”What has transpired in Sri Lanka, therefore, has only deepened my cynicism in the reading of international politics and all politics”:

That’s because you are making a conclusion looking at one part of a very complex system. (Parts of a system affect each other and the whole is more than the sum of its parts.) Just think of all the other things the government has been doing in 2008-2014.
I wish I could muster a tiny fraction of your wordcraft.

Structural Violence of More than Five Decades?

Let’s examine that claim shall we?

SL obtained Independence in 1948
Although the Tamil UNDERCLASS was the numerical majority, the FIRST underclass Tamil enters Parliament from the North in 1977, THIRTY years after Independence, why?
Is it due to GoSL’s Structural Violence?

Is it due to Structural SLAVERY enforced by Rape, Arson and Violence on the Tamil Underclass by the Tamil Land Owning Ruling Class?

The answer will expose the UGLY TRUTH about Tamil Politics of Lanka.

There was STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE for Centuries, not Decades as Puniselva tries to project. That Structural Violence was directed at the Tamil UNDERCLASS by the Land Owning Ruling class of Tamils, the Absentee Tamil Landlords who controlled ALL LAND and ALL Means of Production and hence had the UNDERCLASS in a VICE grip from which there was no escape.

Let me define the UNDERCLASS.

They are like the UNTOUCHABLES of India.

Their population is estimated between 60% to 75% in the North and 80+% Nationally.

The British did not collect any Census Data and the GoSL cannot do so either as that would be viewed as a Violation of Human Rights. However, Ms Pearle Thevanayagam, a Tamil Journalist, now living in the UK, estimates the UNDERCLASS to be 75% of the Tamil population of the North. A former Government Agent Jaffna (highest ranking regional civil servant), a Sinhalese, provides a lower estimate of 60+% for the North. The Plantation Tamils of South Indian origin are Indian Untouchables and are a 100% UNDERCLASS.

Ms Thevanaygam is not from the UNDERCLASS, she is privileged member of the Ruling Class, she wrote the following in June 2011

“As a 12 year old I became conscious of how Tamils used the caste system to enslave least 75 percent of the Tamil population by obtaining their services virtually free based on their belonging to the servile class”
(http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2011/06/pernicious-caste-curse-of-tamils-living.html)

Now let us examine the STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE.

“In Jaffna in the 1940s and 1950s, for instance, minority [sic] Tamils were forbidden to enter or live
near temples; to draw water from the wells of high-caste families; to enter laundries, barbershops, cafes, or taxis, to keep women in seclusion and protect them by enacting domestic rituals; to wear
shoes; to sit on bus seats; to register their names properly so that social benefits could be obtained; to attend school; to cover the upper part of the body; to wear gold earrings; if male, to cut their hair; to use umbrellas; to own bicycles or cars; to cremate the dead; or to convert to Christianity or Buddhism”

(W.R. Holmes, Jaffna (Sri Lanka), St Joseph’s Press: Jaffna, 1980; Pfaffenberger, `The Political
Construction of Defensive Nationalism’, 1990, p.82.cited by Gnanapala Welhengama, Nirmala Pillay in “The Rise of Tamil Separatism in Sri Lanka: From Communalism to Secession”)

Now lets see what a VICTIM amongst the UNTOUCHABLES have to say.

” When I moved to Hatton and later to Colombo, I found a very different world. It was a transforming experience for me and my wife to find that our workmates, mostly Sinhalese would actually sit with us and share a cup of tea. We found that we could go to night school and study without being threatened, beaten up, or go and borrow books, and do things that would bring swift retribution ‘back in the North’; our dwellings would have been torched and our women raped with impunity. This was in the late 1950s…” (please see http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/12770)

The writer that I quoted above is Mr Sebastian Rasalingam, an UNDERCLASS Tamil from Jaffna who married an UNDERCLASS Indian Origin Plantation Tamil lady from Hatton and moved to Hatton in the Sinhala Hinterland. They now reside in Canada. He wrote the above in November 2012.

Now let’s have a GLIMPSE at the details of CENTURIES of STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE from researchers.

Even by the mid-20th century the status of the pallas, for example, was hardly any better than a
century before. Tambiah quotes from the Manual of the Madura District published in 1868 to describe the position of the pallas in 1951.

They are a numerous but abject and despised race. Their principal occupation is ploughing the land of
the more fortunate Tamils, and though normally free, they are usually slaves in almost every sense of the word.’ The outcastes or parayas had a deplorable social status. Among this group, there was a
caste unique to Jaffna, the turumbas or washers men to the parayas. They were not allowed to be seen in the daylight and could only travel by night

(from the PhD Thesis of Dr Jane Russell, Communal Politics under the Donoughmore Constitution, 1931 – 1947 available from Thisara Publications, Lanka)

Ragunathan (2004: 22-23) listed a series of 24 customary prohibitions enforced by the upper caste elite on Panchamars (Low Casts) during the 1950s. These prohibitions were as follows:

1. Males should not wear an upper garment.
2. ‘Verti’ should not hang below the ankle.
3. Men should not wear “Shalvei” on the shoulder.
4. Females should not wear an upper garment.
5. Females should not wear the “thaavani” (sari “potta”).
6. The Panchamar should not travel unnecessarily on roads and in public places. When proceeding on permitted paths, they must announce their coming by dragging a “kaavolei” (dried Palmyrah leaf) behind them.
7. Panchamar must not wear any jewellery.
8. Panchamar should not tie “thali” (wedding necklace).
9. Panchamar must not wear white for higher rituals.
10. Panchamar must not wear white for important/special rituals.
11. They must bury the dead without cremation.
12. Use of musical instruments to rejoice or mourn prohibited.
13. Music at auspicious or inauspicious functions prohibited.
14. They should not use the ponds of the “high” castes.
15. They must not use umbrellas.
16. They must not wear footwear.
17. They must not study.
18. Gods of the “high” castes prohibited in their temples.
19. They cannot enter the “high” caste temples.
20. They must not enter tea-shops.
21. They must not draw water from public wells.
22. They cannot either drive or travel in cycles and cars.
23. They cannot sit while traveling in buses.
24. In schools, they were not allowed to sit on chairs.

Well Puniselva I have called your BLUFF

If you or any other Tamil wants to contest what I have written you and they are welcome to do so.

Kind Regards,
OTC

Dear Puniselva,

What I pointed out was the DISTINCT POSSIBILITY of bribery being used to corrupt the members of the
POE, Mr. Marzuki Darusman, Ms. Yasmin Sooka and Mr. Steven Ratner.

As shown in my comment to Fitzpatric, they have deliberately ignored Clear Cut ICC interpretations and have delivered a Legal Opinion exonerating the LTTE of a very serious war crime. The incentive they must have received would be mind boggling.

You are trying to draw a Red Herring to divert attention from the Bribe Taker and the Bribe giver..

Kind Regards,
OTC

Successive governments appointed ”Commissions” to ward off action by the UN and made Amnesty International write a report, SriLanka: 20years of make-believe, in June 2009. When he left office former President Rajapakse had reports of 17 commissions/committees(extrajudicial killings, disappearances, corruption) unpublished. Publishing these reports and implementing theirr recommendations would have meant resolution of the ethnic conflict.

Many sinhalese retired civil servants told LLRC how the ethnic minorities have been oppressed by successive governments and created armed rebellion after peaceful means of struggle failed and that finding a political solution was urgent. US-Sri Lanka Fulbight Commission(1952-2012) commemorated sixty years in 2012 with the Sri Lankan scholars writing to President Rajapakse nearly the same..

The Northern Province Governor H.M.G.S.Palihakkara, Chief Guest at 176th AGM of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce where he was the Chief Guest reminded the audience that the absence of a structured dialogue on devolution of power and good governance cannot bring about peacebuilding and reconciliation.

It is the duty of all voters to press the election candidates to consider political solution to the conflict as the most urgent need of the country for peace and prosperity for all.

Intention of the govt is best seen in how the Presidential Task Force(PTF) for Northern Development was appointed on 7 May 2009: 19 members consisting of central govt ministry officials and representatives of all armed forces – not a single member is a Tamil from the North. PTF has been reveting aid agents from helping the returnees in livelihood support, psychosocial support or any form of empowerment.

The exponentially increasing detrimental effect of structural violence abetted by i. 9yrs of authoritarianism of 2005-2014, ii.expert damage control by GoSL at the UN for more than five decades up to 2009 and iii. continuing through immense militarisation causing political, economic, social, cultural and environmental damage till today is ethnocide of certain quality and quantity.

Dear Puniselva,

Due to a Technical problem in image upload only part of my comment has got posted
Here is the balance. I have suppressed the automatic image upload that has caused the problem.

This is London on Google’s free service. Please view it at MAX ZOOM.
352 Oxford St, London W1C
1JH, UK
(Coordinates 51.514432, -0.149289)

XXXXX://www.google.com/maps/place/Marks+%26+Spencer/@51.5143929,-0.1492785,31m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4876052cdf03141f:0x3173d47e608cc9d

You can easily count the people.

This is a view of Disney Land Please view it at MAX ZOOM.
The location address is,
Tomorrowland Way, Anaheim, CA 92802, USA
(Coordinates 33.812555, -117.916867)

XXXXX://www.google.com/maps/place/Disneyland+Park/@33.8125264,-117.9168848,42m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x80dcd7d12b3b5e6b:0x2ef62f8418225cfa!6m1!1e1

Please replace the XXXXX with https

The groups of people are easily identified and counted even on the free service In the paid service the detail would be more.The detail in Satellite imagery available to First World govts would be fantastic.

Why are those making accusation unable to produce a satellite image?

This war had Many Witnesses in the Sky.
The accuser can use it if the accusation is not a Lie.

But they have not used it.
The reason is obvious.

Are you really concerned about IDP”s or just making Political Rhetoric?

Here is a quote from a Tamil gentleman of repute written in September 2014 who had access to Tamils Displaced from Jaffna.

In Jaffna I have witnessed it from childhood to present. In the fifties, there were two separate churches, two burial grounds. The catholic church compromised to recruit all devotees. There were two cremation grounds. There were many fights over integration and Temple entry. As I child I could not comprehend such rules. It is less overt now than in the forties to seventies. ….. It really does not matter how the caste system evolved or in what manner it is practiced by whoever. It is surprising that Hindu academics, high ranking officials in various departments still discriminate overtly and subtly. LTTE did not practice such discrimination and tried
to stop it but could not succeed. When Jaffna displaced, LTTE had difficulty providing shelter near source of water to the refugees who were not Vellalars and the Vanni Vellalar’s would not let the others from drawing water from their wells. The LTTE did ask teachers, students and appealed to village elders to share water with the refugees. I have participated in such meetings. As a compromise specific times were allocated for the refugees to use the well. The group of shelters were also segregated. When I asked the Tigers who were in responsible position to integrate why can’t such discrimination be prevented. They said that the Vellalars are
merchants and don’t want to antagonize them and loose support. To their credit they did by law, education and by deed reduced some discrimination.

Now I see in Jaffna Peninsula schools in areas where the deprived classes live, competent principals or teachers with qualifications are hard to place. This deprivation shows in the results of students at the National examinations.
End Quote

What follows was written by a Jaffna Resident in July 2015 after reading the above. He confirmed the status of schools in Jaffna’s impoverished areas today..

“Unfortunately this continues even today. The primary schools that are in deprived parts of the Jaffna Peninsula have very low results. I know of many schools where about 3% pass Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. Most or all of the children in these schools come from poor families that can be described using
the word out caste. Their parents have not studied.”
end quote

The description above, is the result of the Tamil High Cast Jack Boot which trampled them for centuries while you deceived the world by blaming the Sinhalese.

Even today the TNA led NPC govt is not providing Competent Teachers and Principals to the Shining new schools that the Govt established in the North after the war and the age old Vellala Oppression of denying an Education to the social underclass

Writing further he said

“These children do not attend school regularly, have no shoes, uniform or basic material like pens. They receive cloth, shoes, backpacks etc from the government and some NGOs but this is not enough. If the only uniform is wet what will the child do? In the worst case parents will sell the shoes etc to buy food, toddy or ganja.Last year there was an initiative to help these children but I do not know what if anything was done in practice. I believe that the initiative came from UNICEF and the relevant ministries in Colombo. Maybe needless to say that better off families (often higher caste) avoid sending their children to these schools.
All the schools I know of have been recently nicely repaired and painted thanks to the attention and money that MR sent. MR did many good things in Jaffna after 2009 like building roads, schools, telephone lines, electricity network. What he did with human and political rights is another matter. In the nice school buildings we will find many incompetent and/or lethargic teachers. Having a degree in something does not make a graduate a
good teacher”

Primary and Secondary Education has been COMPLETELY devolved on the TNA led NPC.

Kind Regards,
OTC

Dear Puniselva,

Three comments?
You must be desperate.

The Title does not hide anything because the Text supports the Title with verifiable references and citations.

Can you explain why the UNSG’s POE of Mr. Marzuki Darusman, Ms. Yasmin Sooka and Mr. Steven Ratner, say that the LTTE did not use the Tamil Civilians they held captive at Gun Point, in a Human Shield?

When I look at Google Earth I wonder at the fine detail provided by them even on the free service. They also
have more detailed imagery for sale. Defense spy satellites that the west posses are capable of much higher detail than what Google’s images provide.

How come that no such imagery is made available by those who claim there are no witnesses to the war.
Even people who are standing erect can be easily counted using the free Google Earth service. Counting any dead would be much easier because they are horizontal and shadows are absent.

This is London on Google’s free service. Please view it at MAX ZOOM.
352 Oxford St, London W1C 1JH, UK
(Coordinates 51.514432, -0.149289)

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Marks+%26+Spencer/@51.5143929,-0.1492785,31m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4876052cdf03141f:0x3173d47e608cc9d

You can easily count the people.

This is a view of Disney Land Please view it at MAX ZOOM.
The location address is, Tomorrowland Way, Anaheim, CA 92802, USA
(Coordinates 33.812555, -117.916867)

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Disneyland+Park/@33.8125264,-117.9168848,42m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x80dcd7d12b3b5e6b:0x2ef62f8418225cfa!6m1!1e1

The groups of people are easily identified and counted even on the free service In the paid service the detail would be more. The detail in Satellite imagery available to First World govts would be fantastic.

Why are those making accusation unable to produce a satellite image?

This war had Many Witnesses in the Sky.
The accuser can use it if the accusation is not a Lie.

But they have not used it.
The reason is obvious.

Are you really concerned about IDP”s or just making Political Rhetoric?

Here is a quote from a Tamil gentleman of repute written in September 2014 who had access to Tamils Displaced from Jaffna

In Jaffna I have witnessed it from childhood to present. In the fifties, there were two separate
churches, two burial grounds. The catholic church compromised to recruit all devotees. There were two cremation grounds. There were many fights over integration and Temple entry. As I child I could not
comprehend such rules. It is less overt now than in the forties to seventies. ….. It really does not matter how the caste system evolved or in what manner it is practiced by whoever. It is surprising that Hindu academics, high ranking officials in various departments still discriminate overtly and subtly.

LTTE did not practice such discrimination and tried to stop it but could not succeed. When Jaffna displaced, LTTE had difficulty providing shelter near source of water to the refugees who were not Vellalars and the Vanni Vellalar’s would not let the others from drawing water from their wells. The LTTE did ask teachers, students and appealed to village elders to share water with the refugees. I have participated in such meetings. As a compromise specific times were allocated for the refugees to use the well. The group of shelters were also segregated. When I asked the Tigers who were in responsible position to integrate why can’t such discrimination be prevented. They said that the Vellalars are merchants and don’t want to antagonize them and loose support. To their credit they did by law, education and by deed reduced some discrimination.

Now I see in Jaffna Peninsula schools in areas where the deprived classes live, competent principals or teachers with qualifications are hard to place. This deprivation shows in the results of students at the National examinations.
End Quote

What follows was written by a Jaffna Resident in July 2015 after reading the above. He confirmed the status of schools in Jaffna’s impoverished areas today..

“Unfortunately this continues even today. The primary schools that are in deprived parts of the Jaffna
Peninsula have very low results. I know of many schools where about 3% pass Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. Most or all of the children in these schools come from poor families that can be described using
the word out caste. Their parents have not studied.”
end quote

The description above, is the result of the Tamil High Cast Jack Boot which trampled them for centuries while you deceived the world by blaming the Sinhalese.

Even today the TNA led NPC govt is not providing Competent Teachers and Principals to the Shining new schools that the Govt established in the North after the war and the age old Vellala Oppression of denying an Education to the social underclass

Writing further he said

“These children do not attend school regularly, have no shoes, uniform or basic material like pens. They receive cloth, shoes, backpacks etc from the government and some NGOs but this is not enough. If the only uniform is wet what will the child do? In the worst case parents will sell the shoes etc to buy food, toddy or ganja.Last year there was an initiative to help these children but I do not know what if anything was done in practice. I believe that the initiative came from UNICEF and the relevant ministries in Colombo. Maybe needless to say that better off families (often higher caste) avoid sending their children to these schools.
All the schools I know of have been recently nicely repaired and painted thanks to the attention and money that MR sent. MR did many good things in Jaffna after 2009 like building roads, schools, telephone lines, electricity network. What he did with human and political rights is another matter. In the nice school buildings we will find many incompetent and/or lethargic teachers. Having a degree in something does not make a graduate a good teacher”

Primary and Secondary Education has been COMPLETELY devolved on the TNA led NPC.

Kind Regards,
OTC