Diaspora Tamils wonder at the arrests, crackdowns and deportations of Eezham Tamil activists taking place in an orchestrated way in the West as well as in the East by governments conniving with the war-crimes-accused defence establishment of Colombo. The targets are those who are firm in their views on the national cause and those who work with the grass root. The timing is diaspora organising its polity. Whether the orchestration is pre-emption, expecting resurgence of the struggle as the IC knows no solutions to the crisis in the island, or whether it foretells something unpleasant that is going to be imposed on Tamils through a deal of Colombo with New Delhi and the West, are questions asked in the diaspora. How the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam is going to be structured and how Tamil Nadu is going to play its role gains new significance in the unfolding situation.
TamilNet Editorial Board
It is going to be one full year since international war corporatism enacted the genocide in Tamil Eelam and incarcerated hundreds of thousands of Eezham Tamils in a war that was for the first time conducted without witnesses.
Neither the world establishments nor the so-called international organisations were there to take charge of the situation either during the war or in its aftermath.
Instead, leading world establishments chose to victimise the victims further.
First of all they refused to acknowledge what happened and what is happening in the island is genocide, because acceptance of it will justify the national cause the Eezham Tamils righteously lead in the island.
After co-operatively crushing the Tamils, some powers of the West tried but miserably failed even in putting the crisis as a ‘human rights situation’ in the international arena, because there were others who saw the paradigm a shield for claiming the spoils.
Then the powers of the West were calling for ‘war crimes investigation on both Colombo and the LTTE.’ Colombo, confident of the support it gets from some rogue powers, pooh-poohed it by saying winners can never be sued.
Many observers think Colombo will now buy them off for its acquittal of war crimes. There will be sell-offs of the assets of the island, manipulations in the UN and promises of cosmetic solutions, observers say.
Observers point out that officers of Colombo’s war-crimes-accused military are accepted as diplomats even in countries that talk of war crimes. The UN that hoodwinks a war crimes investigation has recently recruited to its Peace Keeping Forces thousands of persons from Sri Lanka’s army.
As it looks, ‘war crimes’ accusations are likely to be stage-managed heavily against the LTTE, by prosecuting the imprisoned cadres in the island with forced confessions, by intimidation of authentic witnesses and by hunting down former LTTE activists in the diaspora for forced confessions or for their silence.
Colombo may have to concede only ‘some accountability’ as suggested by US Asst. Secretary of State, which will be then tolerated citing the fruition of the cosmetic solutions Colombo may come up with.
Even though India and China race to invest and strengthen the Sri Lankan state, basically it is the West that assured Colombo its post-war credibility. “The end of the war last May and an IMF loan in July helped boost investor confidence,” says Shihar Aneez of Reuters India, Monday, on Sri Lanka’s shares gaining new peak.
The Eezham Tamils at no stage challenged the interests of any power in the world or blasted any tower in the US. What they have been struggling for several decades now is only for the national rights of their living space and sovereignty of their nation of historicity that have been denied by a colonially created incorrigible state. The agenda of international diaspora activities of Eezham Tamils are confined only to their national liberation at home.
But world corporatism and its appeasement policy towards Colombo presented Tamils only with genocide.
In the 2008 Hero’s Day speech LTTE leader Pirapaharan categorically stated that the Tamil struggle is not against the geopolitical, national or economic interests of any country. A few months before that, the LTTE intelligence chief Poddu Ammaan pointed out that the International Community had a problem in making a balanced judgement between the Tamil struggle and the Colombo government. Senior member V. Balakumaran saw a problem in IC failing to identify its interests in right perspectives with the Tamil struggle.
Looking at some of the recent developments, it seems the ‘problem’ continues to haunt the Eezham Tamils, now with a new spurt of international orchestration.
After the war the Tamils were told to give up armed struggle and to opt for democratic means.
Democratically the Tamils started expressing their wish for independence. It started in the diaspora where they could open their mouths freely.
But it seems war corporatism of the world finds even the democratic voice and means of Eezham Tamils a problem. What is hinted by several quarters of this corporatism is that Tamils should accept ‘reconciliation’ which as being left entirely in the hands of genocidal Colombo means just another word for subjugation.
Beneath the deceptive appreciation for Tamil democracy by some politicians of the liberal democratic countries, their state machineries are geared to either engineer or blunt the democracy of diaspora Tamils.
Countering democratic organisation of diaspora Tamils takes place in a counter insurgency style. Advice, division, confusion, vilification, intimidation – all are tried and now there are arrests, crackdowns and in some cases deportations to Colombo.
The object is silencing the diaspora on the question of independence.
Colombo has declared that its war is now with the diaspora Tamils. It is also boasting that it is successful in effecting arrests and deportations.
Breaking into the network and the assets of the LTTE in the diaspora that is firm on the national cause of Eezham Tamils is the main agenda of Colombo, which uses information extracted from the captured.
Much progress in this respect has been achieved with the cooperation of certain countries, claims Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, secretary to the war-crimes-accused defence establishment of Sri Lanka.
Ironically, governments that talk of war crimes investigations collaborate with men of the same military accused of war crimes (now in the guise of diplomats), in arresting Eezham Tamil activists, in the guise of ban on the LTTE and reportedly for ‘past’ activities.
Arrests have been made recently in Germany and The Netherlands and crackdowns took place in UK and Denmark.
Diaspora circles suspect a EU decision, as was in the case before – twisting a national struggle as international terrorism. The target is activists whose views are firm on independence and who posses abilities in grass root mobilisation. The timing is the formation of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam.
Some in the diaspora circles also suspect whether there is a concerted effort to influence the nature of the organisation of Tamil polity in the diaspora. A Sri Lankan intelligence analyst operating from a country in Southeast Asia recently hinted that Colombo should consider giving a chance to selective shades of Tamil national polity in the diaspora.
In the Eastern hemisphere, a number of arrests have been made in India reportedly through information of insiders sent by Colombo.
Both Malaysia and Singapore have arrested and deported a number of Eezham Tamil activists. These countries, which fear much to touch members of certain global militant movements and activists of other national movements, target the Eezham Tamils with much ease, observed Ceylonese circles in these countries.
If India in a sadistic way gave visa to the ailing mother of Pirapaharan in the morning and refused landing for her in the evening, Malaysia is now grilling the lady who accompanied her, says media sources in Malaysia.
Tamil circles wonder at this orchestration of war corporatism across the world. Whether the war is yet to be over or whether it is paranoia resulting from an unfair victory they wonder.
They think that it signals that the powers are not going to bring in any satisfactory solution and that’s why this pre-emption, since the powers expect an inevitable resurgence of the struggle.
Tamil circles fear that the orchestration foretells something bad that is going to be imposed on them in the island by power corporatism, and signals a possible undeclared ban on Tamil Eelam in the diaspora countries just like the attempts made to erase that word in Tamil Nadu.
According to some analysts, the orchestrations are to demonstrate a favourable setting for Colombo, India and the West to strike at a deal.
Foreign policy trumpets of the Indian Establishment have already started writing that the Eezham Tamils have to forfeit the unity of the Tamil homeland in the North and East as is not anymore possible due to “the East becoming different from the North in terms of its ethnic composition.”
For its own continued foreign policy failures with Sri Lanka, India will continue to penalize Eezham Tamils further and further. The Indian policy trumpets now look forward to help Tamils to integrate into an emerging pluralistic Sri Lanka, in other words they are going to help the Sinhala colonisation in the north too.
After the war, Rajapaksa government snatched away even petty privileges the Eezham Tamils were enjoying in the North and East before. The Jaffna Peninsula and most of the East was already under the control of Colombo. But people there were not as subjugated or humiliated as they are now. As long as the LTTE was in Vanni Colombo had the fear.
Even after dropping Tamil independence, Colombo is threatening to ban the TNA. Federalism too is interpreted as separatism by Colombo. It says that it will take action on such parties with no hesitation for any amount of political risk. It is a lesson to all those who were harping on federal solution.
What the war corporatism should take note of is that the Sri Lankan state on its own will not come out with solutions. Either there should be another LTTE or there should be a firm, decisive and direct international action. If the LTTE is baneful then the IC should act now. The war corporatism of the IC cannot go on weakening Tamils and appeasing Colombo for ever.
In handling the unfolding situation, diaspora Tamils have to realise how important it is to structure the Transnational Government in an effective way with wide participation and see that it is getting into right hands that uphold the national cause. Equally important is the role that has to be played by the people of Tamil Nadu.
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