Showing posts with label Sri Lankan Tamil people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sri Lankan Tamil people. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 09, 2015

The Tamils Of Sri Lanka And Me

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Blaming Hillary For Benghazi = Blaming W For 9/11
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Percentage of Sri Lankan Tamils per district b...
Percentage of Sri Lankan Tamils per district based on 2001 or 1981 (cursive) census. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I was Barack Obama's first full time volunteer in all of New York City. I identify with the blacks in America because I grew up Indian in Nepal. It is hard to explain. How can India be such a big country, and Nepal such a small country, and how can Indians in Nepal be having a hard time?

Well, Nepal is no exception. Indians are having a hard time in every South Asian country, the most glorious example perhaps is Sri Lanka, the most literate South Asian nation. Sri Lanka's high literacy rate is proof political discrimination and persecution is not something on the Human Development Index. Political problems have political solutions, and Sri Lanka's democracy has not delivered for its minority Tamils.

I have never believed in political violence, but when I started my full time work into Nepal's peace process early in 2005, I tried very, very hard to understand the political motives of the armed Maoists. I abstained from demonizing them. I believe in democracy, in human rights. In many ways I am more American than Americans. I believe in a total spread of democracy across the world. And I believe it is possible through peaceful means. And I don't suffer from America's original sin - race - like some white Americans sometimes do. That helps make my thinking on democracy much clearer. My gospel of democracy has no hint of white supremacy in it.

Somethings are political, somethings are personal, some are both. I am a Madhesi in Nepal. When Hridayesh Tripathy, a Nepali politician I admire, first showed up in Kathmandu as a Member Of Parliament, his house was attacked. In the aftermath he threatened to turn Nepal into a Sri Lanka. We Madhesis in Nepal identify with the Tamils in Sri Lanka. The word Tamil exists in Delhi. The word Madhesi does not yet exist in Patna, or Lucknow or Delhi. Power brokers in Delhi do business with the power brokers in Kathmandu who suppress the Madhesis, all the time. It is a terrible blind spot to be in.

At the geopolitical level, China can come in and help the Sri Lankan elite enact genocide on the Tamils, and India has not much to say. A Chinese border incursion in Ladakh is much less offensive.

Tamils should be able to achieve equality in Sri Lanka through democracy, otherwise democracy itself is the wrong tool. Tamils should be able to achieve equality in Sri Lanka through peaceful means, otherwise peaceful methods are suspect. But I don't think democracy is suspect, I don't think peaceful methods are suspect. The right to self determination is a fundamental human right, it is like free speech, it is like freedom of religion.

Sri Lanka is going to go for fedaralism in which there is a Tamil state, and each state in that federal Sri Lanka has a right to self determination, the kind that Scotland and Quebec itch with. And Sri Lanka is going to do that because that is the right thing to do, because that is Sri Lanka's obligation as a signatory to the Universal  Declaration Of Human Rights. Sri Lanka is going to do that because India is a big country and Sri Lanka is a small country, and it can not afford not to. Sri Lanka is going to do that because, if necessary, China itself will be taught a lesson or two in democracy, federalism and human rights. That is why the Tamils are going to be given federalism with the right to self determination. The right to self determination is not a debate, any more than free speech is. It is a right. Every Tamil in Sri Lanka was born with it.

The right to self determination is not a one way road to secession. It is an opportunity for Sri Lanka to become an inclusive state where minorities like Tamils and Muslims get their due share in national life. Sri Lanka is not just for Sinhalas. And if Sinhalas want a country just for them, they should be granted that.

Massive atrocities were committed when Rajapaksha ("Ravana") militarily eliminated the LTTE. Tens of thousands of innocent, civilian Tamils were killed, maimed, violated, scarred for life. Like Stalin said, one death is a tragedy, a million deaths? Statistics. This was Rajapaksha statistics. That was not a democratic act by a democratic leader. And I am glad he has been ousted at the ballot box. I hope some day he is served justice.

A friend of mine, CK Raut, a Cambridge University PhD in Computer Science, was jailed a few months ago, and recently released by orders of the court. His ways are non-violent, and he seeks to create a new country called Madhesh.

My immigration lawyer for the past few years has been a Tamil, a Harvard Law School graduate like Barack Obama: Rudrakumaran Visuvanathan.



Rudra pushes for ICC trial on Lanka
Launching a signature campaign to press for a trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils, Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) Prime Minister V Rudrakumaran on Wednesday said active support of the people of Tamil Nadu was crucial for generating international opinion to render justice to the Sri Lankan Tamils ...... Inaugurating the campaign in Chennai through skype, he urged the United Nations to refer the genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils to the ICC or establish a similar credible international judicial mechanism for investigation and prosecution of the war crimes and genocide. ...... Citing the UN Internal Review Report on Sri Lanka, he said there were 70,000 casualties in the first six months of the war and quoted former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who had listed Sri Lanka along with Bosnia, Burma, Congo and Sudan where rape was used a tactic of war. ..... the new Lankan government’s call for a domestic or hybrid mechanism to replace any international judicial process was an attempt to deflect the call for referral to the ICC and to delay other meaningful actions on accountability. Efforts to establish a domestic truth and reconciliation commission, he said would be another diversionary tactic to protect those who committed serious crimes against Tamils. ...... Listing out the reasons for an international investigation, the TGTE Prime Minister said “Even though the President has changed, the political environment vis-a-vis Tamils has not changed. Several former military personnel, including the military commander at the end of the war General Sarath Fonseka are in senior positions in the current government. The fact that the military apparatus is still intact and the militarisation of the north east continues to perpetuate fear among Tamils and had a deep impact on day to day activities. Therefore, it is unlikely that victims and witnesses will be truly independent before a domestic or hybrid tribunal”. ....... Besides, President Sirisena has served as Defence Minister during the end of the war, when large number of Tamils were killed and Sri Lanka did not have criminal provisions for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. ...... The unitary Lankan State and judiciary were not ethnically neutral and most of the crimes were perpetrated by the State apparatus. The island judiciary was always subservient to political leadership when it came to abuses against Tamils. Even under a Tamil Chief Justice, no prosecution was ever brought against anyone for the mass killings of Tamils in 1983, he added.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Sri Lanka: Is The End Game Near?

Sri Lanka: 'What's happening there is another genocide like Rwanda'

Provinces of Sri Lanka. My own creation, based...Image via Wikipedia

The government in Sri Lanka is all set to announce its total military victory over the LTTE. There are those who will marvel at the military operation. And it perhaps will be a military victory. But at what price and to what end?

There can not be a military solution to a political problem. Sri Lanka can not continue to be a unitary state. Sri Lanka can not continue to be a country that treats its Tamil minority like second class citizens. That basic political problem if anything has only worsened.





I have never approved of LTTE violence. But for me that has not been an excuse to ignore the very real political issues of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.

There is a very real danger that the ruling class in Sri Lanka will think of themselves as victors and find the military victory to be an excuse to further mistreat the Tamils. We already have the ugly stories from the internment camps.

Sinhala chauvinism goes along these lines:
  • The Tamils are not discriminated against.
  • Sri Lanka is too small for federalism.
  • But don't you know the Tamils are terrorists?
Bloodbath In Sri Lanka: Where Is The Outrage?
Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing Of Sri Lanka Tamils

In The News

Why Google and IBM Are Ahead of the Competition Time
Why Wal-Mart's First India Store Isn't A Wal-Mart
In India, a Dynastic Heir Strategizes the Election
Spectre of Mass Suicide as Tamil Tigers Face Final Battle the embattled separatist fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are not expected to allow themselves to be taken alive...... LTTE terrorists are preparing for a mass suicide ...... Prabhakaran and other commanders may be ringed by at least 100 Black Tigers ........ Soosai revealed that her husband remained inside the combat zone along with Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman, the LTTE intelligence chief and effective second in command ....... bombers mingling with escaping civilians before detonating their explosive belts ........ the stench of death permeates the area. ...... Fierce fighting has prevented Red Cross ships from reaching the area to evacuate the wounded and ferry in food since May 9. Pro-Tiger websites are also reported that the make-shift hospital operating in the combat zone is no longer able to function. ......... the military now within hours of destroying the long running insurgency ....... Before leaving Jordan, Rajapaksa announced, "I will return to Sri Lanka as a leader of a nation that vanquished terrorism."
The Tamil Tigers
Thousands of Civilians Escape as Sri Lanka Corners the Tamil Tigers
Sri Lanka: More Civilians Caught in Crossfire in Hospital
Ready for a Fight: Russia's New Security Policy



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Monday, May 11, 2009

Bloodbath In Sri Lanka: Where Is The Outrage?



Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing Of Sri Lanka Tamils

More Than 1,000 Civilians Killed In Attacks On Sri Lanka Safe Zone
Guardian more than 1,400 people were believed to have been killed in two days of air and artillery attacks. ..... said shells were continuing to fall on the area in which civilians were sheltering. "Still the shelling continues and the fighting is going on" ........ also been an attack by a Sri Lankan air force Kfir jet. ...... the UN said the bloodbath it had feared since the government launched its all-out campaign to destroy the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had now become a reality. ...... UN officials estimate that between 50,000 and 100,000 civilians could still be packed into a tiny three sq km pocket of land, but the Sri Lankan government has claimed that no more than 20,000 are left. ........... independent journalists are denied access to the area where the fighting is taking place. ......... The UN has been critical of the Sri Lankan use of artillery and air power in such a small area. ..... the UN security council was due to have another informal meeting on Sri Lanka in New York today, with the foreign ministers of Britain and France – who had a stormy visit to Sri Lanka at the end of April – both due to attend. ....... Both the US and Britain are pushing to secure a ceasefire, but Russia and China have opposed such a move. .......... many were believed to have died in an air strike yesterday morning. ....... the shelling began at 5pm and continued through until 9am. It appeared the shells were fired from government positions in Mullaitivu. ........ "The shells were landing about 300 metres from the hospital," he said. "All the time, we have casualties coming in. We don't have time to think." ........ the dead were being buried in large pits, with 30 or 40 bodies in each pit. ......... a report in which it was alleged that women were being subjected to sexual abuse in the internment camps set up to hold civilians fleeing the fighting.






In The News

Britain "appalled" by civilian deaths in Sri Lanka Reuters
UN condemns Sri Lankan 'bloodbath' The Associated Press
Open IP Architectures Provide Way Forward in 'Zettabyte Era' WiMax.com
The effective super-fast Mobile Broadband 3 is the future Culture11
Abhiash not moving out of Jalsa Times of India
Swine flu hits China as global cases rise
AFP
US reports third swine flu death BBC News
Microsoft says Windows 7 on track for holidays
Reuters
Obama, industry leaders join to cut healthcare costs Los Angeles Times
Who will be India's PM? Reuters India
Welcome to Your Internet Future - Mobile Broadband Brought to You ... BusinessWeek

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