Sri Lankan State Terrorism and Tamil Children

by Vettivel

Tamils and their children want protection from Sinhala state terrorism. This is why Tamils are asking for a separate state or a federal system in which they can govern themselves.

Violence at the hands of the state is the very fundamental problem that has not yielded any answers or solutions for the last five decades. The Sri Lankan government does not have any right to rule Tamils. Tamils never surrendered their sovereignty to the Sri Lankan government. In the last five decades, Tamils always stood for their own self-rule.

The 99% Sinhala military occupying Tamil Eelam and terrorizing Tamils is completely unacceptable and not at all justifiable. If the world powers enforce the status quo, Tamils have no choice other than to fight for their lives and dignity.

All the child rights and other civil laws are applicable only when civilized conditions exist. When living under the uncivilized Sinhala state terror of the military and its paramilitary proxies, where at least 7 Tamils are being killed every day and bombers bomb as a routine, protecting Tamil children is a very questionable concern.

People who are concerned about Tamil children must address the Sri Lankan government state terrorism as a starting point.

There have been many cries about child soldiers, terrorism, paramilitaries, etc. But the fundamental problem is Sinhala racist state terrorism, and the five decades of history clearly shows this fact. The TVMP, Karuna group, EPDP, ENDLF, Razeek group, Mohan group, etc. are just paramilitary groups created and managed entirely by the Sri Lankan government for the purpose of weakening and destroying the Tamil population. From time to time, the Sri Lankan government uses one or more paramilitary groups, and then it is simply replaced by another one. The usage of the paramilitaries against Tamils was started after the Indian Peace-Keeping mission left Sri Lanka and continues until today.

The recent UNICEF and UN allegations against the Karuna group can be considered as an attempt to save the Sri Lankan state. Rather than being an independent force, however, this group is completely manipulated by the Sinhala government, and it is part of the Sinhala armed terror forces directed against the Tamil population. Instead of taking action against the Sri Lankan government, UN is trying to take action against a group that was created two years ago by the Sinhala military intelligence.

This kind of approach will allow the Sinhala government to simply disband the Karuna group and create a “Kanthan” group this year to continue all its atrocities using that name for the next two years.  The UN will take actions against ‘Kanthan’ group after two years, and Sri Lankan government can continue this practice forever. A very good suggestion by the UN to destroy the Tamils, isn’t it?

The international organizations have made much noise about Tamil child soldiers and the rights of Tamil children, and accuse the LTTE for violating UN conventions. All these concerns were looked upon by the general public as a way to achieve peace and protect the Tamil children, but they are actually a tool to politically disable the Tamil leadership.  

All these organizations suddenly disappeared when the Sri Lankan state terror machine started its full-swing offensive against the Tamils. Tamils were completely shocked when the UN and UNICEF kept a calculated silence during the Sinhala state terror forces attack on Tamil villages and towns over the last year. More than 2,500 Tamils, including more than hundred children, were killed and more than 200,000 Tamils forced to leave their homes, but Tamils didn’t see any little press release or action taken against the Sinhala state terrorists. Rather than demanding that the Sri Lankan government stop the bloody aerial carpet-bombing and shelling of Tamil areas, the UN and UNICEF called upon the Tamils to leave their homes and enter into Sinhala army-controlledlareas, where at least 7 Tamils are killed by state terror elements every day.

The international community failed to take any action to control the Sri Lankan government that has been continuously terrorizing Tamil children since 1948. Sri Lankan government broke several agreements, refused to implement a federal solution, killed many Tamils, completely destroyed Tamil areas, made Tamils refugees, and killed INGO workers. But still the Co-Chairs and international community continue to fund the Sinhala state terror government.

The Sri Lankan state terror government has carefully eliminated Tamil journalists and Tamil activists who brought the Sinhala terror atrocities to the world. Hon. Kumar Ponnambalam, a lawyer and a Member of Parliament who revealed the raping and killing of Tamils and the mass Chemani grave to the world, was killed by the Sinhala government. Recently Mr. Raviraj MP was also killed because he bravely brought the hardship faced by Tamils to the international community. Several hundred other Tamil activists have also been killed in order to make the Tamil voices silent. Now, Tamil people are afraid to talk to anyone and the Sinhala government releases its own propaganda, while continuously killing Tamils.

The Co-Chairs seem to be happy with this situation because they get only the Sinhala government version of the story.

In the 1956 riots against Tamils, Sinhala thugs killed a Tamil child by placing that child into a boiling tar drum. This is just an example to show the evil nature of the Sinhala atrocities. More than 5000 Tamil children have been killed by the aerial bombing, random shelling, torture and shootings by the Sri Lankan state terror forces.

In 1987, the Sinhala military arrested around 10,000 Tamil school children and youths and placed them in a notorious jail in south Sri Lanka. Tamil youths started joining the rebel groups in the 1980s to protect themselves from state terrorists. In 2000, around 30 Tamil children who were in a rehabilitation center in “Bindunuwewa” were brutally killed by the Sinhala police and thugs. But, no one was punished. This is what happens when Tamil children were placed under Sinhala state terror protection.

Currently, almost all the Tamil areas are under severe economic embargo, no food, no medicine, random arrests, random abductions, and people are denied free access to the media. Sri Lankan forces, including their paramilitary proxies, have killed a hundred Tamil children in the last year, but - surprisingly intentionally - there is no action against Sri Lankan government.

On the other hand, some international governments have banned the LTTE and applied extreme pressure on them for recruiting child soldiers. Instead of bringing a peaceful environment, this biased international approach has encouraged the Sri Lankan state terrorists to wage war against Tamils and has made things worse.

The LTTE and UNICEF went through a series of discussions and action plans, and finally an act prohibiting child recruitment was recently included in Tamil Eelam law. The LTTE released many Tamil children and almost all of the complaints are resolved according to the UNICEF report. Unlike many other so-called banned organizations, the LTTE has made real efforts to implement this act. The LTTE has promised to fully implement the law in LTTE-controlled area as of 2007.

The UN and UNICEF seem to expect a 100% perfect result over-night, while they don’t care how the Sri Lankan government behaves. These organizations really want to vanquish the Tamil community or make them slaves and vulnerable to attack under Sinhala state terrorist. Progress toward implementation is not really their concern.

The special advisor to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Amb. Allan Rock, accused Sri Lankan government security forces of recruiting child soldiers on behalf of an allied paramilitary.  Rock told reporters that he had evidence of direct involvement of the government troops in forcibly enlisting children for a paramilitary group. "Sri Lankan security forces rounded up children to be recruited by the Karuna faction," Rock said at the end of a 10-day mission to study the situation of children in the embattled island. The Sri Lankan government used its all propaganda organs to vilify Amb. Rock.

The question many Tamils ask is that the European Union listed the LTTE as a terrorist organisation for recruiting children. Will it do the same for the government of Sri Lanka, or will it practice double standards? [The governments that make up the UN passed a law which sets different criteria for state and non-state groups. The ICRC at the time suggested that this discriminatory action would weaken the law. -- Editorial Committee]

The international organizations who applied pressure on the LTTE have failed to apply any pressure on the Sinhala terror government. The end result is that the Sri Lankan government goes on a rampage and kills Tamils, including many children, and has abducted many children for their paramilitary proxy. Interestingly, the international organizations kept calculated silence to approve the Sinhala state terror atrocities.

The child soldiers cry finally looks like a ploy to disable the Tamil fighting force, and eventually make the whole Tamil community in Tamil Eelam vulnerable to Sri Lankan state terror attacks. Since the EU banned the LTTE, the Sri Lankan government started a new phase in its genocide of the Tamils, and has killed more than 2500 Tamils and chased more than 200,000 Tamils, including many children, from their homes.

Instead of finding a peaceful solution for the Tamil people, the International community and organizations have paved the way for the Sri Lankan state terrorists to eliminate the Tamils.

Every Tamil clearly knows that it is the hawkish nature and racist attitude of the Sinhala government that was the main cause of the failure of the Norwegian-led peace talks. The Co-Chairs issued a couple of warnings against the Sri Lankan government, but all the punitive actions were taken against Tamil leadership, that is the LTTE.

The international community’s blind approach completely destroyed the peace process, and allowed the Sinhala state terror machine to wage a war against Tamils. Now, the Sinhala government kills at least 7 Tamils per day, branding them as terrorists. International organizations acknowledge this as utter lies, and do nothing.

It is clear that even if the Tamil race is completely destroyed; these organizations will not take any actions against the Sri Lankan state. The message is very clear for the Tamil Diaspora and Tamils in Tamil Eelam.

The fundamental policy is that a ‘state’ can do whatever they want, but the community that is oppressed by the state must suffer.

According to this world policy, Tamils in Tamil Eelam have no choice other than just die because there is no organization in the world who takes any action against Sinhala state terrorism. It is the reality, and Tamils should not expect any justice from the international community.

Tamils lost trust on all successive Sinhala governments in 1976, and they passed a mandate with more than 90% support to declare a separate state. In 2006, Tamils lost trust in the international community, especially the US-led Co-Chairs. Even after Sinhala leadership refused the federal system as solution and the hawkish Sri Lankan government waged a war against Tamils and captured many Tamil villages, the Co-Chairs still show their support to the Sinhala state terrorists to kill Tamils.

Tamils still have only one option left: that is rely on their own resources to protect themselves from Sinhala state terrorism as much as possible.