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On 24th June, 2006, the Tamil Literary Garden awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award for 2005 to Professor George L. Hart. Professor Hart, whose contribution to Tamil studies over several decades has won him international recognition, is currently Professor of Tamil at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent work, ‘The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom’, was published in 1999 by Columbia University Press and won the South Asian Council A.K.Ramanujan Book prize. The event tookplace at Seeley Hall, Trinity College, University of Toronto, and was attended by university faculty, students, and members of the community. The award which consists of a plaque and a cash prize of 1500 dollars was preceded by a lecture given by Professor Hart, entitled “Tamil as a Classical Language” organized by the Centre for South AsianStudies, University of Toronto.

This was also the occasion for the Tamil Literary Garden to inaugurate two more awards: the ‘Best Non-Fiction for the Year in Tamil’ went to CreA S.Ramakrishnan, who was the Managing Editor of Tamil – Tamil – English dictionary known as Tharkalath Thamizh Akarathi. The ‘Best Fiction for the Year in Tamil’ award went to So. Tharman for his novel titled ‘Koohai’. They were awarded cash prize of 500 dollars each.

The Tamil Literary Garden, a non-profit organization, founded in 2001 is committed to raising awareness and promoting Tamil studies at a global level. As part of its mission, the Tamil Literary Garden organizes various workshops, conferences and seminars designed to encourage and explore creative writing and translation techniques in addition to recognizing great works in Tamil annually.

The award ceremony came to end with the performance of a skit by the university students in Tamil entitled Verkalaith Thedi or ‘In search of Roots’ followed by a vote of thanks.

The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) has once again come out with a damning report (Information Bulletin No. 40, 15th June 2006 “Flight, Displacement and the Two-fold Reign of Terror”) on the escalation of conflict between in the North East between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government. Refugees are crossing the raging seas to India, and many have lost their lives in this process. Civilian suffering has jumped with the Government failing to control its security forces in the light of LTTE provocations. The 12,000 words report is a testimony of human suffering emanating from a conflict in which blood letting is a daily ritual. Human values have fallen flat and people live in constant fear of death. The peace process almost in tatters.

It goes to the credit of the report that it bluntly exposes both the LTTE and the security forces for paying scant regard for human rights. Under the subheading “LTTE attacks on Mr. Anandasangary’s followers” the report states:

“While those who championed the peace process that is now in a state of collapse have been pointing the finger at ‘paramilitaries’ and ‘spoilers’, they are blind to the old disease that made the peace process unworkable from the start – the LTTE’s constant targeting of political opponents. No one has called the respected democratic politician Mr. Anandasangary a paramilitary. Now with the LTTE’s own party the TNA in the doldrums as time ordained, the LTTE appears determined to eliminate Anandasangary’s loyalists.

About 7.00 PM at his Wellawatte residence in Colombo on 10th June, the LTTE shot dead Mr. Ramachandran (67) brother of Mr. Anandasangary’s former secretary, Satchidanandam, who too has moved out of Jaffna. Ramachandran’s daughter is married to Jeeva of the EPDP. Thangarasa Thangamuhunthan who is an Anandasangary loyalist and former member of the Jaffna Municipal Council that had defied the LTTE on the opening of the Public Library was summoned by two LTTE men who came on a motor cycle and shot at his home in Moolai, Jaffna. He was warded at Jaffna Hospital.”

Then the report describes how people are fleeing Trincomalee. This is elaborated by the story of one Govindaswamy, 75 who an elderly fisherman from Ward 10 Trincomalee who died recently while fleeing to India with his family, reflects the struggle of the people of Trincomalee to survive this complex and stressful environment. The report says, “ After the Government and the LTTE again unleashed their combined terror in Trincomalee in April 2006 (Special Report No.21), the LTTE told Tamil civilians repeatedly in especially the poorer areas, words to the effect, “We will continue our (especially landmine) attacks on the armed forces, and are telling you now that we will not be responsible for the consequences you would face”. Many of them began moving to India by sea after travelling overland to Mannar. The Tigers came back every few days and asked menacingly those who remained “Haven’t you gone”?

Then comes the issue of five students murdered in Trincomalee. President Rajapakse’s remarks on the case are unjustified as they are, show us what needs to be laid out clearly. The Island of 2nd June quoted the President complaining of the lack of evidence against the police personnel being held and his inability to try them according to ‘jungle law’. He appealed to witnesses to come forward and give evidence (to the law enforcing authorities). This prompted a hitherto neglected line of inquiry.

“There were in fact about 300 witnesses relaxing at the beach front at the time of the grenade explosion. They had been ordered to kneel down in an offensive manner suggestive of communal arrogance by the Navy, who rounded them up. To capture the atmosphere on the beach front, an old woman who cried at the funeral on 5th January of the boys killed, described her experience. The woman accused the security forces of banding together and killing the boys. When the security forces arrived on the fatal day, she sensed their intention and tried to prevent them. A man in commando uniform thrust his gun barrel into her mouth and threatened to kill her if she shouted. He then shoved her away telling her in Tamil to go away and sit down.”

The report says, “The 300 or so witnesses included a deputy education officer, several old ladies and Hemachandran, the father of one of the victims – all prostrate. There were a number of auto rickshaws and about five cars parked at the beach. Among those who had a close view of the proceedings were vendors of refreshments. Why did not any of them come forward? The reason is to be sought in the other witnesses – the Police, Navy and STF – who were upholding the law of the jungle in Trincomalee, the President ironically adverted to, and the fate of the one witness who had the civic sense to defy intimidation by the security forces and pursue justice for his son – Dr. Manoharan.”

“From their kneeling position and with the lights nearby switched off, no one, except perhaps those who were very close, could say who exactly did what. But there is absolutely no doubt that the crime was committed by the security forces present and the principle of command responsibility applies. If the President is unable to exercise his authority as commander in chief to find out what those men under his command did on the Trincomalee sea-front on 2nd January 2006, how impossibly difficult it must be for witnesses to go past these armed and desperate men determined to suppress the truth (apparently outside the control of their C-in-C) and give evidence? “

Another case cited is : “The Grand Tiger Hunt – A Macabre Full Dress Drama before a Captive Audience Weerakkody, a former Ports Authority employee identified with communal violence against Tamils, was killed by the LTTE on 24th December 2005 and it was widely talked about that his son in the Navy had sworn revenge against Tamils. Some killings of both Tamils and Sinhalese continued in the coming days but had subsided by New Year’s Day. People were relaxed on the 2nd of January and many went to the sea front. Dr. Manoharan was at home at 6.00 PM when a friend, a bank employee, telephoned him and told him not to let his sons go out as he had received a tip-off from the Police that some incident was to be staged that day. But his two sons had already gone out. When the elder son came home he telephoned the younger son Rajihar to whom he had given a cell phone to keep him notified of his movements. He was unable to contact him but then found a message from him calling for help and in the meantime, at 7.35 PM, he had heard the grenade explosion. “

“As the parents of the victims found out later, immediately after the explosion, the students who were not hurt, including Hemachandran and Rajihar, were trying to help those injured. They tried to get transport to take them to hospital. Meanwhile the round up started and the commandos arrived. There is a good deal of circumstantial information the parents strongly believe has to do with pre-planning and the targeting of this particular group of students. The information concerns cell phone calls, one received by one of the students at 7.20 PM apparently to ensure his presence at the place of the tragedy, and certain persons who were summoned by cell phone from the scene just before the green auto rickshaw arrived. It is unfair and possibly very misleading for us to speculate. But any proper inquiry should trace cell phone calls made by the Police, the STF unit and several persons against whom suspicion has been directed. We know for a fact that it will not be done by the Sri Lankan authorities.”

Another issue raised is about Kayts. It says, “ Kayts is another place to be watched. A number of families left Kayts for the Jaffna peninsula following the Allaipiddy massacre by naval personnel, killing 11 persons on the night of 12th May. Persons who contacted the witnesses immediately after the incident told us that they maintain with absolute clarity that the perpetrators were naval personnel whom they had regularly seen about the place and they could identify them. Their question was not who did it, but why these navy men with whom they had been on friendly terms acted with such sadistic brutality, killing even a young mother and her infants in cold blood. The witnesses said that there were no EPDP persons among the perpetrators. They added that some Tamil speaking young men on motorcycles were about the area in the days preceding the atrocity, but they could not say for certain whether or not they were EPDP.”

“According to what EPDP persons in Jaffna told some of their friends, a special military team had been conducting investigations on the basis of information obtained from persons detained and they found that some of the places affected had been used by the LTTE. They added that the Navy may have received this information and decided to act. The EPDP leader however told the BBC that even the LTTE might have done it. “

And the less said about “LTTE-controlled Vanni – the Giant Torture Chamber” the better. “One sees the same repressive trends in the Vanni. Human Rights would seem an abstraction where life is ceasing to be human. One sees the same indifference on the part of the LTTE to families, wives and children, no concern about how they live or die. Many young couples with young families suddenly find themselves devoid of the breadwinner. These young men who had started families and had young mouths to feed had been forcibly taken away by the LTTE for 1 to 3 years of military service, promising a monthly allowance for the upkeep of the families. The money comes for about 3 months and ceases. A number of these young men were LTTE cadres who left during the ceasefire and got married.”

An official connected with a church establishment expressed alarm that several of these abandoned families without means were bringing children to them and they simply did not have the means to cope. The torture of the community goes on at many levels. Even older men have been mobilised to undergo auxiliary training and have been told that they would be posted for frontline sentry duty. In a number of villages, these men have collectively told the LTTE, “You can force us to undergo training, you can post us where you would, but when the Army advances we will throw our guns and run away.”

During the earlier years of war, among the difficulties faced by the farmers was tank maintenance. During the ceasefire moves were made to do repairs to Giant’s Tank in west Vanni. In order to mobilise the men for its auxiliary forces, the LTTE banned the dry season cultivation. Many men confine themselves to their home with their children in agony fearing abduction by LTTE press gangs in their proverbial white vans.

The LTTE’s measures have also given rise to an undercurrent of unrest. In one area regarded a high security zone of the LTTE, a tough commander was brought back from retirement. A grenade was aimed at him, causing injury to two persons. Those in the area discount the Karuna group as being responsible.

Speaking at a passing out parade of the auxiliary forces in Vattakacchi, Killinocchi, on Sunday 4th June, Colonel Balaraj announced that Eelam War 4 has begun, and in its prosecution, the guerrilla attacks are now taking place. He said that the Rajapakse regime, which has revealed its colours by killing Tamils in the same manner the Premadasa regime did, is being given the last chance. Because of the strength of the Tamils today, he added, the dreams of the Sinhalese government will come crashing down: We will heap up victories by winning our lands back from the enemy, who would be stupefied into inaction when our battle plans are unravelled in the field.

“The LTTE may not be so sure and perhaps never was in starting a war until the enemy blundered by turning indiscriminately on the people. The Karuna forces, backed by the Army, have launched several attacks on the LTTE Vanni faction, and reports indicate that a number of persons are being killed on the LTTE side. The Vanni faction routinely denies major losses and they may be right. For them the auxiliaries are thoroughly disposable. The truth is likely to be that those being killed are persons who do not want to hold a gun in the first place, and given the option would throw their gun and run away. Would the civilians be given a chance? Note the omission when Balraj referred to two presidents, “ the report says.

The conclusion of the report is that the state and international community must act.

“The LTTE has already started a war without acknowledging it to the international community. The security forces and civilians are daily facing casualties. The former are angry and have weapons and the institutional means to do things and cover up; the latter are helpless. But they do not want war and that is capital the Government can use to corner and expose the LTTE. Instead the impunity in which the armed forces’ current actions are steeped is enabling the LTTE to make cannon fodder of these people who dread war. This state of affairs today is precipitating the human catastrophe of massive displacement where people have limited choices of where to run.”

“Sri Lanka is becoming a place where life has no value. People are being killed, but no one feels responsible. Those in authority do not appear to understand that this is a problem that must sooner rather than later concern the welfare of everyone of us. When it comes to Tamil civilian deaths at the hands of the security forces, government spokesmen, in the absence of the authorities doing anything constructive, are spinning tales that do not do them any credit.”

The report urges the “President speedily institute a committee based at the presidential secretariat and reporting to him, to quickly investigate and check abuses by the security forces. The committee should be formed of persons who enjoy the confidence of all communities and could include retired senior security personnel, retired judges, retired public servants and other persons as necessary to give it clout. The committee should as often as necessary, visit areas under government control where violations are taking place and collect evidence from those affected. It should have access to security forces’ camps and to question officers and personnel as required. The task of the committee should be to identify perpetrators, suggest remedial and disciplinary measures and other measures to prevent violations.”

Open Letter To: The Foreign Ministers of UK, Canada, EU Nations, Norway, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and The Secretary of State, USA.

The pictures of the butchery of an innocent, average, hardworking, Eelam Tamil family on Thursday June 8th, 2006, by the racist, barbaric, cannibalistic, bloodthirsty, Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka Military of the “Terrorist-Failed State” of the Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka are gruesome. This and other numerous acts of barbarism and slow genocide of Eelam People conducted by the Regime of the Southern Sinhalese nation of Sri Lanka is the norm rather than the exception, under the watchful eyes of the so-called “International Community”.

The news archives are full of condemnation by impartial, world renowned humanitarians and others of the slow genocide, punctuated by frequent and periodic mayhem, pogroms and mass killings of Eelam Tamil people, perpetrated by the Fascist - Racist- Chauvinist Regimes of the Southern Sinhalese State of Sri Lanka, past and present.

Yet, the US, the UK, the European Union, Canada, and India had proscribed the only freedom fighters the Eelam Tamils have for their protection. If not for the courageous stand taken by the LTTE, the entire Eelam Tamil people would have been liquidated by now.

The International Community seem oblivious to the plight of the beleaguered people of Eelam in the North-East of the Island of Sri Lanka. These people had endured 58 years of Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka’s “State Sponsored Terror and Genocide”. The Eelam people shall be ever so grateful to the people of these great democracies if their Governments would extend their support to them in this hour of need.

By proscribing the LTTE, the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, and India have proscribed the Eelam Tamil People. By their short-sighted actions, they have condemned the Eelam Tamil People to death. These great bastions of democracy have passed on the Eelam Tamil People the judgment of Genocide at the hands of the brutal, racist, violent, criminal Southern Sinhalese nation. They have strengthened the hands of the Southern Sinhalese “State Terror”.

The Eelam Tamil people are desperate to be freed from the shackles of Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka’s tyranny since February 4, 1948. The Eelam Tamil people are desperate to live in their own independent nation as they had been doing with peace and dignity for nearly 2827 years prior to the forced amalgamation of Eelam Nation with Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka in 1833 by the British Colonial Rulers.

This letter comprises the collective impression of a cross-section of the Eelam people of the North-East region of Sri Lanka. In composing this opinion, I had reviewed thousands of letters of Eelam people. These people are relatives, friends, acquaintances, neighbours, and friends and relatives of friends who reside in fear of the Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka Regime, in different parts Eelam. Every one of them expressed one or more of the following hopes, concerns and fears:

(1) They were overwhelmingly unanimous in their approval of LTTE as their
representatives in their dealings with the Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka regime.

(2) All expressed the feeling that the LTTE is their savior.

(3) They all expressed unanimously that without the LTTE, they would not be alive today to express their thoughts and hopes for the future.

(4) The Eelam people are unanimous in expressing the thought that they are the LTTE and the LTTE is the Eelam people. One does not exist without the other.

(5) Eelam people unanimously expressed the feeling that TNA and the LTTE must be involved in any future Eelam Administration. They expressed strong views that Eelam shall never be a dictatorial state, but a strong all-inclusive parliamentary democracy.

(6) The Eelam people were fully aware of the Vaddukottai Resolution of 1977. Eelam voters elected all their representatives, by an overwhelming majority, to the Sri Lanka parliament in the General Elections of 1977, on the mandate that Eelam shall run its own affairs as an independent nation. The Eelam people are of the opinion that in expressing their “WILL” through free and fair democratic elections, the Eelam people had evoked such vicious and racist contempt and backlash among the entire Southern Sinhalese nation that the Southern Sinhalese nation and its regimes had embarked
on a mission to exterminate the Eelam people.

(7) All of the “Eelam People” expressed the feeling that they “Live in a Constant State of Fear of being Massacred” at the hands of the Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka Military and its Goon Squads.

(8) Eelam people expressed the feeling that the whole world had abandoned them and left them to be brutalized and murdered by the Southern Sinhalese Military. They also expressed their suspicion that the great nations of Australia, Canada, Norway and the great democratic union of EU, wittingly or unwittingly, may have allowed themselves to be used as decoys by the international “power brokers”, USA, and the UK, for the Southern Sinhalese regime and its military to expedite the extermination of Eelam people.

(9) The Eelam People do not foresee any future as a people, whatsoever, without the LTTE. They are absolutely and categorically of the opinion that there is no hope for them as people under the rule of Southern Sinhalese Regime and the occupation of Eelam by the Southern Sinhalese Military.

(10) The Eelam People consider the Southern Sinhalese Military, Paramilitaries, Police, STF, and the Sinhalese Goon Squads as a criminal occupation Army and as the “real terrorists”

(11) The Eelam people are convinced that the Southern Sinhalese nation of Sri Lanka, and its regime is a “Failed-Terrorist State”.

(12) The Eelam people expressed the thought that the “Southern Sinhalese Buddhist Military” is a “Foreign Occupation Army” that has nothing but
contempt for the people of Eelam.

(13) Eelam people unanimously expressed the thought that the LTTE is not
the terrorist, but “LTTE is the Eelam People”.

(14) The Eelam People know that they voted in the 1977 Sri Lanka General Election for the creation, separation and return to the pre-colonial state of an “Independent Eelam”. In this regard the Eelam people expressed the desire to accelerate the process of “Secession of Eelam”, which they feel had already begun.

(15) The Eelam people are unanimously of the opinion that it is far better to die fighting with valor for their belief that the “Nation of Eelam is a Distinct Nation”.

They do not wish to be “Subjugated and Terrorized” by the Southern Sinhalese Military that uses such horrific acts as

(a) sexual rape of women (see attached TamilNet news item) of all ages before murdering these women, (b) summary executions of ordinary defenseless Eelam civilians, and (c) murder of innocent kids of all ages. The Eelam people feel that they do not wish to be “Enslaved, Colonized nor Ruled” by an “Alien Neighboring Failed- Terrorist State of Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka”.

(16) A large majority of the Eelam people are of the view that the Eelam Culture and Value system is strong and disciplined to lay the foundation for a thriving, economically vibrant, democratic nation of Eelam that will be friendly, impartial and inclusive in all its dealings with the powerbrokers of the world such as the US, UK, Australia, EU, Canada, South Africa, India, Japan and China.

It is the hope of the Eelam People that these great democratic nations and their people shall intercede against this brutality and genocide committed by the Southern Sinhalese Sri Lanka. In so requesting, Eelam People also express their gratitude for the continued goodwill exhibited by the decent, honest, freedom loving people of the world.

On behalf of the embattled, beleaguered, downtrodden Eelam People, with great concern.

R. Vijay Kumar, BS, PhD, MD, FACP
Expatriate Eelam Native

It is impossible to imagine that right thinking parents would want this to be the climate for their children to absorb, for the next few years.

A tomorrow, where the children of today, have a chance to heal from the scars of violence, where communities are given a chance to see each other humanely and each citizen is equal and second to none.

By J. Nikhil Mustaffa

A boy, born in 1994, was heard asking his father, whether, war had broken out.

When he was born, Chandrika had been elected and curfew had been declared. Since then his life had run parallel to the modern day history of the conflict in the country.

When he was asleep, the phone had rung, with a friend inquiring why the oil tanks were on fire, from his father, who had indicated his surprise at this sudden announcement in the early hours of one morning.

As he passed Town Hall, he could see debris and shambles resulting from stampeding crowds escaping from the scene of the attempt on CBK, the night before. It was said that CBK, on finding herself being driven to Temple Trees, had ordered to be driven to hospital, by her bodyguards!

Passing the overhead bridge in Maradana, he identified the location of the Maradana bomb.

When General Kulatunge died, the boy again inquired what had happened from his father.

This boy, like many of his generation, constitutes the future Sri Lanka, 15-years from now. Their lives, at present, have no normalcy. A recent report from the A9, speaks of large crowds, some carrying infants, heading for a day’s civil defense training.

Conscription has reared its head again, with Karuna, in his new incarnation, being accused of doing what he did, before he broke away. One has to see the age of customary cadre, girls wearing their pyjama type uniform, to understand, with sadness, the lost childhood of many, who have directly borne the brunt of the fallout of conflict.

During the last 11 years, the country has witnessed the arrival and departure of many great friends of the country.

Mariana Todorova, a pugnacious woman with a consciousness, who was head of the World Bank, who believed in the 3R Framework.

She could not believe the state of Jaffna, which, in her mind, was 20 years behind the rest of the country, literally in darkness, in which, cars ran with vegetable oil, children studied by lamps and candle.

Her successor, Peter Harrold, leaves our shores after three plus years of committed service. One would find him sitting, very often, at Odel’s on weekends, in more or less the same seating area. Reportedly, one of the brightest amongst managers in the bank. Brian Smith, a simple man, who would be as comfortable, walking along Duplication Road, as he was reporting the facts as he saw it, passionately, to his colleagues. His job was to ensure that the ADB programmes were conflict sensitive. He was so honest. News of his departure genuinely moved many of his colleagues.

A small made man, looked upon as a brave friend of the country.

Bernadino Ragazonni, the Swiss Ambassador, leaving for Indonesia. He was slim, chainsmoked and worked hard. He was slightly rounder, had stopped smoking, worked Sundays and was honest in conveying perspectives based on principles. He leaves us this week. He, probably, did the most for his country, than anyone before him, as he did for us. Jan Hueskan, at the Dutch mission, preceded some years back by Peter Kuiperus, who worked with a keen eye for local sentiments, genuinely believing the right of Sri Lankans to decide what was best for themselves. They all stood in unison, in supporting peace, last year at the development forum in Kandy.

In the world of the international community, some have a jolly good time. Reports of distress, leisurely life, endless meetings, lots of coffee and wine, not much more or serious work, as has been highlighted.

If one was sitting in Delhi, they probably see a trade wind for India, opportunities for development through international cooperation and less time for de-stabilising neighbours, unlike in the past, the India of today, may have a veto over full blown war resuming in the island.

For those who are young today, it is a right to be freed of war. Recent attacks have put paid to chances for the symbols to recede.

A recent analysis of why the LTTE has little faith in any realistic solutions says, “the CFA only froze the war.”

Both armed capabilities remained ready for the resumption of hostilities. There is a slow effort to turn majority Tamil areas into minority areas in the East, if not, have them under control of the military. They started a struggle which, must produce dividends. One could sit through a peace process and find five years hence, that it has militarily weakened and taken away the resolve to fight.

To transform, there has to be tangible gains put on the table, which gives a decent solution, with measures of devolved powers. The current political configuration does not lend itself to such a scenario. The cynic may well argue, the LTTE turned away a possible Ranil victory at the last Presidential poll, which would have given reasonable dividends in fair time.

Others would say, they were never interested in resolving peacefully.

The new British High Commissioner has, reportedly, requested all parties to take a leaf from South Africa and Northern Ireland, to walk to peace. Mandela was a warrior, who, through his enforced incarceration in Robin Island, survived to lead a new nation.

His time away, may have tempered his instincts and given him a broader vision of nation building. Primordial instincts of supremacy cannot be the overriding consideration, in governing a multi ethnic country.

Even with the LTTE hot on his heels, a President has to be above and beyond the conflict, to find accommodation, solutions. It is the reality of reconciling competing nationalist demands in an island such as ours.

Lee Kuan Yew, in a passage a of a book released, remembers Ceylon as having a sterling reserve, two universities, educated talent in substantial numbers, but laments the effect of one man, one vote system, established majority domination, exit of English, quotas to universities and the advent of fanatical Tigers.

He says, we failed because of weak or wrong leadership.

The boy born in 1994 continues to grow.

So do other young children across Sri Lanka. For those in the South, the symbols and sounds of war continue to pursue them.

For those living in the theatre of conflict, normalcy is not a luxury.

We continue, to collectively, deny them that right.

We are watching the further division of this nation. What was available as options for development, continue to be dissipated or, do not have the environment required, to effectively take root. This is fuel for reasons to justify war! Denial of development, absence of normalcy, return of flight, direct impact on civilians.

This is the tale the Co- Chairs were confronted with, when they met last in Tokyo.

Trust and acts of good faith between the Government and the LTTE, hardly exist.

It would seem that international actors need to play the role of peace keepers and peace builders until, there is a sufficient tail wind to propel the country on a steady, unwavering journey to peace. In private moments, all sides seek an honourable end to conflict and war.

Seeing body parts of the mutilated, civilians being targeted, places of worship being desecrated, people giving up everything they had, to run for safety through uncertain and hazardous seas, are all symptomatic of the climate of a slide to war.

It is impossible to imagine that right thinking parents would want this to be the climate for their children to absorb, for the next few years.

We need civic leadership which responds to this national need.

A leadership which believes that the children of today, is our tomorrow. Investing in our children is investing in our future and cannot go wrong. A shortfall in those investments, can only bring deficits to peace and development to the future Sri Lanka.

When the father of the boy born 1994, was only sixteen, he heard his friends discussing the perceived unnatural advantages enjoyed by Tamils.

The stereotyping had borne fruit. His father has seen what the effects are of the stereotyping. A murderous, brutal environment for his son.

The fathers and mothers have to defy this tide and beat death, for the sake of tomorrow.

A tomorrow, where the children of today, have a chance to heal from the scars of violence, where communities are given a chance to see each other humanely and each citizen is equal and second to none.

By K.Arvind

In the post-Portuguese period and before Sri Lankan Tamils have earned a name as a cultured and peaceful people tolerant of others and their views. Mr. Sellathurai’s laborious analysis should be studied carefully and in perspective.

Tamils and Sinhalese must live together in the future.

It is an undeniable fact though all Sri Lankand Tamils feels strongly for their language and culture many of the supposed 50%+ Tamils living in Sri Lanka outside the North and the East fear to settle in the Tamil homelands after the coming of peace. The LTTE has to accept responsibility for this change of mind-set. Many talented and educated Tamil leaders have been killed senselessly and brutally.

This was not necessary. Thousands of LTTE youth, originally inspired by Prabhakaran and his commitment, have laid their young lives for the Tamil cause. They died so that other Tamils may live. We will never forget them. But we must not be prisoners of the past. We must work to create conditions for a united and peaceful Sri Lanka where Tamils can again live freely and peacefully.

It is Sinhala chauvinism of the post-1948 period that gradually brought the country to this pathetic level. Was there LTTE terror in Galoya in 1957 when innocent Tamils were chased out - many killed? Sinhalese must hold themselves responsible for the creation of the LTTE - many of their academics in fact do. We have all lost so far - Sinhala, Tamils, Muslims and Burghers in the country turning out to be a battlefield .

The International community will discourage a fascist State headed by a demi-god and the LTTE because of the strategic location of Sri Lanka in that vital commercial sea-route that feeds Europe with meat and wheat from Australia/New Zealand. The same sea-route carries life giving oil from the Middle East to Industrial giants Japan, Korea and other Asian Tigers. This is the reality. The IC carries very little for Sri Lanka, India or the LTTE. They care only for their self-interest.

But this is the real world. The I/C will not allow a cult-leader to be on their way. The foundations for peace to come must emerge from the Sinhala polity because it is they who destroyed the tranquility of our Society and State.

Mahinda Rajapakse must go beyond his rhetoric to give the Tamil people “maximum devolution” that he tells the I/C he has. Similar promises were made by other Sinhala leaders before e.g. Premadasa who promised “give up Ealam and I shall gladly give you ELLAM”.

In the future Tamil configuration India must be involved but it is not necessary for us to be dependent on them. Many educated Tamils feels Prabhakaran will not give up his impossible goal of Tamil Eelam because he wrongly thinks feels he will become part of South Asian history and “the greatest Tamil of all time”

To achieve this objective, he risks the interests of all Sri Lankan Tamils of the present and the future. There is no place for Prabhakaran and fascism in a future peaceful Sri Lanka.

In fairness to the LTTE, it must be said, in respecting the wishes of the IC, he came down from “Ealam or nothing” to “a viable alternative” - the practical demand of the moderate Tamil leaders of the 70s-80s. Once again it was the Buddhist priests and the Sinhala chauvinists who failed to use their enormous influence with GoSLs in power grasp this opportunity.

Now, at this very late hour, the Sinhalese must unite and provide the conditions to the Tamils - whom the LTTE claims they represent and lead - to remain part of a future undivided Sri Lanka. It is estimated 65% of the destruction in the Tsunami took place in the shores of the North- East. But the Tamils and the Muslims got little from the massive rehabilitation funds that came in. This is the generosity of the Sinhalese which Gunadasa Amarasekera, Nalin de Silva, SL Gunasekera, the High Priests of Kandy are speaking about.

Even the Supreme Court was obliquely invoked to deny Tamils justice and due compensation - on a mere legal technicality. Is this Justice? Surely there is such a thing as natural law and the guiding principle in the in the dispensation of justice is that it should have an element of mercy.

So let us not denigrate learned men like Mr. Sellathurai amongst us. We might not agree with him on issues but we must not belittle men like him.

Tamils have immensely suffered in the past 50 years but our collective suffering has brought us a new sense of togetherness and energy. I have felt this wherever I traveled - in Europe, in Australia, in Canada and elsewhere. Let us strengthen this.

The time will soon come when Tamils will once again find their peace and place in society; the opportunities to display their traditional strength and culture by which all of Sri Lanka will also gain.

Scene at Mullaithivu Coast, Dec 2004 [HA]

By K.T. Kumaran

“We cannot always assure the future of our friends; we have a better chance of assuring our future if we remember who our friends are,” is the mind of the doyen of international diplomacy, Dr. Henry A. Kissinger.

For India in the midst of its emergence as a future global powerhouse and wanting to do that in a conflict free regional environment, the Tamils in the island nation off of its Southern tip are natural allies. In fact no other people in the region would look to India with such deep seeded close ties and affection. The umbilical connection of “Mother India” and “Eelam Tamils”, severed only in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

However, response to comments made by LTTE Theoretician to an Indian TV network calling for close relationship between India and LTTE on June 27th is largely negative from the government of India, Congress Party and to the editorials of the nations’ prominent dailies.

The responses are tragically addressing the “LTTE” as still being at the central issue and very little attention is being given to see that the implications of this estrangement policy is hurting all Tamils.

The Tamils in the island nation simply want their political rights and dignity. However, emotions are in the way of making rational decisions (rightfully perhaps) towards a new era. This eventually will hinder chances to bring about a speedy negotiated political settlement for Tamils of North-East.

Many primary political parties in Tamil Nadu have not forwarded responses as of yet. However, the tone seems to be set from elsewhere around India.

The Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) member, Mr Shantaram Naik is urging Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, “not to forgive the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the brutal killing of the late prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi.” Mr Naik, who is also a secretary of the All India Congress Committee and in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep, in a letter to Dr Singh is being quoted in the press, have said that “India and Indians are magnanimous in their approach over several issues, but not over an issue like the Rajiv Gandhi killing.”

In searching through the tenet of Henry A. Kissinger’s foreign policy realism, one would find that many a times he had said that nations act in their self-interest. Their diplomacy is driven not by emotion or abstract moral principle or past practice, but by the bedrock of mutual interest.

Even though some reports are indicating this as a “clever move” by LTTE leader Dr. Balasingham to confuse the people, the LTTE wouldn’t have been anticipating a fairy tale ending to this issue in the aftermath of the interview either. However, a dialogue on this basis has to take place for the mutual benefit of all those who yawn a peaceful settlement to the crisis in the island country. Especially important will be stand by Tamil Nadu in the coming months. But LTTE too will have to make several more actions that may be viewed favorably in the international arena. Gestures have to be made thinking “outside the box”.

Dr. Kissinger, as the 56th Foreign Secretary of the United States played a crucial role in the 1972 talks with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai that concluded with the “opening” of China and the formation of a new strategic anti-Soviet Sino–American alliance.

The Octogenarian Statesman, speaking recently on Iran developing Nuclear technology, emphasized, “Iran must realize that its national interest doesn’t conflict with ours. If the Iranian concern is security and development of their country, this is compatible with American interests.” Connecting to the global economy could soon make it a regional economic powerhouse, comparable to South Korea he argued.

The struggle by Tamil people for political rights in the island nation is nothing new to India. It was a birth defect, starting from the disfranchisement of the tea plantation workers at a stroke of a pen by the government of Sri Lanka’s first Prime Minister D.S. Senanyake.

Colombo has gone thru many a facades of leadership, from SWRD Bandaranaike, Junius Richard Jayawardane, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge and now Mahinda Rajapakse. In each occasion except during the unfortunate ‘estrangement’ period while CBK was in office, India was/will be checkmated one way or the other, with the Tamils islandwide shouldering the brunt of the consequences.

For India, there is no compelling reason to put full faith in Colombo that fails to uphold pluralism and secularism and virtually has no separation of religion and state in its day to day governing; the continuing shadow war targeting civilians and systematic drive away of Tamils from Trincomalee for example are by design in the long run would pave Colombo to navigate freely in the ocean and chose its allies and future destiny.

But in India, “it is not an absence of religions but the presence of religious pluralism,'’ is the concept of secularism, according to her nominee for the UN Secretary General, Shashi Tharoor. Tamils of the island too are the kind thats enthralled in the song of Tamil poet of the Pre-Christinan Sangham era Kaniyan Poongundranar’s “Yaathum Oore, Yaavarum Kelir” which the renowned Catholic Tamil Scholar Rev Fr. Xavier Thaninayagam translated as “All the world is my world, all humanity is my fraternity”.

Addressing the United Nations in 1980, former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi provided a sense of pride to the Tamil people all over the world when she quoted these memorable lines of Kaniyan Poonggundranaar.

The amity of the Tamils of the island is in line with India’s vision of emerging as an economic powerhouse. The only country with a vast ocean named after it, sure deserves to have this century named after her too.

Still take another example, the 40th President of the USA, President Ronald Reagan, calling Libya as a “pariah nation” and hence bringing the Tamil word “Pariah” into the American political lexicon. This happened in the aftermath of a 1988 terrorist bombing of Panam Airlines over Lockerbie, Scotland which killed 270 people including many Americans.

Families of some victims still being opposed, Washington conducted several years of secret negotiations, and few weeks ago, full diplomatic ties have been established between the two countries. Many mutual interests are being touted between the countries, starting from access to oil fields.

Every situation around the world of course is different.

It remains to be seen if the LTTE Theoretician Dr. Balasingham’s move is a pinnacle of his astuteness. The LTTE leader at many times has outsmarted rivals at the negotiating table by his wit and vigor, the very latest being at the Chateau de Bossey past Spring.

May be he is taking cue from Dr. Henry A. Kissinger in being “out of the box”.

Based on just opened publication by the National Security Archive, Dr. Kissinger as s a diplomatic emissary was almost “recklessly frank - gossiping, teasing, wheedling and flattering”.

Other: Henry Kissinger - The Nobel Prize for 1973