Independence Dilemmas
The ethnic minority Tamils in Sri Lanka are a people besieged. Like other minorities within greater majority ruling populations such as the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq, the Tamils anguish over that elusive all-consuming desire, to have a homeland of their very own. Like minorities existing in closed societies such as Russia and China and Burma - jealous of their territorial integrity, not anytime soon willing to give up one iota of what they claim to be theirs - the Tamils wage a losing struggle.
Their militant wing, recognized, because of their terror-inspiring tactics, as a terrorist organization by liberal democracies like Canada and the United States, has been recognized as having originated the formidably effective and bloody tactic of suicide bombing in their attempts at swaying the government of Sri Lanka in giving up a portion of their territory to their Tamil minority. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)'s guerrilla tactics inspired terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
Tamils have long suffered dreadful institutional discrimination in Sri Lanka. Although they have lived in Sri Lanka since the 2nd century BCE, it is the Sri Lankan Sinhalese who form the majority. When the country gained its independence from Britain in 1948, relations between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil deteriorated into ethnic and political tensions, resulting in riots and pogroms which led to a civil war in 1983, causing over 70,000 deaths.
Tamils originated in south India, and there remains a large presence of Tamils in India, particularly in Kerala province. As a trans-national minority, Tamils have traditionally sought work outside their country, and have migrated throughout Europe and North America. Countless others have sought refuge by emigrating to other countries to escape persecution. The largest expatriate population of Tamils resides in Canada, with a population of about two hundred thousand.
Canada has been used as a recruiting base for the Tamil Tigers, but also as a fund-raising base. Rallies and marches are organized to attempt to persuade the Government of Canada to condemn the Government of Sri Lanka for its persecution of its Tamil population. It presents as a truly awkward political situation; on the one hand, Sri Lanka is a legitimately constituted government, but it is also a repressively brutal one.
The humanitarian crisis visited upon the Tamil population that precipitated the rise of a violent militant group to fight on behalf of a Tamil homeland gave rise to governments isolating the Tamils entrenched within the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam within the international community. The conundrum is that there's a toss-up between the violence and brutality brought to bear on ordinary Tamils, and that which the LTTE wreaks within the country through fear and terrorism to reach its goal.
The United Nations views with growing alarm the dire situation of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians trapped between the brutalities meted out to them by the country's military machine, and the determined resources of the Tamil Tigers not to submit their movement to the government's promises of peace. Likely in the full knowledge that the sacrifice of their violent movement to the promised peace will simply result in a return to the former conditions, with no hope of liberation from their misery.
Given the bloody conflict running rampant in the country it's a moot point whether the vicious blood-lettings on the part of the Tamil Tigers have managed to accomplish anything remotely useful for the Tamil population, or whether indeed, they have simply managed to increase the danger to ordinary Tamils living with the white-hot anger of the majority Sinhalese and the grim determination of the country's government.
India is currently attempting to broker a peace deal between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, claiming it can rescue the situation if the Tigers agree to laying down their arms. India, working in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross claims responsibility for the security and rehabilitation of the endangered Tamil civilians trapped in the Mullaitivu district under siege from government forces, can be assured.
In the Sri Lankan military's zeal to combat and finish off the Tamil Tigers, they've ringed the area where the guerrillas are holding out, in the process trapping innocent civilians. Because little differentiation appears to be made between the Tamil civilians and the Tamil Tigers as far as the military is concerned, international human rights groups have accused the military of indiscriminate shelling and the LTTE of deliberately preventing the civilians from fleeing the area.
In the heat of war it's clear that little thought on either side, is given to the safety and security of the Tamil civilians. They're being targeted by the Sri Lankan military, and at the same time the helpless civilians are being used as a human shield by the LTTE. A terror-group modelling that has become familiar to the watching world as one now also practised in the Middle East.
It becomes extremely difficult, however, to define with any clarity where justice lies in all of this. The Tamils are a persecuted minority, who wish to have a country of their own where they will be secure. The government of Sri Lanka, while obviously seeing no value in their Tamil minorities, does see great value in holding on to its territory, keeping it intact. This too is a much-repeated theme in unappreciated minorities struggling to attain a nation of their own.
The actions of both the government, brutally unconcerned for the well-being of a signal part of its population, and the Tamil guerrillas determined to achieve 'freedom' and a separate geography for those whom they represent are both reprehensible, and each cause great suffering in that country. There are times when solutions never present themselves, proving that old adage that nothing is ever simple.
Nothing of a human construct, where one group rails and expressed gross violence against the other, neither willing to relent and reach a reasonable accord. It's as simple as no one group willing to give one iota of entitlement to the other.
Their militant wing, recognized, because of their terror-inspiring tactics, as a terrorist organization by liberal democracies like Canada and the United States, has been recognized as having originated the formidably effective and bloody tactic of suicide bombing in their attempts at swaying the government of Sri Lanka in giving up a portion of their territory to their Tamil minority. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)'s guerrilla tactics inspired terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
Tamils have long suffered dreadful institutional discrimination in Sri Lanka. Although they have lived in Sri Lanka since the 2nd century BCE, it is the Sri Lankan Sinhalese who form the majority. When the country gained its independence from Britain in 1948, relations between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil deteriorated into ethnic and political tensions, resulting in riots and pogroms which led to a civil war in 1983, causing over 70,000 deaths.
Tamils originated in south India, and there remains a large presence of Tamils in India, particularly in Kerala province. As a trans-national minority, Tamils have traditionally sought work outside their country, and have migrated throughout Europe and North America. Countless others have sought refuge by emigrating to other countries to escape persecution. The largest expatriate population of Tamils resides in Canada, with a population of about two hundred thousand.
Canada has been used as a recruiting base for the Tamil Tigers, but also as a fund-raising base. Rallies and marches are organized to attempt to persuade the Government of Canada to condemn the Government of Sri Lanka for its persecution of its Tamil population. It presents as a truly awkward political situation; on the one hand, Sri Lanka is a legitimately constituted government, but it is also a repressively brutal one.
The humanitarian crisis visited upon the Tamil population that precipitated the rise of a violent militant group to fight on behalf of a Tamil homeland gave rise to governments isolating the Tamils entrenched within the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam within the international community. The conundrum is that there's a toss-up between the violence and brutality brought to bear on ordinary Tamils, and that which the LTTE wreaks within the country through fear and terrorism to reach its goal.
The United Nations views with growing alarm the dire situation of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians trapped between the brutalities meted out to them by the country's military machine, and the determined resources of the Tamil Tigers not to submit their movement to the government's promises of peace. Likely in the full knowledge that the sacrifice of their violent movement to the promised peace will simply result in a return to the former conditions, with no hope of liberation from their misery.
Given the bloody conflict running rampant in the country it's a moot point whether the vicious blood-lettings on the part of the Tamil Tigers have managed to accomplish anything remotely useful for the Tamil population, or whether indeed, they have simply managed to increase the danger to ordinary Tamils living with the white-hot anger of the majority Sinhalese and the grim determination of the country's government.
India is currently attempting to broker a peace deal between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, claiming it can rescue the situation if the Tigers agree to laying down their arms. India, working in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross claims responsibility for the security and rehabilitation of the endangered Tamil civilians trapped in the Mullaitivu district under siege from government forces, can be assured.
In the Sri Lankan military's zeal to combat and finish off the Tamil Tigers, they've ringed the area where the guerrillas are holding out, in the process trapping innocent civilians. Because little differentiation appears to be made between the Tamil civilians and the Tamil Tigers as far as the military is concerned, international human rights groups have accused the military of indiscriminate shelling and the LTTE of deliberately preventing the civilians from fleeing the area.
In the heat of war it's clear that little thought on either side, is given to the safety and security of the Tamil civilians. They're being targeted by the Sri Lankan military, and at the same time the helpless civilians are being used as a human shield by the LTTE. A terror-group modelling that has become familiar to the watching world as one now also practised in the Middle East.
It becomes extremely difficult, however, to define with any clarity where justice lies in all of this. The Tamils are a persecuted minority, who wish to have a country of their own where they will be secure. The government of Sri Lanka, while obviously seeing no value in their Tamil minorities, does see great value in holding on to its territory, keeping it intact. This too is a much-repeated theme in unappreciated minorities struggling to attain a nation of their own.
The actions of both the government, brutally unconcerned for the well-being of a signal part of its population, and the Tamil guerrillas determined to achieve 'freedom' and a separate geography for those whom they represent are both reprehensible, and each cause great suffering in that country. There are times when solutions never present themselves, proving that old adage that nothing is ever simple.
Nothing of a human construct, where one group rails and expressed gross violence against the other, neither willing to relent and reach a reasonable accord. It's as simple as no one group willing to give one iota of entitlement to the other.
Labels: Human Fallibility, Terrorism, Traditions, World News
posted by Pieface | 1:56 PM
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