4 Years On, Largest Rally Since May 2009 On Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day In London -BTF

May 19, 2013

Thousands of people came together to take part in a rally through London, in remembrance of the hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians who were killed, maimed and displaced by Sri Lankan forces in Mullivaikkal in May 2009, says the British Tamils Forum.

Issuing a statement BTF says; “The inappropriateness of holding the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in a country that stands in such complete opposition to Commonwealth Values. MPs from all three main parties addressed the crowd and were notably united and forthright in declaring their opposition to the decision of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, to attend the meeting, along with his Foreign Secretary, William Hague.”

We publish below the statement in full;

Thousands of people came together to take part in a rally through London, in remembrance of the hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians who were killed, maimed and displaced by Sri Lankan forces in Mullivaikkal in May 2009

Leaving Marble Arch at 1pm, the crowd – from toddlers to octogenarians – braved the unseasonably cool May weather to walk to Waterloo Place, near Piccadilly Circus. With the generous co-operation of the Metropolitan Police, busy London thoroughfares such as Park Lane and Piccadilly were closed on a busy shopping day in order to let the procession pass.

At 4pm, Waterloo Place was filled by an estimated 15,000 demonstrators, waving vivid flags and banners. They were then addressed by a number of politicians and activists, who joined the crowd in expressing their still-raw grief at the massive loss of Tamil life that occurred during the Mullivaikkal massacre.

In addition to joining the crowd in their sorrow, two main themes emerged in the speeches:

The still-urgent need for an independent and international investigation into the events of 2009 and the on-going genocide against the Tamil people;

The inappropriateness of holding the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in a country that stands in such complete opposition to Commonwealth Values.

MPs from all three main parties addressed the crowd and were notably united and forthright in declaring their opposition to the decision of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, to attend the meeting, along with his Foreign Secretary, William Hague.

The messages given by these British politicians were reiterated by politicians from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, as well as leaders of diaspora Tamil organisations and a Tamil Nadu student activist who played a prominent role in the recent student uprisings there.

Lee Scott MP (Con), leader of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, reaffirmed his commitment to “stand by the side” of the Tamils until justice was done  and said that he would continue in his attempts to persuade David Cameron to boycott the summit.

Mr Scott was joined by his Conservative colleague Roger Evans(Con, London Assembly Member), who compared the events of 2009 to his personal experience of visiting Srebrenica, following the massacre of Bosnian Muslims that took place there. Mr Evans maintained that justice cannot be restored without an independent, international investigation taking place and the International Criminal Court prosecuting those guilty of committing war crimes. He also conveyed a message from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, thanking British Tamils for the valuable contribution they have made to the culture and economy of the city.

Simon Hughes MP (Lib Dem, Deputy Party Leader) also reaffirmed his commitment to work for justice for the Tamil people. Regarding the Commonwealth meeting, he confirmed that he and many in his party oppose the idea of the meeting taking place in Colombo, saying “it was the wrong decision” and that the “Commonwealth made a grave mistake”.

Siobhan McDonagh MP (Lab) commended the crowd on their attendance in such large numbers. She advised the audience to go and see their MPs and tell them that “they are ashamed the British Prime Minister is going to Sri Lanka” for the Commonwealth meeting. She went on to chastise the Prime Minister for announcing his intention to attend a full six months before the meeting – calling it an “insult to the Tamils”.

Prominent Tamil figures from Tamil Nadu also played their part in the event, beginning with a video address by Pazha Nedumaran (President, Tamils National Movement, World Tamil Confederation) a long-time advocate of Tamil Eelam. He called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who he accused of committing genocide. Mr Nedumaran expressed his fear that – if the Commonwealth meeting were to go ahead as planned – Mr Rajapaksa would perversely end up assuming chairmanship of an organisation that stands for human rights and represents 54 countries, instead of being indicted for war crimes.

Mr D Pandian MLA, Tamil Nadu State secretary of the Communist Party of India, echoed these concerns. In addition to calling for an independent international investigation into the Mullivaikkal Massacre and a boycott of the Commonwealth meeting, Mr Pandian called on the Indian Central Government to stop treating Sri Lanka as a friendly nation, reiterating a resolution that was recently adopted by the Tamil Nadu state assembly with overwhelming cross-party support.

Mr Vaiko (founder, MDMK), in a video address, reiterated his Indian colleagues’ calls for the British government to follow Canada’s example in boycotting the Commonwealth meeting. He also reminded the British government of its historical connection with the formation of Sri Lanka, and suggested that – among the Commonwealth nations – the UK bears a special responsibility to safeguard Commonwealth values.

Miss Dhivya, a student leader from Tamil Nadu, also addressed the crowd by video. She recalled her horror at watching the events of 2009 unfold, and related how these events led to the Tamils of Tamil Nadu rallying behind the Tamil people’s struggle for freedom. Condemning several decades of Indian Government assistance in Sri Lanka’s persecution of Eelam Tamils, culminating in 2009, Miss Dhivya called for an Indian boycott of Sri Lanka in the spheres of politics, culture and sports.

Mr S Sritharan MP, from the Tamil National Alliance in Sri Lanka, addressing the crowd via video remarked that, in addition to remembering the past, the anniversary of 18 May 2009 should inspire the Tamil diaspora to lay the foundation for a bright future for the long-suffering Tamils of Eelam. To underscore this point, he recounted the many ways in which Tamils in Eelam are being persecuted to this day, including recent land grabs in Valigamam, planned colonization of Tamil areas by Sinhala families, displaced Tamils being forced to live in forests and the on-going structural genocide by the Sri Lankan state.

The crowd also received support from Dr Vikramabahu Karunaratne, a prominent Sinhalese politician and leader of the NSSP, who declared that the NSSP stands by the Tamils who fight for justice and freedom in their homeland.

The crowd was also addressed by two leaders of diaspora organisations. Father S J Emmanuel, leader of the Global Tamils Forum, recounted the many ways in which the Sri Lankan state is attempting to “eradicate the roots of Tamil existence” – including the flooding of Tamil homelands by Sinhala military personnel, the desecration of Hindu temples and their replacement by Buddhist stupas, and the grabbing of Tamil lands. He called on Tamils to keep pricking the consciences of the UK, USA and India to stop their connivance with the Sri Lankan state. He made a special plea to the British Prime Minister to boycott the Commonwealth meeting, urging him to think beyond the narrow interests of trade and tourism and to act in a manner that entitles Britain to call itself “Great Britain”.

Mr Ravi, the General Secretary of the British Tamils Forum, thanked the crowd for attending and recalled the desperate attempts that the same crowd made – ultimately in vain – in 2009 to prevent the massacre, by demonstrating in Parliament Square for several weeks. He also commended the crowd’s brethren in Tamil Nadu, particularly thanking the students’ campaign for their support in the Tamil struggle. He urged the audience to continue to contribute in every way possible until Tamils win their freedom, reminding the crowd that “each Tamil has a part to play in the freedom struggle”.

The large turnout at the rally, the biggest since 2009, sends a clear message to the international community of the Tamil people’s undying yearning for freedom.

It was also announced that another event would be held in the coming weeks to commemorate the forthcoming 30th anniversary of the Black July massacre of 1983, and to draw attention to continuing acts of genocide by the Sri Lankan state –particularly the uprooting of Tamils from their traditional homelands throughland grabs.

‘Gossip Lanka’ block illegal – FMM

The blocking of two popular news websites in Sri Lanka ‘ Gossip Lanka’ (gossiplanka.lk ) and ‘ Gossip Lanka News’ ( gossiplankanews.com ) is completely illegal, says Sunil Jayasekara  the Secretary of Free Media Movement.

He made these comments responding to a question raised by ‘Sri Lanka Mirror’ regarding the blocking of the two websites.

He stated that there are no legal provisions in the prevailing constitution to regulate the activities of internet media including websites, blogs, facebook and twitter. Similarly, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission possess no authority to block websites, he said.

Telecommunications Regulatory Act was implemented to regulate the activities of Television channels and Radio channels and when the act was implemented the internet was not at such an advanced level.

The Director General of Telecommunications Regulatory Commission or the Secretary of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information do not possess authority to regulate internet and being involved in such activities is illegal, he added.

However, Free Media Movement have submitted a petition in Supreme Court regarding the ban on 5 other news websites. Even though the petition was rejected the court was unable provide a clear explanation on the grounds which it was rejected.

Therefore, there is no code of ethics passed by the parliament to regulate new media, Jayasekara stated.

Under this situation government is misusing government authorities to gain control or regulate the websites which criticize the government and the government has already banned several websits which expressed discontentment towards it.

Following the regulations implemented by the Ministry of Mass Media and Information ‘Gossip Lanka’ has been registered under the Ministry as a news website after paying an amount of Rs. 25,000. Therefore blocking the website without any prior notification is an extension of government’s media suppression, he noted.

- Sri Lanka Mirror

Mullivaikkal remembered in Malaysia

The 4th anniversary of Mullivaikkal was marked in Malaysia, as Tamils gathered in Selangor this weekend in memory of those killed.

 19 May 2013

Rural Realities Notwithstanding “Negumas” Of All Kinds

By Emil van der Poorten -May 19, 2013

Emil van der Poorten

I have, over several years past and in a variety of English-language publications, referred to the chaos and hypocrisy that faces anyone attempting to earn anything approaching a living or seeking to supplement one’s daily bread in the mid-country of Sri Lanka.

Recently a classmate from my days at Trinity from nearly sixty years ago, Cecil Dharmasena, wrote, in The Island newspaper, two very lucid descriptions of the chaos that passes for administration in what used to be the Department of Agriculture with reference, specifically to that scourge of the lowlands, Chronic Kidney Disease and another piece on a) the lack of any extension services to the small farmer and b) the hugely detrimental effect of the lack of any rational purchasing system for crops grown in one or both of the cultivation seasons.  I really don’t know whether “chaotic” would be the word to describe what comes out of a vacuum, but I’ll leave that differentiation to someone better versed in such semantics.

While, ideally, this piece should be read alongside those of Mr. Dharmasena, let me attempt to deal with what has been my experience and that of those who live in rural Sri Lanka in this particular neck of the woods, seeking to supplement what Cecil says rather than repeat any of it.

It seems that none of the local “development drives” amount to much more than tamashas to fete local politicians, their acolytes and visiting “dignitaries” and are conducted at significant expense with no return on such efforts except in the matter of boosting the egos of the organizers and their hangers-on.

Not so long ago, all the agricultural workers, both resident on estates in the area and in the informal “colonies” (originally squatter settlements on abandoned state-owned and administered estates), took the day off (without pay).  Why?  Because the local authority, with politicos of varies levels in attendance, were to distribute mosquito nets treated with insect repellent.  To cut a long story short, literally dozens of men and women spent the whole day at a designated location waiting for the nets to arrive, only to be told that the man who had the key to the room in which they were stored wasn’t available to unlock that storage!  In all fairness, a subsequent journey to the location resulted in the man (and key) being available to deliver the nets to those assembled.  What a whole day’s lost earnings mean to people barely eking out an existence can well be imagined.  Ah well, there’s no free lunch (or mosquito nets), for the poor and non-politicians, at least!

A while later, I find a three-wheeler parked at the foot of the Sal tree at our gate.  Three well-dressed individuals are in the process of alighting from it, two females and a male.  The male, it transpires, is an employee of the Pradeshiya Sabhawa or District Administration Office, is the owner-operator of the 3-wheeler and is, with the two dressed-for-office ladies, on a mission to encourage local residents to grow vegetables.  They come armed with a few home-garden size packets of seeds and have had some difficulty finding “the natives” and delivering the seeds and their message of the need for greater productivity.  The reason for this is fairly obvious: the “locals” who are productive are employed away from their homes and those they find at home are the parasitic layabouts who, basically, live off their more productive relations, generally a parent or parents, and have no desire to do anything except, maybe, look for their next drink of kasippu or what can be stolen from a neighbour!

In a pleasant and informal discussion with what could pass for “agricultural extension officers” in the current set-up, it is apparent that they are totally unaware of the fact that residents of the area have given up trying to grow anything considered edible by the monkeys, wild pigs, porcupine, and the giant, flying and palm squirrels in the area.  This means that anything growing above or below ground is subject to the depredations of these vermin, the control of which is not paid the slightest attention by those promoting food production of one description or another.  An illustration would not be out of place here.  When I offered plantain suckers to the locals at no charge, the response was a deafening “Nyet” accompanied by the rhetorical question, “Why would we want to grow things by the sweat of our brow purely to meet the dietary requirements of our simian, rodent and porcine neighbours?”  Given rural economics in the mid-country of Sri Lanka, this is hardly a matter for any measure of jocularity, though, because these peasants and their forbears, long before employment as wage-slaves in the middle east was an option, supplemented whatever wage they earned with produce from their home gardens and their fruit and other trees.  This kind of “supplementation” had a significant impact on their budgets.  Today, they are reduced to buying jak fruit at a vegetable stall in a local town because the monkeys strip the trees in their yards bare and they don’t even bother to grow anything like beans or other garden vegetables because none of that is free from the attention of these and other vermin.

On one occasion, when I spoke to a senior Grama Niladhari who is an avid supporter of the various “Negumas,” he said there were plans to deliver monkey traps to deal with that pest.  However, the logistics of trapping monkeys, having them re-located etc. etc. had not even been considered.  And rightly so, because no one seemed to know where the monkey traps were and how they were to be obtained.  My rural neighbours treated this “solution” with the contempt it deserved.  As a footnote to the “trap project,” a while after the initial excitement, I was told that a monkey trap had been dropped off at an office in a neighbouring jurisdiction, that it was in need of major repairs to be made operational, that those repairs were not affected and that, after sitting around for some months, it was removed by whoever brought it there in the first place!

I have previously referred to the havoc that the so-called “land reform” of the late Hector Kobbekaduwa has wreaked on our neighbourhoods.  Agriculturally-productive land has ended up as vast savannahs of that abomination, guinea grass, which was originally introduced as cattle fodder but has ended up an ecological disaster and an intrusive nuisance of monumental proportions in the absence of ANYTHING that will consume it.  Of course, when I was visiting what used to be (40 years ago) the highest-yielding coconut estate in the Kurunegala district for another purpose, I was informed that they were expecting a herd of high-yielding Australian dairy cows to graze under the coconut trees.  When I inquired where the fodder for these bovines was going to come from since the ground under the coconut trees had nary a blade of grass or other vegetation,  I was told, “Oh! We will grow some grass.”  One would have thought that in the import of exotic, expensive dairy cattle the need for fodder grass would have been factored in.  However, this was obviously not the case in our Paradise Isle where the commission on the purchase of the cows was probably the single most important element of this particular “dairy enterprise.” If I hadn’t hear this story from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, I would have accused them of trying to compete with Baron Munchausen.  However, as they say in dear old Sri Lanka, “I heard it with my own ears!”

As for the “Neguma” related to the supply of electricity, that utility only became a reality in our neighbourhood because the “locals” cleared the entire path for the power line and carried the power poles to their locations beyond the transformer.  Thereafter, the supply has been so erratic that the standard practice is to keep a small flashlight in one’s pocket so that you are not stranded in the dark whenever the lights go out!

Two Sundays before today, the local residents banded together to make a part of our road motorable  again because all those providing transport up the hill were threatening yet another hike in their already astronomically-high rates for transporting people and goods up or down the 2 kilometres of road that are used by the local Pradeshiya Sabhawa and abused six times a day by its tractor hauling garbage to a completely illegal dump situated outside its jurisdiction.  Needless to add that local authority does ABSOLUTELY NO MAINTENANCE on that road, despite promises, spread over ten years, that “soon, we’ll repair the road!”  In most parts of the civilized world, citizens doing anything to public roads would probably be considered targets for criminal prosecution.  In rural Sri Lanka, at least, such “criminal” conduct is a necessary for survival!

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that much of what is being done by volunteer labour is clearly within the responsibility of the various levels of government.  However, as someone once said, “When you are up to your arse in alligators, it’s tough to think of draining the swamp.”  That said, how long do those living in the hinterlands of the country have to perform the tasks for which budgetary allocations exist in the various levels of government, particularly when the money that should be spent to provide ESSENTIAL services to the citizenry is being drained into the pockets of politicians and their acolytes?

Not alone in fight, Malik tells Tamils

Sunday, 19 May 2013

The visit of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik to Cuddalore on Saturday for a public meeting organised by the Naam Tamizhar Katchi witnessed high drama, with the police denying permission for the event.

Malik later spoke at an indoor meeting held as part of a day-long pro-Eelam symposium by the Seeman-led party.

Pointing at similarities between the struggles in Kashmir and Sri Lanka, Malik said, “You are not alone in this struggle. We are together. Our sufferings are the same. I am here to show solidarity with the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, who are affected by war. But unfortunately, the permission to the public meeting was withdrawn at midnight. It is undemocratic.”

Malik said military operation was launched against the Tamils in Sri Lanka while the dialogue process was on and accused the army of killing thousands of people there.

“You can kill people but you cannot kill the idea and the ideology. It will pass on to the younger generation. Throughout world history, no freedom movement was defeated. Right now, Kashmir is the most militarised zone in the world. Every military option was used to break the will of the people there but they could not succeed,” Malik said. He urged Gandhians to protest against the massacre in Sri Lanka.

“We all should come together to oppose the imperialist power in the whole world,” he said.

Earlier on Friday night, the police cancelled the permission for the party’s public meeting at Manjakuppam ground and pulled down several banners and hoardings put up by the cadre carrying pictures of the slain LTTE chief V Prabakaran.

On Saturday morning, Seeman and other leaders, along with Malik, arrived at the marriage hall for the day-long event and went into a huddle. Seeman then invited Malik to speak at the indoor meet.

Later in the evening, Seeman urged youngsters at the gathering to sport Prabakaran’s pictures on their shirts, cars and motorbikes proclaiming that “Prabhakaran and Veerappan are our leaders. For others, Prabhakaran is a terrorist and Veerappan is thief. But they are our leaders”.

He added, “I am working hard to bring together the people of Tamil Nadu under one banner: Tamils. They should drop their caste identities and should unite as Tamils.”

A heavy posse of police was deployed at the venue of the meeting.

A little after 10 pm, even as Seeman was speaking, policemen entered the meeting hall and asked the crowd to disperse. This was followed by a scuffle between the policemen and the partymen and a round of slogan-shouting by the members against the police. However, Seeman appealed for calm and left the venue following which the crowd dispersed.

Courtesy - New Indian Express

‘Idea of the Tamil struggle cannot be killed’: Kashmiri Leader

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 May 2013, 07:51 GMT]

“Using military operation, they can silence the voice for a time being, they cannot kill the ideology and idea. They cannot defeat ideology and ideas with military means,” Yasin Malik, Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) said in an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Saturday. Speaking from Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu where he had gone to address the public in solidarity with the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance Day event organized by the Naam Tamizhar party, he further said that if the international community thinks that it can suppress people’s movement through military means, peace and security cannot be achieved in the world. “If they want peace and stability in the world, then they will have to resolve the people’s issues. Otherwise, the people across the globe, who are the voiceless people, they will get together and they will form their own strategy,” the Kashmiri leader said. 

Mr. Malik was scheduled to speak at a public space and permission had been obtained by the Naam Tamizhar party to hold the event. 

In a last minute action, the Tamil Nadu police denied permission to hold the gathering in open public and also prevented a rally by hundreds of Naam Tamizhar activists, Umar Khayan, activist with Islamic Youth Movement Against Genocide and a speaker at the event told TamilNet, condemning this action of the police. 

However, the organizers shifted the venue of the event to NT Mahal, a marriage hall, and it proceeded successfully. 

Along with Yasin Malik, Naam Tamizhar leaders and activists, and activists from the Tamil Nadu Muslim community spoke at the event, strongly asserting the sovereignty of the Eezham Tamil nation and condemning the on-going genocide. 

Mr. Malik’s speech at the event was enthusiastically received by the Tamil audience, sources said.

Mr. Malik, the chairman of a faction of the JKLF, was a former militant leader in the thick of the Kashmiri insurgency in the late 80s. Arrested by the Indian forces in the early 90s, he is reported to have endured severe physical and psychological torture in detention centres in Kashmir.

Following his release, Mr. Malik has advocated a non-violent struggle to arrive at a honourable settlement to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. 

Full text of TamilNet’s interview with Mr. Malik follows:

TamilNet: You are a Kashmiri leader who has a very long experience in the Kashmiri independence struggle. How do you look at the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation in May 2009 and which is continuing even till now?

Yasin Malik: It is unfortunate when the whole of Tamils were engaged in a dialogue and peace process and there was international engagement going on through the Norwegian government when the military operation was started against them. Thousands of people died, including the old, women and children. It cannot be justified in anyway and it was a completely brutal operation. 

Today, when I came here in solidarity with all those people who have been killed in the conflict, the state government gave the permission and then they withdrew the permission. This shows their undemocratic manner. But I’ve seen the people who are conscious of the struggle, a democratic struggle, across the globe, and through a military operation their will cannot be broken. 

You can kill individuals, you cannot kill romanticism and ideas. People of Tamils in Sri Lanka, who are fighting for their democratic rights, I hope they will get their democratic rights sooner or later. In history, no freedom struggle in the world has ever been defeated. 

Yes, you can kill the individual. But killing individuals is not your victory. Question is that romance and idealism, and this I have very much found in the Tamil people here in Tamil Nadu for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. It is a people’s movement, it is not terrorism. When it is people’s movement, the government and state must realize that they will have to deal with the people. 

Using military operation, they can silence the voice for a time being, they cannot kill the ideology and idea. They cannot defeat ideology and ideas with military means. 

TamilNet: India and Pakistan, they have many differences on many issues. But when it comes to the national question of the Eezham Tamils, they are supporting the genocidal Sri Lankan state in its oppression of the Eezham Tamil nation. 

Yasin Malik: I do not know much about which country was involved. Primary thing is that it is the Sri Lankan government who used military operation. Any country, whosoever, who supported them, I believe that where there is a people’s struggle, a democratic struggle, it needs to be resolved. It cannot be defeated through military means. For the rest, I do not know who was involved there and who was not. But as far as the Sri Lankan government is concerned, they cannot bail out themselves from what happened. While the Tamil people were engaged in dialogue with them, the military operation was launched. 

TamilNet: In the current scenario, there are many oppressed nations without states in South Asia. Tamils, Kashmiris, the people in the North-East of India, the people in Tibet, and many other places. But the entire global powers do not recognize these movements as movements for national liberation. What should the oppressed nations do?

Yasin Malik: I will tell you one thing. If the international community thinks they can suppress the people’s movement through military means, I don’t think we can achieve peace and security in the world. If they want peace and stability in the world, then they will have to resolve the people’s issues. Otherwise, the people across the globe, who are the voiceless people, they will get together and they will form their own strategy. So I hope that the international community will sit and realize the seriousness of the situation. They cannot defeat the people through military might. If they want peace, stability, they will have to resolve the issues. Otherwise there will be no peace and stability in the world. Peace cannot be created in vacuum. Peace needs a solid foundation. The foundation is, if there are conflicts, the conflicts need to be resolved according to the aspirations of the people of those regions. 

Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal survivor speaks out

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2013, 11:51 GMT]
Mrs Ananthi Sasitharan, who personally witnessed Sri Lanka military taking away her husband, Mr Elilan, a political leader of the LTTE, at the end the Vanni War in May 2009, speaks out her experience from a civilian point of view and as a mother caring for her children during the war and the genocidal onslaught. Still living in Vanni, at Ki'linochchi, the 46-year-old mother of three is also running an organization that seeks to establish what had happened to their beloved ones. The SL State is still refusing to reveal the fate of those who were filtered away from the civilians and taken into buses to undisclosed detention camps. The narration of the survivor of the genocidal massacre, told with courage from Ki'linochchi, brings out the spirit and courage of a people who stood with their liberation fighters until the last moment. TamilNet brings out a 40-minute recount by Mrs Sasitharan. 



Ananthi tells how the people were displaced, from place to place, into the No Fire Zone; how they were systematically targeted using Kfir fighter jets, Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher artillery and 5-inch shells that scorched the people momentarily following the explosions; how the firepower of the advancing SL military targeted the people from all the directions and where the LTTE positioned itself. 

Her account is a slap on the face of the Establishments, their outfits and the authors seeking to create and sustain the myth of the so-called ‘human shields’, ridiculing a people who stood up with a courage and hope. 

It also reveals the trust the people had in the humanity of the world, including their expectation that the United Nations would intervene to bring about a just solution. 

The people were not aware that the International Community of Establishments was experimenting a genocide-bomb in Vanni. 

“None among the Tamil people [who stood at Mu’l’livaaykkaal] thought that we would face total destruction. Even on 17th and on 18th May, we were hoping for a just solution through an intervention by the United Nations or any other country,” she says. 

Even at the last moment, people were longing for freedom. There was a hope among the people that under the leadership of the United Nations, the USA would not abandon them, she says. 

“But, the people waiting for outside intervention were slain even at the final hours.” 

During the times of the Tigers, we didn’t think about castes or religions. We were all Tamils. That is how were used to be, she tells. 

“Now, the entire society is under destruction,” she feels.

The account also brings out how the Tamil fighters took care of their people when world humanity of 21st century failed in comprehending the nature of the genocidal war.

Sri Lanka Retreats Into The Dark Ages

By Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena -May 19, 2013 

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena

As lights are dimmed over Sri Lanka following prohibitively crushing electricity hikes, the enveloping darkness is menacingly symbolic of the crisis which our society is facing.

This is even as the politically privileged siphon off massive amounts of money for useless extravaganzas, including an airport in the deep South to which overseas airlines are reportedly suspending operations, not long after a grand ceremonial opening. Wastage on luxury cars and other expenses associated with the upcoming Commonwealth summit is all part of the same excruciatingly painful pattern.

Indeed, we appear to be coming uncannily close to Uganda-like madness in the age of Idi Amin, minus the famously hyped cannibalism. Dissent is crushed or petrified and the economy groans under the unbearable weight of increasing debts by government entities to state banks. Verily, it does not take a soothsayer to predict our dismal future.

Lack of proactive thinking by the opposition

As part of this general chaos, the main opposition United National Party added more grist to the mill of its gleeful detractors by announcing that abolition of the Executive Presidency would not form part of its constitutional reform proposals. Instead, the powers vested therein would be curtailed. Moreover, somewhat peculiarly combining some features of the earlier ceremonial version of this Office, it has been proposed that the incumbent would need to step down from active politics (Daily Mirror Online, Thursday 16th May 2013).

It is predictable that the UNP, under this leadership, would be reluctant to give up its claim to the Presidency which it birthed but which, since then, has been found to be so disastrously wrong for Sri Lanka. This once mammoth party is now fundamentally crippled in terms of its political credibility. Its careless abandonment of a campaign plank that has substantive political resonance is therefore unsurprising.

Reacting to the Government’s diversionary tactics

Certainly this Government remains uniquely privileged in that its opposition (political party as well as general civil society) can only react weakly to each diversionary tactic advanced by it rather than proactively provoke the ruling party. In that sense, the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) is an extremely successful ploy to divert attention from corruption, mismanagement and creeping militarization of the governance process.

The BBS indeed stated a few days ago that it would step into the streets with canes to take action against traders who, as they said, ‘inappropriately’ display the message of Vesak through cards, lanterns or the like. Such claims would have rightly been dismissed as the lunatic fringe if not for the patronage that this group enjoys at the highest political levels. Vesak is the traditional festival of lights symbolizing the purest inner serenity which Buddhism signifies.

Against this, the imagery of rowdy monks brandishing canes in order to mete out summary justice to unfortunates who offend their notion of what is ‘appropriate’ is anathema. So we are to assume that it is the BBS which will decide, in their infinitely perverted wisdom, that a particular action is religiously ‘appropriate’ or not? There are, of course, laws dealing with such matters and courts of law to adjudicate into relevant disputes. But these seem mere irrelevancies under this Government.

Retreating from protecting liberties

In any event, the law has been stripped of all meaning. Courts are retreating from previously steadfast protection of individual liberties and advising moreover that disputes between persons and government institutions should be settled between themselves. The public’s role in regard to the abdication of the Court’s constitutional role is a matter that we will return to later. As an ousted Chief Justice is further humiliated before a Bribery and Corruption Commission which turns a Nelsonian eye meanwhile to the gargantuan corruption by government politicians, we retreat to the Dark Ages, metaphorically as well as literally.

Generally, (though this has been historically challenged as being too sweeping a generalization), the Dark Ages denotes a period devoid of intellectual reason in early medieval Europe, where critical thinkers were scarce on the ground. Blind religious dogma dominated thought. In contrast, the Renaissance which followed brought a burst of exuberant rationality accompanied by religious and cultural freedom, relatively speaking.

Totally inappropriate use of the PTA

But Sri Lanka appears to have little reason to look forward to a Renaissance of its own. And those who remain naively surprised by the arrest of Muslim politician Azath Salley under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) must be reminded that leftist political activists of Sinhalese ethnicity were among the first persons arrested after the PTA was enacted in 1979. Down the years, the PTA was excessively abused, not only in relation to individuals of Tamil ethnicity suspected of terrorism but also in regard to Sinhalese and Muslim dissenters. In bolder times, we had the Supreme Court authoritatively intervening in such instances.

In one particularly egregious case for example, the arrest and detention of a senior customs officer was ruled to be unconstitutional by the Court on the basis that there was no reasonable suspicion established of any unlawful activity on his part, (Weerawansa v Attorney General ((2000) 1 SLR 387). The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had merely informed the Defence Minister, (then President Chandrika Kumaratunge) of willfully false and unreasonable conclusions, thereby misleading her into issuing the warrant. The Court found that there was no independent exercise of judgment by her.

Utilising solid precedents uniformly 

These are solid precedents that need to be uniformly applied regardless of the political colour of the establishment. And relevantly to public scrutiny of the judicial role thereof, a friend sent me a message last week conveying several interesting questions advanced by a reader of this column. One of these questions which is immediately relevant here, is as to whether a judicial order can be discussed in the public domain on its legal merits/demerits without fear of contempt charges? These are issues that have been examined previously in detail in these column spaces. Suffice to reiterate however that fair and reasonable critique of judgments is very much part of the democratic process. Openness of adjudication processes buttresses the maxim that ‘justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done’ and promotes three important aspirational attributes of the judiciary, namely, impartiality, accessibility and effectiveness. Public scrutiny of the judiciary constitutes moreover a democratic check on judges who exercise public power.

Dispelling ignorance through reason

Yet while judgments may be scrutinized, scurrilous and unwarranted attacks on the judiciary are prohibited. And in deciding these questions, competing interests of an individual’s right to critique the judgments and the judiciary as against the collective need to safeguard the administration of justice, are carefully balanced. These are salutary principles that were sought to be incorporated into a Sri Lankan Contempt of Court law some years ago. This law has yet not seen the light of day. Yet India has such a law. Public criticism of judgments in that country as well as in Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh is robust. It is only Sri Lanka which lags behind, yet again.

In conclusion, it must be said that the Dark Ages was dispelled only by reason and intellect. By this, I do not mean dry and infertile preoccupations around the conference table but rather, the exercise of vibrant intellect that leads to practical challenge of the political and religious orthodoxy, without personal agendas.

Sri Lanka needs such men and women of unrelenting bravery in these dark times. Perhaps then, with time and resoluteness, our Renaissance will dawn. Or at least, we can hope.