Jaffna academics expose the desperation of dying Ee(vi)laam
H. L. D. MAHINDAPALA
The latest report of University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) (UTHR)
(Bulletin No: 14, July 8, 2008) projects the issue of evil facing the
nation in graphic and contrasting terms. In a sense, it represents the
soul of the Tamils torn between the evil they face now and their
yearning for normalcy and peace like all other communities.
Each report signifies (not in explicit terms though) that the evil
bred in Jaffna-centric racism - the only kind of politics pursued by the
Jaffna vellahla caste dominating peninsular politics — is far greater
than the evil posed by the state.
But, predictably, the authors of UTHR refuses to look inward with
moral objectivity and clarity, and even when they admit some aspects of
the evil facing the Tamils they try to cover up - and also justify
Jaffna-centric evil - by blaming it on the “other”, essentially, the Sri
Lankan Government.
Narrow ideology
The Tamils, by and large, are torn between the subhuman evil that
came out of Jaffna-centric racism and the “narrow ideology” of
separatism that justifies the evil - an ideology that has dragged the
peninsular Tamils from the heights of the privileges and comforts they
enjoyed in their heyday to the burning fires of hell ignited by their
misguided leaders who promised them their own private heaven.
It is an understandable dilemma which has nagged the UTHR authors who
have failed to resolve the contradictions facing them. It must be
conceded that in the unashamedly biased network of NGOs and INGOs, the
role of UTHR stands out because it strives, in its own limited way, to
achieve a balance.
However, it is sad to note that the balance which the authors seek to
achieve eludes them not at the points of description (the documentation
is comparatively the most authentic and convincing) but at the points of
interpretations of the facts and the prescription of remedies.
The latest UTHR report is a very sad document. Only the hard-hearted
will not to be moved when they read the suffering of the Tamil people,
especially the old and the sick, as described in the report.
On any scale of comparison, the evil committed by the Tamil Tigers
far exceeds that of any other known force (Indian or Sri Lankan), just
as much as the Tamils killed by the LTTE exceeds those killed by any
other force.
Suffering of victims
In the middle of any war the last remaining moral yardstick is to
measure the suffering of victims by the excessive amount of violence
used against the non-combatants.
The report focuses on the bombs that strike the “civilians” who are
driven out of their wits each time they hear a plane coming overhead.
But the enormity of the crimes committed by the Tamil Tigers against
their own people far exceeds the deaths of civilians caused by bombing,
according to the evidence presented in the report.
At the end of each sentence or paragraph you are forced to stop and
ask: How can the Tamil Tigers do this to the young Tamils, the old
Tamils, the Tamils who are sick and dragged out of hospitals to fight in
Prabhakaran’s war?
How can Prabhakaran do this to the helpless, distraught Tamil
families who are forced to sacrifice the teenage daughters and sons
while keeping his sons and daughters in foreign or sheltered havens in
Vanni?
Each time the planes fly over, according to the report, the Vanni
people at least can find some shelter in the bunkers that are everywhere
now - schools, public places, roads etc. But they have no shelter from
the Tamil Tigers who raid their houses in the dead of night and grab
children from their homes. These press gangs in uniform are the hated
enemies of the Vanni Tamils, says UTHR.
Though UTHR tries to divert attention to the bombing, its own
evidence against the Tigers overshadows the deaths caused by air raids.
Take the example of the most controversial bombing raid conducted by the
Sri Lankan Air Force.
The report states: “There was a long controversy about the 54 young
schoolgirls killed in the aerial bomb attack on a camp in Vallipunam on
14th August 2006 where it was maintained that the girls were receiving
first aid training. Residents now confirm that the girls were forcibly
taken by the LTTE and the training was of a military nature. This does
not however justify the Government bombing the schoolgirls.”
This is typical of UTHR report. It goes along with the truth up to
the point where judgment has to be passed on the event. At this critical
point where the facts, logically and rationally, should hold the LTTE
responsible totally for the death of 54 schoolgirls UTHR deviates to
blame the Government.
It is “a self-serving interpretation” of the facts, to quote its own
words. It would have been reasonable for UTHR to blame the Government if
the Government it accuses had some divine knowledge that there were
school girls in the bombed Vallipunam camp. The fact remains that it is
the LTTE that forcibly planted the schoolgirls to be trained in the use
arms against the Government forces.
On the evidence presented by UTHR it is clear that they were all
trained to be enemy combatants and, therefore, by the accepted military
norms, they become a legitimate target. Miliitary installations and
training camps are accepted as legitimate targets in warfare,
irrespective of the age limits.
In any case, according to UTHR, the Tigers are forcibly recruiting
teenagers to fight Prabhakaran’s futile war. But UTHR is suggesting that
when these brain-washed baby brigades come against the Sri Lankan forces
they must stop firing because they are teenagers? The misguided
teenagers are not going to spare the lives of the Security Forces in any
confrontation in land, air and sea. They are trained to kill in land,
air and sea.
International sympathy
Grim and cruel as it may sound, by what moral law should the Sri
Lankan Forces stop firing at them? Both forces are trained to kill and
let both perform their duty, as stated in the Bhagavad Gita. Besides,
which army in known history has stopped a war to save those coming at
them with guns, irrespective of the age?
And why stop only at teenagers? Should the Security Forces also stop
firing at the old men who are forcibly recruited and thrown into the
frontlines? Also what about the sick dragged out of hospitals to face
the bullets of the Sri Lankan Forces?
In the instance of Vallipunam camp the LTTE was deliberately exposing
the school girls to be a target by making it a frontline of the future.
So isn’t the responsibility of protecting those schoolgirls entirely
with the LTTE and not the Government?
What is more, the Tigers were hoping to gain international sympathy
with each death. And that’s exactly what happened. The local pro-Tiger
media, the NGOs, the INGOs, BBC went to town accusing the Government of
bombing children who were “sent for training in first aid,” according to
their propaganda.
Tamil web sites and the Tiger propagandist abroad were crying their
hearts out for the schoolgirls bombed by the Government. Now the Tamils
admit that it was a military training camp. Pre emptive strikes on
military installations and training camps are accepted as legitimate
actions in warfare. So who is to be blamed? UTHR goes all out to blame
the Government.
Obviously, UTHR has lost its moral compass? UTHR is most concerned
not only about the morality of the war but also the way it is conducted.
Leaving the morality of the war aside, who is responsible for exposing
the teenagers, the sick and the old for certain death in the frontlines?
Why is the needle of the moral compass of those posing as peace-makers
fixed immovably and permanently in the direction of the Sinhala south?
Even when the total weight of the evidence presented point the finger
at the Tamil Tigers who commit the unpardonable crime of exposing Tamil
teenagers, the sick and the old to certain death in the frontlines UTHR
blames the Sri Lankan Government.
Is this due to sheer force of habit? Or is it due to the unresolved
moral dilemmas of the UTHR authors who cannot find a valid reason to
excuse the war crimes and the crimes against humanity committed by the
hated Tamil Tigers?
This is also the basic dilemma of the Tamil intellectuals: they do
not know how to face the horrors and the crimes that came out of Jaffna-centric
politics from pre-colonial days.
Tamil intellectuals
One of the authors of UTHR, the intrepid Dr. Rajan Hoole, in a
previous article, openly expressed his horror at the crimes that came
out of the womb of Jaffna. Warning the Tamils to “Wake Up!” he sounded
pessimistic about the outcome of the violence perpetuated by the Tamil
Tiger leadership criminalising politics.
They realise that the fathers of Jaffna-centric separatism have bred
a gang of trigger-happy political criminals who have spun out of
control. The Tamil intellectuals do not know how to handle the evil of
Tamil violence that is dragging the Tamil community to the depths of
despair, and even extinction. Their only way out is to blame the
“other”.
The Sinhalese have been the whipping boys of the Tamil racist wrath
that bred the peninsular political crimes in the past, in the present
and - one can bet one’s bottom dollar - in the future too.
Before dealing further with the moral dimensions of the evil facing
all communities, it is necessary to point out one grim fact facing the
Tigers: the UTHR report confirms, perhaps unwittingly, that the Tigers
are going down the drain ignominiously, almost like the last days of
Hitler hiding in his bunker.
The bunker mentality has gripped the Tiger leadership and they do not
know how to face the inevitable nemesis coming round the corner. The
desperation of the cornered Tigers is forcing them to resort to
increasing repressive measures and crimes against their own people. The
UTHR report side-steps this aspect though its own evidence should compel
them to accept the gruesome reality behind the suffering and the misery
of the Tamils.
UTHR report
The following highlights culled from the UTHR report illustrates the
desperate situation of LTTE’s Ee(vi)laam in its dying days:
* Assuming there are around 200 000 people or 40 000 families living
under LTTE control, the number dead in this round of war is roughly in
the order of 5000. This would be fairly commensurate with other
estimates from the Vanni, that about 30% of those conscripted in this
round of war are, by now, dead.
* The injured from the frontlines are taken to Killinochchi Hospital
in buses with windows blackened.
After leaving them for a day, LTTE men come and pick up the ones who
are fit to hobble about and take them back for military duties.
This means that many placed on the frontlines are not fully fit to
fight. Their camps being about 10 miles distant from the front, their
food supply is also irregular.
* The young dying on the frontlines or being horribly maimed are
barely 17 years.
* The young are conscripted in the manner that cattle come of age are
taken to the slaughter house.
* LTTE press gangs frequently invade homes before dawn carrying
details about the residents, looking for those who have come of
conscription age. A boy or girl reaching the age of 17 and failing to
report to the LTTE could expect press gangs to turn up within two or
three days. Others seen to be suitable are caught on the roads.
* Those who join voluntarily now are exceptional.
* People are giving information to the Government.
* A year ago, Killinochchi AGA Nithyananthan was travelling on his
motorcycle with his young daughter on the pillion. He was stopped by the
LTTE and the girl was taken. Nothing more has since been heard of her.
* People are prisoners of the LTTE.
* The new conscripts, who hoped against hope that they could escape,
are put through brainwashing.
* Since the LTTE sees the new conscripts as the most likely to
attempt escape, they are plainly told, “You are here to die for the
Nation.
If you don’t die today, you may die some weeks later. So why not die
now?” They are encouraged to volunteer for risky operations.
* Many of those dying on the front lines are the new conscripts. A
very rough idea of the number killed: a village division in South Vanni
having about 200 families, told us (UTHR) that about 25 of those
conscripted in recent years have been killed.
* Families are also being pressured to join the service of the LTTE
as family units or to pay an exemption tax. We have not received details
on how this will be enforced.
* Recently, the LTTE was telling the people that the 1990-born were
going to be the final batch obliged to join them and the war would then
be over. But from 2007, the LTTE was in fact conscripting those who had
reached 17. Presently the LTTE are appealing to those who are 16 to join
voluntarily, but have not begun conscripting them.
All this is documented by the authors of UTHR. And after such
knowledge what forgiveness for the authors of UTHR who dodge the issue
of fixing responsibility fairly and squarely on the criminals who
perpetuate these war crimes and crimes against humanity? This, mark you,
is only a part of the suffering of the Tamil people. Worse conditions
will be revealed in the next article.
Till then consider who should bear responsibility for the suffering
of our fellow-citizens held as prisoners by the LTTE in the Vanni. If
this is the plight, as reported by the leading Tamil academics, consider
also whether there is a moral obligation to rescue the prisoners of the
LTTE? |