Concerning the Bus Bombing & the Current Crisis

by S. Makenthiran, June 16, 2006

Mahindapala, from his lair in Australia, fires regular volleys at Tamils, through his mouthpiece, the Asian Tribune. It is a well known fact that the Asian Tribune is a convenient broadsheet of one-sided Singhalese writers and  anti-Tamil nationalist elements such as Anandasangari, Douglas Devananda, Karuna, et al. 

As soon as news came of the sad bus blast at Kebethigolawa, resulting in the deaths of Singhalese, Mahindapala as usual came howling out of his lair.  He has passed his judgment and demands all world powers to attack the Tamil Tigers.  He has not paused to think of the statement issued by Pulidhevan of the LTTE Peace Secretariat strongly condemning the killing of civilians and accusing the Lankan Government and paramilitary forces of committing this crime to implicate the LTTE.

After Mahinda Rajapakse took over as President of Sri Lanka, hundreds of Tamils civilians have been massacred in a systematic piecemeal manner in Trincomalee. Batticaloa, Mannar, Jaffna and Vavuniya, all of which are the traditional homeland of the Tamils.  These have been perpetrated by the Singhalese armed forces and the paramilitary forces paid and supported by the Rajapakse government. 

Tamils have started fleeing to India and to the Tiger-controlled territory in the thousands from the areas under the Singhalese army control, to escape the atrocities of the armed forces, paramilitary forces and the Singhalese thugs.

The killing of Tamil civilians bears all the hallmarks of the Singhalese armed forces. The United States pretends to be unconcerned about the mass killing of Tamils, but the moment some Singhalese die, a USA official issues a statement accusing the Tamil Tigers.  This type of one-sided assault on the Tamils does not help the efforts at maintaining peace in Sri Lanka.

A Human Rights body has released information that Mahinda Rajapakse and his brother, Gothabaya Rajapakse, have authorized ‘prize money,’ to be paid to military and paramilitary personnel who carry out killings of Tamils.  They reported as follows:

Last week TCHR officials contacted a well-reputed human rights activist in Colombo, concerning the many recent killings in the North East of Sri Lanka. The activist who does not want to be identified told us that : “Concerning any of these killings, it is useless you people contacting anyone in Sri Lanka! These killings are carried out on direct orders from President Mahinda himself. They (security forces and the paramilitary forces) are given orders to kill anyone in order to bring fear among the community.”

We were told the surprising fact that the Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence has a special rate/allowance/price list for the Paramilitary forces. These remunerations, fixed by the Sri Lankan Ministry, include the following: A person planting a Claymore successfully in the North East is paid twenty thousand (20.000 SL Rs) rupees, throwing a Grenade at an important target earns fifteen thousand (15.000 SL Rs) rupees and killing a prominent person is rewarded with one hundred thousand (100.000 SL Rs) rupees. There are various other cost lists, which TCHR could not obtain.

In addition to the paramilitary forces being paid to kill, it is now widely known that Sri Lankan security forces can kill and rape anyone of their choice in the North East with impunity.  On 10 May 2006 we published a detailed list of more than three hundred killings. Now we would like to draw attention to some of the brutal killings including rapes of women and children, which have taken place in the very recent past.

It is obvious from the above that there are  allegations of serious Singhala state-sponsored   human rights violations and atrocities against the helpless Tamil civilians.  The Singhalese-dominated police and judiciary cannot be expected to do justice to the Tamils.  What is required is an impartial international body like the UN to investigate the killings in Sri Lanka and publish a report as to the causes and who are guilty.

The USA, UK, and Australia are known to side reactionary forces to suit their own agenda. India has burnt its fingers once and is twice shy. Canada and the European Union have of late succumbed to pressure from the Singhalese-dominated government and banned the Tamil Tigers. An absence of impartiality is unfortunate.  The withdrawal of Canada and the EU is, indeed, a drastic blow to the peace efforts of Norway.

A Member of Parliament in Australia displayed his utter ignorance by parroting the Asian Tribune in Parliament, that Prabaharan was in England to attend his daughter’s wedding in London.  He later withdrew the remarks and made another ridiculous statement that he meant Anton Balasingam, who is a refugee, and not Prabaharan.  This learned Australian MP is not aware that Anton Balasingam has no children and he is a citizen of UK and not a refugee.  Oh what blissful ignorance!        

President Rajapakse rushed to the scene of the bus blast to mourn the death of his Singhalese brethren and ordered immediate payments to help the Singhalese victims.  When Tamils were being killed in the hundreds by the Singhalese for the last seven months since Rajapakse became head of  state, he did not budge.  Even when the bishops of Jaffna and Mannar met him and appealed to him, he graciously referred them - ironically - to the Singhalese police to look into the Tamil deaths.  It was a cruel joke. How can perpetrators of the crime do justice to the Tamil victims?

Mahinda Rajapakse is no fool.  He is running with the hare and hunting with the hound.  He is, by his own choice, well entrenched with Singhalese hard liners and war mongers like the JVP and JHU, but to the World he pretends to be a smiling moderate.  He does not want to align with the UNP and follow the middle path of federalism and autonomy for the Tamil homeland.  He wants the Tamils to accept a unitary form of government on his terms.  He wants Singhalese domination over the whole country including Tamil Eelam.

The Singhalese government has openly bombed Tamil areas after the bus bomb blast this week by air, sea and land. Many Tamil civilians have been killed.  They bombed Tamils earlier also after the bomb blast at the Army Headquarters wounding the Commander Sarath Fonseka, a hard line Singhalese extremist.  The USA and the international community are not concerned about Tamil deaths. The lame excuse is that it is difficult to obtain 'verifiable' information. Yes, if the police and state armed forces are the perpetrators, it is difficult!

Mahindapala is blaming the whole world for the Singhalese predicament. He is blaming everyone else other than the Singhalese for the plight of Sri Lanka. Mahindapala and Asian Triibune should take a hard look at themselves. Who brought this crisis upon them? Who provoked the peace-loving Tamils to revolt by massacring them over the years since independence.  Who scornfully kicked aside the peaceful pleading for three decades by Tamil leaders S.J.V. Chelvanayagam, A. Amirthalingam and S. Thondaman?

Mahindapala is shedding crocodile tears for the future of India and the whole world and even for the innocent Tamils.  This Singhalese wolf is crying that the Tamil lamb is getting wet in the rain.  Stop your hypocrisy Mahindapala.

The Norwegians tried to bring peace, but were abused by Singhalese extremists - the JVP, JHU, Asian Tribune, Mahindapala and the Singhalese media.  Now when the Nowegians, in desperation, say they cannot do anything more, these extremists kick them in the back.

The Singhalese cried 'wolf, wolf,' all the time, and now the wolf is at the door.

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