Help liberate Tamils of Sri Lanka from clutches of ruthless LTTE

V. Anandasangaree received the 2006 UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on November 16 for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non Violence. Here we publish his speech delivered at the UNESCO Headquarters, Paris.

SPEECH: Being bestowed with the UNESCO / Madanjeet Singh award for Tolerance and Non Violence, this honour gives me added strength and encouragement in my quest to promote the spirit of 'Ahimsa' struggle for ones rights through non violent means, as practised by the immortals of our times.

From Mahatma Gandhi, to Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela, they all fought for the rights of their people, with peace in their hearts. Their success has greatly inspired my thoughts and actions in striving for the rights of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka, through democratic and non violent means.

At the outset, I would like to mention that it is the spread of exclusion and intolerance that has resulted in the rise of racist ideologies that separate people and create barriers about the other.

The other may not speak the same language or practice a different religion or have a skin of a different colour. It is this lack of understanding of the other, that has been the root cause of many a conflict, all around the globe.

There is literally, no corner in the World where human is not arrayed against human, where brother is not pitted against brother where violence is not absent. When a child grows, we teach him to be aggressive and competitive.

Instead of showing them how life can be more beautiful, we teach them how material wealth, monetary success and power are essential. Life is a supermarket where there are shelves full of goodies, all of them meant for us, provided we have the necessary cash to buy them.

The aim of life is to have as much money as we can, to buy as many goods as we can, so as to have maximum happiness. In the process, if we have to bend some rules or trample over some friends, it is all a part of the game.

They would have no compunction towards you, so you need have none towards them. Therefore, we have to learn that "the world has enough for everyone's need, but. it can never have enough for everyones greed".

The same applies to the game of power. We have to realize that life is not meant for exploitation, but to share. We must learn to serve, rather than to rule and to love, instead of to hate. We must learn to live together as friends, as members of a family, as citizens of a country and as children of the earth.

All these attitudes and behaviours, which we could term as "self centered", as also, narrow and self serving actions and policies of those who govern, makes it very difficult to promote peace, tolerance and non violence.

Yet, Education, which is the biggest human endeavour, gives us a great opportunity to address such issues, particularly the basics of respecting human dignity and right and respect for the environment, which are the very foundations and building blocks for peace and non violence.

As a former teacher, I firmly believe that education for peace is education for life. Therefore, I wish to urge UNESCO, as the lead agency in education, to make use of this immense opportunity, to focus and promote such concepts worldwide, so that we can live with the hope that the future generations will inculcate appropriate values, attitudes and behaviours, to not only exercise greater influence on the environment they live in, but also, as future leaders who accede to power, will ensure democracy, good governance, tolerance, human rights, freedom of expression and justice for all, and help prevent wars and violence.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a few words on the violent upheavals that are taking place around the world today and in particular, in our own country, Sri Lanka.

Most upheavals, have as the source of origin, violation of human rights, injustice, discrimination, exploitation and intolerance.

However legitimate the causes may be to fight for ones rights, it is an accepted fact that violence begets violence. Once begun, it becomes a long struggle, not only because there is growth of hatred, but also, because of growing mistrust and lack of confidence in one another.

Added to that the armed groups also become very powerful and they come to a stage, where turning back becomes very difficult, having got used to the power and rule by the gun and doing business as usual.

They deal with networks, pedalling arms, drugs and diaspora contributions, to keep their outfits going. And then, it becomes a big business, which is difficult to give up.

This is the case in Sri Lanka, where, whilst most of us who are moderate activists, striving to achieve our legitimate rights through peaceful and democratic means, an armed group, calling themselves the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who do not represent the majority view of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka, is holding us Tamils hostage, in the areas under their control and to an extent, even the country as a whole in tension, by the use of terror.

Through the guise of liberating the Tamils, they forcibly conscript our underage Tamil children as child soldiers, whilst their poor parents remain helpless.

These innocent children become cannon fodder and suicide bombers, being brain washed by the extremist ideology of a few manic elements, who wield power by the use of guns, whilst their own children are not conscripted or used as suicide bombers and have a safe life in foreign lands.

There is no descent allowed and this armed group, which has been banned as a terrorist organisation by the US, UK, Canada, Australia, The EU countries and India, has killed off democratically elected leaders at the national and regional levels, that includes a former Prime Minister of India, former President of Sri Lanka, a former Minister for Foreign Affairs in Sri Lanka, who himself was a Tamil, a host of moderate Sinhala, Tamil political leaders, Tamil intellectuals and journalists. And the list is growing daily.

In addition, a total of nearly 70,000 combatants and many innocent civilians have been killed in war and by the unleashing of terror by the LTTE. The muslims have been unreasonably driven out of the north, which has been ethnically cleansed by the LTTE.

And post tsunami, the so called liberators of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, by demanding for a joint mechanism for distribution of aid had delayed the aid to the affected people in the areas under their control, leaving only crumbs and leftovers for the poor Tamil people, who are under their rule.

Through the control of a portion of a highway termed the A-9, connecting supplies to the northern areas, heavy taxes are levied on all goods entering the northern Jaffna Peninsula, making the costs of food and supplies as also, inputs for agriculture, very expensive. The funds so collected go to buying arms and ammunition to keep the LTTE in power and not for development.

Even my life is under threat and I am prevented from visiting my own electoral district in Jaffna, where I polled the highest number of priority votes and was elected as the first member of the district, in the Parliamentary General Elections in 2001.

Since then, the LTTE has denied franchise to the people in the North and also prevented the Northern population from voting in the last Presidential elections held in November 2005. However, I am past the age where fear would prevent me from living true to my convictions.

Enough is enough.

Allow me, on behalf of us Tamils living in Sri Lanka, to appel to you, the International Community, to help liberate the Tamil people of Sri Lanka from the clutches of the ruthless LTTE and their continuing wanton terrorism, that has brought nothing but misery to Sri Lanka and the Tamil population in the country as a whole.

Therefore, we all need to begin dialogue, the only shining light in the present abbey of darkness, to enable us to think of peace and development for our future generations, without any further delay.

To do so, I wish to plead with you once again, the International Community and the Tamil Diaspora, who may not be aware of ground realities, to ensure that no funds and support are provided to a terrorist outfit, who will never be able to achieve the aspirations of the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka, by the use of terror and violence.

The immense suffering visited on the North East and outside, by the LTTE's continued loyalty to terror over the last 25 years, is conclusive evidence that this is so. They prefer to shun dialogue and negotiations, citing the most frivolous reasons.

For a negotiated settlement would end the oppressive power it is enjoying over the Tamil people and will also be compelled to end its close links with norco terrorism which enables them to thrive on ill gotten gains.

A negotiated settlement would also oblige the Tigers to renounce this position of money, power and control. This is why I am appealing to the International Community and the Tamil diaspora, to not support the LTTE.

The Government in turn, must also come out very quickly with proposals and frameworks for power devolution acceptable to the minorities, which I believe is a Federal solution, that we have been advocating for over 56 years, in order to achieve an all inclusive and a durable peace for all the citizens of Sri Lanka.

Quoting Gandhi, I would like to say, "time is a merciful friend, but time is also, a merciless enemy" Unless we act on time, every child born on the other side of the divide, will know nothing but war, terror and hatred of the other and generations will be lost.

Forgive me for my emotions. I am but human. It is only with great humility and happiness of my recognition, that I receive this award given to me for promoting tolerance and non violence.

I wish to assure you all, that I and my supporters, from the Tamil United Liberation Front, will not give up on our struggles, in striving for the legitimate rights of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, to achieve peace with dignity and as a dignified race, through peaceful and non violent means, so that our future generations, will be able to say " never again" and that our children and grandchildren belonging to various multi ethnic communities, the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Burghers, living in Sri Lanka, will soon be able to say "we all are but one".

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He opposed terrorism and violence

Madanjeet Singh's address on the occasion of the award ceremony of 2006 UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence to V. Anandasangaree, at UNESCO House, Paris: November 16, 2006.

SPEECH: It is a great honour and privilege for me to congratulate V. Anandasangaree, the 2006 prize laureate of the UNESCO Madanjeet Sinha Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-violence, on winning this significant award.

A devoted and tireless worker for the cause of peace and democracy, he has consistently opposed terrorism and violence.

After working as a teacher and lawyer, he became the President of the Tamil United Liberation Front in 2002. In that capacity, he has been devotedly trying to find a common ground among the people of Sri Lanka to solve the ethnic conflict through dialogue in a spirit of tolerance and non-violence.

The work of V. Anandasangaree in prompting peace and dialogue is of the utmost importance. This was underlined by the recent assassination of Nadaraja Raviraj, a prominent representative of the Tamil community and a member of the Sri Lankan Parliament. Raviraj rose to the position of attorney in 1987 and was an indefatigable advocate of the rights of the Tamil community.

At the same time he was a popular figure among the Sinhalese as he promoted peace and friendship among the two communities. He regularly participated in peace rallies and his last public demonstration took place in front of the UN office in Colombo, protesting the civilian killings in Vakarai.

"The ethnic problem can be solved only through peaceful means," he said. "War was mutually destructive to both communities."

May I also mention that even though a year has passed since the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, the Lakshman Kadirgamar, was also assassinated, I have yet to get over the tragedy.

He was a good friend, whose advice I greatly valued. He was also the first chairman of the Sri Lankan chapter of South Asia Foundation (SAF).

His legacy of peace and cooperation has now been entrusted to his eminent wife, Suganthie Kadirgamar, who is a member of the SAF Advisory Board, and has recently established the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies in Colombo.

The cardinal objective of South Asia Foundation is to promote regional cooperation and peace through education, cultural interaction and mutual understanding among the people of South Asia.

As a citizen of India it makes me proud to belong to the world's largest democracy with a Hindu majority, a Muslim President, a Sikh Prime Minister and a Christian as the leader of the largest political party.

I believe that history is not merely a series of accidents. It is a never-ending struggle between reactionary, divisive war-mongers and people striving to realise their dream to live peacefully in cooperation with one another in a society where men and women love reason and reject violence.

The work of Mr. Anandasangaree and people like him whose minds are sensitive, whose hearts are generous and spirits free, is of fundamental importance in promoting peace not only in Sri Lanka but in all South Asia.