The grievances of the Tamils
by Durand Appuhamy
Courtesy The Island 03-11-2006
Tamils usually talk of the many grievances and the discrimination
they suffer in our society without specifying them and labelling such
inequities suffered to be due solely to the fact that they happen
to be Tamils. If one digs deep enough into any such grievance, it
would be soon apparent that such a grievance would be common to all
our deprived citizens, no matter whether they were Tamils, Sinhalese,
Muslims or any other. Mr. Ludduwahetty and many others have pointed
this out in many of their writings in The Island newspaper.
Let me accept the fact that there are bigoted people among all ethnic
groups and that such persons could resort to discriminatory actions
against other ethnic groups. This is true of the LTTE who recently
killed the Sinhala mango traders in Vavuniya, as well as the Sinhala
mobsters who attacked the Tamil shops in Galle.
It is also the fact that while the LTTEs aversion to anything
Sinhala remains untamed, the Sinhala mob in Galle was soon brought
under control and would have faced the bullets of the Police and the
Army had they continued their pillage. What I mean to underline here
is that the Sri Lankan society under the control of the government
does not overtly or covertly practice discrimination against any ethnic
group in our society. The actions of the criminal elements in our
society against the Tamils cannot be ascribed to the rest of the population
as has been done often by the Tamil writers and commentators.
However, let me list the main genuine grievances of the Tamils because
they are Tamils, and suffered by them almost daily, but dare not complain,
lest they be slaughtered before daybreak by the LTTE.
Many Tamil children have their future blighted by being coerced into
the LTTE fighting units. They are waylaid on their way to schools,
on their way to temples, on their way to tuition classes. They are
dragged out from their homes, they are abducted from the playgrounds.
Any protesting parent is simply shot, or, if he is lucky, severely
beaten up and left for dead.
Once in the LTTE camps, these children do not engage in reading,
writing and arithmetic (the 3Rs), like other Tamil children in Kotahena,
Colombo. They are put though a rigorous mind bending programme of
anti-Sinhalese propaganda; and forced into military and weapons training.
They are simply trained to kill or be killed.
This is the biggest and the most heinous criminal discrimination
suffered by the Tamils because they are Tamils. The victims dare not
and do not have the opportunity to complain. The many Tamil leaders
in our society such as the authorities of the Churches, Hindu Kovils,
Tamil business leaders and Tamil politicians (except a few) have deliberately
selected to remain silent on this heart rending issue of future Tamil
generation.
Would the BBCs Miss. Luthra interview the teenage children
who recently escaped from the LTTEs camp and allow them the
space to tell the world the unforgiveable murderous life enforced
on them by the LTTE?
Who is responsible for this unacceptable inequity? It is the LTTE
and Pirapakaran himself. His crime is all the more wicked given his
son has been sent to Northern Ireland to study at Belfast University.
One hopes, that at least he will learn there that the dreaded IRA
accepted the decommissioning of arms, and are now engaged in negotiations
for a solution to their grievances, which also included discrimination
because they were Roman Catholics.
Another abominable grievance of the Tamils is that they have to pay
extortionate and highly regressive taxes to the LTTE. No matter what
a persons level of revenue, he has got to pay the tax arbitrarily
imposed on him under pain of death. Take for instance a bicycle repair
man in the wilds of Vanni. On a good day, if he is lucky, his maximum
earnings would be between three to five hundred rupees. From this
meagre earning he has to pay a levy to the LTTE. With what is left
he is unable to buy anything substantial to feed his family. This
is because the prices of everything essential has escalated due to
taxes imposed on them by the LTTE.
Emaciated without proper food, it a wonder that he survives. He is
probably rescued by the food items sent by the government and aid
agencies. His survival is certainly not due to the benevolence of
the LTTE, but due to the concern of the Government which still accepts
him as a citizen of this country and therefore entitled to be helped.
Who is responsible for this destitution and near starvation of the
Tamils in the North and the East? It is the LTTE. The top echelons
of the LTTE live sumptuously in spacious and well kitted out houses
as evidenced by the recently captured Mr. Soronams house in
Sampur. They also have larders full of all the good food available
in the market. In addition, they also arrogate a large proportion
of food items sent to the Vanni by the government and the NGOs. Life
is miserable and made wretched for the Tamils by the LTTE. This is
a grievance every articulate Tamil should gripe about. It is time
to stop blaming the Sinhala society.
Here is another grievance of the Tamils because they are Tamils.
Tamils businessmen and professionals have got to pay Kappan to the
LTTE even if they are non-resident in the Vanni. If they do not or
refuse to pay the imposition, they are abducted and a ransom is extracted
or the victim is killed.
It is now alleged that other Tamil racketeers have got into this
lucrative business of ransom money. This appaling situation prevails
because of the omerta (silence) of the victims themselves. They have
chosen to suffer this iniquity in silence and pay up whatever is demanded
of them. If all of them came out of their self imposed closets and
announced to the world that they have been victimised hitherto, and
now refused to be intimidated any longer, and that they would co-operate
with the CID, then the perpetrators of this crime would run for cover
and soon face extinction.
The Tamil politicians have cited these abductions as violations of
Human Rights. Indeed they are. But who is responsible for this situation?
First and foremost, it is the LTTE and other Tamil villains. The victims
too should shoulder part of the blame for their non-co-operation with
the police. The police will remain helpless so long as information
on the extortionists is denied to them.
Another grievance of the Tamils in the LTTEs bandit country
is the complete absence of any kind of human freedom available in
the rest of the country. They have no freedom of speech. Tamil newspapers
are burnt and Tamil journalists are murdered in turn by the LTTE and
other Tamil gangsters. Note the Tamil newspapers are available in
plenty in the rest of the country and the Tamil journalists ply their
trade without any hindrance from the Sinhalese.
Some of them are subject to intimidation by the LTTE even in the
south of the country. This is the payoff emanating from Ranils
CFA giving the LTTE permission to do "political work" in
the south of the country! If any Tamil spoke even about the appaling
conditions of life, they will soon find themselves inviting LTTE bullets
through their heads.
In short they have no right to dissent, full uncomplaining compliance
with Pirapakarans dictatorship is enforced without mercy.
These Tamils have no freedom of association. They cannot found any
political party different from that of the LTTE. Those already functioning
Tamil parties are existing at great risk Almost every day the members
of these parties such as the EPDP, EPRLF, etc. are murdered by the
LTTE.
Even to found a trade organisation one needs the consent of the LTTE
and its members should be contributors to the LTTEs funds. Thus
many Tamil traders from the Vanni have fled the area or shut up shop
unable and unwilling to comply with LTTEs demands. Who is responsible
for this situation? It is the LTTE and not the Sinhalese nor the government
of the country.
I have listed the genuine and factual grievances of the Tamils arising
from the fact that they are Tamils. They are all grievances imposed
on them by the LTTE. The Sinhala and the Muslim society in this country
have nothing to do with these grievances. Yet they do not feature
among the complaints so often made by the Tamil elite, their NGO and
New Leftist friends living in comfort in the salubrious environs of
Colombo. To the extent they have ignored these genuine grievances,
they stand condemned as hypocrites and remain blacklisted as acolytes
of the LTTE.
Many a Tamil in the diaspora has now come to realise the ruin wrought
on the Tamils by the LTTE. They have started to hold public protest
meetings against these grievances and blame the LTTE for the sad predicament
of the Tamil society in Sri Lanka. They have called for a real change
in the LTTE. It is opportune moment for the Tamils in Sri Lanka to
join hands with them and stop blaming the Sinhalese and the government
of the country for their wretched condition in life.