Sri Lanka's Beguiling Grip On New Delhi
By Athithan Jayapalan
28 March, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Countercurrents.org
More than three decades have passed since the first massive wave of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka fled to the shores of Tamil Nadu (T.N.) after the 1983 pogrom which saw thousands of Tamils massacred with the tacit support of the state. Tens of thousands were made homeless within a week, which has ever since became known collectively as the Black July.
More than four years have passed since the last days of the military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the shores of Mullaithivu in which Tamil civilians were deliberatley targetted by government bombardment. The final phase became known as Mullivaikal denoting the narrow coastel strip where hundred thousands of civilians where clamped together with the rebels. The conclusion of the war caused severe loss of life and property to the Tamil population and have collectively victimized them. Joseph Rayappu, a reknown local human rights activist and also the Bishop of Mannar have reported that more than 146 000 Tamils remain unaccounted for til this day. A U.N. internal report elaborated by Charles Petrie in 2012 examining U.N agency on the ground suggest that more than 70 000 perished in the final phase of the war (1). There is mounting evidence of systematic and deliberate killings of Tamil civilians e.g. the relentless bombardement of officially designated No Fire Zones by government forces and also the deliberate obstruction of food, water and medicine into the war zone. Despite this the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) maintains its "zero casualty" discourse and refutes any allegations against it military forces. This was seen most vividly during the CHOGM held in Colombo in mid November. Recently the GOSL also produced a hoax documentary called "The Last Phase" which follows the zero casulty discourse and blames the LTTE for atrocities towards the civilians.
Nevertheless thirty years of state sponsored terrorism and genocide have coloured the lives of the Tamils of North-East of Sri Lanka (Eezham) and it seems nowhere in the near future to end.
All these years India has been rather apathetic in its approach, though it did intervene from time to time. Such involvement was often to the detriment Eezham Tamils such as during the brutal occupation of the Tamil homeland between 1987-1990 by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). At this point when there is increasingly disturbing reports of the oppressive military occupation in the Tamil homeland, the Island Tamils have against all odds expected India to enact pressure on Colombo as New Delhi holds the power to influence the affairs in Sri Lanka. Instead it continues to abide by Colombo's pretensions of fellowship and the baseless promises of reconciliation for Tamils in the North-East. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decision to not attend the Commonwealth Head of Government Meet (CHOGM) held in Colombo is a sign of displeasure over the pace of reconcilation, but he was effectively compelled to pull out as a result of the sustained pressure from Tamil Nadu (T.N).
Fooling the elephant
There are two significant elements in which constitute Sri Lanka's appeasal and hold on India : 1) The 13th Amendment and the well being of Tamils in North-East 2) Concessions of economic importance and geo-politics. Regarding the former, Colombo's deceptions are well known, according to their discourse the North-East is undergoing development, and for unknown reasons the Indian Central Government keeps content with this fairy tale and pours in money into the project in pursuit of their own expansionist goals. The rights of the Tamils are merely treated as a formality in which to secure the implementations of demands does not seem to be a necessity. After more than four years, India's promised help and Sri Lanka's talk of prosperity seems to have failed its destined sail towards the North-East. Insetad it has become one the heaviest military occupied territories on the globe since the end of the war. It is reported to be one soldier present per five civilians in the North. According to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M.A Sumanitharan more than one third of the land (7000 sq. km of 18 880 sq. km) in the North-East has been forcefully appropriated by the military, clearly indicating a hegemonic militarization alienating Tamils from their homeland (2). Neither is he alone in his warning. On the eve of the CHOGM Australian Green party Senator Lee Rihannon after conducting a fact finding mission to the North, reported that Tamils were being unlawfully detained, large tracts of their land appropriated by the military and that the army was exploiting vurnable Tamil females as "comfort women". For this she were forcefully detained for three hours and deported accused of breaching her visa regulation by meeting civic society members in the north. Upon return she issued a statement eliciting that " CHOGM's presence in Sri Lanka risks becoming an award for a regime accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This international body should not allow itself to become a propeganda tool for the Rajapakse regime ".
Another alarming process in the efforts taken to alter the socio-cultural composition of the Tamil regions. Over the course of counter-insurgency warfare countless indingenous temples and churches were destroyed but under the military occupation hundreds of Buddhist shrines have mushroomed since 2009 (3) to accommodate the only Buddhists in the region- the growing number of Sinhala soldiers and settlers. The prospects of livelihood of the local Tamils have also been constrained, mainly due to the military land appropriation and also by the fact that a army is involved in agricultural cultivation and in vegetable retail with the help of government subsidies rendering the local farmers and markets uncompetetive (4). A repressive military occupation by the Sri Lankan state in the Tamil homeland shows no signs of reversing despite assurances given to the international community of reconciliation.
In such a context, the 13th Amendment formulated in 1987 as part of the Indo-Lankan accord and which has since been New Delhi's main pillar regarding Tamils' political rights, is incapable of representing their needs and is effectively insufficient and unrepresentative. The amendment which has become the focal point both in Indian national media and within Sri Lanka ahead of the september elections in the Northern Provincial Council ( NPC) and the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) sought to provide Tamils and their disjointed homeland two provincial councils with land and police power. But devolution by investing powers in a provincial council is in practice futile given the unitary and centralized nature of the Sri Lankan state. The Parliament in Colombo, the executive president or the military governors can override its authority and superimpose decisions whenever deemed necessary. For example the TNA secured a overwhelming majority in the NPC elections by winning 80 percentage of the votes and securing 32 out of 38 seats. It clearly indicated the collectrive will of Tamil people in rejecting the sovereignity of the GOSL as the election manfiesto was mandated on Tamil self-determinancy as the political solution to end militarization, wide spread repression and land alienation. Subsequently few days later the Supreme Court in Colombo briskly passed an order which deprived the provincial councils of land powers (5). Such actions clearly elucidate that central authorities want to alienate the Tamil representative from executing one of the main demands of the people; arresting military appropriation of civilian land and state aided Sinhala colonization.
The 13th amendment is then not a durable political solution to the national question nor a mechanism which can safeguard the Tamils nation and homeland from the chauvunistic politics of the state and the army.
Regarding the economic and geopolitical conditions, even as Palali air base has been given for joint operation with the Indian Air Force, and Indian companies have contracts to build power plants, tourist and business ventures in North-East, China has doubtlessly secured the giant's share. Throughout the island, China is involved in developing military installations, infrastructure, tourism and trade. China has secured the massive Hambantota harbour and its International City which it built. Recently China also completed the construction of a second international airport at Matale in the south.
As Delhi assists the small island nation state in its genocidal adventures against Tamils, GOSL milks India for support while entrenching China in the Indian Ocean. Recently it was reported that a Chinese nuclear submarine is circulating the oceans south of Sri Lanka (6). As President Rajapakse builds ties with the Indian officials, statues of Gandhi erected by the locals of Jaffna and Batticola to commemorate the Indian leader as well as their own Satyagraha agitations, have on numerous occasions been decapitated by the bastioned Sri Lankan military.
Despite such actions, New Delhi continues to court the GOSL. On february 13, President Rajapakse was given a hero's reception in Thirupathi and Bihar contrasting with demonstrations organized by Tamil movements protesting a war criminal's presence. In Thirupathi the Indian government facilitated Rajapakse to invoke divine blessings, while his government is involved in desecrating temples and eradicating the demographic and cultural composition of the Tamil homeland. It is high time the Indian people take a stand and exercise their influence on a basis of humanity or at the very least on behalf of their own national interest. There seems to be a false but persistent belief in centers of power in India that the Sri Lankan state is an ally.It is imperative for the Indian public to deconstruct the mystification which surround the relationship of its central government with the GOSL. Even the murderous attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy on T.N. fishermen, which over the past three decades is claimed to have cost more than 500 lives, is not a factor which compels New Delhi to reconsider its alliance with Colombo.
Tamil Nadu in Protest
T.N. is definetly the locus of solidarity for Eezham Tamils and their political cause in India where the LTTE enjoys the support of a large section of the people. There has been more or less a continuous agitation on behalf of Eezham Tamils since 2009, with unprecedented effects within the state. Indian electoral analysts were baffled, when the people of T.N. decimated the Congress out of their legislative assembly in the state elections of 2011. Local activists and the Naam Tamizhar movement in particular have prior to the election declared that they will wage a campaign against the Congress and the DMK due to what they understood as their apathy in relation to the unfolding of the massacres in North-East Sri Lanka.
National political commentators have previously stated that the Tamils care solely for issues of bread, water and milk, thus the state opression of Tamils just a stone's throw away from the shores of T.N. would not affect the voting pattern. To the contrary the sustained agitations mobilized by the students and the people of T.N. seem to have forced the state politicians to take note of the sentiments on the street. Both the state assembly resolutions passed unanimously in 2010 and 2013 were due to the constraints and awareness created by the civil disobedience campaigns. These pro-Eezham resolutions were not the result by the commitments of the populistic DMK and ADMK parties. Insetad they have had to accomodate the public sentiments in order to avoid "political sucide".
To ignore the ongoing student uprising as mere emotionalism and ethnic chauvinism is to be oblivious to a well informed collective consciousness which spreads across a substantial portion of the people galvanizing them into mobilization . The agitations have been manifested with intervals and with varying degrees but proves consistent as it have been mobilized throughout since 2009.Although not everyone in the state is involved (close to 70 million people) it has been materialized susbtanitial support and have cut through traditional markers of differantiation such as caste, religion and class. It has been reported that at least two hundred thousand students where on the streets during the peak of the agitations during the period of march-april 2013 (7).
The public political engagement in Tamil Nadu were the main cause of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to not attend the CHOGM. Such social processes should be a reminder to the national echelons of power that the sentiments of the people of T.N. is not be neglected, and neither should the inhuman atrocities suffered by the Tamils of North-East Sri Lanka. Doing so will simply crystallize apathy and discrimination which has already made a severe impact on the minds of the Tamil people.
Beside their systematic oppression of the Eezham Tamils the Sri Lankan state has also subjected the fishing communities of T.N. to brutalities. Since 1983 various reports indicate that several hundred T.N. fishermen have been killed by the Sri Lankan Navy (8). Countless more have been subjected to racist attacks which have caused severe injuries, trauma and destruction of crucial fishing gears (9). Many have also been illegally detained and some still languish in Sri Lankan prisons. As a consequence fishing is badly affected in Ramanathapuram district due to prevalent fear and losses involved in venturing into the sea. Since mid 2013 fisher folk from the districts of Ramanathapuram and the adjourning Nagapattinam have been staging extensive 'bandhs' to protest against the attacks and arrests. The inaction against the killings of T.N. fishermen have emboldened a chauvinistic Sri Lanka. Apathy not being the end of it, the highest divisions of the central government advocates ”strengthening the maritime capacities” of Sri Lanka, and on 05.09.2013 a decision was made to supply the Sri Lankan Navy with two warships (10) . This is also in stark contrast to the stern actions taken against the Italian marines who killed two fishermen from Kerela in 2012. In this regard the government respected the sentiments of the affected people and pursued justice in the process disregarding the diplomatic debacle it ensured with the Italian government. Likewise when fishermen from Gujarat or Bombay are apprehended by Pakistani authorities, the centre tends to threathen Islamabad with punitive actions and public agaitation manifest in the north to bring forth their release. Unfortunatley the centre and the north displays a deafening apathy towards the plights of the T.N fishermen. Furthermore the agitating crowds in T.N are well aware of these dimensions in New Delhi's modus operandi.
When the government fails to act upon moral responsibilities it is left to the people and progressive political forces to bring about change. Through peoples' actions there is a possibility to compel the government to reflect the peoples' sentiments which they vow to represent. The agitating people of T.N. have through hard and heartfelt effort proven this to work, uniting an erstwhile divided and party politic oriented state assembly in protest against Colombo. As the UNCHR convention closed in March 2013, the GOSL hoped that India would vote in favour in Geneva, while Tamils hoped for a strong resolution supported by India to bring a brighter future for the Island Tamil popilation. However the outcome of the convention was a bitter reminder for Tamils of the inaction of the international community as the resolution was non-interventionist. New Delhi is yet to display tooth against Sri Lanka, as the students, fisherfolks, workers and many other sections of the people of T.N. continue their agitations against the atrocities of the Sri Lankan government.
Regarding these developments, dominant national media seems to be more concerned with skin-deep consequences. The DMK pullout of the UPA on the eve of the UNCHR voting session is commented upon as regionalism which disregards national stability and national interest. When Sri Lankan players were banned from the IPL matches in Chennai national media understood it as an instance where politics and emotionalism in T.N. again interfere with national interest. Such a discourse was best displayed on 01.04.2013 in NDTV's "We the People" with Barka Dutt where Subramanian Swamy, the leader of Janata Party, made a highly racist remark in order to make the argument that Tamils have no right interfering in national affairs. "There is a Tamil Sport Called Jallikattu, where you get bored by bulls.Now if they don't want Sri lankans to come for that I have no problems. But this is a national sport”.
Despite the efforts by NDTV's Burka Dutt , Subramanian Swamy and other participants on ”We the People”, to absolve cricket players from their governments, Kumar Sangakkara is proved to be a ambassador on behalf of his government. He is well known to garland the achievements of Colombo and has on his overseas visits been reported to corroborate the reconciliation and peace discourse promoted by his government(11). Recently while on visit in Kerala, former Sri Lankan cricketeer Sanath Jayasuriya told media " There is no need for any international probe because we have our own judicial system and the process of law is going on...Our President Mahinda Rajapaksa has done a wonderful job and is doing everything possible to see that there is overall development in the country " ( 12 ). Such state-centric rhetoric in the context of militarization and large scale deprivation implies camouflaging the genocidal processes unleashed against Tamils. That Indian national media manages to victimize these players then baffles most Tamils. On ”We the People” the biggest concern was how such political motivated actions affect innocent players and how they cannot be held responsible for their government. The question of genocide and the blatant and continuous enactment of oppression in the North-East of Sri Lanka was not scrutinized. Neither was attention given to the fact that the decision to ban Sri Lankan players came as a desperate measure to display discontent towards Colombo. Thereby the basis for the agitations is not conveyed and the polarization between Delhi and Tamil Nadu advances.
New Delhi, Colombo and the CHOGM
In 2013 November there had also been a upheaval over the Indian participation in the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo . Protests of various forms commenced in T.N. demanding the full boycott by India of the meeting. The Indian central government pursuing a collaborative approach with Colombo did decide to attend amidst the protest, but being constrained by the T.N. agitation and the Canadian PM's decision to boycott it, compromise was forced upon. PM Singh abstained from participating though External Affair Minister Khursid deputised him to the disappointment of Colombo. This concession is regarded as a symbolic victory for the agitators in Tamil Nadu but there mutterings once again by national political commenters and opinion who perceived the incident as "national interests" forsaken for regionalist concerns.
But it is evident there are alarming incidents which raises serious human rights concerns. A BBC documentary broadcasted on November 8 addressed the reports of continued systematic torture, detention and rape of Tamils ahead of the summit ( 13 ). In Our World: Sri Lanka's unfinished War Frances Harrison collected testimonies from Tamil who say they were picked up this year by security forces and sexually violated, beaten with pipes, burned with ciggarettes and metal rods and forced to sign confessions in Sinhala which they do not undererstand. According to The Telegraph Sri Lanka is also reported to have the second largest number of cases of disappearances in the world after Iraq ( 15 ). Most notably the Birtish public media Channel 4 have shown documentaries which illuminates the systematic attack on Tamil civilians and rebels by the security forces during and in the immeadiate aftermath of the last war in 2009. In Marhc 2012 they also published the photographs of LTTE leader Pirabahakarans son, Balachandaran before and after his death. The photographs elcudiate that he was captured alive and later executed by the Sri Lankan Army. Once again Colombo blatantley dismissed the report as being propeganda but the evidence is mounting
It is important to bear in mind that the call for suspending Sri Lanka due to human rights violations does not arise from ex-nihilo. It follows previous actions of the Commonwealth where member states were suspended due to human rights violations. A Militarily-ruled Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth in 1995 after the execution of political activist and writer Ken Saro-Wiva and ten others ( 15 ). Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth following human rights violations and the electoral violence in March 2002 ( 16 ). In 2007 Pakistan got suspended after Emergency rule was imposed by President Pervez Musharaf ( 17 ), whereas in Sri Lanka the country has been under Emergency rule since the 1989. Fiji was suspended in 2008 when its military dictator refused to hold elections the following year and for its lack of democratic progress ( 18 ). Considering such records it is astonishing that Sri Lanka is not yet suspended from an organization which prides itself on the principles of democracy and protection of human rights. There has been a tremendous amount of recorded human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, and the state is accused of killing tens of thousands of Tamil civilians during the final stages of the war according to moderate U.N. reports. Also ahead of the CHOGM Human Rights Watch called for a boycott of the summit citing continued human rights abuses ( 19 ).
The Indian national government has remained impotent in reflecting the protest in T.N. and in addressing the continued human rights violation, the unresolved war crimes and crimes against humanity which took place during the last war in 2009 in Sri Lanka. Therefore it is of utmost significance that the people of T.N. have been able to take to the streets and steer the agitations themselves instead of being manipulated by electoral political forces dominated by the DMK or the ADMK. The student agitation was phenomenal and it galvanized various sections of the Tamil Polity. Likewise the people of India should lead for the processes which will voice and oppose the genocidal oppression perpetuated by Colombo.
Athithan Jayapalan is a student of social Anthropology and belongs to the Tamil Diaspora and lives in Norway.
Reference
2) For the extent of Militarization in the Tamil homeland, see: http://www.jdslanka.org/index.php/2012-01-30-09-31-17/politics-a-economy/136-sri-lanka-militarizing-the-land-and-terrorizing-the-mind
4) For more information on the increasing involvement of the Army in civil administration and economic life in the North see:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/28/sri-lanka-army-military . ;http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/abuse-by-sri-lankas-army-rubs-salt-in-wounds-of-war-tamil-women-say/2012/07/06/gJQADaSiRW_story.html
7) For more information about the Student demonstrations, see: https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/a-tamil-spring/
8) For information about petitions and reports indicating the number of deaths see:http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-02/chennai/28355370_1_sri-lankan-navy-katchatheevu-rameswaram ;http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-03/chennai/28364297_1_sri-lankan-navy-indian-fishermen-indian-waters
9) For an overview of the nature of attacks on T.N fishermen see : http://www.savetnfishermen.org/?p=250
12) For Sanath Jayasuriyas statement, see: http://www.dailymirror.lk/top-story/39614-no-need-for-intl-probe-in-sl-sanath-jayasuriya.html
No comments:
Post a Comment