Sri Lanka must stop treating Tamils as terrorists

Tamil Tiger guerillas will continue to attack, so long as young Tamils are marginalised

FIRST POSTED MARCH 11, 2009

A British defence attache in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, who had been in Malaya, as Singapore and Malaysia were then called, during the only truly successful anti-guerrilla campaign, once asked me how many men I thought it took to be an effective guerrilla force. His response to my incorrect guess astounded me. "It takes 10," he said. "You can do a lot of damage with 10 men."

This should be a timely warning for a country which, after the assassination of its most famous independent newspaper editor and last week's terrorist attack on the national cricket team in Lahore, is experiencing a rare surge of global attention.

Sri Lanka's civil war, which has torn the island apart for almost 30 years, now seems to be coming to an end. This has been immensely popular with the majority Sinhalese, who represent 81 per cent of the population, and who have lost sons in far greater numbers than officially admitted. There has been a blizzard of national flags across the country's south and with the fall of the Tamil Tigers' last stronghold in the north-east last week, much understandable self-congratulation.

As long as Tamil Tigers remain, the end of war will not bring peace to Sri Lanka

The trouble is no one seems to have read the small print. This, in essence, repeats the defence attache's warning - as long as there remain 10 Tamil Tigers, ready to strap on explosives or plant IEDs, the end of war will not bring peace.

Yet still the government continues to drive brutalised and marginalised young Tamils into the arms of the guerrillas. Late last year, army chief Sarath Fonseka was adamant: "This country belongs to the Sinhalese. Minorities can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

A Sri Lankan Army soldier stands guard at a former Tamil Tigers stronghold

Sri Lanka soldier stands in front of a former Tamil Tiger stronghold

This policy of subjugation is a dangerous one. The Tamil Tigers are amongst the world's most ruthless and savage killers, whose trophies include a former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and countless government ministers.

And now, an unknown number of Black Tigers, Tamil Tiger suicide squads who are trained especially to detonate themselves, are hiding in the island's towns and cities. Dozens are believed to have infiltrated during the six-year ceasefire before war resumed in 2008, which is why Colombo bristles with military checkpoints and, so that ministerial vehicles can race through unassailed, its main roads are emptied of all but stray dogs.

The government can do little about these suicide bombers already in place, but it can do a great deal more to ensure that the

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Unfortunately, the author is using LTTE false propaganda without doing proper research. Both HRW and ICRC has been either infiltrated by LTTE operatives or has been purchased. Seems far-fetched, but true. Do the research.

Posted by Jay de Silva at 9:00pm on March 11, 2009

The in-depth article drives a few pegs home. It is vital that the GOSL makes a serious effort to ensure sufficient autonomy for the Tamil people. The hardcore Sinhalese must understand that marginalising the Tamils once their bargaining power (the LTTE) is defeated militarily the innocent Tamils must be given equal rights just like all other citizens or else this war will be lost as sooner it is won. It will be timely to educate the Tamils of the attrocities of the LTTE and Prabakaran, and the futility of achieving a separate state on a small Island with the majority of Tamils un-willing to live in the so called Eelam. What will become of those tamils living in other parts of the island? Are they willing to go live in the separate state. No....most of them have been living for decades in harmony with the majority. The GOSL must have a referendum and make constitutional changes that will give a better status to the Tamils.

Posted by Nilamal at 12:19am on March 12, 2009

1.Even if the last Tiger is killed today, new tigers will be born depending on i.what has been going on and ii.what will be done by the government after the last tiger is killed. 2.Successive Sri lankan governments have been prepared to continue crushing the Tamils politically and economically(and thus socially and psychlogically too) by spending hundreds of billions of dollars which could have easily built up the whole of the country to a very high level of peace and prosperity for all. 3.Hence when viciousness goes out of the heads of the Sinhalese only there will be peace and prosperity for any and all.

Posted by puni selva at 7:49am on March 12, 2009

To get rid of a dangerous virus it has to be eradicated in whatever possible way. Similarly, the Brutal, Psychopathic, Genocidal LTTE Terrorism has to be eradicated, period. During the past few months, when the terrorists have been chased out from most of the Vanni jungles, there have been lots of incredible revelations of what LTTE have been doing during the CFA. They have been robbing the civilians of their fuel, food and fertilisers sent by the SL Govt and aid agencies and hiding and stockpiling them for their own purposes. Obviously with the help of Norwegians, NGOs, INGOs and other international agencies they have been building bomb factories, suicide belt factories, suicide submarines where power has been supplied by massive generators. Air conditioned luxury buildings constructed near some of these definitely indicate foreign help/advisors. Then there are air conditioned bunkets, swimming pools built for the luxury life of the "sole representatives" including imported pet dogs! - ALL THE WHILE there is no evidence of any development work to uplift their own Tamil civilians in spite of billions of Tsunami aid donated to Tamil "rehabilitation" organisations directly by many international organisations. The only facility the civilians got were TORTURE CAMPS! Although the "independent" journalists now clamour for access, it is questionable what they were doing during the CFA.

Posted by Wickrama at 11:26am on March 12, 2009

Jay De Silva: Saya "most of them have been living for decades in harmony with the majority..". Many people do this mistake. Do you know when SL got the independance, many sri lankans were living in UK and they were very friendly with English people. It does not mean that SL not deserved in independance. Tamils are fighting for the rights in the North East homeland.

Posted by ravi bopra at 5:15am on March 13, 2009

ravi bopra, The plain fact is there was no TAMIL HOMELAND in NorthEast Sri Lanka. Tamils in NorthEast Sri Lanka are simply remnants of Tamil invasions from Sothern India long time before. It is the LTTE Terrorist lie "Tamils are harassed by Sinhalese" that is exposed by the fact that majority of Tamils are living in harmony in Southern parts of Sri Lanka.

Posted by Wickrama at 7:33pm on March 13, 2009

The title and the conclusions clearly show how far the writer is biased towards Tamil tigers. It is true that on several occasions Tamils have been mal-treated by the Sri Lankan governments. But anybody who has been to Sri Lanka now would see that Tamils have equal rights as any other community in Sri Lanka. The often quoted statement of the army commander, which the government rejects as being misquoted, by no means shows the attitudes of the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka. There was a political party which propagated the concept (called Sihala Urumaya), which ended up getting much less votes than what BNP is getting in the UK. There was an ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka, but that was not by the government, but by the tiger terrorists which gave a 24 hour deadline for Muslims in the Nothern province to leave or face death! The out of this world numbers quoted by the writer as war casualties tallies with the propaganda of tiger terrorists. It is very unlikely that there wouldn't be any civilian casualties in a war, but in Sri Lanka the casualties are far less than in Afghanistan and Iraq! About the 'harassement of Tamils in Colombo', please make a visit to Colombo before making such comments. In Colombo the security forces check both Sinhalese and Tamils and everbody else. But in London, only black youths are checked for carrying of knifes. In Sri Lanka, tigers have killed far more Tamil journalists than the government side.

Posted by Hof Vander at 3:51pm on March 15, 2009