The need of the hour in the homeland of the Tamils in the North and East of Sri-Lanka is the alleviation of human suffering and stopping the degrading treatment meted out to the indigenous Tamil population by the army and the government.

Before any intermediaries attempt to bring peace to the country both parties should make it a point to assure that people who are the target of the peace arrangements are happy and feel safe in their homes and in refugee shelters or under trees. All humans in the N&E are in a state of suspense and uncertainty as to what will happen the next moment-immediate future. They cannot trust the Sri-Lankan government because it has failed them badly. There is no guarantee of protection from the UN, Norway, the all powerful US or the EU. All these talk about peace is illusory/hypocrisy and the Tamils all over the world are perplexed over this indifference of the conscientious community of the world.

It is also true that the Norway brokered peace accord of 2002 has not been implemented by the parties concerned and that the world community and the world watch dogs, UN, UNHCR and UNICEF etc as well as the Tamil community, were aloof to the dangers of such a lapse.

The penalty for such neglect is the cost of valuable lives, nearly 5-6000 deaths and serious human rights violations in Eelam. People in white vans without vehicle registration number plates and motor bike riding personnel in helmets to hide their identity are committing daily 5-10 extra-judicial killings in the Northern Jaffna peninsular and a major part of East of Sri-Lanka that are under the control of the Sri-Lankan forces. They carry on regardless the killing spree even when curfew is on. Innocent people are being indiscriminately killed daily, irrespective of age or sex, in their homes day and night. Killed in their way to work, work places, shops, streets and even while worshipping in temples. Some of the executed are buried in unmarked graves, some half burnt to hide identity unless with the help of DNA tests which is not widely available in Sri-Lanka. Still others brutally killed are left on the streets for the cats, dogs and vultures to feast.

Additionally, the Sinhala politicians employ Tamil stooges and bought over Tamil para militaries to pose to the world as democratic and the purest of the pure when in fact they are treacherous. They colonise the Tamil’s homelands of the North and East and destroy their properties and infrastructure built over years of toil and moil. Multi barrel guns are fired aimlessly in all direction in the predominantly Tamil North and East on the certainty that those killed would be Tamils. Carpet bombs too are dropped in their homeland for the same purpose.

When the Sinhalese government fought the insurgency of the JVP of late Rohana Wijeweera in Sinhalese area they did not use multi-barrel guns or carpet bombs in Sinhala areas. If we look at the modus operandi of this war it is evident that the aim of the Sinhalese is to reduce the population of the indigenous Tamils either by killing them or by driving them as refugees elsewhere in the world. Failing which they think that the Tamils in the North and East can be subjugated through this terror tactics.

The Sinhala Government is harassing Non Governmental Organisationss (NGOs) who are engaged in humanitarian relief work in the war zones. The government is apprehensive that if it gives free access to these aid agencies to Tamil areas the government purpose of calculated genocide will be bungled. One of the tactics of genocide of the Sinhala government is blocking the delivery of medical aid and food rations to the North and East-the A9 main highway to the North. They tell all sorts of unfeasible excuses for blocking the NGO agencies in their relief mission. I quote from an article in the Economist of Oct 19th 2006 titled ‘War again in Sri Lanka’ “In an apparent bid to chase away nosy foreign aid groups, government troops allegedly executed 17 employees of a French agency, Action Against Hunger”.

If the Sri-Lankan government cannot deliver the basic relief needs of a sector of its population with the massive army whose manpower equals that of a super power like UK then it must give freedom to such people to govern themselves. This is simply because it has no support of the local population. The fascist government is purposely starving the peninsular population in order to punish them and exterminate them simply because they are of a different ethnicity-Tamils.

The closure of the A9 high way is an attempt to prevent free flow of food and social and other visiys of the ordinary Tamils. Can the IDP sustain themselves healthy on rations of wheat flour, dhall and dry fish for many months without other nutrient giving vegetables and fruits. Killing the Tamils after subjecting them to poor food and nutrition the prerequisites to remain healthy will result in the reduction of the population making way for the Sinhala army to bring in Sinhala thugs to settle in these areas and take on Tamil maids by force. It is the strategy that Alexander the Great did during the dark ages of European history; winning land by force and securing them through love.

Further, about 1/3 of the land in the Jaffna mainland has been converted into High Security Zones by the Sri-Lankan army/government for the last 30 years. The owners of the properties have been displaced and are refugees elsewhere without compensation etc. They have lost their live earnings and their source of livelihood as they have been uprooted by a cruel Sinhala regime that does not care for the Tamils. How long will the evicted house owners have to remain dispossessed is not clear? The government has not given them compensation or alternative housing.

Compare this treatment of the Tamils with the manner in which the Sinhalese people whose houses or lands were compulsorily acquired for government usage. They were given compensation and offered alternative accommodation and employment. The government is not sympathetic or considerate to Tamil citizens complaints against these Human Rights transgressions and there are nobody to speak for them either except Norway at this instance.

The economic activities of other members of Tamil community are similarly curtailed for a long time, nearly 50 years, without any thoughtfulness for their livelihood and human rights. Eg the members of the fishing industry. During the 1950’s when there was comparative normalcy in the N&E fishing industrialists exported their products to world markets.

Access for farmers to vast acreage of cultivable land in the peninsula that produced the staple food rice enough for the local population has been denied by the Sinhala forces because the government fears that the freedom fighters could pose as farm workers and kill them or land mine them. The Sri-lankan government in their heart of hearts wishes to starve the Tamils and make them dependant on imported wheat flower. Here again the basic rights of the Tamils, that of owning their property and growing their own food, are denied to the them in the North and East. This is unpardonable total punishment for the Tamil population who is suspected by the government of supporting the Tigers.

Ultimately, it is after heavy tragic loss of lives in Tamil Eelam, that their sorry plight and all the atrocities and duplicity of the successive Sinhala governments were exposed to the world. This was made possible through the determined effort of the expatriate Tamils who supports the freedom struggle along with level headed Sinhalese like Dr Brian Seniviratne etc. At present, the whole world and the supporters of the racist Sinhala regime have realised that the Sri-Lankan government is very adamant not to give in or even look into the just and fair demands of the Tamils for self-rule. Many diplomats and the UN have publicly declared that Tamils nation has been marginalised in the administration of their homelands after independence in 1948.

They insist that a viable political solution to give the Tamil self-rule should be found as soon as possible. However, the Sinhala government still thinks that it can drag this issue and finish the LTTE by military means. They think that if they finish the LTTE the problem of giving self rule to the Tamil will die away and they can assimilate the Tamils like the Tamils of Negambo who were absorbed into the Sinhalese community after the 1956 riots. The Tamils in these areas changed their names and now claim that they are from the Sinhala race.

Successive Sinhalese governments had been persistently oppressing Tamils. There are thousand of reports and articles on this point. One of such reports is that of Asian Human Rights Commission “Torture & Lawless Law Enforcement in Sri Lanka”-A shadow report to the UN Committee Against Torture, 10 November 2005.

Recently, the political tide has turned slowly in Tamil’s favour. Many ‘conscientious’ souls, such as New Jersey Congressman, Frank Pallone and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher strongly feel that the Tamils really have a political need denied by all the post independent Sinhala governments. Countries like India had stated that a political solution for self-rule of the Tamils in their traditional homeland should be found out for solving the present conflict between the two nations of Tamil and the Sinhalese.

The world feels that the present Sri-Lankan constitution is inadequate to give the Tamils the full protection under a huge sinhala majority in a democracy that vote on ethnic or communal lines. Professor S.A.D. Smith, considered a foremost authority on commonwealth constitutions has condemned the constitution of Sri Lanka and termed it as illegal. He condemned the governments of Sri Lanka for diluting the constitutions further to discriminate against the minorities, particularly the Tamils.

The assistant High Commissioner of U.K, Dominic John Chilcott has also stated that the constitution left behind by the British was not strong enough to protect the interests of minorities in the island.

What the educated Tamil people in Sri-Lanka and other patriotic Tamils overseas should do is to increase their diplomatic and media activities. Still there are Tamils in respectable positions in Sri-Lanka. They must carry on active propaganda against the government as well as criticising the inaction of the world community in the same way as Tamils Diaspora has been and are still carrying on.

1. The Tamils must pool their talents and lobby at world forums like the non-aligned nations UN, UNHCR, ICRC, Amnesty Internationale etc. The conscientious community of the world should requested to settle the dispute between the Tamils and Sinhalese over self-rule. They must recruit orators who will fight the Tamils cause unwaveringly whatever comes in their way like Swami Vivekanantha, Fidel Castro, Mujibur Rhaman of Bangaladesh and the LTTE leader Prabaharan.
2. The need of the hour is diplomacy to convince the world of our rights as Tamils to live in our homeland. This can only be brought by intelligent persuasion of the world polity. Strong wit and will power is necessary for the diplomats. We must collect a pool of expert in script writing and presentation and send them to canvas support for Eelam. Produce videos and films to portray our history in Sri-Lanka employing world known figures like Michael Woods and Michael Palin of the BBC. Some of the second generation expatriate Tamils are ignorant of our history and traditions and are loosing their foothold in Tamil culture and language. Thus we are loosing our future ambassadors. We must seek the help of those countries that had similar problems like ours eg. Bangaladesh, East Timor, Acha-Indonesia, Pasque -Spain Ireland-UK.
3. and Eritria. Able Tamil ambassadors should visit these countries, clarify our sincere desire for self rule and win their confidence and support. It is useless wasting our time with ex-colonialist and imperialists who still harbour ideas of creating wealth from their former colonies using the principle of divide and rule. To this end they always support the majority community in any of their colonies compromising the noble principles of justice, human rights and Truth.
4. We must show to the world community that the Sinhalese, whichever party of theirs in power will never give any sort of self-rule to the Tamils. Their past record of abrogation of pacts agreed with the Tamils reflects their mentality. Their immediate aim is to buy time till they find some cunning ways to finish off the Tamil leadership like employing para-militaries who can be bought over through bribes in kind and money.

   Eg: Karuna group who had been given a free hand to operate and kill off LTTE supporters. He had been given army protection and permission to operate his death squad and open camps in army controlled areas (cleared areas) and work as deep penetration unit in the LTTE areas. The Sinhalese are well known for their disloyalty and betrayal to the last Kandyan Tamil King Keerthi-Wickremasinghe. One of the relatives of the ex president Jayawardene was the culprit who double-crossed the last Tamil Kandyan king when the British unified the last bastion kingdom of Kandy that kept foreign western colonialist at bay.

5. We must apprise the world that the Tamils of North and East had been living in Sri-Lanka even before the advent of the Sinhalese ever set foot on the isalnd. Tamils have a long history of civilisation and they are an intelligent race. We should ensure that, even if countries with vested interests manipulate to clandestinely kill Tamils off, the conscientious community and courageous countries, like Norway and some rationalist countries in the EU will come forward to see that justice is not only done but also it appears to be done.

6. We must ask the conscientious community of the world to settle the dispute between the Tamils and Sinhalese over the issue of self-rule. We must rouse the conscience of the ICRC to inform the EU and the UN of this glaring irresponsibility of the government rather than issuing only press notices. These notices without accompanied action only humiliate the expatriate Tamils most of whom are highly educated and who really suffer in silence over what is happening in Sri-Lanka.

The International community should impose sanctions if the parties are not listening to sane advice. Constant and consistent message will produce the desired effect I am sure.

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