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Tamil Eelam and the U.S. Declaration of Independence Alex Doss |
In United States history it was July 4th, 1776 when Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence for the separation of the13 colonies from Great Britain. This Declaration was a list of grievances against King George III of England. After endorsement of this Declaration of Independence came the American Revolution. This list of grievances of the early Americans is parallel to that of the Tamil people Northeast of Sri Lanka. The Tamils have similar grievances against the Sri Lankan government which the early Americans went through over 200 years ago. The only difference is that during the American Revolution, it was a war between Englishmen. In Sri Lanka, it is between two separate distinct civilizations whose ancestry dates back for more than two thousand years. During the early American Independence Movement, General George Washington was looked at as a terrorist in the eyes of the British who were oppressing the people he was defending. Likewise, the Sinhala government which oppresses the people of the Tamil nation views General Velupillai Pirabaharan as a threat to them. Therefore a freedom fighter is a "patriot" to the oppressed and a "terrorist" to the oppressors. Some people may argue that independence movements are a thing of the past. However, since 1990, thirty-one new countries have been created (1). The most recent nation to gain independence was Montenegro on June 4th, 2006 (2). Prior to Montenegro was the independence of East Timor on May 20th, 2002 with the blessings of the international community. To those who say that Sri Lanka is too small a nation to have two separate states, there are a few dozen countries smaller than the Tamil homeland Northeast of Sri Lanka. Singapore is one of them. There are also those who say that genocide does not happen anymore like what happened in Nazi Germany during WWI or during the Vietnam War era. However, there are countries at present which undergo “genocide in places like the Congo, Chechnya, and Sudan (3). Sadly, we do not hear of the genocide in Sri Lanka which has been unleashed upon the Tamil people for decades through the governments state sponsored terrorism. The following quotes below are excerpts from the United States Declaration of Independence along with the grievances of the Tamil nation. DENIAL OF RIGHTS: 1. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment:
Similarly, since the time the British left, the Sinhala government had refused to pass laws to grant the Tamils Northeast of Sri Lanka representation and equal treatment. On July 7 1956, a bill was passed making Sinhalese the only official language of the country (5), thus marginalizing the Tamil population Northeast of Sri Lanka. The Banda – Chelva B-C pact and Dudley – Chelva D-C pact were offered to the Tamils only to be thrown out by the same government (6) offering these so called proposals. 2. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.” (7) As with the Tamil case in Sri Lanka, one year after the 2002 ceasefire, the Interim Self Governing Authority I.S.G.A. was presented to the Government of Sri Lanka GOSL by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE representatives of the people. On Oct of 2003, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga suspended parliament, and dismissed three ministers and the ISGA was dismissed with the help of Kumaratunga’s new allies, the Marxist Sinhala Nationalist known as the Janatha Vimukthi Permuna JVP, and the Buddhist clergy political party called Jathika Hela Urumaya JHU. Similar actions by the Sri Lankan government have occurred during the past failed peace talks (8). 3. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.” (9) Upon Independence from Britain in 1948, the Sri Lankan government denied citizenship to the upland Tamil plantation workers, who went there from Tamil Nadu during the period of 1825 - 1840s (10). ILLEGAL OCCUPATION: 4. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” (11) Paramilitary groups such as the EPDP, PLOTE, EPRLF, and the more recent Karuna group have been used by the Sri Lankan government to wage a shadow war against the Tamils. Acts of violence and harassment committed against innocent civilians at Sri Lankan Army SLA checkpoints, and assassinations of prominent Tamil representatives (12) have been the common activities of these groups. While paramilitaries are being used for the violent part of the governments further marginalizing of the Tamils, other collaborators such as Douglas Devananda of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party EPDP, Veerasingham Anandasangaree of the Tamil United Liberation Front TULF, and Hoole of the University Teachers for Human Rights - Jaffna UTHRJ are being used to mislead the international community about the situation in Sri Lanka. During early American history, those who were used by the British government to undermine the American Independence Struggle were called Torries. Just last year the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC put out an article in regards to the national Sri Lankan elections. In the article V. Anandasangaree claiming to know what is good for the Tamils has even stated that if a solution to the ethnic crisis is acceptable by the JVP, then it is good for the Tamil people! 5. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislature.” (13) In 1961, the Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency and for the first time dispatched military troops to occupy the Tamil areas Northeast of Sri Lanka. This was in the wake of a mass non-violent protest Satyagraha in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa causing the entire Northeast to shut down (14). 6. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.” (15) Thousands of Tamil civilians have been displaced from their homes, only to have the Sri Lankan military to be quartered in their former dwelling places. Today, there are “over 40,000 government troops illegally residing in Jaffna (16), while at present, 61,000 Sri Lankan Tamils are living in 103 government-run refugees camps in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu” (17). GENOCIDE: 7. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.” (18) The Sri Lankan military has been responsible for literally thousands of grave human rights abuses equating to genocide on the Tamil civilian population Northeast of Sri Lanka. From the raping of our Tamil women and young girls to the butchering of innocent men, women, and children all in the name of defending their so called territorial sovereignty which was basically handed over to them by the former Crown of England. All these perpetrators have been protected by the Sri Lankan government. A most recent example of this was the brutal executions of the 15 aid workers from Action against Hunger in the town of Muttur on August 08, 2006 and the delaying of the investigations (19). 8. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.” (20) Trade may not be the issue in this case. However, they have imposed heavy embargoes on food, medicine, and other supplies to the Northeast for over the past 20 years. These embargos have violated the most basic international charts and conventions governing human rights, including the articles of the Geneva Convention governing the treatment of civilians during wartime (21). After the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004, the government of Sri Lanka has prevented the flow of tsunami aid to Tamil areas (22). Furthermore, the Sri Lankan military and police have stopped truckloads of aid destined for the Northeast and reverted them to the Sinhala community. Tsunami aid coming in from all over the world destined for the Northeast was even taxed by the government. Container loads of medicine, clothing, and other aid materials were halted for several weeks in the Colombo airport. 9. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury. For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.” (23) The Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1979, deprived the Tamil population the right of Trial by Jury. Further more, this resulted in many abuses by the security forces such as extrajudicial killings, disappearances, abuses of detainees, and arbitrary arrest and detention (24). Thousands of innocent Tamils have been accused falsely of crimes they have not committed. Many have been arrested without warrant and held for numerous months (25). 10. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” (26) The Government of Sri Lanka has waged a war against the Tamil people Northeast of Sri Lanka from the day it first deployed its troops in the Tamil homeland back in 1961 till present. Violent anti-Tamil riots exploded in the island in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981, and in July 1983 (27). Numerous homes and shops destroyed thousands raped and butchered, and hundreds of thousands displaced. Many of whom have sought refuge throughout the world today. Even during cease-fire, the government of Sri Lanka has continued its aerial bombardment campaigns in the Tamil dominated areas of the Northeast. The BBC reported on August 14, 2006 that the Sri Lankan air force had bombarded a girls school in the North killing 61 schoolgirls, and injuring 150 other children (28). This was condemned by Tamil Nadu with various protest rallies throughout most of the state (29). The Sri Lankan Defense spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella in an interview has accused the girls of being child soldiers. Rambukwella also referred to a statement by the UNICEF to the effect that the LTTE has conscripted 1,347 children and they were being trained to fight. In his words he stated that "to us they are terrorists and when they come to kill our soldiers, does the UNICEF expect us to pamper them. What matters is not their age or gender, but what they do" (30). 11. U.S Declaration of Independence Indictment: “He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.” (31) At present, the Sri Lankan government is stocking up on its weaponry and personnel in the Jaffna peninsula. They are conducting attacks on the forward defense lines from outside of their posts and thus using breaching the cease fire agreement signed between the government and the LTTE. The Sri Lankan military are making excuses not to open up the A-9 freeway to bring some sort of normalcy to the people of the North in order to continue their military buildup. The A-9 freeway is the only major road link connecting the LTTE controlled areas in the north with the rest of the island. 12. U.S Declaration of Independence - Indictment: “He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” (32) Since the breakaway of Karuna in 2004, Ranil Wikramasinghe and his United National Party UNP government had a hand in aiding the Karuna paramilitary group to stage attacks on the LTTE in the Eastern areas of Batticaloa, Trincomalee, and Amaparai. Unarmed civilians too have been victims of this government sponsored incitement (33). This was done during the ceasefire! There have also been several assassinations on prominent members in the Tamil National Alliance TNA and Tamil community leaders. The government has done nothing to investigate these murders. One of the promises made by the Government of Sri Lanka during the first round of talks in Geneva this year was to reign in on paramilitaries. So far, Rajapakse’s government has not lived up to its word. 13. U.S Declaration of Independence – Indictment: “in every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” (34) The Tamil leadership under Velupillai Pirabaharan had petitioned, and warned the government time and again of attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over them. The government of Sri Lanka has been reminded of the Circumstances, and of the Tamils Right to Self Determination. CONCLUSION: U.S. Declaration of Independence – Denunciation: “Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.” (35) The government of Sri Lanka has deliberately shunned away from the Voice of Justice and has silenced the cries of the suffering through censorship of media over the past two decades. Furthermore, for over half a century the cries, sufferings, and pains of our Tamil brethren have fallen on deaf years of the international community. The Sri Lankan government is heading down the road of destruction in which it shall soon end up destroying itself. In the theological aspect of this, Pharaoh of Egypt was reluctant to let the Hebrews leave his land while keeping them in bondage. Moses was sent several times to warn Pharaoh of the circumstances if he did not let his people go. Several times Pharaoh did not listen, and several times Egypt was plagued with famine. Finally the last curse on Egypt came forth out of Pharaohs very own mouth resulting in the entire first born of Egypt to die including his own son. It was after that drastic event which took place when the Hebrews were finally set free to the Promised Land. Since the ceasefire of February 22, 2002, Ranil Wickramasinghe has brought deceit to the Tamil people, and his successor Mahinda Rajapakse has brought about death and destruction. “The thief commeth not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” – John 10:10 It is therefore time that the Tamil people say enough is enough. Yesterday was the day of sorrows, today is the day of declaration for freedom from bondage, and tomorrow shall be the day of rejoicing for the rebirth of a nation Northeast outside of Sri Lanka called TAMIL EELAM! Sources:
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