Inducing fear

Editorial Tamil Guardian 14 April 2014

 The killings of three Tamil men last week, who the Sri Lankan military claims were attempting to revive the LTTE, was intended to terrorise the Tamil population. The culmination of weeks of heightened military presence in the North-East, mass arrests, interrogations and widespread house to house search operations, the killings serve as a collective warning and reminder to the Tamil people of the state’s response, capability and preparedness to curtail Tamil resistance. As public executions do else where, the killings seek to enforce control through violence and fear. Under the guise of counter terrorism measures, the Sri Lankan state is terrorising the Tamil population, on a scale not seen since the end of the armed conflict. Inducing fear, which disintegrates not only Tamil political space, but also social space, is the primary goal.

That this escalation in militarisation occurred at a time when the international community was scrutinising Sri Lanka is unsurprising. Determined to prevent a repeat of the protests that took place during the British Prime Minister’s visit to Jaffna, the arrests of prominent campaigners took place as the UN Human Rights Council began, resulting in the silencing any Tamil demonstrations calling for an international inquiry. The sustained escalation of military presence subsequent to the mandating of such a probe, as well as the proscription of diaspora groups, is equally unsurprising. It is collective punishment for the united support of the Tamil people for an international investigation, and serves as a warning to all. Many of those detained, including disappearances campaigner Balendran Jeyakumari, are imprisoned not in a local prison, but in Boosa – a place situated in the Sinhala south, that has since the beginning of the armed conflict been synonymous with torture and anti-Tamil violence. It stands as a chilling reminder of the price Tamils will pay for daring to call for justice.

It is no coincidence that the military’s claims of renewed LTTE activity, including the audacious claim of a new LTTE leader accepted by the Tamil nation, arose as Sri Lanka faced intense criticism over militarisation in the North-East. In a self-sustaining narrative, the military’s claims seek to justify its presence. Contrary to the military’s claims, militarisation of the North-East, far from seeking to protect Tamils as Sri Lankan citizens from external threats, is intended to protect Sri Lankans from Tamils. Indeed, the contrast between the military’s killing of three Tamil men this week, and that of three Sinhala men in Weliweriya is stark and dismaying: apathetic endorsement of the former, and vehement condemnation of the latter. As we argued then, unless able to actively prove one’s allegiance to Sri Lanka as unitary Sinhala Buddhist state, to be a Tamil, makes you an understandable target of the state, and to be a Tamil who is politically active, makes you a legitimate one. Being Tamil makes you liable to guilt from the offset.

The Sri Lankan state’s definition of terrorism has a broad meaning, going further than its terrorism laws that already criminalise calls for independence - a legitimate political view held by many peoples worldwide and one that has been central to the Tamil nation’s political aspirations since 1976. Recent arrests under the Prevention of Terrorism Act have encompassed not only those who the military claims are former LTTE cadre, (who despite having completed ‘rehabilitation’ are routinely re-arrested and interrogated), but their family, any close associates, a disappearances campaigner, the diaspora at large, and those displaying signs, however innocuous, of links to the diaspora, such as the possession of foreign currency or having several children residing abroad. As the proscription of diaspora groups makes evident, even the call for justice through international invention is branded as terrorism.

In effect, the dominant Tamil political discourse, whether that it is independent statehood from 1976, or international investigation since 2009, is criminalised as terrorism by the Sri Lankan state, allowing Tamils to be detained at length without charge. Tamils, simply by virtue of their ethnicity, live with threat of arrest under the PTA looming over their head at all times. Remarkably however, this has failed to silence voices from the North-East. Amidst palpable collective fear, key voices continue to condemn the state’s actions. It is no hyperbole to say they are at grave risk. As the international probe begins its work, escalation of state violence, as a means of repressing Tamil engagement with the probe, is inevitable. Demilitarisation of the North-East and relentless international scrutiny are imperative.