Comments on: Enigma of Prabhakaran and the Tamil Tigers

By: deshapria

deshapria — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:18:48 +0000

They lived with Prabakaran and cheered, and cheered when this mass murderer had an ‘achievement’ by killing innocent civilians in the south, so let them suffer a bit longer…

The SL government and the SL people give what they can, and send the children to school, not as this mass murderer of Tamil schoolchildren, garland them with a cyanide capsule! When are we catching that Australian child murderer Aunty of New Malden, Surrey?

By: Mohanasundara

Mohanasundara — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:18:39 +0000

Hats off Sarva, another surperb article. There is no denying that LTTE was decaying the Tamil community internally and leading them to self destruction and they almost acheived it. It is going to take a while for the Tamils to wake upto the reality ( of what LTTE has done to them) In the meantime people like Sarva should keep on writng about the atrocities committed by the LTTE towards the Tamils.

By: nandasena

nandasena — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:24:48 +0000

Sri Lanka has been doing it “their way” for the last 61 years. The result is that about 200,000 deaths of both Tamils and sinhalese and destruction of the whole northern and Eastern province!! Three generations of Tamils maimed, and will carry the scars and humiliation for the rest of their lives. Poor Sinhalese people lost their lives to fight the dirty war. Some of them don’t even know whether their sons are living or dead!! 300,000 thousand made to live in barbed wire camps, without proper food or medicine or family unification. Several thousand Tamils living in refugee camps or with relatives in order to make room for the High Security zones. Children made orphans, wives made widows. How long they have to wait for justice!! President and his family goes “world tours” with family and friends and entourage on tax payers money. Presidents’ children are exempted from basic qualifications to do higher studies, and given scholarships on tax payers money while the poor children who burnt the midnight’s oil are denied entry!! Every Tamil is a suspect. They can be killed no questions asked. Parents will be compelled to sign a statement saying that their son is member of LTTE and that ends all obligations of justice for the victim.
How long can this go on!! I suppose as long as the oppressors want to remain in power to make illegal money!! Until then citizens have to grin and bear!!

By: bellepepper02

bellepepper02 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:29:26 +0000

aloka,
Sri Lanka doing it their way? That’s really funny. For 25 years, their stupid army only knew how to kill, assault and rape civilians. They couldn’t fight a small terrorist force. Now suddenly they’ve won the war due to arms and services provided by India, Pakistan and China. But of course anyone familiar with the Rajapakse regime wasn’t surprised when they started singing about their soveriegnty and pretending they had done it their way. That kind of dishonesty-that is truly Sri Lanka’s way.

Ask China about Sri Lanka’s soveriegnty.

By: ordinary lankan

ordinary lankan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:00:59 +0000

The writer’s race is incidental to me. He has objectivity – and most importantly he has metta for all who have suffered. This is the beginning of nation building – a painfully long and laborious process we may not live to see through to the end. Without goodwill, without detached judgement and openness we cannot run this long course. Ther is much to comment about and many opinions to tender. More than all that we need LOVE – we need compassion, a passion for all and not some. This is the way forward.
So my fellow lankans start feeling and stop thinking. Your thoughts led to a war and may probably lead to another. So stop your thoughts and give silence and the heart the moment it has waited for …

By: aloka

aloka — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:54:38 +0000

belle
like you said “our : government is actually the IDP’s governemnt also. they were naughty in believeing people like you and thinking they can be a seperate state. maybe not all of them but most of them, or some of them. hence now that ‘Our” government beat the shit out of the sepratist dream, we need to fidn the perp’s who still support the idea so it doesnt come to haunt us again.
so wait in line, till we do this our way.

By: Belle

Belle — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:04:06 +0000

Cinthana, You said that Tamil people in the diaspora should stop shouting genocide and instead come over and see for themselves what is happening. I did not realise that people of the Tamil diaspora (or anyone one else) could fly in and freely see what is happening in the IDP camps. Isn’t that the problem? The diaspora want information, many want to know where their family members are, whether they are dead or alive. But they haven’t been able to find out anything because your government and army won’t let them. If nothing is happening in the camps, why does your government insist on so much secrecy?

By: Belle

Belle — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:57:39 +0000

Manushi,
I think you should start with getting humanitarian assistance for the Tamils in the IDP camps. The most urgent issue now is saving Tamil lives caught in the camps. I apologise for forever getting into us/them binaries, but there are no Sinhalese in these camps, are there? Excuse me my simple-mindedness, but in the end, the loss of life, and the saving of these lives is an extremely simple matter, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter how the Tamils in the camps identify–whether it is by nation, religion, ethnic group, age or gender, or whether they hardly feel human anymore–the fact is that their lives and their basic human rights of the freedom of movement are under threat.

Also, by the way, democracy is the only way you can eradicate poverty. Democracy is about guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities and ethical distribution of the nation’s wealth.

By: groundviews

groundviews — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:47:38 +0000

@ chinthana All content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Please feel free to share with attribution to Groundviews.

By: chinthana

chinthana — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:44:37 +0000

Please encourage other moderates to speak up. wake up from a 30 year nightmare and desist thoroughly the forming of other institutions of pro-terrorism in the Tamil Diaspora, who seem to so disconnected to Sri Lanka, and believing all this rubbish that the tamilnet etc put out. Its so sad to see the second, third generation kids shouting ‘genocide’… why dont they come over and see for themselves?
anyway, as a Sinhalese with many close Tamil friends, I thank you for writing an unbiased rational article. May this be the first of many.
Are we allowed to copy and print your article?

By: Manushi

Manushi — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:04:23 +0000

Belle,

Can we please move beyond this vitriol? Nothing can be gained from a crude ‘us and them’ analysis of the situation in Sri-Lanka.

As young people of Sri-Lankan descent, if we are to envision a different path for the country, we must first stop stereotyping entire groups of people for the simple reason that life – because of its sheer complexity – defies our narrow, human categorizations. Even those of us who never identified ourselves with any religion and,or, ethnicity were made to suffer as result of both Sinhala and Tamil chauvinism.

If we really cared about our fellow Sri-Lankans, we would not be spending needless time and money debating “democracy”. I say lets start with the eradication of poverty.

By: Belle

Belle — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:14:55 +0000

aloka,
I don’t think USA shifted entire Iraqi communities to G’bay, did they? Another pertinent point here–the American war with Iraq was covered by the international media. You don’t seem to get the enormity of the crime here–you don’t cordon off large numbers of citizens in order to spot a few terrorists lurking among some of them. This is more like America setting up camps for their Japanese citizens during WW11 because they suspected that some among them were pro-Japanese. Did that justify everybody being interned? US will never do that again because the world has learned now that this is unacceptable treatment of civilians. Civilization has moved on, but it seems to have left Sri Lanka behind.

You can give the benefit of the doubt to a government that claims to be a democracy but which is run by three brothers, which turns back aid ships during an emergency crisis because it didn’t have the right documentation, which refused to let in the UN and international media and aid organizations to fight a war without witnesses, but I won’t.

I have no doubt that Sinhalese suffered during the reign of terror. But Tamils have suffered from terror from two parties for three decades, one of which includes a majority population. The Sinhalese had a choice, Tamils didn’t. If Sinhalese had insisted on fair and equitable government, none of this would have happened. You don’t back people into a corner and then whine because they gouged your eyes out.

I can understand Sinhalese celebrating the end of the war. What I don’t understand–why there aren’t large demonstrations organised by the Sinhalese demanding peace and humanitarian behaviour towards fellow-citizens, the Tamils incarcerated in camps? Why are there so few Sinhalese protesting the abuse of Tamils, so much so that they can easily be identified, picked up by vans and beaten or killed? Looks to me like the majority Sinhalese population have not learned anything in the last 30 years. They deify leaders who have committed massive amounts of violence.

Don’t use the excuse of no country being 100% free of racism to vindicate 100% racism in Sri Lanka. Lots of countries use democratic political institutions to protect against racism and provide reasonably for ethnic equality. Few countries in the world, except for the most uncivilised, use terrorism as an excuse to commit genocide. Let’s put Sri Lanka in perspective here.

So Tamils deserve the violence and abuse because they supported the Tigers? I had no idea that the Tigers gave them the choice of whether they could support the Tigers or not. This is just another criminal excuse to justify incarceration of innocent citizens who were caught between a racist state and a terrorist organization.

By: Gini Appu

Gini Appu — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:13:34 +0000

… and what was your point Mr Sarvananthan?

Did you have a purpose for your post, other than a bit of Dyanesque self-gratification?

By: aloka

aloka — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:09:55 +0000

belle
1 if you havent gone through a bomb in the capital where innocent civiliens are killed by LTTE -we dont expect you to understand the LTTE;s defeat.
2.government has to eliminate all LTTE. -some tigers may not change their stripes when they get out of the IDP camps -hence we need to screen – what do you think of the USA camp G’bay -have you asked the international community to go inside that?
3.there is no debate to the moral nature of LTTE – we got them at last -they were terrorists.
4.West should underdatnd that tmails worst enemy is the LTTE and dreamer who belive in the LTTE and a seperate mono-ethinc state. most tamils live peacefully midst of colombo. howveer can anyone claim 100% racist free country. would a asian be able to work at a top european capital without discrimination? can you assure?
5. tmails fight for survival- if a group respected violence and got what they deserved, hard to see why anyone should help them at all..
6. the IDP’s have LTTE supporter who cry wolf now they got beaten.

lets wait and see… belle…

By: Belle

Belle — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:03:47 +0000

I am surprised that the writer focusses on the evil of the Tamil Tigers when surely at this moment it is far more necessary to deal with the humanitarian issue of displaced Tamils and the state’s treatment of them. To date, the Sri Lankan government will not open its doors to international fact-finding. As long as that does not happen, the world has no way of knowing how Tamils are being treated and must suspect the worst. We need to find out, and not waste time debating the moral nature of the Tigers.

One thing that has become very clear now is that the West had no right to outlaw the Tigers as terrorists WITHOUT also simultaneously committing themselves to protecting Tamils and providing them with a viable alternative avenue to making their claims for rights. It is irresponsible to decry violence and terrorism and deprive a people of their only protectors if the world is not prepared to offer diplomacy and legitimate political process as viable alternatives to violence.

The West, USA and UN were very happy to label Tigers as terrorists and contribute to the end of the terrorists. But what are they doing now to help Tamils? it’s not just the Tigers who have blood on their hands. The West does too, especially US and UN. Either it meddles responsibly, or it does not meddle at all. The West and UN did a great injustice to Sri Lankan Tamils by outlawing the only group that could stand between the Tamils and a repressive state.

The world should not denigrate the Tigers for wanting now to try a different tack at getting a separate state. As long as the international community does not want to play a role in ensuring basic human, if not equal, rights for Tamils, to clean up a crisis that they helped to create, it creates a situation where violence can be the only answer against a repressive state regime.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka are human beings. The world seems to have forgotten that. Yes, the Tigers were unscrupulous, and murderous . Yes, they even murdered their own community. Are we to continue using them as an excuse not to do something for the displaced Tamils, not to check the truth of allegations of rape and murder by the Sri Lankan state and its associates, not to attend to the humanitarian needs of this community?

What is the moral difference between the Tigers and a world that doesn’t consider it politically convenient to assist Tamils in their fight for survival? None that I can see.

By: nandasena

nandasena — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:40:47 +0000

From the comments you can make out the ethnicity of the person except for a few exceptions. Will Sarvananthan have the courage to write about the 20,000+ innocent Tamils civilians massacred by the Government? Will Sarvananthan have the courage to write about the crimes of the paramilitaries, Mahinda Rajapakse and brothers, or the sinhala goons? Will he write about the “white van” activities? Why is he silent on the state of the 300,000 innocent Tamils living in apalling conditions in the “concentration camps”? Will he write about the nepotism in the ruling class? What about the extrajudicial killings of journalists, elected MPs, prominent citizens, aid workers, students, the list goes ….I doubt it!!

Sarvananthan sings for his supper, not for justice!!

By: Manushi

Manushi — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:29:23 +0000

The Tamil people who never wanted a megalomanic from Vanni as a their representative are now relieved to see the LTTE finally defeated.

By the same toke, certain “academics” and “journalists” are unhappy with this outcome because the LTTE was their only claim to fame. Those who were incapable of becoming authentic scholars latched on to LTTE propaganda by disguising it as real political analysis. They, along with the LTTE, were the biggest hinderance to ordinary Tamils.

By: Karu

Karu — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:37:48 +0000

Yes, we can go on and on and on about the terrible atrocities done by the LTTE & VP, but they are all history. It’s in the past and I don’t wish for it to come back again, except for the fact that the present government is no less terrible as far as the poor Tamils are concerned. This is why many of them are numb as the balance of evil is upset. We have a one sided monster without an opposition, and the Tamils in general including those who opposed the LTTE don’t trust the Rajapakse Junta and fearful of their future.

It’s almost a month since the LTTE was defeated, we haven’t heard even a draft of a proposal to end the ethnic conflict. Any plans to keep all power in Colombo and maintain the status quo will no doubt fuel the movements for Tamil autonomy.

So, my dear Sinhalese brothers and sisters, if you want to see an end to the talk of Tamil Eelam, you should push your leaders in power (GOSL & Buddhist clergy) to come up with a magnanimous solution, that will keep the unity of Sri Lanka, as most of you want and also make the Tamils responsible for their own destiny as an autonomous entity within the Sri Lankan state. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. Once this is implemented, I have no doubt the separatist talks will all cool down rapidly.

The ball is in your court. Get to work.

By: Hof

Hof — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:06:25 +0000

It is heartening to see moderate Tamils coming out and speaking. For three decades their voice has been suppressed by tiger terrorists. This augurs well for the future of Sri Lanka.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:40:35 +0000

A few weeks ago, there was a military parade in Colombo to celeberate “victory”. war criminals and Tamil genocide perpetrators marched on the streets with arrogance, defiantly displaying the military hardware used for their crimes during the past two years. It reminded me of the military display during the Jewish genocidal days of Adolf Hitler.

The UN called for probe into the war crrimes committed by the government of Sri Lanka(GOSL). But G.L.Peiris, a cabinet minister, uttered in Japan that no criminal charges would be made against any soldiers in any court in SL. Peiris has blood on his hands too in war crimes.

It was no surprise to Tamils. The so called judicial system in SL was never able and willing to impart justice to them. Former Chief Justice Sanath de Silva pronounced this ugliness very clearly in his last press conference held recently, prior to his retirement.

Implementation of justice in any democracy answers the agonising questions for the affected persons and societies.

In case of violation of rule of law, justice becomes an expression of the renewal of law and order.

Criminal justice deals with the evil past and it pins responsibility on persons or even on an entire society for crimes committed.

Justice gives reasons for illiberal rule and accountability is ensured. It answers the question “who bears responsibility for repression, retribution, genocide and war crimes?”

Surely, any such benefits of justice could never be expected to emerge to Tamils from the existing unjust “judicial system” in SL. During the past two years, too many Tamil civilians have been killed, maimed or displaced by soldiers.

Justice by the state was not even attempted. Soldiers who perpetrated these crime should be judged, punished and rehabilitated. Justice cannot even be imparted to Tamils from any regional probe, as India, Pakistan and China were active associates in these crimes. One criminal should not be asked to adjudicate another criminal when justice is seriously desired.

At present, more than 300,000 Tamils are kept in military controlled concentration camps. About 13,000 persons have disappeared from these camps after the government announced that the war was over. The elderly are dying, children are starving and women are being raped.

Injustice in SL is an attack on human civilisation.

Peace cannot be achieved without reconciliation. Reconciliation is not possible without justice

The UN should therefore appoint a war crimes tribunal without any rhetoric whatsoever, to bring about justice reconciliation and peace in SL, having in mind the basic judicial principle that criminals resist justice.