By Usha Sri-skanda-rajah –

Today in honour of Maveerar Day I wish to publish two of my poems composed in 2006 and 2010. A lot has happened since then, we are on the road to winning justice for our people and through remedial justice winning Tamil Eelam. I am certain of that. My poems precede time but are still very relevant, for we cannot forget the past. It is from acknowledging and learning from the past that we can move forward. I also hasten to say that today Our Beloved Maveerar would want us to continue the fight to win back our motherland in a non-violent manner through diplomacy. That is what the TGTE is committed to – the peaceful diplomatic approach. Nonetheless I have the highest respect for all those great human beings and our leader and all who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives to save our country Tamil Eelam.

Today also could be a day to reach out to the Sinhalese people…for greater understanding between our nations sharing the island…

1. Maveerar – composed in Nov 2006

2. To the International Community – The 2009 Tamil Holocaust and Your Lost Credibility – composed in Oct 2010

Maveerar

They went to the battle field

Never afraid to die

Brave soldiers they were

They did it for you and I

 

The glory of Thamil Eelam

Was their single, unwavering goal

Defending their Motherland

Was in their very soul

 

Possessed of both integrity and discipline

Absolute mastery of skill and mind

Trained by a Phenomenal, True Leader

A superior class of Freedom Fighters, they are a rare find

 

They shed their sacred blood

To save us from tears

So that we may live and give our sweat

For Thamil Eelam’s future years

 

Never flinching if the tide turned

Never faltering, that’s why never spurned

Men and Women of valour they were

Never retreating with their backs turned

 

They had sworn an oath and lived by that oath

They were not mercenaries, hired to kill

Try as they did the enemy could not break them

Acclaimed as Martyrs they were known, for their unshakable will

 

They had dreams not selfish whims

They fell, so that we could rise all at once

From slavery to freedom

From depravation to ample abundance

 

If you are a Thamilan

Worthy of your great race

You would know that they have been

Our only real saving grace

 

They are the sustaining spirit

Behind every courageous battle

They give us strength and it’s our strength

That will carry us through the freedom struggle

 

18,743 and counting of our finest Men and Women

Of unmatched bravery and unparalleled courage

Our Best tribute to them is not only to worship their memorials

But keep the torch burning and incessantly carry their message

 

By their selfless dedication, for justice for their people

They have made the ultimate sacrifice ever

They did not die, but have transcended death

And have found a place in the people’s hearts, as the Greatest Heroes ever

 

When Freedom is won and Thamil Eelam is proclaimed

When we sit down to think and assess

In the final analysis, it would be said

That the Maveerar were the bulwark, the pillars of our hard fought success

The Cry of a Freedom Activist: To the International Community

Tamil civilian lives are in your hands the Diaspora pleaded in desperation;

To Canada, US, Britain, EU, Norway and the UN; had you heeded with compassion;

Twenty to forty thousand need not have perished in one sweep without identification;

From a cruel regime’s and its ally’s fire power, chemical weaponry and ammunition.

 

You have to act fast before it’s too late we wailed and protested;

Lay down on highways, burnt our bodies, fasted, begged and prayed;

In a tiny sliver of land our people are holding out, we cried,

To their last vestige of freedom and dignity, still brave but petrified.

 

You would have prevented a HOLOCAUST from happening;

If you did what was right by your conscience, without failing;

You should have used R2P: ‘Responsibility to Protect’ with urgency, without faltering;

Canada’s initiative, mind you, to intervene to save lives, it was then certainly wanting.

 

Tamils were falsely led to the ‘no fire zone’,

Only to realize as soon as they had gone,

They were going to be slaughtered, not spared but done;

Under the very nose of the international community and the UN.

 

It was a war without witness, no media to report the situation there;

The people were left with no food, no water, and no real medical care.

No humanitarian aid, not a soul to truly comfort and care;

Such inaction on your part, a travesty of justice, that’s beyond compare.

 

The attackers used their diplomatic machinations to raise the ‘human shield’ concept;

You harped about it, not knowing, it was the perpetrators’ way to cleverly manipulate.

The decision not to leave was a cry for freedom from enemy subjugation, you know it;

Instead you fell prey; if you had a heart you should have surely and easily have known it.

 

It’s a real shame under the pretext of fighting terrorism;

You turned a blind eye to ruthless Sri Lankan state terrorism;

You condoned the mass slaughter of a people who defied fascism;

Women, children, babies and the elderly left to die from this unspeakable barbarism.

 

To escape prolonged racism, marginalization, violence and persecution;

To defend their territorial integrity, sovereignty and their security from ‘occupation’;

People joined together, Tamil Eelam their thirst, their passion, their earnest aspiration;

Forming a defacto Tamil State in Vanni to protect their nests and nurture their future generation.

 

They cultivated their fields, fished and traded, even ceased fire for a peaceful resolution;

Self Rule, Nationhood, Homeland, three principles upon which they stood for liberation; Swearing allegiance to Tamil Eelam which had its own administration, police and legal system;

Defending the land from enemy fire, scores of freedom fighters died attaining true martyrdom.

 

Tamils needed understanding, sensitivity and empathy;

To the people crying for freedom Sri Lanka is their enemy;

To ask them to go with an army, not friendly, with whom they did not identify;

To be disappeared, incarcerated, tortured, raped and massacred; it does defy,

Logic and reason; that’s obvious; was proved right with hindsight; alas too late to rectify.

 

The strategy of the enemy was to deny sustenance and wear Tamils out;

Weaken their resolve and virtually force them from their hold out;

It was not a ‘hostage rescue operation’ but a ‘hostage taking operation’, with no time out;

Even with Tamil fighters’ guns silenced, the bombing and the shelling ended not;

The carnage leaving dead bodies, people butchered with limbs gone and organs out;

To stop chemical weapons and multi barrel rockets from being fired on the innocent;

In the end with white flags, the political heads, their families surrendering came out;

Only to be killed at point blank range, as soon as the order from the top was given out.

 

These helpless people had a right to life,

A fundamental human right, even in strife.

With a will to protect, it was for you to strive

To act expeditiously to save innocent life.

 

The perpetrators have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity;

The question is who will bring the members of the Sri Lankan family dynasty,

Those who allegedly gave the orders, to the International Criminal Court to answer flatly;

To the charge of ‘Genocide of the People of Tamil Eelam’; if you act correctly,

And see that justice is done and manifestly seen to be done, only then considerably,

Could YOU redeem your reputation in our eyes ever again and restore your lost credibility.