The Hoole factor in the Tiger equation

APPOINTMENT: I have yet to meet a Tamil who is so genuinely concerned about the Tamils and the discrimination they have been subjected to, than Professor Ratnajeewan S. Hoole. He is a fervent champion of the Tamil cause, with unquestionable sincerity.

There are many areas of disagreement that I have regarding some of his views.

There has been intelligent dissent, as well as fanatical abuse regarding some of his observations about the history of the Tamils. But that is Ratnajeewan Hoole, the man of science who has excelled in his field of study, with an abiding commitment to the equality of Tamils as citizens of Sri Lanka.

It is this man who is at present at the centre of a controversy, well orchestrated, against his appointment as Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna.

There is no reason given for the objections by some students of the Jaffna University and some sections of the Jaffna citizenry.

Attempts are made to show that the people of Jaffna do not want him as the Vice Chancellor of the highest seat of learning in Jaffna.

There are some faint noises about the non-acceptance of a person appointed by the President. There's nothing anyone can do about that because under the law as it is, Vice Chancellors are being appointed by the President of Sri Lanka.

Claymore citizens

As the controversy grows, one recalls the days just before the agreement to hold talks in Geneva, when the security forces were the victims of claymore mines and grenades, used by the 'people or citizens' of Jaffna.

The ever grinning Thamilchelvan brazenly told foreign diplomats who to Kilinochchi to express concern at the increasing tide of violence in Jaffna, that it was not the work of the LTTE, but the work of 'citizens' angered by the security forces.

He never explained, and the diplomats also did not bother to ask from where the 'citizens' got their claymore mines and grenades, if not from the armoury of the LTTE.

Strangely, after the Geneva talks, the same Thamilchelvan said the LTTE would speak to the citizens of Jaffna about the need to stop the spiralling violence.

Who are these faceless and nameless people that Thamilchelvan and other LTTE leaders were to speak to, and why should they listen to them, if they had not been originally armed by the LTTE, and made use of to carry out attacks on the security forces? Why are they not called the 'paramilitary units' of the LTTE?

Now we have protests against the appointment of Prof. Hoole as Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University. Who are these protestors and why do they protest at such a well-known friend of the Tamil people taking such an important position in the northern academia? It is not so difficult to find the manipulators of these protests.

Some students of the Jaffna University were also a party to the 'citizens' protest against the security forces. The LTTE will find it easy to muster its own cadres, free to carry out political work in Jaffna thanks to the Ceasefire Agreement, to protest against the appointment of Prof. Hoole.

The Tiger calculation

When one studies the trend of LTTE strategy and calculations, it is obvious that it is not Prof. Ratnajeewan S. Hoole they are really against, although they would prefer not to have such a genuine friend of the Tamils heading the University of Jaffna.

They would much prefer a Tamil who can be coerced into toeing the LTTE line on separatism and the traditional Tamil homeland to hold such a position, and one who will make the necessary statements to place the LTTE in a good light among the international community, and the Tamil Diaspora who they are fleecing to fight the next war for Eelam.

There is another Hoole in the Tiger calculations, which makes Prof. Ratnajeewan Hoole unacceptable to them at the helm of the Jaffna University. That is Rajan Hoole, and the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) UTHR J, that they fear much more that the meek and kindly Tamil that Prof. Hoole is.

The name Hoole has been hated by the LTTE for many years, as much as it hates the very mention of the name Karuna today.

This was because of the UTHR-J which still has the courage to expose the contemptible disregard for the Rights of the Tamil people, and Human Rights in general by the LTTE, as much as it has been critical of actions by successive governments with regard to Human Rights.

What the well-planned protests against Prof. Hoole demonstrates is the LTTE's total contempt for Human Rights and its enduring need to keep the Tamil people under its thrall.

The leadership of the LTTE must be increasingly angered with each report of the UTHR-J on the condition of the Tamil people under the LTTE, its violations of the CFA, the abductions, kidnapping, extortion and ransom collected by the LTTE to keep its leading members in their own special comfort in the Vanni, and also pay for the illegal transactions they have with the underworld in Colombo, and the recruitment of child soldiers.

The new target

I salute the courage of Prof. Hoole in accepting the position of Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna. It is an act of great courage in the face of heavy threats. One recalls the fate of so many Tamil intellectuals from Rajini Thiranagama down, who paid the ultimate price for being critical of the LTTE's policies of terror, first against its own people and then against others.

The LTTE and its stooges and proxies can have nothing against Prof. Hoole, other than his independence of thinking.

It is such persons who the LTTE has relentlessly hunted down from several principals of schools at the early stages, to the principal of a leading Jaffna school who was gunned down recently for refusing to send the children of his school to participate in the LTTE's propaganda extravaganzas.

The LTTE remains relentless in its violence, as much as Prof. Hoole is moderate and still a champion of the Tamil cause.

What can they have against Prof. Hoole, other than his name and the memories it kindles about the UTHR-J and its courage in unmasking the Tiger? Prof. Ratnajeewan S. Hoole is not a member of the majoritarian Sinhala chauvinists.

He is also not one of the Muslims of the north or east, who have been under the LTTE's jackboot all these years. He is certainly not a Muslim who was chased out of Jaffna when the LTTE carried out its ethnic cleansing there, nearly two decades ago.

The only problem he has with the LTTE's calculations is that he bears the name of Hoole, like the other Hoole who is active in opposition to the LTTE, he is also not enamoured with the LTTE's treatment of the Tamil people.

When I study the list of Tamil academics and intellectuals who have been the victims of the LTTE's bloodlust, I worry a great deal for Ratnajeewan S. Hoole. Yet, while wishing him all the safety from those marauding Tigers, I salute him for his courage in accepting the office he has been appointed to.

Yes, Prof. Hoole, given the chance, you can do a great deal to strengthen the critical attitudes of the emerging Tamil intelligentsia.

May you be blessed with the strength to do so!