Comments on: The cataract of errors https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-cataract-of-errors Journalism for Citizens Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:13:15 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.1 By: punitham https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7078 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:13:15 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7078 Oops, freedom of thought is lost with the enactment of the Sixth Amendment corollaries of which are ……. Sivaram,….. Lasantha, …. Poddala, ……. …….

]]> By: punitham https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7077 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:07:24 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7077 UN staff cannot take cameras and phones to camps.

UN staff arrested and UN office not notified.

UN regulations don’t apply in Sri Lanka.

If this is not GENOCIDE, then what is it?

”Sovereignty” over HUMAN SECURITY of Tamils from 1948.

The conflict ends when the Sinhalese start listening to their conscience.

It looks like the conflict is going to end when a critical mass of Tamils are starved of food, medicine and freedom of movement.

]]> By: punitham https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7075 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:23:54 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7075 ”Demining, uncovering hidden weapons caches takes time”
Then there is no reason why aid agencies and media shouldn’t have access not only to the recently erected camps but also to the whole of Northeast?
Why should paramilitary have access to the camps at all?
Why should people have to live in most unhygeinic ways?
There is malnutrition, outbreak of infectious diseases, disappearances and deaths in the camps.
This is gaining time to sinhalisation that is taking place in the North.
In the East IDPs are forcibly ”resettled” in strange places.
If ” ”Demining, uncovering hidden weapons caches takes time” is the reason what is taking place will not take place. When media aren’t allowed in, which child can you tell that something nasty is NOT takling place.

The POGROMS became PTA/ER/Impunity
PTA/ER/Impunity became CAMPS
CAMPS to GENOCIDE.

]]> By: Observer https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7069 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:07:13 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7069 My Circle, I don’t think the government is holding civilians in IDP camps just for kicks. It is costing them hugely (monetarily and public perception) and they’re probably the most keen to settle those people so they can start living their lives and start contributing to the economy. We have to understand the underlying conundrum. Mixed with these civilians there are sleeper elements of the LTTE. It is a complex problem with no straight forward quick solutions. Demining, uncovering hidden weapons caches takes time and if this process is rushed without proper attention then it is to the detriment of the long term peace and security. But the suffering these people are facing in the IDP camps now will not hopefully extend any more than necessary and it will help them rebuild a more secure future in the long run. I honestly do feel guilty saying it, in the comfort of my own home. Since I am not in the administration I can only hypothesise as said above.

When I asked the Tamil diaspora should directly work with the government I stated the only way forward I see. What else do you propose? Engage in a discussion through means of a proxy? Why? A proxy will only delay and over complicate things. So why not directly engage the administration instead of protesting and lobbying the media to vilify the government? Antagonising them. Do you really think the west gives a sh1t? You think about that after reviewing recent happenings. I’m sure anyone who is willing and reasonable will get reasonable responses.

heshan, the administration at several key junctures throughout the conflict offered amnesties in return for renouncing arms. The LTTE’s response was a stubborn refusal. I find it hard to believe after all that LTTE leadership offered a surrender at the very last minutes. They really went beyond the point of no return on a suicidal mission. Amnesty is still offered to carder that hands themselves in. Of course they get interrogated but that is expected. It is the rest that is hunted. These are all consequences of a bitter end sought by the LTTE. The eventuality we are witnessing right now is nothing more than the effects of causes that precede us. When people like KP try to revive remaining elements are you surprised the government is on a witch hunt?

Integration comes through embracement. Right now the diaspora is the next of kin spokes persons for the Tamil people in IDP camps internationally. If they truly want to embrace and integrate with Sri Lanka, then I’d expect to see a drastically different tone. Otherwise we’ll just have to wait and find out what awaits us. I really don’t know.

]]> By: punitham https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7048 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:44:36 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7048 A good catalogue of the errors frantically made by an ethnic minority as a reaction to the oppression of six decades.
It shows how easy it’s to see/hear/catalogue ‘visible reaction’.
It’s NOT so easy(at least to me) to describe the long-running structural violence (discrimination) and the systemic/cumulative effects of it in a complex multi-dimensional process.
Horizontal inequality of political discrimination (beginning with disenfranchisement in 1948/9) creates economic, social and environmental discrimination which are all inter-related to each other in a complex way and the complexity increases exponentially(ie. faster and faster) with time.
Add to this complexity introduced by the series of pogroms. Add to this the effect of the draconian PTA and ER. The effect of the impunity of the Sinhalese armed forces. Then the expert damage control of successive governments at the UN, Commonwealth and other international bodies.
Suppression of the media distorting any undistorted corner of the society. Then add political patronage and corruption. No decent procedure to select the leader of a political party. But politicisation of the judiciary.
Geopolitics on an island from which the oppressed cannot flee easily but the oppressor can pit one powerful or power-seeking country against another!
The complexity of the interplay of all these factors!!!!!
The ‘ACTION’ of a ”sovereign” state is straightforward. But the REACTION of the desperate, fretting and long-oppressed would likely to be frantic and flawed.
Just as guns and mortars(used by the state or rebels) should be outlawed, the numerically powerful will have to learn to be fair to the numerically weak., if peace is the aim.
With what is going on in the country now there wouldn’t be a problem in 10 yrs, for there won’t be any ‘Tamils’.

]]> By: Realist https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7045 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:33:21 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7045 I am afraid the writer has missed the most important blunders that Praba made. The first was his betrayal of Ranil after the Oslo talks. Ranil is a liberal and a man who can be trusted unlike the ordinary Sinhala politician who thinks nothing about breaking the word of honor. Treachery, lies and deception is considered as part and parcel of statecraft in the Sinhala political lexicon.So no other Sinhala leader is likely to honor the word. India was and is being taken for a ride. By not co-operating with Ranils proposal Prabha made a huge mistake. This was the best option for safeguarding Tamil rights within a united Sri Lanka.But by his stupidity Prabaha betrayed the best interests of the Tamils.
He made a worse mistake when he put a fatwa on the Tamils prohibiting them from voting for Ranil at the 2004 presidential election. The Tamil Diaspora could ahve exercised pressure on Prabha but they failed to stand up for Tamil self governance and democracy. They did not condemen Prabha for his terrible deeds like the killing of Neelan Tiruchelvam, a man of intellect and wisdom. I hope the Tamil diaspora will stand up for liberal democratic values for however good the cause the end doesn’t justify the means. The Tamil Diaspora shoud know that. I hope they will not make the same mistake by backing those with dictatorial tendencies.

]]> By: K>Anaga https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7044 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:44:29 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7044 It is unfortunate that articles after articles are written as if the problems started with LTTE,.It would be meaningful if some unbiased writer pen the problem at least from 1922 with a pause in 1948, DS Senanayake’s cunning and calculated move to reduce political power of the Tamils systematically .

]]> By: Tanuja https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7023 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:07:10 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7023 Perplexed – You have missed my point! The objective of this piece is to look at the failings of the Tamil leadership and to briefly outline aspects of the immediate and long term issues in terms of post-war democratisation. If you read the article carefully you will see that I have addressed the Muslim caste division issue in comparison with the Tamil caste division issue. I have not said anywhere that the Sinhalese and Muslim identities is of substance and void of caste divisions!!!!!!

I think anyone with an understanding of the history of Tamil politics will understand what I mean by an alternative political identity. An alternative to the pseudo democratic politics that the EPDP, TNA and TMVP seem to be practicing!!! The time is still not right for this and we must wait patiently until the war ravaged Tamil community finds some sense of normalcy before it can begin thinking of a renewed political future.

Prashan – I agree with you about the ‘Sinhala Only Act’ being reactive of the Divide & Rule policy of the Brits but the failure of incorporating Tamil as an official language and the responsibility for it falls on the Federal Party/ Tamil State Party which failed to vote against the Act (It is important to note here that the Federal Party staged protests against the bill openly, notably the one at the Galle Face Green) with only the Left and the Tamil Congress consisting of 29 persons voting against it. By alienated the Tamil community through this Act the Federal Party was able to capitalise on Tamil nationalistic sentiments which were buttressed by its protest campaigns.

]]> By: Heshan https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7019 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:51:44 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7019 Reply to Observer:

Integration is a definite must. Unfortunately, present events point far more towards segregation/polarization. What would it have cost the Government to grant an amnesty to all ex-LTTE and give the IDP’s total freedom of mobility? Or, if it felt these camps were really necessary, to let civilian agencies take full control of them? It seems that a military victory was not enough; now the Government is on a meaningless witch-hunt for those who associated with an organization relegated to the dustbin of history.

]]> By: Prashan https://groundviews.org/2009/06/19/the-cataract-of-errors/#comment-7016 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:32:50 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1271#comment-7016 Tanuja Thurairajah one the points of discrimination, you have have missed out one point – The Sinhala Buddhists were mostly discriminated by the DIVIDE & RULE policy of British for 150 years. Subsequently, in the post independence era, the Tamils were disriminated as a counter balancing mechanism.

The DIVIDE & RULE policy of the British gave more OPPORTUNITY for the Tamils and mainly for the Christian Tamils in terms of Education by building many Christian Schools & Colleges in the names of Saints in the bible. These elite Colleges were mainly in Colombo & Jaffna and gave the OPPORTUNITY for the Tamils to become doctors,engineers and accountants. As a result, in the pre indepence era, most of the white collar jobs in the public & private sector had Tamil employees with the top most job held by the White man. Sadly, the Sinhala Govigama Buddhists were left with farming.

In post indepence era as a countert balancing mechanism, the goverments of Sri Lanka brought policies like ‘Sinhala Only Act’, district based education system and gave OPPOTUNITY to the Sinhala Buddhists.

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