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Sathyam Commentary
2 October 2007 -
Commemorating
the 138th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi
and the United Nations International Day of Non Violence
The Moral Legitimacy of the
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom
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Truth
is a Pathless Land |
'..If someone asks me when and how the struggle may end, I may say that,
if the entire community manfully stands the test, the end will be near.
If many of us fall back under storm and stress, the struggle will be
prolonged. But I can boldly declare, and with certainty, that so long as
there is even a handful of men true to their pledge, there
can only be one end to the struggle, and that is victory...'
Mahatma Gandhi's Pledge of
Resistance in Transvaal, Africa, 1906
[see also
International Dimensions of
the Conflict in Sri Lanka - Nadesan Satyendra - a revised
and
extended version of a key note address delivered at a
Seminar on International Dimensions of the Conflict in Sri Lanka
presented by the Centre
for Just Peace & Democracy (CJPD) in partnership with
TRANSCEND International in
Luzern, Switzerland, 17 June 2007. ]
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
…because democracy means the rule of the people,
by the people, for the people and therefore, no one people may
rule another; and
…because the struggle of the people of Tamil
Eelam is about securing freedom from oppressive alien Sinhala
rule…
Sinhala rule is alien rule …
…because the Sinhala people speak a different
language to that of the Tamil people; because they trace their
history to origins different from that of the Tamil people; and
because their cultural heritage is
different to that of the
Tamil people.
Sinhala rule is alien rule …
… because the political consciousness of the
Sinhala people and the way they exercise their vote, is clearly
determined by their separate language, by their separate history
and by their separate cultural heritage - in short by their own
separate Sinhala national identity
Sinhala rule is alien rule …
… because no Tamil has ever been elected to an
electorate which had a majority of Sinhala voters and no
Sinhalese has ever been elected to an electorate which had a
majority of Tamil voters; and
…because a
Sinhala Buddhist ethno nation
masquerading as a civic ' multi ethnic Sri Lankan nation',
will
always have a Sinhala Buddhist as the executive head of
government.
Sinhala rule is oppressive alien rule
…
…because the record proves and proves beyond
all
reasonable doubt that the practise of democracy within the
confines of a single state has resulted in genocidal rule by a
permanent Sinhala majority…
...because the Sinhala Buddhist nation masquerading as a multi
ethnic 'civic' 'Sri Lankan' nation set about its task
of assimilation of the people of Tamil Eelam by
- depriving a section of
Eelam Tamils of
their citizenship,
- declaring the
Sinhala flag as the national
flag,
- colonising parts of the Tamil
homeland with Sinhala people,
- imposing
Sinhala as the official language,
- discriminating against Tamils students seeking University
admission,
- depriving Tamil language speakers
of employment in the public sector,
-
dishonouring agreements entered into with the Tamil
parliamentary political leadership,
- refusing to recognise
constititutional safeguards against discrimination,
- later
removing these
constitutional safeguards altogether,
- giving to themselves
an authocthonous
Constitution with a
foremost place
for
Buddhism,
- and
changing the name of the island itself to the
Sinhala Buddhist name of Sri Lanka - appropriately enough, on
the 'tenth day of the waxing moon in the month of Vesak in the year
two thousand five hundred and fifteen of the Buddhist Era'.
Sinhala rule is oppressive alien rule
…
...because Paul Sieghart , International
Commission of Jurists and British Section, Justice was right to
conclude in March 1984 that “…communal riots in which Tamils are
killed, maimed, robbed and rendered homeless are no longer
isolated episodes; they are beginning to become a pernicious
habit." [see
1956,
1958,
1961,
1974,
1977,
1983]
Sinhala rule is oppressive alien rule …
...because the inevitable rise of
Tamil
armed resistance to state oppression
was met with enactment of laws which were an
'ugly blot on statute book of any civilised
country', with arbitrary arrest and
detention,
torture,
extra judicial killings and massacres,
indiscriminate aerial bombardment and artillery shelling,
wanton rape,
and genocide - together with
press censorship, disinformation
and murder of journalists.
Sinhala rule is oppressive alien rule …
...because
the impunity granted to Sinhala
armed forces,
para
military groups,
goondas and
Sinhala thugs, exposed the encouragement, support and direction
given by successive Sri Lanka governments for the crimes committed
against the Tamil people.
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
... because the Joint Front of Tamil Liberation Organisations
was right when it
declared with
unanimity
at the Thimpu Talks in 1985: ''We are a liberation movement which was
compelled to resort to the force of arms
because
all force of reason had failed to convince the
successive Sri Lankan governments in the past. Further under
conditions
of national oppression and the intensification of state terrorism and genocide against
our people, the demand for a separate state became the only logical expression of the
oppressed Tamil people. Our armed struggle is the manifestation of that logical
expression.''
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
... because it is a cruel extension of the
terrorist scourge to taunt the
struggles against terrorism with
the label "terrorism" and the
Geneva Declaration on the Question of Terrorism
was right to 'call for the liberation of political language
along with the liberation of peoples' and point out that 'terrorism originates from the statist system of
structural violence and
domination that denies the
right of self-determination to peoples'.
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
... because Sri Aurobindo was right when he declared in 1907
that:
"..it is the common habit of established governments and
especially those which are themselves oppressors,
to brand all violent methods in subject
peoples and communities as criminal and wicked. When you have disarmed your slaves and
legalised the infliction of bonds, stripes, and death on any one of them who may dare to
speak or act against you, it is natural and convenient to try and lay a moral as well as a
legal ban on any attempt to answer violence by violence... But no nation yet
has listened to the cant of the oppressor when itself put to the
test, and the general conscience of humanity approves the
refusal..."
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
...because today, the Sinhala Sri Lanka government
as well as the Sinhala Sri Lanka opposition seek to pursue the Sinhala assimilative agenda by
reneging on the 2002 Oslo Declaration, by refusing to recognise
the existence of the
Tamil homeland, and by perpetuating a Sri Lankan state
structure within which the Tamil people may continue to
be ruled by a permanent
Sinhala majority.
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
...because the genocidal intent of the Sinhala
Sri Lanka
government is proven
by the war crimes
committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces under the President's
command and by the Sri Lanka para military who in the
shadow of a
ceasefire, have
raped,
murdered Tamil
Parliamentarians,
Tamil
journalists,
executed
Tamil students with impunity,
arbitrarily arrested and detained Tamil civilians,
abducted
Tamil refugee
workers,
orchestrated
attacks on Tamil civilians and Tamil shops,
bombed Tamil
civilian population centres and
displaced thousands of Tamils from their homes.
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
....because "...the problem in
nationally divided societies is that the different groups have
different political identities, and, in cases where the
identities are mutually exclusive (not nested), these groups see
themselves as forming distinct political communities. .. if the
minority group seeks to be self-governing, or to secede from the
larger state, increased representation at the centre will not be
satisfactory. The problem in this case is that the group does
not identify with the centre, or want to be part of that
political community...One conclusion that can be drawn is that…
secession/partition of the two communities, where that option is
available, is the best outcome overall. .."
Normative
Justifications for Liberal Nationalism - Margaret Moore, 2001
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
...because “… the principle of territorial
integrity protects a state only against invasion of its borders
and not against internal rebellion... Lord Robert Cecil once
justly observed that the main cause of recurrence of wars was
precisely the permanent freezing of state frontiers. In a recent
New York Times article, human rights activist Yelena Bonner
(widow of Andrei Sakharov) writes that "the inviolability of a
country's borders against invasion from the outside must be
clearly separated from the right to statehood of any people
within a state's borders."
Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran in The
Tamils' Quest for Statehood
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
... because“...restrictions on self-determination
threaten not only democracy itself but the state which seeks its legitimation in democracy...Let us accept the fact that states
have lifecycles similar to those of human beings who created
them. … hardly any Member State of the United Nations has
existed within its present borders for longer than five
generations. The attempt to freeze human evolution has in the
past been a futile undertaking…"
Self Determination & the Future
of Democracy - Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, 2001
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
because "a social group, which shares objective elements such as a common language and which
has acquired a subjective political consciousness of oneness, by its life
within a
relatively well defined territory, and by its struggle against alien domination, clearly
constitutes a 'people' with the
right to self determination and
...the Tamil
population of the north-east of the island are such a 'people'." -
Joint
Statement by 17 NGOs at United Nations Commission on Human Rights
Geneva 4 February 1994 consisting of International Association of Educators for World Peace,
International Educational Development, International Indian Treaty Council,Consejo Indico
de Sud America, Comision de Deeches Homonas de El Salavador, Commission for the Defence of
Human Rights in Central America, World Council of Churches, International Movement against
all Forms of Discrimination and Racism,Action des Christians Pour L'Abolition de la
Torture,FIMARC, International Council of Women, American Association of Jurists, Centre
Europe-Tiers Monde, Servieiv Pax Justica America Latina, Pax Romana, International League
for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, and World Christian Live Community
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
....and therefore it has received the support of legal
scholars and non-governmental organizations "We request
that the delegates to the 49th Session of the Commission on
Human Rights.. accord open recognition to the existence of the
Tamil homeland in the North and East of the Island; and
recognise that the Tamil population in the North and East of the
island constitute a 'people' with the right to self
determination'‘ Joint Statement by 15 NGOs
consisting of the
International Organisation for the Elimination of all Forms of
Racial Discrimination, International Educational Development,
Centre Europe Ties Monde, International Indian Treaty Council,
Fedefam, Association paur la Liberte Religiose, Codehuca, World
Christian Community, Pax Christie International, International
League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, Movement contra
le Racisme, International Association of Educadores for World
Peace, International Association against Torture, World
Confederation of Labour, and International Movement for
Fraternal Union among Races and Peoples. at United Nations
Commission on Human Rights, Geneva 8 February 1993
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
... because the Gandhian Tamil Leader
S.J.V.Chelvanayagam Q.C. M.P. was right when
he declared
32 years ago, on
7 February 1975 "Throughout the ages the Sinhalese and
Tamils in the country lived
as distinct sovereign people till
they were brought under foreign domination...
We have
for the last 25 years made every effort to secure our political rights on the basis of
equality with the Sinhalese in a united Ceylon. It is a regrettable fact that successive Sinhalese governments have used the
power that flows from independence
to deny us our fundamental
rights and reduce us to the position of a subject people. These
governments have been able to do so only by using against the
Tamils the sovereignty common to the Sinhalese and the Tamils. I wish to announce to my people and to the country that I consider the verdict at
this election as a mandate that the
Tamil Eelam nation
should exercise the sovereignty already vested in the Tamil people and become free."
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
...because the people of Tamil Eelam
were right to give their overwhelming support in 1977 to
the manifesto of the parliamentary
Tamil United Liberation Front proclaimed
which proclaimed "What is the alternative now left to the Nation that has lost its
rights to its language,
rights to its citizenship, rights to its religions
and continues day by day to lose its traditional
homeland to Sinhalese colonisation ? What is the alternative now left to a Nation that
has lost its opportunities to higher education
through standardisation and its equality in opportunities in the sphere of employment ?
What is the alternative to a Nation that lies helpless as it is being
assaulted, looted and killed by hooligans instigated
by the ruling race and by the security forces of the State? Where else is an alternative
to the Tamil Nation that gropes in the dark for its identity and finds itself driven to
the brink of devastation? There is only one
alternative and that is to proclaim with the stamp of finality
and fortitude that "we alone shall rule over our land that
our
fore fathers ruled. Sinhalese imperialism shall quit our
Homeland"
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
... because
Velupilllai Pirabaharan,
the Leader of Tamil Eelam was right when he declared : "We
are not chauvinists. Neither are we lovers of violence enchanted
with war. We do not regard the Sinhala people as our opponents or as
our enemies. We recognise the Sinhala nation. We accord a place of
dignity for the culture and heritage of the Sinhala people. We have
no desire to interfere in any way with the national life of the
Sinhala people or with their freedom and independence. We, the Tamil
people, desire to live in our own
historic homeland
as an
independent nation, in peace, in freedom and with dignity."
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
...because it is not for glory or riches that
the people of Tamil Eelam struggle but for freedom
which no human will lose except with
his life
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
...because உங்கள் உடல்கள் சாய்ந்ததால்,
எங்கள் தலைகள் நிமிர்ந்தன.. இன்று..
நாங்கள் வெறும்
கவிதை பாடிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறோம்.. நீங்களோ..
காவியமாகி விட்டீர்கள்..
…in sum,
The
Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom is lawful and it is
just...
…because it is concerned to secure
the democratic right of the
people of Tamil Eelam to govern themselves in their homeland…
and
....because it is about
reversion of sovereignty
- a sovereignty that the Tamil people enjoyed before the British
unified the administration of the island of Sri Lanka in 1833;
and
...because
the charge is genocide but the struggle is for freedom
And the Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom will
succeed...
...because Mahatma Gandhi was right when
he
declared in Transvaal, South Africa one hundred and one
years ago "..If someone asks me when and how the struggle may end, I may say that,
if the entire community manfully stands the test, the end will be near.
If many of us fall back under storm and stress, the struggle will be
prolonged. But I can boldly declare, and with certainty, that so long as
there is even a handful of men true to their pledge, there
can only be one end to the struggle, and that is victory..."
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