Between 1947 and 1982 I travelled between two Virtual States – The land of the Tamils and Ceylon. No customs and no immigration. I say virtual two states, because when you travel by train or by bus, from Colombo, after Anuradhapuram there are no Sinhala passengers. The Tamils who were more or less silent and docile, become loud and animated with their discussions in Tamil. The reverse is true when traveling to Colombo from Jaffna.

This phenomenon was a common topic and amusement among us schoolboys who observe such behaviour of Tamils. What is happening is that the virtual had become a reality due to the racism of successive GOSL and subsequent armed resistance by the Tamils.

When and how will it all end is anyones guess. But if one believes that the Tamils will bow down to tyranny they need to review the history of the last 50 years.

http://guruchetra.blogspot.com/2007/12/stonic-silence-over-arrest-of-tamils.html

The arrests are not with the serious intent for investigation, but as an act of “collective punishment” on all Tamils, for seeking an Independent Tamil Eelam.

Anti Tamil Violence since 1958 were instigated by politicians in the South, just because the Tamils of the North East were asking for their legitimate right to rule themselves. At that time Sinhala civilans caused murder, arson, destruction of property and displacements.

Now the same aspects of murder, arson, destruction of property and displacements of civilians are being done by the paid soldiers of the state. They have taken over anti Tamil Violence from the Sinhala civilians.

Further, anti Tamil violence was intermittent but now it is continuous under the military. It is a daily occurence.

United Sri Lanka is a myth or a pipe dream. With anti Tamil violence daily by the state, an independent sovereign state for the Tamils proves inevitable. It is Tamil Eelam that can restore the dignity and self respect of Tamils.

Probably registering would be a good idea. However there is no convenient manner of doing so. The people who are required to register are those whose mother tongue is Tamil. But there is no facility to register either in English or Tamil. No one is able to communicate with these people when they do go to Police stations.

Also doesn’t the whole registering business kind of infer that they are aliens? ie. from a different state?

obviously this is could hae been controlled better if the security forces started screening people coming in from wanni atpoint of crossing itself……….

ideally, that would be better with a regular checking possible when they come to colombo.

also , the people who come to colombohas a civic duty to go and register with the police as this is not a normal time – wonder if ever there was any proactiveness in that way from these people?

What do you expect?

If it’s true, that means there’s a large-scale screening process going on, with set objectives already defined. (And if that’s the case, maybe those from Jaffna, who are now living in the south, are next?)

Without detailed media reports it’s difficult to know if that information on the screening of detainees is entirely accurate. But whatever the case, it does seem like quite a coordinated, planned process.

Perhaps the plans have existed for a while, but the bombings were the event that allowed them to be put in motion? It may not be as random or reactive as we think. It would be interesting to have investigative coverage on how these decisions have been taken and implemented. However I’m sure that kind of coverage would be deemed to violate national security, and so won’t make the media in that form.

Most coverage will probably involve reporting the statements of political figures, such as Fernandopulle, or Mano Ganeshan. That will give journalists some coverage in the face of ongoing threats against the media, because they’ll only be reporting what high-profile leaders say, which means the journalist him- or herself won’t be so much of a potential individual target.

However that also means that the majority of media coverage will automatically be politicised, and that the public will rely on statements from one or two independent high-profile figures, like Ganeshan, to hear any criticism of the process. As a consequence, independent, unpoliticised investigation and coverage of what is a major human rights issue is unlikely to take place on a significant scale.

Do others also see the dynamic of security measures and media coverage in this way? I’d be interested to hear different views and analysis on this.

There seems to be no properly managed professional pre-emptive control mechanisms in place to be able to detect and arrest would be suicide bombers or those involved in terrorist activities. The authorities do not seem to possess the kind of resources to be able to do this in an effective manner.

Some may choose to claim that he vigilance of these personnel may have saved some lives by their ability to detect and arrest some individuals. However this isn’t enough, no doubt.

The hassling of innocent civilians after the event has become a norm noiw and I doubt it wll ever fade away even after this ethnic conflict has been resolved, if it ever will, that is?

We are all lost in a totally distasteful state of hate and animosity towards one another that we might as well be cut up into smaller states for each of the communities and groups to live by ourslves with our own.

What a ghastly shame for humanity in this age and time!