By Braveen Nagendram –
Braveen Nagendram
“I lived as best I could, and then I died. Be careful where you step: the grave is wide” – Epitaph for a Palestinian Child of the Nakba (“Catastrophe”) by Michael R. Burch
Genocide – The necessity to define
On the ashes of WWII the world had the moral duty to become conscious of the extent to which human violence and hatred went, so far as committing to eradicate the Jews. Despite the macabre events being so clear to the eyes, no words could fulfil the description of the ferocious crimes committed.
The horror and cruelty of inhumane acts, such as the Holocaust, cannot and must not repeat in the future. For this reason Raphael Lemkin, a Polish jurist of the Jewish origin, had the necessity to describe such violence in a univocal and exhaustive term. Thus, Lemkin’s neologism -“Genocide” formed, by the fusion of the greek word ghenòs (race, genre) and the latin word caedo (to kill).
The neologism was not sufficient; a neo legis had to be legislated to punish the perpetrators of genocide. It was in the same spirit that the General Assembly of the United Nation declared in December 1948, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide1.
Nevertheless, the definition did not stop the dejavù of the genocide throughout the years. Despite more and more crimes being committed with the scheme and exact manner as in the definition of “Genocide”, the UN fails to recognise them. Why? Are these crimes jurisdictionally not eligible to be considered as genocide? Or, is there a political discretion for these bodies to decide whether these crimes can be considered as genocide?
Eelam Tamils and the structural genocide
Since 1948 the Eelam Tamil nation is being subjected to discrimination and state sponsored violence. In the name of independence the British unleashed their creation “Ceylon”, a unitary state structure, denying the pre-colonial condition of equity among the nations in the island. By suffocating the democratic aspirations of the Eelam Tamils, the British left the island imposing a majoritarianism system where the Mahawamsa ideology was institutionalised.
The Mahawamsa (The Great Chronicle), is considered an important book of the Theravada Buddhism. In this book it is written that the arrival of Prince Vijaya to the island of Ceylon glorified the island and encouraged the renewed belief that Ceylon has a special Buddhist destiny. The Mahawamsa‘s legends about the ancient heroes and kings encouraged a feeling among the Sinhala Buddhists that “to be truly Sri Lankan was to be a Sinhalese and to be true Sinhalese was to be a Buddhist”2, which led further belief that Tamils, Muslims and Sinhala Christians could not be included. This ideology and mythical history completely ignores the existence of other nations and peoples in the island.
Although it is the Sinhala community that follows this philosophy, it is interesting to note that the British had played their part to instil and diffuse the Mahawamsa ideology during their colonial period. Lawrence J Swie noted this when discussing about the root cause of the conflict:
“It was the British who made the Mahavamsa a widely distributed work, publishing an English translation of the first part of the Mahavamsa in 1837. The British governor also commissioned the Sinhalese translation of the original and its updates.”3
He further goes on to state that:
“The greatest importance of the Mahawamsa is not as history but as a symbol – and as a motivating force behind Sinhala Nationalism. A Sinhalese politician speaking in public is likely to mention incidents from Mahavamsa as evidence of the long and distinguished history the Sinhalese have in Sri Lanka. But Sinhalese political and religious leaders also use Mahavamsa stories as evidence that the whole island should be ruled by Sinhalese Buddhists.”
The identity of the Eelam Tamil nation was undermined by the imposition of the ‘Sri Lankan’ identity. Sri Lanka, which means ‘holy island’ in the Sinhala language itself is a jurisdictional mirror reflection of the Mahawamsa ideology.
Coming back to Lemkin, in his book “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe”, he affirms that:
“Genocide has two phases: one, destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group; the other, the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor. This imposition, in turn, may be made upon the oppressed population which is allowed to remain, or upon the territory alone, after removal of the population and colonization of the area by the oppressor’s own nationals.”4
Since the independence the Eelam Tamils had seen the pillars of the nation and their identity being destroyed by the state of Sri Lanka. In 1956 the “Sinhala Only Act” denied the Tamil language, in 1981 the Jaffna library was burnt destroying the cultural heritage of the Eelam Tamils, colonisation and militarisation in the north-east attempt to shatter the territorial integrity of the Eelam Tamils’ homeland. All of this accompanied with pogroms, abductions, torture, sexual abuses and murders.
It is clear how the genocidal pattern is braided in with the history of the state of Sri Lanka. The slow protracted genocide proceeds with the intent to wipe out the fundamentals of the existence of the Eelam Tamil nation in various aspects and forms. All these crimes are committed to target the Eelam Tamil nation. It is crystalline and obvious, even for an outsider, that the Tamil nation represents the victim of this genocide, furthermore it is impossible to not identify the perpetrator of these crimes as the state structure.
‘Structural violence’, a term introduced by Johan Galtun in 1969 in his research paper “Violence, Peace and Peace Research”, defines the form of violence where a social structure or institution harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs5. This violence can be of different forms and could also degenerate into genocide.
Whilst the UN definition of genocide has a pivotal point in defining the victims, i.e. “a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”, the structural violence definition focuses mainly on the aspects of the perpetrator.
Although in the case of the Eelam Tamil nation the genocidal acts are perpetrated by successive governments since 1948, the mechanism that allows and pushes the perpetration of these crimes is the state structure of Sri Lanka itself. The unitary and majoritarianism state incorporating the Mahawamsa ideology, gives carte blanche, legitimisation and means to the governments to perpetrate the genocide of the Eelam Tamils – the structural genocide.
Unless we look at the problem from a broader view, not limiting our focus to specific events, individuals or governments, and recognise the modus operandi of the genocide as the unitary state structure, the Eelam Tamil nation will continue to be wiped out.
Calls to recognise the Genocide
The United Nations’ Human Rights Council requested in March 2014 the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to investigate on the allegations of human rights violations and related crimes in Sri Lanka, from Febraury 2002 until November 2011.
The submission of the report is subjected to a lobby campaign by the new elected Sirisena’s government, intended to delay it. Furthermore, they attempt to restrict the investigations to a domestic one to be conducted by the government itself. Sirisena, as he already said in his campaigning elections, will implement the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’s (LLRC) recommendations. Appointed by the Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government as a domestic investigation in defence to the international community’s pressure on the allegation of human rights violations during the last phase of the conflict, the LLRC does not give impartial and truthful accountability and its recommendations are seen as a blueprint of the structural and protracted genocide on the Tamil nation.
Recently the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) approved unanimously a resolution called “Sri Lanka’s Genocide Against Tamil”. “This resolution provides an overview of the evidence demonstrating successive Sri Lankan governments’ genocide against Tamils, and respectfully requests the ongoing United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) to investigate the claim of genocide and recommend appropriate investigations and prosecutions by the International Criminal Court ”6. This resolution is not only a reaction to the new regime’s attempts to delay and diminish the submission of the OISL report, but it is also an exhortation to the OISL to analyse the human rights violations with the correct perspective.
The NPC’s resolution was welcomed by the various Tamil political and other grassroots representatives in the homeland, making this a possible starting point for a formation of a political force that is committed, and faithful to the Tamil people’s political aspirations. With this resolution the NPC joins its voice with the grassroots Tamil activists in the homeland and the Diaspora to denounce loud the genocide of the Tamil nation. A call-out that cannot be ignored any further by the International Community.
International Actors as Stakeholders
The request of the Tamils to investigate the crime of genocide was not ignored by everyone. The Peoples’ Permanent Tribunal (PPT), an international independent tribunal that examines and provides judgements on violations of human rights, investigated on the allegations of genocide in Sri Lanka. In the verdict released in January 2014, “the Tribunal reached the consensus ruling that the state of Sri Lanka is guilty of the crime of genocide against Eelam Tamils and that the consequences of the genocide continue to the present day with ongoing acts of genocide against Eelam Tamils.”7
Furthermore, the PPT found UK and US as complicit in the genocide by abetting the state of Sri Lanka. It was stated that the complicity of India in the genocide has to be further investigated, with China’s involvement. Moreover, a research document by Phil Miller, “Britain’s Dirty War against the Tamil people (1979-2009)”8, examines the responsibility of Britain in the structural genocide of the state of Sri Lanka.
The European Union and Japan, that were co-chairs in the peace process, have responsibilities over the Tamil national question. The EU, who banned the LTTE, is responsible for forcibly creating an imbalance between the two nations’ representatives and collapsing the peace talks.
Recently the EU court annulled the ban, stating that:
“Those arguments, combined with the lack of any reference in the grounds for the contested regulations to decisions of competent authorities which are more recent than the imputed acts and referring to such acts, clearly show that the Council based the contested regulations not on assessments contained in the decisions of competent authorities, but on information which it derived from the press and the internet.”9
Referring to the failure to apply the correct procedural process of the EU Council before reaching the decision on the ban, the Court exposed the irresponsible attitude of the EU in carrying out a genuine peace process. Instead there is a consensus on the political aspects of an anti-LTTE policy that could have led to the ban to delegitimise the struggle of the Tamils.
In March 2011, a Panel of Experts (PoE) appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nation, released a report on accountability in Sri Lanka. In this report the PoE charged the Government of Sri Lanka of several allegations and violations. But in particularly it exposed the intention of the Government to inflict conditions of life to bring about the destruction of the population in the North-East.
“[..] conditions imposed on civilians in the final months in the NFZs [No Fire Zone] were calculated to bring about the destruction of a significant part of the civilian population.”10
A posteriori one of the member of the PoE, Yasmin Sooka, declared in an interview that:
“I do think that when the inquiry takes place they will need to probe this question because many Tamils have often spoken about the fact that this is a genocide, and that it has genocidal tendencies – the way in which this war prosecuted.”11
And further continues to say:
“I think all of us in the Panel that were confronted with this question have always raised that there is a real need for a proper investigation when it happens to test this issue [Genocide]”.11
In November 2012, an internal review panel on ‘United Nations Action in Sri Lanka’ was appointed by the Secretary-General of the UN. In this review the panel considered again the intention of the Government of Sri Lanka in targeting the Tamils:
“The report documented allegations including: the intentional shelling of civilians; the intentional shelling of hospitals; the intentional shelling of humanitarian operations; the intentional shooting of civilians; the intentional infliction of suffering on civilians.”12
Furthermore the internal review panel exposed, in a mea culpa, “The UN’s failure to adequately respond to events like those that occurred in Sri Lanka should not happen again. When confronted by similar situations, the UN must be able to meet a much higher standard in fulfilling its protection and humanitarian responsibilities”12, recognising the UN’s failure in the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) when it came to the massacre of the Tamils.
Conclusions
Analysing the cause of the genocide in the case of Eelam Tamils, and realising the failure of the International Community to act genuinely and on time has led us to reflect back to the question of whether the crime of genocide is a jurisdictional problem or something that is not applied because of the political discretion the international bodies hold.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is present, however there seems to be an issue with the UN recognising and applying it in the case of Eelam Tamils. There is an intentional denial among the international actors and the Sinhala community to include the crime of genocide in the legal framework of any proposal to seek accountability and justice.
The united voices of the homeland and diaspora of the Eelam Tamil nation calling to recognise the ongoing structural genocide committed by the Sri Lanka state, must not be passed unheard. The UN and the international actors should act responsible in the case of the Eelam Tamils’ struggle, being conscious of their failure and acting towards recognising the crime of genocide. In order to do this it is necessary for the UN to extend the time frame of the OISL from 1948 to present, as exhorted by the NPC’s resolution and the diaspora. And consequently, it is a must to extend the legal framework to not just International Humanitarian Law (IHL) but also to International Human Rights Law (IHRL), including the Convention on Genocide.
The international actors should stop exploiting the Tamils’ national struggle, acting based on their political and economic interests and start to revive the spirit behind the creation of the Convention on Genocide. It is in their responsibility to stop the ongoing structural genocide and find a genuine accountability process. It is not rightful to request the Eelam Tamils to give up on their fundamental rights and political aspirations, preventing them from living with dignity as a nation.
Notes:
1. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1948: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2078/volume-78-I-1021-English.pdf
2. R.Shanmuganathan, Root Cause of the Conflict: The ‘Mahavamsa Mindset’. http://www.sangam.org/taraki/articles/2005/12-19_Root_Cause_of_the_Conflict_The_Mahavamsa_Mindset.php?print=sangam
3. Lawrence J Swie, “Sri Lanka: War-Torn Island”, published as part of a “World in Conflict” series.
4. Raphael Lemkin, in “Axis Rule in occupied Europe”, Chapter IX: Genocide – A New Term and A New Conception For Destruction of Nation, 1944.
5. Johan Galtung, in “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research”, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1969), pp. 167-191, http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/422690?sid=21105857803723&uid=3738296&uid=2&uid=4
6. Resolution of the Northern Provincial Council, “Sri lanka’s Genocide Against Tamil”, 10 Febraury 2015. http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2015/02/NPC_Resolution_on_Tamil_Genocide_v2.pdf
7. People’s Permanent Tribunal, “Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka”, 2014. http://www.internazionaleleliobasso.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Sentenza-Sri-Lanka-and-Tamil-II.pdf
8. Phil Miler, “Britain’s Dirty War against the Tamil people (1979-2009)”.
9. Court of Justice of the European Union, Joined Cases T-208/11 and T-508/11, http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2014/10/LTTE-Ban-Verdict.pdf
10. Report of the Secretary-General’s panel of Experts on accountability in Sri Lanka. http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/POE_Report_Full.pdf
11. Yasmin Sooka in an interview with the Tamilguardian, http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=11198
12. Report of the secretary-general’s internal review panel on “United Nations in Sri Lanka”, November 2012. http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/The_Internal_Review_Panel_report_on_Sri_Lanka.pdf
White Flags / February 22, 2015
Tamils do nothing by engage in race politics and promoting their superiority over non-Tamils (Sinhalese in particular).
Where was this cry of “genocide” decades earlier? What a joke. These pople can’t stomach the fact they LOST a war they thought they could win against the “sinhala modaya”. They wanted to militarily defeat the “sinhala modaya” which is why they were aching for war back in mid 2005 rather than sticking to the pro-Tamil ceasefire agreement that would have entually given them their seperate state. As many Tamils in the West stated “Eelam will not be given, it will be taken”. They wanted to defeat the Sinhala people using brutal and vicious violence.
Now they are complaining with all sorts of nonsense to make up for the loss of their Sinhala killing machine (killings which they enjoyed) and undo that sense of defeat and frustration inflicting them.
What have Tamils done to help with reconciliation? NOTHING.
Just continued with their same old disgusting racism and demanding special treatment to fulfill their supremacist view point.
Have they even apologised for their inhumane brutality and disgusting violence towards Sinhalese since the the 1920s? Nope. They just say ugly things like “it was the LTTE” (who are the LTTE again? TAMILS) or my favourite “we were forced to take up an armed struggle” (then they complain about the consequences and the fact they LOST i.e. its all good so long as they are doing the killing and “winning”).
With this kind of digusting arrogance Tamils deserve NOTHING.
/
LMAO / February 22, 2015
May be you can counter criticize the article with any evidence you have to support your claims. Blabbering like racist thugs (like pukabala and dayan) will show your weakness and further strengthen Mr Braveen’s points.
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Burning Issue / February 22, 2015
White Flags is one of the reincarnations of the infamous political scientist inimitable DR DJ make no mistake about it!
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sach / February 22, 2015
And all tamils are reincarnations of racist [Edited out] GGP
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Burning Issue / February 22, 2015
such,
It is obvious that you cannot help yourself; it looks like you are loosing your marbles :)
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sach / February 22, 2015
It is not me,who cannot help himself.
It is you when any reasonable criticism of racists like GG Ponnambalam, Wigneshwaran and Prabhakaran is brought by someone throwing insults is your way of salvage
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White Flags / February 22, 2015
LOL. Oh dear cry baby Tamils can’t deal with the truth. I know it stings. Reconcilliation works both ways, agai n iask what Tamils done to help with reconcilliation?
Answer for your crimes Tamils and hang your heads in shame.
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Burning Issue / February 22, 2015
DR DJ,
Everyone knows that reconciliation works both ways! This was why there was Bunda/Chelva pact and Dudley/Chelva pact. Would you care to enlighten this forum as to what happened to them?
Also tell this form as to what happened to promiss that DSS made on behalf of the Sinhala in 1948 that no minorities would come to any harm under a unitary state by the majority.
By the way I have not read this article; I am simply responding to your preposterous utterance that tamils are racists! Just remind yourself that since 1948 the Sinhala have been in power and not anyone else. It is you who have been marginalising the minorities with contempt and total disregard to their feelings. Remember you call yourself as a Buddhist country. Please grow up first mentally!
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sach / February 22, 2015
yes reconciliation works both ways..So what has tamils done?
Do you know what happened to every pact with Chelva ? Because in every pact Chelva asked the government to keep the North and East purely tamil and stop any sinhala people living in there. That is why.
This stems from the idea that North and East is tamil homeland and therefore should be tamil only. That is the point sinhala people find controversial. Because Sinhala people do not accept that history. So this is primarily a debate on history and not some discrimination.
And why do you stop at 1948? I asked you several times what do you think of GG Ponnambalam’s racism? But you do not like to call him even a racist but call him simply an opportunist. That shows who you are. Because you accept what GGP said. The racist drivel of GGP is not racist to you but something you fully agree with.
In 1939 the first sinhala tamil riot started after GGP racist speech. And doesn’t 1939 come before 1948? Arent these facts that you do not like?
Did not Arunachalam talked about Eelam in 1922 ? Is that before 1948 or not?
You do not have the decency to accept and call a tamil racist for what he is and expect the sinhala people to bend backwards in satisfying your illegitimate and selfish demands.
I know you have nothing to say about GGP and Arunachalam’s eelam in 1922. And I know you will talk about Anagarika Dharmapala as always because that is how you think you can save your self. And i will save my time by saying Dharmapala left SL in 1908 and died in 1933 in india without no takers for him in SL.
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Ajith / February 22, 2015
What a nonsense justifying the crimes committed by Sinhalese state? How can you justify drilling of eyes of a Tamil Political prisoner? How can you justify burning of civilians and crimnals are being potrayed as Sinhala hero’s. How can you justify butchering passengers in a train and passengers in a boat by Sinhalese and potraging them as Sinhala hero’s. How can you justify burning a library by ministers, police and military and promoting those burnt to high posts. This can be only happen in a blood thirsty Sinhala Nation.
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Jim softy / February 22, 2015
All the homicide bombers, black tigers and air tigers were speaking Sinhala language and they killed Tamils in thousands.
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White Flags / February 22, 2015
Ajith
February 22, 2015 at 2:03 am
[[“What a nonsense justifying the crimes committed by Sinhalese state? How can you justify drilling of eyes of a Tamil Political prisoner? How can you justify burning of civilians and crimnals are being potrayed as Sinhala hero’s. How can you justify butchering passengers in a train and passengers in a boat by Sinhalese and potraging them as Sinhala hero’s. How can you justify burning a library by ministers, police and military and promoting those burnt to high posts. This can be only happen in a blood thirsty Sinhala Nation”]]
LOL. LOL.
This silly imaginative story only highlights my point. Tamils are so racist and self absorbed its always only about them, Sinhalese deserve to die no matter what, and when its Tamils doing the killing, benefitting and enjoying all the more power to Tamils, and alls great and wonderful. But when defeated and loosing its all “horror” stories and sob stories of the “poor innocent Tamil”.
Again, what have Tamils done to answer for their crimes? What have Tamils done to help with reconcilliation (since they bark about that too)?
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Native Vedda / February 22, 2015
White Flags
“Tamils are so racist and self absorbed its always only about them,”
Tamils share their racist/stupid/self destructive Tamils gene with their Sinhala brethren. How can the Tamils be any different to their Sinhala brethren?
Look at the Sinhala/Buddhist terrorism of JVP in 1971 which is followed by Tamil LTTE terrorism. The stupid Tamils learnt it from their stupid brethren. Like their Sinhala/Buddhist brethren the Tamils also attacked security forces, police and state officials.
Look at killings, the racist Sinhala/Buddhist had killed their equally racist Tamil brethren in 1958 and on wards, the Tamils copied it and went on killing Sinhala/Buddhists for many years.
Had Sinhala/Buddhists produced a Nelson Mandela or Gandhi, probably your Tamil brethren also would have had their own version of them.
The Sinhala/Buddhists have been blessed with a whole lot of public racists such bigots as Anagarika Dharmapala (Homeless One), SWRD Banda, Sri Mao, Rohana, MR, Gota, ………….therefore did you expect different type of leadership to emerge from among the Tamils?
Go sit back and think about it.
Why do the Tamils produce a mirror image of the Sinhala/Buddhists?
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janz / February 22, 2015
Mr Ajith, how can you justify the cold blooded murder of 23,000 innocent Muslims in North and East and 41,000 poor Sinhala peasants in the bordering villages by the Tamils. How can you justify dashing little babies on tree branches to save a bullet?
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Ajith / February 22, 2015
Janz,
It is good that you accept that Tamils are the inhabitants of North East of Srilanka and it is the homeland for Tamils. You have created imaginary numbers without any source. There is a valid statistical evidence to prove what I have quoted in my comment.
I know you people are not bothered about law and order or justice. That is why the major issue of the last presidential election. It is the rule of law and justice. I am not only talking about the recent war. I was talking about things that happened since 1948. you may not aware of the facts. I don’t know you have the mental capacity to understand the responsibility of the state. It is not surprise that your Sinhala only state and military massacred over 100,000 Sinhalese innocent civilians in the past and you people never bothered about those lives. You love blood.
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Native Vedda / February 22, 2015
janz
“how can you justify the cold blooded murder of 23,000 innocent Muslims in North and East and 41,000 poor Sinhala peasants in the bordering villages by the Tamils.”
Thanks for the your body count. One cannot justify cold blooded murder of innocent civilians by Tamils.
Could you cite your source.
Could you also provide me with body counts of following category citing source:
Tamil Killing Tamil
Sinhalese Killing Tamils
Sinhalese killing Muslims
Sinhalese killing Sinhalese
Muslim Killing Tamils
Muslim Killing Sinhalese.
and the state killing Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims since 1948.
I would be grateful if you could cover the period from 1915 to date?
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Ujang Kulon / February 24, 2015
[Edited out]
@Ujang Kulon, you must select one name instead of using;
Bernigan,
Ujang Kulon
Utopawardana
Boorinath Manjakkad
WeeWilly
Navel Pose
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Rajan / February 22, 2015
That’s it you are blubbering
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Utopawardana / February 24, 2015
[Edited out]
@Utopawardana, you must select one name instead of using;
Bernigan,
Ujang Kulon
Utopawardana
Boorinath Manjakkad
WeeWilly
Navel Pose
/
jayt / February 25, 2015
This article is written by a foreign agency. and Yourself, and your comment too is written by same agent
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sach / February 22, 2015
I hope there was a genocide
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Alahakoon / February 22, 2015
Sach.
What is the word for tribe mass killing of its own tribe. if your group’s effort in 1971 & 88-91 were successful, Oxford dictionary would have new word, owngenocide ?
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sach / February 22, 2015
Please point out a single tribe that did not kill its people in its history?
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sach / February 22, 2015
“Since 1948 the Eelam Tamil nation is being subjected to discrimination and state sponsored violence. In the name of independence the British unleashed their creation “Ceylon”, a unitary state structure, denying the pre-colonial condition of equity among the nations in the island.”
This is what I am saying from the beginning. This is not an issue of minority or discrimination. This is an issue of nationhood…
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Victor Ragunathan / February 22, 2015
Mark my word, at the end, it will be called COLLATERAL DAMAGE. There was no Genocide. The West which aided in their part, will be hiding behind this smoke screen. US, UK and INDIA has their own share on top of China, Park, Russia and Iran played significant role.
WHY DO YOU THINK ALL THE COMMOTION ABOUT CONSPIRACY ?
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Victor Ragunathan / February 22, 2015
Mark my word, at the end, it will be called COLLATERAL DAMAGE. There was no Genocide. The West which aided in their part, will be hiding behind this smoke screen. US, UK and INDIA has their own share on top of China, Park, Russia and Iran played significant role.
WHY DO YOU THINK ALL THE COMMOTION ABOUT CONSPIRACY ?
http://www.sangam.org/2009/02/Collateral_Damage.php?uid=3302
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sach / February 22, 2015
“The identity of the Eelam Tamil nation was undermined by the imposition of the ‘Sri Lankan’ identity. Sri Lanka, which means ‘holy island’ in the Sinhala language itself is a jurisdictional mirror reflection of the Mahawamsa ideology.”
LOL and here some sinhalese are talking about all having a SLn identity!
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Truth seeker / February 22, 2015
Where do Eelam Tamils come from?
Nowhere have I found or heard of this special category of Tamils. Utopia?
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VR / February 22, 2015
The Native people of this Serendipity Island are Hunter gatherers AKA Vedda People. The Sinhala Roots are from Kerala. Please google ” Tracing the Sri Lanka-Kerala link”. Needless to say, White people first came to US and Canada are not the original people. They are immigrants too. Both Sinhala and Tamil people are immigrants to Serendipity.
http://www.nchro.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2591%3Atracing-the-sri-lanka-kerala-link&catid=37%3Akerala-thoughts&Itemid=15
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Jim softy / February 22, 2015
eelam Tamils are those fishermen tamils who crossed by swimming or by dingys the sea to live on other side of the palk strait, those who were brought from Kerala by the dutch, tamils chased out from Malaysia, singapore and Burma.
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rajjeeva / February 22, 2015
Exactly!
“…..Fishermen Tamils who crossed by swimming or by dingys the sea to live on other side of the Palk strait….”
this close proximity to the Tamil nation on the other side of the narrow strip of water( which was even connected by land even before) is a proof Tamils were here in Ilankai way long before anyone could have been here.
all you have to do to make this thing dawn upon you is to use the logic and commonsense that we humans are born with.
Both Tamil Nadu and Eelam were the original Tamil country made up of a number of kingdoms and cheifdoms even before they were called Tamil Nadu and Eelam.
Eelam being on the edge far away from the center of Tamil country and being lightly populated made it easy for the others to settle without much resistance but only in the south of the Island.
the Sinhalese rule the country now thanks to the European colonists who left the country after changing the borders, but for a very short time in historical sense and only since 1948. borders are Dynamic and have certain shelf life. even Asokan did not think to mess with Tamil country and had to be in friendlier terms with them. so it is a matter of time and the changing of the world political landscape into its next shape will bring about many “surprises” to the ignorant ones. hope people meet halfway.
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Rajan / February 22, 2015
Where do Eelam Tamils come from?
Take a map of Sri Lanka and mark all the places that have been subject to bombing by the Sri Lankan forces , shade it and that’s Tamil Eelam.
This question has been answered several times in other ways too.
The region covered by the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord as areas of “historical habitation of Tamil speaking peoples;
The areas where Regional Councils were to be set up and the Banda-Chelva pact in 1957
The areas identified in the Dudley- Chelva Pact in 1965
The area identified by the proposals of Chandiraka Banadaranaike cirac 1995
I hope I have answered your question. Eelam BTW is the Tamil name used for the entire island for a long time. Tamil Eelam comprises area referred to above.
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Vibhushana / February 22, 2015
The problem with people like this is they expect not to be humiliated and marginalized too.
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Soma / February 22, 2015
Tamil political masters must device a plan to encourage all Tamil speaking people presently living among the Sinhalese to move voluntarily in to the designated “Ealam” instead of waiting for a moment to ignite another flash point like 1983. They should not continue to suffer further “genocide” at the hands of the Sinhalese. India can help the Estate Tamils, Diaspora can help the Wellawatta Hindu/Christian Tamils and and oil rich Arab countries can help other Tamils whose religion is Islam in funding the project.
Soma
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Native Vedda / February 22, 2015
Soma
“Tamil political masters must device a plan to encourage all Tamil speaking people presently living among the Sinhalese to move voluntarily in to the designated “Ealam””
I beg to disagree with your plan.
The Tamil political masters should take their people back to their ancestral land in South India. When they go they also should take their Sinhala brethren with them, most have roots in the South of India.
Don’t worry about the funding, your return journey back to your ancestral land by Kallathonies shouldn’t cost much.
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Boorinath Manjakkad / February 24, 2015
[Edited out]
@Boorinath Manjakkad, you must select one name instead of using;
Bernigan,
Ujang Kulon
Utopawardana
Boorinath Manjakkad
WeeWilly
Navel Pose
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skoot / February 24, 2015
Skootaiko Buddy?
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Taraki / February 22, 2015
Look, genocide or no genocide the Tamils will never get Eelam. Let alone Eelam, they won’t even get an international enquiry into ‘genocide’. That’s the way of the world. Accept it and move on.
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Native Vedda / February 22, 2015
Taraki
“Look, genocide or no genocide the Tamils will never get Eelam.”
Even if the Sinhala Eelam is prepared to secede Hindia would never agree to a Tamil Eelam, depending on how Sinhala/Buddhist treat their fellow countrymen/women.
“they won’t even get an international enquiry into ‘genocide’”
Is there an ongoing international investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity? If there is one, do you know what is in its report? The report hasn’t been published yet. Therefore you would not know whether the report has conclusive evidence of genocide or not.
Please stop lifting your bump over your head when you hear genocide, war crime, crime against humanity, human rights violation, ……….
“That’s the way of the world. Accept it and move on.”
Don’t be in a hurry. Hope the report takes into account of state’s pattern of behaviour since 5th April 1971.
Eelam or no Eelam is not determined by both Tamil/Sinhala little islanders.
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Off The Wall / February 23, 2015
Braveen Nagendram
In Sri Lankan history, the only instance of ethnic cleansing was committed by the LTTE when it expelled all Muslims who lived in the Northern Province in 1990. The only instance of attempted genocide was the killing of all Sinhalese who defied the decree of the Tigers and stayed on in Jaffna in the 1980s and the killing of Sinhalese in the border villages thereafter. And the only attempt to establish a racially-exclusive fascist state in Sri Lanka was by the Tamils.
And yet the Tamils cannot be deemed to have committed any crimes against humanity or war crimes. Because they are the minority. Minorities by definition cannot commit any racism, terrorism or war crimes. Instead whatever is perpetrated by the Tamils should be considered as their nationalism. They can perpetuate myths about their glorious past and the superiority of their language and culture, but it doesn’t amount to any kind of ethnocentric or racist YAPANEWAMSA. They can try to impose their hegemony over the Muslim people in the north and east, but it wouldn’t amount to Tamil majoritarianism, rather it would be an eminent example of Tamil nationalism.
Regardless of what the Tamil people do, they will always be victims of Sinhala Buddhist racism because they are the minority.
On the other hand, Sinhalese cannot love their country, heritage or religion because it would amount to racism as they are the majority. They cannot try to shape Sri Lanka’s political development or its cultural ethos – though they are 70% of the population – because that would be majoritarianism. Sinhala nationalism – even Sri Lankan nationalism – is by definition chauvinistic and racist.
Regardless of what the Sinhala people do, they will always be racists and war criminals because they are the majority in the country.
SO WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT?
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