Condemning the moronic decision to close the University of Jaffna for a month

 Saturday, 16 November 2013 

University authorities, under the influence of Defense authorities, have closed the University of Jaffna from…. November to……….. and this is done with the intention of barring any chance of the ‘Maha Viru Day’ being celebrated in the university.

A similar incident happened in the last year as well, where the government forces, forcefully entered to an even that was held parallel to the Maha Viru Day, brutally attacked the students and arrested several student leaders. Closing the university is an extension of that suppression. This decision will add a black mark to the country’s history of democracy and human rights and as the Inter University Students’ Federation we condemn this arbitrary decision with great displeasure.

While we do not approve the L.T.T.E or their activities we respect the Tamil people’s right to commemorate their dead relatives. A war will always be a way and there is no way that a civilized society can accept it. It is futile to discuss which side is in the right in a war, because a war brings destruction to all parties involved. Therefore individuals and movements that are responsible and love the human society and human race cannot approve the war that kills people. This is our position on the war in North. This war was created by the racist, ruling class that consists of Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils, who lust after power, not by the innocent people who were crushed under the iron shoe of this war and burnt by the bullets. Therefore it is not fair to put the blame on the Army or L.T.T.E soldiers, who took up arms to kill each other, at the end of it. The blame for these crimes lies with the leaders of all ethnicities who promoted racism for their own petty interests of power in the past and continues to do so in the present day.

However as a result of this useless war, thousands of valuable Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim lives were lost to the country. Each of those dead lives has a value and we must accept that somewhere on this land, there is always a human heart that laments and moans them to this day. We must accept their right to not only cry for and lament their dead, but also to commemorate them. Therefore in spite of what the murderous rulers who do not care for human lives and kill people like dogs and cats irrespective of the ethnicity, say, anyone who values human life will not approve this decision.

If the Sinhala people have a right to commemorate their dead soldiers, Tamil people too are entitled to that same right. A war happens between two parties and neither party approves or respects the other. It is this same conflict that creates a war. If so, both parties will see each other as enemies, not heroes. The dead member of the enemy becomes a traitor while the dead member of one’s own becomes a hero. Therefore what we must accept is that for the Tamil people, the Tamil soldiers who died during the war are their heroes. That fact can only be changed through a mutual understanding that happens between the two parties; by eliminating the reasons that distanced us and only if both sides respect each other. Forcefully attempting to change the thinking, behaviour and habits of the defeated by the victorious side instead, will only develop the enmities between the people again and again and it will only lead to another murderous war. Any such decision, therefore, will not only be against democracy but also against humanity. Therefore we must accept the Tamil people’s right to commemorate their dead and that it is not terrorism to do so.

The threat of Tamil people taking up arms against will not be evaded with such moronic acts, but only through giving them their civil liberties, by establishing democracy again, resolving other socio-economic problems in the north and putting an end to state terrorism in the North. Racist decision like these without those actions will only in turn promote Tamil racism. It will create the setting for another war which we know will be preferred by the ruling class because they will only be able to protect their plundering existence through the divisions within the oppressed who suffer under their exploitation. Until the oppressed people of all three ethnicities unite against their real enemies who are responsible for all their suffering, until the Sinhalese see the Tamil has their enemy and the Tamils see the Sinhalese see the Tamil as their enemy and fight each other, the ruling class would not have a challenge to their existence. However, if the oppressed ethnic communities understand this reality and unite that will be fatal to the ruling class. Therefore they will always stir racism and maintain it.

We must, therefore, understand this to be the interest behind closing the University of Jaffna and sabotaging commemorations and to prevent the destruction that it can cause, we must, in spite of our ethnic differences protest against such moronic decisions.
It is the noble responsibility of everyone who respects democracy, values humanity and wants to prevent another murderous