Western Concerns for Northern Tamils
Darmitha Kotte
| Western
diplomats are too eager to talk about humanitarian handling
of Northern Tamils. But is it a genuine concern? |
As the battle against terrorism
in the North of Sri Lanka is reaching its climax point these days, we
see and hear a lot of ‘humanitarian concerns’ from western countries who
are itching to get on the bandwagon to provide breathing space for
Prabhakaran and the LTTE terrorists or else, to put a spoke in the wheel
of military operations being conducted successfully.
Most of what we see in the western press is truly quite intriguing
given the fact that during the last decade or so, we have seen the
atrocities that western powers have been inflicting on the civilian
populations in countries like Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc where they
have absolutely no leg to stand on for justification of their actions.
Foreign relations
In a national daily of February 14 we have seen articles ‘US Senate
Foreign Relations Committee to Hear on Lankan Crisis’, another titled
‘There Should be An Unconditional Ceasefire by Both Sides’ in which
western concerns are being voiced about the atrocities as they term it,
being inflicted on the Tamil civilians in the North.
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The LTTE
women soldiers |
It is stated in the article mentioned first that: ‘Senator Casey who
is planning his subcommittee’s first hearing on the recent violence in
Sri Lanka on February 24, envisions a robust agenda for the year,
including hearings on Iran, Pakistan, Iraqi refugees and the nuclear
programs in the Gulf States’ . What is this crisis that Senator Casey
and the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is talking about?
Who is facing the crisis, if we may ask? The current crisis as we
understand in the context of Sri Lanka is the one that Prabhakaran and
his LTTE outfit is facing against the military operations of the
Combined Armed Forces of Sri Lanka which are working in unison to wipe
out terrorism from this country for good.
To all Sri Lankan civilians living in this country this is by no
means ‘ a crisis’ because every one is happy that terrorism will be
singing it’s ‘Swan Song’ in the not too distant future naturally will
enable Tamil civilians in the North to move back to normal living
attending to their daily chores without fear of having guns pointed at
them by the LTTE.
Unconditional ceasefire
In the second article which originally appeared in ‘Times-on-line UK’
Robert Evans states: ‘There should be an unconditional ceasefire by both
sides’-excuse me Sir, but may we ask a pertinent question? Are we
fighting a battle on either American or British soil? According to this
article he also states that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon must demand
that a United Nations peace keeping mission be allowed access to the
country to avoid a civilian blood bath.
It also states, ‘The Sri Lankan Government has urged Tamil civilians
to come over to its side, but there is a natural reluctance and fear of
such a move. Equally there are stories suggesting that LTTE will shoot
anyone who tries to escape from the remaining area under its control’ he
said.
Evans goes on record as stating that: ‘Tamil people have seen so much
death and destruction. They are terrified of Sri Lankan troops and their
‘holding camps’, not to mention their different language... In addition
I am calling on the United Nations and the international community as a
whole, to demand that the Sri Lankan Government allow humanitarian aid
to these people and full access for the world press and media corps.
Time is running out. This help must be delivered as a priority’.
Humanitarians
We would have certainly liked to see humanitarians such as Robert
Evans and John Kerry and for that matter even Gordon Brown and his
‘misfired special envoy’ Dey Brown whether they ever thought about
demanding for ‘immediate ceasefires’ or demands for ‘United Nations and
international community as a whole to demand that the American and
British Governments to allow humanitarian aid to reach out to the
suffering people in Iraq, Afghanistan or else where, where both British
and American troops have been at war after invading them with no rhyme
or reason?
There are hundreds of thousands of Iraqis still living in refugee
camps- where is the sympathy? There were photos in the print media as
well as electronic media on the atrocities committed by these armies at
the Guantanamo Bay detention camp where the most inhuman tortures were
inflicted on the inmates- who voiced concerns ever?
Saddam Hussein was executed inside his own Mother Land by foreign
military powers but did anyone ever question? |
