An act against humanity

By Namu Ponnambalam

(April 14, New York, Sri Lanka Guardian) Pro-LTTE supporters demonstrating in some capitals of the west are in effect demanding support for terrorism to be acclaimed. The Tiger terrorism has no political ideology whatsoever and demands the setting up of a dictatorial enclave in South Asia where only the LTTE chief will dictate rule. The street demonstrations in support of the LTTE defy all democratic values and demands in their place ruthless terrorism.

From the streets of Toronto, the Tamil youths have gone to Ottawa’s Parliament Hill. This time it is with the intention of challenging Ottawa’s foreign policy. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a banned outfit in Canada as well as in many western countries. The LTTE is fighting the military machine of the Sri Lankan government. Tragically, between those two armed warring parties ordinary unarmed civilians are trapped.

The so-called protests are being held with the civilians in mind. It is good that these youngsters, most of who are born outside the traditional Tamil homelands are protesting for the safety of the civilians. Yes, if they are protesting for ordinary unarmed civilians, we must welcome such a courageous stand. But that’s not happening here in Canada or elsewhere where ever Tamil Diaspora lives.

Humanitarian Issue

No Fire Zone (NFZ) is shrinking further and further. But the iron fist of the LTTE is not relaxing even a bit, at least to the point of ordinary Tamil civilians. The so-called LTTE pass system a symbol of Fascist identity is still holding. The people, all of them Tamils, still need to get the permission of the LTTE to flee to a “No-war” area or the army controlled area.

The organizers who have originally taken part in this Diaspora’s protests were thinking about the plight of these Tamils. Of course the Tamils abroad are supportive of such a move. But the LTTE’s network took advantage of this situation and hijacked the whole emotional aspect within the Diaspora into a political outcry. That’s when it started making the U-turn and travelled on opposite directions. Now this has lost its credibility and created confusions and even serious apprehensions among western governments.

Nevertheless the protesters who do not have a clear agenda on their own got mixed up with humanitarian issues and muddled it with a political slogan. This is not the time to raise the political issues. At this point, the plight of children, women, elderly and disabled are most serious and crucial than talking about a constitutional change in Sri Lanka. The worst aspect of the entire protest drama in the streets of the western countries are the issuance of LTTE leader’s banners, LTTE’s flags and slogans raised in support of LTTE leadership. This is a total contradiction to the humanitarian issue with which we are confronted.

In respect of the humanitarian issue that is at steaming point in Wanni now ominous with a horrendous human tragedy, it is only the LTTE that has to be held responsible for this mess than anyone else in every respect.

The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) also failed to stop the firing into the NFZ. But the LTTE must take the blame for not letting the civilians go free. If the protesters call both the LTTE and the GOSL to go for a cessation of hostilities in order to free the civilians then it may have been a success story. But the agenda put forward by the protesting youngsters failed to achieve the sympathy factor from the western governments or UN agencies. This is an act against humanity by the Diaspora itself.

Leaderless groups In recent weeks we have seen many organizations pop up. These organizations only have one thing in common and that is to protect and serve the interests of the LTTE leadership. By doing so, these youngsters acted against the interests of the LTTE’s future. This is because the LTTE has lost many of its fighters recently.

A great number of LTTE cadres were either killed or fled and some even surrendered to the government forces. By prolonging the military agenda of the GOSL or the LTTE, this will go for the total destruction of the LTTE network within the island of Sri Lanka. If the Diaspora’s supporters really wanted the LTTE leadership to survive, then they should demand the LTTE to go for surrender of arms and work for a political process.

Some may think that by surrendering the arms the LTTE will lose its identity as a military force for Tamils. The reality is that if the LTTE surrenders now at least it could hold on to the networks among the Diaspora which will help make the LTTE into a political force. But the Diaspora hasn’t a clear vision on how to manoeuvre things into their favour. So it is a failed force; not only the LTTE but also the Diaspora.

Sole Representation.

The biggest mistake of the Diaspora is the contentious demand of Sole Representation. The word sole representation is not acceptable to any civil society anywhere in the world. If the Diaspora is willing to adopt their agenda towards the drum beat of the LTTE then you are labelled “Undemocratic” globally. The acceptance of pluralistic view is the basic foundation of any democracy. If the LTTE supporters in the Diaspora continue to support or argue for “Sole Representation” for LTTE when it comes to Tamil politics then we are not accepting values that are foundational to democracy. In other words, we are not going to win the support of the west with an undemocratic agenda of our own.

Multicultural Societies

In many major cities of the western world as well as in Canada we are a part of the multicultural mosaic. Many of the young protesters have portrayed the Sri Lankan problems as a Tamil-Sinhala issue. But the depth of the matter is more than that forSri Lanka is a bilingual country. But the politics of Sri Lanka is not only Tamil-Sinhala. The island of Sri Lanka also has Up-country Tamils of Indian descent as well as the Muslims. They have political issues too that need to be addressed in a constitutional change.

It is true the Sinhala majority government has failed in many occasions to fulfill the aspirations of the minorities. But Tamil political leadership never had a clear political vision in a divided or undivided Sri Lanka for the people of the upcountry Indian Origin Tamils or Muslims who speak the same language. It is the same way the Diaspora’s emotional leadership never had an agenda on its own to answer the demands of the other minorities including the Sinhalese who are the minorities in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.

Unity in Diversity

The Diaspora is enjoying the benefits of federal and other set ups in multi-ethnic multicultural societies in the west. The new generations of the Diaspora are able to enjoy total freedom of the western democracies. I continue to wonder why these youngsters who always demand more from democracies are for the undemocratic agenda of the LTTE.

Till we recognize that the rights of others including the trapped civilians in the NFZ we are not going to get the help of the democratic states. Until then we are not only helping others but also act against our own people. This is certainly an act against humanity. span

-Sri Lanka Guardian