'Under Rajapakse, militarisation of Sri Lanka taking place'
November 11, 2013 13:59 IST
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'The Tamils in military occupied areas are being denied the Right to Livelihood and Right to Life.'
'How can India allow the Sri Lankan government to forget that there are over 80,000 war widows? Many of them are maimed, living in inhuman conditions and unable to earn a living. What concerns Tamils in Sri Lanka concerns the Tamils in India,' says Dr Gabriele Dietrich, a grassroot activist and a naturalised Indian citizen.
From November 15 to 17, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM, will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
However, many human rights organisations have demanded the cancellation of the 53-nation summit because they feel CHOGM portrays that normalcy had returned to Sri Lanka.
These groups are of the view that the Sri Lankan government has got away with war crimes in the 30 years of strife and civil war in the country and are opposed to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Under pressure from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and DMK leader K Karunanidhi, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will not travel to Colombo for CHOGM, the second prime minister after Canada's Stephen Harper to boycott the meeting.
One strong voice in favour of Tamils is Dr Gabriele Dietrich, a grassroot activist and professor in social analysis and feminist theology. The German-born Dietrich has been a naturalised Indian citizen since 1990.
In a candid interview with Neeta Kolhatkar, Dietrich, 70, expressed her displeasure of Indian intelligence agencies's divide and rule policy with Tamil groups and the Government of India's allegiance to the Sri Lankan government.
She is disappointed that the Indian government has not demanded that President Rajapakse be tried for war crimes.
Professor Dietrich, how serious is the condition in the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka?
Are the Tamils living under army rule and how severe is their condition?
The strife has been continuing for over 30 years. What concerns Tamils in Sri Lanka concerns Tamils in India.
In 2009, the war was supposedly over and we have seen the enormous loss of human life. Calling it genocide or war, these are just semantic terms.
The fact is, under the Rajapakse rule, we can see a complete militarisation of Sri Lanka taking place. A complete internal occupation has taken place in north and eastern areas and not just Eelam as is often understood.
The Tamils in military occupied areas are being denied the Right to Livelihood and Right to Life. For me, this is of highest concern. The Sinhalese army is using an excuse that there are land mines in these areas.
How can India allow the Sri Lankan government to forget that there are over 80,000 war widows? Many of them are maimed, living in inhuman conditions and unable to earn a living.
Their houses have been taken over by the Sinhalese army. In fact, Navaneetham Pillai, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, visited these areas for over a week. Ms Pillai showed that despite many efforts to create new infrastructures and to restore tolerable living conditions, the sufferings of people in the camps, the pain of large scale disappearances and the lot of about 80,000 war widows have not been attended to.
This was the first time any international representative visited these areas. We want the government to boycott CHOGM, because it is time the Indian government stood up for their citizens. It is time the Sri Lankan government is made to pay for their excesses.
