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Ilankai Tamil Sangam, USA, Inc.
Association of Tamils of Sri Lanka in the USA
by Vettivel
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Fortunately, Tamils have well-defined mandate, and a very clear history. No one can deny these facts, and that is why even superpowers say Tamils’aspirations must be addressed. They, of course, do not usually articulate what Tamil aspirations are. To secede from the Sinhala state has been the Tamil aspiration, ever since the 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution and the ensuing 1977 election results clearly showed this fact. |
'Honorable peace,' 'terrorism,' 'territorial integrity,' 'pluralism,' 'democracy' and 'human rights,'... All these terms become confusing and nonsensical when used by the Sri Lankan government. The Sinhala-dominated Sri Lankan government and the gangs of “war on terrorism” countries have twisted reality in the Sri Lankan peace process.
After 4 years of peace talks, the end result is once again war! None of the agreements have been fully implemented and, even after Tsunami, the Sinhala government refused to accept a PTOMS joint mechanism that is the only way for rehabilitation to be successfully accomplished. The failure of the PTOMS cooperative arrangement is obviously the Sri Lankan government’s fault, but “the world” decided to punish the Tamils.
The very basic fact is that Sinhala fundamentalism does not accept any power-sharing with Tamils, and the world only favors state actors. As far as the rights of a minority are concerned, nobody cares. The Sinhala forces are determined to kill Tamils and destroy the Tamil inhabitants of their areas. Since the world powers only concern about state actors, the Sinhala state terrorists have open license to kill Tamils, terrorize Tamileelam and report to “the world” that it is dealing with terrorism.
In this background, Tamils in Sri Lanka and Tamileelam will be completely eliminated or disabled or put into slavery even they decide not to fight against state terrorism. The Tamil Diaspora is also being branded as terrorists, and, if the Tamil Diaspora does nothing, the end result will be that the Tamil Diaspora will also be cornered and prohibited from business and education opportunities.
In 1994, Chandrika lead the Sinhala nation to wage a war against Tamils by using the Orwellian slogan of “war for peace.” Before the start of the war, the now former Sri Lankan president stated that she would find a solution by power sharing with the Tamils once the “war for peace” was over. The Sinhala troops successfully captured the Tiger stronghold, Jaffna, and drove all the Tamils away. The Sinhala soldiers removed the Tiger flag and hailed the lion flag. After this victory, the Sinhala government stated that there is no necessity to find a solution because the Tigers were finished.
Instead of finding a solution to the national problem, the Sinhala thugs killed more than 1000 Tamils, and buried them in mass graves. The world kept silence, and there were no human right reports or any protest against state atrocities.
As long as there is no problem for state actors, the world usually turns a blind eye. This clearly shows that Tamils never will have an honorable peace, or even the privilege to live, if they are militarily defeated. In Sinhala terms of reference, an 'honorable peace' means eliminating the Tamils.
During Chandrika's era, after five years, in 2000, the Tigers came back and beat the lions badly, and chased the lions away from some parts of the Tamil homeland. Tamils became a stronger force, challenged the Sinhala state terrorists and their invasion of Tamileelam. As usual, the world had no tolerance for non-state actors, so it provided much military hardware support to the Sinhala state. Still Sinhala military failed to get victory on the ground and the balance of power between Tamil tigers and Sinhala lions led to the Norwegian-facilitated ceasefire.
Only the balance of military power led to the ceasefire, nothing else.
As history has shown, the Sinhala state did not change. The Sinhala forces still want to kill Tamils. The Sinhala state refused to implement any agreement reached in the peace talks. If Sinhala state terrorists get the upper hand militarily, they will never talk peace. For some reason, the gang of “war on terror” countries have supported the Sinhala state terrorist continuously, and provided logistical support to terrorize the Tamils. Extrajudicial killings, paramilitary-sponsored killings, and selective military actions against Tamils are part of this exercise by the Sinhala state terrorists.
In fact, state terrorism is acceptable in the international arena, and as long as the state kills its minority community, everything is OK. Sometimes the minority community hits back, and when it does, this reaction is called “terrorism.” Oh yes, in the current world rule, it is terrorism because only state actors are permitted to use force. Sinhala state terrorist can kill Tamils, rape Tamil women, hang Tamil children, deny food, basic needs and even medication to Tamils, and they can torture Tamil youth. All these actions are treated as a "war against terrorism."
But if any of the suffering people should do anything against their Sinhala oppressors, it is ”terrorism.”
Moreover, the state terrorist can acquire destructive weapons without any restrictions, and they can use these against their own population at will. “The world” provides MBRL (Multi Barrel Rocker Launchers), Kfir bombers, cluster bombs, and unlimited artillery to the Sinhala state terrorists to kill Tamils, and then they brand the people who are killed as terrorists.
So far more than 70, 000 Tamils have been killed. Of course, all of those killed are terrorists because they are Tamils, who do not have the right to live. Well, this is what the current world policies are. The hidden policy is very clearly stated: that Tamils have no honorable life, even they do not decide to fight against the state terrorists.
The cry for “territorial integrity” means nothing other than handing over Tamils’ rights to the evil Sinhala government. During the British colonial period, the British amalgamated three separate kingdoms (one of Tamils and two of Sinhalese) into one unit for ease of administration. When the British left, they handed over the amalgamated country to the majority Sinhalese with an ill-fated constitution. Tamils began demanding their own separate state only after all kinds of negotiations on federalism and autonomy failed, with many agreements initially accepted by the Sinhala leadership breached in the past 55 years of struggle.
The US-led “war on terror” campaign promises democracy and freedom. It is interesting to see that neither the US nor any other die-hard democracy lovers in other western nations recognized the voice of the TNA (Tamil National Alliance) that consists of the TULF, TELO, EPRLF, ATAK, and Tamil Congress. The TNA won more than 90 % of the Tamils' votes in the last election. When the democratically elected Tamil parliamentarian, the Hon. Joseph Pararajasingham, was killed by a Sinhala-sponsored paramilitary, democracy lovers were completely silent, and encouraged the Sinhala state terrorists to kill more Tamil activists and politicians.
There are big human rights cries when Tamils try to financially recover themselves. Even TRO's (Tamil Rehabilitation Organization) Tsunami fund collection is also branded as funding for Terrorism by some. The western media attempts to disgrace Tamil humanitarian works.
Human rights agencies such as Human Right Watch, indubitably state-sponsored, release reports on selective fundraising harassments. All of the sudden, the EU and Canada banned LTTE, and encouraged the Sinhala chauvinistic forces to wage war against Tamils.
Banning the Tamil leadership means punishing Tamils and cheering on the Sinhala government. The Sinhala government uses the paramilitaries first, and then the state military thugs to kill Tamils. They have even killed NGO workers, but the world does not seem to worry much about human rights because the humans dying are Tamils, who do not have state status.
Well, all factors seem to be against the Tamils because Tamils are non-state actors. In addition, there are enough traitors among the Tamils to drag them down.
Does that mean Tamils has no way of getting their rights back to rule themselves?
Fortunately, Tamils have well-defined mandate, and a very clear history. No one can deny these facts, and that is why even superpowers say Tamils’aspirations must be addressed. They, of course, do not usually articulate what Tamil aspirations are. To secede from the Sinhala state has been the Tamil aspiration, since the 1976 Vaddakottai Resolution and the ensuing 1977 election results clearly showed this fact. This mandate for secession was not received by the LTTE, but by the moderate Tamil poltical party, the TULF. Instead of sticking to the original mandate of a separate state, the Tamil militant groups, including the LTTE, redefined the mandate for a viable solution as encompassing three basic principles: self-determination, acceptance as a nation, and acceptance of their homeland.
Unfortunately, even after this compromise, some people still call the LTTE extremists. The Sinhala state is a completely unitary, Sinhala-dominated power structure, but ”the world” hardly recognizes this as the recipe for extreme oppression.
Since the rest of the world is completely showing a blind eye, Tamils in Tamileelam has no choice other than to fight against state terrorism because a straight back may give at least a chance to live with dignity. Tamil organizations must clearly work toward the Tamil mandate when it deals with the Tamil struggle instead of vaguely stating like that they are "working for peace." The 1977 mandate is not only for the LTTE, but also for every Tamil.
Everyone in the world loves peace, but people who are struggling must specify what peace means to them.
Tamil organizations wrongly assume that the world may reject separatism. If they persuade the world with valid reasons, the world will certainly accept it.
The Tamil Diaspora should continue to expose Sinhala state terrorism and the atrocities committed by Sinhala forces even in peace time. The Diaspora should uphold the Tamils' mandate; that is to establish a separate state for Tamils as a feasible solution for the long-standing national problem, and should keep working toward that solution.
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