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The story of Sri Lanka, then and now

by admin on Feb.08, 2010, under Sri Lanka

The story of Sri Lanka, Then and Now

  • ‘There is still a lot of nervousness about the Tigers’

  • ‘It’s a story of another slow-brewing political Tsunami that ended with LTTE’s defeat’

  • ‘Most people have not understood the Tigers’

The military presence in the country is enormous, much greater than when I was there in 2006 and that was during wartime. When I went back in December and January that military presence had increased. All of these things are to my mind evidence of a country that does not feel certain of its own military victory.

Essentially many of the Tamils’ original grievances that led to the civil war in the first place have not been addressed. Problems such as greater representation in Parliament, more equitable allocation of and access to resources and education are still outstanding.

In the latter days of the presidential campaign that just took place, the current president, Rajapaksa, realising that his rival General Sarath Fonseka was closing in on him, began making noises about dealing with the rights of Tamils. But I would say that as long as these issues remain unaddressed there always exists the possibility for the Tigers to re-constitute themselves…………………..

Is there something about the Tigers that the world does not know or has not understood properly?

I think there is probably a great deal about the Tigers that the world doesn’t know. Part of this is due to the fact that the Tigers were a highly secretive organisation with a leader, who rarely addressed the outside world and even more rarely made public appearances or gave interviews. We also know very little about them in the US because the civil war has received very little coverage in the western press. The UK did a better job of covering it than we did here in the US because Sri Lanka was once a British colony………………….

Tell us more about your visit to Prabhakaran’s house. When was the last time he had lived in it? Would it become a pilgrimage place?

Prabhakaran’s house is located just a block or two from the water’s edge in a fishing village on the north coast of the Jaffna Peninsula near Point Pedro. He lived in that house when he was young. He belonged to the fishermen caste. His father was some sort of government inspector. Even though he was from a low caste he was educated. I’m not sure how long he lived in the house, but I know he spent his childhood there……………….

What stirred you most in your recent visit when you visited northern Sri Lanka?

I was stirred by so many things. I was also frustrated by a lot of things. It took me four months to get authorisation from the Ministry of Defence for my son and myself to travel north. Sri Lankans are free now to travel on the main road connecting north and south. For foreigners it is much more difficult. 

It was clear to us that the government was not eager to have foreigners or NGOs up there. Strangely, it was easier to go there in 2005 than it was this December. I was much cheered to see central Jaffna, particularly the market area. It was full of life in a way that it wasn’t previously. There was more for sale, and I saw people buying things that suggested that they were rebuilding………….

     http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/feb/08/slide-show-1-the-story-of-sri-lanka-then-and-now.htm#contentTop


5 Comments for this entry

  • Seyon
    February 11th, 2010 on 8:20 am

    South Asia becoming KINGDOMS of Dynasties – In India Gandhi dynasty, In China Communist Kingdom, In Burma Military Junta, Pakistan almost a Military Junta and Srilanka was under Bandaranayake, Senanayake, Jayawadene families and now under alleged WAR CRIMINALS Mahinda & Bros Ltd.
    NOT EVEN A MINOR Protest, by Sinhalese, against the SRILANKAN GENOCIDAL WAR against Tamils recently by forcing them to settle a tiny so called SAFE ZONES and starved and bombed them, even after the Srilanka locked them in CONCENTRATION CAMPS but as soon as former Army Commander- alleged WAR CRIMINAL- was arrested, Sinhalese mass protesting against the arrest because the Sinhala mass NEVER EVER respect Tamils and Minorities as THEIR OWN people at all as Mr.Sarath FOnseka himself several times said that SRILANKA ONLY FOR SINHALESE.
    The international community must hold a UN referendum in North and East of the island, like the one held in EAST TIMOR, to know the will of minorities before the Srilanka colonise all North and East areas with SINHALESE only as the Srilanka have been doing since 1948 to date.
    Srilankan census reports are enough to show the real pattern of SRILANKAN ETHNIC CLEANSING of Minorities in NORTH AND EAST. For example, in 1837 British Colonial rulers carried out first census in the island and shown JUST 18 SINHALESE LIVED IN THE ENTIRE NORTH AND EAST and First Srilankan Census, after independence, shown that JUST 286 SINHALA WORKERS lived in he EAST ALONE but now more than a MILLIOn SINHALESE were settled by chasing out Tamils and Muslims in North and East. Now the whole VANNI Mainland was CLOSED for any independent bodies and srilanka continue with ETHNIC CLEANSING of Tamils in VANNI.
    International community PLEASE ACT NOW to save the Minorities from the NAZI SinHELLa fundamentalist Srilankan state

  • Karuppen.
    February 10th, 2010 on 9:30 pm

    All the political leaders in power today are aware of their guilty conscience after they have witnessed the cruel genocide of innocent and unarmed Tamil civilians by the Srilankan government forces in 2009. Their empty words emboldened the aggressors Srilankan government and the Union of India. Their inaction in the implementation of contingency policy in restraining the war monger Srilanka headed by Mr Mahinda Rajapakse is an anathema to the principles of democracy. Democracy digs her graveyard deeper and deeper, unable to see her nakedness.

    The leader of the most powerful nation in the world President Obama has the responsibility in taming the war monger nation Srilanka and persuading the Srilankan regime to find a solution by political process to the grievances of the Tamil minority soon. As long as the minority grievances are sidetracked, they create dangerous political hot spots for other war monger countries like India, Pakistan, China, and other undemocratic states to profit from the tragedy of war torn Tamil minority in Srilanka. Should the world still be silent over the abject living conditions and loss of life of Tamil minority in Srilanka?

    Where democracy fails, there emerge anti government elements to assert their rightful claim to political integration. Violence is not the solution to problems in life. Only peaceful solutions stabilize conditions to create trust across the dissenting parties. The US, and all the European countries have the onus confero -ferre -tuli –latum,

    Exposed to harsh living conditions during and after the war on terrorism by the Srilankan government under various fancy political ideas, more than 70,000 innocent death toll of Tamil community have been registered according to reliable sources. Instead of democracy that pacifies the minority to live without fear in a multi-cultural society in Srilanka, state terrorism rules every day social life in Srilanka. Selected killings of Tamils by government forces have become an unpleasant sight there. Doesn’t it flagellate the law of conscience of any political leaders in power today around the world? Why don’t the strong democratic countries like the US, UK, Canada, and other nations raise voice in the UN to implement a policy of stability in Srilanka? By being a silent observer of state violence in Srilanka, these countries throw mud on their faces while they boast that they are democratic countries?

    The source of trouble today is the UN policy towards Srilanka. Secretary General Mr Ban-Ki-Moon is a powerless political leader in the UN. It is time he was sacked from his post for the election of a new strong UN Secretary General who shows administrative capability in implementing policies, strong calibre of moral character, and exudes authority towards removing injustice in war torn nations. First of all get rid of stooges of war monger paid-list nations in the UN in order to implement cohesive policies. They are the stumbling blocks to any constructive policies. Unless and until you get rid of weeds in your garden, the weeds have the upper hand in sapping the blood of a globally neutral organization called the UN. The UN was not created to support state terrorism around the world. The world today needs a new and strong UN General Secretary.

    Extreme pain, suffering, abject living conditions, stateless condition without any democratic rights in their homeland Srilanka, the Tamil community has shown their steel character to live through the state violence during and after the war on terrorism by the Srilankan government. Not a single nation in the world treats its own citizens as untouchables and stateless prisoners
    in its own territory as is practised in Srilanka. Is it what UN Secretary General Mr Ban-Ki-Moon preaches to the world citizens?

    All the democratic nations in the world have the accountability for an integration policy of
    co-existence in world politics. The Union of India, always suspicious of Srilankan Tamils, is the stumbling block to any peace talks between the Tamil and Singhalese politicians in Srilanka. Unless and until the Union of India is disintegrated into its independent principalities, there will never be any peaceful climate to create the trust needed for a dialogue. Already there are signs of disintegration of the Union of India with the emergence of Telengana and other nine independent principalities. Chinese support of Maoists in India will create the disintegration of the Union of India. A disintegrated India will restrain itself from insinuating into the political life of small nations like Srilanka when its encroaching power in weakened in the Indian Ocean. What you sow in other people’s life will be rewarded in your own backyard. India will realize this soon.

    As long as social criminals, wearing sheep skin in the society, fool the democratic world, the world will not notice their crimes. It is the same of Srilankan government today. The government is formed of hard core criminals. As the first step for democracy to realize in Srilanka, these criminals should be brought before the International Court of Justice to face charges and receive harsh punishment.

    Pain and suffering in human life, though unpleasant to the life, create something strong in life. They embolden the inner strength and coalesce into codes of discipline moral strength to face future challenges.

  • Karuppen
    February 10th, 2010 on 11:46 am

    In Srilanka what happened before and during the war on terrorism was a testimony to the disgrace of democratic principles. State violence under the capsule of genocide against an unarmed innocent Tamil minority ended in the death toll of more than 50,000. Needless to say about the abject treatment of the Tamils incarcerated in restricted camps in sub-human sanitary conditions. Has this human tragedy jostled the law of conscience of any democratic leaders around the world to demand counter measures either in the UN or in parliaments? Democratically strong countries like the US, Canada, UK, Australia, France, Ireland, have the accountability for a policy to coalesce into a tenable political solution to the plight of Srilankan Tamils rather than waiting for any first-move country to initiate the dialogue.

    In Srilanka today armed forces are none other than state-trained criminals to plunder public trust. These criminals plunder public and individual properties, kidnap innocent Tamils for ransom money, and murder them if they do not suit their purpose. Criminals dressed like Buddhist monks are loose in the society to agitate ordinary people against the Tamils. Today with the assistance of state armed forces Tamil worship places called temples are dismantled, Tamils in some remote places are forcibly subjected to serve the Singhalese criminals who occupy their land.

    A culture as old as the time is immemorial. That Tamil culture and religion are today deteriorating under the aggression of selected Singhalese racist politicians. This is not the single state aggression of Srilankan government. It is the tacit approval of a great democratic country Union of India. As long as the Union of India remains as the single nation India, any peace talks between the Tamil and Singhalese politicians are doomed to failure. India is the major stumbling block to any peace talks in Srilankan politics. Unless and until the Union of India is disintegrated into its independent provincialities, any small nation like Srilanka in the Indian Ocean will never have a social justice. The political implosion the Union of India is experiencing now has paved the way for independent states like Telengana and other nine states in her backyard. What India sows in other countries, is mercilessly rewarded to India in her own territory. This is the lesson the Mother Nature teaches the aggressor. Chinese strong support of Maoists in India will disintegrate the Union of India before long.

    The world now needs a new and strong UN Secretary General. Mr Ban- Ki-Moon should be sacked from his post giving room for a strong leader who shows administrative capability, political acumen, quick thinking trait, calibre of strong moral strength to translate democratic principles into codes of UN accountability in global politics.

    You need the guts to do anything socially and politically constructive to help the weak and innocent people around the world.

  • Karuppen
    February 9th, 2010 on 10:48 pm

    All the UN democratic member nations should vote Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon out of his office. He is not the world politician with the foresight to evaluate any politically simmering volcanoes around the world. His stance on delaying to proceed with UN investigation into the war crimes committed against the innocent and helpless Srilankan Tamils by Srilankan government headed by Mr Mahinda Rajapakse runs counter to the authority vested in him as the Secretary-General of the UN to enforce International laws where they are called for. Even though Srilanka is not a signatory to the convention of International Court, acceptable circumstances can demand UN investigation into war crimes to bring the nation(s) before the International Court to face charges. Examples are former Yugoslavia and an African nation.

    The world now needs a new UN Secretary General with a steel nerve to withstand challenges, a calibre of strong moral character, and an administrative capability to represent the democratic principles in world politics. It was a moral disgrace that the Srilankan war crimes committed by the Srilankan government in collusion with India, China, Pakistan, Israel, and other satellite countries are still neglected for one reason or another. It will definitely give rise to the emergence of more anti government hard elements in future unless the Srilankan war crime mongers are brought in front of the International Court to face charges to receive harsh punishment.

    Where democracy fails, that is where the beginning of slavery and exploitation of human life take hold in different forms of social illnesses.

  • Seyon
    February 9th, 2010 on 9:06 am

    NO SIn-HELla Terrorism against Minorities, NO NEED of LTTE.
    Now the whole world realising their GUILT for blaming LTTE for the ills in the Srilankan SIN-HELLa racist terror state.

 

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