A United Nations report leaked recently, estimates thousands of civilians were killed during the fighting between Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE – known as the Tamil Tigers in 2009.
The document cites “credible allegations” that government forces deliberately shelled civilians and repeatedly targeted hospitals. If proven, the allegations amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians were trapped in the fighting and its estimated that between 20,000 to 40,000 were killed.
The Tamil Tigers are also heavily criticised by the three member panel, and stand accused of forcing civilians to remain in the conflict zone and using them as hostages and human shields.
The UN is also criticised in the report for failing “to take actions that might have protected civilians.” The panel says casualty figures collected by the UN should have been made public at that time.
Releasing the figures “would have strengthened the call for the protection of civilians while those events …were unfolding” the panel concludes.
But conditions for aid agencies and UN officials on the ground were difficult.
Tamil people in Sri Lanka lost kith and kin, lost their livelihoods, and lost their hope for the future. They still suffer the lingering effects of cultural violence.
Gordon Weiss, the UN spokesman in Sri Lanka said that they were at the “hard edge of humanitarian work” and were prevented from reaching the area by the Sri Lankan government. There “no foreign observers there to observe what was happening”, Weiss said.
The Sri Lankan government, who received a copy of the report, said they found the report “fundamentally flawed in many respects” and that it was based on biased material.
The civil war, which lasted 26 years, officially finished in the summer of 2009 when the government forces pushed the LTTE forces into northern Sri Lanka and defeated them within an area designated the “no-fire zone”.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians were trapped in the fighting and it’s estimated that between 20,000 to 40,000 were killed.
The disastrous events of May 2009, which were sold to the International Community as a “humanitarian rescue operation” by the Rajapakse regime, led to nearly 30,000 Tamil people being detained against their will in military run internment camps for almost a year.
The successive governments of Sri Lanka targeted the LTTE while talking about peace. Now the the Tamil Diaspora is being targeted”¦
Tamil people in Sri Lanka lost kith and kin, lost their livelihoods, and lost their hope for the future. They still suffer the lingering effects of cultural violence.
The Tamil Diaspora became the next priority target of Rajapakse regime after its military victory over the LTTE. Soon after the end of the war in May 2009, the Government of Sri Lanka, adopted a full-scale operation to destroy or weaken the function and the network of the Tamil Diaspora. Presently, the GoSL is using its maximum resources to weaken the Tamil Diaspora and is spending millions of dollars for this purpose. They hired top-level public-relations firms. For instance, in the UK, Bill Pottinger is working to build up Sri Lanka’s image. This is the same organization that is working for the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged by International Criminal Court with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The successive governments of Sri Lanka targeted the LTTE while talking about peace. Now the the Tamil Diaspora is being targeted, in order to destroy them, at the same time talking about reconciliation. At present the Tamil Diaspora is the only challenging factor for the Rajapakse government. Otherwise, the Rajapakse regiments would not need to spend $4.7 million to build up its post-war image and hide mass atrocities. Apart from this, their diplomatic missions are carrying out special assignments at a high cost to weaken the Tamil Diaspora’s peaceful resistance activities. Most of these activities function with the aim of weakening the Tamil Diaspora.
The oppressive rule of the Sri Lankan government post independence, forced the Tamils to take to armed struggle against the state.
The Tamil Diaspora has become a focal point as the LTTE’s armed structure is no more. The present dynastic government is more powerful than any of the previous governments in Sri Lanka. But this does not mean they will yield this kind of power forever. There was a time for Augusto Pinochet, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Slobodan Milosevic and so on. Their rule eventually ended. Tunisia and Egypt are very recent examples that undemocratic rulers and bad governance cannot be sustained indefinitely.
The oppressive rule of the Sri Lankan government post independence, forced the Tamils to take to armed struggle against the state. One million Tamils were disenfranchised a year after independence. The Sinhalese movement In Sri Lanka and the militarization of peaceful Tamil state by the government, gave birth to Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam in 1983. LTTE, a separatist military organization fought to create an independent state called Tamil Eelam in the North and East of the island.
What gave birth to LTTE and lead to a 26 year long civil war in Sri Lanka?
Following the washout of the LTTE from Sri Lanka, little has been done by the Government to reconcile with the Tamil community. The government remains indifferenet to the problems being faced by the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.
- State sponsored colonization of Tamil areas by Sinhala people.
- Sinhala as only National Language.
- Discrimination in education and employment.
- Recurrent Government sponsored pogroms.
- Constitution written to protect majority rights only.
- Provision for minority protection in the constitution prior to independence removed
- Peaceful voices for minority rights violently crushed by the state
- Oppressive measures and deprivation of rights eventually lead to Tamil youths into arm struggle
- Government attacks Tamil civilians including mass killings, torture
Following the washout of the LTTE from Sri Lanka, little has been done by the Government to reconcile with the Tamil community. The government remains indifferenet to the problems being faced by the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. The political system of Sri Lankan governance does not need the government to be accountable to the Tamils. If the current system continues Tamils will be a permanent minority condemned to live under a tyrannical majority.
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The Tamil community minus LTTE is left deprived of a credible leadership. While its departure has left the field clear for a variety of independent leaders to emerge, the Tamil community largely is unable to find a voice. The nationalists in the diaspora are now staking a claim to the mantle of the LTTE to represent Tamils in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan state`s ongoing failure to deal with the problems facing the Tamils on the ground gives energy to this movement.
There is a dire need to reconcile with the wounded Tamil Community in Sri Lanka so as to avoid any possibility of LTTEs revival.
Since the end of the war, three events have been particularly significant for the diaspora. The first was the seeking of a re-endorsement of the Vaddukoddai Resolution of 1976 which put forward that the demand for an independent Tamil state through an international referendum in April 2010 amongst Diaspora Tamils. Second was the setting-up of what is known as the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), through an election held among Diaspora Tamils in May 2010. Third, a Global Tamil Forum (GTF) has been set up, an alliance of important Diaspora Tamil-nationalist groups.
Given the current circumstances, where the UN report has substantiated Sri Lankan government’s crimes during the war against the LTTE, the Tamil Diaspora is left dejected. If the oppressive Sri Lankan rule continued, there could be a demand for a separate state for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. There is a dire need to reconcile with the wounded Tamil Community in Sri Lanka so as to avoid any possibility of LTTE’s revival.
—THL
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