We are grateful to the British Prime Minister David Cameron who has in parliament stated that there should be an independent investigation into claims that the Sri Lankan government was guilty of human rights abuses during the final stage of the war against the LTTE last year.
What is not recognised is the cause for the genesis of Tamil terrorism, which is Sri Lankan State terrorism never mentioned and which indeed needs radical treatment. It is unfortunate that some international media both print and radio, thanks to Bell Pottinger & Co. the public relations company employed to whitewash the misdeeds of Rajapakse & Co, still pursue the unethical policy of “cash for comment”. There are others who report irresponsibly without doing their homework. Some others do have their own agenda and still others who are ignorant of the facts and to them we say once again: “Little learning is a dangerous thing”.
It is very clear that President Rajapakse, his ruling dynasty and his sycophants constituting the Sri Lankan State taking cover under George W Bush’s global war on international terrorism took the liberty to not only destroy the Tamil militants for whom we hold no brief, but also to destroy tens of thousands of Tamil civilians, motivated by racism, bringing their prolonged oppression to its near final conclusion. The process is not over yet. Sri Lankan State terrorism is still in action but with renewed vigour.
State terrorism in Sri Lanka has come to stay. With the progressive erosion of democracy, State terrorism gradually taking its place is being used as a hand maiden of the dictatorship of the Rajapakse dynasty as was the principal weapon of oppression of other fascist dictators. Having tasted its success against the Tamils, it is now being conveniently applied towards also the oppression of the Sinhalese masses compounded as always by corruption, nepotism, thuggery with state patronage, poverty, ignorance, the decline of the justice system, etc. The sections of the Sinhalese people including the Buddhist monks who tacitly supported the State in its terrorism against the Tamils and their mass killings have come to have a taste of it, and they will soon realise that is too late to change it.
From 1956 to 1983, State terrorism in Sri Lanka took the form of periodic Pogroms against the Tamils with instances of cultural genocide. Continuing up to now, activities in the killings and assaults of journalists, abductions, disappearances, unlawful arrests and prolonged incarcerations of the youth without trial, rape, torture, the current detention of nearly 10,000 ex-combatants without a trial with no access to their relatives are being continued unabating. The internally displaced people (IDPs) though said to be released are still on the run harassed, bullied and terrorised by the military at every turn unable to enter even their own homes, while the international community are being told that they have been happily resettled. With no foreign media or INGOs allowed in it is the word of the oppressive government as against that of the helpless IDPs. These people with an ancient culture and civilisation have to soon adapt themselves to living like gypsies, and that is if they are allowed to continue to live at all.
During the war, said to be against the most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world, it was claimed that the Tamil-speaking people in the north and the east were being liberated from the clutches of the Tamil militants, only to be realised that their destinies are being tragically guided by a handful of former Tamil terrorists, wimpish scoundrels and opportunists who lack absolutely any form of integrity. They are also criminals too weak and servile to stand up to the government against the injustices and the atrocities to the Tamils.
Lacking in any real or meaningful political power or influence, the Tamil people are subject to the dictates of the military in their respective regions which are virtually miniature police states.
President Mahinda Rajapakse made out that the war against the Tamil militancy was part of the war against global terrorism. Tamil militancy was nowhere global. It is now clear that the American invasion of Iraq under George W Bush was a racist war against the Iraqi people as retaliation to avenge the September eleventh Al-Qaeda attack in New York when there was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq at the time but only the tyranny of Sadham Hussein, and for the prospects of oil. As a consequence, as we had previously pointed out earlier in these columns, the war irreparably destroyed the future of the Iraqi nation, their culture, the ancient Babylonian civilization, their social fabric and their future generations never to be retrieved, including their health. This is what is happening to the Tamil-speaking people in Sri Lanka.
The Al-Queida menace was actually somewhere else, namely in Pakistan, a traditionally close ally of Sri Lanka as it is now, whose former President Musharaf was paid US $ 80 million by Bush purportedly for the elimination of the Al-Qaeida, while overnight Musharaf was transformed into a democrat and cleansed from being a dictator. The other problem areas are Somalia and Yemen and the “futile” war against terrorism by the allied forces is now confined only to the Muslim fundamentalist Taliban in Afghanistan who are in no way a threat to global terrorism. It is as absurd as saying that the nationalist Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka are a threat to world peace. There is evidence that Iran, another ally and benefactor of Sri Lanka, has been clandestinely helping the corrupt Hamid Karzai regime through financial support while also supporting the Taliban at the same time to maintain the status quo greatly diminishing the work of the allied nations in their war against terrorism and human rights abuses by the Taliban, a fact not denied by Karzai.
Actually, the Sri Lankan State in spreading its brand of terrorism is now in the process of appointing war criminals as ambassadors to the various countries of Europe in which the Tamils have chosen to live and or taken refuge in, and even to the UN now fast becoming a discredited organisation thanks to Ban ki Moon. For states like China, Iran, Pakistan, India and Myanmar, whatever their form of government it is advantageous for them to support a dictatorship in Sri Lanka for it is easier to deal with only one person and that too of the calibre of Rajapakse.
Rev. Father S.J. Emmanuel, the President of the Global Tamil Forum in regard to the numerous gruesome photographs of innocent Tamils being massacred in cold blood, being led to the killing fields, and in response to the shameful denial by the Sri Lankan foreign minister even without seeing them of the veracity of these pictures has stated: “These photos show blatant disregard to humanity. We do not know the authenticity of these photographs. However this makes the case stronger for an impartial independent international investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
“The deafening silence of the international community to the alleged crimes that have been committed in Sri Lanka to say the least is disheartening and simply disgraceful. Many in our community do not know what happened to their loved ones and whether they are still living in custody or not. Some of these photos show particular disrespect to women and children. These people who alleged to have done this to our community are still occupying our land in North and East of Sri Lanka. Imagine what kinds of abuses must be still going on with impunity?” It could not have been said better. We unreservedly endorse the views expressed by Rev. Fr. SJ Emmanuel.
We learn from some websites managed by some credible Sri Lankan journalists that the Sri Lankan government has acquired gas chambers to be used to destroy any evidence of Tamils disappearing and those abducted, and as suggested therein, this could account for some former cadres of the LTTE who had taken refuge in the IDP camps and subsequently sent out in buses to some unknown destination with their whereabouts still a mystery. We shudder to even imagine that these persons could have been consumed into this gas chamber. At least for the sake of humanity in Sri Lanka, We hope they are still alive.
We are grateful to the British Prime Minister David Cameron who has in parliament stated that there should be an independent investigation into claims that the Sri Lankan government was guilty of human rights abuses during the final stage of the war against the LTTE last year. We are hopeful that the leaderships in other truly democratic countries in the world that genuinely respect human rights would soon follow suit. We are also thankful to the opposition parliament member Siobhian McDonagh, the Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Chairperson of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Tamils, Lee Scott MP of the Conservative Party for the interest evinced in their genuine endeavors to bringing the Sri Lankan the war criminals to justice. This is indeed the spectacle of the mother of democracy, the British Parliament, at work.
(The writer, editor of the EelamNation)
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