The Fate Of The Tamil Community, Seven Years Later
Raj Subramaniam
Seven years have passed since the Tamil community in Sri Lanka lost everything in their fight to unchain 500 years of slavery under the command of foreigners who ruled over the Tamils and enforced their alien laws upon them. It was only after several non-violent efforts that Tamil turned to a campaign of armed resistance for self-defense.
Today, society has awoken to the atrocities carried out by ISIS in the Middle East. If only they had opened their eyes to the crimes of Sri Lanka against the Tamils while they transpired. The cause of the conflict in Sri Lanka was primarily Buddhist chauvinism. Whatever crimes ISIS has perpetrated against the innocent citizenry of Iraq and Syria runs parallel to the terrible actions on the island of the religious extremists against the Tamils.
As I do every year, I wanted to take this opportunity to write this article, to assess the state of the community and further empower our future generations to strive for better. Criticism against one’s own state is integral to moving forward and developing ourselves in the eyes of others.
The Eelam Tamil community can only empower itself through our own realization of the fact that we lost the war. My recent visit to the island taught me an important lesson. The people are self-deprecating, living with the mindset that they “lost” and their situation will never ameliorate. Meanwhile, the Government brags that it was and remains victorious. Sadly, this atmosphere had led the Tamils to coalesce behind the government, who allows them access to illicit alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs being imported from Kerala. While the Navy often busies itself with causing trouble for helpless fishermen, trying to find fish to feed their families on the shores, they turn a blind-eye to the smugglers operating between Kerala and Jaffna.
Rather than carry out another genocide against the Tamils, the government has orchestrated a plan to punish those who survived by reviving backwards social issues and playing our leaders like pawns on a chessboard. They have revived casteism and regionalism to the point where they have become daily issues in the island’s cities and towns. The plague of casteism has prevented the citizenry from doing their daily work, not wanting to be seen by their peers of the aristocracy. Innovation and the drive for excellence have run out of fuel, living the bulk of the community idle. These social evils have manifested themselves not only in Sri Lanka but amongst members of the Tamil diaspora as well.