Sri Lanka after the bloodbath

In an emergency session held on the 26th of May in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted not to have an inquiry into human rights abuses and war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state in conducting a war against the Tamil Tigers or LTTE. The Sri Lankan government announced its victory over the Tamil militancy on the 19th of May following a 30 year war that has taken tens of thousands of lives. The majority killed were civilians, mainly Tamils. The UNHRC praised the Sri Lankan state on its “victory”. Tamils who were stripped off their basic rights in their homeland were dealt an agonizing blow by the “international community”.

In the final battle aimed at crushing the Tamil Tigers who carried on an armed uprising for over 3 decades, the Sri Lankan military used heavy weaponry and aerial bombardment on a small patch of land where nearly 2, 00, 000 civilians were cornered in the northeast of Sri Lanka. There the Tamil Tigers fought their last battle against heavy odds. Their armed resistance was crushed and the leadership decimated with the aid of military training and assistance by the UK and USA, political, technical and military assistance by India, superior firepower from China, Pakistan, Czechoslovakia and Israel, in addition to manpower provided by the unemployed youth of the Sinhala majority.

During the last stages of the war the United Nations described the situation in northern Sri Lanka as a "bloodbath".

While almost all the top Tamil Tiger leaders died in the battlefield, several major UK newspapers reported that some of the LTTE leaders were killed in called blood when they surrendered to the SL military on a deal that was also known to the UN.

War without witness

No independent observer except the ICRC was allowed in the war zone by the Sri Lankan government since September 2008. From the outset the northern theatre of war was out of bounds to independent media. During the final stage of Sri Lankan military onslaught, the ICRC also was pushed out. Tamil organisations as well as several media put the civilian death toll in the last days of war at 20,000. The only independent source of information from the war zone was some brave government employed doctors who talked to the international media, while attending to thousands of war casualties, of the horror experienced by the Tamils at the receiving end. Since the SL military took over that area, these doctors are held by the military on charges of terrorism.

The number of political prisoners held in detention camps exceeds 9000. The government that calls them “terrorist suspects” is yet to produce them in courts. Without details provided by the state, the fear is that they are facing massive human rights violations in camps where no independent observer has access. Neither the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission nor the ICRC is allowed to visit these political prisoners. Emergency Regulations and the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act that gets through the parliament every month with only the Tamil National Alliance opposing, enables the state to detain prisoners for indefinite periods.

A landless nation

At the end of the war nearly 3, 00, 000 Tamils have been made homeless. 55,000 of them are of school going age. Families have been separated from one another. Their houses are demolished by the war and their land is occupied by the Sri Lankan army on the pretext of security. Although the government says that they will be resettled within 6 months even the UN does not believe that it is going to be a reality. Many have disappeared from within those camps and the coalition against child soldiers reported that children are forcibly taken away by paramilitary groups with the blessing of the military that is responsible for the security of the camps. These war refugees haven’t got any freedom of movement at all. Several international agencies including the UN have described the situation in camps named as “welfare villages” by the government as “appalling” and a “national disgrace”.

When the Sri Lankan military commanded by President Mahinda Rajapaksa was committing numerous crimes against humanity in the war against Tamil Tigers since April 2008, even the global media and progressive movements around the world paid less attention to the unfolding human catastrophe while world powers raised whimpers on the humanitarian disaster. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan government was given all assistance to “wipe out the Tamil Tiger Terror”. It was only the organisations belonging to the Fourth International in February 2009 gathering in Amsterdam called upon the government of Sri Lanka to stop the attack on Tamils immediately. Although numerous statements by the UN, amnesty International, ICRC, Asian Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Watch among other organizations urged “both parties to respect civilian life” no one called to stop the war. This was not different to lukewarm statements by governments including the UK who took no step towards taking any action to stop the onslaught. They were helping the Sri Lankan government while banning the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization.

Tamil Diaspora disillusioned

Tens of Thousands of Diaspora Tamils who were disillusioned by the inactivity of the governments they voted for, in conviction that their grievances will be addressed, took to the streets in London in March. Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative MPs who attended the march to be on the good books of their voters promised to put pressure on the Gordon Brown government to take measures to stop the war in Sri Lanka. The international media that responded in a lukewarm manner had a rude awakening only when the disillusioned Tamil youth launched a hunger strike in parliament square. This gave way to a massive Tamil demonstration in London where an estimated 200,000 attended calling for an immediate ceasefire. UK parliamentarians giving hollow promises even said that they will raise the issue with Obama in person. Duncan Chapel who addressed the rally on behalf of Respect clearly described how the global powers including the British government will not help the cause of the oppressed.

However, around the globe, it was the Tamil Diaspora alone that campaigned vigorously in order to achieve a ceasefire. No other progressive or anti war forces initiated any effective campaign to stop the war in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, the Sinhala Majority was overwhelmingly supportive of the military assault on Tamils. Apart from the parliamentary party Tamil National Alliance, the Sri Lankan section of the Fourth International, the Nava Sama Samaja Party along with a small number of left wing groups called for a ceasefire and a solution based on the Tamils right to self determination.

Tamils and the global left

The Tamils were let down not only by the global capitalist forces, but also by the international left and anti war forces. Whereas the Sri Lankan regime got massive support from their global masters, the Tamils were left to fend for themselves. While working class movements around the globe was actively supporting the Palestinian struggle and opposing plans to attack Iran, it did not grasp the gravity of the massive crime against Tamils unfolding in Northern Sri Lanka. This indeed alienated the Tamils.

This contributed to the massive defeat to the Tamil movement as well as anti war and anti global capital forces in the island that is the teardrop at the southern tip of India.

The future of the war machine

Although the Sri Lankan government has proclaimed victory over Tamil Tigers, oppressive laws and human right abuses have not stopped. Dissenting voices among the Sinhala majority are being labeled as traitors and hounded. In a country where eleven journalists have been killed and over forty journalists have fled during the short rule of the present regime, General Secretary of Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association Poddala Jayantha, a prominent media rights campaigner was abducted, assaulted and thrown by the roadside in the Colombo district. He is still undergoing treatment for a shattered ankle. General Secretary of the NSSP Vickramabahu Karunaratna including several other journalists and peace activists has been threatened by state media as a “traitor in the LTTE payroll”.

Beyond doubt the government will now concentrate on turning the already tested killing machine on trade unions, journalists, human rights activists and opposition politicians. Sounding the warning bells on the future in his victory speech, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said, “We only have two types in this country. Those who love the nation and those who don’t”.

It is of paramount importance for the global community that cares about justice rally together in order to get the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government investigated. The global anti war movement need to campaign for the immediate release of Tamils who are incarcerated in squalid camps that many call open prisons. Until then we should call for access to the camps and for the refugees to be allowed freedom of movement. The thousands of Tamil political prisoners in Sri Lankan Guantanamo’s should be produced before courts and proper legal assistance should be provided. The government should reveal their whereabouts. The Sri Lankan military that occupies almost the whole of the north should vacate allowing speedy resettlement of the displaced. Their land should be given back to them so that they can negotiate on a political solution based on Self Determination. Until the Tamils are free in their homeland the Sri Lankan nation will not be free. Until then the global community will never be able to call themselves free.

Yamuna Bandara

June 2009

(Yamuna Bandara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhala journalist living in Europe)

Links

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6350563.ece

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6383449.ece

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=608

http://www.tamilsagainstgenocide.org/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=79263245801
Petition

http://act4lanka.blogspot.com/