Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

30 October  2020

 

 

Non Aligned Minorities

The current Sri Lankan government insists that Sri Lanka is non-aligned. I have heard some Tamils also claim so in relation to the ethnic conflict. As per my observation, they are actually separating themselves from the issue itself.  A truly sovereign nation is naturally non-aligned. A truly sovereign body is also debt free.

Where there is a sovereign body anyone is free to access its powers and no one outside its borders is a relative. After Hambantota became Chinese territory, the government of Sri Lanka has no legitimacy to claim that it is sovereign. That is how debt, past its due  date becomes a curse against sovereignty.

A Tamil aligned with the Tamil side in the war responded as follows to my yesterday’s article:

[The Families of those who were made to disappear in Sri Lanka demand justice https://youtu.be/DDJB92C7luw

There were many hundreds of men and women who surrendered and handed over to the security forces and many who were arrested at the end of the war were made to disappear by the security forces in Sri Lanka. It is now more than ten years since these families are demanding justice from the international community.

it is with very deep regret that we have to note that there are no meaning full steps  taken for an independent inquiry into this matter.]

There were two Tamils known to me personally who were in the war camps in 2009. One was non-aligned and was  in Yoga Swami home for the aged; the other who was strongly aligned to the Tamil side found his way out. The Sri Lankan government in the UN is the latter’s parallel in terms of global power.

The above who are seeking redemption through the UN are a third category. To know how they could redeem themselves from their misery, one has to go to the root. Once we get to the root – our powers merge with their needs.

Those who had the direct experience would know that most suffered due to both sides – Sri Lankan army offering protection and Tamil militants wanting more numbers as shields. If the above group believes that their loved ones fought to protect Tamil sovereignty – they would know also that their disappearances confirm that sovereignty. Towards this, they ought to have first questioned groups like the TGTE – Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam which claims to have inherited the LTTE values. TGTE has confirmed recently that the endorsement of law-abiding governments is important to them. This is a handicap in upholding separatist claims. Militants maintained their distance including from law abiding Tamil seniors in order to maintain their leadership of those who were not bound by such laws. The validity of their declaration of ‘freedom’ was based on their governance power – for better or for worse. Such true belief frees one of dependence.  Hence their show of exceptional talent with much less resources than the official forces.

If TGTE were true heirs of the LTTE – they would have first taken up the cause of these folks until completion,  before  seeking UN intervention to celebrate Thileepan, which was reported by Lanka News:

[Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) today sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly & Association and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, urging them to help Thileepan’s memorial to be observed peacefully in Sri Lanka.]

Now that TGTE has lawfully claimed to be an heir of the LTTE – it has Equal responsibility as the Sri Lankan government to find out what happened to those missing during the war. Soldiers who went missing in action would have found their own way out. To the extent the heirs of militants are not questioned by these relatives, they are confirming that they never considered the militants to be responsible government – but mere participants in the war-game.

I believe that I was  born sovereign. The more I focus within me – the more I appreciate my sovereign powers. I did lose benefits and opportunities along the pathway – to realising this sovereign power. But now I believe that in return for losing those benefits and opportunities and not retaliating, I became the driving force of that system through an alternate pathway. That is what democracy is all about. To become Equal Other / Opposite side of the officials who fail to recognise our true positions, we need to stop being their Opposition in action at the maximum point taken by them. Beyond that we become both sides of governance – as in academic work and media advocacy. If we keep showing opposition beyond that Equal point  - we become perpetrators. This is the lesson Tamils led by Diaspora power need to learn to free themselves of the misery of war.

When this government withdrew from the previous government’s commitment to UNHRC – it became aligned towards China’s government. When the American government pulled out of UNHRC – it became free to be China’s enemy. In both instances the relationship was money based. Those who truly identify with the UN values would become the UN in their local areas of operation. There was no such representation in Mannar – Northern Sri Lanka where the    above meeting is reported to have  happened.  To the extent their need is genuine, they would find their own answers from within, once they are able to lose sight of external temptations and start writing their own narrative – as I did here in Australia as well as within Vaddukoddai family.