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.
