Why this indifference?
Latheef FAROOK
One after the other political leaders from the west, especially
Britain and France, rushed to the island to show their humanitarian
concern for the displaced Tamils who were used as human shield by the
now defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, LTTE, which claimed to
fight for the interest of this very same people.
However, these Western politicians' humanitarian concerns dried up
completely to the sufferings of Northern Muslims who were driven out at
gunpoints, Jaffna Muslims within two hours notice, by the LTTE and
languishing in refugee camps in appalling conditions for the past 19
years.
The first to arrive in the island on the eve of the military defeat
of the LTTE were British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. They were followed by the United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon himself.-perhaps dispatched by the
United States that uses the UN as a tool to implement its designs to
plunder the resources of Third World countries.
Of the three, none spoke a word about the LTTE's crime on the
Northern and Eastern Muslims as if they did not exist. Their
humanitarian concern would have received some elements of respect had
they, before leaving the island, at least visited for five minutes the
refugee camps of Northern Muslims in and around Puttalam and had a
glance of their sufferings due to LTTE barbarity.
These Muslims were kicked out by the LTTE from their homes, lands and
properties in an unprecedented crime of ethnic cleansing in the island's
known history.
The West turned a blind eye to these LTTE crimes and ignored the
sufferings of Northern Muslims as they usually do all over the world
when it comes to Muslims from Bosnia, Kosovo, Algeria, Albanian, Iraq,
Afghanistan Somalia, Chechenya and the list continues. They even failed
to criticize leave alone calling the LTTE leaders for war crimes trial
as they did in the case of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
Instead, they continued to protect and promote the LTTE.
Though it was India that trained, armed, financed and supported the
Tamil militants it was with remittances from Tamil diaspora in countries
such as Britain, France, Canada, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland
and the like that help build and sustain the LTTE killing machine which
committed some of the heinous crimes and held the country for ransom for
more than a quarter century. Certainly, these Western countries were
aware that the Tamil diaspora in their countries jointly remit annually
around $ 320 million to the LTTE.
Did they do anything to check or block these remittances? Isn't this
sheer hypocrisy.
Yet they speak of so-called war against terrorism only to justify
their crusade against Muslims especially since the collapse of the
former Soviet Union in 1990.
Therefore Sri Lankans, keen on eliminating the LTTE threat and
safeguarding their country, are justified in their suspicion when
Miliband and Kouchner arrived here to show concern for displaced Tamils
in the wanni area.
Nevertheless, it is too much for Muslims to expect Miliband and
Kouchner to show compassion to them, as Britain and France have been
active partners in the United States led crusade against Islam and
Muslims. These crimes against Muslims have been legalized by US and its
allies using the UN as a mere tool.
Therefore, leave alone the Northern Muslims in Puttalam refugee
camps, Muslims any where in the world cannot expect anything from the UN
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon .In fact only a month ago Ban Ki Moon
watered down and meticulously stripped down a detailed 184-page report
critical of Israeli crimes during its senseless military strikes on
starving Palestinians Gaza last December-January, to a 27-page document.
On the other hand, Mr. Ban ki Moon did not find it worthwhile to
visit around three and half million Pakistanis, more than 12 times the
number of displaced people in the wanni, who were made refugees in and
around Swat during the past two to three weeks. In fact Pakistani
government dispatched its troops to fight it own so called Talebans,
created by the Americans, more to please the Americans that promptly
rewarded the Pakistani government financially, than to solve an internal
problem.
Meanwhile on the eve and in the after of the military defeat of the
LTTE, politicians, commentators, columnists and others, both here in the
country and abroad, spoke repeatedly of a political solution dealing
only with the problems of Tamils.
From British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, Indian Congress Party Chief Sonia Gandhi to Indian Home
Minister Chidambaram and others reiterated in one voice the need to
ensure the rights of Tamils. Thereby they give the impression that
Sinhalese and Tamils are the only two communities living in this country
and there is no such community called Muslims. Seldom have they spoken
about the need for solution that would ensure equality and equal
opportunities to all to ensure permanent peace in this war battered
country just trying to breathe in a fear free environment.
What is conveniently forgotten by many is the crucial role played by
the Muslims in preserving the territorial integrity of the island. For
example, during the early days, Tamil militants' call for a separate
state had the full backing of India and the island's armed forces were
not equipped or trained, as they are today, to deal with them. From the
very inception, Muslims throughout the country vehemently opposed calls
for the division of the country and firmly stood for territorial
integrity and unity. They never yielded to the LTTE's intense pressure
to join their separatist ranks only to face death, devastation, loss of
properties, livelihood and displacement with no appreciation.
Had the Muslims joined with the Tamil militancy the island's fate
would have been sealed and history would have been different today.
It is unfortunate that despite all these sufferings and sacrifices
the plight of the island's Muslim community remain ignored.
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