A PROTEST TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF COLOMBO, OSWALD GOMIS

Two questions for you 
- I lie awake worrying about what is happening to my Tamil people in the North and East, at the hands of one of the most brutal regimes imaginable. How do you sleep? They are my people, whose only crime was to be born Tamil. Those on the other side are my Sinhalese people whose only crime was to be born poor, and hence have to be the cannon fodder for this useless war.
- The other is a hypothetical question. Rt. Rev. Dr Oswald Gomis, Archbishop of Colombo, let me ask you the same hypothetical question that I asked Rt Rev Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. If your Lord and Master Jesus Christ, were to suddenly appear, and heard what the two of you said, do you think it would find His approval? I doubt it. That is why I remain a Christian, despite the best efforts of the two of you, and others of your ilk, to make me a non-believer. Amen. .."

Archbishop Oswald Gomis,                                                 
28 December 2008
Archbishop’s House
Borella, Colombo 8,
Sri Lanka.

 Your comments to Vatican Radio on 13 December 2008

Archbishop Gomis,

What you said was outrageous and totally unacceptable to me, a Christian and a Sinhalese.
“As you well know, LTTE is trying to make use of this human shield for their protection and the government has insisted that these people should be released to come to the safer or liberated areas, but this is not allowed to happen. So there is so much of suffering. We have therefore appealed to the LTTE that they should let these people free and then not hold them captive and we have enough evidence that lot of children are also being conscripted. They have to join their rebel army not willingly but by force. So we know that there is a serious situation with the people here who are suffering and unable to escape from these areas and at the same time the government being unable to help them and we have insisted that the government should quickly come forth with a political solution and this morning papers in Sri Lanka report about all the parties have agreed to a political solution, how, they have not published it as yet, because only this morning the papers reported it”.
Before I comment on this, I will question your opening assumption:

“As you well know”

Who is “you”? The Pope, the Vatican, or the millions across the world who listen to the Vatican Radio, which describes itself as “The Voice of the Pope and the Church in dialogue with the world”. What you said was neither the ‘Voice of the Pope, nor the Church, but your own biased view that had no semblance to the truth. What is serious is that what you said was heard by millions of people across the world.

You are wrong in your assumption, “as you well know”. The millions across the world do not know what is going on behind closed and censored doors of Sri Lanka, thanks to the disinformation campaign of your government, the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). All governments lie, but the lies of the GOSL are so gross that they are not believed. That is why, despite spending millions of dollars to mount a massive campaign of denial, it failed, resulting in Sri Lanka being tossed out of the UN Human Rights Council in May 2008. Unfortunately there are millions of civilians who do believe these terrible lies, unable to comprehend that a Government could lie to this extent.

The disinformation that you have contributed in your broadcast, makes a bad situation worse, infinitely worse, because when an Archbishop talks, one expects the truth. It should be very different from what politicians do. This certainly is not the case here. As such, what you have done is outrageous, immoral, wicked and irresponsible. It is unworthy of the office you hold. Your statement could have come from any of the racist bigots running Sri Lanka, or supporting that murderous regime.

The current situation

To set out the current situation on the ground in the Tamil North and East, the Tamil and Muslim civilians are facing a military onslaught by a politico-military junta that has the temerity to call itself a “Government”. The violation of their basic human rights has been so serious that your country has, as I have just said, been tossed out of the UN Human Rights Council on 21 May 2008 - an international recognition and condemnation of what your Government is doing to its people.

The objective of your Government, which is even enshrined in the Constitution, is to make multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural Sri Lanka into a Sinhala-Buddhist nation. If this means wiping out the non-Sinhalese, and the non-Buddhists, your Government seems to have no hesitation in doing so.  This is Genocide, as defined in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the crime of Genocide as “an act committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”. The ‘part’ is the ‘part that lives in the North and the East”.

This is of concern to me as a human being and a Christian. That I am a   Sinhalese is irrelevant. It is not a ‘Sinhalese problem’ or ‘Tamil problem’, but a humanitarian problem that should arouse the concerns of every decent person on this planet.

Action

“Concern” is not enough. It has to be translated into action which is what I have taken, and intend to continue, till there is not just peace (defined as ‘an absence of war’), but peace with justice.

I cannot stop you from doing what you are doing, but protest I must, and will. I cannot address the disinformation campaign of the Sri Lankan Government, its Armed Forces and now, yourself, but try I must, and will.

It is to this end that I have recorded and distributed a dozen DVDs to highlight the violation of the human rights of the civilians, in particular the Tamil civilian population in the North and East. There will be more recordings with documentary evidence, to show that what is going on, is not only a war against the Tamil people, but a war against the Christians and the Hindus. The objective of both these wars is, as I have said, to make Sri Lanka into a Sinhala-Buddhist nation.

I do not know what your agenda is but if your broadcast over Vatican Radio is an indication, it is a despicable and immoral agenda that smacks of political opportunism, self-preservation and even self-advancement, unworthy of the position you hold as the Head of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.

In your broadcast, you seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet as the brutal politico-military junta running the country. You can do so, but not as the Archbishop of Colombo. If that is what you want to do, you must resign your position, after which you can be a flag-bearer for the government, and be amply rewarded in more ways than one.

What you said

I will put what you said in less convoluted language.

1) The (Tamil) civilians are being used as a human shield for their (Tamil Tiger) protection.

2) They (the Tamil civilians) should be allowed to come to ‘safer and liberated’ areas.

3) There is so much suffering (of Tamil civilians) because of (1).

4) The LTTE (Tamil Tigers) are conscripting children to join their ‘rebel army’.

5) The Government is “unable to help them” (the civilian population).

6) All Parties have agreed to a political solution

Archbishop, this is arrant nonsense and dangerous nonsense at that. I will walk you through this nonsense.

1) The Tamil civilians are being used as a human shield.

The Tamil civilians are there for two reasons. Some are there because it is their home and they have a right to be there. Others have fled there from the North East and North West to escape the bombing and shelling of these areas by your Government. The UN Refugee Council has published a map which shows all this. It is also in one of my DVDs. Do you want me to send you one, if only to stop you talking nonsense?

2) They should be ‘allowed to come to “safer or liberated areas”

Where exactly did you mean? The ‘safer’ areas in the Sinhalese South or the Tamil North, and  the “liberated” areas in the North East and North West, recently taken over from the LTTE by the GOSL?

a) “Safer” areas in the South. If that is what you mean, you cannot be serious. Tamils from the North are considered to be, and treated, as “terrorists” in the South. Where were you on the 12th of June 2007, when hundreds of Tamil civilians were rounded up in Colombo and sent to the North by your Government, in what was essentially ethnic cleansing? What did you do about this outrage? You did nothing. It was the Supreme Court that stopped it.


b) “Safer” areas in the North. These do not exist. Jaffna, in the North, is a Police State under an Army of Occupation, the ‘Sri Lankan’ Army, 99% Sinhalese.

c) “Liberated” areas (in the North-East and North-West). Is this what you meant? If you did, your knowledge of what is going on in the ‘liberated’ East is seriously defective (or you have chosen to ignore it).
Here is what Human Rights Watch published on 24 November 2008, some three weeks  before your irresponsible broadcast:

               “Sri Lanka: Human Rights Situation Deteriorating in the East”
                   (http://www.org.refworld/docid/492fedafc.html)

 ”The Sri Lankan government says that the 'liberated' East is an example of democracy in  action and a model for areas recaptured from the LTTE," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But killings and abductions are rife, and there is total impunity for horrific acts”

Soon after you had finished your ‘contribution’ to Radio Vatican, on 23 December 2008, Human Rights Watch came out with a detailed 49-page report of the Sri Lankan government’s responsibility for the plight of 230,000 to 300,000 displaced people in the Vanni conflict zone.


“Beseiged, Displaced, and Detained. The Plight of Civilians in Sri Lanka’s Vanni Region”
        (http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/22/beseiged-displaced-and-detained)

It documents that thousands of Tamils fleeing the fighting in the North are trapped by the government and are being denied basic provisions. Brad Adams, HRW Asia Director, one of the people who wrote this report, said,

“To add insult to injury, people who manage to flee the fighting end up being held indefinitely in army-run prison camps”.

He went on to make the situation abundantly clear, “The government’s ‘welfare centers’ for civilians fleeing the Wanni are just badly disguised prisons”.

Archbishop, despite your government’s best efforts, the outside world commendably seems to find these things that are being hidden. Awkward, isn’t it?
 Perhaps you should get back on Vatican Radio and say that you have misled the Pope, the Vatican and, most seriously, the millions of people who listen to this Radio. It is the very least you can do, if only to restore your shattered credibility. I doubt if you will, hoping, like your President, that the world will not find out. They will. It is our duty to see that what is being exposed is widely disseminated. That is why I am putting this letter on the net.


Rev Gomis, is it not amazing that the Archbishop and Head of the Roman Catholic establishment in Colombo, with all its support staff responsible for the welfare of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Sri Lanka, has been unable to get this crucial information, while a doctor struggling to earn a living seeing patients, with no support staff, is able to get it? Or did you have this information and chose not to use it? If so, why? I will let those who read this ‘Open Letter’ to you, draw their own conclusions. They are not stupid, just un-informed or mis-informed by the likes of yourself, and, of course, your Government, with which you seem to have a more than cosy relationship.  The reasons for this will bring you no credit, just ‘Brownie points’ from the GOSL.


You can sit in the comfort of your 5-Star palace in Colombo and pontificate on what civilians in the North should or should not do, but what these people want to do is to return to their homes in the North-East and North-West (or live in the North), which they are not being allowed to do, because the Armed Forces of your Government is bombing and shelling the area. The Armed Forces are behaving like an Army of Occupation, while Tamil paramilitary groups (thugs) working with them, are abducting and murdering the people in these ‘liberated’ areas. 

3) There is so much suffering

Yes there is, but it is because your Government has decided that the Tamil areas will be bombed, shelled and the population subjected to extensive violations of human rights at the hands of your so-called ‘Security Forces’, in reality ‘Insecurity Forces’, who are there to bully, harass, rape, intimidate, rob and murder the people who live in these areas.

All that these people want to do is to do is live their lives without harassment and intimidation. This your Government and its Armed Forces will not allow. And you, Archbishop, are in bed with this dreadful regime.

The Tamil civilians are suffering even more, after they were “liberated”, in “badly disguised prisons” masquerading as ‘welfare centres’ run by the GOSL.


4) The LTTE are conscripting child soldiers.

Yes, we have known  that for a long time, but thank you for reminding us.

What you chose to ignore is that the Tamil militant groups that have split from the LTTE, and are now with your Armed Forces, working as their ‘paramilitaries’, are doing the same, if not more. Here is Human Rights Watch again from the same Report cited above:

It deals with Karuna Amman, the founder of the Tamil Makkal Vidulthalai Pulikal (TMVP), currently not just in bed with your Government, but appointed to Parliament by your President. His mate, or former mate, Pillayan, was appointed the Chief Minister of the Eastern province by your President.

Here is what the report states “Both men have been implicated in serious human rights abuses… The abuses included abducting large numbers of children and forcing them to serve as soldiers”.

Driving the point home, the report goes on “Human Rights Watch has recently documented several cases of forcible recruitment of children by the TMVP. Escapees often must go into hiding to prevent being abducted again. In some instances, their families have faced pressure to give a ‘replacement’ child soldier to the group.”

Here is what Amnesty International had to say (7 October 2008).

It describes  Karuna Amman’s appointment to the Sri Lankan Parliament as “ a travesty of justice”. It says that the newly nominated MP (nominated by your President, not voted in by the people) has committed “war crimes and crimes against humanity including child recruitment”.

Rev. Gomis, there is much more in these Reports which you really must read and inform the Vatican that you wish to amend what you have said. It might go some way to restore your shattered reputation.

Archbishop Gomis, is it your position that conscription of children by the LTTE is wrong,  but that the conscription of children by paramilitary groups for your Sri Lankan Armed Forces is right? Judging from what you said on Radio Vatican, no other interpretation is possible,.

Archbishop, focussing on just the LTTE may be politically expedient but it puts your credibility on the line, very much so, and seriously damages the position you hold as the Head of the Catholic Church. It is a glaring example of the Church getting into bed with a brutal repressive and murderous regime. It damages the reputation of your Church (and mine). As a Christian, that worries me more than damage to your credibility.

5) The Government is unable to help.

Well, the NGOs and international NGOs were able to help but your Government asked them to leave (so that the Genocide of the Tamil people could be carried out without independent international witnesses – as was done in Darfur).

Archbishop Gomis, listen carefully to what Amnesty International USA had to say on 19 November 2008, a month before your irresponsible radio interview.
In a press release- “Sri Lanka’s Government must act now to protect 300,000 displaced persons”, AI USA said,

“In September (2008), the Sri Lankan Government ordered the United Nations (UN) and non-governmental aid workers to leave the region. The Government then assumed total responsibility for ensuring the needs of the civilian population affected by the hostilities are met”.

Archbishop, note the words, “assumed total responsibility”. Do you want the reference? Here it is, to save you the home-work which you seem to be incapable of doing or prefer not to do.
http:www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENENAU2008111 98078

The Tamil Tigers did not write this. It was written by an organisation which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

6) All parties have agreed to a solution

You do not specify this ‘solution’, saying that it is hot off the press (in fact, too hot even to get to the papers!). But I have no difficulty in working out this ‘solution’. In fact, I worked it out some three years ago in a paper I published (14 November 2005), The Political ideology in Sri Lanka: Anti-Tamil. It is still on the net.

There is no problem in the Sinhala parties finding a ‘solution’, in fact it is surprising that this has taken so long. The ‘solution’ is to make Sri Lanka into a Sinhala-Buddhist country. Do you call this a ‘solution’? If it was not as serious as it is, I would have laughed. None of the major Sinhalese political parties think otherwise – they dare not, since they will lose the vote of the Sinhalese (74%) and Buddhists (70%). That has been the problem all these 60 years since Independence, and has resulted in the failure to build a nation. Not surprisingly, it is now falling apart.
  
The effect of your broadcast

In addition to being totally dishonest in saying what you did on Vatican Radio, what you have done is to encourage a fascist brutal politico-military junta to continue, indeed accelerate, the genocidal massacre of the Tamils in the North and East.

What you said will also be exploited by those dreadful men in yellow robes. These are the gangsters who assassinated Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike in the first political assassination in Ceylon (1959), and have recently launched mass demonstrations demanding a military ‘solution’ to this political problem, whatever the cost in terms of Tamil lives and property. They have hijacked every attempt by every Government, claiming that any power sharing with the Tamils is a “sell-out of a Sinhala-Buddhist country to the Tamils”. With hypocrisy that beggars belief, they claim to be followers of one of the greatest teachers of peace the world has known, Gautama Buddha. Just for the record, my mother was a devout Buddhist.

Rev Gomis you cannot be unaware of all this - you have been right there in the middle of it all. You are not in the same ball-park as the Archbishop of Canterbury. You must know that all that the Tamil people want is to live with equality, dignity and safety in the country of their birth – that is what the Tamil struggle is all about. This cannot be news to you.
        

Said and unsaid

What you have not said is more serious than what you have said in this outrageous broadcast. Your “sins of omission” are more serious than your “sins of commission”.

To mention just a few (which I will elaborate in a later letter), you say nothing about the murder of your Tamil Catholic clergy, including and especially Fr Jim Brown, the parish priest of Allipiddy (Archbishop, if you don’t know where that is, it is an island off Jaffna), and that outstanding human rights worker, Fr M.X.Karunaratnam, the Head of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights, assassinated by the Sri Lankan Army; the destruction of several hundred Christian Churches, and serious damage to others, including the famous Madhu Church in Mannar, the holiest Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka; the bombing of schools, hospitals, homes - all of them in the Tamil areas; the blocking of food, fertilizer and drugs to the North; and the massacres of unarmed Tamil civilians – (some 26 massacres to date- the largest number per unit time in the history of Sri Lanka), since Rajapakse became President in November 2005). Why the silence on all this? Is it that you do not care or is it political expediency?

Carol singing

On 22 December 2008, I saw a photograph of you and the President holding hands in obvious mutual admiration, when you turned up at the latter’s residence to sing Christmas carols. The only difference between the two was that one wore a red band round his waist while the other had it draped round his neck, one had a crucifix hanging from his neck, the other did not- but what is a crucifix between friends?

On the day you were enjoying yourself singing carols, 100 Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) soldiers were killed and some 250 wounded, when they attempted to advance from Uruththirapuram towards Kilinochchi and Iranainmadu. If you do not know where this is, it does not matter – it is in the North, which is all that matters. That was between 5.30 am and 12 noon. There was plenty of time for the news to reach Colombo before the carol singing started..

Did you, by any chance, ask the C-I-C Armed Forces, Defence Minister and President, about this? Perhaps you did not know. Well, now you do. You can call him, indeed, hop over and shake his hand(s) again, and ask him why young Sinhalese boys, some documented from their ID cards to be under17, are fighting this unnecessary and unwinnable war, and laying down their lives? They are economic recruits who come from among the rural poor in areas such as where you and I were born, who have joined the Army so that their families could survive. It is as serious a problem as child soldiers. Give it a thought. I do have a point.

Getting back to carol-singing, what, may I ask, did you sing? Perhaps, “Away in a Manger?” A few days ago I saw a photograph of a real manger, in distant Jaffna, put together by Tamil children. It showed the baby Jesus and above Him  was a massive cross made of scores of Christmas cards which were for the baby Jesus. I find this much more sincere than the hypocrisy you were indulging in, in the company of those you should not have been seen with, let alone sing carols with, except for political patronage and gain.

Just one more question about singing carols. Were you actually thinking of the words you were singing, or were they words with no real meaning? I attended the Christmas Day service here in Brisbane, Australia. The words I sang, or was expected to sing, were carefully analysed, and I asked myself, “What exactly are you singing to God?” That is what distinguishes hypocrisy from prayer. I think there is a verse in the Bible, Matthew 6. 5, which can be modified a little without altering the sense, with apologies to St Matthew.

 “ ..thou shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray (sing carols) standing (with President Rajapakse), in the synagogues (one of Rajapakse’s lavish homes, in this case ‘Temple Trees’)….. that they may be seen of men (even if they are mass murderers who should be charged with the genocide of the Tamil people)”.

A Christmas present

The President must have given you a Christmas present for gracing the occasion and giving it credibility. Well, his Armed Forces gave the Tamil people in the North a somewhat different Christmas present, not forgetting the Tamil children. Indeed the  children were the special recipients.

On Christmas Eve, (the Sri Lankan version of) “Santa Claus”, arrived in some Air Force bombers and bombed the Holy Cross convent in Paranthan, despite the building being marked with a Red Cross on the roof. The bombs used were cluster munitions, banned across the world, but used against the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. Could you take this up with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Minister of Defence and the Executive President, all of whom happen to be your carol-singing mate? Incidentally, Archbishop, just to remind you, the Holy Cross convent is a Roman Catholic convent and the occupants were not ‘terrorists’. Do you want a photograph, including the roof with the Red Cross painted on it? I have an excellent one. Or are you not interested because they are only Tamil children and don’t count as real children?

The bombers returned with more presents on Christmas Day (4.30pm, to be exact, which would have enabled the bombers to go to Church in the morning). This time the presents were for the ‘Karuna Nilayam’ Christian Centre for orphaned and disabled children in Kilinochchi, run by the ….. hold your breath, Archbishop, …. Jaffna Catholic diocese. It was clearly designated as a ‘safety area’, but I guess the fact that they were disabled children would make them ‘terrorists’ who should have been killed in any case, not just ‘disabled’. I have photographs of the extensive damage done by these ‘presents’ brought by Kfir jets. The statue of my Lord (and yours), Jesus Christ, had the area anatomically where the liver is, blown off. No real  damage was done to Jesus because it was only a statue.

Three hours later, the Sri Lankan Army, not to be outdone by the Air Force, dropped more presents. This time on the Kilinochchi Hospital – the newborn (was that not appropriate for Christmas Day?) nursing section, the out-patient department and the reception area.

Archbishop, immersed as you are in religion, you may not know that this violates Article 18 of the 4th Geneva Convention,

“Civilian hospitals organised to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstance be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the parties to the conflict”.

You don’t believe me? Here is the reference, http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/02htm.
Just for the record, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) signed the 1st,2nd and 3rd,  and ratified the 4th, Geneva Convention of 1949, by accession to it on 23.2.1959. But these are just pieces of paper, are they not, that your government and its predecessors have signed and violated with gay abandon?

Archbishop, let me put this to you and your carol-singing mate. If the LTTE sent one of their ‘bombers on two legs’ (since they do not have Kfir bombers), which they could have done, since they have an endless supply of the two-legged variety, to bomb your Hospital in Colombo, on Christmas Day, or, for that matter, on any other day, what would have been the reaction? That would undoubtedly be “terrorism”, but the same act committed by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, is “patriotism”, by all those “brave Sinhalese soldiers” risking their lives, to bomb a “terrorist” hospital. Is that the score?

You are not the first

You are not the first to do the sort of damage you did on 13 December 2008. In May 2007, the Head of my Church, Rowan Williams, the Anglican Archbishop of  Canterbury,  ‘dropped in’ (quite literally), and said,

“It is undoubtedly inevitable that what you might call surgical military action against terrorism should take place”.

I analysed this irresponsible statement word by word, in not one, but two letters to him. They are still on the net. I asked him whether he thought the liberation struggle of the Tamil people was like a cancer that had to be excised with surgical precision. I asked him, “Archbishop, are you implying that the Tamil and Muslim people in the North and East are ‘terrorists’, since they are the recipients of what you irresponsibly call “surgical military action”? Do you, as a human being, let alone a Church leader, think that this is “absolutely inevitable”, and do you really think it “should take place?” If you do, it is, to put it mildly, disgraceful

The result of Williams’ irresponsible comments was seen in the next month when the bombing and shelling of the Tamil areas and the slaughter of Tamils and Muslims escalated and has now all the features of genocide of the Tamil people. Archbishop Gomis, many of them your people, Roman Catholics, whose care is your responsibility.

Rowan Williams is an eccentric and ill-informed cleric who breezed in from England, and jetted out as fast. You are different. You are the man who is responsible for the well being of all the Catholics in Sri Lanka.  That makes your conduct so much more serious and reprehensible.


My own beliefs and practices

I found your comments outrageous, but not entirely surprising, since I have always maintained that the Sinhalese Church in the South is more Sinhalese than Christian. Your comments only confirm this view.

Archbishop, I no longer go to Church - except on Christmas Day, and that, only to keep my Church-going wife of 51 years, happy. I simply cannot cope with the absolute hypocrisy of the Christian Establishment - the likes of yourself, my former Vicar, the Archbishop of Canterbury in whose Cathedral I worshipped during the years I was in England, and others of your ilk. I cannot, and will not, go through the motions devised by the Christian establishment for its own hypocritical needs.

However, I will, not let this get between me and the God I have worshipped for 76 years. What I do is what He instructed in Matthew 6, v6 “But thou, when thou prayest, enter unto thy closet, and when thou hast locked the door, pray to thy Father which seeth in secret; and shall reward thee openly”. It has worked for me so far.

Two questions for you

I lie awake worrying about what is happening to my Tamil people in the North and East, at the hands of one of the most brutal regimes imaginable. How do you sleep? They are my people, whose only crime was to be born Tamil. Those on the other side are my Sinhalese people whose only crime was to be born poor, and hence have to be the cannon fodder for this useless war.

The other is a hypothetical question. Rt. Rev. Dr Oswald Gomis, Archbishop of Colombo, let me ask you the same hypothetical question that I asked Rt Rev Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. If your Lord and Master Jesus Christ, were to suddenly appear, and heard what the two of you said, do you think it would find His approval? I doubt it. That is why I remain a Christian, despite the best efforts of the two of you, and others of your ilk, to make me a non-believer. Amen. 

Brian Senewiratne                                      Brisbane, Australia

July 1983 massacre of the Tamils by the Sinhalese – an Apology to the Tamil people from a Sinhalese

Sinhalese mob stopping cars to look for Tamils, 25 July, 1983

Two years ago, in a comprehensive article, ‘Sri Lanka’s Week of Shame - July 1983
massacre – long-term consequences”,  I dealt with this blot on Sri Lanka which set
the stage for the division of Sri Lanka. This is still on the web
(www.tamilcanadian.com/pageview.php?ID=4260&SID=145)
(www.org/taraki/articles/2006/07-28_Consequences.php?uid=1866)
(www.tamilnation.org/form/brian/060723blackjuly.htm)
This year I will simply offer the Tamil people an Apology for what was done to them
in 1983, and even more so, for the increasing violations of their basic human rights
in the quarter of a century that has followed.

I did not slit Tamil throats or pull out the intravenous drips and throw out Tamil
patients from hospital, But there is a collective guilt, a collective shame,, when
members of one’s ethnic group behave like savages. The only ‘crime’ that the victims
had committed was to be born Tamil. For the first time in my life, I felt ashamed to
call myself a Sinhalese. An entire ethnic group was shamed by the behaviour of
Sinhala goons led by their masters in Dictator J.R.Jayawardene’s government, and
hoodlums in yellow robes who were desecrating the Buddha, one of the greatest
teachers of Peace the world has ever known. (My mother was a devout Buddhist and
her father a teacher of Buddhism and the author of books on Buddhism).
Some 3,000 Tamil civilians died that week and their homes and property burnt. Many
more would have died had it not been for courageous Sinhalese, ordinary decent
Sinhalese, who risked life, limb and property to hide Tamils and save them from
certain death. Thank God for some decent Sinhalese. I have no doubt that some of
them tendered an apology to the devastated and petrified Tamils, but the best
apology was the shelter they provided at considerable risk to themselves.
The news
I was already in Australia when the massacre occurred. All I could do was to watch
the horror on television. I watched with disbelief and disgust, that a country which
calls itself “Buddhist”, had scores of absolute barbarians, both inside and outside
Government.

I had a call from London. It was from one of the finest Sri Lankans, a Sinhalese, I
have ever met – Rt Rev Lakshman Wickremasinghe, the Bishop of Kurunegala, The
ailing  Bishop was in London but said he was returning home at once to be with his
(and my) people, the Tamil people. He did; I wish I had the courage to do the same.
I have regretted it ever since.
He visited the numerous refugee camps all over the island to comfort the devastated
people, as Christ would probably have done. He visited a refugee camp in
Akkarayan, Jaffna, with Dr Luther Jeyasingham and a close friend of mine, the
irreplaceable Kandiah Kandasamy of the Movement for Interracial Justice and
Equality (MIRJE).  After talking with the refugees  he was discovered crying in a 2
room. When asked, he replied that from his conversations he had found that his
family had been closely linked with the violence. (The Bishop was the uncle of Ranil
Wickremasinghe, a Minister in Jayawardene’s government at that time and a later
Prime Minister, and a kinsman of J.R.Jayawardene, the President). The Bishop died
on 23 October 1983, a broken man. He never recovered from that trauma.
Sri Lanka has produced two saints – Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe (a Sinhalese
in the South) and Bishop Bastiampillai Deogupillai (a Tamil in the North).
When Bishop Lakshman called me from London, I said that we, the Sinhalsese had to
apologise to the Tamils. He said he would and he did. I apologised to my Tamil wife.
The apology
In his final Pastoral Letter  “A cry from the Heart” (15 November 1983) before his
untimely death, this is what he wrote,
“We must be ashamed as Sinhalese because what took place was a moral crime. We
are ashamed as Sinhalese for the moral crime other Sinhalese committed. We must
not only acknowledge the shame. We must also make our apology to those Tamils…”
In a more private way, I tendered my apology. When  the full horror of what
happened in that week of shame, dawned on me, I sat up one night and wrote a long
letter. In the morning I gave it to my wife – “This is an apology from a Sinhalese to a
Tamil”. I left for work. When I returned she said, “I have read it. What do you want
me to do with it?” I said, “If the apology is accepted, you can throw it away”. She
said she would keep it.  It was this which was later expanded, and published, with a
Foreword from that doyen of Australian Tamils, Sri  Lanka’s most brilliant
mathematician, Professor C.J. Eliezer who was the Dean of the Faculty of Science in
Colombo where my wife and I were students in the 1950s. In the expanded version
Sri Lanka. The July 1983 massacre. Unanswered questions, I held President
Jayawardene and his murderous Ministers responsible for a carefully planned and
executed massacre of Tamils and the total destruction of their economic base, which
had nothing to do with the ambush of 13 Sinhalese soldiers in the North.  

I believed then, and even more so now, that unless the Sinhalese apologise to the
Tamils for the outrageous violation of their basic  human rights over the past 50
years, there will be no peace, and certainly no peace with friendship, between the
ethnic groups in Sri Lanka – divided or undivided.
It has to be a genuine apology – not the bogus apology of my cousin, the former
President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, or using her political name, Chandrika
Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.. At a meeting to mark the 21st Anniversary of the 1983
pogrom, she declared,
“Every citizen in this country should collectively accept the blame and make an
apology to the tens of thousands who suffered. I would like to assign to myself that
task on behalf of the State of Sri Lanka, the government, and on behalf of all of us,
all citizens of Sri Lanka to extend that apology.”
As I said in my earlier publication, that is not an apology, it is political clap-trap.
“Every citizen” (that includes the Tamils – unless, of course, she considers Tamils to
be non-citizens ) is not to blame for the 1983 pogrom. J.R.Jayawardene and his anti-3
Tamil Ministers were to blame.
“Every citizen” is not to blame for the wholesale massacre of Tamils that occurred in
Jaffna in 1995. She, Chandrika Kumaratunga, President, Minister of Defence and
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is to blame. Had she the courage and
integrity, she would have apologised to the Tamil people in the North for what she
did to them.
The blame for the massacres of Tamils does not rest on “every citizen” but on two
elite families – of S.W.R.D Bandaranaike (his wife and daughter), and of
J.R.Jayawardene and his cronies. To this can now be added another, more
murderous than both of the others, President Rajapakse’s and their supporters
among the ranks of the so-called Marxists, and the ‘crazed gentlemen’ clad in yellow
robes.
Tracking down the criminals
Nazi war criminals have been hunted down and punished (irrespective of their age),
50 years after their crimes. There is no reason that those responsible for the Sri
Lankan crime in July 1983, should not be hunted down and brought to justice.
Many of those who were responsible, J.R.Jayawardene and his hoodlum Minister Cyril
Matthew, and his colleagues, and their thugs, are either dead or not traceable.
Others with blood-drenched hands are very much alive and readily accessible. One is
Elle Gunawanse Thero.
This yellow-robed hoodlum played a crucial role in the events of July 1983.. He was
the monk who whipped up the emotions of the crowd that had collected in the
Kanatte cemetery to bury the soldiers, and later fanned out to set fire to Colombo in
general, Tamil homes and businesses in particular.
He then led a mob down Cotta road, Borella, armed with a list of innocent Tamils
(obtained from the electoral office) who were to be wiped out. He was later seen at
the Cinnamon Gardens police station, with a pistol visibly tucked in his yellow robe,
demanding curfew passes. He was the man in the passenger seat of a lorry (I had
the photograph), with hoodlums armed with petrol and kerosene, directing them to
the Tamil homes to be burnt.

Where is he now? Exactly where he was then – opposite the BMICH on Buller’s road
(now Bauddaloka mawatte). That was crown property where he, like many other
monks, had illegally squatted, building a small structure. With strong ties with
Gamini Dissanayake, Minister for the Mahaveli, this small structure was replaced by
an impressive one, with State funds and acknowledged his benefactor, calling it
“Mahaveli Maha Seya”. It was from here that the detailed pogrom of the Tamils was
meticulously planned and executed.

And now? On 15 January 2003, this virulently racist monk, launched the
“Organisation to Protect the Motherland” (OPM), to oppose the talks between Ranil
Wickremasinghe, then the Prime Minister, and the LTTE, for a federal settlement. He
claimed that the North and East which had been merged under Emergency
Regulations in 1987, should be de-merged as the ‘Emergency’ had lapsed with the
peace accord signed by Wickremasinghe and the LTTE.4
On 1 October 2003, Elle Gunawanse launched the National Patriotic Movement,
accusing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe of trying to divide the country.
What stops his arrest and trial? Nothing, other than the lack of will of the political
establishment to do so. There he is in all his glory, right in the middle of Colombo,
with his heavily blood-soaked yellow robes and none will dare touch him.

There are others with a case to answer. There is one, in particular, a Minister in
Jayawardene’s government, who has much to explain. Let us call him “Minister X”
There were 72 Tamil political detainees in the  Welikada prison in Colombo, held
there without charge or trial.  On 25 July 1983. 35 of them were massacred by
Sinhalese prisoners in the jail. President Jayawardene, in a rare act of responsibility,
wanted the rest of the Tamil detainees to be immediately sent to Jaffna prison.
However, Minister Lalith Athulathmudali and ‘Minister X’, opposed this saying that
the Sinhalese would become further infuriated over such a decision. It was obvious
that Athulathmudali and ‘Minister X ‘ did not want the prisoners taken away to
safety. Surprise! Surprise! A day later (27 July) there was a second prison massacre,
and another 18 slaughtered. Of the original 72 Tamil detainees, only 19 were left.
The Sinhalese would now not be ‘infuriated’, since the job was ¾ done.
Who was Minister “X”? Find it out for yourself. There’s a bit of home-work for you.
Action
In January 2008, I was invited to New Zealand to address a special prayer session in
the Elim Church, Auckland. Rev Prince Devanathan, a soft-spoken Tamil priest
conducting the service said, “We have been praying and praying for Peace for more
than 20 years. But the more we pray, the further we get distanced from Peace. That
is the reality”.  He then came out with the finest words I have heard for years –
“Prayer without action is dead”
I’d say the same about an apology. An apology without action is dead. It is this
‘action’ that I have been trying to deliver in the past two and a half decades.
The same holds for protests. To protest, to hold a vigil, to remember the July 1983
massacre is fine. But protests without action is dead.

I urge you to act. To free the Tamil people to live with dignity, and safety in their
area  of historical habitation – the North and East. I urge you to act; to act to save
the Tamil people from the Genocide, started in July 1983, and now progressing at an
alarming rate. Like the Welikada prison massacre, it is ¾ done.  Act now.  Tomorrow
may be too late for the Tamils in the North and East of the ‘Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka’, as it likes to call itself.

The Murder of Tamilchelvan

On 2 November 2007, the Sri Lankan Air Force target–bombed a meeting in Kilinochchi, the effective capital of the de facto State of Tamil Eelam killing S.P. Thamilchelvan, the Political Head and Chief Negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and five, (now six), of his colleagues. I call it a de facto State based on the compelling article by Professor Kristian Stokke, University of Oslo, Norway, Tamil Eelam – a De Facto State. Building the Tamil Eelam State: Emerging State Institutions and Forms of Governance in LTTE-controlled Areas in Sri Lanka, published in Third World Quarterly this year.

Despite a spate of bombings and killings of Tamils in the Tamil North East by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) in the two years since Rajapakse became President (November 2005), the repercussions of this particular killing will be serious. Just as the massacre of the Tamil civilians in the Sinhala South in July 1983 marked the turning point in Sinhala-Tamil relationships, the Government-directed assassination of Thamilchelvan could well mark the turning point in the relationships between the Sinhalese Government and the Tamils.  

I will not detail the major contribution that Thamilchelvan has made to get some justice for the Tamil people. I’d only say that he has taken part in every one of the numerous ‘Peace talks’ with a succession of Sri Lankan governments, and has been the key man between foreign governments and the LTTE. To ‘take him out’ is to seriously compromise any future political negotiations which the GOSL might be forced to have by the aid-givers.

The absolute dishonesty of the GOSL

Assassinating the political Head of one of the two parties to any possible negotiations exposes the absolute dishonesty of a Government which claims, to the international community,  that it is ready and willing to enter into negotiations. Obvious as this dishonesty is, it is the business of those of us who are concerned with the plight of the Tamil people to point this out to foreign Governments and, even more so, to the citizens of these countries so that they can ask the necessary questions from their political leaders who can ask the GOSL for an explanation.

A flagrant violation of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA)

The GOSL claims that the 2002 CFA still holds and that the  military assault on the Tamil areas is ‘defensive.’ This is clearly arrant nonsense. The Ceasefire does not hold, and has not held, since Mahinda Rajapakse became President in November 2005. On 16 April 2007, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the President’s brother, and Defence Secretary, said, “Officially we have not said there is no Ceasefire Agreement, probably to keep the international community happy.” The double negative indicates that the CFA does hold but it is only to keep the international community happy i.e. to bluff them. That is typical political duplicity characteristic of the GOSL. It is our business to point this out, not to foreign Governments (which know all this), but to the citizens of these countries, for reasons already stated.

I stress this since this important point is not appreciated by many expatriate Tamils. 

Take them out one by one

Gotabhaya Rajapakse, making no effort to hide his intentions, bragged to Reuters “This is just a message (to the LTTE) that we know where their leaders  are ……… if we want we can take them one by one”.

This threat shows how little the ruling junta, and others of their ilk, know about liberation struggles. As the Tamil leadership is taken out, ‘one by one’, others will be lining up to replace them. The replacements will probably be more determined than the ones they have replaced.

If the intention is take out the Tamils ‘one by one’, then it is genocide. If Genocide is the intention of Gotabhaya Rajapakse who is an American citizen, it is the obligation of the American Government to charge him under the UN Convention on Genocide (see later). If the US Government does not do so, then it is up to the expatriate Tamil lawyers (and others) to do so.

Genocide

The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Act of Genocide defines Genocide as "an act committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”

The numbers killed are not relevant. What is important is the intention and the act(s) to achieve this intention. There is not the slightest doubt that the intention (and the acts) of the current GOSL is to ‘take out the Tamils’, “one by one”, in reality, at a much faster rate.

As I have pointed out in the DVDs I have recently released on the ethnic conflict, bombing, shelling  and murdering  people is not the only way to kill them. You can starve them, withhold essential medicines, prevent ‘survival activities’ such as fishing and agriculture, and destroy their businesses, markets, homes, hospitals and schools. Once the intention is there, ways to achieve genocide are endless.

All of these the GOSL is doing, and has done, to the Tamil people in the North and East for at least two decades. This has markedly increased since Rajapakse and his blood-thirsty and irresponsible mob came into power in November 2005.

If genocide is what is going on in Sri Lanka (and of that there cannot be the slightest doubt), the International Community will have to act. It is our business to point this out. If the international community does nothing, then we will have to act. If we do nothing, we will be as responsible as those in Sri Lanka who are responsible for this universally condemned action.

Winning hearts and minds

The GOSL has repeatedly claimed that a priority is to ‘win the hearts and minds of the Tamil people’.

At the (massive) funeral for Thamilchelvan and his colleagues, with more than 25,000 people gathered to farewell a much-loved leader, Sri Lankan Kfir jets flew several sorties over this area. What were they doing there? Had they come to pay their respects to Thamilchelvan? Unlikely.

Had they come to check how many people (Tamils) were left in Tamil Eelam who had to be “taken out”? Possibly.

Was it to intimidate the people in the North? If it was, as was likely, it is hardly the way  to “win the hearts and minds of the Tamil people.” On the contrary, it is one certain way to convince many Tamils, if not all, that to be ruled by a bunch capable of behaviour such as this is simply unacceptable. We should be grateful to the GOSL for this type of unbelievable stupidity since it is making more and more Tamils realise that Tamil Eelam is the only solution.

The reaction in Colombo

Thamilchelvan’s assassination was predictably greeted by the ruling mob and the Sinhalese Armed Forces with unrestrained glee.

The Military

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara  struggled to justify the murder, claiming that the LTTE’s  political leader had been involved in recent military operations. If that is adequate justification for murder, then if the LTTE takes out the Sinhala political leaders who have been involved, indeed directed, the recent military assaults on the Tamil people, it will have to be accepted as ‘justifiable’, and not an act of terrorism.

Nanayakkara boasted that the death was a ‘moral boost’ to the armed forces and would be a great loss to the LTTE. What this mediocre military man fails to appreciate is that no one is irreplaceable. There are many who will be lining up to replace Thamilchelvan. Indeed, the flood gates may well be opened and those who cannot contain their anger will turn themselves into human bombs. Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE leader, does not need to recruit suicide bombers - the GOSL and its Armed Forces are doing it for him.

In the DVDS I have referred to, I have described ‘the suicide bomber mentality.’

“You shot my father, raped and killed my mother, hanged my brother, tortured and killed my sister. I have nothing left When I find life too difficult and decide to leave this planet, I will take you with me. If you happen to be the Army Commander who sent KFir bombers to bomb my home, I will surely take you with me.”

There is much condemnation of suicide bombers, but no thought given to how people reach this point of absolute desperation that they are even prepared to sacrifice their lives. The responsibility for suicide bombers rests with the GOSL.

The President

On the day that Thamilchelvan was murdered, Rajapakse was handing over houses to the families of disabled Sinhalese soldiers in the Sinhala South. Going from blatant lies to award-winning lies, he said, “I respect them profoundly and consider them the most disciplined Forces in the world. They have not killed or raped anybody.” The latter claim confirms what his predecessor said in an interview in London. She said that during her regime only one Tamil girl had been raped. I asked that this uniquely unfortunate girl be named, so that we can reassure thousands of others that the Armed Forces only pretended to rape them.

Sometime ago I attended a course on ‘Basic Politics’, to see what the game was all about and how it differed from Medicine. The opening sentence of the very first lecture said it all. “Governments lie.” Allowing this to sink in, the lecturer went on “Politicians are incapable of speaking the truth.”

I draw attention to a recently released book by that outstanding Sinhala journalist, Victor Ivan, describing Rajapakse’s predecessor as the “Mother of Liars.” The book was published in Sinhala. The English translation is “The Queen of Deceit.” It is well worth Rs 500 (US $ 5).

The new incumbent to the Presidency is certainly no better. He has recently claimed that his Government was dedicated to an “honourable peace.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

Rajapakse recently said that the LTTE could not “impose conditions.” These are catch phrases for ‘no negotiations’ with the LTTE, and by extension, the Tamil people. As I have pointed out in numerous publications and DVDs, it is not the LTTE who wanted a Separate Tamil State, it was the Tamil people in the North East who in the 1977 General Election, voted overwhelmingly for the establishment of a separate Tamil State, Eelam. Eelam is not the creation of the Tamil people but the result of Sinhala ethno-religious  chauvinism and extremism, rhe exclusion of Tamils from the decision making process, and the developmental neglect of the areas  they live in (the North East).

Politically-active Buddhist clergy

It is reported that there were special thanks being offered at some Buddhist temples at the news of Thamilchelvan’s murder. What Buddhist stanza states that murder is a cause for celebration or for thanksgiving? What we see in Sri Lanka is a new type of violent Buddhism. It is time that Buddhists and ‘half-Buddhists’ such as myself (my mother was a devout Buddhist), lodged a strong protest at the desecration of the doctrine of one of the greatest teachers of peace and non-violence the world has ever known. As Thamilchelvan’s leader once said, “If President Jayawardene was a true Buddhist, I would not be carrying a gun.’ How right he was. The time for a revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is overdue.

The Colombo Press – “His Master’s Voice” Press

As was expected, the right wing Island newspaper celebrated the murder “Air Force avenges A’pura raid, bags Tigers’ public face at dawn.” Hopefully this rabidly racist ‘newspaper’ will not complain if the Tigers ‘bag’ the public faces of the Sinhalese ethnic chauvinists and extremists in Colombo.

Lakbima News published a photograph of the LTTE leader Prabhakaran paying his respects to Thamilchelvan under the provocative title, “This time its him – next time……?” , clearly urging the murder of Prabhakaran.

Here again is the fallacy - that people are irreplaceable. “Taking out’ Prabhakaran will only result in the appearance of someone who is even more determined to achieve the goal of justice for the Tamil people. 

Taking out leaders from a liberation struggle does not change the course of the struggle. Locking up Nelson Mandela for 25 years did not stop the march of South Africans to an apartheid–free country.

What has to be ‘taken out’ is not Thamilchelvan, Prabhakaran or the LTTE, but the extremist policy to make multilingual, multireligious, multicultural  Sri Lanka into a Sinhala Buddhist Nation.  Unless/until that is ‘taken out’, the division of Sri Lanka will be inevitable.

The other Sinhala political parties

As would be expected, the Sinhala extremist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was jubilant. Wimal Weerawanse, the JVP parliamentary leader, urged the Government to declare the assassination of Thamilchelvan as a victory for the military and the people. If by “the people” he means the ‘Sinhalese people’, I, as a Sinhalese, object strongly. Ordinary Sinhalese are no more responsible for the murder of Thamilchelvan than they are for the renewed war, which is opposed by the majority of the more decent Sinhalese people who have to pay the price which Rajapakse’s children will not pay. That act of ‘patriotism’ is for the children of the poor who have to join the armed forces for economic survival, “economic recruits.” Their parents continue to see their children returning in body-bags.

The Opposition United National Party (UNP)

The reaction of the UNP, the darlings of some Tamils, was no surprise, at least to me. UNP MPs hailed the killing of Thamilchelvan as a “great victory” for the (Sinhala) Air Force. The UNP national organiser, S.B Dissanayake said that “There should be no regrets about (Thamilchelvan’s) death.” This is no surprise, coming as it does from a man who in a previous birth, suggested to the then President Chandrika Kumaratunga that “one or two newspaper editors” critical of her government, should be “taken out.” We are talking of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

A week before the Presidential Election in November 2005, I published “The Political Ideology of the Sinhalese: Anti-Tamil”, in which I said that who was elected as President was of little concern to the Tamils since the entire spectrum of the Sinhala polity was anti –Tamil, and that the Tamils need not help the Sinhalese to choose an anti-Tamil President. Perhaps I should have pointed out that the only exceptions to this were politicians from the genuine Left such as Siritunga Jayasuriya (United Socialist Party) and Dr Wickremabahu Karunaratne (New Left Front). It is significant that the former contested the Presidential Election and got only 0.4% of the votes. This indicates that despite all the problems heaped on them because of this unnecessary war, the Sinhalese people are not ready for much-needed radical changes in their leaders. Jayasuriya is lucky to be alive. In January 2007, a protest meeting organised by him (and others) opposing the war, was broken up by 300 armed Sinhalese thugs led by a Minister in Rajapakse’s Government.

The foreign reaction

None of the countries involved in the so-called peace process – the US, EU, Norway or Japan have uttered a word critical of this act of blatant government terrorism. A week before Thamilchelvan’s assassination,  Robert Blake, the US Ambassador to Colombo, condemned the LTTE’s attack on the Anuradhapura Air Force base, expressing sympathy for the families of the military personnel killed.

No such statement has so far being issued over the unprovoked killing of Thamilchelvan who was personally known to many of the diplomats involved in the peace negotiations. This deafening silence can only be interpreted as approval for this blatant violation of the cease-fire  (the unprovoked bombing of a major town in the Tamil area), and the murder of a political leader.

A typical example, one of many, of the double-speak of foreign Governments was seen in Trincomalee on 8 November 2007, a week after the murder of Thamilchelvan.  US Ambassador Blake handed over radar-based surveillance systems and several inflatable boats to the Sri Lankan Navy, saying that he hoped it would help the Navy to intercept the arms shipment to the ‘rebels’ (i.e the LTTE). With the hypocrisy which has characterised foreign Governments,  he went on to urge the GOSL to pursue a negotiated settlement to the Sri Lankan conflict and stressed the importance of fully respecting human rights!

As I have said, and repeated, in my DVDs, it is this manipulation of the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict by foreign Governments for their own geopolitical and economic gains which has kept the conflict going. Foreign Governments, in particular the US, China and India, do not want to see an end to this conflict. If it ends, it will weaken their ability to manipulate the Sinhala regime in Colombo to give them the necessary facilities to control the Indian Ocean. The international games being played, particularly by the US, India and China, have more to do with their geo-politics than conflict resolution in Sri Lanka. For the sake of completeness, one should substitute the ‘US-EU-Japan’ for ‘US.’ This important perspective will be added to the updated DVDs which I will release in the next few weeks.

Will it weaken the LTTE?

Will the murder of Thamilchelvan be a “great loss to the LTTE” (as the military spokesman thinks it will be) and by extension, weaken the LTTE? Ironically, it might actually do the opposite,  in that Tamils who have not supported a separate state might well do so now. Those who have thought that political negotiations are the way to go might well realise that in dealing with a Government which is ‘taking out’ the negotiators, this is simply not a possibility.

Retaliation

There is certainly a possibility of retaliation by the LTTE or others enraged by this unprovoked act of aggression. If it is alright for the Sinhala Government to bomb the effective capital of Tamil Eelam, it might be argued that by the same token, it is alright for the Tamils to bomb the capital of the Sinhala State, Colombo.

Should the LTTE decide to retaliate in Colombo, with its dense population and buildings, the damage could be massive. To put it bluntly, it is ‘to be expected’- as was the recent retaliatory bombing (by the LTTE) of the oil storage facility just a few kilometres north of Colombo. Despite all the boasts, the Sri Lankan defences are so incompetent that two Tiger planes, no more than toy planes, flew to the South, dropped their bombs and flew back (safely). To their credit, they did not target or damage civilians or civilian property. They certainly had the capacity to fly further South and drop the pay load on Colombo itself. Had they done so, the damage would have been serious.

Should this occur, now or in the future, the Sinhala people will have to hold their Government responsible for this retaliatory attack.

The ability to shoot down the Tiger aircraft  is not a solution.  If bombs cannot be dropped from the air, they could be delivered on two legs, volunteers for which will not be too hard to find. As I have said in the DVDS, “desperate people do desperate things.”  

Guerrilla warfare

There is yet another possibility which the GOSL must appreciate. Should the LTTE decide to abandon open confrontation and revert back to guerrilla warfare, the GOSL and its Armed Forces will be in serious strife. A conventional army cannot fight a guerrilla force on guerrilla soil. The 4th largest army in the world, India, learnt this in 1988. It is unlikely that the Sri Lankan Army will be able to do what the mighty Indian Army had failed to accomplish.

Time is always on the side of the guerrillas. One cannot guard every road, every bridge, every building, and every installation, forever. Guerrillas can chose the time and the place to strike. The Sinhala Government has yet to learn this very basic lesson in guerrilla warfare.

The Agenda

The agenda of the Rajapakse Government in killing Thamilchelvan is far more complex than ‘taking out’ the Tamil leadership. It is part of ‘crisis management’ in the Sinhala South.

There has been a massive increase in  ‘defence’ spending which increased 45% this year (2007) and there are plans for another 20% increase next year. Government subsidies and services have been slashed, as well as pay and work conditions for workers in the public sector. Intolerable burdens have been placed on hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the Sinhala South. In October 2007 inflation was 19.3%. The people are being called upon to  ‘tighten their belts’ for the war effort to ‘save the nation.’  This is now being openly questioned and people are taking to the streets.

In late October (2007), 200.000 public sector teachers decided to strike. A week later, police broke up a demonstration by thousands of unemployed graduates.

To stifle ongoing unrest, government ministers repeatedly band protests and strikes as unpatriotic and have imposed a series of emergency laws which have undermined democracy. On 29 October 2007, Rajapakse proclaimed new emergency regulations to censor any views of military deployment or activities, including purchases of military equipment. The latter was not only to suppress  criticism of the war  but also scandals over the purchase of MiG-27 jet fighters from the Ukraine. Amidst widespread protests, the regulations were revoked.

Whatever the claimed ‘victories’ on the battlefield in the Tamil North East, it is clear that the Sinhala Government is losing credibility and control in the Sinhalese South.

With a supposed ‘victory’ in the East, the Government claimed that the LTTE were seriously weakened (militarily) and were on the run. This claim was blown to pieces on 22 October 2007 when the LTTE Black Tigers infiltrated the heavily fortified Air Force Base in Anuradhapura and damaged or destroyed 26 military aircraft (a number officially admitted to by the Anuradhapura Police), costing some US$ 40 million. More damaging than the military and economic loss was the damage done to the credibility of the Government and its Armed Forces in the eyes of the Sinhalese.

Something ‘had to be done’ to restore confidence, and if that meant murdering the LTTE Chief Political negotiator and markedly setting back the possibility of a negotiated settlement, the Government could not care less. As I have said in my DVDS (The new killing fields of Asia), the arrogance of Rajapakse is that he does not care what the world thinks.

With mounting civil unrest in the Sinhalese South because of economic problems and people taking to the streets, the murder of Thamilchelvan was used by the Government to immediately intensify the roadblocks, security checks, raids, etc in Colombo, claiming that the LTTE would retaliate. The Police announced that additional troops were being mobilised to tighten security in the capital.

In reality, Colombo had to be secured, not from the Tamil Tigers, but from its own (Sinhala) people, enraged by the intolerable financial burdens imposed on them.

As the Sinhalese unleash their anger on their Government, more of the same might follow. I would not be surprised if this takes the form of a total destruction of the Tamil North. That it would make the ethnic conflict unsolvable is not an immediate problem for the ruling junta.

What has been achieved?

What has the Sri Lankan Government achieved by the murder of Thamilchelvan? Nothing, other than a massive shift in Tamil thinking towards a separate Tamil State, and a sabotage of any possible negotiated settlement to a conflict which is destroying the country. So much for responsible leadership. One hears a lot about the ethnic crisis, the humanitarian crisis, the economic crisis, etc. However, the biggest crisis in Sri Lanka is a crisis in political leadership. The country is not only economically bankrupt but, what is more serious, politically bankrupt. The murder of Thamilchelvan is evidence of this.

Our responsibility

In several recent meetings I have been asked, “What is the LTTE doing?” My answer has been, “Never mind the LTTE, what are you doing?” The question I was asked typifies the attitude of the expatriate Tamil community – buck-passing.

The LTTE are doing whatever can be done to cope with one of the most brutal and barbaric regimes ever to rule Sri Lanka. That this murderous regime is able to continue to destroy that which they have not built, the administration of the Vanni and the genocide of the Tamil people, is a reflection of our failure.

One of the most powerful forces the Tamils have is a million expatriate Tamils living and working in the most influential and affluent nations in the world. If this massive force did what it could to expose the duplicity of foreign governments and the criminal acts of the GOSL, already in the human rights dog-house, the necessary pressure would have been generated a long time ago. It is clear that the target will have to be citizens of these countries, not political leaders who know all this. It is for this reason that I put together the DVDs on the atrocities being committed on the Tamil people in the North East. The expatriate Tamil community is a long way from realising all this. Hence, its abysmal failure.

If the assassination of Thamilchelvan wakes up the ‘sleeping Tamils’ abroad, he would not have died in vain. 

Brian Senewiratne                                                        Brisbane, Australia     

A Truly Gratifying Day with Dr. Brian Senewiratne

by Cholan

He pointed out to me, he senses our people (he is referring to Tamils) seem discouraged and they need to be aroused and they need to be told in no uncertain terms that Tamil Eelam is a reality and is the only acceptable and workable solution to the protracted civil conflict between Tamils and Sinhalese for the last fifty years.

It was a blessing from God to have met a great personality like Dr. Brian Senewiratne, with whom I was graced with the opportunity to spend a day and interact with this unique gentleman. Dr. Brain Senewiratne’s remarkable knowledge about our Tamil freedom struggle amazed me a great deal. He is passionately involved for more than forty years in exposing sufferings of the Tamils at the hands of successive Sinhalese leaders (since 1948) to the world leaders, media and think tanks.

This unique personality has acquired educational qualifications  MA (Camb), MBBChir (Camb), MBBS Hons (Lond), MD (Lond), FRCP (Lond), FRACP, Consultant Physician and is the Clinical Associate Prof. of Medicine of the one of the world famous University of Queensland, in Down Under.  He is also from a very well to do family and the ruling elite both sides of Sri Lanka's political spectrum of the last 58 years, the UNP and SLFP; yet for more than 57 years he has himself identified with Tamils and their struggle for freedom.

I went to pick up this gentleman from the Toronto airport and drove him to a TV station for an Interview.  In my mind, I was thinking he would be very exhausted and fatigued when he landed at the Toronto airport, as he is a 74 years of age and since he was continuously engaged in giving numerous speeches to media and gatherings in USA and Canada prior to his arrival to the Toronto Airport. But, I was wrong; he was the most energetic person and he was all prepared and ready for the interviews.

I just could not believe what I was seeing and hearing from this unique gentleman.  He was very fluent in the subject areas of our Tamil Eelam struggle. The interviewer only had to ask the question; he responded quite spontaneously and courageously.  Every question the interviewer posed to him, his answers were decisive with no ambiguities in his responses.

He was asked to share his views on the killings of Tamils by the Sinhalese forces and its leaders. He did not mince his words when he was saying, that present and past leaders of Sri Lanka should be charged with genocide of Tamils in the International war crime tribunals. He also went on to define what constitutes genocide, based on the UN definition. He pointed out that it is not how many Tamil people got killed by the Sinhalese leaders. What matters is the act and intent of eliminating one ethnic group partially or whole which is defined as genocide.

Based on this definition, Dr. Senewiratne went on to charge the present Mr. Rajapaksa regime in Sri Lanka with the genocide of Tamils and the economic genocide of Tamils as the present regime responsible for numerous abductions, disappearances and killings of Tamil business and community members. He also went on to charge the regime on educational genocide of Tamil as students in NorthEast  are not able to go to school to educate themselves without the fear of getting abducted, raped or killed on their way to school.

When the TV interviewer asked this unique individual to comment on the possible solution to this protracted conflict of Sri Lanka, once again he did not mince his words. He said the only solution that would honestly work is a free separate Tamil Eelam nation for Tamils.  He spoke continuously on Television for roughly one hour and thirty minutes before he was driven away to attend another captive audience at a University in Toronto .

At the University, he gave a thundering lecture to our next generation of Tamil University students, who were so engrossed with his speech for two hours, thereafter answering their concerns and questions. 

After that lecture he willingly took part in another live radio show for almost two hours with live questions and answers from a wide audience of the radio.

By the time he was done with  the numerous interviews, live shows on radios and speeches, I expected him to be mentally and physically exhausted and probably expected him to say, "Let me go and get some rest before I fly back to US in the morning." But  he was not on that mood. We went to the place where he was staying at 12 am and once again he chatted with us for almost another hour about his personal life and his involvements in human rights issue for the last 50 years plus.

Next day early morning he has to fly to California and meet people and human rights activists in California. Also he has to give three lectures regarding our Tamil Struggle in three different parts of the California .

After all those tight scheduled speeches and meetings, he has to take the last available flight to Australia and fly for almost 20 hours, if not more, and within one hour of landing of Australia he has to see his patient who  was pre- booked before he committed to take part in all these lectures and speeches in North America.

I asked him, "Doctor, are you not feeling tired from all this hustle?”  “Are you going to be alright to see your patient after twenty odd hour of long flight from one end of the world to the other?” You know what he told me, “If I don’t do anything and sit idle, only then I will be tired. Since I am doing what I am passionately involved with from my fourteen years of age and I am voicing my concerns for my Tamil people, it doesn’t make me tired.” At this point my eyes were filled with water.

Here we are looking at this gentleman with wealth none of us can ever imagine from his forefathers and working as a well known medical doctor specialized in Cardiology in Australia since 1976 tirelessly working to bring out to the world leaders the injustice done by his Sinhalese race and its leaders.

Dr. Senewiratne pointed out to me, he senses our people (he is referring to Tamils) seem discouraged and they need to be aroused and they need to be told in no uncertain terms that Tamil Eelam is a reality and is the only acceptable and workable solution to protracted civil conflicts between Tamils and Sinhalese for last fifty years.

This is the time for our Tamil Diaspora to wake up if they are still sleeping and do what we all have to do which is strengthen our struggle whatever way we all could do. “Do not try to stand on the fence; it is now or never” are the exact words he repeatedly used to make this point the entire time I with was with him. He also told me, we Tamils have these infightings among ourselves and focus on trivial issues.

All this nonsense must stop now and we must work as a united force to achieve the legitimate aspirations of our Tamils freedom with dignity to look after our own affairs in our own homeland. He also categorically told me that , in Sinhala areas we may see the UNP, SLFP, JHU, JVP, etc… but when it comes to the Tamils, all these parties are united, which is essentially a strong anti Tamil position and they make sure no powers will ever be shared with Tamils.

So, let us all get united regardless of what your status is, whether you are professionals, you are religious leaders, you are intellectuals, or ordinary Tamil folks,  it is time to shed all those petty differences among ourselves and work hard every minute to achieve something which by our rights is ours, Tamil Eelam.

He also made another interesting and nailing point. Tamil Eelam is already established. All the infrastructures and administrative functions in Tamil Eelam are functioning for the last five years. All we will have to do is get some recognition from this so- called International Community.

This is where he said, our leader Mr. Prabkaran will not be able to do much from Vanni. This is where we, the Diaspora, fit in well and have a huge role to play. This is what the ultimate fruits of our long struggle depend on. We Diaspora need to do a lot more work every minute to educate, inform and lobby as many International players as we can.

We have to tell the International Community to accept our legitimate struggle for our freedom. Dr. Brian Senewiratne quoted, “The brains of the entire Sri Lanka were forcefully evicted by the Sinhalese from Sri Lanka and those brains are here in the western world doing very well for the uplifting the economical and social fabrics of those countries, but shying away from wholeheartedly rallying behind the just cause of freedom of their future generations.” He sited our freedom struggle well within the UN definition of a freedom struggle of any national group.

He also made a point we, the Diaspora, by ourselves can sustain the economy of the emerging Tamil Eelam. He said “Mark my words, within ten to fifteen years of the free Tamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam could well pass the economic status of Singapore.”

Dr. Brian Senewiratna spoke of his sadness on the state of affairs of the Sinhalese in real terms, and said, "We have many thousands Sinhalese army deserters who deserted with dangerous arms and ammunitions which are lurking in their hands in the underground of South. Once Tamil Eelam is liberated, the Sinhalese state will become ungovernable as these deserters will destabilize the government. That is the thing the Sinhalese leaders should worry about and do something about it now, before it is too late."

Finally, he wanted to pass one message to his captive young Tamil University audience. He said, “Students, the future of Tamil Eelam rests in all your able hands, your fathers, mothers, brothers have done whatever they could to bring the freedom struggle thus far; now it is your turn to carry the mantle of this legitimate Tamil freedom struggle further reach the destination without further delay."  He proposed to create a grand union of University Tamil students all over the world (if one does not exist already) and bring them to raise the awareness among them to carry the message to the International Community in an effective way.

He shared his view as a human rights activist and an observer of our struggle that none of his Sinhalese leaders and people wished to either identify themselves with him or share his views, and many times he was verbally abused for speaking out for Tamils.

But he is not worried about these abuses from Sinhalese, as he still remembers what the leftist leader and his uncle, the late Mr. Edmund Samarakody, taught him when he was fourteen years old. His uncle told him to always “say what’s in your heart” in a protest meeting organized by his uncle in the aftermath of the disfranchisement of millions of plantation Tamil workers because they were Tamils. "Since that day onwards, I always say what’s in my heart."

The o nly viable, reasonable, and acceptable solution to this protracted conflict in Sri Lanka would be two separate nations in place co-existing side by side. If fifty years down the road these two nations after prospering in their own ways and wanted to be united, then that is the choice for the future generations of those two nations.

Finally, I prayed to the God to give Dr. Senewiratne long life with wonderful health and wealth for years to come. I said good-bye and wished this wonderful gentleman full of such excellent charisma to have a safe trip to his destination at around 1:30 am. I must admit that this memorable day I spent with this great gentleman was a very emotional and inspirational experience for me, which I shall carry with me for years to come.