The writer is a journalist in Delhi whose work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times. He tweets @DilliDurAst
Up to 100,000 people have died in the Sri Lankan conflict that resulted in the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009. But the war is not over. If the war is over, then why are the north and the east so heavily militarised? Why, according to a study by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees some months ago, are 71 per cent of the residents of these areas visited by the army or the CID for interrogation? Why do 57 per cent of the people say that the nearest military camp or checkpoint is less than a mile from their houses?
Colombo’s excuse is that it fears terrorism might re-emerge. In other words, the ethnic Tamil population has been permanently marked as ‘terrorist’. This comes after what the Sri Lankan army did to some of them in the war: it asked civilians to move to refugee camps in a no-fire zone and then bombed them there. It was an act of genocidal intent.
Colombo, of course, says this is all a lie, in the face of a number of reports and investigations that show war crimes as having been committed. If you are making such noises, then, for Colombo, you have been influenced by the Tamil diaspora. Why can’t Sri Lanka have an independent investigation into the allegations of war crimes if it has nothing to hide? And who is stopping it from investigating the war crimes’ allegations of both the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam and the Sri Lankan military?
Given that a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission has already given a clean chit to the Sri Lankan military, it is time for an international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka. There is also a need for greater international pressure to make Colombo stop harassing journalists and scaring them into submission, to account for the disappeared and to make the military vacate thousands of acres of land it has illegally occupied — on some of which it is making tourist hotels.
That’s right. You could, for instance, enjoy a holiday at The Lagoon’s Edge, a luxury hotel on the shores of the Nanthikadal Lagoon. The hotel is built on the very site where an intense battle took place. Amongst the dead were not just the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan soldiers but also civilians, killed deliberately.
Now that the people of the north have rejected Mahinda Rajapakse’s Modi-like development spiel, we need to rest and think it’s all fine. Rajapakse has an opportunity at reconciliation but it is unlikely that he will use it. He is taking it easy until November, when a Commonwealth Heads of Government summit is to be held in Sri Lanka. In the face of boycott calls from rights groups to Commonwealth countries, Rajapakse is doing all he can to look like a nice guy. Once the Commonwealth summit is over, he will go back to his old ways. One fear is that the governor of the Tamil Northern Province will not let the Tamil National Alliance government be. Some Sinhalese politicians say that allowing a local police would create a parallel military!
The Commonwealth heads of government should not boycott the meeting. They should all go there and read the riot act to Rajapakse, just as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, recently did in Colombo.
After Pillay’s visit, an Amnesty International statement said that the victims she had met were facing the brunt of the military for speaking the truth. “The Sri Lankan conflict may have ended in 2009, but the level of human rights violations in the country remains critically high. The Sri Lankan government still shows no real will to account for past crimes, combined with new attacks on those calling for accountability,” the Amnesty statement said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2013.
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tamils would like us believe they are sons of the soil,
@Zaman ali You are very ignorant and refuse to learn. Since you post in this forum you should be able to google search and read about different Tamil groups in SL. There are Tamils who were brought by British to plantations, but the Northern and Eastern Jaffna Tamils are as much sons of the soil as the Sinhalese. They have been there > 2000 years, much before.. ahem...you know what.
This author has little understanding of Sri Lanka, being hand fed propaganda from who knows where, or simply pulling his information off the internet. Total nonsense! This is what we get for a free press, where so called journalist get a free ride of publicity without any fact checking by the media. I hope most people realize that these sites are hotbeds for propaganda and nothing more. Nothing reliable about what goes on-line.
@zaman ali: Are you nuts? YEs, Tamils were indentured labour in British plantations in Malaya (present day MAlaysia and Singapore). As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, they are very much sons of soil.
Sri Lanka needs to become a federal system. It is still a unitary system. Federalism comes in various guises. Northern province is not well developed. Will remain poorer part of Sri Lanka. There is a difference Tamils based in Colombo and living in Northern Province. Keep in mind Sri Lanka has higher HDI ranking than India, Pakistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
@zaman ali: Even Sinhalas are migrants from India. Get your history brushed up.
tamils would like us believe they are sons of the soil, but if you look at british tea plantation history in sri lanka majority of tamils were imported to work in the british tea plantations just as they were imported to work in the rubber plantations of malaysia.
Gujarat is much closer to the writer's residence. In there is a guy named MODI, which act does the reader suggest should be read to Mr Modi!?
@NAK: I'm not sure who Peter Russel is,but I sure know a Russel Peters
@zaman ali: Shocking lack of knowledge. Sri Lankan Tamils are not immigrants (they are not Indian Tamils who moved to Sri Lanka) - they are sons of the soil just like the Sinhalese, or alternately, migrants from around the same classical period (Sinhalese starting arriving in 500 BC while Tamils arrived around 2nd century BC onwards).
@zaman ali
Are you mad? Tamil living in more than 3000 Years (1300 BC) in Sri Lanka. if you want more details search in online. Last Tamil Kindom was upto British colonial Starting.
Why doesn't this author write about what's going on in Baluchistan? Why did you not publish my earlier comment?
immigrants (tamils) have no right to demand a separate state, imagine if every immigrant group in US,UK demanded a separate state.
@1984: Are you any relative of Peter Russel !
@Water Bottle: I agree that the army should be pulled out of urban locations at the first possible instance, but there are two major differences between the Sri Lankan Northern Province and Indian Kashmir. First, Kashmir is run by Kashmiris; for example, the local police station that was attacked this week by terrorists - all those who died were Kashmiris. So clearly no one in India is branding all Kashmiris as terrorists; in fact, the contrapositive is argued today - that hardly any terrorists (even the ones from Pak) are Kashmiris. Second, the Indian army is stationed due to credible external threats - the number of attacks from across the border on non-army targets alone (like Sarpanch in Panchayats) in the recent past itself indicate that such a threat still exists. If Pakistan wants a better life for the Kashmiri people as it claims from the rooftops, then civil society over there should take an unambiguous stand against their terrorists who come across and slaughter innocent Kashmiris.
@csmann: Had India took the same route as Srilankan army made on the Tamil Tigers.then the Kashmir problem would have been solved within weeks if not days.....
But unfortunately,they believe in things like Human rights etc.......
In an otherwise good article the writer , Shivam Vij, says "Up to 100,000 people have died in the Sri Lankan conflict" which is factually incorrect. Before the final war it was published 100,000 people died but during the last few months before te onslaught more than 70,000 are unaccounted for according to UN Internal Review. According to the then Government Agent of Mullaitivu Imelda Sugumar who later turned to be a darling of Rajapaksas, 456,000 lived there based on registers. 300,000 or so surrendered to the military and wat happened to remaining 146,000? Only an independent investigation by the representatives of all the parties concerned can answer this question.
I do not think that this writer has ever visited Sri Lanka especially the North of Sri Lanka. If he knows the geography of that area he will see the way the army camps are situated now. His narration on Human Rights violations are only hearsay based on The HRW, AI and the other NGOs backed by the Tamil diaspora who are supporting the separation of Sri Lanka, for mere political reasons.
If the President of Sri Lanka who does not bow down to the pressure of the West and do things in the best interest of the country, is not a nice guy how is that the majority of the Sri Lankans vote for him at every election which are termed by the International Observers (except the bankrupt NGOs & political parties allegiance to the West) as very fair and peaceful?
The writer should visit Sri Lanka and study the real situation before writing things on hearsay to mislead the reading public.
@csmann:
Yes. true. To an extent is happened in Kashmir also.
But the difference is, India is not denying it.
Also, India should take a lesson from Sri Lanka and reduce or get rid of the army from Kashmir. We might argue for it on the basis of recent increase in terrorist attacks. But in the long run, we will be further alienating Kashmiris who already feel disenfranchised.
Idological differences aside, practical this spells doom
@csmann: To a greater extent, the same thing is happening in Baluchistan.
Good to see a report with focus on Sri Lanka. Our mainstream media, especially, North Indian papers, generally ignore the happenings in our southern neighbourhood.
While to a lesser extent,the same things apply to Kashmir,unfortunately.