{"id":62466,"date":"2012-11-30T12:20:36","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T12:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=62466"},"modified":"2012-12-08T14:31:49","modified_gmt":"2012-12-08T14:31:49","slug":"jaffna-appalling-attack-and-unjustifiable-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/jaffna-appalling-attack-and-unjustifiable-reactions\/","title":{"rendered":"Appalling Attack And Unjustifiable Reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Nirmanusan Balasundaram<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nirmanusan Balasundaram<\/p><\/div>\n

On the evening of the November 27 at 06:07 PM (local time), flames were lit in commemoration of Maaveerar Naal<\/a><\/span> 2012 (Martyrs\u2019 Day 2012). It was initiated by the Tamil students from the Jaffna University.<\/p>\n

Pre-deployed Sri Lankan troops forcibly entered into the Ladies\u2019 Hostel and attacked the students and damaged properties, soon after they realized that the flames were lit inside the Ladies\u2019 Hostel of the Jaffna University<\/a><\/span>. The victims called the University administration to escape from the attack and seek safety. However, following the attack tensions prevailed.<\/p>\n

More troops and policemen were deployed to the university vicinity by the Sri Lankan Defense establishment in Jaffna. The next day (November 28), the students called for a nonviolent protest in opposition to the military attack against the students. The sit-in protest which took place within the university premises revisited memories of the Satyagraha campaign led by the late S.J.V.Chelvanayagam.<\/p>\n

Vicious Cycle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as successive Sri Lankan governments and their hooligan mobs attacked the Gandhian way of the Satyagraha campaigns of 1956<\/a> and 1961<\/a>, on the 28th<\/sup> the Sri Lankan army and policemen unleashed their terror campaign against the university students, who were marching peacefully within university surroundings holding placards, with a considerable number of\u00a0 students symbolically covering their mouths with black cloths.<\/p>\n

The<\/a> attackers injured about 20 students, damaged the vehicle of a TNA parliamentarian, and harassed and threatened a Tamil journalist trying to cover the incident.<\/p>\n

The history of the island indicates that it was the oppression of Tamils\u2019 democratic struggle that led the Tamil youth to take up arms to safeguard their nation\u2019s rights, especially that of freedom.\u00a0 The outcome of which was known not just to the people of the island, but also the world.\u00a0 Despite this, the Sri Lankan Armed Forces\u2019 atrocities against the Tamil people continues today, mirroring past acts of violence.<\/p>\n

This act of abuse and oppression reveals the importance of demilitarization, as situation of an open prison is prolonged in the NorthEast, particularly in the North.<\/p>\n

Failure of the Media<\/strong><\/p>\n

International media outlets justified their failure to aptly cover the genocidal war in late-2008 to mid-2009 by blaming the Sri Lankan government\u2019s denial to independent and international journalists to access\/enter the war zone. Yet, today, with no directive war taking place, media coverage by the Colombo based English and Sinhala media of the brutal attack against the Jaffna University students has been extremely poor. While polarization of the national media continues, imbalanced reporting by international media outlets emanated once again.\u00a0 Jan Jananayagam, \u00a0Director, Tamils Against Genocide [TAG] tweeted, \u201csickening that colombo-based european media like @afp have not learned from their failures in 2009\u201d, highlighting that \u201cmisleading account from @afp omits to say students threw stones AFTER military attacked peaceful demo\u201d \u2013 a vital omission leading to suggest that it was the students\u2019 act triggered the military\u2019s violent response.<\/p>\n

She further tweeted BBC \u201cwho failed disgustingly in 2009, reporting from colombo repeats srilankan military lies about jaffna protests\u201d and added that the BBC pretends ‘balanced’ reporting involves quoting of discredited lanka army sources w’out mentioning their previous record of mendacity\u201d.<\/p>\n

The BBC reportage also failed to include the students\u2019 version of the story \u2013 a vital view of the incident, while having given attention to the Sri Lankan military\u2019s false recount of events.<\/p>\n

This misrepresentation by the AFP and BBC only assists the Sri Lankan government\u2019s propaganda machine.<\/p>\n

\u201cSave us\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking to the victimized students, a student leader said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This is a most degrading incident. They [the armed forces] have entered the Ladies\u2019 Hostel. This is an indecent act. So we are protesting against this act by the Sri Lankan Army. The University Administration says they knew nothing about it. We cannot believe this because at that time there was no one around. It was only after the army came and took their positions that the officers from the administration arrived and then simply chose to watch the proceedings.<\/p>\n

To what extent are you [the University Administration] protecting the students?\u00a0 How can this happen without the administration\u2019s knowledge? What is the use of having a Vice-Chancellor? It is better to have an ordinary soldier as a VC then\u2026 If an ordinary soldier can come within the university premises and threaten the students, what is the need for you [the VC]? I am not trying to abuse anyone. Please consider this, our VC, our administration \u2013 if the army can freely enter the university premises then what need is there for an administration?<\/p>\n

Therefore to prevent these kinds of incidents happening, we can\u2019t ask anyone, we are not in a position to ask anyone, we can only show this as a protest, to the international community. There is no one in Jaffna to listen to us, it is only the international community which must open its eyes and save us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

International Response<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the available information, no prompt statements have been issued by the international community, except for that of the U.S. embassy in Colombo. While describing it as a \u201cpeaceful demonstration\u201d, the U.S. embassy said in its statement<\/a><\/span> that it was \u201cgreatly concerned about reports of attacks on students in Jaffna\u201d. It further states its concern \u201cabout recent threats to freedom of expression in Sri Lanka\u201d with the \u201cNovember 28 beating of a reporter in Jaffna, harassment by Government of Sri Lanka officials of independent media outlets, and searches without warrants of journalists all..[serving]\u2026to stifle media freedom\u201d. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Reconciliation: Repeating Rhetoric<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan government continues its malicious propaganda in support of its own so-called action plan for reconciliation, while the Tamil people continue to be oppressed in many forms within an open prison. Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Expression and other democratic rights have been completely denied to the Tamil people.<\/p>\n

Not only on Martyrs\u2019 Day, but even choosing to commemorate kith and kin who were killed during the genocidal warfare in May 2009 has also been extremely restricted to the Tamil people. Even if perceived as an enemy, war memories are to be respected, but the Sri Lankan government has engaged in a continuous act of destroying all the Martyrs cemeteries built throughout the NorthEast in memory of more than twenty thousand LTTE cadres.<\/p>\n

It is noteworthy at this juncture that academic sources from within the Jaffna University premises have revealed on condition of anonymity to the JDS<\/a>, \u201cThe soldiers were angry that students have somehow commemorated their heroes and lit the commemoration lamp despite many threats and intimidation. Today\u2019s attack was nothing but a violent retaliation on the students for remembering their own sisters and brothers. This simply shows that we don\u2019t have freedom even to cry silently in the NorthEast\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a fundamental sense, the reconciliation comes through respect and acknowledgement and not through denial and continuing terror atrocities. Committing massacres and denying the survivors their right to remember is simply an extention of the genocidal policy of the state. Therefore, the international community should act swiftly in order to prevent any further atrocities against the Tamil people in the island, while ensuring their right to peaceful assembly and protest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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