Tsunami Disaster & Tamil Eelam

 Sampavi Parimalanathan, an Australian Tamil
writes on her return from North-East Sri Lanka
Death, Destruction & Discrimination
30 January 2005

The writer is a Student Volunteer from one of the Universities in Sydney,
who originally went to Sri Lanka to help in the hospitals

"..I have just returned from my stay in tsunami affected Northeast Sri Lanka, having been there from the day the tsunami hit.The images of the people and their suffering are still clear in my mind. Their cries for help, their wails, their mourning still ring loudly in my ear. Words cannot describe the extent of the damage the people I have seen have experienced. I have lost count of the number of orphans I have come across, the number of mothers who have watched as their infants were snatched from their fingers by the waters, and the number of husbands – the bread winners – with no family to feed...I write this from experience. I was there amidst the atrocity. I saw the discrimination. I witnessed the injustice..."

[see also Sampavi Parimalanathan, an Australian Tamil writes from North-East Sri Lanka, 31 December 2004]

I have just returned from my stay in tsunami affected Northeast Sri Lanka, having been there from the day the tsunami hit.

The images of the people and their suffering are still clear in my mind. Their cries for help, their wails, their mourning still ring loudly in my ear. Words cannot describe the extent of the damage the people I have seen have experienced. I have lost count of the number of orphans I have come across, the number of mothers who have watched as their infants were snatched from their fingers by the waters, and the number of husbands – the bread winners – with no family to feed.

Yet, amongst all this atrocity, I am amazed at the unity that I see in these people. On one occasion, my friend had accidentally distributed an extra mat to a classroom filled with refugees. Each room housed about 14 families, and only one mat was rationed per room. Yet, even amongst all the discomfort, the families in that particular classroom were selfless enough to return the extra mat, saying, “Brother, we’ve already received our share”.

Everywhere I go, I continue to see the tremendous work done by TRO (Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation). I am amazed at their efficiency, and their ability to handle such a large scale crisis. Every refugee I have spoken to only has praise for the work done by them. Running on a few hours sleep each day, I see them manage family after family, as they arrive by the bus load to the refugee camps.

The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) too amaze me with their dedication to the Tamil people. Although many of them have sustained losses of their own family members, they have had the courage and determination to put their feelings aside in order to serve “their people”. Three days after the tsunami, gloves were scarce. Yet there was still a need for the removal of the hundreds of bodies being found amongst the wreckage. The LTTE’s commitment to the people, the land, and the cause was confirmed, in my eyes, when I witnessed them removing decayed bodies with their bare hands. It would be an understatement to say they were selfless.

Yet, amongst all this, I continue to see discrimination from the Sri Lankan government. Media is still discouraged from entering the Northeast, and hence the international community is yet not informed enough of the extent of the situation there. Day by day, barriers are put up, hindering aid from reaching Tamil areas. Anti-Tamil acts have been prevalent since Sri Lanka received independence in 1948, yet, the most brutal of all forms of discrimination would have to be the ones imposed on the innocent Tamils affected by the tsunami.

The latest of these was the detainment of a shipment of medical supplies bound for Northeast Sri Lanka. While in Sri Lanka, I was informed of the Sri Lankan Army terrorising Tamil refugee camps, ordering for all food and medical supplies to be handed over. I am yet unsure of how much foreign aid is actually reaching the Northeast province. However, the most disturbing of all, would have had to be the raping of orphaned displaced girls by members of the Sri Lankan Army.

It is ironic, that considered 'terrorists' by many nations, the LTTE, are the ones serving the people, and the Sri Lankan Army are the ones terrorising its citizens.

If Kofi Annan, a man who represents neutrality and basic human rights, is himself not allowed to visit the victims of the tsunami, solely because they are Tamil and inhabit the Northeast province, one needs to reassess the reasons why the LTTE were forced to pick up arms for independence.

For years, the Sri Lankan government has victimised Tamils. They have been discriminated against in educational and employment, they have been targets of government backed up racial violence, such as the 1983 riots which killed thousands of Tamils, and they are now being deprived of humanitarian relief.

The Sri Lankan government’s response to the Tamil victims is a perfect example of why the Tamil people need their own country. Their welfare is clearly not of any concern to the Sri Lankan government, and even in such a state of absolute loss, the Sri Lankan government is merciless enough to discriminate against one, simply because he or she is Tamil.

I write this from experience. I was there amidst the atrocity. I saw the discrimination. I witnessed the injustice.

A 13 year old boy, who had lost every member of his family, put the situation in Northeast Sri Lanka, in a nut shell: “If, even at such a time of massive human loss, the Sri Lankan government can discriminate against Tamils, then, we Tamils are justified in fighting for a separate land”.