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 

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Home > Tamil Eelam Struggle for FreedomInternational Frame & the Struggle for Tamil Eelam > United Kingdom > British Foreign Secretary is in Listening Mode

united kingdom
& the Struggle for Tamil Eelam

British Foreign Secretary is in Listening Mode

18 April 2009

 Comment by tamilnation.org  We said it three months ago on 20 January 2009  - "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 Tamil people are being taught that political power flows through the barrel of the gun.  Whilst the goal of securing peace through justice is loudly proclaimed by the international actors, real politick leads them to deny the justice of the Tamil Eelam struggle for freedom from alien Sinhala rule -  justice which presumably led the US State of Massachusetts to urge the US President in 1981  'to support the struggle for freedom by the Tamil nation for the restoration and reconstitution  the separate sovereign state of Tamil Eelam and to recognize publicly the right of self determination by the Tamil people of Tamil Eelam.'

Today, the harsh reality is that on the one hand international actors are concerned to use the opportunity of the conflict in the island to advance each of their own strategic interests - and on the other hand, Sri Lanka seeks to use the political space created by the geo strategic triangle of US-India-China in the Indian Ocean region, to buy the support of all three  for the continued rule of the people of Tamil Eelam by a permanent Sinhala majority within the confines of  one state. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was disarmingly frank in the Indian Parliament in October 2008. He said �We have a very comprehensive relationship with Sri Lanka. In our anxiety to protect the (Tamil) civilians, we should not forget the strategic importance of this island to India's interests,... especially in view of attempts by countries like Pakistan and China to gain a strategic foothold in the island nation." ...

And so 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 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... 'Thongura' power is no power. It builds weakness, stunts independent growth and replaces cooperation with fear. And those who may be seduced by 'thongura power'  will  find  the words of Sri Aurobindo helpful -

"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."

In Tamil Eelam today, though the charge is genocide,  but the struggle continues for freedom."


[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 April 2009] �We have heard their [Tamil] voice and will keep listening�, said British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, in a statement on Saturday. Saying that the British government is for �immediate ceasefire� and for civilians to be �allowed to leave�, and the UN is progressing in making GoSL agreeing to send �support to civilians� and LTTE agreeing to �allow civilians to leave�, the Foreign Secretary didn�t fail to mention that this is a stance in unison of Britain, France, US and many other governments. Commenting on his statement, British diaspora circles told TamilNet that the statement didn�t touch the crucial issue of �civilians going where�.

Being heard is perhaps the only progress achieved hitherto, but the mindset impairs listening leading to right action, the diaspora circles said.

Meanwhile, as starvation deaths knock the doors of the civilians of Vanni, the British government has reportedly put on hold a mercy mission by the Tamil diaspora shipping food and medicine.

Full text of the statement by the British Foreign Secretary follows:

PRESS RELEASE: SATURDAY 18 APRIL 2009

FOREIGN SECRETARY STATEMENT ON SRI LANKA

I remain gravely concerned at the continuing conflict in northern Sri Lanka that threatens many thousands of civilian lives. The British Government maintains its calls for an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka and for civilians to be allowed to leave the conflict area. We have been joined by many other Governments, including France and the United States, in making similar calls.

The United Nations is engaged. The UN are making progress with the Government of Sri Lanka towards an agreement to get support to civilians in the conflict zone and on efforts to get agreement from the LTTE to allow civilians to leave. We will ask the UN Secretary-General's Representative, Mr Nambiar, to report immediately to the UN Security Council, after his visit. And the Prime Minister's Special Representative, Des Browne MP, is travelling to New York to consult urgently with the UN.

Protests and demonstrations around the world have highlighted the tragic loss of life of innocent civilians in Sri Lanka. Further loss of life will only compound that tragedy. The Tamil community are a community we value and they make an important contribution to British society. They have seen friends and relatives perish, and their loved ones are still at grave risk from the fighting. We have heard their voice and will keep listening. We are committed to do all we can to bring this terrible conflict to an end.

 

 

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