posted July 07, 2000 10:09 AM            

The Tamil nation who were also the indigenous people of that country are, since then suffering the oppression at the hands of the
majority government, resulted out of the so called Parliamentary Democracy that was introduced along with the Independence of that day. For a country divided on the basis of ethnicity the Parliamentary Democratic system has been proved to be a curse on
the ethnic minority. Adding to the tragedy, the people are divided
on the basis of religion as well; Minority Tamils are mainly Hindus
and the Majority Sinhalese are Buddhists. For politicians, who
aimed at gaining the votes of the people at any cost, kindling ethnic
and religious differences in the community in the name of Sinhala
Buddhist nationalism was an easy way to mobilise the innocent
Sinhala peasant.

Sinhala Buddhist nationalism is the chauvinistic mind set
induced by Mahavamsa , a Buddhist chronicle in Pali, full of myths
and written by a Buddhist monk with a prejudiced mind.
Mahavamsa has said nothing about the Buddhist cultural values. It
is worthy here to mention that a respected Pali scholar Dr.
E.W.Adhikaram has, soon after the 1983 Holocaust remarked, " the
only way of ensuring that there was no repetition of such a tragedy
was to burn all copies of the Mahavamsa. In fact, Sinhala is a
language, originated from Pali, the language through which
Buddhism was spread. The Mahavamsa was written in this language using 'Brahmi' script. From this evolved the
Sinhalese spoken language incorporating Tamil and Sanskrit vocabulary. However it was not until the 12th century
AD. that the Sinhalese evolved a written script in a similar way. Not a single Sinhalese king is referred by the title
'Arya', but the Tamil kings of the kingdom of Jaffna did have the title. The present Sinhala community is a
combination of both the Dravidians and the Aryans and of the European invaders who intermarried the Sinhalese of
the island. It is noteworthy here to mention that in Sangam literature of 2000 years ago the names of Tamil poets,
such as Eelaththupp Poothanthevanar from
Ceylon appear. Even Mahavamsa refers to the sovereignty exercised over all of Ceylon by the Tamil king
Ellalan (161-117) BC from Anuradhapura, his capital. Tamils of Ceylon were a distinct nation with a separate identity,
language and culture and with a separate Tamil kingdom in the North and the East of the island. There is evidence to
prove that Hinduism was the established language in the country even before Buddhism was introduced. When
Buddhism was introduced and many people became Buddhists they used Sinhala the language of the Religion and the
majority came to be Sinhalese. Despite all such evidences to prove that Tamils are not strangers in the country it
has become the habit of the Sinhalese ploiticians and the Buddhist clergy to emphasise Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism.

Anagarika Dharmapala, (1864-1931) a Buddhist monk played a vital role in the
upsurge of Buddhist nationalism and Aryan supremacy in the beginning of the 20th
century. In 1911, when the Tamil leaders such as Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan and
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam were leading a national campaign to rid British
colonialism, Anagarika voiced: " The country of the Sinhalese should be governed by
the Sinhalese." He also said, " From the day the foreign man stepped in this country,
the industries, habits, and customs of the Sinhalese began to disappear and now the
Sinhalese are obliged to fall at the feet of the coast moors and Tamils". He called
upon the young men and said, "My message to the young in Ceylon is- Enter into the
realm of our king Dutugemunu in spirit and try to identify yourself with the thoughts of
that great king who rescued Buddhism and our nationalism." since then Buddhist
clergy played a vital role in the country's politics.

The very first parliament, following the independence, took its initial steps in
narrowing down the strength of Tamils in the country by depriving millions of
plantation workers of their citizenship through the Citizenship act of December 1948.
These plantation workers were descendants of the Tamils, who were brought into the
country from South India, by the Britishers to work in the tea estates. This act left
some 10% of Ceylon's population without civic status. Births were registered and
Birth certificates were issued in Ceylon only in 1898. According to the regulations of
the act one has to prove that his/her father or grandfather or great grand father was
born in Ceylon. The proof is the birth certificate which was not available to these
people. As a result these workers who were physically living in Ceylon and working
to produce the country's wealth were left stateless. They neither belonged to Ceylon
nor to India from where their ancestors came from. Another blow to the Tamils was
the government's policy of peasant colonization. Landless Sinhalese peasants in
crowded Sinhalese areas were offered irrigated lands, free houses, and communal
facilities such as hospitals, schools etc; and were colonized in the areas unknown to
them in the North-East. It was believed that almost a quarter of the island's
population was moved from the Wet- zone to the Dry-zone between 1946 and
1971 under this colonization scheme. The eventual result of this policy would be total ethnic transformation of
the North-East province in such a way the majority Tamil population there would ultimately become a minority there
in the same way they are in the Sinhalese areas. In other words it will be a total change in the demography of those
places. The Sinhalese population in the Trincomalee thus increased from 3.8%- 33.6% of the total population
between 1911 and 1981. In the Amparai district the Sinhalese population increased from 7.0% to 38%. Sinhalese
electorates were created in Seruvila and Amparai in 1971 as result of this. Since 1970s Sinhalese colonies have been
established in Mullaitivu and Batticaloa districts. In the Mullaitivu district, Manal Aru, which was inhabited by
Tamils was transformed into a Sinhalese colony and its name was changed to the Sinhalese name Weli Oya. Similarly
the Tamil name Thanni murippu was changed to the Sinhalese name Janakapura. These colonies have been armed
and additional protection for these colonists has been given by the establishment of army camps in the vicinity. It is
no wonder that such colonization being a cause for the rise of Tamil ethnic nationalism. The colonies were a threat to
the Tamils and they prepared themselves to defend themselves from the intruder.
State sponsored colonization scheme has put considerable numbers of Sinhalese settlers in predominantly Tamil
areas. The Mahaveli Diversion Project, supported by the World Bank, in east and Northern provinces under which
Sinhalese families were brought in from the South; The Maduru Oya scheme in the Eastern province, backed by
Canadian assistance was also of the same effect. The government justified that in a united country no part can be
preserved for any ethnic group. But the Tamils saw it as a deliberate attempt to deprive their areas of continuity and
thus decrease their communal bargaining power. Hardly any Tamil has been settled under official auspices in
Sinhalese areas. It is noteworthy her that under the leadership of J.R Jeyawardene the then Minister of security
Lalith Athulath Mudali ordered the release of hundreds of prisoners from the Anuradapura prison, armed them and
settled them along the borders. One cannot expect fair behaviour from these criminals and in the event they are
killed due to their criminal activities in the respective areas it was a chance on the part of the government; they can
claim that innocent Sinhalese civilians have been killed by tigers, despite the fact that the government has the least
sympathy and care for these criminals. Such discriminatory activities of the majority government let the minority
Tamils in Sri Lanka feel the need for an independent body of government for themselves and their right for self
determination.

From 1953 the Buddhist clergy and laity took on the 'cross' of their language and religion bewailing that these were
in danger of destruction to the Sinhala language and Buddhism, and that the people ought to be assured by enacting
Sinhala as the only official language and Buddhism as the state religion. S.W. R.D. Bandaranaike, the father of the
present president and the husband of the present Prime-minister of SriLanka, became the leader of such a
movement, a movement which was the begetter of the present bloody civil war in Sri Lanka. It is he, who in power
as Prime minister passed the Sinhala only official language bill in 1956. Since then a new emphasis of Sinhalese
Buddhist history was included in the curriculum and introduced to the children in the country and racial superiority
and hatred for the non- Buddhists were encouraged in schools. It ignored the history and the historical
contributions of the North and the East. It failed to promote racial harmony and understanding. Tamils, did not until
this discriminatory legislation that threatened their very existence as a distinct nation thought of a Tamil homeland.

The Sinhala only act of 1956 made it difficult for the Tamil students to secure employment. Tamils concentrated
more on education, as the climatic condition and the natural resources in their areas were not suitable for cultivation
with less pain.
Government jobs were their target and hence they concentrated more on Education. Nothing aroused deeper
despair among Tamils than the feeling that they are being systematically squeezed out of higher education. The
standardization policy that is in force after 1972 is a major blow on Tamils. It is noteworthy here that this policy was
introduced by the then Prime-minister Srimavo Bandaranaike (She is the Prime-minister in the Present government
as well and the mother of the present President) The measures taken to significantly increase the numbers of
Sinhalese in the universities and in public sector employment also included the provision of better schools in
"Standardization" and then quota system to universities. The purpose of the government in shattering the education
of Tamils reflected in the shattering of the Jaffna Public Library in the night of June 01, 1981. The library that had a
collection of about 100,000 valuable, irreplaceable books went up in flames. The culprits behind this act was the
Sinhalese police backed by prominent Sinhalese politicians. Gamini Dissanayake and Cyril Mathew, two Government
Ministers were watching the sight from a rest house across the road. thousands of Tamil school children were
denied access to valuable educational resources and International scholars of Tamil research were deprived of
worthy information. These measures have greatly reduced the proportion of places in these institutions gained by
Tamils.

The policy of discrimination in education against Tamils worked so well that Tamils met their next obstacle in finding
employments. According to statistics, between 1977 and 1981, for the 9,965 vacancies in the Government clerical
services 9326 Sinhalese and only 492 Tamils were selected.

Education for the Tamil students in the tea estates suffer the worst. In the early years, the Indian Tamils were
educated in estate schools, founded and run by the Tamil church mission with financial support from the British
estate superintendents and Ceylonese Christians. But with the changing political situation in the estates they became
the responsibility of the government. These schools have a long way to go before they enjoy a good quality of
education.

Democracy in Sri Lanka has been nullified due to the oppression of the Tamils by the Sinhalese. The very culture,
and the identity of a community is not respected and this community with a history of a healthy, flourishing cultural
background is struggling to establish its identity as a separate nation. The holocausts of 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983
clearly show that the Tamils have become the scape-goats for the Sinhalese leadership. Whenever Sinhala leaders
faced internal problems and mounting pressures from their people they cleverly divert the people's anger against
Tamils. The ruling Sinhalese elite poison the mind of the ordinary Sinhalese with racism, that they are unable to
conceive that Tamil militancy is the result of oppression and not of racial hatred; It is not against the Sinhalese
people but against the government that denies the rights of the Tamils. Innocent lives remain a prey to the power
greed of the politicians.

Genocide as generally defined has two aspects. One aspect refers to the gradual and systematic destruction and
dismemberment of the basic foundations of a nation of people, their language, their culture their history, their
economic existence and their geographical entity. The other refers to the actual physical extermination of a national
community. The Tamil Nation of the island has been subjected to this dual form of genocide since the independence
of Sri Lanka in 1948. Ethnic violence swept the country in the years 1958, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1981, and 1983.

After that it was a continous process. The 1983 pogrom
surpassed all the previous anti - Tamil pogroms in its scale,
intensity, viciousness, and above all by its sheer barbarism.
Sinhala racist hoodlums, actively encouraged by cheering
sections of the country's security forces, have been
engaged in a genocidal campaign of carnage arson, plunder
and rape against the Tamil speaking people throughout the
whole country. Eye witness accounts and photographs
taken by returning tourists demonstrate the barbarous
depths to which the racist sections of Sinhala society have
sunk. They describe how Tamil motorists were dragged
out of their vehicles and hacked to pieces while others were
drenched with petrol and set alight in full view of the
security forces. Some Tamils were burnt in the cars and in
their houses.

12(2) of the constitution states;
"No citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, cast, political opinion, place
of birth or any of such grounds" and, "Everyone has the right to procedural guarantees, the right to food, shelter, and
education and, if these are not realized the right to recourse as a last resort to the use of force against tyranny and
oppression."

Since the formation of parliamentary democracy in Sri Lanka, the minority Tamils who wanted to safeguard the rights
of their community tried to negotiate with the government and several agreements and pacts were decided on. But
none of them could ever be put into practice as there always had been opposition from the majority Sinhalese that
prevented their enactment. The following is a list of such agreements;

1. July 26, 1958-S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike - S.J.V. Chelvanayagm - (Banda - Chelva Pact)
This failed because of the Buddhist clergy's opposition.
2. March 24, 1965 - Dudley Senanaike - S.J. V. Chelvanayagam -
Opposition from Sinhalese Chauvinists and Buddhist clergy.
3. 1960s S.L.F.P- L.S.S.P,-C.P
coalition under Srimavo Badaranaike with The Federal Party before elections. Neglected after elections as
Srimavo gained majority and needed no help from the F.P to form the government.
4. 1983-84- All party conference to find a peaceful a solution to the ethnic problem (two years)
(arrived at no solution)
5. July 1985, Tamil groups Vs Sri Lankan Government at Thimbu, capital of North Indian Kingdom Bhutan.
Sri Lankan Army opposed and killed 200 Tamil civilians in Vavuniya and elsewhere.
6 July 29, 1987- Indian government Vs Sri Lankan government and sent IPKF to Sri Lanka.
The IPKF killed almost 10,000 Tamil civilians and was called back in 1990.
7. October 1994, Chandrika Kumaratunga came to power promising that she would bring about an amicable
settlement for the ethnic problem in the country. The Sinhalese people showed their willingness by electing
her. The LTTE too waited for her response and agreed on a cessation of hostilies which existed for a period
of
three months. The package she presented was hollow at the beginning. She failed to recognize the
aspiration of the Tamils and failed to implement even the immediate needs of Tamils. Failure to remove the
economic embargo, Fishing ban etc. Instead she prepared for war and this resulted in the break up of war
again.

Talks, negotiations, and non-violent forms of protests
were the initial methods of Tamils to achieve their goal.
Tamil politicians who demonstrated their dissatisfaction
through all possible non-violent methods were either
disregarded or cheated. When they observed
"Satyagraha" the Gandhi an way of non violent protest
they were beaten to bleed.. Two decades were spent in
such a Satyagraha campaign, through which the earlier
Tamil United Front members tried to achieve a self
autonomous government for the Tamils. The failure
proved that the Tamil - Sinhalese conflict is not just a
minority -majority problem but a far more serious
international issue between two nations. The
determination and the strength of the Tamils showed in
achieving their goal through these non- violent ways made
the Sinhalese so unbalanced that they threw off all their
pretensions of being civilized and to take up a stance of
extreme Sinhalese Chauvinism. They were more hardened
in their determination to enslave the Tamils and exclude
them from every aspect of national life. The Tamils became more and more convinced of the inevitability of having to
separate from the Sinhalese.

A former Tamil member of Parliament, Mr. V. Navaratnam who experienced the sufferings at the hands of Sinhalese
during the process in Sri Lanka, quotes one scene from the film Gandhi by Sir Richard Attenborough depicting a
detachment of the South African Mounted police charging headlong a detachment of Satyagrahis blocking an
entrance.
" The horses come rushing, but pull themselves abruptly as they come to the prostrate bodies of the
satyagrahis
and refuse to trample even they were urged on by their riders. This of course is an acted scene for the purpose of
the film. Alexander Cockburn in his article in the Wall Street Journal recalls a similar experience of his own,
confirms that this is a natural trait in animals like horses" He further adds. " My mind could not but go back to an
incident during of the Satyagraha campaign of the Federal party (Tamil) in Ceylon. It was a day in February of March
1961, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of defence N.Q. Dias, paid a visit to the Kachcheri site, surrounded
by a bevy of policemen and officials. He stood before the Satyagrahis who were seated on the roadside and looked
for a gap among them to enter the Kachcheri building. Sensing his intention the satyagrahis both men and women
stretched themselves prostrate on their stomachs. Dias was angry. He stepped on their bodies and planting his well
shod feet firmly on their backs and bottoms, walked on them and vaulted into the kachcheri yard. He told the
government servants he could not understand why they should not gain entry in the same way and work in their
offices.; they had no reason to fear bodily harm. Dias was a university educated man at the head of the bureaucracy
which was running the government. And yet he did what animals would not do. Satyagraha pre-supposes the
existence of two minimum conditions in the society against which it is sought to be employed. Firstly there must be
a sense of moral values and a conscience to be obeyed, a respect for the dignity of man and an appreciation of the
universal principles of right and wrong; and Secondly, there must exist a fear of consequences for going against
them. Where these are absent non-violence can only prove to be suicidal. This is not a dogmatic assertion but, what
the Satyagraha campaign and its aftermath has taught."

His statement was further asserted in 1987 during the presence
of Indian Peace Keeping Force in Jaffna when a leading member
of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E), Martyr
Thileeban (23) was left to die following his eleven day fast
without taking even a single drop of water, demanding the
fulfilment of the five promises made during the Indo-Sri Lanka
Accord signed in 1985 by the then Indian prime minister Rajiv
Gandhi and the Sri Lankan President J.R Jeyawardene. The
Indian government , was responsible for his death, as it showed
a blind eye to this non violent protest. Followed the death of
Annai Poopathy, a lady in her fifties who fasted for the release of
innocent Tamils youths arrested and tortured by the IPKF in
Batticaloa, Sri Lanka and held and tortured for no reason.

The most dastardly and inhuman episode of physical
extermination started with the 1983 riots. Nearly 3000 Tamils
were killed during this. The following incident is an indicator of
the extremity of the brutality. "On 25th and 27th July 1983,
over 60 Tamils held in the Welikade jail were butchered in
their own cells within the walls of the high security prison with the active participation of prison officers. Among the
dead were Kuttimany, leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization and a political writer and Ganeshanathan
who were sentenced to death for the murder of a policemen. In speeches from the dock the two men announced that
their eyes would be donated to Tamils who would see the birth of Eelam. According to the eye witness of the
survivors, the two men were forced to kneel and their eyes gouged out with iron bars and trampled before they were
killed. Kuttimani's tongue was cut out by an attacker who drank the blood and cried, I have drunk the blood of a
tiger".

The present armed struggle is the result of all such frustrations faced by the Tamils in the long history of Sri Lanka.
Almost 75,000 Tamils are estimated to be killed during the war in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Pathetically
enough the majority are poor civilians who are an easy prey for the Sinhalese armed forces. Civilians in buses, in
motor boats, in trains, in fields and even in their homes were massacred brutally with axes and knives and were even
beaten to death. They are too many to mention.


The situation of the Tamils in the Eastern province where the planned colonization of Sinhalese worked well, was not
in any way better than those in the Nothern province. The following terrific testimony provided by a witness, the only
survivor in the Saththurukkondan Army camp massacre is just an example for the atrocities. " On the 10th of
September 1990, Tamil civilians from Batticaloa, Saththurukkondan, Panichchaiyady, Kokkuvil, Pillaiyarady were
taken to the Army camp for interrogation. I was the only survivor of that 185 civilians taken there. We were stabbed
with sharp knives. These 185 included a one and a half year old child, children and women and even elderly. On the
above day at around five thirty in the evening Army men both in civil and military clothing came and told that the
officer on charge of the camp wanted us to come to the camp for inquiry and so they took us. After that four of us
were taken to the back side of the camp and blindfolded and our mouths were stuffed with clothes. Later they laid
us on a wood brick and suddenly started stabbing us with sharp knives. I laid there if I was dead. I heard voices of
agony and pain I can't even describe. After everything was over I slowly opened my eyes and saw butchered bodies
all around me. I then crawled my way through the dead bodies and hid myself among small shrubs. It was around
three o'clock in the morning. After escaping from that hell I came to my village and was admitted to a hospital. The
Army heard of my escape and was in search of me therefore I was handed over to the Rev. Miller for protection by
the Batticaloa Peace Committee. I lost my whole family in that incident."