The Misty Horizon

"Now in the political arena, different kinds of dramas are being staged. The National Leader the Hon. President Mahinda, is most of the time seen with the red shawl. Does this indicate his determination, by hook or by crook, to get the land? Even our Sinhalese brothers and sisters cannot forget how the JVP was silenced by the horror of the bloody killings. But now they are a political party and try to dictate terms. Can we point out just one president who did justice to the Tamil population? At least at least on the basis of humanitarian grounds?"

From Bureau in Chennai

(November 28, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The long awaited address of Mr. V Prabaharan has finally reached us. Each year the longing for a ray of hope in the hearts of Tamils, gets lost in the misty horizon of war. Praba’s speech reflects disappointment with the politicians. What he mentions is ‘beyond doubt all the Sinhala political parties are essentially chauvinistic and anti-Tamil’ seem to reflect the truth in the past history from Selva-Banda era. During the long history of the Tamil struggle, first through non-violence and later through armed struggle, the Sinhala mindset has remained unchanged.

What he says about the concept of the Tamil Nation as “None of the Southern parties are ready to accept the core principles for a lasting peace: the Tamil homeland, the Tamil nation and the Tamil Right to self determination is in a way gospel truth. Tamil National leader said that the confidence of the Tamil people on the international community has been eroded by their one-sided approach. To comment on this, the reasons may be the long term chronic war, the splits within the National Leader’s party, the betrayals from time to time, the lack of support of the International countries because of the term used as the gorilla war, the expatriate Tamils’ luxurious living abroad and the apathy to the reality of their suffering of their own people, especially the cycle of displacements, darting bullets and shells, and hunting for food.

Most of the expatriate Tamils have lost their identity. But the remaining helpless mass, strives to uphold the Tamil identity. They are pushed into a state of losing their own identity. No one can deny that there was no blood shed or real struggle to get the freedom from the British unlike in India. This made the freedom cheap for the people of our country. Who will forget the bitter reception when the ‘Sinhala Group’ went to Jaffna to do relief work after the tsunami. They were chased out of the camps refusing to accept the relief, and with the slogan ‘eliyata yanda’ holding the brooms and sticks. Can we ever forget one of the best libraries in Asia, burnt to ashes? It has been rebuilt, I mean the building, but the loss is immense. How many ethnic genocides the Tamils would have faced? In a way, the Tamils were pushed to take up arms to save their identity.

We should mention the short time of cease fire. Nationally and internationally, the celebrations of “Pongu Thamil” (reviving and renewing the Tamil Culture) in all its aspects in speeches, cultural shows were all on full swing. Why are those International countries so silent now? Nayyar Hashmey explains the phenomenon that beckons peoples to seek their roots in heritage, the pride in their glorious past and a means to their identity in the contemporary world. When the cease fire broke down, then the real traumatic situations started to germinate and made the life of people even more miserable. Along with this comes back the usual chorus “we are going to liberate Tamils from the LTTE”.

True, the IPKF failed miserably. The Prime Minister Rajive Ghandhi was assassinated. These are the very good excuses for the international world to portray Tigers are ruthless killers. Only those who lived to see the sufferings of the people under IPKF know the truth. We still remember the only hope we had then was, the then president Chandrika. In Jaffna, the market places and shops sold things like sarees with the name of Chandrika. She was so popular then. The regime failed miserably. Why?

Now in the political arena, different kinds of dramas are being staged. The National Leader the Hon. President Mahinda, is most of the time seen with the red shawl. Does this indicate his determination, by hook or by crook, to get the land? Even our Sinhalese brothers and sisters cannot forget how the JVP was silenced by the horror of the bloody killings. But now they are a political party and try to dictate terms. Can we point out just one president who did justice to the Tamil population? At least at least on the basis of humanitarian grounds?

The day the ‘ever smiling, deep thinking’ political leader Thamil Chelvam died, we buried our hope for a peaceful solution. This may be one of the reasons that the exhausted Norwegian facilitators remained silent. The countries that preached peace to us also went silent and refused to speak out. The Sinhala State started its war and justified it with slogans like ‘War for Peace’, ‘War against terrorism’ and ‘War for the liberation of the Tamils’.

The war has taken almost more than two decades. When we ponder deeply about today’s situation, there are two different aspects. One is the war. The people are dismayed, exhausted and disappointed that we are trapped in the deceptive net of the Sinhala State which is unhelpful in their involvement to resolve our problem.

On the other hand, the suffering people for decades who strive to maintain their identity, struggle with the trauma of the immense loss and grief. (However, we thank the NGOs who helped us from time to time) .The lost lands of the Tamils have become ‘no man’s land’. Their aspiration is still long to gain strength to show their talents in education as in the past, and to live a normal and peaceful life.

The 'National' Leader’s spoken words reveal the truth. The struggle is a net work of so many issues, prejudices, and bitterness, on the top of the other. But like the ice burg, what the world sees is the gorilla war of the tigers. If our own brother Sinhalese civilians pay no heed at all to the human suffering including the soldiers who are sent to the war to die to ‘save their land’ and the LTTE carders whose ideology is none other than to fight for freedom , blaming the International countries alone cannot justify our plight. What is the interest they have in this ‘tear drop’ of the India Ocean, except their own hidden agenda?

We would like to quote what late S.J.V.Chelvanayagam said. "I am seventy-seven years old now and even in this old age I am fighting for the liberation of the Tamils because I am aware of the dangers that are lurking for the Tamil community in the Eastern Province. There is no other alternative for the Tamils to live with self-respect other than fight to the end for a Tamil Nad. " [i.e. a Tamil State]. (11 May 1975 in a speech in Batticaloa.) But how, when and who are the questions for which both the Sinhalese civilians and of course the International Community have to go the ‘second mile’ to give us the answer.

“A man who is made for freedom
has to take tremendous risk and take everything.’ –Mahatma Gandhi - Sri Lanka Guardian