The war and the new wretched of Sri Lanka
by Rajan Philips
Having missed every opportunity to stop fighting and reach a resolution, the LTTE is now reaping exponentially what it has all along been sowing linearly. It is now the government’s turn at sowing, which it is doing with great gusto and transparent glee. Over a thousand hits from the air by the government, so far, against the paltry seven bomb-drops by the LTTE’s more-show-than-sting air force. The ground skirmishes may be a little less uneven but are very much lopsided against the LTTE. It is a matter of time, says the government, before Kilinochchi falls.
The bigger victims of these onslaughts than the LTTE are non-political and non-combatant Tamils. Over two hundred thousand of them have been forced out of their huts and hearths in the last two months or so in the districts of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. An equal number of them have been similarly languishing as “internally displaced” in the other Northern and Eastern Districts, some of them for nearly twenty years. Add to their number all the other denizens of North and East who are stuck in their homes, living from one day to another not knowing what awaits them the next day.
The people of the North and East have seen many wars, were devastated by the tsunami and are now being bombarded relentlessly. The LTTE has no use for them, the government does not care for them, and the philanthropic international community has been shut out of their space by a nasty government decree. Nastier still, those who flee to Colombo from the North are considered ‘abnormal’, declared a security threat, and are put through the process of mass humiliation called registration.
The internally displaced indigenous Tamils are the new wretched of Sri Lanka, surpassing in misery, violence and abandonment the island’s old wretched – the Indian Tamil estate workers. The Indian Tamils were brought in as “coolies” by the British Raj and were forced to toil to pay for Lanka’s passage from paddy land feudalism to plantation modernity. At the stroke of independence, they were the first to be alienated and rendered stateless, and it would take a full fifty years before the status of their statelessness could finally be resolved.
The impetus for that resolution unmistakably came from the rise of Tamil militancy in the North and East. J.R. Jayewardene was forced to settle the Indian Tamil question and accommodate the late Thondaman in his government even as he opted to play hard ball in dealing with the indigenous Tamil question. Political scribes who now opine that it is Delhi and not Kilinochchi that is responsible for forcing Sri Lanka on the tortuous path to devolution, forget the fact that the mighty Mother India could not lift a finger on behalf of the plantation Tamils of Indian origin. In fact, after 1960, New Delhi bent over backwards at every turn to appease chauvinistically insistent Sri Lankan governments on the question of citizenship for the Indian Tamils, with India eventually accepting one half of the Sri Lankan plantation population.
Even then the granting of citizenship to the people who stayed behind on the estates was not a forgone certainty. J.R. Jayewardene would not have moved an inch to resolve the citizenship question if he did not think he needed to have peace in the ‘thottams’ on the hills while he was taking on the separatists on the plains of Jaffna. Admittedly, the influence of indigenous Tamil militancy in resolving the citizenship question of the Indian Tamils was more indirect than direct.
Many fathers, no mother
On the other hand, the hand of Tamil militancy in pushing Sri Lankan governments towards devolution has been more direct than indirect. Tamil militancy was the direct result of the refusal of successive Sri Lankan governments to responsibly deal with reasonable political demands raised by moderate Tamil political leaders. It did not arise because of India although it gave the militants sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Without Tamil militancy, India would not have had the passport to enter Sri Lanka’s political space in the manner and to the extent it did. From thereon, India dictated, albeit more unsuccessfully than successfully, the framework for and the process of devolution in Sri Lanka. The Thirteenth Amendment had many direct and indirect, willing and unwilling fathers, but no nurturing mother!
It has had, however, several capable enemies among the Sinhalese. The LTTE, more unwittingly and with more martial hubris than political savvy contributed mightily to the Amendment’s non-implementation in the North and East and its ultimate truncation between the two. Finally, having boasted to the world its military invincibility, the LTTE is now showing its military incapability against the government’s air power and ground forces.
If you need a parallel, as some of us cannot see a straight line without a parallel, we had one in Saddam Husain’s boasting about Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction without actually having any. He gave the excuse to the Bush Administration to invade his country. The Americans are stuck in Iraq, and Colin Powell’s ‘cut it off and kill it’ military strategy that worked in Kuwait is not working in Iraq. The emerging American strategy for Iraq is more like ‘cut and run’ rather than ‘cut and kill’.
“Cut it off and kill it”, is what Sri Lanka’s armchair military zealots are offering as advice on how to finish off the LTTE. “First we cut it off; then we kill it.” Colin Powell, the soldier, may have said it in relation to the enemy Iraqi forces that his (American) army was fighting in Kuwait in the Gulf war of 1991. But Powell, whether as soldier or as Secretary of State, would never have countenanced rounding-up and finger-printing Arabs and Muslims in New York in the wake of the 9/11 bombings.
Not so with Sri Lanka’s soldier turned Defence Secretary, who ordered all Tamils who have come to Colombo during the last five years from the five districts of the Northern Province to register themselves at nearby police stations or designated Buddhist temples.
Too many people coming into Colombo create a security threat, according to the Defence Secretary. He considered “abnormal” the arrival of 6,950 people to Colombo during the month of August, while ignoring the much greater abnormality of 70,000 people fleeing their homes during the same period in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi.
Having had its knuckles rapped by the Supreme Court earlier for trying to forcibly evacuate Tamil people out of Colombo, the government chose to give three days (18-21 September) to an estimated 60,000 Tamils from the five northern districts to register themselves with the security forces. Reportedly, no proof of registration was to be issued and the act of registration would not spare the people from future round-ups and interrogations by the same security forces. No one knows what any Tamil from the North coming to Colombo after 21 September should or should not do to prove that she or he is not a Tiger.
Has the registration of 60,000 Tamils improved the security situation in Colombo? There is no way of knowing. If the purpose was to catch LTTE sleepers in Colombo, it is more than likely that the sleepers gave the registration circus a slip. What we know for certain is that those who went for registration - children, women and men of all ages - suffered indignity and frustration. They are too helpless to complain and too disoriented even to be angry. They indeed are the wretched of Sri Lanka.
In a BBC interview, the Defence Secretary let it be known that he knows that “all Tamil people are not terrorists … but almost all terrorists are Tamil, 98 percent of the terrorists.” He went on to say that “when you do operations … the Tamil community will be targeted … not because the government and the security forces want to harass Tamils … (but) because of the Tamil Tigers …”
We need to remind the Secretary that there is another side to his premise that almost all terrorists are Tamils – which is that more than almost all members of the security forces are Sinhalese. Perhaps, we should not hold the Secretary of Defence to a high standard when even a person of the calibre of Victor Ivon appears to have missed this obviousness in his recent interventions in the Sunday Island.
16 Comments
Mr. Philips has obviously forgotten the policy of "mass internment without trial" (long kesh, the Maze etc) and Diplock courts practiced by the foundational parliamentary democracy, the UK, in northern Ireland in the 1970s and 80s. Sri Lanka is better than that, even in the face of recurrent epidemics of suicide bombings.
And by the way his analogy is ridiculous. Iraq has nothing to do with it. Mullaitivu is not a foreign land tens of thousands of miles away, which did nothing against the US. the Wanni is part of Sri Lanka, and the base for attacks islandwide over decades. the analogy is the US civil war against secession. Mr philips should read the history of Ulysses Grant's strategy and tactics, and Sherman's march through Georgia.
Dayan Jayatilleka
A good narration of the continuing saga of the suffering of the North East Tamils who were promised Utopia and now condemned to be called the "Wretched of the Wanni." However, the writer's understanding of how the people of recent Indian origin (pio)got their citizenship rights restored and mine are clearly different.
The writer says "the impetus of the resolution unmistakably came from the rise of Tamil militancy in the North-East. Perhaps the reality is JRP and the late Thondaman were engaged in a series of discussions from 1975 onwards of a possible electoral cooperation against Mrs B Govt. One of the main agendas of these series of discussions was the restoration of the Citizenship rights of the PIO.
Once JRJ gained power in 1977 he gradually honoured
his pledge to Thondaman. "Gradual" because he had to deal with the likes of Mathew and the hordes of the Yellow brigade behind him, Premadasa, Gamini Jayasuriya, Gamini Dissanayake and others with an avowedly anti-pio inclination. This is reportedly one reason why Thondaman was not invited into the Cabinet in 1977 itself. The writer also has been somewhat uncharitable and out of touch when he chides India in his piece. To say "mighty Mother India could not lift a finger on behalf of the Plantation Tamils" again is to be at variance with contemporary events.
India has continued to engage with different GoSL with regard to the restoration of the Citizenship rights and to point out the PIO are the responsibility of the GOSL - a factor that is now accepted entirely even to the extent of conferring Lankan citizenship to those in camps in India. One last comment. While I have expressed my objection to these Nazi-type registrations of people from the North a fortnight ago(today it is the turn of those from the Batticoloa District resident in WP)I also went along with several other activists to the Registration points in Kollupitiya and Kotahena. Many colleagues did the rounds in other points. And we are all agreed the Police were courteous and welcoming in these points.
We did speak in Tamil to a few ladies returning after registration and they agreed they were treated well.
One has to be fair and objective in these delicate times and commend the authorities when they are fair.
Well said Rajan.
When I read this Article I am able to recall my life at the Engineering Faculty of University of Ceylon where I never missed-out any meeting of ESU (Engineering students Union) when your speech was in the agenda.
May God bless you for constant use and continuous publication of such valued articles.
Best regards,
Sampanthan
Mr Dayan Jayatilleka should look back to the time when there were Kangaroo Courts run by EPRLF in North & East of Sri Lanka while he was a minister in the North and East Provincial Council.
At the time of EPRLF's reign of terror,
correct me if I am wrong, I hardly remember Mr Jayatilleka making any objection to these Kangaroo Courts.
While he was a key adviser to President Premadasa, all sorts of human rights violation took place. He was mute then.
Like few others, he will go to any length to protect his own interest by hanging on to any regime that offers him lucrative job at the cost of human suffering. This is not new. He thrives on human suffering irrespective of race, class or religion. For some in Sri Lanka hypocrisy is a virtue, thank god not for the rest of the people who consider it a vice.
Again his aim is to shoot the messenger than listening to them.
I think the Sinhalese Government is looking for the dead LTTE soldiers. According to the military, they have killed over 7,000 LTTE'ers so far this year, but they found only 70 dead bodies.
Dear Native Veddah,
1. I resigned within six months from the EPRLF led NEPC.
2. as in the case of Presdent Rajapakse, I considered th human rights violations occuring under Presdent Premadasa not to be something of his choice or initiation because it was the JVP that spurned peace and returned to war against him. The Tigers did the same thing in 1990. This is the case with President rajapakse too: the Tigers went to war the weeks after he was sworn in. I supported President Premadasa against the JVP and LTTE and I support President Rajapakse against the LTTE. many who supported the former also support the latter because they were both opposed by the UNP-SLFP elite and both were patriots who stood up to the West.
3. As for jobs, it is quite well known that the cause of peace talks with the tigers pays much more than the pittance that any Government job can offer. Secondly, as i said I resinged afer a few months from the lucrative post of Minister in the North eastern PC , which was heavily funded by both Colombo and delhi. Thirdly , you only have to ask ex-Presdent kuamaratuinga and Hon Minister sarath Amunugama: when she took over the three portfolios, Minister Amunugama phoned my home to tell me a letter was on the way appointing me Media Advisor to H.E. the President and concurrently as a Director of Lake House. I told him not to bother to send it because I would not accept.
very good article.
The war and ethno-nationalism have gained so much inertia and momentum that nothing can stop them.
Rational thinking is powerless against the war juggernaut.
Hi! Native Vedda .. This is Podi ..
At least make it 71. Can you remember Tamilselvam who was killed but not found by the military?
All the issues mentioned in the article are consequences of various choices made at various times (even before independence).
When equal representation was demanded based on ethnicity.
When "Arasu" parties were formed. Saying onething in vernacular laguage to the indigenous people and saying something else in English to others.
When wooden pistols were distributed at sathyagrahas.
When resolutions were passed urging violence.
When "boys" were encouraged to assasinate and murder.
The so called indigenous Tamil leaders have also voted for making "coolies" stateles.
Owning responsibility for all above may be a better way to approach the the healing process.
DJ: "...as in the case of Presdent Rajapakse, I considered th human rights violations occuring under Presdent Premadasa not to be something of his choice or initiation..."
How laughable and pathetic!
Is there any shred of evidence of your ever having used your proximity to Premadasa or Rajapakse to advance justice for the innocent man in SL?
An innocent man like journalist Tissainayagam, who was your friend, is suffering in jail under the direction of the Rajapakses. The charge-sheet against him is an utter joke. He is guilty only of being Tamil and writing about Tamil affairs.
And yet, you sit in Geneva, next to Attorney General C.R. de Silva, a man who covered up massacres of innocents in 1983, and defend a murderous regime. Sitting on your other side is that fool, Rajiva Wijesingha--the man who used to speak highly of Tissainayagam's writings in the Sunday Times is now clutching at straws to find a reason to justify Tissa's incarceration.
"...both were patriots who stood up to the West..."
Yes, they stood on dead bodies of innocents of their own country and took potshots at the West. The West was not affected at all. But they murdered thousands of innocent SL citizens.
Seelan:
"...When "Arasu" parties were formed. Saying onething in vernacular laguage to the indigenous people and saying something else in English to others..."
First of all, you are none other than Sebastian Rasalingam, the man who goes around writing to newspapers and internet forums still fixated on the problems of the casteist Jaffna society of your time which you found oppressive more than half a century ago. Arasu in Tamil can also apply to Federalism. Thanks for showing your ignorance. And understand why Tamils ignore you--because you are ignorant. Stop playing a deadly game--Tamils don't need this apologizing and self-flagellating for anything they did in good conscience and with good reason. You are only giving ammunition to racists. You should go to a home for seniors in Toronto and spend the little time you have left in this world in peace.
dear expatriate,
why don't you have the guts to call prof rajiva a "fool" in print under your own name, and read his response? he must be the only "fool" who went to oxford on a scholarship while still in his teens, did his first degree in classics and his phd there, while holding the prestigious EK chambers studentship.
as for the advancement of justice in sri lanka under premadasa, what do you think theat janasaviya, the housing programme, the garment factories programmes, the land task force which reditributed state land were about other than growth with equity and social JUSTICE? all those who supported premadasa publicly were supportive of this striving for social justice and reform.
Prabhakaran's wife and kids wee reunited with Prabhakaran by Premadasa, who was killed for his pains, just as rajiv who saved the tigers in 1987, was killed a few years later. The Tigers and those who support them are getting what they deserve, and it ain't over yet.
Decolonisation of Ceylon, initiated seriously by the UN, but handled shabbily by Britain from 1948 to 1972, was intended to abolish colonial "master- servant" syndrome. The belief that all human beings in this world are born equal, was the reason for it. The idea was never to replace colonialism with ethnic "master-slave" syndrome but to have free countries with dignity for all, equality and justice.
But decolonisation was used as a right by the Sinhalese to collectively gravitate in greed, selfishness, pride and superiority and to create an ethnic "master-slave" culture in the island.
Envy against Tamils ensued and the rights and freedoms of Tamils were vandalised. Political, social, economic and legislative discriminatory practices followed this discourse.
Adolf Hitler played the same dirty game of "Aryan Supremacy" and envy against the Jews to carry out genocide in Germany. Similar attitudes of supremacy and envy caused genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia.
In a recently held interview, the army commander in Sri Lanka(SL), a Sinhalese, answering like a television series mafia boss, claimed that 75 percent of Sinhalese living in the island would determine the destiny of Tamils in the North East(NE).
Democracy is not about numbers but is about equality, freedom and justice for all. One often talks of numbers to claim supremacy. The affirmation by Fonseka was that the ethnic Sinhalese master would decide what rights and freedoms to give to the ethnic Tamil slaves in the island.
Tamils believe the Statistics of 75% to be faked with an intent to claim supremacy. Sinhalese were only about 60 percent when Britain did the last census before independence. If true, the acts of genocide have caused Tamils to decrease in number.
This week, Sarath de Silva, the Chief Justice, a Sinhalese, said in Batticaloa that he gave a judicial verdict to separate the joined Eastern provincial council from the North because he felt that the Tamils in the East had a different culture. The democratic decision of 1977, the present desires of ethnic Tamils and even the Indo Lanka Accord of 1987 was irrelevant to the "ethnic master", let alone the common Tamil culture.
Obviously, the judicial "master" failed to bring the Sinhala soldiers who committed gross human rights violations to justice, as "slaves" have no right to justice against the "master" !
Genocide in no two countries were alike because the cultures, habbits and circumsatnces were different. For this reason, the genocide of Tamils in SL cannot be expected to be exactly the same as in Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudan.
However, in all instances of genocide, the criminal acts of killing, disappearing, rape, expulsion, displacement and causing bodily or mental harm had a common ethnic dimension and an ethnic intention to harm and destroy ethnic groups.
When there is a strong case that something is genocide one should not be afarid to use the word and say so. The government sponsored atrocities against the ethnic Tamils in SL should be called by their rightful word - genocide.
Genocide is crime against humanity. In SL it is the culmination of a process including discrimination, dehumanisation and destruction of ethnic Tamils.
The UN should address the discernable reality. The reality is that decolonisation of the island was not done meticulously with utmost care. Genocide of Tamils is occuring because of this reason.
The UN should therefore, appoint a Genocide Tribunal for SL immediately and decolonise the island properly, to abolish the existing ethnic "master-slave" culture.
The plight of the Tamils of Indian Origin, is nothing new.Successive Govts in Sri Lanka never took any interests in them as long as they lived in their coolie homes & lived a wretched life. Very few realised the hardship they underwent to provide Sri Lanka with so much of foreign exchange realised from the tea extates in which they lived.Leave alone the Singhalese even the Tamils of the North & Eastern parts of Sri Lanka never even uttered a word in support of them.These estate people still live in the same squalor as they have lived for the past 100 years or so, as evidenced by the recent BBC documentary aired. 90% of the people woking in the Tea plantations are Tamils of I o.The native Sinhalese will never do this kind of lowly job.
There is nothing happening today that the LTTE, the government, or the general Population did not expect would happen. After the East, we all knew the north would be next. After the hundreds of thousands of IDPs in the East...we knew this would be the same situation in the North. The IDPs in the East have been cared for, and have been resettled... the Government has made good on its promises in the East... why would anyone now doubt this would be the same in the North?
Dayan was a die-hard Stalinist, then he was a pramadasit ( a chauvinist authoritarian) presently supporting a fascist government. what an evaluation? keep it up.
Steven, you are wrong regarding "even the Tamils of the North & Eastern parts of Sri Lanka never even uttered a word in support of them". Eeelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS) was formed in 1975 which specifically included UP country Tamil Speaking people's rights as one of formost important issues and continued to champion their cause. The Timbu principles were drafted mainly by key members of EROS who made sure that their plight was included in the Thimbu Declaration. Hence the inclusion of citizenship clause in Indo Sri lanka accord. EROS thought that liberation of Tamil Speaking People should include Muslims, Hindus, Christian, Tamil speaking people from North, East and the upcountry Tamils. EROS defined all these people as EELAVAR to promote a common identity. EROS theortically argued that the liberation of UP country Tamils is essential for the liberation of Tamil Speaking People of Sri Lanka i.e. Eelavar. EROS did not stand chance against the petty nationalism of LTTE and its supporters. Therefore, its not fair to say that the Tamil Speaking People did not care. Some of them did care, but could not face the tidal wave of Jaffna centric petty nationalism. India was also another obtacle to build bridges with up country Tamils. They consistently obstructed the up country Tamils being drawn into EELAM war and radicallised.