David in 2012: Diaspora duty-bound in advancing independent polity of Eezham Tamils
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 October 2015, 23:32 GMT]
The late Gandhiyam David, when interviewed in Tamil Nadu in 2012 for TamilNet, categorically stated that an independent state for the Tamils was the only viable solution. The USA was playing “double game” behind the back of Eezham Tamils. India took a decisive role in Colombo's war against Tamils. It was Pirapaharan who defended Eezham Tamils through the army he had built up independently, he said. After decades, Colombo had realised the crucial political backing it needed from New Delhi to militarily destroy the Tamil movement and India played a key role during the Mu'l'livaaykkaal massacre, before and after that. It was only recently they are trying to get out and the Chinese are getting into their boots to transform the island into a base for Chinese politics, he said stressing that Tamils need independent people-centric mobilisation to preserve their existence as Eezham Tamils.
“It looks like America is playing double game behind the back. It is not allowing the United Nations to arrest the three [Rajapaksa] brothers who were responsible for the murder of Tamils in Mu'l'livaaykkaal,” he said adding that the USA was not allowing arguments in favour of Eezham Tamils in the United Nations.
However, Mr David was highly appreciative of the steps being taken by Americans such as Professor Francis Boyle.
The veteran Gandhiyam leader of early 1970s was calling for unity and independent mobilisation of five lakhs Eezham Tamils residing outside the island. Trying to build up Eezham Tamils would be a difficult task, he said calling for unity and a helping mindset among the Diaspora Tamils.
“It is true that there are more than 5 lakh of Eelam Tamils spread across the globe, from California to New Zeeland. They are all well established, they have all income, and they have all living standards, which are very high. It does not look like they have taken any steps to work together,” he said.
The Sinhalese [nation] is bound to completely wipe out [the nation of] Eezham Tamils in Vanni and their final destination will be Jaffna. The 500,000 Eezham Tamils abroad should unite and act to safeguard the Tamils at home. “The Eezham Tamils at home can't help themselves. The Sinhalese have taken such power and they have destroyed them almost completely at Mu'l'livaaykkaal in 2009,” he said.
Giving an eyewitness account on how he faced the State-sponsored pogrom against Eezham Tamils inside the Welikade prison, he sensed a deja-vu in the minds of the fighters of Pirapaharan at the last moment as what he had experienced in Welikade prison in 1983. It is better to die in the cause for freedom to pass the message to generations to come was that feeling, he explained.
In the interview, Mr David also exposed how The Hindu had mischievously misquoted him on what he had told Journalist Kolappan about Pirapaharan and Tamil Eelam.
In the spirit of his work in cultivating an independent economic and welfare infrastructure of co-operatives to serve his people, present Eezham Tamils should envisage independent measures not dictated by the agenda of world establishments, multinational corporates or the unitary state, to empower the Tamil people in the homeland.
* * *
The late Gandhiyam David, when interviewed in Tamil Nadu in 2012 for TamilNet, categorically stated that an independent state for the Tamils was the only viable solution. The USA was playing “double game” behind the back of Eezham Tamils. India took a decisive role in Colombo's war against Tamils. It was Pirapaharan who defended Eezham Tamils through the army he had built up independently, he said. After decades, Colombo had realised the crucial political backing it needed from New Delhi to militarily destroy the Tamil movement and India played a key role during the Mu'l'livaaykkaal massacre, before and after that. It was only recently they are trying to get out and the Chinese are getting into their boots to transform the island into a base for Chinese politics, he said stressing that Tamils need independent people-centric mobilisation to preserve their existence as Eezham Tamils.
“It looks like America is playing double game behind the back. It is not allowing the United Nations to arrest the three [Rajapaksa] brothers who were responsible for the murder of Tamils in Mu'l'livaaykkaal,” he said adding that the USA was not allowing arguments in favour of Eezham Tamils in the United Nations.
However, Mr David was highly appreciative of the steps being taken by Americans such as Professor Francis Boyle.
The veteran Gandhiyam leader of early 1970s was calling for unity and independent mobilisation of five lakhs Eezham Tamils residing outside the island. Trying to build up Eezham Tamils would be a difficult task, he said calling for unity and a helping mindset among the Diaspora Tamils.
“It is true that there are more than 5 lakh of Eelam Tamils spread across the globe, from California to New Zeeland. They are all well established, they have all income, and they have all living standards, which are very high. It does not look like they have taken any steps to work together,” he said.
The Sinhalese [nation] is bound to completely wipe out [the nation of] Eezham Tamils in Vanni and their final destination will be Jaffna. The 500,000 Eezham Tamils abroad should unite and act to safeguard the Tamils at home. “The Eezham Tamils at home can't help themselves. The Sinhalese have taken such power and they have destroyed them almost completely at Mu'l'livaaykkaal in 2009,” he said.
Giving an eyewitness account on how he faced the State-sponsored pogrom against Eezham Tamils inside the Welikade prison, he sensed a deja-vu in the minds of the fighters of Pirapaharan at the last moment as what he had experienced in Welikade prison in 1983. It is better to die in the cause for freedom to pass the message to generations to come was that feeling, he explained.
In the interview, Mr David also exposed how The Hindu had mischievously misquoted him on what he had told Journalist Kolappan about Pirapaharan and Tamil Eelam.
In the spirit of his work in cultivating an independent economic and welfare infrastructure of co-operatives to serve his people, present Eezham Tamils should envisage independent measures not dictated by the agenda of world establishments, multinational corporates or the unitary state, to empower the Tamil people in the homeland.
* * *
The
funeral of S.A. David took place on 14 October at Ki'linochchi. All the
Tamil parties, including the EPDP and the TNA, took part in the funeral
in which more than 500 people participated. Some of the close friends
of the late Gandhiyam leader from Tamil Nadu were also present at the
funeral.
The veteran Eezham Tamil activist,
together with other Gandhiyam members created a grass root
infrastructure to ensure self-sustaining capacity and to provide a base
for the political independence of Eezham Tamils. Notably, Gandhiyam also
resettled thousands of Up-country Tamils affected by the 'Sri Lankan'
State-sponsored pogroms and structural genocide.
During the accelerated 'counterinsurgency' in the 1980’s aiming to crush the Tamil national liberation struggle, Mr. S.A David and 7 other Gandhiyam members were unlawfully arrested and detained at Welikada. Recounting the horrors of genocide in 1983 massacres in Welikada, S.A. David said:
“These Army came. They had already lined us, the last 9 elderly people in Welikada Jail. They had put us on a big room and lined us up diagonally. One of the men was my secretary, he knew Sinhalese very well, and at that time he went to the door to which they were trying to break the lock. He told them that we did not do any of these killings [of SL military] or anything. We wanted to help the Tamils that is true but we have not resorted to any violence. As he was telling this, the locked opened, they pulled him out and with one blow to his head he was dead. So there were eight of us left, They (the army) then brought eight of us together and they went again to an corner. And there they were getting the AK ready to shoot the eight of us. For some reasons during that split second as I kept my hands on top, a thought came into my mind, it is better to die like this; at least our people will say that we gave our lives to Tamils. See how that part comes, then I thought, all these people, Pirapaharan's boys, all of them must have felt like this, they are dying for our country.”
S.A David furthered that in that moment, when a Sinhala soldier was to shoot him, a Muslim military officer hailing from Batticcaloa, which Mr David, learned only later, shouted from the floor beneath not to attack the prisoners. The officer then made sure by deploying his unit to protect the remaining survivors of the massacre at Welikada out of the reach of Sinhala inmates, prison guards and the soldiers. He personally evacuated them out of the Welikade prison premises, and ensured they were taken to the airport to be flown to Batticaloa Jail.
S.A David continues: “The commander was a Batticaloa Muslim, otherwise another person won’t have done this. They (the Sinhalese inmates and prison authorities) had already killed 35 people. They had put them in an heap in front of an huge Buddha statue, half of the people were dead, half of them were not dead, they were shaking and moving their legs and hands. They were left like that to die. There was also present some Sinhala doctors I think, but they wouldn’t attend.”
Remarking on the grotesque killing of a TELO leader in Welikada he said:
“Kuddimani, Jegan and Thangathurai were in the same prison, but on a different part. There the attackers had pulled the three of them out and taken out the eye of one of them [Kuddimani] who had said that he wanted to see Tamil Eelam with his eyes even after his death [sentenced to death by SL court]. So these fellows who went and killed him, took the eye out, put it to the floor and tramped it.”
“When we came to Batticaloa, all the prison officials were Tamils, they garlanded us, greeted us and gave biscuits. It was a celebration, they even cooked us special food later. They later allowed us to plan and execute the prison break. They were all Tamils and would not stop us, but told us to remember to tie their hands and feet before escaping.”
* * *
When journalist Kolappen of the Hindu who had worked before for Indian Express, met Mr.David for an interview, and informed the Veteran Gandhiyam leader that his current employer is The Hindu, Mr David said he was taken aback knowing the pro- Sri Lankan line of the Indian English Daily and its previous editor.
“I knew The Hindu was totally helping the Sinhalese, even their editor had gone there and received decorations and all that. I would not have spoken so freely to him.”
Clarifying the deliberate misquoting in The Hindu in the service of genocidal Colombo, he said:
“All that I said that which can be told as something against Pirapaharan is that he had done very well for 40 years to keep the Sinhala aggression away from the Tamils. But after the Chinese came, and established themselves in the East, and then they brought many Chinese workers to work on the roads, railways and all sorts of thing. It should have been very clear to Pirapaharan that the Chinese are going to intervene. He should have changed his tactics, because he could not have faced the Chinese attack. That was all I said [to The Hindu]. Nothing else,” Mr David said.
The veteran Gandhiyam leader ended his interview by declaring “My wish is that I must live and die for Tamil Eelam. In 1977, when I returned I build three houses for relatives, gave some money. Then I gave myself (to Tamil Eelam) and I was completely free, I was all the time in the service of Tamil Eelam.”
[The interview was conducted at a time when the access to Gandhiyam David had become difficult due to his age. A section operating in Tamil Nadu seeking ‘control and command’ of the information flow to outside Eezham Tamil media was also trying to limit the access. Two independent activists, Srinivasa Rao Thangavelu and Gnanasekaran Rajasekaran, who contributed to the mobilisation of post-2009 democratic re-mandate of the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution in Europe, recorded the interview with Mr David in September 2012.]
Related Articles:
03.08.12 The Hindu finds David to defend genocidal culprits
23.04.12 Veteran Tamil activist and humanist reaches 88 in exile
Chronology:
During the accelerated 'counterinsurgency' in the 1980’s aiming to crush the Tamil national liberation struggle, Mr. S.A David and 7 other Gandhiyam members were unlawfully arrested and detained at Welikada. Recounting the horrors of genocide in 1983 massacres in Welikada, S.A. David said:
“These Army came. They had already lined us, the last 9 elderly people in Welikada Jail. They had put us on a big room and lined us up diagonally. One of the men was my secretary, he knew Sinhalese very well, and at that time he went to the door to which they were trying to break the lock. He told them that we did not do any of these killings [of SL military] or anything. We wanted to help the Tamils that is true but we have not resorted to any violence. As he was telling this, the locked opened, they pulled him out and with one blow to his head he was dead. So there were eight of us left, They (the army) then brought eight of us together and they went again to an corner. And there they were getting the AK ready to shoot the eight of us. For some reasons during that split second as I kept my hands on top, a thought came into my mind, it is better to die like this; at least our people will say that we gave our lives to Tamils. See how that part comes, then I thought, all these people, Pirapaharan's boys, all of them must have felt like this, they are dying for our country.”
S.A David furthered that in that moment, when a Sinhala soldier was to shoot him, a Muslim military officer hailing from Batticcaloa, which Mr David, learned only later, shouted from the floor beneath not to attack the prisoners. The officer then made sure by deploying his unit to protect the remaining survivors of the massacre at Welikada out of the reach of Sinhala inmates, prison guards and the soldiers. He personally evacuated them out of the Welikade prison premises, and ensured they were taken to the airport to be flown to Batticaloa Jail.
S.A David continues: “The commander was a Batticaloa Muslim, otherwise another person won’t have done this. They (the Sinhalese inmates and prison authorities) had already killed 35 people. They had put them in an heap in front of an huge Buddha statue, half of the people were dead, half of them were not dead, they were shaking and moving their legs and hands. They were left like that to die. There was also present some Sinhala doctors I think, but they wouldn’t attend.”
Remarking on the grotesque killing of a TELO leader in Welikada he said:
“Kuddimani, Jegan and Thangathurai were in the same prison, but on a different part. There the attackers had pulled the three of them out and taken out the eye of one of them [Kuddimani] who had said that he wanted to see Tamil Eelam with his eyes even after his death [sentenced to death by SL court]. So these fellows who went and killed him, took the eye out, put it to the floor and tramped it.”
“When we came to Batticaloa, all the prison officials were Tamils, they garlanded us, greeted us and gave biscuits. It was a celebration, they even cooked us special food later. They later allowed us to plan and execute the prison break. They were all Tamils and would not stop us, but told us to remember to tie their hands and feet before escaping.”
* * *
When journalist Kolappen of the Hindu who had worked before for Indian Express, met Mr.David for an interview, and informed the Veteran Gandhiyam leader that his current employer is The Hindu, Mr David said he was taken aback knowing the pro- Sri Lankan line of the Indian English Daily and its previous editor.
“I knew The Hindu was totally helping the Sinhalese, even their editor had gone there and received decorations and all that. I would not have spoken so freely to him.”
Clarifying the deliberate misquoting in The Hindu in the service of genocidal Colombo, he said:
“All that I said that which can be told as something against Pirapaharan is that he had done very well for 40 years to keep the Sinhala aggression away from the Tamils. But after the Chinese came, and established themselves in the East, and then they brought many Chinese workers to work on the roads, railways and all sorts of thing. It should have been very clear to Pirapaharan that the Chinese are going to intervene. He should have changed his tactics, because he could not have faced the Chinese attack. That was all I said [to The Hindu]. Nothing else,” Mr David said.
The veteran Gandhiyam leader ended his interview by declaring “My wish is that I must live and die for Tamil Eelam. In 1977, when I returned I build three houses for relatives, gave some money. Then I gave myself (to Tamil Eelam) and I was completely free, I was all the time in the service of Tamil Eelam.”
[The interview was conducted at a time when the access to Gandhiyam David had become difficult due to his age. A section operating in Tamil Nadu seeking ‘control and command’ of the information flow to outside Eezham Tamil media was also trying to limit the access. Two independent activists, Srinivasa Rao Thangavelu and Gnanasekaran Rajasekaran, who contributed to the mobilisation of post-2009 democratic re-mandate of the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution in Europe, recorded the interview with Mr David in September 2012.]
Related Articles:
03.08.12 The Hindu finds David to defend genocidal culprits
23.04.12 Veteran Tamil activist and humanist reaches 88 in exile
Chronology:
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