An Appeal for Compassion & Reconciliation
50 years of alien Sinhala rule of Tamil Eelam
The United Kingdom Federation of Tamil Associations presents this Appeal
and seeks your compassionate and influential intervention to secure a just
resolution of the armed conflict in the island of Sri Lanka - a conflict
which has taken a heavy toll in human lives and human suffering during the
past 15 years and more.
The 4th of February 1998 marks the 50th anniversary of Sri Lanka�s
independence from British rule. It also marks the 50th anniversary of alien
Sinhala rule of the Tamil people in the island.
Fifty years ago, on 4 February 1948, Great Britain left the island, then
known as Ceylon. Since that date the Sinhala people have ruled the Tamil
people who inhabit the north and east of the island, (known as Tamil Eelam)
and have sought to legitimise that rule as the rule of the majority in a
democracy.
But, if democracy means rule of the people, by the people and for the
people, it also means that
no one people may rule another. The Tamil people and the Sinhala people
in the island of Sri Lanka, speak different languages, trace their history
to different origins, by and large profess different religions and occupy
separate geographical areas. They were brought within the confines of one
state for the first time in 1833 by the British rulers.
In 1948, the Sinhala people imposed their own
Sinhala Lion Flag as the flag of the newly independent state. In 1956
the Sinhala people, made
Sinhala the
official language of government and in 1972, the Sinhala people changed
the name of the state to the old Sinhala name of Sri Lanka.
Successive Sinhala dominated governments, through a series of legislative
and administrative acts, ranging from disenfranchisement, and
standardisation of University admissions, to discriminatory language and
employment policies, and state sponsored colonisation of the homeland of the
Tamil people, have sought to consolidate their rule of the Tamil people.
These legislative and administrative acts were reinforced from time to time
with physical attacks on the Tamil people, in 1956, in 1958, in 1961 and
again in 1977 and 1983, with intent to terrorise and intimidate them into
submission. It was an oppression which eventually led to the rise of the
lawful armed resistance of the Tamil people led today by the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The gross,
consistent, and continuing violations of the rights of the Tamil people,
by Sri Lanka during the past fifty years, is a chilling chronology of
discrimination, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, extra judicial
killings and massacres, indiscriminate aerial bombardment and artillery
shelling, wanton rape and genocide. Sri Lanka�s state terrorism has been
well documented by several human rights organisations and independent
observers as well as by eye witnesses. The record speaks for itself. (please
see annexure)
Today, the Sri Lanka government has built up a massive 100,000 member armed
force constituted almost exclusively of Sinhalese, and under Sinhala command
and has allocated more than 20% of Sri Lanka's gross national product to its
armed forces so that the
genocidal attack on the Tamil people may continue. The victory ceremony
held on 6 December 1995 in Colombo after the �capture� of Jaffna is
illustrative of the political reality of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism :
"... In a function room in the Presidential Secretariat, (broadcast
live on Sri Lanka television), Sri Lanka's leader (President Chandrika
Kumaratunga) stood gravely before a line of tough-looking military
officers. Deputy Defence Minister Anurudha Ratwatte, fresh from hoisting
the flag in Jaffna town, presented her with a scroll rolled up inside a
red velvet container. The scroll was dated "full moon day of the month
of Uduwap in the year 2939 in the Buddhist Era."
It read, "Your Excellency's rule and authority has been firmly
re-established" in the historic city. The territory was not referred to
as Jaffna, its official name, but "Yapa Patuna" the term used by
conquerors in medieval times.
"To outsiders, the ritual might have seemed arcane and meaningless, but
to Sinhalese, who make up three-quarters of Sri Lanka's 18 million
population, it was freighted with implications.. Kumaratunga's use of
Sinhalese-Buddhist iconography carried a message: she had conquered
Tamil lands and defeated her enemies, in much the same manner as
Sinhalese kings of centuries gone by... " (Time Magazine, 18 December
1995)
It was the same Sinhalese-Buddhist iconography that President Kumaratunga
attempted to use by seeking to commemorate 50 years of independence from
British rule with celebrations in Kandy, the ancient capital of the Sinhala
Kingdom and at the Dalada Maligawa, the Buddhist shrine used by Sinhala
kings of yore to address their subjects.
At the same time, Sri Lanka has sought to stigmatise the Tamil struggle for
freedom, led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as �terrorism�, in a
thinly veiled effort to strike at that which Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism
recognises only too well as the fundamental strength of the Tamil struggle
for freedom - its moral legitimacy.
The recent decision of the Sri Lanka government to �ban� the LTTE is a
matter for regret (though perhaps, not a matter for surprise) because it
makes manifest Sri Lanka�s determination to close all doors for talks and
abort any move towards a political resolution of the ongoing armed conflict.
The ban comes in the wake of Sri Lanka�s persistent refusal to accept
offers of international mediation during the past several years. One such
offer was that made by the British Minister responsible for relations with
Sri Lanka, Mr.Liam Fox in November 1996 to "play a facilitating role in
talks between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
if both sides request it".
Again, in a letter dated 12 August 1997, after the new Labour Government
was formed, the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office reiterated its belief that
"a lasting solution to this tragic conflict in Sri Lanka can only be
achieved through a political settlement, which takes the views of all
parties concerned into account." The Foreign & Commonwealth Office added:
" The UK was involved in helping the government and the opposition to
come to an agreement on a bipartisan approach to a settlement of the
ethnic conflict, which they concluded on 3 April. We stand ready to
provide further help if asked, but in the first instance a solution has
to be found by those immediately concerned. We hope that both the Sri
Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will
work actively to reach a peaceful settlement."
However, today�s harsh political reality is made manifest by the words of
Sinhala Opposition leader, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe:
"...the government said (earlier) that they would not ban the LTTE
since it would close the doors for talks. But with this decision (i.e.
the ban) the government is left only with the military option."
(Reuters Report, 26 January 1998)
Sri Lanka seeks to use the ban to secure the support of other states in the
international community to follow suit, so that Sinhala Sri Lanka may
continue its genocidal attack on the Tamil people with impunity, and crush
Tamil resistance to alien Sinhala rule. However, the words of an Indian
nationalist, some ninety years ago in 1907, serve to underline the bedrock
on which freedom struggles are built:
"It is the common habit of established governments and especially those
which are themselves oppressors, to brand all violent methods in subject
peoples and communities as criminal and wicked. ..But no nation yet has
listened to the cant of the oppressor when itself put to the test, and
the general conscience of humanity approves the refusal..."
We appeal to the British nation to reject the cant of the Sinhala
oppressor, intent on legitimising alien Sinhala rule of the Tamil people. We
appeal to you to extend your open and public support for the views expressed
by
53 non governmental organisations at the UN Commission on Human Rights in
April 1997, and call
1. for the withdrawal of Sri Lanka�s occupying forces from the Tamil
homeland; and
2. for the recognition of the right of the Tamil people to choose their
own political and national status.
We urge that the way forward for all states concerned with securing a
stable world order is to recognise that, whatever the short term results, in
the longer term, stability will not come by encouraging the rule of one
people by another.
Stability will not come by existing states ganging up together to suppress
non state nations. Stability will not come from a new version of the
'melting pot' theory. Peoples speaking different languages, tracing their
roots to different origins, and occupying distinct geographic areas, do not
easily 'melt' and in any event, a 'third world' economy will not provide a
large enough 'pot' for that 'melting' to take place.
Nations and states cannot be
made to order. Stability lies in securing structures where the different
peoples of the world may voluntarily associate with each other in equality
and in freedom. The European Union (established albeit, after the horrors of
two World Wars) is a pointer to that future.
Peace and stability will not come to the island of Sri Lanka, by supporting
alien Sri Lankan rule of the people of Tamil Eelam. It is legitimisation and
recognition that will pave the way for negotiation and resolution of the
armed conflict in the island.
Annexure
50 years of alien Sinhala rule of
Tamil Eelam
In 1958....
"Among the hundreds of acts of arson, rape, pillage, murder
and plain barbarity some incidents may be recorded as examples of the kind
of thuggery at work. In the Colombo area the number of atrocities swiftly
piled up. .. The (Sinhala) thugs ran amok burning houses and shops,
beating-up pedestrians, holding-up vehicles and terrorizing the entire city
and the suburbs... a pregnant (Tamil) woman and her husband were set upon.
They clubbed him and left him an the pavement, then they kicked, the woman
repeatedly as she hurried along at a grotesque sprint, carrying her swollen
belly."
(Tarzie Vittachi: Emergency 1958 - The Story of the Ceylon Race Riots, Andre
Deutsch, London 1958)
In 1977...
"A tragedy is taking place in Sri Lanka: the political
conflict following upon the recent elections, is turning into a racial
massacre.. At a time when the West is wake to the evils of racialism, the
racial persecution of the Tamils and denial of their human rights should not
pass without protest. ... these cultivated people were put at the mercy of
their neighbours less than thirty years ago by the British Government. They
need our attention and support." (Sir John Foster, David Astor, Louis
Blom-Cooper, Dingle Foot, Robert Birley, James Fawcett, Michael Scott,
London Times 20 September 1977)
In 1983..
"Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide, acts of murder committed with intent to destroy... a
national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such are considered as acts
of genocide.The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence
of the Sinhala rioters on the Tamils (in July/August 1983) amounted to acts
of genocide."(The International Commission of Jurists Review, December
1983
In 1995...
"During the past twelve years, the UN Commission on Human
Rights and the Sub Commission have heard hundreds of statements expressing
grave concern at the situation prevailing in the island of Sri Lanka. The
record shows that it was the oppressive actions of successive Sri Lanka
governments from as early as 1956 and in 1958, and again in 1961 and again
with increasing frequency from 1972 to 1977 and culminating in the genocidal
attacks of 1983 that resulted in the rise of the lawful armed resistance of
the Tamil people." (21 non governmental organisations at the UN
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities
on 9 August 1995)
In 1997..
"... the violations of humanitarian law and human rights in
the Sri Lanka-Tamil Eelam war are worse than ever before. We note in
particular that
1. the civilian Tamil population continues to be a target of
military operations, including intensive aerial bombardment by the Sri
Lankan forces, disappearances, extra judicial killings, rape, torture,
arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention in the context of war continue:
2. the North-East of the island is still under an embargo of
essential food and medicine in violation of humanitarian law;
3. there are more than 825,000 displaced Tamil civilians
living under appalling conditions which include acute shortages of water,
food and medicine....
(Joint Statement by 53 Non Governmental Organisations at
the UN Commission on Human Rights, March 1997 - Africa Bureau of
Educational Science, African Association for Health and Human Rights
Promoters, African Association of Education Development, American
Association of Jurists, Arab Lawyers Union, Asean Cultural Forum on
Development, Centre-Europe Tiers Monde, Centro de Estudion Eropees, Defence
for Children International, Federation International des Droits de l'Homme,
General Arab Women Federation, Indian Law Research Centre, Indigenous World
Association, International Association Against Torture, International
Association for Religious Freedom, International Association for the Defence
of Religious Liberty, International Association of Education for World
Peace, International Commission of Jurists, International Educational
Development, International Federation of Journalists, International
Federation of Free Journalists, International Federation of Women Lawyers,
International Human Rights Association of American Minorities, International
Human Rights Law Group, International Indian Treaty Council, International
League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, International Organisation
for Indigenous Research and Development, International Peace Bureau,
International Work Group of Indigenous Affairs, Latin American Federation of
Association of Disappeared Detainees, Liberation, Lutheran World Federation,
Movement against Racism and Friendship among People, Movimento Cubano por la
paz y la Soberaniade los pueblos,North-South XXI, Pax Christi International,
Pax Romana, Penal Reform International, PEN International, Permanent
Assembly for Human Rights, Regional Council on Human Rights in Asia,Robert
F.Kennedy Memorial Centre of Human Rights, Saami Council, Survival
International, Transnational Radical Party, War Resisters International,
Womens International Democratic Federation, World Association Against
Torture, World Association for School as Instrument for Peace, World Council
of Churches, World Federation of Democratic Youth, World Society for
Victimology, and Worldview International.)
