Statistics, observed that they were places where chaos and corruption held merry sway. Fraud was rife. Dishonest deals often took precedence over genuine dealings, and everybody’s property and title were endangered. Not very different, I am afraid, from the Sri Lanka of today.
Reforms
The measure of the man may be seen in the way he set about reforming the Registrar-General’s Department.
Sitting by the side of the various clerks as they performed their tasks, he patiently learned their work before launching the reforms by which he stopped the unconscionable delays and dishonesty prevailing in the registration of deeds, and ended the practice by which official work was being conducted as a form of private practice with fees levied privately for its discharge.
He started a real record room, supplied it with a system and an index and founded a Benevolent Society which saved many a clerk from the grasp of money-lenders as well as from social disgrace and penury, paid many a widow and orphan and made clerical lives lighter and brighter.
These activities were notices by a distinguished American statistician, who informed the Governor of Ceylon that “there is not published in the entire United States a report equally valuable and comprehensive”.
Governor Sir West Ridgeway entrusted the organisation of the 1901 Census of Ceylon to Arunachalam. The report elicited the thanks of both the Governor and Secretary of State. But it was Armand de Souza, Editor of the Ceylon Morning Leader, and influential paper of the day, who wrote:
“The curious reader .... will find the Report which introduces the Census of 1901 perhaps the most luminous dissertation on the ethnological, social and economic conditions of the Island. In Sir P. Arunachalam’s Account of the history and religions of the Island in his Census Report would be found the language of Addison, the eloquence of Macaulay and the historical insight of Mommsen”.
(To be continued) dailynews.lk
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