HASTE, SHOWN TO BAN THE LTTE UNILATERALLY IS NOT SHOWN TO REDRESS THE GRIEVANCES OF THE TAMIL COMMUNITY, IN SRI LANKA

1) It looks very unfortunate, unreasonable and unethical, when Sri Lanka, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country with a diverse and rich culture has a constitution to impose the will of the Singhalese majority on the Tamil minority.

It emphasises that only a Buddhist Singhalese could be the ruler, Buddhism could be the State religion, Singhalese could be the official language, Buddha statues could be erected at random anywhere in the island, colonization of Tamil areas by Singhalese could be done at State expense, and a contrived standardization procedure to enter higher education could be enforced to benefit the Singhalese with the suppression of Tamil children who thrive on education, whilst the past historical records or the archaeological evidences of the country are tampered with on the sly, with surreptitious interpolations to be advantageous to the Singhalese community.

2) By virtue of the fact that democracy does not prevail in Sri Lanka under the dominance of Singhalese race, Singhalese language and Buddhist religion, Tamils have a very legitimate desire, as anybody else would, to control their own lives, to rule their own destinies, and to govern themselves in their homeland, in the areas they have traditionally inhabited and to be independent as they were before the advent of Colonial rulers in the year 1505.

3) International communities have recognized the existences and independence of UN Member States like Israel, Bangladesh and so on in the past or East Timor from Indonesia in year 2002, State of Eritrea from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993, Atoll of Atafu the last colony of New Zealand with not even 1500 people in March 2006, and Republic of Montenegro from Serbia and Montenegro on 3 June 2006.

4) In Sri Lanka, of approx. 65,610 sq.km, we can have two States, to conform to the accepted international norms and standard, without contravening the United Nations Charter. A few of the UN Member States actually smaller than either the future Sinhalese Sri Lanka approx. 46,777 sq.km. Or the Thamileelam approx. 18,833 sq.km (in order of Area) are as follows:
Fiji, Kuwait, Swaziland, East Timor, Vanuatu, Qatar, Gambia The, Jamaica, Lebanon, Cyprus, Brunei, Cape Verde, Luxembourg, Comoros, Mauritius, Singapore, Atoll of Atafu and so on.

5) It is recorded history that there were three kingdoms namely Yarlpanam, Kandy and Kotte in Sri Lanka, (formerly Ceylon), when colonial rule began with the arrival of Portuguese in 1505, followed by the arrival of Dutch in the 17th century.

On replacement of the Dutch by the British in 1796, and after the fall of the kingdom of Kandy in 1815, the three kingdoms were unified into a single political entity of a crown colony, by the British in 1818 for their administrative convenience.

6) The British, the architects who designed the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948, failed to restore the status quo of the different kingdoms that existed previously or at least to enshrine adequate commitment in the Constitution to safeguard the basic and fundamental rights of the Tamils or to fulfil any of their aspirations (which they later regretted at the passing of Sinhala only Bill and consequent turn of events against the Tamils).

7) On 6th of June 1956, Singhalese only bill was passed arbitrarily together with the Buddhism only policy and the peaceful Satyagrahas held in protest by Tamil MPs were suppressed by the Singhalese in Colombo and Gal Oya Valley, killing in hundreds, and wounding many including Tamil MPs. Hooligans and rowdies who were set upon the Tamil MPs while they sat on the Galle Face Green in a silent protest, bit their ears, beat them up mercilessly, besides humiliating and robbing the innocent Tamils walking along the roads, on that day.

8) The Sinhala violence against Tamils started in 1956 was repeated in May 1958, when murder, rape, destruction of properties of Tamils and brutal barbarism were unleashed on innocent Tamils Island wide, except North-East and the then Sinhala Prime Minister purposely delayed declaring Emergency Regulations to curb the mayhem thus giving Sinhala thugs and hoodlums more time for genocide of Tamils.

9) The Republican Singhalese Constitution of 1972, robbed the minorities of even the scanty safeguards against discrimination provided under Section 29 of the Soulbury Constitution, introduced at independence in 1948.

10) In 1974, the World Tamil research conference held in Jaffna was attacked by the police, without any provocation whatsoever, killing nine persons and injuring many more.

11) On 20th September 1977, upcountry estates elections were followed up by a racial massacre by the Singhalese and between 250 to 300 Tamil citizens had lost their lives while many were injured.

12) In Jaffna, on the nights of May 31st /June 1st, and on June 1st and 2nd in the year 1981, Singhalese armed forces burnt the office of a Tamil newspaper, the home of the member of parliament for Jaffna and the Public Library with about 97,000 valuable volumes, which included numerous culturally important and irreplaceable manuscripts books, besides killing about 10 and injuring many.

13) On May 11th, 1983, unprovoked attack on the Tamil Students at Peradeniya University took place with weapons like knives, ropes, steel rods, cycle chains, and wooden rods from broken chairs and tables by the Singhalese students for 3 consecutive days.

14) George Washington, a fighter against the Great Britain, led the American War of Independence. Mahatma Gandhi of India led the struggle for freedom from the British. Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman led the war against West Pakistan for the freedom of East Pakistan (Bangladesh). Nelson Mandela of South Africa led the struggle for freedom from the British. None of the countries have ever branded these leaders as terrorists.

15) On 23rd July 1983, as a retaliatory action for the atrocities wielded over the Tamils since independence by the Singhalese government, Tamil militants killed 13 Singhalese soldiers in ambush which triggered a Tamil Holocaust in all the Singhalese provinces whereby about 3,000 Tamils were killed, 53 Tamil detainees were slaughtered by jail guards in the Welikade Jail, over 100,000 were displaced to NE, with a mass exodus of the Tamils to the foreign countries while the belongings and properties of Tamils were both looted and burnt to ashes.

16) Former President J.R.Jeyawardana masterminded a ploy to crush the Tamil militants by the IPKF, by signing the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 29th July, 1987 with Rajiv Gandhi, which turned into a complete fiasco.

Because the Tamils rejected the Peace Accord as it did not fulfil their aspirations, a division in opinion erupted between the LTTE and the Govt of India paving the way for an open confrontation with a guerrilla war against the Indian army for 2 years.

In collusion with the Indian Government sponsored Tamil renegades, IPKF went on a killing spree of anyone who exhibited his/or her aspirations for equal rights, did not submit to their extortions of money, and who sheltered, fed or financed the militants.

Crimes included three-prong combined attacks by the IPKF comprising army, navy and the air force involving firing, aerial strafing, cannonade and shelling. Even on 21st October 1987, a Diwali day alone, more than hundred innocent Tamil civilians were killed, by the IPKF.

On a perusal and scrutiny of the chronicle of events that took place as from the date of arrival to the date of departure of the IPKF, it would be evident that the IPKF landed in Sri Lanka under the subterfuge of peace makers to disintegrate the infrastructure of the freedom struggle of Tamils.

A murderous attack on the Jaffna hospital by the IPKF was the worst, besides their conscriptions, reprisal killings of non-combatants, rape, looting of homes and the killing of a number of unarmed and disarmed guerrilla suspects in breach of the Laws of War without trial. Temples, Churches, Schools, refugee camps, business establishments and houses were also prone to indiscriminate attacks of the so called peace keepers.

When the Indian troops fought an inconclusive war with the Tigers, Ranasinghe Premadasa was elected in 1988 as Jayawardene�s successor, who joined hands with the Tamils, had negotiations and secured the withdrawal of the Indian troops in early 1990.

But when the Tamils heaved a sigh of relief when the IPKF left, to their utter dismay and despair unfortunately, the war erupted afresh between LTTE and Sri Lankan forces within a few months in 1990.

17) Since 1983 over the years to date, in the war that ensued between the armed forces and the Tamil militants in the Tamil territories, churches, temples, schools, refugee camps, houses and business establishments were bombed and destroyed killing, wounding, maiming or mangling in hundreds including children while leaving behind children orphaned and men and women widowed.

At this juncture, it has to be pointed out that, during the insurgencies of the Singhalese JVP extremists, the government�s forces never resorted to such tactics in the Singhalese areas, in consideration of the safety of the Singhalese civilians.

18) In the year 2002, people heaved a sigh of relief on the enactment of CFA on 22/02/2002. But within months, Karuna, one of the most trusted erstwhile confidants of LTTE militants, to escape justice from the movement because of his embezzlement of tens of millions of movement funds, murdering fellow cadres, sexual escapades and abuse of female cadres, slipped into the hands of the Singhalese armed forces with a pledge to damage the reputation of the LTTE by pursuing his vendetta against it until it is crushed.

He was spared on his pledge and his surrender impelled the armed forces to sideline the peace process, break the truce that prevailed by virtue of the CFA and embark afresh on violent activities shattering the peaceful atmosphere that existed in the country.

Karuna was admitted into the government sponsored paramilitary groups, the growth of which is being fostered with ulterior motive at state expense with corpulent remunerations and perquisites.

The Tamil community in Sri Lanka is obsessed nowadays with a fear psychosis due to the dreadful terror that prevails among them by the existences of the SL Government sponsored Paramilitary groups comprising Tamil renegades.

19) His Excellency the President (Mahinda Rajapakse) on his determination to capture power in 2005, jettisoned all the aspirations of the Tamils for peace by prioritizing war, with his own ideology called �Mahinda Chinthanaya� which emphasizes �no Norway, no federal constitution, no right to Homeland, no self-determination, no nation-hood for Tamils, no PTOMS, no recognition of anyone as sole partner in negotiation and no Oslo as venue for talks� and bagged the coveted post with a combination of circumstances, his hawkish stance against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and solid backing from the Buddhist monks' party Jathika Hela Urumaya and the Marxist-nationalist party Janatha Vimukti Peramuna.

20) The para-paramilitary groups in collusion with the Singhalese armed forces go on a killing spree when they come across any Tamil who exhibits his/or her aspirations for equal rights or do not submit to their extortions of money. Further, they do not even hesitate to stray into the Tamil territories yearning for sexual relations under coercion or to cast lewd remarks under the guise of searching for hidden bombs.

Furthermore, they indulge in abduction or killing of prominent, erudite and intellectual personnel among Tamils to subdue them and suppress their aspirations. Moreover, they have not released yet the humanitarian aid personnel of TRO whom they had abducted nearly nine months ago and their fate is not known still.

Regional and Super powers both overtly and covertly help the hawkish Singhalese government from time to time militarily, and provide military training to the Sri Lankan top army brasses and share military and naval intelligence with the Sri Lankan armed forces.

21) During the regime of the very first Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, in the very first year of independence 1948 itself, one million Tamils were made stateless and denied voting rights by the Citizenship Act and Election Amendment Act, to be the very first blatant racial discrimination against the Tamils.

Half million Tamils were forcibly expelled to India under Srimao- Shastri Pact in the sixties.

Further, in spite of the fact that, all the accords and pacts such as the Bandaranayake � S.J.V.Selvanayagam Pact of 1957, Dudley Senanayake - S.J.V.Selvanayagam Pact of 1965 and the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 were all abrogated by the National Singhalese protests, Indian bureaucracy inhumanely with some ulterior motives is trying to mislead the world time and again, that a political resolution is feasible.

22) India was supportive of the division of Pakistan into West and East, but in the case of Sri Lankan Tamils, it is aiding and abetting the Singhalese rulers to discriminate and deny the basic human rights of them. It is hesitating relentlessly and vehemently to facilitate a settlement and this may be, among other reasons, due to an untenable and unfounded fear that it could spur the Tamils in India to enhance their political demands.

LTTE merchant ships were sunk in international waters with logistics provided by the Indian navy. Joint naval patrols are being conducted in certain key and vulnerable areas. India had provided military training to the Sri Lanka�s top army brasses in Indian defence colleges and shared military and naval intelligence with the Sri Lankan armed forces, especially the Navy. And also it has transpired that India has gifted indigenously made Indra radars.

India with vested interest wants the freedom struggle of Sri Lankan Tamils to be resolved, only under the control of its own stooges and other renegades and quislings who are supportive of its cause.

23) The Singhalese regime brazenly with impunity amasses sophisticated weaponry and armaments, besides multi-barrel guns, naval ships and war planes reserving funds enormously in the budget for war, in addition to other foreign aids from parties with vested interest, to crush only the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Kfir (bomber plane) is the one of the arsenal used by the Sri Lakan government to bomb Tamil villages. It has been used by Sri Lankan government since 1998, and it caused several Tamils to lose their lives. Kfir (bomber plane) is used by nations such as Israel, US, Ecuador, Colombia, and Sri Lanka. Sri Lakan government is well known for its human right violations, but still US approved Israel to sell this disaster weapon to Sri Lanka, only to annihilate the Sri Lankan Tamil community.

24) It has to be borne in mind that �Law is made for the man and not man for the law�. Terrorist Laws are framed by the International powers only to check the so called international terrorists whom they have augmented by terrorizing the weaker nations, who now in return pose a threat to them just like a home reared ram daring to gore the chest.

Terrorist laws are not meant to crush the freedom struggle of any racial community within its territory in a country, when it is in strict adherence to the accepted international norms and standard, and the United Nations Charter.

25) In Canada, when Irish could have raised funds for IRA, Jews could have raised funds for the independence struggle from Britain, Sikhs could have raised funds for Sikh separatists in Punjab, it is not understood as to why the Tamil Diaspora that escaped from the civil war should not raise funds, to support their family, kith and kin, and friends at back home.

This alone would go to substantiate that the world is normally not ruled by justice, but by the powers with vested interest and strong view that mighty is righteous.

26) As necessity has no laws, it is quite natural for the Tamil Diaspora who bitterly resent with anger the atrocities wielded over the Tamils by the Sri Lankan government, to have a feeling that the Tamils in their war-torn region should acquire some missiles in self-defence that can bring down the war planes used to bomb the Tamils to kill them in their territories.

A bounden duty is encumbered on the Tamil Diaspora to be mindful of their kith and kin and brethren displaced or in desperate plight, within their homeland under the aggression of the Sinhalese armed forces and to help them in whatever way possible to alleviate their physical and mental sufferings on humanitarian grounds as they are gratefully mindful of the fair and humane treatment meted out to them by the countries of adoption on humanitarian grounds.

27) As quoted by Eric Margolis, in Toronto Sun, on 27 August 2006, Peter Ustinov's brilliant maxim emphasizes that "Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich."

Sri Lankan government, under the patronage of super powers by being a pet in their hands, roams around even it commits worst terrorism in Tamil homeland without being checked, until the Tamil community is exterminated gradually but steadily.

28) It smacks of double standard and hypocrisy, when the Co-Chairs (of the Tokyo Donor Conference for Sri Lanka Peace Process comprising the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Norway), stipulate in common that, both parties should cease hostilities immediately and return to the negotiation table knowing very well that, the LTTE is always ready, but the Government is not ready with its hawkish policies.

29) The poisonous term, "terrorism," has become a propaganda weapon to demonize the LTTE which is not at all an international organisation, but only an organization within the Tamil territory struggling for the basic rights of the Tamils. Their way of struggle is a tactic, and cannot be labelled as terrorism.

It is utmost stupidity to attempt to cure the symptom instead of the root cause of the disease. Any freedom struggle or terrorism is a symptom of an underlying cause of an unjust system, aggression or denial of rights and they would automatically vanish once the root causes for the conflict are eliminated.

Though the US and many other powerful countries openly reiterate that they support the grievances of the Tamils and their full autonomy for them in Sri Lanka, they do not at all take any actions or initiative to be constructive to thwart the atrocities of the Sri Lankan government wielded against the Tamils or its mass killings of Tamils by bombing and shelling in the Tamil territories with that haste they resorted to ban the LTTE. Bare words butter no parsnips.

Those regional and super powers accusing others of terrorism are often far more guilty of it themselves as seen now for instance, by banning the LTTE they have enabled the Singhalese government to take the upper hand that lead to the resumption of war but instead they could have very well coerced both parties to adhere strictly to the CFA of 22/02/2002.

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