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 

Three Views: One Truth
Proof by Induction? n=1, n=2, n=3...

29 September 2008

"Where national memories are concerned, griefs are of more value than triumphs, for they impose duties, and require a common effort. A nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity, constituted by the feeling of the sacrifices that one has made in the past and of those that one is prepared to make in the future. " Ernest Renan in What is a Nation

"Victory in a war is not determined by the size of an army or the quality of armaments... unshakable determination, heroism, and desire for liberation determine victory... " Reflections of the Leader - Quotes by Veluppillai Pirapakaran, Translation by Peter Schalk and Alvappillai Velupillai, 2007

 "...Movements for justice throughout the world and throughout history always begin with and are sustained by a moral statement, a value idea...Movements are sustained when there are enough people whose imagination is captivated by a vision that lifts them beyond wherever they may be and which encourages them to have a better idea of themselves and their history into what they might or could become...Values are the essential principles of life without which life would be without meaning – things would fall apart, and the centre cannot hold. They are agents of social cohesion... in (Martin Luther King's) words 'people cannot devote themselves to a great cause without finding someone who becomes the personification of the cause'..."N Barney Pityana, Vice Chancellor. University of South Africa in Liberation, Civil Rights & Democracy, The Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Lecture, 2004

'On the full moon day of the month of Uduwap in the year 2939 in the Buddhist Era Your Excellency's rule and authority has been firmly re-established in Yapa Patuna'  Scroll presented by Deputy Defence Minister Anurudha Ratwatte to his Aunt, Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga, 6 December 1995 - Sri Lanka state controlled Daily News, 6 December 1995

"Deputy Defence Minister Col.Anuruddha Ratwatte, deputising for President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, on the invitation of Northern commander Rohan Daluwatte, hoisted the Lion flag in the re-taken Jaffna town at a simple, but impressive formal ceremony at the auspicious time of 11.52 am Tuesday (5 December)... Defence Deputy Minister Ratwatte inspected a guard of honour at the former Jaffna Fort before hoisting the national flag. Martial music preceded the hoisting of flags."

"Some historians have already looked upon the liberation of Jaffna, Yapa Patuna of ancient fame, as a historical parallel to its re-taking by Prince Sapumal in the 15th century by vanquishing the forces of rebel chief Arya Chakravarti. Prince Sapumal later ascended the throne as King Buvenekabahu IV. A report on the completion of the operation Riviresa will be presented to President Kumaratunga today, official sources said."

n=2"...Linking of the land based Main Supply Route (MSR) to Jaffna through Killinochchi would be achieved by February 4, next year - I will shake hands with Pirabaharan after we defeat him" - Sinhala Sri Lanka Deputy Defence Minister, General Ratwatte, 14 December 1997

n=3"The IPKF got rid of the hard core elements. What is left (of the LTTE) is the baby brigade of young boys and girls. They will wet their pants when they meet my armed forces..."  Sinhala Sri Lanka Deputy Defence Minister, Ranjan Wijeratne, 15 July 1990

n=4"The LTTE represents no one but itself... it is a small outfit of 1500 to 2000 persons" - Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi declared at a public meeting in Tamil Nadu on the 21st of December 1987  reported Sri Lanka Sun - 22nd December 1987

Sri Lanka 'on verge of victory' says Sri Lanka President' Brother, Roland Buerk reporting for BBC News, Colombo, 27 September 2008

" Sri Lanka's powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said the government is on the verge of victory in the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.

"In all fronts we are very superior, on the ground, the sea and air," said Mr Rajapaksa in an interview with the BBC.

"Our numbers are very much greater than theirs, our firepower is much greater. We are very confident we can win and we want to finish this very soon."

About 70,000 people have been killed in one of South Asia's longest wars.

After a ceasefire fighting resumed in earnest in mid-2006 and Sri Lanka's military ejected the Tigers from the East.

Attention then turned to territory controlled in the north by the rebels, who want a separate state for the ethnic Tamil minority.

In recent months troops have advanced rapidly, and Mr Rajapaksa, who is the brother of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said they are now 4.5km (2.8 miles) from the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.

The Tigers administer areas under their control from the town.

The government bars most journalists from areas where the fighting is taking place and the military's accounts cannot be independently verified.

Civilians have fled their homes ahead of the military's advance, moving further into the diminishing area still held by the Tigers.

Aid agencies estimate 200,000-230,000 displaced people are in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.

Earlier this month humanitarian workers from the United Nations and other aid agencies left Kilinochchi.

The government ordered them out saying their safety could not be guaranteed.

"Now we are very close to Kilinochchi and we don't want these organisations to get unnecessarily involved in the crossfire, to get hurt with indirect fire," the defence secretary said.

Mr Rajapaksa also defended tight security in Colombo saying it was intended to curb bombings which have been blamed on the Tigers.

Tamils have complained of harassment, frequent searches and arbitrary detention.

All those who had arrived in the city and surrounding towns in the last five years from the five war torn northern districts, overwhelmingly Tamils, were ordered to register with the police last weekend..."

"Freedom is not something a man can give you" Queimada - Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn!

 "..The film portrays, quite brilliantly, the nature of a guerrilla uprising. Walker (the British mercenary) seems all too aware of the danger of a popular uprising, when he cautions the white rulers that 'the guerrilla has nothing to lose.' And that in killing a hero of the people, the hero 'becomes a martyr, and the martyr becomes a myth.' "

"... The young boy who guards the captured Dolores (the rebel leader) stays with him and provides Pontecorvo with a means of allowing Jose Dolores to give his ideas expression through dialogue. Jose Dolores does not assail his captor; he tries to inspire and convert him. He tells the young man that he does not wish to be released because this would only indicate that it was convenient for his enemy. What serves his enemies is harmful to him. "Freedom is not something a man can give you," he tells the boy. Dolores is cheered by the soldier's questions because, ironically, in men like the soldier who helps to put him to death, but who is disturbed and perplexed by Dolores, he sees in germination the future revolutionaries of Quemada. To enter the path of consciousness is to follow it to rebellion.....Pontecorvo zooms to Walker (the English mercenary) as he listens to Dolores' final message which breaks his silence: "Ingles, remember what you said. Civilization belongs to whites. But what civilization? Until when?" The stabbing of Walker on his way to the ship by an angry rebel comes simultaneously with a repetition of the Algerian cry for freedom. It is followed, accompanied by percussion, by a pan of inscrutable, angry black faces on the dock. The frame freezes, fixing their expressions indelibly in our minds.."

"..But imagine it happens: Killinochchi is flattened, Mr P is dead, LTTE dissolved. Will the Tamil dream of a Tamil Eelam die? Of course not. It will be revived, and new cycles of violence will occur..." Conflict Resolution in Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka: the Norwegian Initiative- Professor Johan Galtung, February 2007