"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?
Suffering is a great teacher and 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'. Give them cake
when they ask for freedom from alien Sinhala rule. A
conquered people should be grateful for whatever they
can get - though there may not be not enough cake to go
round.The Tamil people are being taught the truth of
something which
Subhas Chandra
Bose
said many years ago - Freedom is not given, it is
taken..."
more
The Tokyo Co-Chairs (Norway, Japan, US and EU) today called on
the Tamil Tigers to lay down their arms surrender to the Sri Lankan
government if the civilians of Vanni are to be spared further death
and suffering. The Co-Chairs said they would (thereafter) ensure an
�inclusive dialogue� that will lead to lasting peace.
The full text of the Co-Chairs� statement follows:
The Tokyo Co-Chairs (Norway, Japan, US and EU) jointly
express their great concern about the plight of thousands of
internally displaced persons trapped by fighting in northern Sri
Lanka. The Co-Chairs call on the LTTE and the Government of Sri
Lanka not to fire out of or into the no-fire zone established by
the Government or in the vicinity of the PTK hospital (or any
other medical structure), where more than 500 patients are
receiving care and many hundreds more have sought refuge. They
also call on both sides to allow food and medical assistance to
reach those trapped by fighting, cooperate with the ICRC to
facilitate the evacuation of urgent medical cases, and ensure
the safety of aid and medical workers. The LTTE and the
Government of Sri Lanka must respect international humanitarian
law.
International efforts to persuade the LTTE to allow the
civilians freedom of movement have failed. There remains
probably only a short period of time before the LTTE loses
control of all areas in the North. The LTTE and the Government
of Sri Lanka should recognize that further loss of life - of
civilians and combatants - will serve no cause.
To avoid
further civilian casualties and human suffering, the Co-Chairs:
call on the LTTE to discuss with the Government of Sri
Lanka the modalities for ending hostilities, including the
laying down of arms, renunciation of violence, acceptance of
the Government of Sri Lanka's offer of amnesty; and
participating as a political party in a process to achieve a
just and lasting political solution; and
call on the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to
declare a temporary no-fire period to allow for evacuation
of sick and wounded, and provision of aid to civilians.
The Co-Chairs will work with the Government of Sri Lanka,
India, the United Nations and others to ensure:
the
internally displaced people from the north are transferred
to temporary camps where UN agencies, the ICRC, and
humanitarian organizations will have full access and the
IDPs will be treated according to international standards
and resettled in their original homes as soon as possible;
and
an inclusive dialogue to agree on a political
settlement so that lasting peace and reconciliation can be
achieved.
For whom the Co-chairs strive,� asks Tamil
Parliamentarian
S. Gajendran [TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 21:33 GMT]
The statement of the Co-chairs released
Monday is �regrettably based on wrong premises
and aims at disastrous ends,� Jaffna district
parliamentarian S. Gajendran told TamilNet
Monday. �It sounds as though the Co-directors of
the current war are at a last bid attempt to
save Sri Lanka, one of the worst genocidal
states of our times, before it collapses at its
own burden of militarism and savagery. Their
approach would have been different if they
really care for the lives and dignity of
civilians and have any respect for the
democratic right of the national aspirations of
Eezham Tamils,� he told TamilNet while issuing a
statement responding to Co-chairs' stand.
... the Co-chairs calling for the
submission of the victims, relinquishment of
their safeguards and asking them to seek amnesty
at the hands of their butchers, amounts to
nothing but a mockery of human civilization.
The reactionary world authorities set a wrong
inspiration to human progress and have crossed
the lines of democratic decency.
First of all, the Co-chair countries base their
initiative on vicious premises that LTTE could
not be persuaded in allowing the movement of
civilians. They know very well that the
particular population of civilians demonstrated
their will to stay with the LTTE, fearing worse
outside. Only an unconditional ceasefire can
save the situation.
Secondly, the Co-chairs are wrong in their
judgment that by LTTE losing control of
territory, either the war is over or the Tamils
have abandoned their national liberation
struggle.
Thirdly, by calling LTTE to surrender arms and
seek amnesty with the genocidal Colombo, the
Co-chairs have only proved themselves as the
mouthpieces of Rajapaksa. They are not strangers
to the commitment of the LTTE and the support it
enjoys among the people of Eezham inside the
island and in the diaspora for the Tamil
national cause. This unrealistic demand only
makes one suspect the real intentions of the
present initiative of the Co-chairs.
Fourthly, the Co-chairs as usual are evasive at
the fundamental issue: the nature of the
political settlement, once again knowing very
well that nothing can come out of the state
system of Sri Lanka. Contrary to what they all
were blaring out in the past, they never cared
for the political option in parallel. They only
abetted the military option.
In short, the Co-chairs are calling for the
subjugation of Tamils.
They promise to work for the guarantee of
existence and a camp-life to Tamils, but they
themselves must be aware of their track record
that how good they were in persuading the
Colombo government to observe human rights in
the past.
The hard truth about the island of Sri Lanka,
knowingly ignored by the Co-chairs is that,
�Tamils can find safety and dignity only under
Tamil hands decided by them�.
The most regrettable aspect of the Co-chair show
is the role of Norway, a country that ventured
for the noble and neutral task of facilitation,
joining the call aiming for the protection of
genocidal Colombo and sabotage of the
aspirations of the victimized Tamils.
Norway has always been claiming that their
involvement in the island of Sri Lanka is on the
basis of the request of both the parties of the
conflict. Norway signing the present Co-chair
statement calling for the surrender of one of
the parties casts serious doubts on its
credibility as a trustworthy international peace
facilitator. Contrarily, it only paints a
picture of it as a handmaid of certain powers.
Co-Chairs tell Tigers to
disarm -
V.Thangavelu, Toronto, Canada
3 February
2009
Dear
Ambassador Robert O Blake
I
really want to congratulate you for the audacious
demand by the
US
- one of the Co-chairs - to the LTTE to disarm.
The Co-chairs like Rip Wan Winkle went to sleep for
the last 3 years when thousands of Thamils
were slaughtered by the armed forces of a racist
government. The Co-chairs remained mum when the Sri
Lankan government (GoSL) tore up the CFA which was
brokered by it. US in particular adopted a policy
of no see no hear the cries of Thamils. After having
helped militarily and financially a racist
government under the cloak of fighting terrorism you
are now asking the Thamil side to disarm. This shows
the double standards and double speaks of the
US
government right from the beginning. US deliberately
sidelined the LTTE at the meeting of the Co-chairs
held in
Washington to
consider aid to
Sri Lanka.
It
looks though the change of guard at the White House
has not percolated to the State Department
bureaucrats and the diplomats abroad.
It
may be useful to remind the Ambassador
what president Barack Obama and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said during the presidential
campaign.
Characterizing the conflict in Sri Lanka as a
"vicious civil war,"
Senator Barack Obama, a leading Democratic contender
in America's forth coming 2009 Presidential
Elections, said during an interview that, "the
problem of the 21st century is the problem of the
other.
He described this phenomenon as the
inability of people to accommodate others "who are
not like us," and mentioned
Sri Lanka
as an example, pointing out that war rages even when
"everybody there looks exactly the same."
Characterization of conflicts in the 21st
century this way, Obama said is an extension to the
American Civil Rights era activist W.E. Dubois'
quote "The problem of the 20th century is the
problem of the color line."
Obama also criticized the Bush administration's
"war on terror" as the cause for suppressing
civil liberties, saying: "Part of my job as next
president is to break the fever of fear that has
been exploited by this administration. We are told
to be afraid of terrorists, immigrants, and each
other. This becomes the means, by which our civil
liberties are subverted, [and] our values are
distorted," implying policy changes are in order.Front
which pontificates to the rest of the world about
the need to resolve conflicts through negotiations
and the virtue of unity has suffered a debilitating
split.
Michael
Tomasky of Guardian.co.uk (October 23, 2008) asked
Hillary Clinton about
Iraq,
the legacy of the Cold War, Mukasey and ceding
executive powers. He asked
�Do you
think that the terrorists hate us for our
freedoms, or do you think they have specific
geopolitical objectives? And Hillary replied as
follows:Well, I believe that terrorism is a tool
that has been utilized throughout history to
achieve certain objectives. Some have been
ideological, others territorial. There are
personality-driven terroristic objectives. The
bottom line is you can't lump all terrorists
together. And I think we've got to do a much
better job of clarifying what are the
motivations, the raisons d'�tre of terrorists.
I mean, what the Thamils Tigers are fighting for
in
Sri Lanka,
or the Basque separatists in
Spain,
or the insurgents in al-Anbar province may only
be connected by tactics.
They may not share all that much in terms of
what is the philosophical or ideological
underpinning. And I think one of our mistakes
has been painting with such a broad brush, which
has not been particularly helpful in
understanding what it is we were up against when
it comes to those who pursue terrorism for
whichever ends they're seeking. "
To
quote late Dharmaratnam Sivaram � a well known
journalist -
"America
may be the mightiest nation on the earth today
but that cannot detract an iota from
our right to live with honour, dignity and
freedom
in the
land of our fore bears. It cannot for
a moment make us give up an inch of our lands to
help
India
or the US Bloc stabilise the Sri Lankan state
for the sole purpose of furthering their
strategic and economic interests..."
Please take it from me that Thamils will not
surrender or will be cow down by threats. We Thamils
are made of sterner stuff. We have a history of
2,500 years and speak a language which remains as
one of the oldest living language in the world.
Foreign
Relations Committee(FRC) of the Tamil
National Alliance(TNA), responding to
the controversial statement by the Tokyo
Co-chairs, which called on the Tamil
Tigers to lay down their arms and
surrender to the Sri Lankan government,
said it has been the firm and consistent
position of the Tamil people that the
island of Sri Lanka is inhabited by the
Tamil nation and the Sinhala nation. "It
is on the basis of recognising this
reality and by the respective authentic
representatives of these two nations,
namely the LTTE and the Sri Lanka State,
engaging in negotiations on how these
two nations shall associate with each
other for the future security and mutual
benefit of both nations, can a just and
sustainable solution to the Tamil
National Question be found."
full text
of the statement
4 February 2009
PRESS STATEMENT
The Tamil
National Alliance (TNA) has taken note
of the joint statement issued by Norway,
Japan, the US and the EU dated the 3rd
of February 2009. The TNA appreciates
the concerns the said statement has
expressed regarding the suffering
undergoing by the Tamil people. In this
regard the TNA wishes to state the
following:-
It has been the consistent
position of the Tamil people in the
island of Sri Lanka that the
conflict between the Tamil nation
and the Sinhala nation is
fundamentally political in nature
and needs a political solution.
It has been the firm and
consistent position of the Tamil
people that the island of Sri Lanka
is inhabited by the Tamil nation and
the Sinhala nation. It is on the
basis of recognising this reality
and by the respective authentic
representatives of these two
nations, namely the LTTE and the Sri
Lanka State, engaging in
negotiations on
how these two nations shall
associate with each other for
the future security and mutual
benefit of both nations, can a just
and sustainable solution to the
Tamil National Question be found.
The Sri Lanka State today whilst
proclaiming itself to be one that
projects an inclusive and plural
�Sri Lankan� civic identity, is
in fact a State that is entrenched
in practicing
Sinhala Buddhist ethno nationalism.
This ideology insists that the
entire island of Sri Lanka belongs
only to the Sinhala people. It is
for these reasons that all peaceful
efforts by the Tamil people to
negotiate political arrangements to
live with the Sinhalese as equals,
have consistently failed.
It is this Sinhala Buddhist
ethno nationalism that is unwilling
to recognise the existence of an
equal Tamil nation that compels the
Sri Lankan State to pursue a
military solution with genocidal
intent. The intent behind the Sri
Lanka State waging war against the
Tamil people is to dismantle the
realities of the existence of the
Tamil nation
through its genocide.
It is in this context that the TNA
expresses its disappointment regarding
the joint statement of Norway, Japan,
the US and the EU. These countries
whilst calling on both parties to
respect international humanitarian law
(IHL) know full well that it is the Sri
Lanka State that is deliberately
targeting Tamil civilians and thereby is
in gross violation of such laws. Even
the Defence Secretary of the Sri Lanka
State in a recent interview has declared
that �No hospital should operate outside
the Safety Zone...everything beyond the
safety is a legitimate target". This
policy that is being pursued by the Sri
Lanka State is a crime against humanity.
The
pursuit of this policy by the Sri Lanka
State in the space of this week alone
has resulted in hundreds of Tamil
civilian killings and thousands being
gravely wounded. This humanitarian
tragedy is exacerbated by the Sri Lanka
State imposing a total embargo on
humanitarian assistance reaching the
people.
It is
unfortunate that the international
community, particularly India and the
signatories to the statement in
question, whilst being fully aware of
these facts, instead of collectively
using their immense leverage on the Sri
Lanka State to compel it to adhere to
IHL, are in fact providing military and
economic support to the Sri Lanka State.
It should
be noted that it is the need to resist
the physical/military subjugation of the
Tamil people by the Sri Lanka State that
led to the advent of Tamil armed
resistance. It is only the LTTE that is
resisting the aforementioned genocidal
designs of the Sri Lanka State.
