Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
-
Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

Home Whats New  Trans State Nation  One World Unfolding Consciousness Comments Search

Home >Tamils: a Trans State Nation > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Conflict Resolution: Tamil Eelam  Sri Lanka > US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton  writes to US Congresswoman on plans for Post Conflict period in Sri Lanka
 

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
TAMIL EELAM - SRI LANKA

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 
writes to US Congresswoman on plans for Post Conflict period in Sri Lanka

TamilNet, 1 April 2009

 "..We continue to urge the Sri Lankan government to devise a post-conflict political solution that will demonstrate to Sri Lanka's Tamil population and the Tamil Diaspora that the government is serious about political inclusion.... The international community has started planning for the post-conflict period and remains committed to returning displaced persons to their homes as quickly as possible. The international donor community in Sri Lanka has also agreed on certain guiding principles for post-conflict donor assistance..."

Comment by tamilnation.org US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's letter to US Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy does not come as a surprise to us. The US is simply following the policy which we said it would follow - and we said it 18 months ago in September 2006  -

".. today,  the US and India may find common cause in 'weakening' the Tamil Eelam struggle for freedom (and the LTTE) - but weaken it in such a way that thereafter each of them may successfully jockey (against each other) for position and influence in the Indian Ocean region. The 'weakening' in this context means the isolation and annihilation of Velupillai Pirabakaran and securing an LTTE under a 'reformed' leadership... And it is this same international frame which Sinhala Sri Lanka seeks to use to continue its genocidal onslaught on the Tamil people."

We returned to the same theme, three months ago in January this year -

"..The question is being asked by some: why is the international community which was willing to arm Sri Lanka and to ban the LTTE, unwilling and/or unable  to prevent the genocide of Eelam Tamils?  ... the Tamil people are being taught that for the governments of the so called IC, human rights and humanitarian law are but useful instruments to advance their political and strategic interests. ...the international community will wait till Tamil resistance is sufficiently weakened or  annihilated before it attempts to intervene 'on humanitarian grounds' and in seeming response to 'world wide Tamil appeals'.  Meanwhile the IC will even welcome such world wide appeals by Tamils as that will pave the way (and establish useful contact points amongst the Tamil diaspora) for IC's eventual intervention with 'development aid' with the mantra of not conflict resolution but 'conflict transformation'..."

Again, we said one month ago -

 ".. Now that Tamil resistance has been weakened, international actors who have armed and trained Sinhala Sri Lanka's genocidal armed forces believe that the time has come to respond to the  'humanitarian disaster' which they helped to create. ... the belated attempts that are being made today expose not the humanitarian concerns of the international actors but the strategic interests that impel the international actors to act the way they do. After all the simplest thing that the international actors could have done to protect the Tamil people would have been to remove the ban on the LTTE so that the capacity of the people of Tamil Eelam to resist the genocidal onslaught launched on them by Sinhala Sri Lanka may have been strengthened. The simple and humane thing that the international actors could have done was not to taunt the struggles against terrorism with the label terrorism but to adopt a  principle centered approach which liberated political language and also helped to liberate a people who have taken up arms as a last resort in their struggle for freedom from oppressive alien Sinhala rule..."

And so it does not surprise us that  today the US Secretary of  State is open and  frank in envisioning the 'post conflict' scenario for Sri Lanka.  It also does not surprise us that Secretary of  State Hillary Clinton is silent on the question whether the so called international community which she says is planning for the post conflict period in Sri Lanka includes India or for that matter China and Iran who were Sri Lanka's biggest aid donors for the year 2008.

According to TamilNet,  'Tamil circles' are 'wondering' about what is meant  by �post-conflict� and by �inclusive political solution'. Simply put,  'post conflict'  means 'post genocide'. And 'inclusive political solution' means that which  the Sinhala Buddhist ethno nation  may offer to a conquered people so that Sinhala Buddhist hegemony may be secured in the island for the forseeable future within the confines of a so called Sri Lankan 'civic nation/state' with a Sinhala Sri Lanka name (which it gave itself unilaterally in 1972), with a Sinhala lion flag, with an unrepealed Sinhala Only Act and with Buddhism as the State religion.

We ourselves feel that 'Tamil circles' should move away from the language of wonderment and openly  (and with the same frankness that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has displayed) address the geo strategic interests of the US (& the tri laterals)  in the Indian Ocean region - geo strategic interests which has determined US policy in relation to the conflict in the island of Sri Lanka during the past several decades. To continue to ignore the elephant in the room is to continue to live with Alice in Wonderland.  'Tamil circles'  should acquire the courage to remind those whom they 'lobby' of the words of Lila Watson  of the Australian Aboriginal Group, many years ago - "If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time... But, if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."

"...Sometimes, the Tamil response to the international community, takes on  the characteristics of the teen age girl's response in the pebble story. It seems that we avoid confronting the international community for fear of provoking its ire. We avoid seeking an open dialogue with the international community on its own strategic imperatives and the true rationale for its actions. We resort to subterfuge. We say that our way is the 'anuku murai' - the diplomatic way to 'approach' issues. We claim that  this is the effective way. But has this 'anuku murai' succeeded?  Again the result of not calling a spade a spade is that we confuse our own people. We confuse our people by leading them to believe that the international community is without sufficient 'cleverness' to respond to our subterfuge with its own subterfuge and advance its own agenda. We confuse our people by leading them to believe that all that needs to be done is to wake up the international community to the facts and the justice of our cause and all will be well. This is the limitation of our discourse. It is a limitation that we need to transcend. Diplomacy may be the art of lying without getting caught but a struggle for freedom is not..." Black Pebbles & White Pebbles

'Tamil circles' should stop persuading themselves that it  is because of their 'lobbying skills' that the international community has been moved to act in the conflict in the island.  They should recognise (and openly recognise) that the  'international community' is concerned to further its own strategic interests  in the Indian Ocean region and it is for for that reason that the international community actively encourages (and is intent on creating the political space for) such Tamil 'lobbying' - as a way of channelling and influencing these 'Tamil circles' to serve the interests of the international community. 'Tamil circles'  should acquire the courage to pay heed to the words of  Sri Aurobindo many years ago -

"Our appeal, the appeal of every high souled and self respecting nation, ought not to be to the British sense of justice, but to our own reviving sense of manhood, to our own sincere fellow feeling - so far as it can be called sincere - with the silent suffering people of India. I am sure that eventually the nobler part of us will prevail, - that when we no longer obey the dictates of a veiled self interest, but return to the profession of a large and genuine patriotism, when we cease to hanker after the soiled crumbs which England may cast to us from her table, then it will be to that sense of manhood, to that sincere fellow feeling that we shall finally and forcibly appeal."

Admittedly this is no easy task. Even the great Subramanya Bharathy (who sang Acham Enbathu Illaiye) when confronted with the prospect of prison in 1918 wrote to Lord Pentland, the Governor of Madras -

OM SAKTHI

District Jail, Cuddalore
28 November 1918.

To His Excellency Lord Pentland Governor, Fort St. George

The Humble petition of C. Subramania Bharathi.

May it please your excellency.

It has been more than a week now since I was arrested at Cuddalore on my way from Pondicheery to Tinnevelly which is my native district. After many loyal assurances on my part as your Execellency may well remember the Dy. I. G. (CID) was sent by your Excellency's Government a few months back to interview me at Pondicherry. The Dy. I G after being thoroughly satisfied with my attitude towards the Government asked me if I would be willing to be kept interned purely as a war measure in any two districts of the Madras Presidency during the war.. I could not consent to that proposal, because having absolutley renounced politics I see no reason why any restraint should be placed on my movement even while the war lasted.

Now that the war is over and with such signal success to the Allies, I ventured to leave Pondicherry, honestly believing that there would be absolutely no difficulty whatsoever in the way of my settling in British India as a peaceful citizen.. Contrary to my expectations however I have been detained and placed in Cuddalore District Jail under conditions which I will not weary your Excellency by describing here at any length BUT which are altogether diasgreeable to a man of my birth and status and full of dangerous possibilities to my health.

I once again assure your Execellency that I have renounced every form of politics, I shall ever be loyal to British Government and law abiding.

I therefore beg of your Excellency to order my immediate release. May God grant your Excellency a long and happy life.

I beg to remain
Your Excellency's most obedient servant.

C. Subramania Bharathi

Said that, we believe that the people of Tamil Eelam have paid a heavy price for the failure of 'Tamil circles' to pay heed to the words of Mamanithar Dharmeretnam Sivaram six years ago in 2003 -

"..Today it is clear beyond all reasonable doubt that India and the US-UK-Japan Bloc are trying to influence and manage Sri Lanka's peace process to promote and consolidate their respective strategic and economic interests... Any foreign force can have its way in a country only if its people are divided, politically obfuscated and are irredeemably sunk in political stupor. The creeping intellectual/political barrenness in the northeast should be stopped without further delay. LTTE officials too should stop making pedestrian, boringly predictable utterances on public forums and, instead, make every endeavour to stir the people's reason, intellectual curiosity, their sense of community, their imagination and their intellectual fervour. This is the only way forward to decisively break the vicious circle of political obfuscation by which our people are deeply but blissfully afflicted today... From 1983 to 86, it was taboo among Tamils to propagate the truth that India was exploiting their cause to gain a foothold in Sri Lanka. The few who dared to speak about India's hegemonistic designs were admonished not to be too rash lest we provoke Delhi's ire and cause a disruption in the weapons handouts by the RAW....The price the Tamil liberation movement as a whole had to pay for not educating the people about the truth of India's intentions was high. At this juncture, even a doddering dullard would find the deja vu inescapable...The Tamil nation cannot afford to make the same mistake again... "

The failure of LTTE officials to stop making 'boringly predictable utterances on public forums' (even after the peace process ended) and their failure to 'make every endeavour to stir the people's reason, intellectual curiosity, their sense of community, their imagination and their intellectual fervour' has contributed to the 'political obfuscation by which our people are deeply but blissfully afflicted today.'

And to those Tamils who ask in despair: what shall we do - the answer must be that first and foremost, all our actions must be founded on a full understanding of the international dimensions of the Tamil Eelam freedom struggle.  There are two ongoing conflicts in the island of Sri Lanka. One is the conflict arising from Tamil resistance to permanent alien Sinhala rule within the confines of a single state. The other is the conflict arising from the balance of power between US (tri laterals), India and China in the Indian Ocean region. It is only on the basis of a full understanding of that international frame that 'Tamil circles' in the Diaspora can contribute in a meaningful way to secure justice and freedom for their brothers and sisters in Tamil Eelam. Here the words of Sri Aurobindo some hundred years ago may be helpful -

"..It is a vain dream to suppose that what other nations have won by struggle and battle, by suffering and tears of blood, we shall be allowed to accomplish easily, without terrible sacrifices, merely by spending the ink of the journalist and petition framer and the breath of the orator..."

In this day and age, we may also add that it is a vain dream to suppose that what other nations have won by struggle and battle, by suffering and tears of blood, we shall be allowed to accomplish easily, without terrible sacrifices merely by recourse to the computer, to emails and to the world wide web (- and that includes  tamilnation.org as well).

"...Movements for justice throughout the world and throughout history always begin with and are sustained by a moral statement, a value idea...Movements are sustained when there are enough people whose imagination is captivated by a vision that lifts them beyond wherever they may be and which encourages them to have a better idea of themselves and their history into what they might or could become. In other words an expansive view of history and a range of possibilities are critical to capture the imagination. ... Values are the essential principles of life without which life would be without meaning � things would fall apart, and the centre cannot hold. They are agents of social cohesion...in (Martin Luther King's) words 'people cannot devote themselves to a great cause without finding someone who becomes the personfication of the cause'... " N Barney Pityana in Liberation, Civil Rights & Democracy, The Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Lecture, 2004 S.J.V.Chelvanayagaam

 


Clinton's letter to Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy

�The international community has started planning for the post-conflict period�, said a letter written a week ago by US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to US Congress members who had shown concern to the humanitarian situation in the island of Sri Lanka. �I emphasized that the Sri Lanka Army should not fire into the areas where civilians are trapped in the conflict zone. I urged President Rajapaksa to devise a political solution to the ongoing conflict�, the letter further said. On the contrary, as civilian killings are only intensified by Colombo and as there are no signs of recognising the long-standing basic Tamil aspiration of self-determination, Tamil circles wonder what is meant by �post-conflict� and by �political solution'.

In a single letter itself, the US Secretary of State stressed thrice on 'post-conflict' and on 'political solution'.

�We continue to urge the Sri Lankan government to devise a post-conflict political solution that will demonstrate to Sri Lanka's Tamil population and the Tamil Diaspora that the government is serious about political inclusion. We have called on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to allow civilians freedom of movement and to discuss modalities for ending hostilities.�

�The international donor community in Sri Lanka has also agreed on certain guiding principles for post-conflict donor assistance. These principles include the Sri Lankan government's good faith effort towards political inclusion, credible power sharing and respect for human rights�, read Hillary Clinton�s letter, underlining her keenness in first herding the civilians into Colombo�s camps and then pressurizing Colombo for an �unspecified devolution� through donors.

Reflecting on the outlook of US Secretary of State, a Switzerland based Diaspora and Human Rights activist Shan Thavarajah told TamilNet that the implied message of the letter is that "the Tamils should forfeit their own struggle and place their trust on donor manoeuvres."

"The visions of a post-conflict scenario will sadly be a mirage, if what is planned is actually post-defeat shackles and the deliberations are only for making it look golden," commented Mr. Shan Thavarajah.

"While the US Secretary of State pins hopes on post-conflict scenario (opposed to the term �post-LTTE� of Colombo circles), the US Ambassador in Colombo sometimes back cautioned Colombo government on LTTE �sleeping cells� and the possibilities of the conflict continuing in a different way," he pointed out.

Appreciating Ms. Clinton's stance in recognising the need to meet the aspirations of the Tamil Diaspora as well in any political solution, Shan Thavarajah said, "a post-conflict scenario is the hope and prayer of every one."

"But whether it could become a reality by allowing brutal and coercive violence of Colombo and whether mere devolution and development would meet the fundamental issue of the conflict in the context of Sri Lanka, are questions raised in the Tamil circles," he said adding that "subjugation is a wrong strategy to achieve a lasting solution."
 

Text of Letter also in PDF

THE SECRETARY OF STATE
WASHINGTON

March 23. 2009

The Honorable Mary Jo Kilroy
House of Representatives
Washington,D.C.  

Dear Mary Jo

Thank you for your March 9 letter expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.

Your letter touched on many of the points that State Department officials have raised in meetings with Sri Lankan government officials in Washington, as well as in Colombo, Geneva, and New York.

We agree that a lasting peace in Sri Lanka will only be achieved through political inclusion of all of Sri Lanka's minority communities. We continue to urge the Sri Lankan government to devise a post-conflict political solution that will demonstrate to Sri Lanka's Tamil population and the Tamil Diaspora that the government is serious about political inclusion. We have called on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to allow civilians freedom of movement and to discuss modalities for ending hostilities.

 In the past week, State Department officials have engaged the Sri Lankan government on the humanitarian issue. On March 13, I called Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to express my deep concern over the deteriorating conditions and increasing loss of life in the Sri Lankan government-designated "safe zone." In my conversation with President Rajapaksa, I emphasized that the Sri Lankan Army should not fire into areas where civilians are trapped in the conflict zone. I urged President Rajapaksa to devise a political solution to the ongoing conflict, and pressed him to give international relief organizations full access to the conflict area and displaced persons camps, including screening centers. I condemned the actions of the Tamil Tigers who are reported to be holding civilians as human shields, and to have shot at civilians leaving Tiger areas of control.

Due in part to the State Department's efforts here in Washington as well as our Embassy's tremendous work in Colombo, access for the international organizations to the safe zone has improved. However, much more remains to be done, particularly in allowing medicine into the safe zone and stopping the shelling. On March 15 and 16 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was able to evacuate over 900 wounded people from the safe zone and will likely conduct additional evacuations in the coming days. In addition, the World Food Program completed a shipment of 500 metric tons of food on March 13 and another shipment of 500 metric tons on March 19. The majority of this food assistance has been donated by the U.S. government.

The State Department continues to press the Sri Lankan government to provide adequate conditions in internally displaced persons' camps. We have urged, and the government has agreed, to allow UN agencies and the ICRC greater access to the camps, including monitoring the treatment of displaced persons. We also continue to press the government to permit full ICRC and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees access to all screening centers. The international community has started planning for the post-conflict period and remains committed to returning displaced persons to their homes as quickly as possible. The international donor community in Sri Lanka has also agreed on certain guiding principles for post-conflict donor assistance. These principles include the Sri Lankan government's good faith effort towards political inclusion, credible powersharing, and respect for human rights.

Sincerely yours,

Hillary Clinton

 

 

Mail Us Copyright 1998/2009 All Rights Reserved Home