Dear Friends,
This
is a well articulated article by Sridas, that puts the so called
International Community on the spot. Immediately after World War II, the
super powers were conscience struck and brought in laws and regulations
that would prevent catastrophes and devastations of the kind that that
took place during the war. They called this the New World Order.
Colonies, that could not have dreamt of independence during pre-war
days, freedom became a reality.
This
tall order didn't last that long. The emergence of the Cold War changed
them all. This became a battle between the Western Powers and the
Communist Bloc, led by Soviet Union. The Western powers made a
deliberate attempt to bring into power leaders, though not honest to
their people who voted them in, but favourable to them. This was done
for two reasons. One was to increase their voting power in the United
Nations (UN) and the other was to control the resources of emerging
independent countries, as they were no longer colonies that could be
robbed. The first causality was Patrice Lumumba, an honest patriot of
Belgium Congo, They got him killed and his body dipped in nitric acid,
and replaced him with the most corrupted leader in Africa, Col.Mobutu.
The West couldn't be bothered about what happened to the people or the
country. As long as they could control Congo's mineral rich province of
Katanga they were happy.
Nigeria
was the next trouble spot, where the West played a nefarious role.
Nigeria is an unnatural country composed of three major tribes.
Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba, none of them had anything in common. When
the European powers divided Africa among themselves, the British took
control of Nigerian territory. As in Sri Lanka, they unified all the
people into a single country for administrative purposes. Matters were
fine when the British ruled the country; problem started after
independence..
The Igbos, like the Tamils in
Sri Lanka, were more educated and progressive. Like the Tamils in Sri
Lanka they were in the forefront in the fight for independence, but when
independence came they did not demand a federal constitution. They were
happy to live in a unitary state, and hence their present situation.
Trouble
began when oil was discovered by Shell Oil Company in the Eastern
Nigeria. The Nigerian military leader Gen.Yakubu Gowon, wanted to unify
the country into a single state. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was
military governor of the Eastern Region, broke off from the rest of
Nigeria. The war between Nigeria and Biafra broke out in July 1967, and
as a result two million Igbos died, mainly of starvation.
During
the war Britain supported Nigeria against the Biafrans and needless to
say, the Biafrans lost. UK supported Nigeria as they wanted to control
the oil in Biafra. There was no morality of who was right or wrong; it
was pure commercial interest. Unlike the Tamils, they didn't have a
diaspora or Tamil Nadu to voice their problems. To this day they are
second class citizens in their own country, but it is not Britain's
concern.
Sri Lanka did not have any resources
of any worth for the so-called International Community to be attracted
to, but it is right at the bottom of India, facing a vast Indian Ocean,
through which 60% of the world trade passes by daily; hence the need to
be friendly to Sri Lanka.
For the West there
was an extra problem. The Tamils had for the past 2,500 years pro-Tamil
Nadu and by extension India, and the Sinhalese had consistently been
anti-Tamil and again by extension anti-India. Therefore it was not
surprising when Kerry-Lugar Report stated whatever human rights
violations Sri Lanka committed, it should not be sidelined.
India,
on the other hand, has its Kashmir problem; a question may be asked if a
referendum could be held in Sri Lanka, why not in Kashmir. To Indira
Gandhi, this was not a serious matter. the barbarous killing of Tamils
by the Sinhalese had to be stopped. With her death came in the airline
pilot a political novice, Rajiv Gandhi, who was advised by RAW and the
SL High Commissioner, J.N Dixit, that if Tamils break free from SL, than
Tamil Nadu will separate from India and create a new country.
So
they conceived the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 to disarm the LTTE
and hence India's problem with Prabhakaran. If only Rajiv had washed his
hands off SL, and let the the Tamils and Sinhalese decide their own
destiny, as Atal Bihari Vajpayee did, the Tamils will not be in their
present plight and the Sinhalese will not be celebrating their victory
today. Now it is the duty of the Diaspora Tamils and Tamil Nadu to
overcome the drama played by the International Community.
Regards,
Visvanathan
The HRW and the likes of it
The
UN as well as all other Human Rights Agencies are never there to
protect the real vulnerable people anywhere. Sanctimonious
pronouncements, after the fact, is more the rule than the exception.
They are there to serve the interests of the powerful Western Nations
only and that with occasional meaningless chorus: “Never again”.
The
threat for accountability and investigations of war crimes in the
context of Sri Lanka has been relegated to the back burner, if not
already shoved out of the international agenda. There is no need for one
to read between the lines to conclude as such. The dilution of the
investigating Authority from ‘international’ to ‘domestic’ has to be
understood as only a phase before wiping the matter off the
international agenda completely. The N.P. civil society being fully
aware of the state of affairs is expressing concerns whilst the elected
representatives remain mute to the prospect, indirectly signalling
acquiescence, the situation coming in handy for the Sirisena
Administration to influence the international agenda into dropping the
whole accountability process comfortably.
This
does not mean that the Tamils have to regard it as ‘fait accompli’ and
carry on without protest. Protest, they should at every turn of events
whilst applauding the civil society and mercifully the Northern
Provincial Council, headed by C.V. Wigneswaran, a non- politico sans
vested interests.
Sridas Sivasambo
605-3151 Bridletowne Circle
Scarborough, ON.
M1W 2T1
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