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RSSSLAF Air Strikes – France 24 New
SLAF Air Strikes on France 24 News
Comment by tamilnation.org It appears that what we wrote on 29 January 2009 in Sinhala Sri Lanka's Genocide of Eelam Tamils - a Crime Against Humanity, is now coming to pass -
"...the international community will wait till Tamil resistance is sufficiently weakened or annihilated before it attempts to intervene 'on humanitarian grounds' and in seeming response to 'world wide Tamil appeals'. Meanwhile the IC will even welcome such world wide appeals by Tamils as that will pave the way (and establish useful contact points amongst the Tamil diaspora) for IC's eventual intervention with 'development aid' with the mantra of not conflict resolution but 'conflict transformation'."
'Humanitarian intervention' to prevent the humanitarian tragedy that is taking place in the Tamil homeland, had it been early, would have been kind. But the belated attempts that are being made today expose not the humanitarian concerns of the international actors but the strategic interests that impel the international actors to act the way they do.
The White House call that 'international aid workers should have access to all sites where internally displaced persons are being registered and sheltered' is directed to embed the physical presence of the so called 'international community' in Sri Lanka and exclude the influence of China and manage the influence of New Delhi in the Indian Ocean region.The White House call has little to do with securing freedom for the people of Tamil Eelam from permanent alien Sinhala rule.We are reminded of the record of the Bush adminstration and the words of US Amabassador Lunstead in January 2006 -
"Through our military training and assistance programs, including efforts to help with counterterrorism initiatives and block illegal financial transactions, we are helping to shape the ability of the Sri Lankan Government to protect its people and defend its interests."
We commented then -
"Shaping the ability of the Sri Lankan government to protect the Tamil people may appear to many like shaping the ability of the fox to guard the chickens. Sri Lanka's record of torture, rape, extra judicial killings and mass graves, speaks for itself . So does the strident voice of Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalism. But then, it may be that ambassador Lunstead did not have the Tamil people in mind."
After all the simplest thing that the US could have done to protect the Tamil people would have been to remove the ban on the LTTE so that the capacity of the people of Tamil Eelam to resist the genocidal onslaught launched on them by Sinhala Sri Lanka may have been strengthened.
The simple and humane thing that the US could have done was not to taunt the struggles against terrorism with the label terrorism but to adopt a principle centered approach which liberated political language and also helped to liberate a people who have taken up arms as a last resort in their struggle for freedom from oppressive alien Sinhala rule.
The White House statement fails to recognise that in Tamil Eelam today, though the charge is genocide, the struggle is for freedom..
And reconciliation between two peoples can come only on the basis of recognising the existence of each people as a people with the inalienable right to self determination. There is a need for the US to recognise the enduring truth of something which Velupillai Pirabakaran said many years ago -
"We are not chauvinists. Neither are we lovers of violence enchanted with war. We do not regard the Sinhala people as our opponents or as our enemies. We recognise the Sinhala nation. We accord a place of dignity for the culture and heritage of the Sinhala people. We have no desire to interfere in any way with the national life of the Sinhala people or with their freedom and independence. We, the Tamil people, desire to live in our own historic homeland as an independent nation, in peace, in freedom and with dignity."
It is only the independent who may associate with one another in freedom and with dignity. It appears that it is the dynamics of the balance of power in the Indian Ocean region that leads the US to support the continued existence of an undivided Sri Lanka. It appears that the US is concerned that support for an independent Tamil Eelam may lead to an increased Chinese/Iranian presence in Sinhala Sri Lanka and in the Indian Ocean region. Again it appears that the US is not in the buisness of creating regional hegemons and giving a blank cheque to India. Said that it seems that the Obama administration also recognises that a 'post genocide' Sinhala Sri Lanka will prove to be no different to Saddam Hussien's Iraq which the US supported in Iraq's war against Iran.
White House Statement on Continuing Conflict in Sri Lanka
The United States is deeply concerned about the plight of innocent civilians caught up in the conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers, and the mounting death toll. We call on both sides to stop fighting immediately and allow civilians to safely leave the combat zone.
We call upon the Government of Sri Lanka to stop shelling the 'safe zone' and blocking international aid groups and media from accessing those civilians who have managed to escape. International aid workers should have access to all sites where internally displaced persons are being registered and sheltered. The United States is working with international partners to attempt to care for those civilians who can be reached.
We call on both sides to strictly adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law. We are very concerned about reports of violations, and take these allegations very seriously.
It would compound the current tragedy if the military end of the conflict only breeds further enmity and ends hopes for reconciliation and a unified Sri Lanka in the future.
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