When the Sinhalese mobs were going about freely attacking Tamils in 1983, a rumor went round that the Tamil Tiger cadres had appeared in Colombo. The Sinhalese veerayas and chandiyas were in total panic and were fleeing in all directions as far as Kalutara and Avisawela underlines Makenthiran.
In a letter written to Asian Tribune he further wrote, “Some ran into Tamil houses for safety. It was obvious that these Sinhalese thugs were a bunch of cowards who will boldly attack if Tamils are passive, but flee when challenged. There is a saying in Tamil that a fellow who keeps knocking when one keeps bending down is a fool, and a fellow who keeps bending down when one keeps knocking is also a fool.
The full text of the letter written by Makenthiran to Asian Tribune is given below :
The Editor
Asian Tribune
Comments on indictment of Sri Lanka Government
You have done a great service by publishing letters on the above subject giving different views. Readers will be able to get the facts from your columns. Please publish this letter so that the readers can form an opinion as to who is the better of the two parties to terror.
Asoka Weerasinghe has only confirmed my assertion that those trying to comment on the numerous Sinhalese atrocities and war crimes listed by me are not disproving them. They are only trying to prove that Sinhalese no doubt are guilty of the war crimes and terrorism, but they are not as bad as the Tigers. Abusing the Tigers does not exonerate Sinhalese from war crimes and terrorism.
I will not like Asoka Weerasinghe say dishonestly that all what he says is concocted fairy tales. The truth of the matter is that from 1948 to 1983, the Sinhalese and the Sri Lanka government committed atrocities and genocide against the unarmed Tamil civilians and reveled in it. Tamils could not resist as they were unarmed. After 1983, the Tamil youth armed themselves to protect their people and gave it back bellyful to the Sinhalese. From then on both sides suffered and both sided killed each other. Asoka Weerasinghe and Sinhalese Buddhist extremists are surprised that the docile Tamils are now hitting back and hitting hard. Do they expect the Tamils to suffer for ever without defending themselves?
During the 1983 anti-Tamil riots by the Sinhala thugs, one sobering lesson was learnt by both Sinhalese and Tamils. Till 1983 Tamils were always at the receiving end and the Sinhalese behaved like bold fighters as long as Tamils were passive. It was the general impression among the Sinhalese, that Tamils as a race are passive and cowardly. So much so that Tamils were despised as second class people by the Sinhalese and were refered to as ‘para Damalo’. However, the Tamil Tigers carried out some daring attacks against the army and police and the Sinhalese began to fear and respect them. The young Tamils are a new breed of angry and fearless youth.
I can recall the massacre of Tamils in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1983. I lived through the first three of them and left the country and the misery in 1972.
When the Sinhalese mobs were going about freely attacking Tamils in 1983, a rumor went round that the Tamil Tiger cadres had appeared in Colombo. The Sinhalese veerayas and chandiyas were in total panic and were fleeing in all directions as far as Kalutara and Avisawela.
Some ran into Tamil houses for safety. It was obvious that these Sinhalese thugs were a bunch of cowards who will boldly attack if Tamils are passive, but flee when challenged. There is a saying in Tamil that a fellow who keeps knocking when one keeps bending down is a fool, and a fellow who keeps bending down when one keeps knocking is also a fool.
This is what was happening during the time of the older generation of Tamils. When 13 soldiers were killed in 1983, Sinhalese ran riot against unarmed Tamils. After 1983, Tamils Tigers are said to have counter attacked and killed about 20,000 Sinhalese armed forces, but no anti-Tamil riots has taken place.
How can a ‘good Sinhalese Buddhist’ like Asoka Weerasinghe write that Tamils ought to thank the Sinhalese for massacring the Tamils in 1983, because the Tamils were able to go into foreign lands? Would he thank those who killed Sinhalese because the dead went to heaven sooner? You cannot have different standards for Tamils and Sinhalese.
How would Asoka Weerasinghe in the safety of Canada react if his family were killed, mutilated, burnt alive, his women raped, houses burnt and left in refugee camps. It is a disgrace to the great King Asoka whose name he bears.
Weerasinghe asks why Tamils did not go to India. India took in 500,000 Upcountry Tamils sent out by Srimavo government and 200,000 Northeast Tamils who fled there after the 1983 massacre. Is that not enough. Applying the same argument, why cannot the Sinhalese go to Bangladesh from where Vijaya came. Why cannot the Sinhalese Budhists go to Burma where there are plenty of Budhists and let Tamils live in peace in Ceylon. Tamils can also ask why Asoka Weerasinghe and Iris de Silva are in Canada, and what right do they have to ask the Tamils to go elsewhere?
If it is accepted that Tamils are economic refugees, then it is a proof that Tamils are leaving because they are being economically strangled in the country of their birth. What is the need for us to come and live in the Canadian winter if we were allowed to live in peace in our own warm country? I never wanted to leave Ceylon till things became unbearable.
There was a Sinhalese friend of ours, an ardent nationalist, in Botswana with us. A few days after I arrived in Canada I was shocked to see him on the road. When I asked him what he was doing here, he sheepishly replied that he came as a refugee because of the Sinhalese JVP terrorists. He said “What a small world”. I thought “what a strange world”. I will not mention names to avoid embarrassment.
I quite agree that Tamils and Sinhalese can be friends as individuals and do help each other. One of my Sinhalese friend and accountancy batch mates, Frederick Mahasinghe arrived in Malawi after I had left that country. He had arrived alone without his family and was enquiring about me. I was sad to hear that he suddenly died there, but the entire Tamil community there gave him a decent well attended funeral. We are human beings.
Dollar and Kent farm killings mentioned by Weerasinghe was case of tit for tat. It is in the Tamil heartland and was originally owned and occupied by Tamils. The Sinhalese killed and drove away the Tamils and planted Sinhalese convicts. The Tamils retaliated by attacking and killing the convicts. It is chain reaction. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Some Buddhist priests have no doubt been killed in the civil war. However, they are no saints. There are many criminals and racists among them inciting violence. During the 1983 massacre of Tamils, a Buddhist priest was asked on the radio whether it was not a sin to kill. The pious Buddhists said it is a sin to kill, but killing Tamils is alright.
It is also agreed that some Muslims unfortunately have suffered in the war. It has also to be pointed out that the Sri Lankan government used the divide and rule policy, by recruiting home guards from the Muslims and using them to kill and oppress Tamils.
The all Sinhala army and police were alien to the Tamils and were behaving in the Northeast like an army of occupation. In Jaffna they were treating the Tamils, as if they were a conquered people. In July 1983 came a rude shock. A group of Tamil Tigers ambushed and killed 13 soldiers at Thinnavely. The army was going for the Tigers, but the hunters got hunted. It was a fair game, but the Sinhalese masters would have none of it. They wanted to teach the Tamils an objective lesson and organized a well conceived plan of ethnic cleansing by massacring Tamil civilians and destroyed 90 % of their property.
Many young Tamil women with infants were in detention without trial and the kids growing up in jails for no fault of theirs. The army killings has made thousands of Tamil children orphans, but the Colombo media are shedding crocodile tears alleging that LTTE are using child soldiers. Whether these allegations are true or not, it is not possible to say. However, it is extremely baffling that child soldiers can destroy a well armed Sri Lankan armed forces of 150,000, and smash all the way through the jungles of Vanni, from Nedunkerny to Manalaru, Omanthai, Mannar, Poonahari, Elephant Pass, Palai, Chavakachcheri and hammer at the gates of Jaffna within a few days during operation ‘Unceasing Waves 3' by the LTTE. Since there is a ceasefire for the last four years whom are the child soldiers fighting anyway now.
Appeal for urgent action
Every time there are anti-Tamil riots, the Sinhalese mobs indulge in an orgy of violence and rape of Tamil women. The army and police force, almost all Sinhalese, are hostile to Tamils. The police force of 60,000 has only a few hundred Tamils. In the army there are hardly any Tamils. Sinhalese and Muslim home guards and Tamil militant groups armed and paid by the government are guilty of further atrocities.
All nations and organizations that are interested and promoting peace in Sri Lanka should take serious note of past happenings. The Sinhalese government, police and army cannot be trusted to protect the Tamil civilians. A change of government in the South dominated by racists like JVP, JHU, Sinhala Urumaya or the Budhist clergy or even PA can be more dangerous for the Tamils. Any political solution therefore has to be designed to permanently safeguard the Tamils against Sinhalese state and mob terrorism. If the country is to remain undivided, the Tamils homeland and rights should be recognized and proper autonomy granted within a federal set up. For the protection of the Tamils, they should have their own police, judiciary and army in the Northeast, and sufficient Tamils should be recruited to the police and army by the central government to serve in the Sinhalese provinces according to the ethnic composition. The Sinhalese armed forces should immediately vacate the Tamil homeland and withdraw from Jaffna. Tricomalee, Batticaloa, Vavuniya and Mannar.
S. Makenthiran
Mississauga
Canada
- Asian Tribune -
Date : 2005-10-11
(A Letter That appeared in www.asiantribune.com)
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