After Today’s BMICH Explosion
Repost This ArticleI was with some Tamil students, as a training course was winding down for the day, when news of the explosion at the BMICH reached us. The details of the incident were sketchy at first. Being Muslim, while I felt worried when I heard the news, and the BMICH being
close to where we were, I didn’t panic. But I noticed a marked difference in the reaction of the Tamil students.
“Oh god what happened,” one of the male students wailed.
“We have to go home quickly,” another said.
“What will happen to me on the way back home,” another student said with deep worry.
They started calling their homes. They even left without telling me.
What I could see was that they felt deeply afraid after such incidents. They were not afraid of the average person on the street. They were afraid of security forces and what they might do to them.
When I see this kind of thing I am really worried because as a citizen of Sri Lanka everybody needs to be treated equally and everybody needs to feel safe. Everybody is the same.
What might the forces do to them you might ask?
If they don’t have a good enough answer to explain what they are doing they can be arrested. This even if they have their IDs. If they forgot to take their ID, then they would be in much bigger trouble. If arrested they can be held for months, and they fear they might not even come out.
Sometimes people are asked to kneel in afternoon sunlight, irrespective of whether they are men or women in the North and East. I am from the eastern town of Valaichchenai and I know this happens. Sometimes they can be kept like this for hours and only released after questioning later.
Round ups which happen suddenly involve large groups of people being grouped, sometimes kept for hours and questioned. This rarely happens for Muslim people. Only for Tamil people.
Today’s explosion wasn’t the result of an attack but was an accident. The students, nevertheless, had their typical reaction of fear.
The Jaffna Human Rights Commission lawyer, who was hit by a soldier on Friday while he was minding his business without warning and without inquiry is another example. Soldiers can hit first and ask questions later. This soldier apparently apologized after he found out that this person was a lawyer at the HRC in Jaffna.
Average Tamil people also don’t have any freedom in the night. “We don’t open the door after 6.00 pm now matchung,” a friend of mine who lives in Kiran told me.
I can also understand what problems the security forces face. They work to protect the country and they can’t say when they will die. They don’t even have time to see their families as they work full-time. I can imagine how they feel when their colleagues are killed while on duty. Uncontrollable fear probably takes over.
We need to think of their situation as well.
The attack against the lawyer in Jaffna is the kind of thing that changes the minds of minority communities against the forces and government.
Muslim people also feel that they are affected by the ethnic conflict without being involved. They have lost lot of scholars and employment and income opportunities. People in border villages are afraid for their lives as well. Currently the big fear is how will the Karuna faction treat Muslim people in the east.
Rafstar
Quote:-
“Oh god what happened,†one of the male students wailed.
“We have to go home quickly,†another said.
“What will happen to me on the way back home,†another student said with deep worry.
End Quote
Now you say this is only a concern for “Tamil” people living in Colombo? Don’t you know that even the Sinhalese react like this when a bomb go off around in Colombo? In fact Sinhalese are more concerned than Tamils, because it’s Tamils who always blow bombs in Colombo. Actually your Tamil friends don’t have much to panic. Because Suicide bombers doesn’t target them.
And can you give one example situation where your “Tamil friends” are harresed by Sinhalese in Colombo after a such bombing incident?
You are biased. And your blog is with a CLEAR hidden agenda.
I know you will not publish this comment.
Don’t the Americans and Australians do the same with Muslims? Won’t Muslims in Western countries feel blamed and scared when Islamic terrorists kill innocent people? How could the Sri Lankan government be expected not to do the things that other governments in the world are doing to combat terrorism?
Tamils are singled out because virtually all the LTTE bombers are ethnic Tamils. It’s absurd to expect the security forces to subject everyone to the same treatment for the sake of equality. Their objective is to identify genuine suspects as efficiently as possible, and by narrowing the net down to suspicious people who are from the North/East and cannot explain their presence in Colombo, they are actually making the system less inconvenient for the majority of the innocent people.
Tamils did not have to go through all this during the ceasefire. It’s clear that the problem is due to real security concerns and not just to harass Tamils. The forces are doing the best they can and it’s understandable that a few people are subjected to some difficulties to protect the lives of many. If the military doesn’t do exactly what they are doing right now, there would be bombs going off every day in Colombo. They have no choice but to continue this, until the Tamils take it upon themselves to stop LTTE’s terrorism.
Tamils are having a better deal at any rate, because we at least allow them to live in Colombo. Is a single Sinhalese civilian allowed to live in Jaffna? Then how could you possibly blame the Sinhalese but not the Tamils?
“I can imagine how they feel when their colleagues are killed while on duty. Uncontrollable fear probably takes over.”
Don’t be silly. What do you think they are, a bunch of boy scouts? Soldiers are trained to operate in the midst of death & destruction. Of course there’s a certain amount of fear when you deal with death, and I myself have been terrified at times. Everything about the Army is geared to deal with that fear — from the clothes worn to the music that’s played — through discipline. So that emotional reactions can be minimised (though obviously never eliminated). To say that “uncontrollable fear” dictates the way soldiers behave is just plain ignorant.
Dear Marikkar,
That you for pointing out our CLEAR bias in this website, outlined in detailed here – http://www.groundviews.org/submission-guidelines. Your logic leaves much to be desired, not least for prejudging the fate of your comment, but it is a matter for the community here to address based on the key points you raise.
One cannot deny that the situation in the hearts and minds of innocent civilains, be they Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher or whatever, is very grave and concerning.
No one wants to be oppressed, humiliated or be subject to hurt.
We have to look beyond the great divide that separates us ethnically.
After all, just take away our names and look at how similar we are?
Groundviews – please be honest, like you will publish ANYTHING that doesn’t support the CPA’s point of view. You have deleted posts and replies in the past, so please do not act is if you do not have an agenda.
Dear “Ryan”,
Groundviews was set up by CPA, in case you didn’t notice. As noted in the Site Guidelines (does anyone read this?!), we promote difference and divergence, provided the comments don’t emanate from known trolls or those who don’t have anything to say, and proceed to say it anyway.
Kadalay, good thoughts – but how exactly do you propose going about what you mention should be done?
No offence, but these are ideas which are often said to hold the key to peace, reconciliation and what not, but no one really has an idea about how to actually go about putting into actions these lofty ideals no?
And frankly, why erase identities? Isn’t it better to celebrate who you are rather than erase what makes you a Sri Lankan, whether you are Sinhala, Burgher, Tamil, Malay, Bora, Muslim etc? Kind of linked to the multicultural debate that Publius and JustMal responded to in Indi’s post a while ago on this blog.
Hi Marikkar, I am hearing you say that Sinhalese people have similar fears and you feel angry that this article could be biased. I can also understand that you would feel angry if you hear such bias.
For my part, I would like to say that I wasn’t trying to leave out what the Sinhalese community goes through. Fear of bomb blasts affects every body in Colombo, and Sinhalese people feel they are the targets of bomb blasts. So if I seemed to exclude the Sinhalese community I apologise. Does that clarify at all what I meant Marikkar?
To clear up any confusion about who is posting, I have no connections with Groundviews or CPA. Just as this site is meant to be for citizen, independent views, I was expressing my personal views.
Justmal, I am reading that you similarly thought I was leaving out the Sinhalese community, and I would like to say that I didn’t mean to. I was trying to say that we need to look at things from the point of view of forces also and that they might not see choice in what they do.
David, sorry I didn’t express clearly in that line. Yes soldiers are definitely trained to handle themselves. What I meant was that sometimes even trained soldiers may not be able to control how they feel when they see a colleague killed.
Kadalay I agree, just take away our names and we are all similar.
Your views please~
It is utterly unacceptable that the LTTE’s terrorism should be equated with Tamils, just as much as the rampant State terrorism that we are seeing unleashed against citizens of all ethnicities should be attributed to only the Sinhalese majority that controls the State.
As for agendas, hidden or otherwise, I have no time for conspriracy theories that attack legitimate expressions of the the culture of fear and impunity that we all experience under the jackboot of the State and the LTTE, without offering an alternative to this depresing situation, or by refusing to accept that things have to change fundamentally in the way we understand and conduct politics in our country. Why has politics in SL have to be such a miserable distopia and life so nasty, brutish and short?
Disingenuous and selective comparisons to constitutional democracies in the West are not only cynical and irrelevant, but also mischievous. To compare constitutionally protected freedom and liberty of citizens in those countries is not only farcical, but also callous in terms of what our people have to endure everyday. Every society has its problems of managing diversity, but to suggest that the West is even remotely a comparison to the environment in which such debates are conducted (or not) in our case, is spurious and profoundly un-funny.
Apart from Kadalay’s laudable common sense (and foobar’s responses in certain respects), this discussion in response to an honest expression of what it is to live under conditions of LTTE terrorism and State repression by t-rep, is a terrible reflection on what our society is today: brutalised, mean, narrow-minded, and totally incapable of salvation.
Trep, I think you’ve answered your own questions. You do agree that the soldiers don’t have any choice in what they do, and what they do is absolutely vital to the security of millions of people in Colombo such as you and… not me. My point was that the Tamils have no one but themselves to blame for this state of things. They had a great opportunity under the UNP government to choose the path of peace but they refused to meet Ranil’s goodwill initiatives halfway through and continued to support the LTTE’s ideology of mayhem. How have the Tamils reciprocated to the dismantled checkpoints and barriers, the embargoes and restrictions that were lifted, and the many development projects that were started in the North and East. They voted for TNA in packs and hordes, that’s how.
It is a fundamental duty of any government to fight terrorism and seperatism. Tamils only suffer because they did nothing to push the LTTE away from that path. What have the Tamil civil society and media done to tame and civilise the LTTE. While the Sinhala peace activists were at war with the “Sinhala chauvinists”, the Tamil peace lobby sees eye to eye with Tamil seperatists and terrorists on every issue. When the Sinhala peacemakers try to rein in the excesses of the government and military, the Tamil society defends and justifies the same of the LTTE. CPA probably doesn’t have the guts to publish this, but could anyone say it isn’t true? Have there ever been any genuine criticism of the LTTE and other extremists within the Tamil civil society except for “boys will be boys”? Where’s the Northern equivalent of the mass mobilisation for peace and reconcilation initiated by SCOs and other groups in the South? A war against terrorists could only be fought successfully if the government could match their ruthlessness. Of course there will be mass detentions, disappearances, executions, abductions, embargoes, aerial bombings and others. That’s the only way they could fight the LTTE with the limited resources, manpower and technology they’ve got. If in doubt, shoot first.
Many people will suffer and Tamil civilians who may not be directly involved in the war will be subject to most of the difficulties. But they’ve brought it upon themselves for allowing the LTTE to fight on their behalf. They could only change their plight by changing themselves and then changing the LTTE. The government has nothing to gain by putting roadblocks all over the city and arresting thousands of people. They’ll stop all that if the LTTE stops bombings. Only the Tamils could force it to.
By the way Trep, I’m not upset that you left out the Sinhalese. Unlike some, we Sinhalese don’t take pride in being the object of other people’s sympathy.
“If in doubt, shoot first.”
Oh my. The brave diaspora speaketh.
I think this is an excellent discussion to the extent that herein lies most of the views across the divide. If we can find a way to understand each other then this debate is what is needed at the society level and we may see the end to this conflict.
Its hard work, but hey, thats why this conflict has been there for a very long time.
Maybe we need to stick to some basic rules such as avoiding blame, attack, judgement and sarcasm, which I don’t think there has been much of, but nevertheless easily creeps in and creates a reactionary cycle of responses. I would suggest that we also give up simple concepts like right and wrong and take a broader view.
Lets also appreciate everyone’s views and make sure that everyone has the opportunity to express fully. I hope there is no censoring of comments by the admin unless there are clear words of abuse. Still, I would be happy if the abuse words are deleted and the rest is posted. I also hope no one is being excluded.
Trep, yes, training can’t eliminate all emotion. But seeing a colleague or friend killed doesn’t induce a soldier to go out and kill or harrass innocents. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen; it does. But usually those reactions are by soldiers who are flawed anyway. Most of the harrassment faced by civilians has nothing to do with revenge or even reaction, but more to do with a casual brutality that military life fosters (and not just in SL). My response was because I feel your comment suggests that individual emotions dictate how soldiers treat civilians. They don’t.
Mal, as you know, your way of fighting the war (as we did back in the ’80 and ’90s) failed. The GoSL learned from those mistakes and is fighting differently now, smarter. That’s why we’re winning. But you’re excused for not knowing your country’s military history. After all, you live in Australia and would have been around 7 years old when ‘Balavegaya I’ was being fought.
hi i know i might be out of topic but just a general question to all to see what your opinions are, if i’m not wrong LTTE wants a separate land just for tamils in the north right? that means no muslim or sinhalese or other people are allowed. so if the government gives them what they want they stop the war. so then logically that means every tamil person has to leave colombo and etc.. to go and live in north under LTTE government since that’s gonna be their new homeland. (how very weird it’s gonna be)
is that how this theory suppose to work? caz i sincerely don’t understand these LTTE people because i sincerely don’t think every tamil person agrees to what LTTE is doing. they talk only about tamil people’s right then what about people who’re 1/2 sinhalese and 1/2 tamil, they’ll kill the sinhalese parent just because the person was born to a different family with a tag called sinhalese given by the society.
it’s just crazy sorry to say this but maybe if srilanka didn’t get the indipendace from british things would have been better more developed less corrupted multicultural and with a strong economy. maybe another australia. then people would have had other things to worry about.
This is the stereo-typical minority biased writing which results leading a majority to become less sensitive over a long period of time. In reality these articles are counter-productive to the intended reaction since though some in the minorities would wholeheartedly agree, the vast majority will feel more incenced.
Even during the height of the JVP insurrection thousans of younger folk who were stopped by the armed forces were let off without any problems. I was one of them, and have been stopped more times than I can even recall. And then there were the people they went after, some of whom met with an unpleasant end. In retrospect we have come to realize that the folks who met such a fate always had some involvement with the anti-government communist violence.
It is unfortunate that the tamil youth of today are facing this situation, which was caused by the actions of their own parents. Those who sow the seeds of chaos, often reap the whirlwind and sometimes it touches their next generation too.