சனி, 3 மே, 2014

146,000 acres of lands appropriated through militarisation

146,000 acres of lands appropriated through militarisation of Batticaloa in 5 years: Tamil MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 May 2014, 23:42 GMT]
Colombo has established 54 new military camps in Batticaloa district. 650 acres of lands have been appropriated for the occupying SL military, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian P. Ariyanethiran addressing May day rally in Batticaloa. Within the last 5 years alone, 145,885 acres of lands belonging to Tamil workers have been seized, Mr Ariyanethiran further said. The major land appropriation has taken place through the SL ministry of tourism seizing 122,063 acres through gazette notification within the last 5 years, the parliamentarian from Batticaloa said.

The genocidal land-grab is being carried out by a military of Sri Lanka wearing Khaki uniform, but there is also a Kaavi (Safron) wearing ‘military’ occupying our lands. They come in various forms such as ‘Bodu Bala Sena’ (Buddhist Power Force), the MP said. A Buddhist monk is continuously interfering in the civil affairs of Batticaloa district.

While Sinhala settlers have appropriated 5,030 acres encroaching into lands owned by Tamils, Buddhist monks have seized 8,576 acres in the district.

A further 84 acres have been appropriated in the name of sugarcane plantation.

This is the ‘development’ the Sri Lankan State is talking about.

The ruling UPFA party officials, including the chief minister of the Eastern Province, are behaving like the military officers of the occupying SL military.

“The SL Government Agent in Batticaola produced a statistics stating that 51,000 million rupees have been spent in the district for ‘development’ within the last 5 years. At the same time, the Government Agent was also admitting that cultural destruction has accelerated in the district,” Mr Ariyanethiran said. “You should think asking the question what kind of so-called development is coming with a trend of cultural annihilation,” he asked the Tamils who attended the May Day rally of the Tamil National Alliance at the Charles Hall in Batticaloa.

“What is the use of education if that is only serving this kind of development,” the MP asked and urged the Tamil academics to come forward to device plans to the freedom of the Tamil nation and the language with a commitment to democratic rights, he said. “We should resolve on the occasion of this May Day that we would safeguard our resources and the rights of our nation. Each nation [in this island] should have freedom to look after its affairs on its own,” Ariyanethiran said.

Commenting, activists for alternative politics in the East told TamilNet that the TNA, having the mandate of the Tamil people has not taken a single initiative in the direction of the May Day speech delivered by the TNA MP. Instead of doing politics with empty rhetoric, the TNA should take a serious assessment of its deeds after 2009 in giving leadership to Eezham Tamils as a nation.

“The real May Day message was delivered to TNA by Ananthi Sasitharan in Trincomalee meeting,” an activist said.

TNA MPs P. Selvarasa, S. Yogeswaran and the councillors of the Eastern Provincial Council, R. Thurairatnam, Prasanna, K. Karunakaram, M. Ndarajah, G. Krishnapillay (Ve’l’limalai), K. Thurairajasingham and councillor T. Kalaiyarasan from Ampaa’rai took part in the meeting.

வெள்ளி, 2 மே, 2014

Hijacked-nominated-installed ‘leadership’ silences TNA’s struggle

Hijacked-nominated-installed ‘leadership’ silences TNA’s struggle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2014, 13:45 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) councillors and parliamentarians were summoned to Trincomalee Town Council on Wednesday to discuss two issues, the UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka and the so-called South African initiative. In order to defend its approach, a hijacked-nominated-installed section of the TNA was instructing the silent majority of the TNA not to speak anything against the ‘international’ effort by South Africa. In order to make the remaining not to rebel against R Sampanthan, MA Sumanthiran and CV Wigneswaran, a so-called high-level committee of 8 members was floated instructing all the members to toe in line in expressing opinion on internal and external matters by consulting the committee.

The move comes as the trio was seeking a path contradictory to what has even been achieved in the Geneva discourse, political observers in the island said.

Whatever the little seen at the face value of the Geneva Resolution basically contradicts the ‘behind the screen’ manoeuvring of South Africa.

The Geneva Resolution called for OHCHR investigation, even though it sabotaged the freedom of such an investigation by allowing the genocidal military occupation to continue. The South Africa manoeuvring pivots around bailing out the genocide criminals for crumps thrown at a newly groomed, simulated, Tamil leadership.

While progressive forces in the UN and in the other international organisations are keen in making a point through the Geneva Resolution by taking it beyond the agenda of the USA or any other power, but are worried how to get evidence, and are disillusioned at the bankruptcy of the kind of Tamil ’activists’ they see in the pockets of the powers, the line taken by the TNA trio is a further blow to the Tamil cause, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.

By an opportunistic politics of power-centric and Colombo-centric interests, Tamils lose a historic opportunity of universalising their struggle into a landmark struggle of humanity, and the chance of getting a solution of self-respect setting the paradigm for all similar nations in the world, comment progressive sections of international observers.

* * *

The lone target of the TNA trio at the Trinco meet was Ms Ananthi Sasitharan for her bold presentation at Geneva, of nothing but what had already been resolved by the NPC. This means that either the TNA trio didn’t like that resolution in their heart or it has been asked to withdraw the resolution in practice, Tamil political observers in the island said.

Sampanthan was also scuttling the vital relationship between the Eezham Tamils and the Tamil Nadu polity by saying that New Delhi was important, despite the hostile approach exposed in Geneva where India was arrogantly backing the sovereignty claim of the genocidal Sri Lankan State by taking a position against the internationalisation of the investigation process. The resolution itself was literally backing the sovereignty claim, but wanted an international enquiry mechanism through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. South Africa chose to remain silent.

While an international fault line has been created in Geneva following the discourse between the Establishments of India and the UK-USA, both of them sabotaging the Tamil national question for their own geopolitical purposes, the Colombo-centric trio of the TNA is creating a local fault line by silencing and suppressing the democratically elected voices in the North and East, Tamil activists for alternative politics told TamilNet.

While Mr Sampanthan maintained that the TNA would not enter into an All Party Committee (APC) discourse as Rajapaksa Establishment was insisting upon, he was particular in maintaining a good rapport with the Indian Establishment stating that India had its ‘limitations’ in taking a principled stand in favour of international investigations in Geneva.

The parliamentary group leader of the TNA Mr R. Sampanthan and the nominated parliamentarian on TNA’s national list Mr M.A. Sumanthiran chose to launch a joint verbal assault on Ms Ananthi Sasitharan, the councillor who had polled most votes next to the chief minister of the Northern Provincial Council, for having addressed the Human Rights Council’s 25th Session without seeking ‘permission’ from the ‘party leadership’.

The Chief Minister of the NPC Mr C.V. Wigneswaran, who had proposed Ms Ananthi Sasitharan to address the Geneva session on behalf of the NPC, maintained silence, while the duo was castigating the mother of three who has been seeking justice for the missing persons including her husband Elilan, who was the political head of Trincomalee during the times of the LTTE.

None of the other politicians, including Suresh Premachandran and S. Sritharan, came to the defence while E. Saravanapawan joined Sumanthiran in attacking Ananthi, news sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet.

Tamil people question South Africa’s appearance after the Geneva resolution, whether the process deviates the issue into an internal discourse and seals off the international dimensions. In the invitation to the Trinco meet, Mr Sampanthan had asked to present the demands in written form and Ms Sasitharan went to the meeting preparing her demands after consulting supporters and activists.

However, when Ananthi was reading her statement, Sumanthiran interrupted, launching a personal attack disrupting Ananthi. There was no one to defend her. Even those who criticise the conduct of Sumanthiran maintained silence.

There should be no talk on genocide was the position of Sumanthiran at the Trincomalee meeting, as he openly rejected the initial demand of Ananthi.

Ms Ananthi was present in Geneva twice, first with MA Sumanthiran, and later alone on her own for a second time, after revealing that she had been asked to remain silent at a crucial meeting in Geneva, where Mr Sumanthiran came down from demanding an international investigation, which disappointed even some of the European diplomats who were present at the meeting. International investigation or not, didn’t matter, the only thing important was to get a resolution passed, was the position of Sumanthiran when he addressed 18 countries in a closed-door meeting.

Following are the six demands put forward by TNA councillor Ananthi at the Trincomalee meeting (full text in Tamil is also provided at the end):


  1. The Tamil National Alliance should openly demand international investigations on Tamil genocide.
  2. The TNA should demand the international community to move forward to the next step as the potential witnesses are already under threat and intimidation, and are subjected to an accelerated militarisation of the SL military disrupting further the possibility of witnesses cooperating with any investigation. The IC should take responsibility for creating a situation conducive for conducting an international investigation.
  3. The TNA should establish political trust with Tamil Nadu and its Chief Minister, who remain the only hope at the moment. The TNA should evaluate itself with self-criticism and take seriously the criticism being levelled against the Colombo-centric mindset that is blocking the rapport with Tamil Nadu. The TNA should be genuine and transparent in its approach on the matter.
  4. While the militarisation is destabilising the local environment to conduct any investigation possible, there is a fear among the Tamils that South African move is aimed at scuttling the furtherance of the international dimension of the Geneva resolution. There is no problem with TNA engaging with all the international actors including South Africa. But, there should be no duplicity. A way to achieve this is making the stand open and public without allowing space for contradictory manoeuvrings.
  5. The structural genocide is being taking forward in full force in the Eastern Province similar to the Northern Province. Therefore, all democratically elected representatives of the TNA from local civic bodies, both the provincial councils and the parliamentarians, should be summoned to take a democratic decision.
  6. In order to ensure timely participation in producing evidences and statistics to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, the TNA should constitute a work group to conduct the necessary work with immediate effect.


* * *

The original Tamil text by Ananthi Sasitharan follows:

ஜெனீவாவில் நிறைவேறியுள்ள இலங்கை தொடர்பான மனித உரிமை அறிக்கை தொடர்பாகவும் தென்னாபிரிக்க நகர்வு தொடர்பானதுமான நிலைப்பாடு

ஐ.நா.வின் மனித உரிமை அவையில் ஈழத்தமிழ் மக்கள் மீதான இன அழிப்பு குறித்தும் சர்வதேச சமூகம் எவ்வாறான முறையில் எமது மக்கள் மீதும் மண் மீதும் தொடரும் கட்டமைப்புரீதீயான இன அழிப்பைப் பற்றியும், அவையின் அமர்விலும், என்னால் பங்கெடுக்கக்கூடியதாகவிருந்த ஓர நிகழ்வுகளிலும் கருத்துக்களை முன்வைத்திருந்தேன்.

இங்கே கட்டவிழ்த்து விடப்பட்டிருக்கும் பயங்கரமான கைதுகள், சுற்றிவளைப்புகள், மனித உரிமைக்காகக் குரல்கொடுப்போர் மீது மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டிருக்கும் பயங்கரமான நடவடிக்கைகள் குறித்தும், முக்கியமாக காணாமற்போயிருப்போரின் உறவுகள் சார்பாகவும், கருத்துகளை முன்வைத்திருந்தேன்.

உண்மையானதொரு சர்வதேச விசாரணையை நோக்கிய நகர்வாக மனித உரிமைகள் அவையின் நிலைப்பாடு அமையவேண்டும். இன அழிப்பு தொடர்பான குற்றச்சாட்டை இனியும் நிராகரித்துக்கொண்டு செல்லாமல், தட்டிக்கழிக்காமல் நேர்மையான, சுயாதீனமான, சர்வதேச விசாரணை ஒன்று போர்க்குற்றங்கள், மனித குலத்திற்கு எதிரான குற்றங்கள், இன அழிப்பு குற்றம் என்ற மூன்று விடயங்களையும் உள்ளடக்கியதாக அமையவேண்டும் என்ற எமது மக்களின் நிலைப்பாட்டை நான்கு தடவை சபையின் அமர்வில் நேரடியாக முன்வைத்தேன்.

ஐ.நா. மனித உரிமை உயர் ஸ்தானிகர் வட கிழக்குக்கு வந்து சந்திப்புகளை மேற்கொண்டபின்னர், கொழும்பில் வைத்து ஆங்கில ஊடகம் ஒன்றுக்கு வழங்கிய வீடியோ நேர்காணலில் தான் வடக்குக்கும் கிழக்குக்கும் வருகை தந்த போது இன அழிப்பு என்ற சொல்லை தனக்கு எவரும் குறிப்பிடவில்லை என்று கூறியிருந்தார்.

இது குறித்த கவலை பல மட்டங்களில் இருந்தும் வெளியாகியிருந்தது. குறிப்பாக மலேசிய பினாங்கு துணை முதல்வர் பேராசிரியர் இராமசாமி அவர்கள் வெளிப்படையாகவே அம்மையாரின் இந்தக் கூற்று பற்றிய விமர்சனத்தை வெளியிட்டிருந்தார்.

இந்த நிலையில், வடமாகாண சபையில் இன அழிப்பு குறித்த சர்வதேச விசாரணை வேண்டும் என்று ஒரு தீர்மானம் ஜனநாயக ரீதியாக தெரிவான பிரதிநிதிகளால் முன்வைக்கப்பட்டது. இந்தத் தீர்மானம் திரிபுக்குள்ளாக்கப்பட்டாலும் இன அழிப்புக்கு ஒப்பான குற்றம் குறித்த சர்வதேச விசாரணை வேண்டும் என்ற அளவில் முதல்வரால் நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டது. அது மட்டுமல்ல இந்த விடயம் தொடர்பாக ஜெனிவா சென்று கருத்தை முன்வைக்கும் ஆணையும் எனக்குத் தரப்பட்டிருந்தது.

ஜெனிவா சென்று இரு முறை நேரடியாக பார்த்தபோது தான் அங்கு எவ்வாறு விடயங்கள் முன்னெடுக்கப்படுகின்றன என்பதை ஆழமாக புரிந்துகொள்ள முடிந்தது.

உண்மையில் ஒட்டுமொத்தமான தமிழ்த் தேசிய இனம் தனது கருத்தை சரியான முறையில், கண்கூடான முறையில் முன்வைப்பதற்கான ஜனநாயக வெளியை நாம் ஏன் இதுவரை சரியாக பயன்படுத்தவில்லை என்ற கேள்வியே அங்கு சென்று நிலைமையை அவதானித்தபோது எனக்கு ஏற்பட்டது.

அதைச் சரியாகச் செய்யத் தவறினால் வரலாற்றுக்குத் தவறிழைத்தவர்கள் ஆவோம் என்பதைப் புரிந்து கொண்டு வரலாற்றுக்கு நேர்மையாக எமது தேசிய இனத்தின் கருத்தை அங்கு பதிவு செய்தேன்.

ஜெனீவாவில் கொண்டுவரப்பட்ட நகலில் தமிழ் என்ற சொல்லே கிடையாது.

சிறிலங்கா ஒற்றையாட்சி அரசுக்கும் ஈழத்தமிழ்த் தேசிய இனத்திற்கும் இடையிலான தேசிய இனப் பிரச்சனை குறித்த தெளிவின்றி அந்த நகல் வரையப்பட்டிருந்தாலும் அதில் இராணுவ-விலக்கு என்று ஆரம்பத்தில் குறிப்பிடப்பட்டிருந்தது. ஆனால், அதுவும் பின்னர் அதில் இருந்து நீக்கப்பட்டு விட்டது.
இது குறித்த பகிரங்கமான அதிருப்தியை நாம் வெளியிடத் தவறுவோமென்றால் வரலாற்றுக்குத் தவறிழைத்தவர்களாகவே நாம் அடையாளங்காணப்படுவோம்.

அதேவேளை, ஐ.நா. மனித உரிமை உயர் ஸ்தானிகரின் அலுவலகத்தின் ஊடான ஒரு சர்வதேச பொறிமுறையுடனான விசாரணைக்கான தேவை இருக்கிறது என்பதை இந்த தீர்மானம் அங்கீகரித்திருக்கிறது என்பதைக் கருத்தில் கொண்டு, அதை மேலும் பலப்படுத்துவத்றகாவன செயற்பாடுகளிலும் நாம் ஈடுபடவேண்டும்.

இந்தத் தீர்மானத்தையே சிறிலங்கா அரசு அப்பட்டமாக நிராகரித்திருக்கிறது.

இன அழிப்பு குறித்த விசாரணை என்று சொன்னாலும் சிறிலங்கா அரசு நிராகரிக்கும், அது இல்லாத எந்த ஒரு சர்வதேச விசாரணையையும் அது நிராகரிக்கும் என்றால், தமிழ்த் தரப்பில் இன அழிப்பு என்ற அரசியற் கோரிக்கையை முன்வைக்காது தவறுவதை இனியும் எந்தவகையிலும் எவரும் நியாயப்படுத்த முடியாது.

இந்த நிலையில் தமிழ்த்தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பின் உறுப்பினர்கள் ஒன்றைத் தெளிவாகப் புரிந்துகொள்ளவேண்டும். இன அழிப்பு குறித்த சர்வதேச விசாரணை வேண்டும் என்று நாம் இனியும் தெளிவாகவும், பகிரங்கமாகவும், நேர்மையாகவும் கூறத் தவறினால் அது நாம் எமது தேசிய இனத்திற்கு இழைக்கும் மாபெரும் வரலாற்றுத் துரோகமாகும்.

தேர்தல் காலத்திலேயே மழுங்கடித்த வாக்குறுதிகளை மக்களுக்கு வழங்கி, தேர்தலுக்குப் பின்னர் எமது அரசியல் அரங்குகளில் அதை மேலும் நீர்த்துப்போகச் செய்து, இறுதியில் நடைமுறையில் மேலும் நீர்த்துப்போகவைக்கும் செயற்பாடு எமது தேசிய இனத்திற்கு பெரும் பின்னடைவை ஏற்படுத்தும் செயலாகிவிடும்.

எனவே, எனது முதலாவது கோரிக்கை:
தமிழ்த்தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ஆணித்தரமாக இன அழிப்பு மீதான சர்வதேச விசாரணையைப் பகிரங்கமாகக் கோரவேண்டும்.

இந்தக்கோரிக்கைக்குப் பின்னரே எமது அடுத்த கோரிக்கைகளை முன்வைக்கவேண்டும்.

எனது இரண்டாவது கோரிக்கை:
ஐ.நா. மனித உரிமை ஆணையரின் அலுவலகத்தால் மேற்கொள்ளப்படக்கூடிய விசாரணையை சிறிலங்கா அரசு மறுப்பது மட்டுமல்ல, இராணுவக் கெடுபிடிகளை நடைமுறைப்படுத்தி எந்த ஒரு சாட்சியமும் சுயாதீனமான முறையில் பயமின்றி எந்த ஒரு விசாரணைப் பொறிமுறைக்கும் ஒத்துழைக்கமுடியாத சூழல் நிலவுவதால், சர்வதேச சமுகம் இனியும் காலம் தாழ்த்தாது அதற்கான சூழலை ஏற்படுத்துவதற்கான பொறிமுறைக்கு நகரவேண்டும் என்ற கோரிக்கையை பகிரங்கமாக தமிழ்த்தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு முன்வைக்கவேண்டும்.

எனது மூன்றாவது கோரிக்கை:
ஈழத் தமித் தேசிய இனத்துக்கு இன்று இருக்கும் ஒரு நம்பிக்கை தமிழ்நாட்டு அரசும் அதன் முதல்வரும். தமிழ்த் தேசியக்கூட்டமைப்பின் செயற்பாடுகள் இனியாவது மனச்சுத்தியுடன் இந்த அரசியல் உறவைப் பலப்படுத்துவதாக அமையவேண்டும். இது குறித்த சுய விமர்சனத்தை நேர்மையோடு அணுகும் தன்மை கொழும்பை மையப்படுத்திச் சிந்திக்கும் ஒரு வட்டத்தினால் தடுக்கப்படுகிறது என்ற கருத்து மக்கள் மத்தியில் பலமாக இருக்கிறது. எனவே இனியாவது இந்த ஒளித்து மறைத்து செயற்படும் அரசியலைத் தவிர்த்து நேர்மையான, வெளிப்படையான கருத்தை முன்வைக்கவேண்டும்.

எனது நான்காவது கோரிக்கை:
ஜெனிவா தீர்மானத்தை நடைமுறையில் பலமிழக்கச் செய்யும் ஒரு காரியம் வடக்கிலும் கிழக்கிலும் நடைபெற்றுக்கொண்டிருக்கும் இராணுவ ஆட்சி. இது இலங்கைத்தீவின் உள்ளிருக்கும் நிலை. இதே போல சர்வதேசப் பரப்பில் இந்தத் தீர்மானத்தின் செல்நெறியை வேறுதிசைக்குத் திருப்பும் ஒரு நகர்வாகவே பூடகமாக முன்வைக்கப்பட்டுவரும் தென்னாபிரிக்க நகர்வு எமது மக்களாலும் எமது மக்களில் கரிசனை கொண்டுள்ள சர்வதேச நட்புச் சக்திகளாலும் பார்க்கப்படும்.

அதிலும் குறிப்பாக, மக்களுக்குத் தெரியப்படுத்தப்படாத, பூடகமான நகர்வுக்காக மீண்டும் தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு கழுதை தேய்ந்து கட்டெறும்பாகும் நலிவு அரசியலை கடைப்பிடிக்கக்கூடாது.

எந்த சர்வதேச தரப்போடும் நாம் பேசலாம். பேச வேண்டும். ஆனால், அதைச் செய்யும் போது எமது பகிரங்க நிலைப்பாடு குறித்து நாம் தெளிவாக இருந்தவாறு அதைச் செய்யவேண்டும். ஒரு நிலைப்பாட்டை இன்னொரு நிலைப்பாடு முரண்படுத்தும் நிலையை அப்போது தான் நாம் தவிர்க்கலாம்.

ஆகவே, எல்லாவற்றையும் இணைத்துப் பார்த்த நிலையில் எமது நிலைப்பாடு அமையவேண்டும்.

எனது ஐந்தாவது கோரிக்கை:
வடக்கு மாகாணத்துக்கு ஒப்பாக கிழக்கு மாகாணத்திலும் கட்டமைப்பு ரீதியான இன அழிப்புச் செயற்பாடு நடைபெறுகிறது. இது குறித்து சர்வதேச தரப்புகள் தொடக்கம் தமிழ்த் தரப்புகள் வரை குறித்த கவனம் செலுத்த முடியாதிருக்கின்றன. இது தொடர்பான தெளிவான ஒரு செயற்பாடு அவசியம். ஜனநாயக ரீதியாக தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட வடக்கு கிழக்கின் அனைத்து உள்ளூராட்சி, மாகாண சபை, பாராளுமன்ற தமிழ்த்தேசியக்கூட்டமைப்பின் பிரதிநிதிகளை ஓரிடத்தில் ஒன்றுகூட்டி சில முடிவுகளை வட கிழக்கை சமமாக மையப்படுத்திய நிலையில் மேற்கொள்ள வேண்டும்.

எனது ஆறாவது கோரிக்கை:
ஐ.நா. மனித உரிமை ஆணையரின் அலுவலகம் தனது நடவடிக்கையை முன்னெடுக்கும் போது தமிழ்மக்களாகிய நாம் அதற்கு எந்த வகையில் சரியான ஆதாரங்களையும், புள்ளிவிபரங்களையும் முன்வைப்பது என்ற விடயத்திற்கான ஒரு செயற்குழுவையும் அதற்கான செயற்பாட்டை எவ்வாறு முன்னெடுப்பது என்பது குறித்தும் உடனடியான முடிவை மேற்கொள்ளவேண்டும்.

Idiotic racism in Colombo University

Idiotic racism in Colombo University ‘medical research’ published in India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2014, 23:13 GMT]
“The Sinhalese are probably the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Island, but their origin is also traced to Northern India. However, there is disagreement as to whether they came originally from the North West or North East part of India. The Sri Lankan Tamils are the descendants of Tamils from South India who came to the Island and settled down at various times in the past when Sri Lanka was invaded by South Indian rulers. The Moors are the descendants of Arab traders,” says a ‘medical research’ undertaken by the Department of Pharmacology and by the Department of Human Genetics Unit of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo that is published in the Indian Journal of Human Genetics.

With such a distorted preconceived notion, amounting to Nazi education of the interwar times, the ‘research’ on “Genetic variants in the cytochrome P450 2D6 gene in the Sri Lankan population” was undertaken by T.D. Praveen Tharanga, C.M.V. Jinadasa, M.F. Risama, Priyadarshani Galappatthy, R.L. Jayakody and Vajira H.W. Dissanayake. The article appeared in The Indian Journal of Human Genetics (2013, Vol 19, issue 4), was web-published on 4 January 2014.

The study was funded by a grant from the “Improving Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education Project” of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo in genocidal Sri Lanka.

* * *

The notion projected by the study can’t be ignored as something merely coming from an undergraduate undertaking, because it shows the general mindset that firmly prevails in the Sinhala academia and the universities, as well as the endorsement to the mindset coming from a professional, refereed Indian journal, commented an academic of the University of Jaffna.

The ‘researchers’ seem to be having no idea of the geological and archaeological facts about the prehistoric population of South India and the island that freely traversed to and fro through a land bridge that existed well into Holocene times; about the common megalithic culture of South India and the island in the protohistoric times starting from at least 3000 years ago; about the possibilities of language replacement through Pali-Buddhism evolving the Sinhala language on the Dravidian/ Austro Asiatic substratum of the local population; About Eezham Tamils historically evolving from the same motley as a parallel identity with their own land; and above all about the large sections of South Indian populations that have come in various historical times being found within the Sinhalese themselves, the Jaffna University academic said, citing the surnames of two of the researchers related to South Indian navigators and warrior guilds.

A predominant part of the Muslims in the island are not “descendants of Arab traders” either, just like a predominant part of the Christians in the island are not descendants of Europeans, the academic further said.

* * *

When the geological and archaeological fact of the land link that existed between extreme peninsular India and the island, and the prehistoric movement of fauna as well as people who made the original population of the island was explained in a diaspora seminar sometimes back, a Sinhala postgraduate girl present there was reluctant to accept it, saying that “it was not taught to her at school in Sri Lanka.”

The Colombo University medical undergrads are not to be blamed for their ‘Mahavamsa’ mindset. It is something that has been consciously orientated for several decades by the Sinhala elite and by the various governments of the genocidal State.

Relevant research in this field done even by Sinhala academics has not been disseminated properly to the public and has not reached at least the university students.

The few Sinhala academics, who did some authentic work, too are now either engaged in thinking how to prove the meagalithic culture an ‘Aryan’ culture or engaged in buttressing the Rajapaksas and the ‘Army and Archaeology’ genocidal State by doing ‘diplomacy’ with Washington and New Delhi.

The Colombo University medical undergrads could not find any genetic markers differentiating Eezham Tamils and the Sinhalese. But the model they could think is the assimilation of the ‘South Indian invaders’ with the ‘original’ Sinhalese.

“The *3 allele is absent in South Indian Tamils, the presence of the *3 allele among a large proportion of Sri Lankan Tamils to the point where it is almost reaching the high frequency observed in Sinhalese probably suggests that there has been considerable admixture between these two populations following migration from South India. This is supported by the results of blood group genetic marker analysis, which also have not revealed any difference between the Sinhalese and Tamils,” the ‘research’ paper said.

* * *

The formula is very simple to the Sinhala-Buddhist mind: The Sinhalese are original and they are not related to the nearest land, i.e., South India. Even if they had come from North India they didn’t invade the aborigines. Tamils are South Indian invaders. Muslims are trade migrants. The latter two have no moral right for any territorial claim in the island. If Tamils in the island want their land or identity let them go to Tamil Nadu. If they want to live in the island let them get assimilated or live as subordinate ‘minorities’ with a tag on them that they are descendants of ‘invaders’.

The intent for genocide and structural genocide comes from this mindset and is justified by this mindset.

The mindset has been recently summarised by genocidal Sri Lanka’s diplomat Dayan Jayatilake: “There is no Tamil nation in Sri Lanka, but there is a Tamil minority in Sri Lanka. There is however a Sinhala nation in Sri Lanka. That is the only ethnic community on the island, which can claim the status of a nation as such,” he wrote last month.

No power on this earth could perform the edification of this congenital disorder of the mindset by appeasing the genocidal State, by shielding the genocide and the intent for further genocide, by blaming the Eezham Tamils for ‘narrow nationalism’ as some so-called Leftists licking the boots of the ‘great’ nationalism of Colombo are saying and by deliberations to resolve the issue within one State. There are better chances of mindset change for the benefit of both the siblings through a paradigm of Separation for Reflection and Unity.

Related Articles:
28.04.14   Tamil academic responds to denial of Eezham Tamil nationhood
03.07.08   Knowledge books mistreat Tamil history


External Links:
Indian Journal of Human Genetics: Genetic variants in the cytochrome P450 2D6 gene in the Sri Lankan population

வியாழன், 1 மே, 2014

Sinhala military operates US-trained ‘counterinsurgency’ in Jaffna

Sinhala military operates US-trained ‘counterinsurgency’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2014, 22:21 GMT]
The commander of the genocidal Sri Lankan military in the Jaffna peninsula, Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera, who was trained and awarded in the US Army War College in 2012, after his role as director of SL Army operations in the genocidal onslaught in 2009 followed by counter-insurgency foreign service targeting Tamil diaspora from Malaysia, is deploying new tactics for furthering the structural genocide against Eezham Tamils in his position as the commander of SL military occupying the peninsula. The SL commander has launched a deceptive programme to woo Tamil youth into subservient jobs to SL military by promising good payment through a secret agent known as ‘Tamil CNN Kannan’ who has come from the UK. As the direct campaign to enlist Tamils into the genocidal military has failed, the SL military has chosen to trap Tamil youth through business and media agents.
SL military interview
SL military officers conducting interview at Kokkuvil on Sunday


Why the TNAs Northern Provincial Council has failed in alerting the Tamil public in advance is a question asked by several public sources in Jaffna. Had the NPC alerted the public, many of the youth would have saved from the deceptions of the occupying SL military designs, the sources further said.
Recruitment notice promising government jobs without any reference to SL military
Recruitment notice promising government jobs without any reference to SL military
Kannan
Kannan, the chief agent operating behind the scene to deceive people into SL military recruitment drive through a public operative, is said to have returned from abroad to work with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP.
The latest innovation of Udaya Perera is a deceptive move to enlist Tamil females between 18 and 30 years and males between 18 and 32 to the SL military by inviting them through a fake outfit known as Reconciliation Centre, promising ‘government jobs’.

In reality, there is no outfit known as Reconciliation Centre, but an operative scheming anti-social and destructive businesses. Known as ‘TamilCNN Kannan’, the operative, who has come from UK, is managing the deceptive move of recruitment, through a local operative known as Yathavan Somasundaram (Selva), a science graduate, who is from Maalusanthi in Karaveddi.

The fake offer of employment is designed (see the leaflet in Tamil) without any mention to the SL military.

The invitation is being sent through village (GS) officers. When those appearing for the interview see the SL military officers at the interviewing seats, it is too late to escape.

The Sinhala military officers are particular in collecting the original certificates from the youth for enlisting them through intimidation. The youth being recruited will be trained at Palaali military base for 3 months and assigned to various camps in the peninsula, informed sources told TamilNet.

Kannan, who is originally from Irumpu-mathavadi of Karaveddi in Vadmaraadchi, was earlier operating a website in Tamil language known as TamilCNN from the UK. The website has been reportedly sold to someone else in the diaspora, who is also close to the military establishment in Colombo.

* * *
Major General Udaya Perera
Major General Udaya Perera, who after his participation in the genocidal war, received ‘training’ in the USA [Photo courtesy: Website of SL military HQ in KLN]
Udaya Perera has appropriated another Tamil website, known as New Jaffna, which has been popular for gossip stories as well as local news from Jaffna in Tamil.

The ‘transformation’ was done through intimidation in the beginning, later deception, and finally through brokering several lakhs of money. The SL military Establishment chose to spend money to get the domain of the site transferred from a diaspora person involved in the operation.

The SL military intelligence seems to believe that it could design an effective disinformation campaign through Tamil language websites that have already gained some traffic.

The SL military intelligence has also tried to deceive the public through a print media operation called Tamil Naatham, deploying intelligence operatives as journalists. But, the move didn’t work as nobody bought that paper.

During the provincial council election, the SL military intelligence published a fake newspaper resembling the popular daily Uthayan. The paper came with a false message that Ms Ananthy Sasitharan had joined the UPFA. Although the people of Jaffna identified the paper as a fake one, the SL military had managed to cause confusion among the voters.

Udaya Perera has also obtained the services of a Colombo-based businessman who owns popular Tamil newspapers published from Colombo, informed sources further said. The businessman has censored local media from publishing the news of military recruitment taking place in Jaffna.

As Tamils were informed through the print and the web media on the plight of the Tamil women who were recruited in Ki'linochchi, the recruitment drive was severely affected. The SL military was only able to deceive 49 Tamil women in Mullaiththeevu district.

When the SL military waged official recruitment meetings in Jaffna, there was no one prepared to join the ranks of the genocidal military. Learning from the experience, the SL commander shifted the tactic through his agents promising ‘government jobs’.
SL military interview
A section of Tamil youth deceived to attend an interview session held in Kokkuvil on Sunday.


* * *
Kannan, who hails from Irumpu-mathavadi of Karaveddi in Vadamaraadchi, was an exiled businessman. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s defence establishment, through Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP, wooed him to collaborate with the SL military establishment.

In return for his agent serveries, Kannan is given access to scooping sand from Vadamaraadchi East by the SL commander in Jaffna. The establishment is operating under the name ‘Neythal’.

According to informed media circles, Kannan is also trying to launch a newspaper in Jaffna to wage disinformation campaign on behalf of the SL military intelligence.
KP operatives exposed
KP operatives in Vadamaraadchi: The secret operative Kannan [R] and public operative Yathavan [L]. The person standing in between the two at a private party has been blacked out by TamilNet for he is not known of involvement.

Somasundaram Yathavan
Somasundaram Yathavan
Kannan and his public operative Yathavan are also involved in constructing a ‘massage centre’ cum bar with other ‘entertainment’ facilities in Vathiri – Uduppiddi Road at Nelliyadi. Such institutions have become the symbol of ‘development’ in Jaffna just like in the situation of many other countries that have gone through wars involving the USA.

Divisional Secretariat officials in Point Pedro were struggling with the demand from Yathavan to provide license to serve alcohol at the locality, questioning the motive of the ‘massage centre’.

The team is also enjoying good rapport with foreign missions in Colombo. A mission of a European country is keen in entertaining the operative, who is involved in anti-social activities, concerned civil sources told TamilNet pointing out a particular embassy in Colombo.
Hari club
Gotabhaya/KP operative Kannan and his collaborator Yathavan are behind constructing a ‘massage parlour’ in Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi.


SL military commander Udaya Perera receives the duo every week at Palaali military base, the sources said.

Udaya Perera’s ‘politico-military strategy’ is deceiving Tamil youth, especially Tamil women with jobs in order to conscript them and isolate the victims and their families from the mainstream Tamil society to form a collaborative section among the population.

* * *

In a paper produced to the US Army War College in 2012, Major General Udaya Perera argues that the failure of having a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy on the part of the Sri Lankan State in 80s and 90s had allowed what he calls Tamil ‘insurgency’ to be transformed into ‘hybrid-terrorism’.

Perera was particular in arguing that it was the ‘Tamil social movement, that transformed itself into a ‘counter-state’ insurgency led by the LTTE. This indicates that all Tamil social movements would also be targeted by the ‘counterinsurgency’ operations by the SL commander in Jaffna.

During the genocidal onslaught on Vanni, SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa promoted Udaya Perera to Major General rank in early 2009 for his role in managing the genocidal war as a director of operations in the Sri Lanka Army.

Immediately after the end of war, Perera who has a military intelligence background was posted to Malaysia as a deputy high commissioner. After a two-year ‘successful‘ assignment in Malaysia, he was sent to US Army War College in 2011.
Udaya Perera
[Photo courtesy: defence.lk]
In 2012, immediately after the US Army War College awarded him, the genocidal commander was posted as the commander of Ki’lnochchi.

Launching a series of ‘counter’ measures to isolate Tamils from their social movement, Udaya Perera targeted to recruit Tamil women to disrupt the Tamil social formation. He devised a plan to divide and rule the Tamils in Vanni.

His tactics included a series of operations of transforming former LTTE members into subservient workers in the farms, exploiting the former LTTE female members and thereby isolating them from the mainstream Tamil society, allowing rape and social misconduct under the military rule to create divisions and military arranged ‘marriages’ between Tamil women and Sinhala soldiers, creating caste-divisions among Tamils and targeted conscription of Tamil women by exploiting the poverty-stricken situation of the Tamil families into Sri Lankan military amidst the opposition of the girls and their parents.

Unlike his ‘Gucci Peace Prize’ awarded predecessor Major General Hathurusinghe, Major General Udaya Perera would even appear in civil cloth if that is necessary to accomplish his counter-insurgency mission.

Udaya Perera is seen as an obedient and trusted commander by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who has been deploying him at the ‘right place at the right time’, a military analyst who has survived the genocidal onslaught on Vanni told TamilNet.
Udaya Perera
Major General Udaya Perera with US Army War College award in 2012 [Photo courtesy: defence.lk]


Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a US citizen who was having good rapport with Pentagon officials during the genocidal onslaught, was able to convince his siblings including the president and commander-in-chief Mahinda Rajapaksa on how to deal with the Western countries under the global paradigm of ‘war against Terror’, the Tamil analyst said.

“The US Defence Establishment regularly briefed the SL military decision makers, who had political authority to adopt a counter-insurgency approach with a central focus on Tamil diaspora,” the analyst further said.

“Such advice also involved which countries Colombo should be ‘exploiting’ for the logistical purposes in the genocidal onslaught. The LTTE was fully aware of it but didn’t do enough to educate the Tamil diaspora on the military affairs,” the analyst who recently fled the island said.

“Not only military advice and intelligence, but critical information vital for political manipulation on averting an international intervention, removal of NGOs, the projection of arguments on ‘human shields’, ‘humanitarian-operation’ and ‘zero casualty’ propaganda concept including the idea on announcing no-fire zones came from the military advisers in the West.”

* * *

Following are some of the extracts from Udaya Perera’s paper produced to the US Army War College in 2012:
The paper produced to US Army War College by Major General Udaya Perera of the genocidal military of
“A close analysis of the conflict will expose the fact that the Sri Lankan government’s decision to use regional powers rather than the western powers was the most important and critical decision of the government that helped in achieving success.”

“The Sri Lanka-Pakistan bilateral relationship has been strong ever since Pakistan independence. Pakistan and China were main arms suppliers to Sri Lanka during the Sri Lankan crisis. China, another neighbour of India, fought a war against India in 1962 has been a very close ally of Sri Lanka. As a result, India felt threatened by Sri Lanka’s close relations between Pakistan and China.”
“In order to gain and maintain support in the campaign against the LTTE, Sri Lanka had to maintain a delicate balance in its foreign policy with all the nations in the region. While obtaining material support from Pakistan and China to defeat the LTTE, Sri Lanka was able to keep India on its side throughout the humanitarian military campaign. Indian support was vital in keeping the western powers influenced by the Tamil Diaspora from interfering in Sri Lankan affairs.”

“Through a strenuous process of shuttle diplomacy, Sri Lanka was able to keep India on its side throughout the crucial period of August 2006 through May 2009. Indian and Sri Lankan special emissaries went between the two countries extensively in order to prevent misunderstandings during the conflict. This Sri Lankan policy paved the way for Sri Lanka to continue military operations.”

“The US led war on terror was helpful in isolating the LTTE internationally due to the tough stance against terrorism. The intelligence sharing improved in the post 9/11 scenario and it was helpful in identifying and destroying LTTE ships in international waters by the Sri Lanka navy.”

“The western nations act at all times in their national interests. Their national interests are aligned with major regional powers rather than small nations like Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s foreign policy towards India, during 2000/2009 period paid rich dividends in defeating the LTTE.”

SL military photographs students, teachers

SL military photographs students, teachers at schools in Madu, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2014, 05:33 GMT]
The occupying SL military in Madu division of Mannaar district entered the schools at Valaiyan-kaddu and Kaakkaiyan-ku’lam and took photographs of the students, teachers and the principals interrupting the studies. Schoolteachers in Madu division told TamilNet that the SL military was behaving as if the Tamil students and teachers were in a prison the genocidal Sri Lankan State. The latest conduct of the SL military shows how the situation of threat on Tamil students and teachers has worsened from the earlier situation, said Mr Joseph Stalin, the general secretary of Ilangkai Thamizh Teachers Union. The entire education system in the Northern province is being militarised by the Sri Lankan government, he said.

The independent functioning of schools have been already compromised as the schools had to inform all their activities to the SL military in advance. The military interference has now manifested into a persistent threat, Mr Stalin told TamilNet.

The SL soldiers were also collecting the personal details of the students and teachers.



It is only the zonal directors or the secretary of education in the province who are entitled to collect the details of the students. The Teachers Union strongly condemns the act by the SL military entering the schools collecting details and photographing the students and teachers, Joesph Stalin told TamilNet.

In the meantime, the zonal directors of education have been receiving complaints of the SL military interference, but they have been unable to voice against the conduct of the SL military as they are unable to confront the SL military establishment that views all the ‘government employees’ as subjects of the SL State, a zonal director who didn’t wish to be named, told TamilNet.

“The machinery of the genocidal State, from the Education ministry of the so-called central government in Colombo to the Sinhala soldier watching us at the entrance of our school, is particular in suppressing the education of Tamils,” the zonal director said pointing at how the SL State scuttled a recent initiative by the Northern Provincial Council to design an independent approach for improving the condition of education in the province.

The general secretary of the ITTU also pointed out that such military interference is not allowed to take place in the districts outside Northern and Eastern Province.

The occupying SL military has been photographing and collecting details also at the households of Tamils after it fully occupied the Tamil homeland.

As the Tamil activists pointed out at Geneva, the colonial conduct of the SL State has only been further emboldened by the human rights discourse at Geneva, which has been subjected to political manipulation by geopolitical powers.

Chronology:

செவ்வாய், 29 ஏப்ரல், 2014

NPC chief minister joins Sinhala State in mutilating Tamil names

NPC chief minister joins Sinhala State in mutilating Tamil names

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 April 2014, 04:42 GMT]
The Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran’s official letterhead, bearing his address, notes the place name Chu'ndikkuzhi as Chu'ndukku'li. In the Sinhala rendering it has become Chundukuli. A large number of Tamil place names have already been Sinhalicised or mutilated by the signboards placed by the occupying genocidal military in the country of Eezham Tamils and now Wigneswaran is also contributing to the trend, commented Tamil academic circles in Jaffna. There was a time when Jaffna enjoyed reputation even in Tamil Nadu for flawless use of Tamil.

The place name Chu'ndik-kuzhi has come from a pond that existed there and was found with the aquatic plant Chu'ndi. It is a floating sensitive plant, which is also called Neerch-chu’ndi or Chu’ndik-keerai (Water Mimosa). The plant got the name because of its sensitive attribute.

Another corresponding place name in Vadamaraadchi East of Jaffna Peninsula is Chu'ndik-ku'lam, meaning the tank found with Chu'ndi.

Kuzhi, meaning a small pond or waterhole is written with the retroflex L, unique to Dravidian.

The mutilated forms, Chu'ndukku'li in Tamil and Chundukuli in Sinhala found in the Tamil chief minister’s letterhead, are of no meaning.

* * *
NPC CM CV Wigneswaran's Message for the New Year
NPC CM CV Wigneswaran's Message for the New Year
Apart from the letterhead, what the chief minister has stated in the letterhead as his New Year Message was still worse.

Wigneswaran was politically weakening the cause of Tamil nation by using the term ‘minorities’.

“Merely because the minorities are doing better in certain fields in Sri Lanka it should not attract the wrath of the majority community to do harm to the minorities,” the chief minister who admits that he had been politically ‘installed’ said.

In every vital facet, the nation of Eezham Tamils in the North and East was facing deterioration right from British colonial times. Under the Sinhala State, they faced genocide and now they face on-going structural genocide.

While placing the case of Eezham Tamils in its proper perspective to the world is the utmost priority of the affected nation, the CM installed at that position was perhaps thinking of the ‘minority’ of his genre in Colombo, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.

To camouflage the congenitally genocidal orientation of the Sinhala State, various sections in the island and outside have deliberately been highlighting a myth that Tamils were doing better under the British and they were doing better in independent Ceylon, and that’s why the Sinhalese wanted to balance the situation. Even Colombo’s former President Chandrika was talking in that line a couple of years back. Now it comes from Wigneswaran.

Wigneswaran was also talking of the examples of the Scots and the peoples of Singapore (under unitary systems), but none of them in their heart would agree with Wigneswaran.

What ‘give and take’ Wigneswaran was envisaging with an occupying, genocidal State, has to be verified by the people who were compelled to vote for his installation, commented the Tamil activists.

Another feature noticed in the letterhead is the installed politician’s continued use of the title ‘Justice,’ when the State’s judiciary itself is internationally questioned. Is it for a mean political image or is it in the lines of a political culture of the genocidal State where the occupying governors appear with military titles, the activists asked.

Related Articles:
09.04.14   Colombo’s Gazette confirms colonial rule over Tamils
25.08.13   Conceiving and designing strategy for ‘Struggle and Developm..
27.04.13   Tamils were not the ‘favoured’ under British colonialism: Th..
20.04.13   Tehelka report misled on British treatment of Tamils: Jaffna..
20.04.13   Tehelka report brings out genocide at sea: Eezham Tamil acti..
31.07.11   Stop treating Tamils as minority: Premachandran MP
07.09.10   'India should stop calling Eezham Tamils a minority'
07.12.08   Eezham Tamils' development: myths and realities
04.07.08   Sri Lanka, a case of political inequality

Tamil academic responds to denial of Eezham Tamil nationhood

Tamil academic responds to denial of Eezham Tamil nationhood

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 April 2014, 03:40 GMT]
“The self determination and the nationhood of Eelam Tamils, is neither to be debated by Colombo centric individuals nor to be decided in Colombo. It is a right, which resides upon the collective will of the Eelam Tamil people to the North-East,” writes Norway-based Eezham Tamil anthropology academic, Athithan Jayapalan, responding to Colombo’s diplomat Dr. Dayan Jayatilake writing in a Colombo media that “There is no Tamil nation in Sri Lanka, but there is a Tamil minority in Sri Lanka. There is however a Sinhala nation in Sri Lanka. That is the only ethnic community on the island, which can claim the status of a nation as such.”

Dayan Jayatilake was one of those planted in the failed North-East Provincial Council by the New Delhi Establishment, to implement the 13th Amendment enacted through the Rajiv-Jayawardane Agreement to save unitary Sri Lanka.

Excerpts from Athithan’s article:

In Sri Lanka, there is a long political tradition of denying the national existence of Tamils and to delegitimize or criminalize their national mobilization.

The framing of Tamils as being a minority contains their political rights and national consciousness within the unitary state of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan state and its ideologues are relentless in their denial of and efforts to deconstruct the Tamil nation.

The Sri Lankan state had since its formation during colonial times, been designed to enact a genocidal violence to eradicate the national characteristics of Tamils by primarily denying them national existence and self-determination.

An articulation or attempt at the deconstruction of the Eelam Tamil nation without incorporating the agency of the nation state, would easily fail to grasp the omnipresent national oppression, which the state presides over.

It is in the face of aggressive national oppression that the Eelam Tamils consolidated their national mobilization and struggle for nationhood.

The denial of the Tamil people’s right to self-determination or the deconstruction of their nationhood within a context of a structural genocide serves only to legitimize the unfettered national oppression perpetuated by the state.

Only a referendum conducted under the supervision of the UN could enable the Tamil people to reaffirm their national aspirations, argues Athithan Jayapalan, citing Lenin on the right to secession and the political will expressed by Eezham Tamils in 1977 and n 2013.

* * *

Full text of the article by Athithan Jayapalan:

National Existence and National Oppression

The Nation

A nation as a concept is grounded on the basis of denoting people who foremost share a common language, a common and contiguous territory, historical processes, an overarching ethnic identity and distinct collective socio-cultural traits. This is not to deny the forms of differentiation within a nation based on caste, class, locality and gender which can generate internal oppression and intersection in experience and identities. Despite the internal differentiation the nation is, in Benedict Anderson’s words, a commune of people who imagine as being part of a collective nation. Although it is in essence imagined or rather a cognitive condition, it manifests itself as lived experience and material reality for those concerned. The collective existence of a people is constituted upon the consciousness of being a nation, belonging to a collective.

The nation being a historically constituted and sustained community of people on the basis of national characteristics as mentioned above is still dependent on socio-political processes to engender national consciousness and action. Such is often materialized through the political mobilization of a people under the banner of a nation. Beside its historical preconditions, the nation is dependent on conscious and sustained efforts to exercise national mobilization.

Throughout the world, national mobilization has become integral in the struggle for self-determination and political rights for oppressed people as well as in regard to state projects of nationalism. Without such political activity the nation as a platform for collective social action will be ephemeral and insignificant. It is the dynamics between the two forms which are of concern in this article.

The Nation-state and National oppression

Throughout the South Asian region, the established nation-state often represents a particular ethnic group and nation: the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, the Punjabis in Pakistan, the Bamars in Burma and the Hindi speaking people in India. This character of the post-independent states ensured the consolidation of an ethno chauvinist nation state through national mobilization which rested upon the national oppression of others within the designated state boundaries. The consolidation of the Sri Lankan state caused the national oppression of Eelam Tamils, while that of the Pakistani state ensured the national oppression of the Baloch and Sindhis. The perpetuation of the Burmese state by the Bamars and other related Buddhist peoples engender the national oppression of Kachin, Karen and Rohingyas. Furthermore in India a Hindi centric chauvinist nationalism fostered a state which presided upon the national oppression of the Kashmiris, Manipuris, Mizoris, Nagas, the Assamese, alongside other North Eastern and indigenous nations. It becomes evident that the relation between national oppression and the structures of contemporary nation states is not coincidental. The particular national mobilization promoted by these nation states was in fact instigated through the workings of chauvinist nationalism which sanctioned national oppression.

In such contexts, the oppressed nation is compelled into political mobilization to safeguard the foundation of its national existence. The continued consolidation of Sri Lanka into an oppressive Sinhala Buddhist nation state ensured a protracted national oppression in the form of structural genocide. The Sri Lankan state had since its formation during colonial times, been designed to enact a genocidal violence to eradicate the national characteristics of Tamils by primarily denying them national existence and self determination. Such intent was evident as the state coordinated processes of colonization, nationalist education, anti Tamil pogroms, discriminatory laws and brutal counter insurgency from the 1970s onwards. With the commencement of coordinated counter insurgency efforts a clear genocidal character becomes discernible in the state violence which targeted the Tamils.

The denial of nationhood and self-determination

In Sri Lanka, there is a long political tradition of denying the national existence of Tamils and to delegitimize or criminalize their national mobilization. On the forefront of such an epistemological and political process of silencing oppressed peoples’ self-determination are the state centric discourses which blatantly deny their national existence and the genocidal violence perpetuated against them. In these discourses there is a convenient omission of the fact that it is the nation state’s bolster of ethnic chauvinism and national oppression which enhances as well as necessitates the national mobilization of the oppressed. Moreover the quintessence of self-determination is obscured by these discourses as they tend to dictate to the oppressed nation how to exercise their political rights and collective existence. Here is when the usage of minority enters the rhetoric propagated. In conceptualizing the oppressed nation as a minority the discourse effectively silences the demographic composition of the oppressed within their traditional homeland. In the island of Sri Lanka, the Eelam Tamils constitute a clear majority with contiguity within the Tamil homeland to the north-east. The framing of Tamils as being a minority contains their political rights and national consciousness within the unitary state of Sri Lanka.

Thus it is an absurd practice, when the state and the oppressor nation attempt to determine on behalf of the oppressed nation how to formulate even the experiences of national oppression and strategies for national resistance.

The Sri Lankan state and its ideologues are relentless in their denial of and efforts to deconstruct the Tamil nation. Recently on Colombotelegraph, a chief architect of state centric discourse, Daya Jayatileke elucidated that the Tamils are not sufficient in numbers to constitute a nation through the citation of false statistics obtained in the CIA World fact book. He writes “There would be chaos if every country were to accord the status of nationhood to every ethnic group which is 4% and above, not least because the status of nationhood brings with it the claim of the inalienable right of self determination up to and including political independence” (1). Clearly not concerned about his mandate, Jayatileke propagates a logic based on math and Sinhala chauvinism to deny the Eelam Tamils nationhood:

“There is no Tamil nation in Sri Lanka, but there is a Tamil minority in Sri Lanka. There is however a Sinhala nation in Sri Lanka. That is the only ethnic community on the island which can claim the status of a nation as such. Though they do have a just claim to autonomy and devolution, the Tamils of Sri Lanka do not have the right of national self-determination, be it external or internal.” (2).

Countering such philistine state propaganda, others involved themselves in the discourse on Colombotelegraph. Even liberals who critiqued Jayatileka in sum debated whether the Tamils were a nation or not by citing internal differentiation or the inability to incorporate other Tamil speaking peoples to the south. The liberal critique although nominally critical of the Sri Lankan state discourse, deems the Eelam Tamil nationhood as unwarranted and thus in effect reiterates the established unitary state structure, which is the source of the concerned national oppression. What the debate evidently lacked was the contextualization of the national mobilization of the Eelam Tamils. To fruitfully grasp the nationhood of Eelam Tamils, one has to assess the dynamics between it and the state enforced national oppression. An articulation or attempt at the deconstruction of the Eelam Tamil nation without incorporating the agency of the nation state, would easily fail to grasp the omnipresent national oppression which the state presides over. It is in the face of aggressive national oppression that the Eelam Tamils consolidated their national mobilization and struggle for nationhood. To leave the state out of the equation in an attempt to investigate the Eelam Tamil nation often tends to result in delegitimizing such a collective existence. This is ensured through the pursuit of only illuminating internal contradictions and differentiation within the oppressed nation without contextualizing it to the unifying effect upon the oppressed people of state enacted national oppression.

The Right to Self Determination

Despite the internal differences the Tamils were targeted as a collective by the state on the basis of their nationality. The state discrimination and violence against Tamils did not differentiate based on the internal differences existing within the Tamils; they were targeted on the basis of sharing an ethnic identity, belonging to certain localities and speaking a particular language.

Thereby the denial of the Tamil people’s right to self determination or the deconstruction of their nationhood within a context of a structural genocide serves only to legitimize the unfettered national oppression perpetuated by the state, as it neither adequately nor critically assesses the state.

Jayatilekes polemics in denying Tamil nationhood is amusing as it does not concern facts nor does it comprehend the very essence of self-determination. A century back, in 1914 V.I. Lenin brilliantly illuminated the spirit of self-determination when he wrote on the national question of Poland and Norway in his classical work The Right of Nations to Self-determination (3). He rightfully elaborated that the future of the Polish nation is not to be decided in Moscow but in Warsaw. Refuting critic from Semkovsky and Rosa Luxenborg who attempted to deny Polish self determination citing it as a bourgeoisie project, Lenin replied that the right to self determination is not to be decided at the seat of power of the oppressor nation ‘..but in the Parliament, the national assembly of the minority which secede or by a referendum among this minority’.

Lenin continues “If, in our political agitation, we fail to advance and advocate the slogan of the right to secession, we shall play into the hands, not only of the bourgeoisie, but also of the feudal landlords and the absolutism of the oppressor nation. …When, in her anxiety not to “assist” the nationalist bourgeoisie of Poland, Rosa Luxemburg rejects the right to secession in the programme of the Marxists in Russia, she is in fact assisting the Great-Russian Black Hundreds. She is in fact assisting opportunist tolerance of the privileges (and worse than privileges) of the Great Russians.”

In a similar vein Lenin articulates how for an oppressed nation a bourgeoisie revolution is necessitated due to its democratic potentials before a social revolution is achievable. In this spirit the Swedish proletariat correctly grasped the national question of the Norwegians in 1905. When the Swedish bourgeois and clergy decided to enforce their union on Norway and annex it by force, Lenin illuminates that the Swedish proletariat denounced such an intention and struggled to assist the Norwegian demand for self determination by pushing for a referendum to be held among the Norwegian people.

Likewise, in the spirit of Lenin’s words, the self determination and the nationhood of Eelam Tamils, is neither to be debated by Colombo centric individuals nor to be decided in Colombo. It is a right which resides upon the collective will of the Eelam Tamil people to the North-East. To ascertain such a collective will, there is the historical need to hold a referendum among the Tamils. The 1977 landslide electoral victory of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) was based on the Vaddukoddai resolution of 1976 which demanded the establishment of an independent socialist secular state of Tamil Eelam. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) triumphed in the 2013 Northern Provincial election through an election manifesto grounded on the demand for the recognition of Tamil nationhood, self-determination and an arrest of the genocidal processes. Both historical events are indicative of the continuity in the national will of the Eelam Tamils in rejecting Colombo’s sovereignty and in embracing their inalienable right to self determination. Only a referendum conducted under the supervision of the UN could enable the Tamil people to reaffirm their national aspirations.

Reference:
  1. Wigneswaran’s ‘Two Nations’ & The State’s Two Blunders
  2. There Aren’t Two Equal Nations (Or More) In Sri Lanka: Rejoinder To Laksiri Fernando
  3. V.I Lenin. 1914 “The Right of Nations to Self-Determination” in Lenin’s Collected Works: Progress Publishers 1972, Moscow: Volume 20. Pp. 293-454.

UNHRC failure brings in large-scale Sinhala militarisation in North

UNHRC failure brings in large-scale Sinhala militarisation in North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2014, 23:11 GMT]
Hitherto unseen Sinhala militarisation is taking place in the Jaffna peninsula in recent days, especially after the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a watered-down resolution leaving out the de-militarisation demand that had been proposed in the initial draft. The SL military has deployed heavy machinery in clearing 16 acres of lands 400 meters away from Kaithadi junction on Kaithadi – Maanippaay Road appropriating private lands of Tamils surrounding a former camp, transforming the place into a military cantonment. Similarly, Tamil Heroes Cemeteries that were desecrated and bulldozed have been transformed into key command and supply bases of the occupying Sinhala military in the country of Eezham Tamils. The SL military is also constructing new camps at Vallai and Valveddiththu’rai.

SL military vehicles have been transporting material appropriated from the Tamil people during the genocidal onslaught on Vanni for the military expansion.

The additional SL troops deployed in Jaffna have been sheltered in Chinese fittings at the cantonment sites.

While the bulldozed Tamil Heroes Cemetery at Koappaay (Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam) has been transformed into a large cantonment for 512 Brigade of the occupying SL military, a former camp of the SL military situated at Kaithadi is being transformed into another cantonment.

At least 16 acres of lands owned by Eezham Tamils have been appropriated for the latest expansion of the camp site.

The divisional secretary of Koappaay, when contacted by reporters, said that the SL military had not informed the local civil authorities on the latest appropriation of the private lands.

There have also been reports alleging mass graves at the locality, especially after the remains of a missing Hindu priest was recovered at the site earlier. However, there has been no action in excavating the site despite the claim that several people abducted in the peninsula after 1998 and 2005 had been slain and dumped at the locality by the killer squads of the SL military intelligence.

The Ellangku’lam Maaveerar cemetery destroyed by the occupying SL military at Uduppiddi has been already transformed into the main supply base of the SL Navy and Army occupying the coastal stretch of Vadamaraadchi.

Similar expansions are also reported in Kodikaamam in Thenmaraadchi, where another Tamil Heroes cemetery has been transformed into a Sinhala military base.

SL military camps at Vallai and Valveddiththu’rai are also being expanded into big camps with additional construction and deployment of SL troops.

Genocidal Sri Lanka continues abduction-styled arrests in North

Genocidal Sri Lanka continues abduction-styled arrests in North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2014, 15:35 GMT]
Around four people are being abducted on a daily basis in North by the occupying Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives clad in civil as ‘Terrorist Investigation Division’ of the Sri Lankan Police. The abductees are taken to interrogations cells operated in each district. Most of the victims are taken to interrogation camp situated in Vavuniyaa, paramilitary sources in Vavuniyaa said. Many of the families of victims avoid media focus due to the prevailing threat and intimidation by the occupying SL military. One of the abductions reported in Jaffna this week was carried out by armed men who came in a white-van to Karaveddi in Vadamaraadchi South West on Wednesday night.

The abducted victim at Karaveddi was 42-year-old Thayanithy Aazhvaarpillai. The ‘TID’ squad that came in a white van forcibly took him after binding together both his legs and arms. The squad didn’t provide any document claiming the ‘arrest’. However, SL police in Nelliyadi has admitted that Mr Thayanithy was taken for interrogation by the TID. But, they didn’t provide any document to the family.

The victim is a relative of the assassinated Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Maamanithar K. Sivanesan.

Within the last two months, more than 70 people have been detained and interrogated by the SL military, according to its own claims. However, the exact number of these illegal arrests is not known, as there are no evidences or official complaints to document the figures, news sources said.

Only 12 of those detained have been released. Although they were released in front of a Sri Lankan Judge, there was no formal registration or document to prove their detention.

Despite the propaganda by Colombo that it had curbed a fresh regrouping of former LTTE members and the report of the assassination of three former Tiger members in Nedungkea’ni, the arbitrary arrests and abductions still continue in the North, legal activists told TamilNet.

Chronology: