Sri
Lanka: Who Is The Organ Grinder?
By Chandi Sinnathurai
15 May, 2007
Countercurrents.org
A
week ago, some one in Colombo sent me a note saying that the war has
come to a grinding halt. According to him there were two specific reasons.
One, the Rajapaksha regime has been baffled by the Tamil Tigers’
below the radar aerial attacks. Two, Rajapaksha brothers’ [Government
is run like a family business] popularity is taking a nose dive and
the mass support is threatened.
Internationally, Rajapaksha
still seem to be the “our kind- a - guy”. There is still
considerable covert support for the war machinery. The rhetoric however
is, the Tiger terrorism has to be stopped. India is working over time
behind the scenes. The UK Labour Government is willing to be a go-between
for peace negotiations. But the Sinhala ultra-nationalists have made
an uproar of disapproval against the British government’s involvement.
‘This is a national matter; leave it to us to solve the problem’
they protest. In other words, the Sinhala masses want Rajapaksha to
continue the war against the Tamils. And win it.
The point is, this is hardly
any longer a national matter. International involvement is inevitable.
Both the ultra-nationalists and the international globalisers agree
on a single point. The latter covertly and the first overtly. Both want
war in the name of war against terror. Already, the US has signed up
for further arms deals. Put it simply, the idea is, beat the Tamil Tigers
to the negotiating table.
The human rights situation
in Sri Lanka, particularly among the Tamil territories, is lamentable.
A humanitarian worker recently described to me that, the communities
are divided by fear and torture and barbed wires. There are visible
barbed wires and there are invisible barbed wires, he explained. People’s
minds and mouths are gagged. They are neither allowed to think for themselves
nor are they permitted to speak for themselves. It is the barrel of
the gun that speaks.
The problem is, the distinction
between the organ grinder and the monkey has blurred. Everyone lurks
like a ghost. Fear rules.
Tamils have suffered more than half-a-century. And they want justice,
peace and prosperity. REAL peace in which they can live with the dignity
of difference.
It is worth quoting here
what Simon Hughes (who is a constitutional expert) said on May 2 2007
during the British Parliamentary debate on Sri Lanka:
The Government of Sri Lanka
must not run away from the need to accept that there will have to be
autonomy and a democratic process. The people must be allowed to vote
freely and decide which parts of Sri Lanka should have self-government.
If Ukraine, which I respect greatly, can give self-government to Crimea
and life can go on, Sri Lanka must give self-government to the Tamils,
where they want it.
Of course, that does not
mean that all the people in Tamil areas will be Tamils, just as in Northern
Ireland communities are not confined to particular areas; Tamils will
live in Colombo, just as Sinhalese will live on the east coast and in
the north. There must be access. The roads have to be open so that people
can travel. There must be no no-go areas. However, we have to make sure
that the Government of Sri Lanka understand that they will not make
progress unless they accept the principle of self-government.
Tragically in Sri Lanka however,
the observation of Karl Marx is hardly ever found to be fallible:
History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, then as a farce.
Chandi Sinnathurai is a peasant-priest who is currently
travelling in the conflict region.
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