Ranil went for ”peace taks” to get urgently needed foreign aid. GSP+ was, in the first place, granted for promised action in the future and not for conduct in the past. Hence the EU violated its own rules and regulations.

If intergovernmental organisations(the UN and the Commonwealth) fulfil their human rights obligations, the world will be a totally different place.

What they don’t realise is the combination of
i.the draconianism of PTA,
ii.impunity for all armed forces for crimes against Tamils,
iii.the severe oppression of Tamils through various government institutions(judiciary included),
iv.the condemnation of Tamils by a.geography to be in an island unable to flee(starting from 50s) across land borders like in many other countries of conflicts(the sea around Sri lanka holds a lot of evidence – partly eaten by sea creatures) and b.history to be lumped with a race exemplifying INTERNAL COLONIALISM
v.”war-on-terror”
vi.Bush’s appointment of Ban to escape the wrath of the outspoken
vii. the geopolitics of many bilateral and multilateral relations on an island in a strategic location.
viii. LTTE’s folly of not voting in Ranil

Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Seeking a Transformative Way Out by Ashok K Behuria, Strategic Analysis, Vol. 30, No. 1, Jan-Mar 2006: ‘’…The long drawn out ethno-political conflict in Sri Lanka has been accepted as a serious challenge for scholars, activists, peace-makers and the expanding international community of professionals engaged in conflict-resolution/ management/ transformation …. It is time now, therefore, for scholars and analysts to isolate the issues that contribute to the conflict, to dwell upon the socio-economic and political context that precipitates lasting ethno-political division and to seek a transformative way out of the crisis.”

“Unless Tamils establish their own security, nation building and rebuild the infrastructure, they cannot live with peace and secure, which means self determination ie: separation.”

With all due respect you; I do not disagree with you when you outline all the Tamil Grievances. But, I have not seen you outlining as to how you would go about achieving self-determination or separation. I assume that you live in one of the Western countries; how you would contribute towards this endeavour? Would you send your children to the battle front?

Yes, the current regime is triumphalistic and behaving in such a way that is totally insensitive and recklessly not caring towards the Tamil people. I am not sure as to how long it will continue, but I see many Sinhala intellectuals have begun to voice against this regime; it is going to take time. We Tamils have responsibilities too; we must move the Tamil polity to the centre making it easy for the Sinhala centre, India, and International Community to strengthen over voice. Separation is not the answer to our issues but equality in terms of language, culture, and a sense of belonging with a suitable political structure is the answer.

The genocide continues as faster than ever before. Tamils are even not allowed to mourn for the anniversay of their dead children and families.

The cemetaries are being destroyed, they are not allowed to hold any kind of memorial meetings etc. Basic rights of Tamils are being denied, their land, houses wealth are being taken away from them by the genocideal Sri Lanka every day. There are Sri Lankan army which is 100% Sinhalese, are harassing and subjugating each and every Tamil. 100,000 Army is in Jaffna for the population of 500,000.

Do you expect any kind of guarantee and security for Tamils’ life and future under the govt of Sri Lanka, afterall what we have been through for 62+ years?

Unless, Sinhalese abandon the myth of ‘mahavamsa’ theory, their mind will not accept Tamils as equal as Budhists? I remember reading that Mahavamsa says, even 10 Tamils lives are not equal to one Buddhist’s life.

And the case of recent war it is 1000 10 Tamils lives are not equal to one Sinhalese life!!!!!!!

Unless Tamils establish their own security, nation building and rebuild the infrastructure, they cannot live with peace and secure, which means self determination ie: separation.

Tamil nation has all the criteria to go separate from Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka must be told to hold UN/independent supervised UN referendum for a separation, similar to what Tamil Diaspora did in the last few months.

I don’t think that Burning_Issue would disagree with what you’re saying. The main difference though is that Burning_Issue is trying to find a way out of this mess, whereas you guys have not really come up with any ideas.

What do you propose that we do about the Tamils’ suffering, that’s better than Burning_Issue’s ideas?

No Gunalan. You are being naive. The only way forward is to leave your emotions at home and think intelligently about how to make things better for the Tamil community. Please read this post here: http://www.groundviews.org/2010/05/07/jaffna-after-the-war-observations-by-a-visitor/#comment-18774

cheers,
/SD

You are naïve

Tamils feel that they are insecure in their traditional homeland. Anti-Tamil cultural events are on the rise in the Tamil homeland

. Young people have been given drugs in order to ruin their future, and many other anti-social events have taken place with the support of the Sri Lankan armed forces.

The Tamil paramilitaries, which are supporting the government, help these anti-social activities.

Kidnappings, raping, and killings are back to normal in the Tamil areas.

In the recent past that was common during the war time.

This is the ground reality, in the Tamil areas, the Tamils are still a security threat in Colombo and other Sinhala areas.

The Mahinda administration, so far, has not offered a political solution to the Tamils’ grievances.

Rather, the government is making anti-Tamil activates, such as deploying Sinhala families, to occupy the residents and properties belonging to the Tamils, in the North, as how they do it in the East.

They are building Buddhist shrines, establishing military camps, and deploying more troops in the Tamil areas.

We can protest about militarization of the North and East; we can protest about state sponsored Sinhala only colonisation programs, but we should welcome those Sinhalese who want to come and settle in N&E by their free will. This, every Tamil must make it clear when commenting on this topic! It is the general perception of the Sinhala that the Tamils are racists that they are ok to settle in the South but protest when the Sinhalese settle in the North & East.

We should expose the majority aggression but should not portray ourselves as embodiment of racism that we are not. We are insecure as we are an insignificant minority but we should try and see things in perspective. We should work towards implementing the Tamil language provision nation-wide and eschew the idea of a nation with a nation; this will bring us nowhere! The Sinhalese settling in N&E is not an issue, but whether the Tamils get equal treatment or not is the issue; this, we need to expose by moving the Tamil polity to the centre and thus influencing the Sinhala centre to work on our behalf. This is not an easy task, but it is the only one that is achievable!

The Tamil people who are now displaced in their own Tamil Homelands and deprived of the livelihoods by the savagely repressive regime !!

Tamil people have a genuine international claim that they are undergoing genocide ever since the British colonists handed over their sovereign state to the majority Sinhala nation.

The decimation of the minority Tamil population by selective killings and the refugee exodus due to SL government aided pogrom against the Tamil civilians is a fact of life in SL for the past 60 years

Their behaviour is that of conquerors – superior, demanding, arrogant, insulting, indifferent to the feelings of Tamils, contemptuous of their language, religion and way of life.

The The Sinhalese , new Colonial Masters will not see themselves as guests but as those who now live there by right of conquest, under the protection of “their” government and army.

So “ liberation “ of the North-East of Sri Lanka is disingenuous, specious, even cynically deceitful, and contemptuous……