( December 25, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Guardian) The question is whether the Rajapaksa regime is actually interested
in reconciliation with the Tamil-speaking people or is reconciliation a term
used with no meaning to the Tamil-speaking people but the usual facade to
hoodwink them and the international community to temporarily get over
accusations of discrimination, genocide, war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
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The continued repression of the Tamils in the north and the east through the unwarranted military consolidation of the north and the east by the successive Sri Lankan governments should be seen in the light of repressive measures adopted since the 1960s when military camps both army and navy were being established with absolutely no provocation of any threat of a Tamil militancy but merely on the perceived threat of smuggling and illegal immigration from India.
The more the Tamil youth both male and female
are accused of reversion to militancy the more the dictatorship of the
Rajapaksa regime becomes acceptable to the Sinhala polity who have been
transformed into being chauvinist nationalists including even some so called
Marxists believing that the Rajapaksa regime destroyed the dangers to the
Sinhalese people by the defeat of Tamil militancy. Little do they know or
rather they pretend not to know the reasons for the genesis of Tamil militancy
which was accepted by the Tamil-speaking peoples in desperation as their only
hope of liberation from oppression.
Racism in other backward nationalities is
rapidly becoming a thing of the past but with the Rajapaksa dynasty racist
oppression is the mainstay of their claim to power. The racism obtaining at the
highest level in Sri Lanka is primordial, primitive and tribal and is
transmitted to the other levels of society for their own preservation.
The violent intrusion of the military, quite
uncalled for, into a peaceful observance of the remembrance of their dead
friends and relatives during the violent conflicts prior to May 2009 was an
overkill by the military probably on the instructions of the secretary to
defence who is given to overstepping his mark as a public servant on account of
his being the president's brother. Gotabhaya, performing in a china shop,
lacking in all norms of discretion, tact and discernment and could have far
reaching consequences. The secretary taking advantage of the fact that he was
dealing with the Tamils, which he thinks he could do with callous impunity
insists that these university students would be released only after they have
been rehabilitated. The term rehabilitation in so far as the Tamils are
concerned is polite parlance for torture in the least.
Rev. Fr. S.V.B. Mangalarajah, Chairman of the
Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna on 11. November
2012 points out: "During the last week of November the Hindus celebrate a
special festival of lighting lamps (Vilakkeedu) when they light small lanterns
in their temples and in their houses. This year (2012) this specific festival
coincided with the Heroes' Day of the LTTE. Well in advance the Hindu
authorities had explained this to the Police, and the Senior Police Office in
Jaffna (S.P.) had given permission to the Hindus to light the lamps and go
ahead with the celebration. With such assurance the Hindus went on with their
celebration lighting the lanterns only to be interrupted by the security forces
who ordered them not to do so. In some places some ‘unidentified men' came on
motorcycles and ordered the people to put off the lanterns and threatened
them". Light for the Hindus as for other religions is symbolic of learning
and knowledge and it is not surprising that they chose to celebrate this
auspicious day while also some remembering their dead kin.
History would recall that after the passage of
the most draconian act of all, the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 1979 and the
ensuing repression of the Tamil nation further unified the Tamils against the
oppressors. The State through the military and the police used force against
the Tamil youth tyrannising them resulting in the Tamil youth galvanising into
activity against the oppression. If this is a lesson not to be learnt what then
is lesson learnt.
The Rev. Father further states: "Soon
after the quashing of the peaceful demonstration of the campus students with an
iron hand, four of the university students were arrested and taken to Vavuniya
for questioning. In the following days some more university students and some
more youths in the Jaffna peninsula were arrested. As days passed by more
arrests were made, and on the 10th December the number of those arrested,
students as well as others, had soared up to 45. Some of those who were
arrested are the youths who have gone through a period of rehabilitation due to
their alleged involvement with the LTTE. All these youngsters are being held in
detention under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act..."
The attitude displayed by Maj. Gen. Mahinda
Hathurusinghe, of the Jaffna military base coming from one in a so called
"disciplined" army towards the parents and well wishers treated worse
than terrorists has been most appalling. The university teachers have been
summoned and are being treated with disregard and least respect by such nit
wits. This is clear evidence that the Sri Lankan army have a long way to go to
be more civilised and less barbaric when dealing with civilians when they have
already been accused of massacring more than at least 40,000 civilians, the
old, the infirm, children and babies. If the Rajapaksa regime's claim towards
reconciliation is to have any credibility it should endeavour to transform
Hathurusinghe's uncivilised attitude towards Tamil civilians in the first instance.
This is not all. The other ill-conceived notion
of reconciliation, just to impress the international community fraught with a
series of blunders makes its realisation increasingly untenable and
un-acceptable. Take the case of the young women, who were coerced into joining
the army as a publicity stunt for international consumption, currently going
through the ordeal of being psychiatric patients, some having been being raped
by the army personnel and many others traumatised not being allowed to see
their parents and parents not allowed to see their sick daughters, are a only a
part of the tragedy faced by the Tamil youth.
The continued repression of the Tamils in the
north and the east through the unwarranted military consolidation of the north
and the east by the successive Sri Lankan governments should be seen in the
light of repressive measures adopted since the 1960s when military camps both
army and navy were being established with absolutely no provocation of any
threat of a Tamil militancy but merely on the perceived threat of smuggling and
illegal immigration from India. This in fact contributed to the rise of
militancy on the part of the Tamils not to mention the cumulative effect of the
state sponsored pogroms of 1956, 1958, 1977, 1977, 1979, the destruction of the
Public library in Jaffna a treasure house of Tamil culture and learning and the
unprecedented acts of barbarism in 1983. The oppression of the Tamils has now
become worse with reconciliation irredeemable.
( The Writer, Editor of the Eelam Nation, an
online journal)
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