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By Dr.Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

Velupillai Pirapaharan has managed yet again to shock and even awe with the air strike on the Katunayake air base, even though the talk about a Tiger air capability has been around for some time. According to a former Indian intelligence chief, the LTTE has had this capability for some nine years. The question is as to whether this air strike alters the balance of power, militarily, politically and psychologically.

That the LTTE pulled off the attack begs a host of questions regarding the detection of the aircraft and as to why they were not pursued and destroyed before the attack or after it. There is to be yet another commission to look into this and its findings may well go the way of all commission findings, gathering dust or disappearing into the ether.

Success of aerial attacks

The attack also begs the question about the reported success of the ceaseless aerial pounding of the Wanni on the grounds of destroying LTTE military capability and its air strip in particular. It would seem that despite these bombing raids in which we are told no civilians were hit, no air strip was hit either.

Or is it the case that LTTE air strips are like algae – they just keep proliferating?

Finally there is the comment of the Indian intelligence official quoted in a local broadsheet that the LTTE has had an air capability for the last nine years. Mr Raman, former head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is further quoted as saying that this has been the case “without the Sri Lankan intelligence having the least idea about its location and capability.” Did Indian intelligence know the answers to these questions and if they did, why did they not share them with their Sri Lankan allies and counterparts?

No doubt, the air strike boosts the morale of the LTTE, its supporters and sympathisers. For some time now, the news from the battlefield has not been jolly – the LTTE has been on the defensive, tactical or strategic retreats notwithstanding, the east has been a debacle whichever way you cut it. Therefore there was a need to remind all and sundry that the LTTE had not lost its ability to at least surprise and by doing so upset the status quo as far as the balance of power is concerned.

Impact on economy

Moreover, there was a need to do something about the government’s air superiority which gives the government a decided edge in military terms and is also seen as a key source of death and destruction by the civilian population. In addition, the air strike is bound to have an impact on tourism and the economy in general – how much of an impact is yet to be seen. However, a number of questions arise.

Was the air strike a success? The LTTE has served notice re air capability. It has demonstrated it and thereby revealed some, if not the entire nature of that capability. Consequently, the surprise factor is exhausted and presumably the air force will be ready for them the next time, whenever that may be.

This is not something that can be replicated. No encores for this one and clearly a case of bad planning and poor execution if the dress rehearsal turns out to be the command performance. In terms of actual destruction the damage was minimal – the ability of the air force to pound the Wanni, and at will, is still in tact. The air strike could be more chutzpah than El Alamein as far as consequences go.

More death and destruction

And what is to follow? What will? In all likelihood more bombing of LTTE controlled territory by the air force, more death, destruction and misery for civilians. Were this to be a flash in the pan by the LTTE and not a harbinger of things to come, the government will be further emboldened in its belief that the LTTE has lost the plot and is irreversibly in decline.

Put another way, the LTTE has set itself a hard act to follow and if it does not and convincingly, it will reveal the relative paucity of its options and initiative in the current balance of forces.

Politically, an attack of this nature provides an opening for the opposition to question the government of the day on its stewardship of national security, particularly when the government of the day takes great pride in this and has taken a host of measures including the passage of additional and draconian emergency regulations in the name of national security.

The Leader of the Opposition writing to the Prime Minister calling for a special parliamentary debate on national security, confirms this. No doubt the debate will be characterised by accusations and counter accusations of what happened once the CFA was signed and what happened thereafter.

Nine years in the making

Neither side can absolve themselves of responsibility – if Mr Raman is correct the LTTE has had this capability for nine years, i.e. since 1998 or thereabouts. This precedes the official declaration of the War for Peace.

It is welcome news that the main opposition party is stirring and active. Stirred and stirring though is not enough. There needs to be a concerted campaign based on a critique of what is transpiring under the Rajapakse dispensation and a constructive alternative. Or else it will be more of the same.

From this perspective, the most damaging consequence of the LTTE air strike is as mentioned, the worsening of the plight of the civilian population and the further postponement in the context of protracted conflict of any proposals for a political settlement.

The air strike will reinforce the precedence and primacy accorded to national security considerations narrowly defined and cast the “political” in terms of the government’s ability to counter and destroy this recently revealed military capability of the LTTE.

The usual arguments will be used to dismiss talk about political proposals on the grounds that to do so, would smack of appeasement and capitulation in the face of the fledgling LTTE air force.

The war is set to continue. The old military objectives continue to be the new ones too – on the one hand there is a capability to be destroyed and on the other, to be used to destroy.

Somewhere over this horrible rainbow of war may lie another mutually hurting stalemate, even though the protagonists think in terms of victory and defeat. And beyond that hopefully a lasting peace, and not of the grave. [themorningleader.lk]

By B.Raman

The Sri Lankan Government has imposed a total black-out on the losses suffered by it from the conventional air strike launched by the Tamil Eelam Air Force (TAF) of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the air base of the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) at Katunayake outside Colombo on March 26,2007. The air base is located adjoining the international airport. The black-out is meant to hamper any damage assessment by the media and other analysts – from Sri Lanka as well as outside. One has to,therefore, depend on source reports.

2. The only information which the Government has given out is that two helicopters were damaged. It has tried to create an impression as if there was no damage to its fighter aircraft. Source reports, on the other hand, indicate that the TAF air strike has severely damaged, if not destroyed, at least a half of the aircraft holdings of the SLAF. The truth will be known only if and when the SLAF resumes its operations in the Tamil areas. If the Government’s contention that there was no damage to its fighter aircraft is correct, then there would be no impact on its air operations in the Tamil areas. If the source reports’ contention is correct, one would see a marked decrease in the SLAF’s air operations in the days to come.

3. The TAF’s air strike was well-planned and equally well-executed. It was a night operation taking advantage of the weak capability of the SLAF for night operations. It was a precision attack, which carefully avoided causing any casualty or damage in the international airport, which could have roused international ire. There were no civilian casualties—-targeted or collateral. As a result, it would not be possible to characterise the attack as an act of terrorism. It was pure and simple a conventional air strike. The bombs targeted the hangar or hangars at the base inside which the aircraft of the SLAF are normally parked at night. Three SLAF personnel were killed and about 20 injured. It is not yet known whether they were the maintenance people or whether any of them were pilots. Maintenance casualties can be easily replaced, but not pilot casualties.

4.Some worrisome questions arise. Even professional pilots of a State Air Force need regular flying practice. You can’t just assemble or take out an aircraft from a hide-out and fly out on a bombing mission. Where were the TAF pilots doing their flying practice? How come the Air Force intelligence set-ups of Sri Lanka as well as India missed detecting these training flights of the TAF? One needs fuel for the aircraft. From the way the LTTE has been warning of more air attacks, it seems to have an adequate reserve of fuel. Where from it got the fuel? Hopefully, not from India. Since April last year, when the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse started using the SLAF, the latter has been claiming that it had repeatedly bombed the air strip of the TAF. When an air strip is bombed, it takes time to repair it. How did the LTTE manage to repair it without any problem? Or, does it have another air strip, which has not come to the notice of the Sri Lankan intelligence?

5. The air strike was a daring operation. The TAF aircraft were air-borne for a little over two hours.There was every danger of the aircraft being intercepted and destroyed by the SLAF. The fact that the LTTE leadership decided to face this risk speaks of a certain desperation behind the decision to launch the air strike. One could detect a similar desperation in its efforts to smuggle material required for improvised explosive devices (IEDS) from Tamil Nadu. Since November,2006, a number of consignments of ball bearings, aluminium and similar material intended for smuggling to the LTTE-controlled areas have been intercepted by the Tamil Nadu Police and the Coast Guard. “The Hindu” of March 24,2007, has reported that one of the arrested persons admitted during the interrogation that one consignment had managed to reach Sri Lanka. (see item titled ” Two Held in Iron Balls Seizure Case” on Page Eight). Two conclusions emerge: First, the LTTE is so desperate for replenishments from Tamil Nadu that it is prepared to face the risk of the arrest of some of its collaborators in Tamil Nadu. Second, if one consignment managed to avoid detection and interception and reach the LTTE, there is a strong possibility of more consignments having reached the LTTE. This reveals gaps in our counter-LTTE security measures.

6.This desperation has arisen from the LTTE’s fears that the Sri Lankan Armed Forces were planning to launch an offensive in the Northern Province after having ejected the LTTE from nearly 85 per cent of the total territory in the Eastern Province. If the SL Armed Forces score similar successes in the Northern Province, that could deal a severe blow to the LTTE’s political objectives. LTTE spokesmen have been repeatedly hinting that any offensive in the North would lead to a blood-bath in areas outside the Eastern and Northern Provinces.The Sri Lankan Armed Forces and their Foreign Office were treating these warnings casually as the dying gasp of the LTTE. Through its daring air strike, the LTTE has conveyed a credible message that it may be down, but not out. It still has a lot of daring, fight and innovative ability left in it.

7.The Sri Lankan Armed Forces would be stupid to over-estimate the significance of their successes in the Eastern Province and under-estimate the LTTE’s capabilities in the Northern Province. The successes in the Eastern Province were largely due to the role played by Karuna and his men, and the ruthless use of the SLAF and the heavy artillery of Pakistani origin. Karuna is a former commander of the LTTE from the Batticaloa District of the Eastern Province, who deserted from the LTTE in March 2004 due to differences with Prabakaran. The LTTE did not consider it necessary to use the TAF to prevent the set-backs in the Eastern Province. It is facing a serious shortage of anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition, but still has some, which have been kept in the reserve for use in the North and to prevent a decapitation strike against Prabakaran. The Sri Lankan Army will have to operate in the North without the support of Karuna and his men, who are detested there as Sinhalese quislings. Moreover, the LTTE’s soldiers will be fighting in their own area with which they are familiar. Any operations in the North will see the LTTE fighting ferociously—-possibly making full use of its air and anti-aircraft capability. It will hit out against the Sinhalese in the rest of Sri Lanka. It is not doing so presently due to fears of a backlash against the Tamils living in the Sinhalese majority areas, but a desperate LTTE will not be inhibited by such considerations.

8. The demonstrated air attack capability of the LTTE poses immediate, short, medium and long-term threats to Sri Lanka and medium and long-term threats to India. The first immediate threat is to the security of President Rajapakse and other VIPs. The ability to use an aircraft—either conventionally or through a suicide mission— will enable the LTTE to circumvent access control measures.Without effective access control, there is no effective VIP security. The second immediate threat is psychological—the negative impact on foreign tourists and investors. This impact will be enhanced if the TAF carries out attacks on economic targets.

9. The third immediate impact is also psychological on the minds of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Prabakaran is stated to be a voracious reader. He reads everything that is available on guerilla warfare, covert actions etc. A favourite quote of his from one of these books is:” Those, who dare, win”. It is said that this quote is exhibited in all training centres of the LTTE. The TAF dared on the morning of March 26 against tremendous odds. It succeeded. There was elation among the Sri Lankan Tamils all over the world. Many champagne bottles were broken by members of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. An added reason for this elation is stated to be the fact that all the TAF pilots are from the diaspora. One could see a fresh flow of volunteers to join the LTTE from Sri Lanka itself as well as from the diaspora. And a fresh flow of funds.

10. To neutralise these psychological impacts, the the SLAF has to demonstrate quickly that its capability and morale have not been affected. Can it do so? It is very important.

11.The short, medium and long-term threats to Sri Lanka will arise if as a result of this demonstrated air capability of the TAF, the SLAF loses its present air superiority. If that happens, the SL Armed Forces and the LTTE will be more evenly matched on the ground than they are today. That means continuing bloodshed and the danger of Tamil Eelam becoming a reality one day.The statements of the close advisers of Rajapakse before the air raid including those of his Foreign Minister show considerable naivete. They seem to think the LTTE can be defeated militarily. The only instances in recent history where terrorist organisations have collapsed without achieving any of their stated objectives are those of the Khalistanis and of the Western ideological groups such as the German Red Army Faction. They collapsed or withered away because they had no support from the people for whose cause they claimed to be fighting. The LTTE has considerable support from the Sri Lankan Tamils—in Sri Lanka as well as abroad. Unless they are weaned away from the LTTE through appropriate political measures, a military victory is doubtful. Repeated bombing raids by the SLAF on Sri Lankan Tamils in order to intimidate them are not the way of winning over the Tamils. Barring the US, which has been heavily using air strikes against the Neo Taliban in Afghanistan and the terrorists and resistance-fighters in Iraq, without any significant success, and Israel, which did so in the Lebanon in July last year,no other country in the world uses air strikes for counter-insurgency operations in such a ruthless manner as the Rajapakse Government has been doing. At the least the US and Israel have been bombing foreign people in foreign territory, but the Rajapakse Government has been bombing from air its own people in its own territory.

12. There is no immediate security threat to India. The medium and long-term threats will arise from the likelihood of copy-cat terrorism and the LTTE one day using it against an Indian target. India has any number of terrorist and insurgent organisations active in different parts of the country. Some of them might be tempted to emulate the LTTE. Successful development and use of an independent air strike capability by a terrorist organisation is largely conditional on its having territorial control over the rural areas. Purely urban terrorist organisations would find it difficult to develop an independent air capability. In India, the Naxalites (Maoists) have effective control over large parts of rural areas. One has to be careful about them.

13. India is no stranger to air terrorism. The plane hijackings by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Khalistanis, the blowing-up of the Kanishka aircraft of Air India by the Babbar Khalsa of Canada and the clandestine air drop of weapons by a plane manned by a mercenary crew in Purulia were instances of air terrorism. In the early 1990s, a member of the Babbar Khalsa trained by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence had stated during his interrogation that the ISI had asked him to join the Mumbai Flyting Club, take a trainer aircraft up and crash it on the Bombay High Oil platform. Such instances of air terrorism can be prevented by effective physical security on the ground.

14. But when an insurgent or a terrorist organisation acquires an independent air strike capability, the task of countering it becomes much more difficult. Preventive intelligence is an effective way, but it totally failed in the case of the LTTE. It was able to hoodwink the intelligence agencies of many countries—including those of India, Sri Lanka and the European countries— get its pilots recruited from the diaspora and trained in foreign training institutions —like Al Qaeda did– and smuggle the aircraft in dismantled forms to the areas controlled by it.

15. The LTTE should not be allowed to retain its TAF. The matter should be taken up in the UN Security Council under Resolution 1373 and an ultimatum issued to the LTTE to surrender its planes to observers appointed by the UNSC. If it fails do so, the bank accounts of all members of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora suspected or known to be funding the LTTE should be frozen as a first step to make it see reason. If it continues to be defiant, other measures have to be considered like knocking them out. These measures have to be combined with pressure on the Rajapakse Government to initiate a political process towards a federal solution. Unilateral action only against the LTTE without simultaneous action against the Rajapakse Government or vice versa will prove counter-productive. [saag.org]

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies. E-mail:itschen36@gmail.com )

by M.S. Ismail

The protracted armed conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has drastically escalated since the beginning of 2006. An estimated 4,000 people have since been killed and over 275,000 internally displaced in that period. This is in addition to more than 500,000 uprooted earlier in the conflict and by the tsunami of December 2004.

The areas mostly affected by the renewed war are Batticaloa, Jaffna, Mannar, Trincomalee and Vavunia. Apart from the large number of internally displaced, around 18,000 Tamils have been forced to find refuge in India since January 2006. Both sides to the conflict are accused of deliberately targeting civilians and committing grave human rights violations with impunity. The government and the LTTE have severely restricted access to the conflict areas under their control, thus leaving more than half of the newly displaced people and other affected populations without access to basic needs.

At this present moment the eastern district of Batticaloa is becoming a region of internally displaced persons (IDPs). More than 35% of Batticaloa’s Tamil population of 422, 674 have now been displaced. In the last three months alone there has been a movement of 145,000 IDPs within the district. In addition, approximately 30,000 Tamils from eastern Trincomalee have sought refuge in the district. However there is a deliberate effort by the government to minimize the figures.

The latest reports coming out from Batticaloa are alarming; there have been numerous serious human rights abuses committed against these IDPs: forcible return and resettlement in unsafe areas, using them as human shields, mass arrests under emergency regulations, child recruitment, abductions, involuntary disappearances, sexual abuse, political killings, torture, etc. The Government has curtailed relief organisations’ access to IDP points in order to cover up the human catastrophe that is unfolding in the east. UN relief agencies state that the IDPs do not have shelter, food and water, and are living under catastrophic hygienic conditions and suffering from fever, diarrhea, coughs and various skin rashes. Aid agencies have also warned that they are on the verge of running out of food and the ever-increasing IDP influx in the eastern province has already caused a severe shortage of shelter materials. Further overcrowding, they fear, may cause major outbreaks of epidemics. The situation of the IDPs is further complicated by the active involvement of a third armed actor, the Karuna Faction, which split from the LTTE in March 2004. The Karuna Faction, with the assistance of the government security forces, also carries out abductions, political killings and child recruitment in IDP camps while pretending to do resettlement work.

The Sri Lankan IDP problem is unique because of the nature of multiple displacements. Many of the current Tamil IDP families have been on the run on and off for the last 25 years and the younger generation of this population has experienced for several months a return with a vengeance of intensive air-strikes and indiscriminate shelling of their welfare centres, mass massacres, disappearances and forced recruitment. Some of these youngsters were born in refugee camps and rotated in between camps several times within a year. For this community nothing has been permanent since 1985 other than the hostilities, abuses and atrocities committed by the government, LTTE, Karuna group and other paramilitary groups. In the recent past, the Sri Lankan government has been moving the IDPs by force to the areas that they have newly captured from LTTE. Most of these areas are full of landmines and do not provide the means to re-build livelihoods for returnees as a consequence of the heavy militarization process. It is also alarming that government officers and INGOs have to consult a government backed armed group (Karuna Faction) on resettlement and relief activities thus forcing even experienced UN bodies like UNHCR to withdraw/ reduce their involvement with IDPs.

The human right situation in Sri Lanka is deteriorating day by day. According to the Minority Rights Group International report (released on 20th March 2007) Sri Lanka has jumped 47th places since the previous year and is now in the top 20 list of countries where minority communities are most under threat. Minority Tamils and Muslims are not only caught in the cross fire and made homeless overnight but are specifically targeted for grave human rights abuses including killings, abductions and disappearances. In the last two months (January and February 07) alone, 388 people have disappeared. Citizens in the northernmost part of the country have been completely cut off from rest of the country due to the closure of the A9 road in last September. In Jaffna alone, the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission reports that every three hours one person is abducted and/or killed. Eye witnesses’ accounts from Mannar reveal that LTTE cadres have been forcefully recruiting young women from IDP camps. Some of these IDP women, who have dared to resist, have been beaten up and stripped naked by LTTE women cadres. IDP receiving points are the breeding ground for all forms of violations against minority communities by all parties that are involved in this dirty war and it is crucial that there should be an international mechanism put in place to monitor IDP condition and assure some form of security to this most vulnerable population of the north and east.

The Rajapakse government has been militarily supported by the USA, China, Pakistan and India in its war. While some countries have been becoming more critical of the government’s human rights record, the support for the war against ‘terrorism’ has given the government the confidence to continue with the war. The government has been proactively blocking the entry of any foreign missions, including the proposed visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, which has been postponed twice; and since the EU countries are branded as supporters of the LTTE their visas to undertake even humanitarian activities have been denied or purposely delayed. Recently, security forces have been accused of killing humanitarian workers of Action Faim who were killed in execution style in August 2006, which resulted in the fear that the limited international presence in most of the needy and war torn areas being further reduced. For local human rights advocates most spaces for agitation against the war have been completely blocked and local human right defenders are constantly hunted down. The liberal media has been silenced either by killing vocal anti-war journalists or arresting them on counterfeited terrorism charges.

The current government has introduced various forms of ‘counterterrorism’ measures. These measures have been used against the minority Tamils, specially against the IDPs. There have been mass arrests from IDP camps and at crossing points and the victims have been locked up in undisclosed locations without any charges or access to lawyers. The government says the detainees are militants and have surrendered voluntarily. The main counter terrorism measures have given unlimited authority to the police and the military to arrest and detain suspects. It has also widened the culture of impunity with the government-backed paramilitary groups carrying out human rights abuses including abductions for ransom even in the capital city Colombo.

In Sri Lanka today, raising human rights concerns have become unpleasant and scary in the context of the ongoing war that the government intends to win at any cost. Simply put, the governments of USA, China, Pakistan and India (through its omissions and commissions) are encouraging this war against the Sri Lankan minorities. Concerned civil society groups in these countries must help us stop this madness.

Due to recent eruption of violence in the eastern part of Sri Lanka , 72,000 people have been displaced from Vaharai, Sampoor and Muthur. Among the displaced 17700 are children of whom 10500 are school going. 41,500 (1160 families) people are in 61 refugee camps. The rest are in temporary shelters, under trees and with well wishers. 15,000 people are still trapped in Vaharai and undergoing immense hardships. These people are facing a major humanitarian crisis much worse than the tsunami. They have been deprived of food, proper shelter, basic medical facilities and education. Please donate generously to alleviate this humanitarian crisis.

Divisional Secretary, Manmunai North, requested Ramakrishna Mission to provide food and medical facilities to the displaced people in Manmunai area. We started the Relief Work on 25th Dec 06. We have taken up 6 refugee camps since 5th Jan 2007. We are providing breakfast, lunch and dinner for 3855 people. Estimated cost per day is about Rs.400,000/- (Approx US$ 4000). Approx LKR 116/- per head per day.

We have already treated 1500 patients in the refugee camps and are also planning to cover more camps in the future. We need Rs. 36 Million (US$ 330,000) for 3 months to do the relief work.

We will be grateful to you and all your friends who would come forward to help us to continue the relief work by contributing liberally by cash or in kind.

Please visit our websites: Ramakrishna Mission Sri Lanka:

Ramakrishna Mission, Ceyon Branch

Ramakrishna Mission, Batticaloa

for more information about the activities of Ramakrishna Mission (Ceylon Branch).

May the Lord shower His choicest blessing on you all.

With love and prayers,
Yours in the Lord,

Swami Jnanamayananda

RAMAKRISHNA MISSION, 40, Ramakrishna Road, Colombo 6 .

Phone – 2588253 & 5513805; Fax – 2361438
Email: rkmcey@eureka.lk , rkmcey@gmail.com ,

Bank Transfers to:
Standard Chartered Bank, Wellawatta Branch, Account No. 18-6072615-01, Swift Code – SCBL LK LX

Ramakrishna Mission
Ramakrishnapuram, Kalladi Uppodai, Batticaloa.
Phone 065 2222752, 060 2651269 &

Relief Work—Swami Jnanamayananda 077 3269401
Email – rkmbat@eureka.lk

Bank Transfers to
BANK OF CEYLON , BATTICALOA
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 2698511
Swift code : BCEYLKLY

By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

The people of Vailikamam North were forced to leave their houses in 1990. Valikamam North comprises 16% of Jaffna peninsula. 165 square kilometers have been declared as High Security Zone. 85,000 inhabitants were forced to seek shelter in welfare camps. They have been living in welfare camps since 16 th of June 1990. The middle class people who could afford, have deiced to rent houses in other areas after spending some time in the welfare camps. None of them had been to their villages since they left in 1990. They tried several times to get permission to go, but permission was not granted. Nobody knows whether their houses are intact or destroyed.

The High Security Zone covers the villages- Palay, Kattuvan, Mylitty, Vasavilan, Valali, Kurumbasitty, Oorani, Kankesanthurai, Kerimalai, Maavittapuram, Kollankalatty, Pannalia, Veemenkamam, Vilisitty, Potkalanthambai, Senthankulam, Valithoondal, Palai, and Kilanai.40% of Valikamam North people are vegetarians including the fishermen.

Parameswaran has written his experience of has been lived in Keerimalai for twenty eight years since his birth. The book is named “Vali North: Paradise Life and Camp Life”- A Nostalgia Story. The book touches the warmth and cherishing memories of Keerimali and Maavittapuram- “Benares of Sri Lanka. Parameswaran shares the missed opportunities for the Internally Displaced Persons on Valikamam North, impact of the conflict and cherishing memories of long stretch of sandy beaches in North.

Navaratnam Parameswaran has written his maiden book named “Appu, Aachchi Aanda Mannil” in 2006.

“Vali North: Paradise Life and Camp Life” was launched at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism auditorium on March 18 th 2007. Dr. Mahim Mendis, Head of the Department of Social Studies at Open University presided over the launch.

[Dr. Mahim Mendis, Head of Department of Social Studies at Open University]

“People who were born in North were denied of their rights. People of Jaffna lived with the ethnic conflict. They have suffered so much during the war. The journalists of Jaffna are the best with knowledge of the situation. More people should write about their experience in Jaffna.It took 40 years for me to visit Jaffna. That was my first visit during the peace time. I went to Jaffna by A9. The A9 is closed now. I do not know when I will be able to go to Jaffna again. We, people in South are in solidarity with the people in the North” observed Dr. Mahim Mendis in his opening remarks.

News Editor of Lankadeepa W.G.Gunaratne spoke next at the launch.

[News Editor of Lankadeepa W.G.Gunaratne]

“I had the privilege of taking a dip in Keerimalai. It’s a touching memory for me. Keerimalai is a unique place because we can have a sea bath, sun bath and spring water bath at one place” said W.G. Gunaratne.

Deputy Director, Media Resources Centre of Sri Lanka Press Institute Kalasuri A. Sivanesaselven shared his experience.

[Kalsuri A. Sivanesaselvan, Deputy Director, Media Resource Centre of Sri Lanka Press Institute]

“The journalists fear for their lives now. They are forced to be silent. Journalists in North and East are restricted” said Kalasuri A. Sivanesaselvan.

Vasana Wikremasena,Executive Director of Centre for Intergrated Communication Research and Advocacy reviewed “Vali North: Paradise Life and Camp Life”- A Nostalgia Story.

[Vasana Wikremasena, Executive Director of Centre for Intergrated Communication Research and Advocacy reviewed the book]

“The people of Jaffna consume toddy to cure chicken pox. It has a medicinal value. The people in the South are not aware of this. The soil of Jaffna is fertile. They cultivated onion, chillie, tomato and grapes. But now they are living in welfare camps. The journalists have to write more about the suffering of the people” observed Vasana Wikremasena.

Navaratnam Parameswaran shared some thoughts with the audience at the book launch.

[Navaratnam Parameswaran]

“My mother told me that, late Mahathma Gandhi’s ashes were brought to Keerimalai, and immersed. Keerimalai is a holy place and it attracted a lot tourists earlier. The access to Keerimalai is denied now. I am yearning to go to Keerimalai, take a dip in the sea, and sleep under the Margosa tree in Keerimalai Madam (small hall) while the mild sea breeze passes by” notes Navaratnam Parameswaran.

[The first copy of "Vali North: Paradise Life and Camp Life" was handed over to the Editor of Sudar Oli newspaper Vithyatharan by the authour Navaratnam Parameswaran]

[Audience at the book launch]

Source: humanityashore

Contact: Dushi.Pillai@gmail.com

By PK Balachandran

With an armed conflict on for the last two decades, Sri Lankans may seem to be irreconcilably divided on ethnic lines.

But Sri Lankan cricket has shown, time and again, that an all-embracing, multi-ethnic Sri Lankan identity does exist, and is a force to reckon with.

This was strikingly evident when Team Lanka took on Team India and gave the latter a drubbing in the World Cup match on Friday.

Tamils, whether of cosmopolitan Colombo or the war-battered Tamil-dominated North-East, whether indigenous or of Indian origin, rooted for Team Lanka, almost to a man.

Some of them were pro-LTTE politicians!

The across-the-ethnic board support for Team Lanka buried the insidious but popular myth that the frustrated Tamil minority roots for India in a Sri Lanka-India cricket match.

To set the record straight, the Tamils’ attachment to Team Lanka is not because it has in it, Muthiah Muralitharan, a Tamil.

Quite unexpectedly, nobody mentioned that he or she was supporting Sri Lanka because Murali was playing for it.

“With all the differences, when it comes to the national cricket team, Sri Lankans, irrespective of ethnicity, feel very much part of the larger Sri Lankan family.

This was amply evident when Muralitharan, along with some Sinhalese cricketers, went to Jaffna.

They were mobbed,” said A Kandappah, a Colombo-based Tamil businessman of Indian origin.

Sukumar Rockwood, who had worked for the Red Cross and is very familiar with the conditions in the war zone, said: “I am a Jaffna man, a Tamil, a Christian, and of Indian origin, but I am very loyal to Sri Lanka.

In my view, this land and its people are beautiful. I guess it is the politicians who spoil things.”

“We are not Indians to support India,” retorted Shamini, Sukumar’s wife, who is a Hindu Tamil.

“In these matters the country is the thing,” she said.

S Kishore, an MP of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and a human rights activist, said unhesitatingly: “I have always supported Sri Lanka, because I am a Sri Lankan.”

This sentiment was echoed by Sashi Kumar, a Tamil journalist in the eastern district of Trincomalee, who is covering the war in the North-East.

“Even the LTTE feels that sports should be viewed differently from politics,” said N Vithiatharan, a Tamil from Trincomalee, who edits the Tamil daily Sudar Oli.

“In 1996, during the finals which Sri Lanka won, the LTTE had set up TV sets in its camps, and the cadres were cheering the Sri Lankan team!

All this in the midst of war and the exodus of Tamils from Jaffna,” he recalled.

According to Vithiatharan, sports bodies in the North East are active participants in the affairs of the Sri Lankan Cricket Board, even determining who will be president!

But doubtless, there are India supporters. A resident of Jaffna said: “The younger generation here supports Sri Lanka, but the older generations have a soft corner for India!”

“Bad experience with the Sri Lankan state and the long war are reasons for many North-Eastern Tamils feeling alienated,” explained a pro-government Tamil politician.

Currently, the mood in the LTTE stronghold of Kilinochchi is probably anti-Sri Lanka, given the intensity of the military confrontation with the Sri Lankan forces.

A cadre who answered the phone in the LTTE’s media unit said: “I support India like other people here.”

Some Tamil families are divided. “I am an India supporter, but my wife supports Sri Lanka. She taunts me by calling me a traitor!” said a Tamil professional in Colombo.

Summing up, the head of the Confederation of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) Jeevan Thiagarajah, a Jaffna Tamil, said: “Bluntly put, there is no ethnic conflict as such among the common people of Sri Lanka.

The ethnic conflict here is brewed by a small group and is kept going by the same group. At the ground level the Sri Lankan identity is intact.” [Courtesy: Hindustan Times]