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British Tamils conduct midnight vigil to commemorate Black July 83 and inaugurate London – Geneva Walk for Justice

British Tamils once again embarked on a rally through London on Friday, 23rd July 2010 calling for justice for victims of war crimes in Sri Lanka. In a symbolic yet solemn show of unity and hope, a “midnight vigil” was held from 9pm commencing from opposite Westminster Abbey to Downing Street.

The first of its kind to be held by a minority group in London, thousands of Tamils and non-Tamils gathered carrying candles, placards, banners and hoisting flags appealing to the UK establishment and the UN to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka. Westminster Council, the Mayor’s Office and the Metropolitan Police offered tremendous support to enable this momentous vigil to take place.

The commemorative vigil marks the 27th anniversary of Sri Lankan state sponsored anti-Tamil pogroms in which thousands were slaughtered and serves to remind us that the injustice continues today.

The midnight vigil inaugurated a “Walk for Justice” from the heart of British Parliament, through France and Switzerland to the UN Human Rights Council offices in Geneva. Mr. Sivanthan, a British Tamil youth, will be joined by supporters and well-wishers on a two-week walk to raise awareness and amalgamate support for calls to the:

1. UN to initiate an independent international probe into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka

2. Allow access to Prisoners Of War

3. For all internally displaced persons to be resettled into their own homes. A memorandum is to be handed to the UN in Geneva on 6th August 2010

4. Boycott of Sri Lanka until it respects international laws

The walk for justice to the UN coincides with the recent appointment of a UN advisory panel by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. The Sri Lankan government has shown clear opposition to any prospect of independent monitors investigating war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Government backed blockade outside UN office in Sri Lanka, threats to UN staff and possible denial of visas to the appointed UN advisory panel reflect a hostile reaction to a body that only has an advisory role. Sri Lanka must be reminded it is a democratic country which has subscribed to UN covenants and Geneva Conventions and is obliged to comply with the obligations to which it has signed up to.

Community leaders and well-wishers signed the war crimes book to pledge their support for the calls to the UN. The two-week walk to the UN aims to unite Tamils across Europe hope and the wider community to join calls to highlight the need for UN to uphold international laws to ensure that justice is universal and to set precedents for other rogue states.

British Tamils reiterated calls for boycott of Sri Lanka until it respects international laws. An international day of boycott is taking place on Saturday 31st July 2010 across US, UK, Canada, Australia and Europe to take forward this campaign.

The event concluded at 11:30pm with speeches from representatives of Tamil organisations and other community leaders. A memorandum containing the 4 basic and fundamental humane and humanitarian demands to the UK Prime Minister will be handed at 10 Downing Street on Monday 26th July.

Statement read out in front of 10 downing street London

Dear friends, fellow Tamils, well wishers and supporters of Tamil’s freedom in the island of Sri Lanka, on behalf of British Tamils Forum, I thank you all, for this historic event. I would also like to give a special welcome to our Sinhala Brothers and Sisters including Exile Journalists who have joined us here today – these Sinhala Brothers and Sisters had no choice other than to simply leave the country to escape the murderous Rajapakshe regime run by Mr Rajapakshe and his Brothers.

Today, you have gathered in thousands and in doing so, you are sending a clear message of resilience to President Rajapakshe and his cronies! This also sends a message of hope to our Tamil Brothers and Sisters that we will not rest until they are free from the oppressive State.

Tamils want justice from an independent international war crimes investigation in Sri Lanka but our voices have been silenced by the murderous Rajapakshe regime that will join the list of Rwanda, Srebrenitsa and many others. It is events like these that keep the memory of many innocent people who perished in the hands of the murderous Rajapakshe regime. This is why the Sri Lankan Government does not want to see us Tamils to be united in the call for freedom. It is our duty to ensure that the true face of the Terror State of Sri Lanka is exposed – First to the international community and eventually at the international war crimes tribunal in the Hague.

Friends, a year is gone, since the war ended, but the conflict hasn’t ended! I repeat the conflict hasn’t ended!

It is clear that the Sri Lankan Government is taking all the steps to wipe out all the evidence of crimes against humanity they committed. They are killing those who they think can be witnesses for war crimes. If the Government of Sri Lanka has got nothing to fear, why are they shying away from international Governments, Agencies and Journalists? Why have they refused access to the UN Panel? This more than a year after the war has ended. Why is the Sri Lankan Government refusing to even publish the list of the prisoners of war that they illegally hold without access? Why? Why? Why?

Friends, we must tell the international community that trying to get concessions from Sri Lanka, which is not just a Failed State but also a Racist State, will not work! It didn’t work with Hitler, it didn’t work with the Khmer Rouge, it didn’t work with the then leaders of Rwanda, it didn’t work with Milosevic, it didn’t work with the apartheid regime in South Africa – It doesn’t work with regimes like these – FULL STOP!

It is our duty to demand no words but action from the coalition Government in our adopted home and from the rest of the world if they care for humanity.

Today, it also marks the 27th anniversary of the Black July massacre of thousands of innocent Tamils that showed the true face of Sri Lanka to the world. Many years have gone and we have lost many more during that time. No where in the world over 40,000 innocent people got murdered in cold blood in broad day light in such short space of time, like what happened in the Northeast of Sri Lanka, last year!

Let’s remember them with a minute’s silence.

Ladies and Gentlemen with tears rolling down our cheeks we, the British Tamils Forum, with the support of the Tamil Diaspora and international community, will work as hard as it takes to ensure that

One – An Independent International Investigation into War Crimes in Sri Lanka takes place and the perpetrators get punished

Two – we gain access to the Prisoners of War

Three – we Boycott Sri Lanka until it respects human rights

I ask you, all of you, to join us in this long march for freedom and justice!

Statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, MP
12 May 2009

Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish to update the House about the grave humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.

As members would recall, I delivered a Ministerial Statement on Sri Lanka on 5 February.

At that time, I said that the long-term security and prosperity of Sri Lanka would only be achieved through a political solution or settlement that met the legitimate aspirations of all Sri Lankans.

For Sri Lanka to achieve a lasting settlement and an enduring peace, political reform and rapprochement between all parties and communities is clearly required.

That remains Australia’s view and the basis of Australia’s policy on Sri Lanka.

It is a view I have continued to relay to the Sri Lankan Government, including when I spoke to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, on 30 April.

I also relayed to him our profound concern at the worsening humanitarian situation in the north of Sri Lanka.

The safety and protection of civilians must be the absolute priority for all sides fighting in northern Sri Lanka.

Tragically, many civilians have been killed and further loss of life is inevitable unless both sides cease hostilities to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone.

It is essential that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) allow civilians to leave the conflict zone.

Madam Deputy Speaker, there can be no doubt that the military advance of the Sri Lankan Government has been rapid.

Having at one stage reportedly controlled about a third of Sri Lanka’s territory, the LTTE leadership is now confined to a small strip of land, less than five square kilometers.

It is clear that a military victory by the Sri Lankan Government is imminent, irrevocably changing the situation on the ground after decades of conflict.

All of us in the House and in the Australian community must now recognise the qualitatively changed situation in Sri Lanka.

Recognising these new circumstances and motivated by our concern for the safety and welfare of civilians, Australia supports the call by the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, for a humanitarian pause in fighting.

In my 30 April conversation with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Bogollagama, I welcomed the Sri Lanka Government’s announcement that combat operations using heavy calibre weapons, aerial weapons and combat aircraft, which could cause civilian casualties, would cease.

Noting that then, as now, there were reports of such operations continuing, I told him that it was vital that these commitments were implemented in full.

Mr Bogollagama re-assured me this commitment was being met.

I note with deep concern, however, that fighting is continuing in this area and I am aware of reports over the weekend of many civilian deaths as a result of shelling within the conflict zone.

Further offensive action will inevitably cause further civilian suffering.

As the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, has said, there are now ‘twin’ emergencies in northern Sri Lanka.

The first emergency involves tens of thousands of civilians still trapped in the conflict zone.

These people need safety from the fighting. We can be certain that they desperately need food and medical assistance. Their plight deteriorates with each passing day.

The second emergency is the situation of those who have recently escaped the conflict zone.

Nearly 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in camps in northern Sri Lanka.

The United Nations has the full support of the Australian Government as it works with the Sri Lankan authorities to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.

Australia commends the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, international and Australian NGOs and the Sri Lankan Government for their efforts in meeting the critical needs of civilians in the camps.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has repeated his call for UN humanitarian teams to gain access to the conflict zone to assess the full extent of the civilians’ situation in the area.

Australia strongly supports this call. There is no justification for refusing to allow the UN and key humanitarian aid agencies full access to adversely affected areas.

Australia also urges the Sri Lankan Government to ensure as a matter of urgency that the process of evacuation from the conflict zone is open to monitoring by the International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other UN officials.

Such access would underline the Sri Lankan Government’s commitment to the protection of its civilians and build confidence in its management of this difficult issue.

With the growing crisis, the Australian Government has responded to assist affected civilians in Sri Lanka.

I announced last week that, following an urgent UN appeal for emergency international assistance, Australia would provide a further $10 million in humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians adversely affected by the conflict, particularly those in displaced people’s camps or those near the conflict zone.

The additional funds will be provided through United Nations agencies, including UNICEF and the World Food Programme, as well as Australian NGOs.

Australian assistance will provide water, sanitation, shelter, food and health care to civilians in need.

Australia’s contribution to assist the victims of the conflict in Sri Lanka since December 2008 now stands at $23.5 million.

Australia also welcomes the commitment and efforts of its international partners.

Recent international missions to Sri Lanka have included that of UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner.

I have spoken to both Ministers about their visit. I support their call overnight for the UN Security Council to address the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.

Foreign Secretary Miliband’s account of his visit to Sri Lanka, along with reports from others, reveals that there remains much human suffering among the civilians trapped in the conflict zone.

Reports of abuses from within the conflict zone include accounts of civilians forced by the LTTE to stay in its territory, of forced recruitment of children and adults by the LTTE, deaths and injuries from bombs and artillery, and families desperately seeking news of their loved ones.

There are also reports of anxieties amongst Tamil civilians about their future in government-held areas.

Madam Deputy Speaker, Australia continues to condemn the terrorist tactics of the LTTE.

Australia urges the LTTE to allow civilians caught in the conflict zone to leave, to end its practice of forced recruitment and to renounce terrorism.

Australia continues to urge the LTTE to lay down arms. Australia again condemns the LTTE’s targeting of civilians in or departing the conflict zone and the completely unacceptable use of civilians as human shields.

The Government further urges the Sri Lankan community in Australia to add its weight to help ensure that civilian life is protected in the north of Sri Lanka.

Madam Deputy Speaker, many members of the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Australia have written to me concerning loved ones in Sri Lanka.

They have recounted stories of their own, often tragic, personal and family experiences.

Many others have conveyed their concerns about the humanitarian crisis, including through peaceful demonstrations, letters and dialogue with Members and Senators on all sides.

I have also heard from leaders of Australia’s religious communities, including most recently Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Pat Power.

They have let me know their distress at the grave humanitarian situation for civilians in this conflict.

The Australian Government shares fully these concerns. We will continue to convey them forcefully to the Sri Lankan Government.

There is no military solution to Sri Lanka’s civil conflict.

Australia, a longstanding friend of Sri Lanka, urges its Government to ensure its civilians have confidence in the Government’s commitment to their protection.

As my French and UK Foreign Ministerial colleagues have made clear, in the Sri Lankan Government’s moment of military victory it must show the humanity and self-interest to win the peace.

I thank the House.

Transcript of the Speech at the UN rally, April 17, 2009
by Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran

Brothers and sisters, we are here to answer the call of history. We are here to answer the answer the call of humanity. We are here to awaken the conscience of the international community.

Presently, more than 300,000 Tamil civilians have been internally displaced by the GoSL, that is dominated permanently and overwhelmingly by the Sinhala nation.

Presently, the Tamil people in the Vanni area are subject to indiscriminate bombing and shelling solely on account of their Tamil ethnicity– a genocidal act that shocks the conscience of mankind. In September 2008, the GoSL expelled the INGOs, who had been providing food, shelter and medicine to the Tamil areas. This is a calculated effort on the part of the GoSL to bring about the physical destruction of the Tamil nation, in whole or in part—a Genocidal Act. A couple of weeks ago we also learned from credible local sources that the GoSL employed chemical weapons against combatants’ as well as against noncombatants.

[NY Tamil rally - Apr 17th, pic by: T Seifman]

In order to ascertain the intent of the GoSL’s military onslaught, the GoSL’s present military response should be compared with her response in the 1970s when the Sinhala youths took up arms. When the Sinhala youths took up arms, the GoSL did not engage in indiscriminant bombing or shelling. When the Sinhala youths took up arms, the GoSL did not ask the Sinhala villagers to leave their habitat and livelihood, and did not herd them into concentration camps. The glaring disparity demonstrates that the intent of the GoSL is to destroy the Tamil Nation, in whole or in part.

In addition, the press statements by the Defense Secretary and the Army Commander that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala nation and Tamil nationalism — not the Tigers — are the problem demonstrate that the intent of the GoSL is to engage in genocide. It is also brought to the attention of the International Community again, that when 8,000 Muslim were massacred in Srebrenica on account of their ethnicity, the International Court of Justice held that that fact constitutes genocide.

On December 9, 2008, the New-York Based Genocide Prevention Project issued a red alert against eight countries where genocide is happening or is likely to happen. Needless to say, Sri Lanka was one of those countries. On February 4, 2009, the UK Foreign Minister, Hon. David Milliband endorsed a view of a Member of the House of Commons that the signals coming from Sri Lanka indicate that the government is prepared to go ahead with an act of genocide. Along this line, 38 members of the US Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stating that there can be no doubt that ethnic-based violence is widespread in Sri Lanka, and that Tamil noncombatants are deliberately victimized by the GoSL. What’s happening in Sri Lanka is not a civil war, it’s not a war on terror, but an act of genocide, pure and simple.

This ultimate crime, which the GoSL is brazenly committing against our brethren back home, compels us to come out on their behalf. For the last two months, the Tamil Diaspora around the world in one voice has taken the Tamil genocide to the streets of the capitals of various countries. Being outside the clutches of the genocidal GoSL, we are in a unique position to contribute to halt this genocide. Being members of the political communities in various countries, we are also in a position to influence the foreign policy of our respective countries. In other situations, such as the overthrow of the Marcos regime in the Philippines and the successful completion of the nuclear deal between the US and India, their diasporas played a pivotal role.

Through our Awareness rallies with Tamil Eelam flags and pictures of the Tamil national leader, Hon. Vellupillai Pirabaharan, we have demonstrated to the GoSL that their zeal to quell the Tamils’ thirst for the realization of the right to self-determination or their dream of wiping out the LTTE will be a futile one. The more they bomb, the more the Tamil diaspora is resolved to protect their brethren. The more they shell, the more the Tamils are resolved to realize their right of self-determination. The more they brag about their military adventurism, the more the Tamil people rally under the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Our efforts, our rallies, are starting to have a creeping influence on the international community. For the international community’s muted call for a ceasefire or for its call for a “humanitarian pause,” the determination, the sacrifice, the passion, the unity demonstrated by the Tamil diaspora has played a significant role. However, we have not seen the light at the end of the tunnel yet. We have to continue to perform our moral obligation in a peaceful and sustained manner until a ceasefire is enforced and a process for political resolution is initiated.

We have gathered here today in front of the U.N. to ensure that the U.N. doesn’t repeat the Rwanda genocide in the island of Sri Lanka. We have gathered here today in front of the U.N., so that another Srebrenica doesn’t take place in the island of Sri Lanka. We have come in front of the U.N. in thousands because we still believe that the U.N. is not only a club of states, but also a temple of justice. We have come here today in the belief that even though the U.N. can be paralyzed in terms of taking tangible action, it still has the moral courage to speak the truth.

However, the U.N.’s response has been shameful to the current crisis on the island of Sri Lanka. The U.N.’s answers to the GoSL’s genocide of Tamils are ethnic cleansing and concentration camps. Rather than sanctioning or calling for the GoSL to immediately stop the genocide, the U.N. Secretary General’s office’s response is to uproot the people from their areas of habitation and livelihood and to place them in internment camps under the control of the GoSL’s mono-ethnic armed forces.

The Secretary General’s office attempts to justify this abuse on the grounds that they are acting in accordance with humanitarian laws. We respectfully point out the Secretary General is wrong in his reading of humanitarian law. Article 21 of the Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement mandates that “prior to any decision requiring displacement, all feasible attention should be employed in order to avoid displacement altogether.” We are here to say that a ceasefire is the feasible alternative.

The U.N. was able to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas within 22 days.

Why can’t the U.N. bring about a similar ceasefire on the island of Sri Lanka? Why this double standard? Are Tamils children of a lesser god? When the Bashir expelled the international NGOs from Darfur, the U.N. issued warnings. But when the GoSL orders international NGOs to leave, they meekly left the Tamil areas the next day. Why this double standard? Are Tamils children of a lesser god? While the U.N. brought the issue of Darfur to the Security Council, it refused to do so in connection with the genocide of Tamils. Why this double standard? Are Tamils children of a lesser god?

The U.N.’s double standard is not only appalling, but also undermines the integrity of the U.N. itself.

We have been told that the GoSL will not agree to a ceasefire. It is hard to believe that if the international community could stand up to Saddam Hussein and enforce a no-fly zone and safe haven to protect the Kurds, that it does not have the moral courage to stand up to the GoSL, a tiny fascist. It is hard to believe that if the international community could stand up to Milosevic, that it does not have the moral conviction to confront the evil in the island of Sri Lanka. The U.N.’s inhumanitarian inaction raises the question whether there is U.N. acquiescence for a military solution to the Tamil national question.

We are told that since the LTTE is a “terrorist” organization, the GoSL’s military offensive is legal. If that is so, what about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which is also designated as a “terrorist organization.” Such a statement also raises the question whether the international community is willing to accept Genocide as collateral damage in its “war on terror.” If that is so, they should say so openly. But we know that they won’t because international law, specifically Article 1 of the Genocide Convention, prohibits genocide not only in time of peace but also in times of war.

The GoSL’s alibi that its military onslaught is part of its war on terror raises the issue of the designation of the LTTE as a “terrorist organization.” This is not the time or the forum to dwell on the issue of whether the designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization is legal in terms of international law or morality. However, it is a time to take stock and analyze what the designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization has achieved. Has it reduced the loss of innocent lives? Has it contributed to the peace process? Has it contributed to create a single polity that upholds liberal values and where both the Sinhalese and Tamils feel that they are legitimate stakeholders? The answer to the above questions is a big NO.

As the Christian Science Monitor aptly stated, the “war on terror” policy emboldened the GoSL. The designation disrupts the balance of power, the power equilibrium that functioned as a deterrent, and now enables the GoSL to engage in a military onslaught.

The GoSL’s military onslaught not only shrinks the conflict area, but also shrinks the political space for any kind of reconciliation between the Sinhalese and Tamils. In the future, when historians and jurists make an objective study of the current situation, they will find that the designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization contributed to Genocide. They will also find Tamil blood not only on the hands of the GoSL, but on the hands of the International Community.

The ongoing genocide, coupled with the international community’s inhumanitarian inaction, reinforce the Tamils belief, expressed through the 1977 General Elections, based on the International Law concept of self-preservation, that the Tamils very physical survival can only be guaranteed in an independent state.

We call upon the international community to act immediately and put an end to the Genocide. An unconditional permanent ceasefire is a first step in that direction.

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran is a practising attorney in New York, USA. He holds an LLM in International Law/Comparative Law and is a former co-chair of the Committee on International Law and Comparative Law, New York County Bar Association. He has written extensively on the conflict in the island of Sri Lanka and participated in the Norwegian sponsored Peace Process as Legal Adviser to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam delegation.

Full Text of Speech delivered by R. M.Emaam MP in Sri Lanka Parliament on Jun 5, 2008:

Hon. Presiding Member, with your permission, I wish to express my views on the present situation in the country. I always listen to the customary speech of the Hon. Prime Minister during the extension of the Emergency. His speech indicates that there is no room for peace.

Once in this house, an ex-Finance Minister, the Hon. Ronnie de Mel, said that peace on knees is better than war on feet. The present situation affects everyone irrespective of the difference of race or religion. I inform this House that the Muslims from the North, particularly from Jaffna, where I hail from, are the most affected. The Tamils do not have political rights and the Sinhalese do not have economic resources, but my community from the North does not have both. Since I am from this community, I urge the government to go for negotiations with the Tamil Tigers. The LTTE always expresses its willingness for negotiation.

I had the privilege of listening to an interview of the present Army Commander on the electronic and print media. In his recent interview on the ITN channel, he said that the LTTE being supported by the Tamils in Tamil Nadu, the expatriate Tamils all over the world and the Tamils in the Island. Again, in the same interview that appeared in the “Lankadeepa”, to the question as to how the LTTE was able to achieve victories, he said that in the battle field its leaders are in the front and, as per his words “labala” cadres or novices or privates are behind.

As per a verse in “Thinakkural”, before commencing a war, the power of oneself, the power of the enemy and the power of the persons who are behind him and the enemy must be assessed. Though the government says that it could wipe out the LTTE before December 2008, the battle scenario repudiates that thinking. It is an unwinnable war. It is a battle between two brothers over the sharing of property of their mother. Since the elder brother is trying to grab the whole thing, Sri Lanka has been pushed into the present deplorable situation. As per the said verse, the LTTE enjoys sufficient moral and physical support from the above sources I urge the government to think of this.

With these forces behind, the LTTE can continue to resist. As per another verse in “Thinakkural”, the leaders must lead the war for victories. The Army Commander had acknowledged that on his side, novices or privates are in the front line. According to that interview, the Commander has an inherent grudge against his commanders. As per the verse I mentioned last, unless leaders command their forces in the front, whatever number of weapons and soldiers would not bring victories. In the said “lankadeepa” interview, the Army Commander had further accepted the LTTE as a most formidable force. Also, I thank the Military Spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, for addressing the LTTE cadres as “LTTE members”, but spokesmen from the other forces address them as “terrorists”. Those officers are not gentlemen.

Why is the LTTE fighting? Why is it being supported by the Tamils and the Tamil-speaking persons? Barring Jayalalitha, it enjoys the support of the Tamils of Tamil Nadu. Barring the Hon. Douglas Devananda, it has gained the full support of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

It must be acknowledged that the Tamils have grievances. Though Tamil was made an officials language in 1988, even today it does not have official status in any government department. I wish to quote a simple incident. I, as a practicing lawyer who does conveyancing also, very often go to the Land Registries in Colombo and Mount-Lavinia where all the name boards are only in the Sinhala language, a language I do not know. This is the prevailing situation in almost all government departments.

Though the Tamils are learning Sinhala, the enthusiasm to learn Tamil is not seen in the Sinhalese brothers. In the third year anniversary supplement of “Rivira”, a columnist had acknowledged this fact.

The present military exercise will end up in fatality and their will be a mass loss of human lives. It will create a big wedge between the two communities. The persons who wish to eliminate terrorism through war do not have an once of knowledge of the realities of the ground situation. It is being pursued for monetary considerations. My view is held by several generals who led this war in the by gone era. It is a matter for happiness that a general who said this cannot be won militarily was a recipient of presidential honours recently. I admire his sagacity and openness. Due to the present conflict, the Muslims from the North are undergoing severe hardships.

Of them, the Muslims from Jaffna are the most affected. As a representative of theirs, I wish to appeal to the Government to negotiate with the LTTE. Due to the war, the coffers of warlords are overflowing with foreign capital whereas we, the Sri Lankans, are becoming poorer and poorer day by day on account of this war. Due to the intransigent attitude of the warlords, youths who have not passed their prime age lose their lives in the battle field. The lifespan of a person is three scores and ten. Unfortunately, the life of the combatants on both sides does not span for even one score.

The persons who think that war is the only solution to defeat terrorism are not thinking of the factors which are in the way to win this war. The Government says that it is waging war on the LTTE. Unfortunately, the Government has not addressed itself as to why the LTTE is fighting against it. Since the Tamil community has grievances, the LTTE is backed by it not only within Sri Lanka, all over the world. It is headed by Prabaharan who has surpassed the war skills of Moshe Dayan, the Israeli General. Prabaharan is not Pillayan to prostrate himself before every Tom, Dick and Harry or to curry flavor with those in power to the detriment of the Tamil Community. Pillayan, who sent a lorry laden with explosives to the Dalada Maligava, was given a rousing welcome by the prelates. Unfortunately, the persons who got involved in this crime unwittingly have received jail terms of over 19 years.

The government should negotiate with the LTTE to find a permanent solution to this problem. The Government should not believe bankrupt politicians or opportunists. Since the LTTE is ready for peace, the Government should welcome it. I wish to say that the present alliance between the cutthroat Tamil groups and the Government will not go on for a long time. Unless this problem is settled with the LTTE, no power in the world could restore peace in our country.

[Raseen Mohammed Emam MP, TNA]

[Raseen Mohammed Emam was sworn in as a national list MP of the Tamil National Alliance on Feb 5th 2007; The 61 year old lawyer hailing from Moor street in Jaffna town became the first ever Muslim from Jaffna district to become a Parliamentarian]

By Kanaganayagam Kanagisvaran, PC

My introduction to Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam came about when I was barely eight years or so old.
I remember that day very well, for the reason that it was the occasion on which a large portrait of Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was unveiled in my father’s Chambers, at our house in Jaffna.

This was the third portrait there. Of the other two, which were already there, one was of my father’s mother and the other of Mahatma Gandhi.

I asked my father, whose picture it was, and he replied that it was Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, a great Tamil patriot and the brother of Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan. Sir Ramanathan was a household name for us, as my father was closely associated with the Ramanathan Trust and we used to visit Ramanathan College for Girls, at Maruthanamadam, where my mother was educated, during the life time of Lady Ramanathan and Hon. S. Natesan who was married to their daughter Sivagamasunthari.

Later, I was to become acquainted with Sir Arunachalam Mahadeva, who used to visit our home regularly, which was then the office of the United National Party in Jaffna, when Sir Mahadeva was contesting the Jaffna seat against G.G. Ponnambalam of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Later, in my early teens, when my father used to travel to Colombo for the meetings of the Senate, I used to tag along, and on occasions we have visited Sir A. Mahadeva at Ponklar.

I am, therefore, greatly honoured to have been invited by the Chairman and Trustees of the Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam Trust to deliver this year’s memorial oration.

Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, whose 155th birth anniversary we commemorate today, was a great public servant and patriot, in the true sense of these words. He lived in a time of great social change and spearheaded the growth of elite political consciousness, elite politics and constitutional evolution. He, more than any other man of his time helped to lay the foundations of the freedoms, which we later came to enjoy and take for granted.

Those freedoms stand undermined and threatened today.

Born on September 14, 1853, he was a leader respected and trusted by all communities, and an inspiration to all who cherish high ideals. The first Ceylonese to enter the then Civil Service through the open door of competition, he held several positions of high responsibility, including judicial posts in various parts of the island.

His achievements are too numerous to mention here, but special note should be made of the fact that he has been rightly called the father of the Ceylon University movement, which he spearheaded at the very dawn of the 20th century – January 1906, and which eventually led to the establishment of the Ceylon University.

In the political field, he convened what was probably the first political conference, which met at the Victoria Masonic Hall, on December 15, 1917. It was convened to debate and consider constitutional reforms, and he was elected to Chair the Ceylon Reform League and the Ceylon National Association.

In his Presidential Address, that day, he spoke thus,

“The time is therefore auspicious… to win for ourselves as large a measure of constitutional reform as possible.

“We demand the liberty to take our share in the burden of this responsibility, to manage our own lives, make our own mistakes, gain strength by knowledge and experience, and acquire that self- confidence and self – respect which are indispensable to national progress and success. We seek to be in our own country what other self-respecting people are in theirs, self-governing, strong, respected at home and abroad, and we ask for the grant at once of a definite measure of progressive advance towards that goal.”

These words have special meaning for us today.

Two years later, on December 11, 1919, in his Presidential Address at the Public Hall, Colombo as the first President of the Ceylon National Congress, espousing the case for representative government for Ceylon, when ideas of self-determination were the common currency of political thought, he was overjoyed on that occasion to proclaim, “We have done, once and for all, with our petty differences and dissensions… whatever one’s creed, race or caste may be…” and ended his speech by quoting from the Karaniya Metta Sutta: “Let all living beings be joyous and safe, may it be theirs to dwell in happiness!”

But sadly, that was not to be.

Today, we might even ponder whether it will ever be.

A misunderstanding, to use a euphemism, soon developed between the Sinhalese and Tamil members of the Congress over the question of representation, which caused an estrangement between him and the Congress. He surrendered his office of Presidency of the Ceylon National Congress in October 1920.

In order to organise and possibly guide Tamil public opinion, he founded the Ceylon Tamil League in 1923, but did not live long enough to guide our fortunes. On a pilgrimage to the sacred shrines of India, in the midst of his devotions, he passed away on January 9, 1924.

Since then, a strange destiny has hung over Sri Lanka and she has ever since been wandering in the desert.
We have come a full circle: Death in the midst of devotion.

My interest in Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was rekindled when I started my legal career in Sri Lanka in 1966. Soon I came across his treatise – A Digest of the Laws of Ceylon Volume I, published in 1910. Appendix IV to this book gives extracts from one of his best known judgments, the Adippola Sannas case, from Chilaw, which related to the grant – Sannas – (strip of copper plate) of the tank of Adippola at Chilaw to a ‘Suriya Chetti of Telugu Country’ by King Buwaneka Bahu of Kotte, in 1247 Saka Era, equal to 1325 of the Christian era. It is a masterly study of the social history of the people of the area.

I was fortunate later to have been able to acquire a copy of this rare book for my library. Searching for his other writings, I was equally fortunate, some six months ago, to be able to acquire his Sketches of Ceylon History written in 1906, and Speeches and Writings of Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam – Volume I, published in 1936.

Reading about him, it seemed to me that to him, life was a duty. He loved fair play and justice. He held in contempt the vulgarity of the demagogue.

In a world gone mad on race and religion and which has made politics the jugglery of race antagonism and religious hatred, it behoves us to remember and emulate Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam’s quality of mind, his sacrifice and his unselfishness, in order to preserve the liberties that he won for us, and the understanding that he assiduously propagated – that liberty and justice are for all, without exception.

But the way for that, it seems, is not smooth.

There are now many more wrongs than ever suffered by our peoples in this island.
How easy to divide for ever.

New forces are at work among us.

We should therefore, as a body politic, seek to achieve what Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam tirelessly worked for all his life to impress upon future generations – that political power is a serious responsibility.

He taught us that responsibility should be recognised as a precarious and extremely frail and perishable good, depending on a whole range of economic, social, political and cultural factors; and that the breakdown of a single one of them is capable of triggering off destructive chain reactions leading to large scale disintegration and corruption of the sense of responsibility.

He showed us that responsibility presupposes the motivation, and the ability and the possibility to choose between alternatives. Also, it presupposes predictability and accountability – in a pluralistic society such as ours, I would add another; sensitivity. One should be sensitive to every group’s socio-economic, cultural and ethnic concerns.

But if the truth be told, there is a yawning gulf of suspicion, hatred and fear.

Any twinge of conscience on account of this, we would seem to soothe with offerings in the name of religion.
It is a self-evident truth that you cannot hold any man in the gutter without staying there yourself.
The only real help you can give is to get off his back.

A whole generation of our youth has been deprived of opportunities of education and normal life during the formative years of their life. They will surely pass into adult population with irremediably stunted powers and narrowed outlooks.

Will this not affect the whole quality of the national life?

Deprived of all power and responsibility, their capacities will be dwarfed and stunted. Forced to live in an atmosphere of inferiority, could they ever rise to the full height to which their manhood is capable of rising? Hypnotised into thinking that they are weak and inferior, no greater disaster can overtake a people.

It is two nations warring in the bosom of a single state – not of principles, but of race.

The lesson to be learnt from the lives of great patriots like Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, is that we still can regain our self-confidence, nothing can daunt us and nothing is beyond us.

I truly believe that had Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam been alive today, that would be the message he would want conveyed.
I would conclude with the burden of Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam’s A Message to the Country delivered in 1918, which is that we must spiritualise public life by reverting to the ideals of our forefathers and establishing an aristocracy of intellect, character and self-sacrificing service. [courtesy: nation.lk]

US ambassador Robert Blake today said that the purpose behind the freezing of TRO assets in the US was to block funds to LTTE and not for Tamil civilians. He reiterated the US stand that the final solution to Sri Lanka’s conflict should be a negotiated one. He said The U.S. will continue to support efforts to stop human rights violations against Tamils.

And “the U.S. will continue to vigorously support efforts to stop human rights violations against Tamils, including abductions and threats against Tamil journalists,” the embassy press release emphasized yesterday.

[US ambassador Robert Blake was forced to walk along Galle Road from the US Embassy premises to American Centre near Galle Face Hotel this afternoon when that section of the Galle Road was temporarily closed due to VIP movement. Blake came to American Centre to brief media on US decision to freeze TRO funds. Pic by Indraratne Balasuriya-Courtesy: Daily Mirror.lk]

Full Text of Statement by Ambassador Robert Blake on the TRO at a press Conference at the American Center – November 16, 2007:

I want to welcome all of you today to the American Center.

The purpose of this press conference is to explain in more detail the announcement yesterday by the U.S. Department of the Treasury that it is freezing the assets of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization because the TRO acts as a front to facilitate fundraising as well as arms and other procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

As you all know, the United States in 1997 designated the LTTE as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Since then, it has been a felony under U.S. law to provide material support or resources to the LTTE.

In August 2006 and April 2007, the FBI arrested a total of 9 people who the U.S. Department of Justice subsequently charged with various crimes, including conspiracy to provide material support and resources to the LTTE.

3 of those arrested have pled guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization. 3 more have pled guilty to bribery charges related to alien smuggling. Prosecution continues against the others, and the overall investigation is continuing.

Those arrests made clear once again that the United States is committed to enforcing its laws against support for designated terrorist groups wherever they may operate.

Those arrests also led to discovery of operational and financial links between the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization and the LTTE.

The TRO, as you all are well aware, is a charitable organization with offices here in Sri Lanka and in a number of countries abroad.

The U.S. Government has concluded that, in the United States, the TRO has raised funds on behalf of the LTTE through a network of individual representatives. According to sources within the TRO, the TRO is the preferred conduit of funds from the United States to the LTTE in Sri Lanka.

The TRO also has facilitated LTTE procurement operations in the United States. Those operations included the purchase of munitions, equipment, communication devices, and other technology for the LTTE.

The LTTE oversees the activities of the TRO and other LTTE-linked organizations in Sri Lanka and abroad. Directives issued by the LTTE suggest that LTTE-affiliated branch representatives are expected to coordinate their efforts with the respective TRO representatives in their locations and report all activity to the LTTE.

That is the extent of what I have to say about TRO links to the LTTE, but as you can see those are very serious charges.

It was on the basis of these links that the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Washington DC yesterday designated the TRO under Executive Order 13224, which is aimed at financially isolating terrorist groups and their support networks.

Designations like this are an important tool to not only block illicit assets, but also shut down channels used by terrorists and other dangerous groups to raise, move and store money.

Upon designation, any assets of the designees held under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. persons are prohibited from dealing with the designees.

I would like to emphasize that this designation is an action against the LTTE, not against the Tamil people.

The United States continues to support a just, negotiated political settlement to the conflict that meets the aspirations of all communities, including Sri Lanka’s Tamils.

The U.S. will continue to support efforts to stop human rights violations against Tamils.

The United States also believes that a solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka and respect for the rights of the Tamil people can only be found through peaceful negotiations.

That concludes my remarks. I would be pleased to take your questions.

Thank you.

[Source: US Embassy, Colombo, Sri Lanka]