Sorry for the long delay … very busy. Thanks for inquiring: everything is ok. Hope things are ok with you too.

Happy New Year!

I’ll get back to the earlier post re Trawick etc. later but just a quick comment on the Tamilnet articles.

Eelamoid or not the two articles are not contradictory at all.

SL navy attacks both TN as well as TE (!) fishermen. But these are all ordinary poor folks who are struggling to make a living and look after their families.

But in the second article the invasion was by fleets of trawlers from India that were possibly operating from the TN coast. But most crucially their purpose seems to have been to destroy the nets and equipment of the ordinary fishermen. They were not there to do any fishing on that day.

Since this destruction seems to have been with Indian approval in order to further their defence plans 1) the SLN couldn’t do anything even if they wanted to, but 2) the SLN was probably pleased that the TE fishermen’s equipment was being destroyed.

There are big plans for the Indian ocean. And in this, small players (like ordinary fishermen) are seen to be in the way. Lanka (and the ordinary Lankans whether Tamil or Sinhalese or anyone else) will be swallowed up in this game as will many ordinary Indians.

I think you can also see now why there was such a desperate attempt on the part of the big world players (the so-called International Community) to stop Eelam at any cost. Now there is nothing to stop India swallowing up Lanka. Premadasa knew what he was doing when he supported the LTTE against India.

MR will give the Indians and the IC anything they want, no questions will be asked!

Haven’t heard from you in a few days, hope everything is ok. On the topic of “Whose reality in Sri Lanka,” I’d like to share two Tamilnet articles that appeared only two days apart from each other:

Indian coast guard says deterring Sri Lankan attacks
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33339

Fatal blow on Eezham Tamil fishery follows Indo-Lanka ‘defence’ agreement
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=33348

The first article condemns the SL Navy for attacking Tamil Nadu fishermen. The second article condemns the SLN for allowing Tamil Nadu fishermen into Sri Lankan waters!

Could you kindly explain the Eelamoid thinking behind these utterly contradictory arguments? Would you say this is representative of the Eelamoid mindset: priority of demonising Sri Lanka at the expense of truth and consistency???

“Try reading Trawick’s book again, this time more carefully.”
I will let you know if I do find anything that substantiates what you claim. But if I don’t, will you accept that as demonstrating that you are wrong?

I already know that I’m right, and I don’t need further confirmation from LTTE bootlickers. Your challenge is to find anything to substantiate YOUR claim. If you cannot, then I am right and you are wrong!

“I congratulate you on finally realising that some people do indeed have much to gain by keeping alive the LTTE threat – And this anti-LTTE strategy naturally becomes all the more potent if the propaganda about how the SL govt saved everyone from the clutches of the ruthless child killing terror spewing LTTE demon is also kept going!”

I’m sorry but your argument makes little sense. Why would Mr Nediyavan who is keeping up the pretense that the LTTE is alive want stories of children cannon fodder to be publicised?

“No, the LTTE never used children as cannon fodder, but the Karuna group and the SL forces did. The LTTE children who did get involved in combat situations were apparently not forced. And it is more than likely that some of those children did get killed and injured, but still they were not used as mere cannon fodder.”

Sorry but that’s not what the rest of the world thinks. You’ll have to try harder!

The fact remains that recruiting children is universally condemned (except from the LTTE supporters) because they do not have the faculties of judgment that adults have. That is why the LTTE committed a crime by using them as cannon fodder. Dithering in denial won’t change any of that!

“Would the LTTE just waste 5 whole years of highly valuable experience?”

5 years is plenty of time to get indoctrinated into the lifestyle and possibly be given a leadership position. By that time the cadre doesn’t really have much of an alternative outside of the LTTE. Also, by that time if the veteran wants to leave but is not allowed to, he/she probably will cause more problems for the organisation inside than outside.

Allowing new recruits to leave, on the other hand, would destroy the foundation of the organisation. Haven’t you seen the beautiful LTTE calendar showing the heads of all the deceased Black Tigers in a pyramid, and Prabakaran is at the top? Quite fitting, I must say!

“New trainees were there to be trained so of course they were not supposed to just come and go as they pleased. And the LTTE seemed to want to toughen up those who showed weakness and so they had ‘punishments’ too – but is that any different to any regular army or other physically organisation? (I agree though that conscription of children even just for training does seem harsh).”

Actually it would make absolutely no sense to punish children for leaving, if they were conscripted just for training.

So you are condoning the use of children as cannon fodder now? Is it because you look down on their caste?

“Now firstly of course every child (and adult) who was caught up in the war in whatever capacity would have harrowing stories to tell.”

In this case it was specifically on the ordeals they faced trying to escape.

“Secondly on your reason for bringing this up, I would suppose that they were children who were used by the Karuna group and the SL forces against the LTTE!”

Nope, they were used by the LTTE as cannon fodder against the SL forces and any anti-LTTE Tamil. The SL forces didn’t use children as child soldiers.

“It was only because it was already well established, in fact undisputed, that the earth was round that Magellan decided to try to circumnavigate it.”

So you are admitting that you proved nothing?

“And so if indeed Magellan or Columbus did yammer on that the earth was round without bothering to sail around it, no one would have disagreed though they might have found it rather boring!”

So you are saying that you are a boring person?

“Can the LTTE be blamed for these sorts of things that violate what is dear to the Tamil people?”

They used the grounds of a major Catholic church to conscript cannon fodder:

http://omiusajpic.org/2008/04/24/bishops-demand-ltte-quit-madhu/

“Two and a half decades of war, mostly thanks to the LTTE’s military prowess, have made about 1/3rd of the Tamils into exiles with no hope of sustaining their culture abroad, and the remainder as internally-displaced people with no homes to return to.”
Ok, this can be attributed to the war.

Yes, but the war lasted so long because people like you gave money for the LTTE to forcibly conscript children!

“You already have made common cause with the racists by denouncing the human rights groups; it’s great to see you both praising the destruction of the Tamils together too!”
No I never denounced Amnesty

What about Human Rights Watch which condemned the LTTE and people like you for using Tamil children as cannon fodder?

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/77143/section/4

“The LTTE has also increased the forced recruitment of adults. Each family in LTTE-controlled territory is required to “volunteer” one family member for service in the LTTE military. According to several sources, the LTTE has recently expanded its recruitment practices beyond “one person per family” in some cases, requiring families to volunteer two or more family members at the same time, depending on the overall size of the family.[17] The LTTE has also forcibly re-mobilized all former LTTE fighters, including former fighters who were originally recruited as children and former fighters who had since married (previously, married persons were exempted from forced recruitment), in an apparent effort to boost their ranks with experienced fighters.

“The fear engendered by the LTTE’s forced recruitment practices were underscored when the LTTE withdrew from the Omanthai area north of Vavuniya in mid-November 2008. Soon thereafter, more than 300 civilians from villages in northern Vavuniya district previously under the control of the LTTE approached the Sri Lankan army near the Omanthai checkpoint in small groups[19] and were detained and brought to public buildings under military guard in the Menik Farm area, where they remain. According to a source who visited the Menik camp and interviewed some of the detained arrivals, many of these were single young men and women who had been hiding in the jungles of northern Vavuniya district in order to avoid LTTE forced recruitment. They had fled the area as soon as the LTTE withdrew.[20] They reported that the LTTE had stopped many other young men from fleeing: one group of three young men from a particular village stated that they had been part of a group of 30 people that had try to flee, but that the LTTE had stopped the others from leaving.[21] Other displaced persons reported to humanitarian officials that they believed that many other people had been caught by the LTTE while trying to flee.[22] According to a priest who visits the Vanni regularly, many of the individuals and families who fled the Vanni earlier and are now being kept in detention camps in Kalimoddai and Sirunkandal[23] also fled to escape recruitment, or the recruitment of their children.[24]

“In September 2008, the LTTE publicly announced a stricter punitive policy for those who try to avoid recruitment: the LTTE said that if persons called up for military service flee, it would arrest up to 10 of their relatives and use them for hazardous forced labor, building military reinforcements on the frontlines. An international humanitarian official told Human Rights Watch about the 21-year-old son of a local staff member who went into hiding when the LTTE tried to recruit him. In response, the LTTE arrested the local staff member, his wife’s brother, and other male relatives, until the recruited son came out of hiding and agreed to fight for the LTTE.”

Those 3 paragraphs bring the score to wije: 12, santa: 0. You’re making this too easy! 😉

“When the Tamils were cornered and were being massacred in their thousands how many of these so called HR organisations protested?”

But I thought we already established that it was these same HR groups which reported that Tamils were getting killed. Since you doubt the sincerity of these groups, you must also doubt that thousands of Tamils were killed!

Did you protest?

“Not sure if you can refer to the geopolitical greed of the LTTE, but certainly if the LTTE did agree to play geopolitical ball according to the interests and rules of the geo-political powers, and the regional power i.e. India, then they may have lived on.”

So you admit that the LTTE’s geopolitical greed led to its demise. Good riddance, eh?

“When the LTTE killed some Tamil it was not because they were Tamil but for being against them.”

Wrong- it was entirely because they were both Tamil and anti-LTTE. Otherwise the LTTE would’ve killed more Sinhalese who are inherently anti-LTTE.

“No because it is the 200,000 man SLA that is resented as an occupying force. Just because the IDF is immensely more powerful than anything the Palestinians can come up with do you think there is no attempt at resistance?”

But the resistance has accomplished nothing. And more importantly, the Tamils are not the same as the Palestinians.

“But much more significantly, not least given the geo-political interests at play, how long do do think the SL govt can sustain such a huge force in the north or anywhere else for that matter. Add to this a possible Sinhala uprising in the south which will include at least ex SL forces if not even serving forces”

Please keep your imagination under control. There hasn’t been a Sinhala uprising for over the past 20 years and there won’t be one today or even tomorrow given that there are no grievances. The bulk of military-age young men are keeping the N-E under control. They certainly have no complaints!

“But most of them did not lay down their arms. That was the tragedy.”
Yes an enormous tragedy. But wasn’t it a case of: surrender and get killed or get killed while fighting?

Nope. The ones who surrendered, like Mr Daya Master, are alive.

“But at the same time what is the future of ‘India’ in this age?”

To refrain from supporting Tamil militancy.

“It is infinitely more likely that you are wrong, since you were in the Arctic chasing polar bears while Rajini was being killed.”
But remember Santa is always able to find out who was being naughty and who was being nice anywhere!

You are not Santa though, you’re just another bloke who ran away to leave the fighting to the children.

The post went to the wrong place – please remove the other one.
Thanks

Dear Krish,

Your comments are indeed interesting … and we do live in interesting times – it is said that there is a Chinese curse that goes something like: ‘May you live in interesting times’.

“I am rather disturbed not just by this 30-year old LTTE presence (thanks to Mahinda I guess, no matter what) but the continuity of their propaganda 1.5 years after they are gone.”

But why are you disturbed? Do feel free to elaborate from an Indian perspective – since you do say you are an Indian.

“the current generations of Tamils, especially the ones on the net and in their 20s, 30s and even 40s seemed to have lost all their hopes of engagement with MR or are buying into the propagandistic attitude of diaspora.”

Actually a great many Sinhalese have also lost all hope with MR & co!
By “propagandistic attitude” do you mean that they are simply liars? So since your alternative is engagement with MR are you then suggesting that MR & co are truthful??

“a hostile India in the north”

But why should India automatically assume a hostile attitude? You seem to think that it is a given that India must be hostile! Again please feel free to elaborate on the reasons why India must be hostile.

“irrespective of what the rest of the world thinks”

No. In this globalised era of geo-political greed what the world thinks does make a decisive difference, including what India thinks!

“Regarding India arming the tigers and others, that is the single most blunder that India did in SL context.”

But for India to watch on and indeed even support the massacre of thousands upon thousands of Tamils was a lesser blunder?

“But that was a time when India simply listened to TN politicians vis-a-vis SL.”

I’m afraid Krish that I am beginning to believe that you indeed have very little to contribute as you yourself have stated at the beginning of your post.
The reason India initially armed the Tamil groups was in the context of the cold war – India was pro-USSR, and SL was pro-US which India did not like. Nothing at all to do with TN politics! India has always feared that SL would fall out of its control and that fear still exists – MR has accepted India for now but who knows how other SL politicians feel or if MR will change his mind.

“The killing of Rajiv Gandhi thru LTTE suicide bomber was the last one.”

And only the LTTE was involved in that?

“After that, the support and sympathy in TN for their brothers across palk strait is just gone!”

After that a lot changed in Indian politics too! Sadly RG was so naive in some ways (including the way he handled the Bofors affair).

“But, India should have gone all out on the LTTE (with SL’s help) and finished them for good by then.”

But later India did!! Geo-political considerations made all the difference and it was with India’s considerable help that the LTTE was militarily defeated.

“Atleast a whole generation of people could have been saved, many lives wouldn’t have been lost and it is really pathetic today to see where Tamils in SL are after years of LTTE terrorism.”

Given India’s ongoing role in this, the saying about crocodile tears strongly comes to mind!

“Tamilians, as part of India have come a long way virtually in every single field in India and went on to achieve globally as as well.”

This sentence (and the rest of the paragraph) suggests that you don’t think Tamilians are really Indian but have been admitted by the Indians as part of it. Perhaps you should say that India has come a long way thanks to the successful Tamils of India?

“Plant the seeds of engagement, love and brotherhood. It is very tough, hard and testing, but eye for an eye only makes the world blind.”

So tell us what is your position on human rights activist Dr.Binayak Sen?

Firstly may I congratulate you on finally realising that some people do indeed have much to gain by keeping alive the LTTE threat – And this anti-LTTE strategy naturally becomes all the more potent if the propaganda about how the SL govt saved everyone from the clutches of the ruthless child killing terror spewing LTTE demon is also kept going!

“So in other words you are admitting that the LTTE used children as cannon fodder.”

No, the LTTE never used children as cannon fodder, but the Karuna group and the SL forces did. The LTTE children who did get involved in combat situations were apparently not forced. And it is more than likely that some of those children did get killed and injured, but still they were not used as mere cannon fodder.

“Only veterans who served 5 years could leave the organisation.”

Now, now, Wije think! Does this make military sense? No. Would the LTTE just waste 5 whole years of highly valuable experience? Of course not. Does this even make sense along your views about the LTTE’s ruthlessness? No .. . but then are you softening your anti-LTTE stance perhaps?
As I said before it seems it was possible to leave given good reasons, but not just on the basis of 5 years of service.

“New child recruits could not leave, and UTHR documented pretty well the consequences of trying to escape.”

New trainees were there to be trained so of course they were not supposed to just come and go as they pleased. And the LTTE seemed to want to toughen up those who showed weakness and so they had ‘punishments’ too – but is that any different to any regular army or other physically organisation? (I agree though that conscription of children even just for training does seem harsh).

“The child combatants that I had met all had harrowing stories of how they got out.”

Now firstly of course every child (and adult) who was caught up in the war in whatever capacity would have harrowing stories to tell. Secondly on your reason for bringing this up, I would suppose that they were children who were used by the Karuna group and the SL forces against the LTTE!

“And Magellan disproved flat earth by sailing around the world.”

Ahem! It was only because it was already well established, in fact undisputed, that the earth was round that Magellan decided to try to circumnavigate it. The proofs were in the careful interpretations of the much earlier astronomical observations going way back from times BC.
And so if indeed Magellan or Columbus did yammer on that the earth was round without bothering to sail around it, no one would have disagreed though they might have found it rather boring!

“Yet things began to sour immediately afterwards with the increasing phenomenon of Tamil-Tamil violence, which Sinhala politics had nothing to do with.”

Sinhala politics had everything to do with the burning of the Jaffna library with all its ancient contents, the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom as well as all the previous ones etc. and so Sinhala politics is to be held responsible for the LTTE as well as all the other Tamil military groups some of which came to be referred to as the SL govt’s paramilitaries.
Apparently, apart from Prabakaran wanting to bring all the groups under one flag, some of those other Tamil militaries were very undisciplined and prone to various vices and that too was a contributory factor for the clashes among the Tamil groups.

“If the racists among the Sinhalese had a little more sense, they would praise the LTTE as accomplishing the great task of ruining and dividing Tamil society that they could never have done alone.”

Well perhaps if not for the LTTE this sort of thing would have happened sooner: http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33279
Worse seems to be happening in the Jaffna area it seems – but according to the latest gossip of course!
Can the LTTE be blamed for these sorts of things that violate what is dear to the Tamil people?

“Two and a half decades of war, mostly thanks to the LTTE’s military prowess, have made about 1/3rd of the Tamils into exiles with no hope of sustaining their culture abroad, and the remainder as internally-displaced people with no homes to return to.”

Ok, this can be attributed to the war.

“You already have made common cause with the racists by denouncing the human rights groups; it’s great to see you both praising the destruction of the Tamils together too!”

No I never denounced Amnesty. But I commented that any organisation close to the UN definitely was being steered by undisclosed geo-political interests.
When the Tamils were cornered and were being massacred in their thousands how many of these so called HR organisations protested? The UN had all the information then but chose complicity by silence. So what do you think they are shouting for now?

“And verily, the geopolitical greed of the LTTE and its halfwitted supporters brought about its own end, and the truth of its lack of substance prevailed.”

Not sure if you can refer to the geopolitical greed of the LTTE, but certainly if the LTTE did agree to play geopolitical ball according to the interests and rules of the geo-political powers, and the regional power i.e. India, then they may have lived on.
As I said before the LTTE was de-fanged and de-clawed, tied up and caged by the same geo-political powers and India while the same supported the SL govt: and that is why the LTTE collapsed so rapidly. Its supporters, not only the half-witted but even the full-witted, had nothing to do with it!

“Ok, so you believe that Sinhalese killing Tamils also is insufficient grounds for saying that Sinhala racism is unreservedly evil.”

The contexts are completely different. The Sinhalese killing of Tamils during the anti-Tamil pogroms were simply based on that the victims were Tamils. When the LTTE killed some Tamil it was not because they were Tamil but for being against them.

“But they won’t have a chance to change things because of the 200,000-man SLA in the north, and the politicians know that. Hence they will not fight.”

Yes and no. Yes for obvious reasons. No because it is the 200,000 man SLA that is resented as an occupying force. Just because the IDF is immensely more powerful than anything the Palestinians can come up with do you think there is no attempt at resistance?

But much more significantly, not least given the geo-political interests at play, how long do do think the SL govt can sustain such a huge force in the north or anywhere else for that matter. Add to this a possible Sinhala uprising in the south which will include at least ex SL forces if not even serving forces and …
That’s right the near neighbour will then step in to pick up the pieces (but out of sheer love for Lanka of course)!

There is also the Islamic extremist card waiting to be played!

“Sorry, but there are aerial videos showing tens of thousands of people fleeing into govt areas when there weren’t any Tigers to shoot them in the back. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjy7cOzxTVk”

This is embarrassingly obvious propaganda!
Firstly, of course thousands upon thousands of Tamil civilians poured into the govt controlled areas, but exactly to get away from the SL govt sponsored shelling and bombing and use of all kinds of horrible weapons of those areas outside SL govt control. Wouldn’t anyone???

The aerial video evidence shows a large group of people with a few people standing in front who appear to be corralling them. The people in front also appear to be holding something in their hands which may or may not be guns.
We do not know who those people in front are apart from what the commentator says, but let’s assume that those people in front are LTTE.
But where is the evidence that the group of people are being shot at in the back or in the front? There is nothing!
If they wanted to show that people had actually been shot wouldn’t it have been ever so easy to wait a while and show the bodies as the people were being supposedly pushed back?
But nothing!

Again there could be all kinds of other reasons why the people in the front were holding the crowd back. Perhaps there were mine fields in the direction the crowd was trying to go. Perhaps the army shelling and bombing was strong in that direction.

But notice what the video does do. After showing the crowd it suddenly shows a tank or something firing while the commentator says that it is the LTTE firing from within the safe zone. So by association the audience is decieved into thinking that what was said earlier is also true. (The visual evidence of the tank firing is true , therefore …).
And again we only have the commentator’s word for it that it was indeed the LTTE who was using the tank and that it was actually in the safe zone.
And of course just because the commentator has an Indian accent that does not mean what she says is trustworthy!

“If that was true, there would have been no survivors and no Tigers in custody.”

What you say does not necessarily follow but still rather, consider how many more actually perished!! Why do you think no one was allowed into the region afterwards?

“But most of them did not lay down their arms. That was the tragedy.”

Yes an enormous tragedy. But wasn’t it a case of: surrender and get killed or get killed while fighting?

“Either way, India will no longer arm Tamils again.”

True, but that is not the only way to control Lanka in this globalised age. But at the same time what is the future of ‘India’ in this age?

“It is infinitely more likely that you are wrong, since you were in the Arctic chasing polar bears while Rajini was being killed.”

But remember Santa is always able to find out who was being naughty and who was being nice anywhere!

“Try reading Trawick’s book again, this time more carefully.”

I will let you know if I do find anything that substantiates what you claim. But if I don’t, will you accept that as demonstrating that you are wrong?

“Those fallacies that you talk about is your opinion and not mine.
I do not accept what you say.”

There is nothing called yapa’s fallacies. You are running away with your false ideologies, afraid of them being refuted.

They are outdated ideologies,used to exploit the countries all over the world, bringing misery to many people.

Thanks!

As always, wonderful posts! Being an Indian, I have very little to contribute to most topics here, but your posts are very refreshing to read. While you continue your debate with Santa, here are some observations!

1. I am rather disturbed not just by this 30-year old LTTE presence (thanks to Mahinda I guess, no matter what) but the continuity of their propaganda 1.5 years after they are gone. It seems that the current generations of Tamils, especially the ones on the net and in their 20s, 30s and even 40s seemed to have lost all their hopes of engagement with MR or are buying into the propagandistic attitude of diaspora. Even if LTTE got a separate Eelam, it would have to put up with a hostile India in the north and SL in the south. The point is, no matter what, the Sinhala-majority south is something that the predominantly Tamil North has to live with irrespective of what the rest of the world thinks. So, it only makes sense to co-exist rather than fight.

2. Despite my pessimism, I am impressed with some posters here. Travelling Academic, Burning_Issue, SomewhatDisgusted and yourself for instance. I am guessing that TA and BI are Tamils, whereas you both are Sinhalese. Sorry to mention all that, while I am not revealing my identity, language, caste or religion, but your posts give a lot of hope for the future that no matter what our disagreements, we can always discuss. So, keep discussing I guess. 🙂

3. Regarding India arming the tigers and others, that is the single most blunder that India did in SL context. For all the hue and cry that we do about Pakistan’s support for LeT and others in Kashmir, we did the worst thing for SL, to whom we are the only neighbour (you also have Maldives but still). This arming of the Tamil groups and the way they roamed about freely in India is a shame. But that was a time when India simply listened to TN politicians vis-a-vis SL. After these Dravidian parties came to power, they made SL an election issue every single time and wanted to get the sympathy of Tamil Nadu people. I still remember what that got for TN in the news, especially the gun culture and violence that spread with the protection that these armed groups enjoyed in TN:
a. Prabhakaran and Uma Maheswaran literally opened fire at each other in broad day light.
b. Killing of Padmanabha and other by LTTE in cold blood.
c. Even the alleged killings that Douglas Devananda is involved in in India.

The killing of Rajiv Gandhi thru LTTE suicide bomber was the last one. After that, the support and sympathy in TN for their brothers across palk strait is just gone! Except for some futile propagandists like Vaiko, Ramdoss etc, not many takers anymore. But, India should have gone all out on the LTTE (with SL’s help) and finished them for good by then. Atleast a whole generation of people could have been saved, many lives wouldn’t have been lost and it is really pathetic today to see where Tamils in SL are after years of LTTE terrorism.

Please allow me to say this though! Indian historian Ramachandra Guha (a Tamilian himself) said during a promotion of his most recent book “Makers of Modern India” that the greatest thing for Tamils in India is being a part of India itself. A separate homeland for Tamils would have achieved nothing of practical significance as compared to being a part of India. When I look at the sufferings of Tamils in SL, it seems very true to me. Tamilians, as part of India have come a long way virtually in every single field in India and went on to achieve globally as as well. If Tamil Nadu was Northern SL, it would not be where it is right now. So, my advice to Tamil brothers in SL is, there is much to gain as part of a united country than to fight for a futile separation. Plant the seeds of engagement, love and brotherhood. It is very tough, hard and testing, but eye for an eye only makes the world blind.

Now, back to the topic…….

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2010/12/_protiger_elements_in_the_tami.html

Sorry Santa, I hit the submit button too early:

“Do you really also think we have seen the last of the Sinhala uprisings?”

There will be no Sinhala uprisings if there is a feeling of a common threat. However, all these photos of videos with you and your friends waving LTTE flags will provide that feeling of a common threat. Far from being angry, Mahinda should send you a medal for giving him a reason to continue his repressive policies!

Dear Santa

“Translation: Santa has no evidence and is hoping that wije will find it for him!”
This is a mistranslation!

You’ve presented no evidence and when I ask for it you tell me to find it. So what have I mistranslated?

“But I never disputed that children did become involved even in combat roles on the LTTE side”

So in other words you are admitting that the LTTE used children as cannon fodder. No need to be so modest about your learning experience! 😉

“key point you’ve missed is that they were not allowed to leave after joining.”
I think that depended on the age.

Your thinking is wrong. Only veterans who served 5 years could leave the organisation. New child recruits could not leave, and UTHR documented pretty well the consequences of trying to escape. The child combatants that I had met all had harrowing stories of how they got out.

For someone who preaches for others to read more, your knowledge of the LTTE appears to be mostly confined to impressions and probably gossip from your friends!

“I don’t have to prove anything because my view is the established norm.”
Well, some years ago the norm was that the earth was flat!

And Magellan disproved flat earth by sailing around the world. You on the other hand have proven nothing. What do you think Magellan or Columbus would have accomplished by yammering about the earth being round without going out and proving it??

“Before the LTTE the Sinhala SL politicians (except for Dudley Senanayake I believe) were already intent on destroying the Tamils”

Yet in all those years they really could never accomplish very much compared to the LTTE. SWRD allowed 2 anti-Tamil riots to occur but the Tamils remained intact as a community, probably even stronger than before now that they faced a common threat. Mrs. B began standardisation and there was an unfortunate episode at the International Tamil Conference, but again this really didn’t undermine the fabric of Tamil society.

The one leader you could say was intent on destroying the Tamils was JR, with 1983 as the best evidence (among other atrocities). Although the LTTE had existed before 1983 (and committed terrorist acts that helped fuel the particularly virulent strain of Sinhala racism in vogue back then), it was 1983 that gave militancy and especially the LTTE a specific relevance for the Tamils. It was 1983 that gave legitimacy to Tamil militancy while turning SL into a pariah state.

Yet things began to sour immediately afterwards with the increasing phenomenon of Tamil-Tamil violence, which Sinhala politics had nothing to do with. The Sinhalese did not create the groups that you call “paramilitaries.” At one point all of them were militant groups having the same goal of achieving a Tamil state. In the case of Karuna and Pillayan, they had been Tigers themselves. Yet they ultimately had no choice but to fall in with the government once the LTTE came gunning for them.

If the racists among the Sinhalese had a little more sense, they would praise the LTTE as accomplishing the great task of ruining and dividing Tamil society that they could never have done alone. Two and a half decades of war, mostly thanks to the LTTE’s military prowess, have made about 1/3rd of the Tamils into exiles with no hope of sustaining their culture abroad, and the remainder as internally-displaced people with no homes to return to.

You already have made common cause with the racists by denouncing the human rights groups; it’s great to see you both praising the destruction of the Tamils together too!

“Certainly geo-political greed can muddy the waters, but at the end of the day truth wins.”

And verily, the geopolitical greed of the LTTE and its halfwitted supporters brought about its own end, and the truth of its lack of substance prevailed.

“Delusions appear to work for a while.”

How long will yours last?

“Not even when Prabakaran and his supporters went around killing Tamils,”
I am not sure if this can be taken as sufficient grounds for claiming that the LTTE were unreservedly evil.”

Ok, so you believe that Sinhalese killing Tamils also is insufficient grounds for saying that Sinhala racism is unreservedly evil. I had no idea you had such an open mind!

“Some Tamils say that what is happening now was actually delayed by the LTTE for these 30 or so years!”

See “delusional” above. 30 years ago there was no 200,000 man SLA to occupy the north.

“The Tamils in SL don’t want to fight”
Don’t you think that those Tamils who are still being pushed around in the NE wouldn’t if they had a chance to change things?

But they won’t have a chance to change things because of the 200,000-man SLA in the north, and the politicians know that. Hence they will not fight.

“Do you really also think we have seen the last of the Sinhala uprisings?”

Good question, but that should be a win-win situation for you.

“How about ‘they were fighting for their lives while retreating’?”

The Nazis did exactly the same thing as they were retreating from France and other parts of Europe. Same with the Japanese in Asia. You really should read more history.

“Civilians went with them but I don’t think you could say they took civilians with them – that is part of the human shield propaganda.”

Sorry, but there are aerial videos showing tens of thousands of people fleeing into govt areas when there weren’t any Tigers to shoot them in the back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjy7cOzxTVk

“Because the SL forces were advancing and did not distinguish between civilian and LTTE.”

If that was true, there would have been no survivors and no Tigers in custody.

“Yes of course they fought until they laid down their arms.”

But most of them did not lay down their arms. That was the tragedy.

“RG has nothing whatsoever to do with the long term plans of India for the region. (Also note that MR’s ego craves the love of the west and he sees India as his door).”

Either way, India will no longer arm Tamils again.

“Yes, because her children believe that your theory is crap!”
But could they not be wrong?

It is infinitely more likely that you are wrong, since you were in the Arctic chasing polar bears while Rajini was being killed. That explains your cluelessness about the LTTE and the war.

“However much sympathy she had for ordinary Tigers, she had little if any respect for their leaders.”
This is completely unsubstantiated: she does not say anything like this.

Try reading Trawick’s book again, this time more carefully.