The Conflict of Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam in the island of Ceylon

I'm glad the thread made it to part 2 but I think perhaps you should have taken oldgoat's advice thirusuj and retitled the thread with a shorter name... especially if the intention is to provided a space for general discussion on the conflict Sri Lanka/Sri Lankan Tamil predicament. I know you cannot change it now though... too bad.

I was thinking about changing it, since I was going to name it part 2 I thought about just leaving it alone.

Suggestion for appropriate title would be a great idea. Here are my suggestions:

1. The Conflict of Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam in the island of Ceylon
2. Lions and Tigers in one cage
3. Bloody mess in India's southern backyard
4. The Tamil side in the Sri Lankan marriage wants divorce due to untold abuse

Thirusuj I figured you left the name the same in order to make it clear this thread was the sequel to the prior. I like the thread naming contest idea. Of your suggestions the most appropriate is probably #1 or maybe #4. Personally my favorite is #2... maybe it could be "Lions and Tigers and guns oh my...".

It also attests to the fact that the document is still hosted by the AHRC on their website with their permission, so they are hardly unaware of their association with this articles contents. You are awfuly interested in this attribution for someone who has not yet demonstrated any other interest in this topic...

I agree.  #1 it is.  2 is great, but titles should offer clarity for people looking for a thread, which is more important than literary value.

And with that --

 Thirusuj, you're saying the Tamils have the same right to self-determination and (when driven to it) violence in defence of that right as, say, Palestine. Is that right? 

 If so, I wonder why you think the global perceptions are so different? 

Is it that there's a conspiracy against the Tamils to paint them (or at least the LTTE) as terrorists? Or is it because of the numerous reports of human rights violations by the LTTE (by such groups as the Asian human rights commission web site report that i linked to last thread)?

Yes, when the entire political paths were blocked and non-violence was made a mockery in Sri Lanka, the Tamil youths took over the leadership of the community. What do you do when the only thing the government communicates with is violence? Palestinians are in similar situation. I am sure if you provide the Palestinian with missiles and fighter jets as given to Israel, the use of terror tactics like suicide bombing would not occur. Same goes for Tigers.

  

 Global perceptions and I am guessing when you say that you are excluding the oppressed people around the world. Oppressed people around the world would support the Palestinians and Tamils any time, unfortunately the oppressed people are busy trying to defend themselves or trying to be alive. So that leaves the global perceptions to be determined by those who have freedom which is actually not a global perception but perception of the privileged who have no connection with the oppressed. What's more important is that the privileged people have a lack of knowledge of the situations and understanding of the feeling of the oppressed.
I hope I made sense and answered you question.

 Well there is no worldwide conspiracy to paint the Tamils as terrorist but there sure is a open conspiracy to do that to the Tamils by the Sri Lankan government around the world. Which they have succeeded. Surely the mood of the western nations after 9/11 did not help the Tamils but it provided the Sri Lankan governments with the environment that they could only dream of. They exploited the feelings of the people living in the western world and easily allied with the western governments simply by saying "we have the same problem". The "war on terror" painted a new picture of the Tamil peoples struggle and open human rights violations became acceptable in the name of fighting terrorism.

The same groups have put out more reports on the Sri Lankan governments; ironically a officially recognized authority seems to be immune to these reports or any condemnation. At the moment these human rights group would not function in Sri Lanka if they actually reported what is really been going on. ICRC and BBC are on the brink of being kicked out at the moment. Anything seen as supportive to the Tamil is quickly labeled as Tamil Tiger, terrorist, trying to destroy Sri Lankan and they end up getting kicked out. This is what happened to all the NGO's and International media that refused to follow the Sri Lankan government's line. I could list prominent international figures that are called "White Tigers" because they said that serious Human Rights violation is taking place and the government is responsible.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7879743.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7874079.stm

See, this claim that all oppressed people sympathize with the Tamils, I'm not sure that's true. I think the bad image of the Tamil struggle is truly global, which is damn unfair but still seems to me to be the case.

 I've heard quite a lot of people involved in one independence movement or another assert that their struggle is just and deserves international support because of the tactics they've chosen. The whole Tibet campaign is based on the moral superiority of non-violence (I'm not agreeing, merely paraphrasing). I've heard Tibetans say Tamils deserve support, but that the LTTE does not -- in fact, they deserve extra support by the very fact of not choosing LTTE tactics. Or unpack the rhetoric of the Burma democracy movement which makes Aung San Suu Kyi a hero because she's "Mandela and Martin Luther King" rolled into one. I've heard people involved in these movements and others denounce the LTTE as murderous fanatics (quoting here, not endorsing). 

I think ignorance, like It's Me D said, that's the main challenge. But there's also the fact that Sri Lanka's government has managed to paint the LTTE as plain-and-simple terrorists, and the LTTE has played right into that. Might say the same about India and Kashmir, etc. 

This is not strategic interest of the west alone, but there is also strategic interest of the east as well. China, Iran, India, US and many others all wants the Trimco harbor which would ensure their supremacy over the Indian Ocean and would give them major leverage over Asia. Right now, it is getting more complicated as Chinese, Iranian and Indian companies are granted permission to explore for oil in the Gulf of Mannar which is believe to hold a substantial amount of oil. Remember that Gulf of Mannar and the Trimco harbor is part of Tamil Eelam. Tigers knowing the importance of the strategic and commercial value of Trimco harbour have declared the Trimcomale as the capital of Tamil Eelam (once entire Tamil Eelam is liberated) even though Jaffna district was used as the administrative center/capital in the 80's and 90's and Killinochi in the late 90's until December 2008 by the Tigers.

Rapper M.I.A is adding a mainstream and popular voice to the Tamil struggle:

NY Times:

The article notes that her father was a leader in the Tamil seperatist movement.

Regardless of your opinion on the Sri Lankan conflict, M.I.A. is pretty [url= http://www.feministing.com/archives/013633.html] kick-ass [/url] for performing on her due-date.

M.I.A., No Loss For Words

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/15/AR200509...

There is no such things as an "internal matter" when it comes to rights, I think. 

Others will disagree. 

Why is their no coverage in the MSM?

According to Al-Jazeera (you know that totally biased pro-west network - lol), the Tamil Tigers are massacring civilians and forcing children into their militias:

 http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia/2009/02/200921620151665741.html

"Tamil rebels have prevented thousands of civilians from leaving Sri Lanka's war zone and also used force against them, the UN says.

The LTTE, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, is holding non-combatants in a patch of coastal jungle in the northeast of the island, where they have been cornered by government forces, the world body said in a statement on Tuesday.

"A growing number of people trying to leave have been shot and sometimes killed," the UN said.

Both the LTTE and government forces must work harder to ensure that civilians are not killed by disease and the continuing fighting, it said.

The LTTE is also intensifying the recruitment of child soliders into its ranks as it comes under attack from government forces, Unicef, the UN agency for children, said on Tuesday."

 

While doing some research into the conflict a few years ago, I saw it quoted somewhere that the LTTE has the dubious distinction of having killed more Tamils throughout this conflict than either the Sri Lankan or Indian governments combined.

Al Jazeera article given by Stockholm has Al Jazeera quoting the UN, TRO and ICRC. TRO is the one actually in the deadly conflict zone, ICRC on the border of it along with UN with the Sri Lankan government towering over them both. Ever since Al Jazeera and BBC like many others who couldn't get access to investigate have quoted their sources and in their article have clearly marked every quote's source to avoid damage to their journalistic integrity.

 

International community is not going to believe TRO as it was accused by the Sri Lankan government of being a front organization of the LTTE. Many of the western governments have carried out extensive auditing of their accounts and activities following the accusation by Sri Lanka. Canadian TRO offices have seen regular visiting by the RCMP and the claims by Sri Lanka has been stamped invalid. Apparently the US TRO office has seen many visit by the FBI and at the end of it the US government has frozen their account until investigations are completed (I am not sure what stage it is at now).

 

ICRC and UN don't have the access the TRO has right now or for the past three years. ICRC and UN functions under the rules of the Sri Lankan government. I find it hard when ICRC and UN reports on an area where they don't have access and only depend on hearing civilians who are under the control of Sri Lankan government If these civilians were to say something that was against the government, they are in for a long and brutal quality time with the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and other security forces. WFP official John Campbell comparing the situation in Sri Lanka worst as Somalia, he got in so much trouble from the government.

http://www.tamilguardian.com/tg388/p14.pdf

 

As for Tamilnet, they have correspondence and reporters all over the conflict zone including the small stretch of land the government is shelling day and night. They work undercover because the government has banned and blocked access to the Tamilnet.com site long ago as the information starved independent Sri Lankan media were quoting Tamilnet when they don't have access to the Tigers and the civilians in the intense conflict zone. Many of the international media also does the same and it has irked Sri Lankan government and accused many of the international media of carrying out pro-LTTE news when they are caught quoting Tamilnet and other Tamil sources.

So we are back to square one, the need of UN monitors and international media to be present so that the international community can feel assured that they are getting the right news to come to a conclusion. Right now the accurate sources available are the Tamil sources and they are seen as biased toward the Tamils and any mention of them will make the Sri Lankan government scream out that is terrorist's sources. The government has to allow (which it will never do) international media and UN monitors to investigate, get first hand experience and report to the world. The international community has to force the government to allow it or face sanctions of all sorts and isolation.