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Velupillai
Prabhakaran
Maha Veerar Naal Address
மாவீரர் நாள் -
National Heroes Day
National Heroes Day - November 27, 1998
"...What are we struggling for? We aspire to
live peacefully with freedom and dignity, without the
interference of anyone, in our own soil; in our Motherland where
we are born and bred; in our own historical homeland which
belongs to us.
We too, are human beings. We constitute ourselves as a human
society possessing the basic rights of human beings. We are a
national formation with a distinct language, culture and
history. We, therefore, demand that we should be recognised as a
community of people, as a social formation with distinct
characteristics. We have the right to determine our political
status. On the basis of that right, we aspire to choose freely a
political model suited to us to govern ourselves...."
English Translation
of Address
My
beloved
people of Tamil Eelam,
 "Today
is Maha Veerar Naal.
It is the day on which we honour and venerate in the temple of our
hearts, our national heroes who have given their lives for the freedom of their
Tamil motherland....
While the whole world has radically transformed and moving on the path of
peace, progress and harmony and preparing itself to embrace the new millennium
Sri Lanka is still caught up in a turbulent conflict. The Tamil national
question continues to torment the Island as a burning issue fuelled by war and
violence. Why is it that the Tamil ethnic conflict, with a prolonged history of
more than half-a-century, continues to be an insurmountable problem while the
world is undergoing change, resolving tensions and conflicts?
The Tamil people are demanding none other than their inalienable rights.
Therefore, political justice is on their side. What are we demanding? What are
we struggling for?
We aspire to live peacefully with freedom and dignity, without the
interference of anyone, in our own soil; in our Motherland where we are born and
bred; in our own historical homeland which belongs to us. We too, are human
beings. We constitute ourselves as a human society possessing the basic rights
of human beings. We are a national formation with a distinct language, culture
and history. We, therefore, demand that we should be recognised as a community
of people, as a social formation with distinct characteristics. We have the
right to determine our political status. On the basis of that right, we aspire
to choose freely a political model suited to us to govern ourselves.
This is what our people are demanding and fighting for. The Sinhala nation
has been denying this just and civilised demand. It is precisely for this reason
that the Sinhala state has been oppressing and suppressing our people.
Successive Sri Lanka Governments have neither integrated nor assimilated our
people within the unitary system nor allowed our people the right to secede.
Instead, they have always attempted to repress and subjugate our people. It is
for this reason we have been compelled to fight a political struggle for the
last fifty years. Though the forms of our struggle have changed in accordance
with the historical compulsions, we continue to fight for political rights, for
our right to live in freedom. Now the Tamil struggle has expanded and escalated
into a war between two nations.
It is none other than the anti-Tamil attitude of Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism
that has turned Sri Lanka into a blazing cauldron of violence. The Tamil
national question arose as historical product of this racist oppression.
The world has changed with the passage of time. Similarly the politics of the
world also has changed. But the politics of the Sinhala nation has not changed.
It is unfortunate that the Sinhala politicians have not realised this fact.
Fantasies that arose from ancient mythology have grown and developed into
hegemonic ideas which exert tremendous impact on the Sinhala political and
intellectual world.
As a consequence the Sinhala nation lacks the ability to comprehend
objectively the very basis as well as the rationale behind the Tamil issue and
to deal with the problem humanly. Over the years our people have been shedding
tears of blood under the oppressive grip of Sinhala chauvinism. We are deeply
saddened by the fact that their long standing suffering has not yet touched the
conscience of the world community. Apart from this apathetic attitude shown by
the international community towards the problems of our people, the massive
financial and military assistance provided to Sri Lanka by foreign countries has
also exacerbated their tragic plight. The assistance provided by foreign
countries has also encouraged the rigid, irreconcilable and bellicose attitude
of the Sinhala chauvinists.
The world community has always fought for the cause of the oppressed and it
has always raised its voice of protest or intervened whenever there have been
incidents of human rights violations, crimes against humanity or repression of
minority nations in any part of the world. But we are dismayed to note that the
international community is observing a muted silence over the colossal tragedy
faced by the Eelam Tamils. Encouraged by the economic aid, military assistance,
political, moral and diplomatic backing gained from international countries,
Sinhala chauvinists have been adopting a genocidal policy against the Tamils
with single-minded ruthlessness and arrogance.
We are aware of the fact that the international community is misguided by the
sophisticated misinformation campaign carried out by Sri Lanka. It is
unfortunate that the world community has uncritically assimilated the
preposterous theories advanced by the Sri Lankan state (i.e. war for peace) to
legitimise its military campaign against the Tamils.
Nevertheless, facts about the plight of the Tamils have also found their way
to the international arena. Atrocities and injustices committed against the
Tamil people for the last several decades have been well documented and
submitted to international forums. International human rights organisations have
expressed serious concern that the state oppression against the Tamil has
reached genocidal proportions.
It is well known internationally that more than sixty thousand innocent Tamil
civilians have been brutally done to death over the years by the terror and
violence unleashed by the racist state in the Tamil homeland. Further more, more
than eight hundred thousand Tamils, who fled the country and sought refuge all
over the world, bear testimony as living witness to the barbaric nature of the
Sinhala state oppression. The world is aware of all these facts. Yet, we are
surprised and deeply saddened to note that this monumental human tragedy has not
yet aroused the concern of world community.
We are well aware that in the present world order every country pursues its
own national and commercial interests. Yet, the civilised world has always given
primacy to the universal values of human rights and freedoms. What dismays us is
that the countries which lead the civilised world are reluctant to raise their
voices against the uncivilized forms of oppression unleashed against the Tamils.
Nevertheless, we have not lost hope.
One day the truths that are buried deeply in the mass graves of Tamil Eelam
will emerge from slumber and reveal the true face of Sinhala chauvinism.
Only then the tragic story of our people will touch the heart of the world.
Until such time, Eelam Tamils living all over the world should continue
their campaign relentlessly about the tragic existential conditions of our
people in the Tamil homeland with the objective of arousing the conscience
of humanity.
So far, not a single voice of rationality is heard from the Sinhala nation
against the war. None so far has made a plea to put an end to the war and
resolve the problem by peaceful means. From politicians to the monks, from
intellectuals to the journalists, every one calls for the intensification of the
war. The Sinhala nation wants to continue the war to subjugate the Tamil nation.
Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country, a nation that follows the teachings of the
Compassionate One who preached the noble ideals of love, truth and
enlightenment. We are surprised as to how the evil of racism and militarism has
raised its ugly head in a Buddhist society that thrived on the philosophy of
"dharma".
Today the war has expanded and escalated into a full-fledged conflagration in
which armed forces of the two nations are confronting each other. The Sinhala
nation is engaged in war of aggression to occupy Tamils land and to subjugate
the Tamil people. We are fighting to protect our people and liberate our soil
from alien aggression. The Sinhala nation is engaged in a war of injustice where
as we are engaged in a liberation struggle in which justice is on our side.
Chandrika's government, which has reached the peak in oppressing the Tamils
is determined to escalate and continue the war. Her government is bent on
prosecuting the war through the military campaign have demoralised the army,
brought massive destruction of life and property and shattered the economy of
the country. Chandrika's military project has crumbled and failed to achieve any
of its strategic objectives.
The fundamental objective of the war is to defeat and destroy the Liberation
Tigers. But the LTTE has not been defeated but rather has grown immensely in
strength acquiring wider experience in the art of modern warfare and turned out
to be an invincible force. The Vanni battles caused a serious of debacles and
massive casualties to the Sinhala armed forces. The 'Jayasikuru battles, which
was undertaken with the grand design to open the road to Jaffna, has prolonged
for more than a year and half and reached an impasse with the fall of
Killinochchi.
Chandrika's political project of establishing Sinhala state administration in
the occupied Jaffna peninsula with the help of the Tamil quislings is also being
shattered . We cannot allow the Sinhala aggressive army to occupy even an inch
of our homeland nor will we permit Sinhala state administrative functions in the
occupied Tamil lands. We are shedding blood and fighting a deadly struggle with
the primary objective of liberating our motherland which is the very foundation
of the national existence and economic life of our people. Therefore we cannot
permit the foot print of the Sinhala aggressors to remain embedded on our sacred
soil.
We do not believe that Chandrika, who has become the author of the most blood
strained chapter in the history of oppression of the Tamils, will bring peace to
the country by resolving the Tamil national issue by peaceful means. She is a
firm believer in a military solution and lives in an illusion that political
conflicts can be solved by military means. She is also a prisoner of the
Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinistic ideology. One cannot therefore expect a leadership
dominated by such thinking to be humane and compassionate enough to do justice
to the Tamils.
We have not close the doors for peace. We are open to the civilised
method of resolving conflicts through rational dialogue. Since the Sinhala
leadership lacks the political will and sincerity to resolve the problem we
favour third party mediation for political negotiations. But we are not
prepared to accept any pre-conditions for political dialogue. We want the
political negotiations to be held in an atmosphere of peace and normalcy,
free from the conditions of war, military aggression and economic blockades.
We are not stipulating any pre-conditions for peace talks. We are suggesting
the creation of a climate of peace and goodwill to hold peace talks, a congenial
environment in which our people must be free from the heavy burden of suffering
imposed on them. We hold the view that political negotiations cannot be free,
fair and just if the Government utilises the military aggression on our soil and
the restrictions imposed on the economic life of our people as political
pressures. We are prepared to engage in initial talks to discuss the removal of
such pressures and to workout a basic frame work for political negotiations.
Our people are facing unbearable suffering in the form of death, destruction,
displacement, hunger and starvation. They live as prisoners in their own
homeland, facing daily, various forms of military atrocities. Our people want
their day-to-day urgent problems resolved immediately. They cannot wait over an
indefinite time until the peace talks resume and the ethnic conflict is
discussed, resolved and the solution implemented. They want the war to come to
an end and the occupation army that torments them to withdraw and their urgent
existential problems addressed immediately.
Is Chandrika's Government prepared to take a bold step to deal with the
immediate essential problems of our people and resume political negotiations in
a congenial climate of peace and goodwill. The people want their day-to-day
urgent problems resolved immediately. They cannot wait over an indefinite time
until the peace talks resume and the ethnic conflict is discussed, resolved and
the solution implemented. They want the war to come to an end and the occupation
army that torments them to withdraw and their urgent existential problems
addressed immediately.
Is Chandrika's Government prepared to take a bold step to deal with the
immediate essential problems of our people and resume political negotiations in
a congenial climate of peace and goodwill. If not, the possibility for peace and
a peaceful negotiated political settlement to the ethnic conflict will become
remote.
We do not anticipate that the hawkish and racist attitude of Sinhala
chauvinism will undergo fundamental transformation. If such change does not take
place Sinhala chauvinism will bear the responsibility for creating the concrete
historical conditions for the birth of independent Tamil state".
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Address in Tamil
