Wednesday February 8, 2012
 Tribute to 26-year-old K. Muthukumar in Chennai last year. |
(SALEM) - The day Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze in Tunisia, the fire sparked an historic revolution known as the Arab Spring.
 Mohamed Bouaziz's public suicide lit the Arab Spring, however the self-immolation of Indian journalist K. Muthukumar, over the Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, was scarcely covered in U.S. news reports. Photo courtesy: The Dotted World |
Our writer, Kourosh Ziabari in Tehran, wrote that Bouazizi's painful self-immolation, "... sparked the rage and irritation of the Arab nations in the Middle East and North Africa and somehow invited them to rise up and stand against their corrupt, authoritarian governments..."
The truth is that repressive Middle east governments of Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria and other countries have serious problems, but they weren't facing charges of ethnic cleansing- actual genocide.
K. Muthukumar, who self-immolated on the campus of the government of India in January 2009, dying later that same day at Kilpauk hospital, sacrificed his life in an attempt to raise public awareness, and prevent the Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
 Sri Lanka's Army hauls female victims to a mass grave. |
It absolutely didn't work.
Tens of thousands of civilians were brutally massacred by the iron hand of state terrorism at the time of his death, and over the next several months in Sri Lanka things got worse, much worse.
40,000 to possibly more than 100,000 human beings were mass-murdered, directed into "safe zones" and then bombed- repeatedly. According to the salvageable records, more than 160,000 people ceased to exist after this brutal civil war carried out by the government against its own citizens.
There are terrible counts of rape and sex abuse, some of which was recorded on video cameras and later recovered and published on YouTube. The still frame on the right is of a truckload of women and girls, all in varying states of nudity, who were loaded onto the truck by smiling, gawking Sri Lankan soldiers who laughed about having raped them. At least one of the women in the video on her way to a mass grave is still alive. This is just a snapshot of the horror that was called for and carried out in an island nation that relies on tourism, and is a 'friend' of the U.S.
Fiery Death of a Vietnamese Monk
 Journalist Malcolm Browne's photo of Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation. - Wikipedia |
The death of a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963, left a searing impression on both the American and world public. Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation- over the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Roman Catholic government, left millions shocked and horrified.
An exceedingly naive public was both moved and repulsed by the image and the very idea of a person sacrificing their own life in such an agonizing way over a political cause. It happened at a critical time in history, the year before the U.S. officially began its military campaign against North Vietnam.
While the promises Vietnam's President Ngô Đình Diệm made at the time in reaction to the event were not honored, this human sacrifice led to both a violent military crackdown on Buddhist temples, and the eventual arrest and assassination of Diệm.
This monk's self-immolation left a blazing impression in Vietnam that is lasting, and both the car he drove to the spot in Saigon, and the remains of his heart, which did not burn and were placed in a glass chalice, were taken to Xá Lợi pagoda where they remain today.
Knowing this history of attention brought about by self-lit human fires, and that a genocide of epic proportions hung in the delicate balance at this time, it leaves the burning question...
 One of the four pages of K. Muthukumar's final statement- distributed before his sacrificial act |
Why didn't a world-scale revolution kick into gear when this 26-year old journalist, K. Muthukumar, self immolated at Sastri Bhavan, Chennai, India on the 29th of January 2009? Before his death, he distributed a four page statement in the Tamil language calling attention to the peril Sri Lankan Tamils faced from their own government.
 26-year-old K. Muthukumar |
In his statement, K. Muthukumar wrote:
Va'nakkam! I am sorry at having to meet you at this juncture when you are hurrying to work. But there is no other option. My name is Muthukumar. I am a journalist and an assistant director. Right now, I am working in a Chennai-based newspaper. I am also one like you. I am just another average person who has been reading newspapers and websites of how fellow Tamils are daily being killed, and like you I am unable to eat, unable to sleep, unable to sleep and unable to even think. While his ancient land of Tamils lets anyone coming here, like the Seths, to flourish, our own blood, the Tamils in Eelam are dying. When we lend our voices to say the killings should be stopped, Indian imperialism maintains a stony silence and does not give out any reply. If India's war is really a justifiable one, they can wage it openly... Why should they do it stealthily?
- From Last statement of Muthukumar (Burnt himself for Eela Tamils) - NowPublic.com
- From Last statement of Muthukumar (Burnt himself for Eela Tamils) - NowPublic.com
Incredible Cruelty
 Post-war Tamils crowded in refugee camp. |
The north of Sri Lanka is still a war zone and while some Tamils regained some semblance of what they had, they live with martial law, an ongoing military occupation and many other problems and challenges that result from a war conducted on civilians without the slightest hint of decency or adherence to international law.
 Victims of Sri Lanka Tamil Genocide. |
The Genocide carried out by Sri Lankan Sinhalese Buddhist government forces swept over Sri Lanka's Tamil population of Hindus and Christians like a terrible nightmare that was all too real. The number of Tamil dead from the government attacks are unprecedented and actually began in 2005 with the election of President Majinda Rajapaksa- an ally of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The United States was well aware of what was taking place, and by 2009, when Muthukumar suffered a painful fiery death, the population's entire existence was threatened with extinction.
Then something happened in Sri Lanka that would bond K Muthukumar's life and death even more closely with the Tamil Genocide; that was a massive program carried out by Rajapaksa's henchmen to rid Sri Lanka of all journalists who were sympathetic toward the suffering of the Tamils.
They were tortured, murdered, newspapers and Internet news groups were closed and censored, (as they are today) and many journalists and editors and other media employees disappeared in the famous 'white van' incidents which still take place.
Legacy
 Courtesy: TruthDrive |
K Muthukumar's death anniversary was observed in Chennai last week, reports Guest Writer Sidharth gautham Sunder in aTruthDive article titled: Muthukumar’s Fire burns Sinhala Flags. The story cites how the continuing campaign against Sri Lanka has gathered momentum in Tamil Nadu. Quite obviously by its name alone Tamil Nadu, India has a vast population of Tamils, unlike Sri Lanka where the population is estimated at only about 15%. However Tamils have lived on the Island now called Sri Lanka for thousands of years.
Regarding K. Muthukumar's death, Wikipedia states:
“His funeral attracted thousands of mourners including Indian politicians such as Vaiko, Thol Thirumavalavan and S. Ramadoss amongst others. The state government offered monetary compensation for the family, which was rejected. His death led to a number of other attempts of self immolation in Tamil Nadu during the protesting. His death also led to further protests by students across Tamil Nadu.”
A report written by William Baptist, at Now Public contains an excellent compilation of data regarding the self-immolation of this young man. It is titled: Last statement of Muthukumar (Burnt himself for Eela Tamils)
“ According to reports in the Indian media, 26-year-old K. Muthukumar was a reserved and intelligent person. He had abstained from visiting his family the night before his self-immolation and had preferred to stay back at office. He lived with his sister Tamilarasi and her husband Kakkaivelu in Kolathur and worked in a Tamil magazine.He had earlier worked in television production.
Just before he had doused himself with several litres of petrol at 10.40 a.m. on Thursday, he flung several copies of his four-page note in which he protested the Indian government's war in Sri Lanka against the Tamils.
Police officials later told media that Muthukumar had not experienced any fear or wavering, he had been resolute in his decision to sacrifice his life to highlight the need for a permanent ceasefire.
When a doctor had asked him why such an educated person like him committed self-immolation, he had replied that several thousands of more intelligent and educated Tamil people were dying in Eezham and that he intended to save thousands of lives by sacrificing himself.
He succumbed to 100% burn injuries 90 minutes after he set himself afire.”
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