What really is the " ethnic problem " of Sri Lanka ?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
By Charles.S.Perera
There is supposed to be an "ethnic problem" in Sri Lanka. But no body has so far said what is the "ethnic problem" . To solve this still untold ethnic problem, the President of Sri Lanka has appointed an All Party Representative Committee to make proposals for power sharing. But how can power sharing solve a non-existent " ethnic problem".
Under the British Colonial Rule, all the important government positions were handed over to the Tamils and Muslims, and the Sinhala who were the majority was pushed to the background. It was however the Sinhala majority who spearheaded anti-Colonial movements to liberate the people from an unfriendly Colonial Rule, who were corrupting the people through Missionaries, setting up their schools, and propagating their religion.
Some of our people, under threat, or lured by offer of jobs, and various other facilities, were converted to their religion , making them discard those of their own. The result of the introduction of this new religion was the corruption of our own culture, and the way of living.
The later freedom movements of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), were supported by the educated upper class Tamils. After Independence, the activities of the Marxist movements by the Western Educated Sinhala intelligentsia , and then the election of S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike as the Prime Minister of a SLFP government, called for radical changes in the British Colonial administrative system that had followed Independence. The Sinhala people who had so far been pushed to the back ground by the British Rulers under their divide and rule policy, demanded their due place in the Administration, and education.
The upper class Tamils who had until then enjoyed the special privileges provided to them by the British Colonial Rulers, found themselves loosing their pre-independent position in the Sri Lankan social hierarchy. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike swept on a wave of popularity hastened to give back to the Sinhala people their rights and privileges denied to them by the British Colonial Rulers, passed legislation to make Sinhala the Official language with Tamil as the second language. This angered the Tamil upper class Vellalah Politician who were already smarting under the loss of the privileges enjoyed by them.
Later on, after the assassination of the Prime Minister Mr. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike , his widowed wife Ms.Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the Prime Minister. With new developments after the Independence, the upper class Tamil politicians held back the emancipation of ordinary Tamil people from their bondage to the educated upper class Tamils, by discouraging them from supporting Sinhala political parties such as the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party, by carrying out false propaganda against the left Political Movement.
In the mean time the free education system commenced by Mr.C.W.W.Kannangara began to give results. Many Central Schools were established and large numbers of students from all levels of the society were being educated. But yet Sri Lanka had only two Universities one in Colombo and the other in Peradeniya. These Universities could not accommodate the large influx of students seeking University education.
To overcome this difficulty the Government adopted a system of admission to Universities on a population basis, which was not favourable to students from the minority communities. This fact added to the Sinhala being declared the official language, deepened the growing discontent of the Tamil politicians, who set up the people against the government.
This situation could have been stopped, if the government had acted thoughtfully by adopting a more accommodating government policy, such as making both Tamil and Sinhala Languages compulsory subjects in the school curriculum for all students. The government could have provided crash courses to Tamil public servants to learn to speak Sinhala, and the Sinhala public servants to speak Tamil.
With regard to admission to Universities, the government could have taken steps to open more Universities, and Open Universities to admit all students seeking higher education. These facilities could now be provided and the two main problems that concern the ordinary people of all the Communities could be solved, without entering into an APRC.
These are not really " ethnic problems", but situations that had been allowed to grow without being attended, in the development stage of Sri Lanka as an Independent Sovereign State. The problem was amplified by the politicians seeking political mileage on these issues.
It was this political rivalry between the Tamil politicians, and the government that eventually resulted in a group of youths from under privileged non-Vellalah caste taking up arms against the government and their upper class Vellalah political mentors to set up a separate State for the Tamils.
They were used by India and trained as terrorists to keep Sri Lanka from developing into a dominant Island in the Indian Ocean, a challenge to India in South Asia. However, the leader of the terrorists is of the Tamil fisher caste, a low caste, in the Hindu caste system.
The Tamil politicians who do not want a separate Tamil Homeland, but more political power to administer the Tamil dominated areas are trying to reap benefits from the situation resulting from the language Issue, and that of the admission of Students to the Universities on a percentage basis, projecting it as an "ethnic problem" purely for political reasons.
This same "ethnic issue" is being used by the terrorists to attract the attention of the International Community which knows nothing at all about the "ethnic" problem of Sri Lanka, or how it started. They do not make any attempt to understand what it is all about, and merely call the government to find a solution to the problem !
However, the "ethnic problem" is prominently exposed to the public view, by the Tamil politicians , the International Community, the Human Rights activists, and the Amnesty International, as an un-surmountable problem, which could be solved only by negotiations for "power sharing". This power sharing is a call by the ambitious Tamil politicians.
The ordinary Tamil people want only to have access to education, employment, more contact with the people of other communities, and the ability to use their own language in their contact with the government administration ,and justice. Above all they want a peaceful existence with their compatriots.
The Tamil diaspora, supporting the terrorists in Sri Lanka to separate a part of Sri Lanka as a homeland for the Tamils also justify the call for a separate State by the terrorists, as a solution for the non-existent "ethnic problem".
Therefore, in reality there is no ethnic problem in Sri Lanka, but an attempt to divide the country and keep the Communities apart haggling for a bone of contention called the "ethnic problem" -
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Surrender Historical Lands, to accept our own Motherland.
December 23, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
With Kilinochchi becoming the target, the government forces meeting heavy resistance, minds begin to open, and ink begins to flow on hurriedly collected sheets of paper with open flourishes of discontent against the government, and veiled praise for the terrorists.
The most active "noise makers" in this respect, to the complete exclusion of the Tamils that matter, the Tamil Community of Sri Lanka, from Kankesenturai in the North to Hambantota in the South, are the Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora. The Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora seem to think that they are the only Tamils that matter, as they have commissioned Prabhakaran and his gang of terrorists to carve out a Tamil Homeland for them, for which they pay around 300 million dollars annually.
The real Tamil Community in Sri Lanka avoids all demonstrations against the terrorists. They take refuge in silence for fear of reprisals. If the manifestations were held in the north against the Sri Lanka army they were organised and executed on the orders of the terrorists.
The situation is such that for some members of the International Community, like those in UK led by MP Andrew Peeling of Croydon, only Tamils that matter are those in the diaspora, and they speak for them, and the Tamils in the diaspora speak for the Tamils in Sri Lanka without knowing much about them other than what has been, or is being told to them.
Of course, other than the Tamil diaspora we have the TNA MPs- the proxies for the terrorists, Mano Ganeshan and other politicians whose primary interests are to create mayhem, for their political benefit, and communal dissention and racial hatred as their raisons d'être. They too do not speak for the majority of the real Tamil people of Sri Lanka, poor or rich, working class or upper class.
Therefore, what appears in the websites, as the words of the Tamil people , should be read as the words of the Tamil diaspora.
The Tamils of the diaspora are well read for instance Narapalasingham gives his interpretation of the Mahavamsa, which he knows as that which has made the Sinhala "mindset". Again it is the dispora who has created defenders of the Tamil people in the International Community, like Bruce Fein, Andrew Peeling, Ramans, and Hariharans. They speak of Kilinochchi as the Stalingrad of the Government Forces, Wanni as the Army Grave Yard.
It is again the Tamil diaspora that claims ownership to territory, without even a " by your permission". The real Tamil Community from Kankasenturai to Hambantota do not claim any special territory as their own , because they know Sri Lanka is their mother land, and they have the right to live where ever they want.
Therefore, Prabhakaran's assertions are for himself , and for his followers in the Tamil diaspora. The Sinhala diaspora has their motherland and do not claim any part of it as their territory-the homeland.
It is said that our ancestors were nomads. They lived by hunting, and did not stay in the same place for long. Then they decided to settle down, diversify their eating habits. Began to cultivate and build huts to live in. All problems started from the time they settled down and staked out their territories. There was then the clans., who lived together. And when the clans became large they encroached upon the lands of the other clansn and their were clan wars with clubs and axes to protect their lands and it continues to this day. It is time we stop delimitating land as our territory, and your territory.
Sri Lanka is big enough for the Sinhala, the Tamil, the Muslim and others to live together. We need no boundaries to separate one community from the other. We can share the land, the food, the water, and shelter and live happily. Why should we allow a big fat terrorist to dicatate terms to us, and a diaspora living in clover in their adopted homes to narrate old history to divide our common land ?
There is no historical land for different Community in Sri Lanka. That is part of the separationist thinking of the terrorists, and their supporters of the Tamil diaspora. Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhala, Tamils, Muslims and others who were born in it or acquired its citizenship. In the 21st century when the Americans and Russians are planning to have colonies in the Moon, it is absurd for the Tamil Diaspora following their terrorist "Sun God" to claim a historical land in Sri Lanka as their Home Land.
They should come down to earth and reality, and disown the fat terrorist Prabhakaran, and love their motherland and be a part of it's multiethnic population. Once it has been done let us share our political view to build a united nation without holding allegiance to any foreign land such as Tamil Nadu with whose Culture, Sri Lanka Tamils have nothing in common, except their language and religion.
The religion and language we could have burrowed from any one like Christianity and English, and for that matter, those among us who are Christians and speak English, are not English ! -
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Tears for the Dead
Sunday, December 21, 2008
“The brave soldiers seek to end terrorism, and save the suffering and misery of the large number of the Tamil people being forcibly kept under the jack boots of terrorist, in Kilinochchi and Mulaittivu.”
by Charles S. Perera
(December 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) We all knew the den of the ferocious bloodied tiger, bloated to the level of bursting like a claymore bomb from the glycemic content of his poisoned blood, would have been a death trap to those that approach it. An ugly monster spider's web to entrap unfortunate insects .
He would have buried enough personal mines and set up booby traps, to kill, maim and spill the red blood that the demonical Prabhakaran likes to smell, in his frenzy to cause maximum disaster to the Government Forces. He is the devil himself in human form. What else could he do he is a maniac, he kills, and gets his misled followers to kill, and his strategy is to kill.
It is madness for any one to expect that evil Prabhakaran could create a kingdom for the Tamils, an Eelam of righteousness, peace and harmony.
In their mission to rid the motherland of this killer, many a soldiers have laid their lives. Misled by this monster, many a Tamil youths have also perished. The pleasure of the terrorists in their last leg is to count the dead bodies of the valiant soldiers who had given their lives to keep their motherland from being divided, and the people separated.
The brave soldiers seek to end terrorism, and save the suffering and misery of the large number of the Tamil people being forcibly kept under the jack boots of terrorist, in Kilinochchi and Mulaittivu.
In a conversation between two terrorists, (called an interview -where the interviewer puts the words into to the mouth of the interviewee, extracting the answer the interviewer wants.), the tiger from Kilinochchi says,
" When the Singhalese Army invades, it is usual for the people to move into the areas under the control of the Tigers and seek protection. The same thing is happening now. The care the Singhalese Government shows to the Tamil people is like the story of the wolf caring the sheep. The Singhalese Government is calling the people to its area with plans for racial annihilation and social degradation, thereby to destroy the freedom struggle. People want to live in the areas under the control of the LTTE, no matter how many times be it. People on their own refuse such requests by the Government."
If the object of the Sinhala Government as he says is to get the Tamil civilians away from the terrorists, with plans for racial annihilation and social degradation, the Government of Sri Lanka need not send the Sinhala soldiers to Kilinochchi to risk their lives, they could have started " the racial annihilation and social degradation", in the South.
But in the South the Tamil people , more than 50 percent of the total population of Tamils in Sri Lanka , live in complete peace and harmony with the Sinhala people. There is neither a racial annihilation nor a social degradation.
On the other hand, if the Tamil people in the terrorist held Kilinochchi is given the free choice to remain or leave Kilinochchi, they will leave everything behind to come to the areas liberated by the Government Forces. A large number of Tamil people from Kilinochchi have already taken courage to risk their lives to leave Kilinochchi and come to the government controlled areas. According to reports 129 people from Kilinochci and Mahamulai have sought protection from the Government forces in the fist 15 days of December,2008. From what these people have said the Tamil civilian population in Kilinochchi is not at all remaining in the area seeking "protection" from the terrorists.
The Tamil civilians in Kilinochchi are kept by force. The well executed publicity by pro terrorist journalists of websites, are to attract the sympathy of the International Community, and to "milk the golden cow" of the Tamil diaspora for more and more financial contributions.
The fact is that the Tamil Civil population in Kilinochchi is being herded in to the terrorist controlled areas by the terrorists, to keep the innocent Tamil people as a protective shield. The International Community knows the modus operandi of the "smart" terrorists and their supporters. Except those "stupid" British MPs like Andrew Peeling of Croydon ,defending the cause of the terrorist for a few votes for their election victories ! Do they really care for the Tamils in Sri Lanka ?
The death toll among the Soldiers had been heavy because of the ruthlessness of the terrorists with their complete absence of respect and feeling for the death of either their own fighting youth, or the soldiers. They have created a real death trap like the "Nazi gas Chambers" to kill all without exception to save the terrorist leaders. Prabhakaran has sacrificed the expendable youth, to delay the advance of the Government Forces to Kilinochchi, keeping the experienced terrorists for the last ditch battle to save Kilinochchi –the den of the terrorist leader, and his close followers.
The NGO's too have greatly contributed to this sinister terrorist aim to cause maximum death to the Soldiers of the Government Forces. The largest number of soldiers have died in taking control of the earth bunds and crossing the rain water filled trenches the terrorists had constructed with the 38 or more tractors the Norwegian NGOs had left behind for the use of the terrorist when they left Kilinochchi.
Those who talk of "genocide " must first think of the contribution the NGOs' had made for the massacre of the soldiers climbing over the earth bunds, constructed with facilities made available to them by the NGOs. In any future legal action contemplated against the terrorist leaders should rope in those NGOs who abetted the terrorists by supporting their cause by providing these facilities to kill the soldiers in their mission to end terrorism.
In torrential rain the Soldiers waded the marshy land , fell into the ditches and climbed the slippery earth bunds to be shot by the terrorists waiting crouched on the top of the mounds. The poor soldiers wet to their skin in their military fatigue climbing tenaciously to chase the terrorists were sitting ducks for the terrorists. It pleased those who want only to kill and destroy, to divide and separate the people to fulfil the dream of their "thalaivar" for a fascist homeland, an Eelam State, supported by the Tamil diaspora and the Tamil Nadu jokers.
Our tears are for the soldiers because they fight for a meaningful cause of Communal unity, a unitary country, and stop a ruthless terrorist buffoon from dividing our mother land, and keep it as a whole with a Nation of United Communities of Sinhala, Tamil , Muslims and others. When we see so much of death, it really crosses our mind whether we should continue these meaningless battles, to stop the terrorist maniac Prabhakaran, and his supporters in the Tamil diaspora, who want to separate our mother land for an Eelam State , which the Tamil Community in Sri Lanka do not want.
If the government stops it's determination to finish with the battles, the military solution, the brutal terrorists will not stop its own mephistophelean death march and no one else will be able to stop it either. The senseless Tamil diaspora will let the Terrorist brute to continue to score his multiple targets of deaths, murders, massacres and torture, with financial gifts, cheering to encourage him.
There is no end to Prabhakarn's lust to kill. The government may stop but not him. Therefore should the determination of the Government Forces slack, and let the brute sow his seeds of hatred , or suffer the losses and continue until we see an end to his diabolic plan.
While we shed tears for our valiant soldiers fighting a just battle like their fore fathers, the King Dutugamunu and his armies, even Ehelepola and Puran Appu and the people who followed them , we cannot help shedding tears for those Tamil youth who lay their young lives for the wrong cause, mislead and dictated by a foolish man who thinks killing and terrorising is the only means to have his egoistic dream fulfilled.
It is sad but there seems to be no alternative, because if we stop the battle now, it will be the next generation that will continue to suffer fighting terrorism once again. Therefore, though it is sad the government should carry out to the last, that which it had started with so much of success.
There are no battles without losses. There are no battles without debacles . There are no battles without sadness and discouragement. But we have to surmount those agonies, failures, disappointments, and the bitterness caused by losses of companions of battle. The Government Forces have to win. The Satan is more powerful than the divine force. But the Satanic force is not without failure, the Satanic force is not permanent either. Prabhakarans end is not far.
And all those predictions of B. Ramans and Hariharans that end of Prabhakaran is not the end of terrorism, and that it will continue in the Jungles of Vanni, in pockets among the people are the predictions of crystal ball readers.
The Government Forces will win. The End of terrorism is not far, there is no doubt. Thereafter, terrorism will end for ever, when we begin to believe in unity, love and peace. - Sri Lanka
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In the land of Parliaments, the Chief Justice became the "Sun God"
Friday, December 19, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
Sri Lanka is twice blessed. It has two Parliaments, one of the President and the other of the Chief Justice. The Parliament of the Chief Justice is by far the more powerful. It has no Parliamentarians, and controls the Parliament of the President, making him a people's lame duck President. The Parliament of the Chief Justice cannot be controlled even if its decisions are not always beneficial.
For instance the order to lift all road blocks in Colombo , allowed the terrorists to bring loads of bombs and suicide jackets from the North to South unchecked, how much of war like material had been transported from Colombo to the terrorists is unknown.
The Parliament of the President may make legislation to meet an urgent situation, like "hedging", without provisions in case of the situation getting better or favourable. The Parliament of the Chief Justice may rectify it sacking the Minster, on the spot, and ordering the President to take over Ministry.
The Parliament of the Chief Justice has no end to its powers. It can raise the price of any commodity or lower the price of any commodity. The Parliament of the People's lame duck President cannot even discuss the decision of the Parliament of the Chief Justice in it.
This new democratic development should be copied by the Western Parliaments.
Obama could settle lot of problems, by getting the American Chief Justice have his own Congress. Then there would be Congress of the President Obama, and a Congress of the American Chief Justice. Making Obama a lame duck President, the Congress of the American Chief Justice, may even stop the Iraq and Afghan wars, and call back the soldiers.
It will order the removal of Governor Blagojevich and put him in the Guantanamo Prison, and appoint Jessie Jackson Jr. the Senator of Illinois .
There is no limit to the power of the Parliament of a Chief Justice. It may after having made the people's President a lame duck President, even decide to terminate the services of the President, and dissolve the Parliament. The advantage of the Parliament of Chief Justice is that it is above the people, for the people, but not of the people.
The Trade Unions will not be able to organise strikes, or manifestations. The Leaders of the Trade Unions would be arrested for contempt of court. It may even make the Opposition leader also a lame duck President.
The war against terrorism can be stopped by the Parliament of the Chief Justice. It can even order the Parliament of the President to sign a ceasefire immediately with Prabhakaran. The Parliament of the Chief Justice could declare all orders by previous courts to arrest Prabhakaran for criminal charges, ultra vires .
The Parliament of the Chief Justice can order to accept LTTE as a democratic political party, and declare a unilateral order to set up a Parliament of the Tamil Eelam and declare Prabhakaran its lame duck President.
Sri Lanka will then have three Parliaments with three lame duck Presidents. The Parliament of the President, the Parliament of the Chief Justice, and the Parliament of Prabhakaran. But Prabhakaran who is now the Sun God cannot retain the title once he is made the lame duck President of the LTTE Parliament. Therefore the Parliament of the Chief Justice may confiscate the title and take it for himself.
Thus the Chief Justice becomes the "Sun God"
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Bruce Fein US Attorney for the terrorists, at the Bar
Friday, December 19, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
Bruce Fein the Attorney for the LTTE terrorist Front Group called the US Tamil Group, says that he has selected Sarath Fonseka and Gotabhaya Rajapkse, one as a citizen and the other as a permanent resident alien for whom USA is responsible as moral, and legal matters, for genocide prosecution under the United State Genocide Accountability Act of 2007.
But the hitch is that the Act requires that the offense is committed in whole or in part within the United States, and if the genocide had been committed outside USA, conduct required for the offence should have occurred.
Let us first examine what is, genocide. Genocide is a word made up to mean "race killing", introduced by a Polish scholar Rafael Lemkin, who thought it inacceptable that there is no law to punish as a criminal offence, the violence aimed to obliterate a human community not because for something they have done but because of who they are in belonging to a religious community, ethnic clan, or a racial group.
Lemkin carried out a campaign to make "genocide" a punishable offence in International Law. It resulted in it being accepted by the UN General Assembly in 1948 as a Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It all began as a result of the holocaust in which millions of Jews, and Gypsies were systematically massacred in gas chamber, by the German Nazi Regime under Hitler, whose intention was to eliminate the Jewish race .
Nevertheless, it took forty years for the US Congress to ratify the UN Convention, enacting in 1988,the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987, known as the Proxmire Act, after Senator William Proxmire. The length of time taken by USA to make the enactment shows that the accusation for genocide is fraught with danger, and the holocaust was only one of its kind. And an atrocious one at that, which we wish with all our hearts will never repeat itself.
Therefore, Bruce Fein's attempt to accuse Army Commander Mr. Sarath Fonseka and Defence Secretary Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse for genocide and bring them before an American Court of Justice is a fanciful idea put out to fool the terrorist Front Group, which has engaged him at a substantial retainer.
Just because the United States has its Genocide Accountability Act of 2007, does not mean that Attorneys like Bruce Fein could accuse any one for this offence and bring him before an American Court of Justice under the GAA.
There are certain requirements to accuse someone for genocide, which under the Act are called the conduct required for the acts to become genocide under the GAA.
There are in fact five acts constituting genocide when committed with genocidal intent. They are:
1. Killing members of a religious community, an ethnic clan or a racial group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a religious community, an ethnic clan or a racial group
3. Deliberately inflicting on members of a religious community, an ethnic clan or a racial group, conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within members of a religious community, an ethnic clan or a racial group
5. Forcibly transferring children of members of a religious community, an ethnic clan or a racial group, to another religious community, an ethnic clan or a racial group.
The Commander of the Army Mr. Sarath Fonseka, and the Defence Secretary Mr.Gotabhaya Rajapakse, have been engaged by the President of Sri Lanka, to take military action against a group of terrorists in the North and East of the Country, who kill, maim, kidnap, torture, massacre Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala civilians, kill their opponents, and murder politician using suicide bombs, and claymore explosives , with a view to end terrorism in Sri Lanka.
The terrorist are of Tamil Origin. But they live apart from the Tamil Civilian Communities in the North using them as their resource for forced "recruitment" of children, and conscript the physically able elders , for their fighting cadre, and keep the rest as a protective shield.
The Tamil population is quite apart from the terrorists, not accepting them as their representatives, or hold voluntary allegiance to them. Therefore, in removing the terrorists from their occupied territories in military action, the Government Armed Forces are not removing the Tamil people who are the rightful citizens of Sri Lanka. The Tamil Community enjoys freedom and all the privileges common to all citizens of Sri Lanka of whatever Community.
The Tamil Community is not restricted to the North and East. Well over 50 percent of them live in the South with the Sinhala, the Muslim, and the other Communities. Therefore, there is no war or intimidation against the Tamil population for their ethnicity, religion or race.
If Bruce Fein has to indict any one on his false notion of "genocide", it has to be the President of Sri Lanka, and not the Army Commander and the Defence Secretary of the Government, because, they act on the orders of the President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
If Bruce Fein dares indict the President of the Government of Sri Lanka, for "Genocide" , then he has to indict the people of Sri Lanka as a whole including those Tamils, Muslims, Sinhala and others, who voted to elect democratically the President, going on his election manifesto, where he has promised the people to put and end to three decades of terrorism.
But, that being a mere argument to show the absurdity of Bruce Fein's pretentious , " I have prepared an approximately 400+ page model indictment etc.", it has to be pointed out to him, that the length of his model indictment has nothing to do with the fact of genocide he claims fall within the GAA.
Bruce Fein is challenged to answer how military action, which had been proceeded by several attempts for peace negotiation with the world's most ruthless terrorist group, banned by 33 countries of the International Community, could be "genocide" in terms of the GAA, if this group of terrorists does not fall within the definition of the Act, as constituting genocide committed with genecidal intent, on members of a religious community, an ethnic clan or a racial group. They are terrorists and therefore, not members of a religious community, an ethnic clan, or a racial group.
Bruce Fein in making out a group of ruthless terrorist for his purposes as an " ethnic clan or a racial group" is attempting to make travesty of the law that Polish Scholar Rafael Lemkin and the U.S.Senator William Proxmire fought so hard, first to integrate into a UN Convention and, then to have it ratified as a US Legislative Act.
Al-Queida, and the Talibans are groups of terrorists moved by religious fervour. Therefore, does Bruce Fein consider, that the American war against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan in which according to Opinion Research Business Survey in 2007, a total of 1,033,000 Iraqis alone had met with violent death, genocide under the Genocide Accountability Act ?
Bruce Fein, may perhaps have heard the quotation attributed to Abraham Lincoln, that you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. Well if you know it, please apply it to your self.
With your 400+ page Model Indictment, you can fool your retainers the US Tamil Group, but not the honourable Justices of the United States Courts of Justice . They will see through your plea for justice for a group of terrorists, as an Attorney's brief to earn his retention fee, as the devil's advocate.
In fact tables may be turned on Bruce Fein, being accused by the US Court of Justice under US Patriotic Act against terrorism, for aiding and abetting a terrorist group in Sri Lankan which has been banned in USA, by taking a brief from the terrorist proxy US Tamil Group , and for false accusation with a view to hinder the execution of its lawful duties of providing defence and security , and to bring disrepute to a Sovereign State for its just war against terrorism.
It is not worth even writing to meet Bruce Fein's arguments, stuffed with incoherent reference to Mahavamasa, Buddhism and Dharmapala, which may have come strait from Narapalasinghams rigmaroles dished out to pro terrorist websites.
Fein's Model Indictment may have been good material for Molière, who was a French playwright considered as one of the greatest masters of comedy, to write a play such as Tartuffe ou l'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite), L'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser or the School of falsehood), or Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Middle Class Gentleman). It would be a great success on a French stage.
Other than that there seems to be no great interest in Fein's Model Indictment of 400+ pages. Meeting him for a debate will only be giving credence to a lopsided brief of an Attorney, which is best left to whither on the imaginary branch where it began to grow.
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Understanding the Sun God's divine words.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
It is hard to understand the Sri Lanka Guardian Editorial of the 28 Novembr,2008, on supremo Surya Deva Prabhakaran's "hereos' day" speech. It sounds a nostalgia for an end to terrorism. A recollection of memories of how good it had been before the withdrawal of the CFA, during which period the terrorists had a passport to kill who ever they want, recruit children and women, and train a squadron of black tigers who were prepared to die at the behest of the sun god, and sadly all that has now been deprived to them.
The Guardian –the voice of the people, speaks of the loss in the misty horizon of war, the only ray of hope that dear Prabha gives once a year, for the Tamils living among the chauvinistic anti Tamil "ruthless" Sinhala, whose mindset remains unchanged, through out the non violent and the armed struggle of the Tamils since the Selva-Banda era.
The Guardian editor, call Prabhakaran , the Tamil National Leader, who the chauvinistic Sinhala calls a terrorist ! The Editorial speaks of its leader's concepts of the Tamil homeland, the Tamil Nation, and the Tamil right to self determination, which are the core principles for a lasting peace for the Tamil Homeland (once proclaimed), and the lasting peace for the remaining Sinhala Homeland (once separated from the Tamil homeland). These, according to the Editorial are the gospel truth the southern chauvinists are not ready to accept.
Lanka Guardian’s Tamil National Leader had said, that his, and his peoples trust on the International Community have been eroded because of its one sided approach. The reason for this one sided approach it says, may be (i) the long term chronic war, (ii) split between the Sinhala chauvinist leader's party, (iii) the betrayals ( iv) the term gorilla war, that kept away the support of the foreign countries, (v) the luxurious living conditions of the Tamil diaspora, which had blinded them to understand the reality of the living conditions of the Tamils in the homeland, such as displacements, darting bullets, and hunting for food.
The Guardian Editorial does not seem to see the terrorist Character of its Tamil National Leader, and the terrorist movement he built around his Tamil homeland concept, which after the September 11 Twin Tower attack, was seen by the International Community as a terrorist group, and banned in their countries.
The editorial prods on , that while most of the Tamil expatriates have lost their identity, it is the ordinary Tamil masses here that struggle to maintain their Tamil identity, despite their being pushed to lose it. Freedom is not cheap to be won without blood shed, as it had been to win independence from the British. The Tamils in Jaffna should be proud that they showed the door with insults and broomsticks to the Sinhala Groups that came to do relief work refusing to accept them. Who will forget the value of the burnt down library which cannot be replaced by the new one that has been built ? Tamils cannot face no more genocides , and were pushed to take up arms to save their identity. That is the building of hatred by bringing in to memory the past atrocities of the Sinhala chauvinists, that is to keep alive the Tamil desire to separate from the evil of the South.
However, the Guardian Editorial has not mentioned how in order to maintain the Tamil Identity the Tamil National Leader (Prabhakaran) of the Guardian Editorial, eliminated a good number of Tamil leaders, who were opposed to his concept of Tamil identity. The List is long but it is worth giving the names of some of them:
Alfred Duraippah, Vaddukodai MP Thiyagarajah, Abdul Majeed in Kinniya, Sam Thambimuttu and his wife Kala,Yogasangari, Kanagaratnam,Thangadurai, Mohamed Mahroof,Saranabhavan Shanmuganathan, Wasanthan and his 3 year old son, Dr.Neelan Thiruchelvam, A.Nadarajah, C.V.Gunaratne,Lakshman Kadirgamar,Chandraneru, Joseph Pararajasingham,Nadaraja Raviraj, Jeyraj Fernandopulle and many more.
The Editorial says that during the period under the CFA, Pongu Thamil was celebrated both locally and internationally, which was a revival of Tamil Culture in all its aspects. As Nayyar Hashmey had said that seeking roots in heritage, being proud of the past glory is a means to ones identity in the modern world. Tamil peoples' traumatic period making life more miserable came with the break down of the CFA, and the call in chorus to liberate Tamils from the LTTE.
The International Community who did not know what a suffering it was for the Tamil people to live under the IPKF, made an excuse of the failure of the IPKF, and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi to portray Tigers as ruthless killers. At that time President Chandrika gave hope. But that regime failed.
Of course the Editorial does not mention Prabhakaran's planning and carrying out the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu, and the attempt to assassinate the President Chandrika Kumaratunga, because it would not help the editorial's attempt to cleanse Prabhakaran from the blood of the hundreds of assassinations he carried out including that of Rajiv Gandhi.
The Editorial mentions the period after the beginning of terrorism, as the glorious period of the Tamil Nationalismn but avoids the period before, when Tamils existed and lived peacefully with the Sinhala in amity, without calling them Chauvinists. The ethnic problem began with G.G.Ponnambalam and Chelvanayagam. It was only after the terrorists began their terror campaign, that this virulent anti Sinhala racism raised its ugly head.
The Chauvinist Sinhala National Leader President Mahinda Rajapakse wears a red shawl. The Editor asks whether it is an indication of determination to rob the Tamil people of their land. Even the JVP that was silenced by the horror of killings, is now dictating terms as a political party. The editor question whether there was one President who meted out human justice to the Tamil population. The Editorial dos not mention that the Tamils claim for a homeland came with the terrorists, and before that the three communities lived in harmony, settling issues democratically and in dialogue without having to aim guns at each other.
The Sri Lanka Guardian Editorial says that the Tamil people buried their hope for a peaceful solution, the day Thamil Chelvam was buried. The Norwegians and the countries that stood for peace went silent. The chauvinist Sinhala State started a war justifying it with slogans, like "War for Peace", "War against terrorism", and "War for the liberation of Tamils". Thamilselvam was another terrorist, and he was not a remarkable Tamil Leader such us any one of those systematically eliminated by Prabhakaran .
The Editorial continues that after more than two decades of war, the (Tamil) people are dismayed and disappointed, and trapped in a deceptive net of the Sinhala State, which cannot solve the problem of the Tamil people. The Tamil people suffered for more than two decades struggling to maintain their identity , and thanks the NGOs who came now and then for their aid. The territory gained by the Chauvinist Sinhala armies from them have become "no man's land".
Their aspirations to gain again their talents in education as they were in the past and to live normal peaceful lives will take a long time. The editorial also forgets that after more than two decades of ruthless terrorism under which the Sinhala, the Tamil and the Muslim Communities suffered Prabhakaran the terrorist leader was unable to get the popular support of Tamil people living in Sri Lanka.
If Prabhakaran gave so much of hope to the Tamil people, as the Editorial claims, the Tamil population in Sri Lanka would have rallied round him acclaiming him as their leader. It was not so, even the Tamil people in Kilinochchi who is running away from the areas under terrorist control, have nothing good to say about him or his terrorist cohorts.
The Guardian Editorial ends quoting from Chelvanayagam. And perhaps tries to glorify the terrorist, who did not take any risks himself leaving "dirty work" to others, but eliminated many who thought they were not taking risks, by quoting from the saintly Mahatma Gandhi who
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Karunnidhi, and Vaiko in helping terrorists in Sri Lanka, become traitors to India
Friday, November 28, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
Karunanidhi, Vaiko and all those who follow them to support a despicable group of terrorists in Sri Lanka under the pretext of providing aid to the Tamil Civilians in Kilinochci, become unpatriotic towards its own motherland- India.
Karunanidhi , Vaiko and their followers, are merely marking time hoping, that the day would come when the Sri Lanka's terrorist Prabhakaran would create the Israel Style, Tamil Eelam State, in Sri Lanka so that they may join up with Prabhakaran to form a larger Tamil Homeland that would accommodate all the Tamils of Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu, and the Tamil Diaspora.
If that is not the reason, one cannot understand, why this inordinate support for the Sri Lanka Tamils in Kilinochchi, just when the Sri Lanka Government Forces are about the capture Kilinochchi and liberate the Tamil Civilian population who had been kept by the terrorists as a human shield for their own protection. Once Kilinochchi is liberated the Government of Sri Lanka does not want the Karunanidhis, Vaikos, and the rest of their followers , to help the Tamil population in Kilinochchi to find a normal life.
Karunanidhi and his followers have a greater role to play in India, to bring together the different states, forgetting their linguistic, religious, and racial differences, to build a greater India which is on its way to be a leader State in Asia. Karunanidhi had been an anti Indian element from his youth, having joined anti Hindi groups, and agitating for a separate Tamil State. That is the origin of his love affair with the terrorists of Sri Lanka, which also helped him to pay off an old score with Rajiv Gandhi .
India should take note of Karunanidhi's past, and instead of giving in to his threats of withdrawing support to the Central Government, warn him to stop his continued support for the terrorists of Sri Lanka. In not doing so India is weakens its authority.
Rajiv Gandhi was able to see through Karunannidhi's unreliability. That was why in 1976 Karunanidhi was sacked from the office of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for corruption, and again in 1989 for his association with the LTTE terrorists.
Vaiko's ridiculous speech in praise of the terrorists to a set of gullible British Parliamentarian, was an attempt to help Prabhakaran, a terrorist whose organisation has been banned both in India and in UK. Vaiko should be reprimanded , and some sort of disciplinary action should be taken against him for making that speech which is a challenge to the authority of the Prime Minister of India. Vaiko as a member of the Tamil Nadu State, when he addresses foreign politicians , speaks for the Government of India. Therefore, he has no right to do so without the authority of the Government, as the cause of the group of terrorists he to praise is banned in India.
India, which has become a victim of terrorists, needs every one of its Citizens to stand by it in this hour of need. Karunanidhi , and Vaiko in supporting the cause of the terrorists in Sri Lanka become traitors to Indi. They make the situation difficult to the Central government which has to define a policy against terrorism as a whole without dividing it to support a terrorist group in Sri Lanka , while fighting another on its own soil.
The Central Government of India should be more authoritative if it has to stop continued terrorist attacks against its own people, and property. Therefore, India should not allow Karunanidhi and Vaiko to divide its attention by their support for the terrorism in Sri Lanka.
Both Karunanidhi and Vaiko has an obligation to India not to interfere into any affaires of a neighbouring state, which would bring political repercussions which is detrimental to India's present position as a possible leader of Asia. In not doing so Karunanidhi and his followers become traitors to India.
Their continued support of the terrorists in Sri Lanka should be stopped by arresting them for activities detrimental to the Central Government
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Sri Lanka Government should not agree to another Cease Fire Agreement.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
The war against terrorism in Sri Lanka has to go on. At the present stage when the terrorist Prabhakaran is cornered into a live or die situation, a ceasefire would be a lease of life for further terror, brutality, murder by suicide bombs , claymore explosions, and many more deaths of civilians. And the people of Sri Lanka will continue to suffer for many more years to come without knowing what the out come of it would be.
It would certainly be a hard and a sad decision to continue the "war" against terrorism, but un fortunately there is no going back on it now, as far too many soldiers have given their lives to see and end to the terrorism in their bellowed motherland. Therefore, to declare a cease fire now would be to make in vain the death of thousands of those youths from every village in the South of Sri Lanka, who were drawn into the battle against terrorism.
The war is not an alternative to a peaceful dialogue. But a dialogue is between two "warring" parties. If one party refuses to have a dialogue, or agrees only for a semblance of a dialogue, without laying down arms, merely to take time to gather force, to collect weapons, and plan new strategies to go back to "war" again, there cannot be a cease fire.
The battle against terrorism should end only when Prabhakaran, Pottuamman, Soosai and the rest of the terrorists surrender to the army, or are killed in battle. The Government Forces have carried out an exemplary "war" against terrorists, avoiding harm to the Tamil civilian population, kept as human shields by the terrorists.
The often repeated report that the civilians are going deeper into the terrorist held areas to avoid the Government Forces and bombardments, have been proved wrong in the absence of any proof of large numbers of civilians who have been killed in the bombardments, or artillery fire of the government forces.
In this respect one should take account of the article under the caption " Tigers release photos of Kugnchuppavanthan battle" appearing in the TamilNet website on 25 November, 2008. The article accompanies seven photos, two of which show six dead soldiers on the ground, with two terrorist cadres looking on in one, and two terrorist cadres walking past the same six dead bodies of the soldiers in the other. There is another photo with four dead bodies of soldiers and nine terrorist looking on. One other photo is of a terrorist cadre using a heavy artillery. The rest of the photos show, an identity card of a dead soldier, and shells, and military accessories seized by the terrorists.
There have been no photos, in the TamilNet- the website of the terrorists, of Tamil civilians killed in bombardment, or artillery fire by the Government Forces. If there had been any TamilNet would have made maximum use of the photos of them to draw the attention of the International Community, and the Tamil Nadu Tamils.
On the other hand, there had been large numbers of civilians from the terrorist held areas, streaming in to areas liberated by the government forces, asking for protection and shelter. There is proof of this in the numerous images that have been published in different websites.
Therefore, if the Indian Government is looking for proof of the statement of the President of Sri Lanka, that he had asked the Government forces to avoid the Tamil civilian population in their bombardments and artillery fire, there is ample evidence for that, in the failure of the terrorists to produce substantial proof of death to Tamil civilians.
India which is also an object of terrorism, and where many deaths to people and damage to property had already been caused by several bomb explosions by terrorists, should be careful in attempting to stop the Government of Sri Lanka from its successful attempt to free itself from terrorism. Sri Lanka's problem to-day, would be India's problem tomorrow.
Therefore, India should not give in to Karunanidhi, whose ruse is to save his terrorist friends who helped him to see the end of an Indian leader Rajiv Gandhi, who dismissed him twice from his office of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
Karunanidhi's other political partners had seen through his ruse, and noted that his call for a cease fire just now, is not at all to help the Tamil civilians, but to pay his debt to Prabhakaran for eliminating Rajiv Gandhi. That my be why they did not participate in the last all party meeting Karunanidhi had called for. - Sri Lanka Guardian
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Were NGOs/INGOS saviours or mercenaries ?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
A report in the South Asians Media Net on the 23 November, 2008 under the caption " Gotabhaya wants NGO/INGO funds audited" , is a timely report on the scandalous affairs of these international " do-gooders". There had been many articles appearing in the Lankaweb about the NGOs who came after the tsunami, and organised their personal lives in a way they would never have been able to live in their own countries.
Immediately after the tsunami the generosity of the ordinary people of the West had no bounds. Not knowing where to send what ever money they could contribute, they sent them to Catholic Institutions, Red Cross, UN Agencies, and other NGOs that sprung up like mushrooms after the rainy season.
The millions of Euros collected were not channelled directly to the respective governments, on the ground that the government officials will misappropriate funds for their own benefit. This resulted in the NGOs' setting up on their own to establish local offices in the tsunami affected areas to undertake construction work and welfare activities.
This was the beginning of innumerable number of NGOs and INGO coming to Sri Lanka as the saviours of the people affected by the tsunami. As always money brings corruption along with it and the NGOs became a law unto themselves. They organised themselves where they want, and how they want without any one in place to control their activities.
In Sri Lanka, the NGOs who had access to areas controlled by the terrorists, began their own "welfare activity", apparently helping the terrorists to set up their Eelam State. Sri Lanka Government which was keen in helping the people in the areas controlled by the terrorists, trusted as always the non-descript white westerners as fair and reasonable, leaving the areas in their hands for necessary development project. It is now that the Government begins to see for itself the farce of development enacted by the Western NGOs.
Some of these NGOs organised them selves and openly worked against the government, canalising the displeasure of the International Community towards the "Sinhala" Government, creating an issue of violation of human rights by the Government Forces.
Now it is becoming evident that the NGOs in the terrorist controlled areas, did not do what the government expected of them, but provided the terrorists with machinery for construction of massive ditches, earth bunds, underground bunkers, with even cemeteries in some of them. They prepared and organised the terrorists for an all out war against the Government. It has even been found that in Killinochchi, the NGOs had fortifies the town building "offices", and buildings, strategically as defensive posts, to protect the town from an assault by the Government Forces, making it a veritable Fortress.
The Norwegians had of course taken the lead, involving its own Embassy to purchase modern communication equipment for the use of the terrorists, and "gifted" trucks, and earth digging machinery for the terrorists to dig ditches and build earth mounds to protect themselves from the government Forces.
The NGOs who had come as saviours with the money gifted by the generous people of the West to help the people struck by the tsunami, had turned out to be mercenaries helping the terrorists to build their own Tamil State. In doing so they have used every possible means available to them, to discredit the Government of Sri Lanka, accusing it of violation of human rights.
From the large number of images received from the areas now cleared of the terrorists by the Government Forces, it has become evident that the NGOs have not carried out any development work. The money that was supposed to have been utilised for mine clearing seems to have been utilised for other activities resulting in number of soldiers being killed and injured by mines still in place in the terrorist controlled areas.
It is now time as suggested by the Defence Secretary to take stock of what had been the real activities of the NGOs and INGOs in the terrorists controlled areas and stop the further engagement of NGOs in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka Government had been able to carry out large number of reconstruction work and welfare activities in the areas that were in the cleared areas on its own , and there is no reason to have the NGOs any more in Sri Lanka for future development work in the areas now being cleared by the Government. -
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All items sent from Tamil Nadu to Kilinochchi should be checked by SLSF.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
Karunanidhi is no lover of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka. If he is, he should have been in contact with Sri Lanka Tamil Politicians, such as Anandasangaree, Douglas Devananda or the Late Laksman Kadirgamar. They are perhaps not of his intellectual level.
Karunanidhi was more at ease agitating with anit-Hindi , and pro Eelam Movements from his youth. He has not changed much. The Sri Lanka Tamils should not therefore fall into the trap of believing that Karunanidhi at this particular time is moving to help the Tamil population in Sri Lanka.
Karunannidhi is not interested in the Tamils of Sri Lanka as a whole , but he is at the moment interested in the Tamil civilian population in Kilinochchi . Because it is only in doing so that he could come to help Prabhakaran, Pottuamman and the rest of the terrorists, "camping" in Kilinochchi. Karunanidhi's primary interest is helping the terrorists to set up the Tamil Eelam State. If that were to happen it would fulfil his life long ambition.
Karunanidhi, in his heart of hearts, hates the larger India. If he loved India he would not have directly or indirectly contributed to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. In his supporting the terrorists in Sri Lanka, when terrorism is being fought against by all civilised nations in the world , shows his attachment to Sri Lanka terrorists.
In this situation, the Government should check every item that had been sent by Tamil Nadu under Karunanidhi's surveillance, to be delivered to the Civilian Tamil Population in Kilinochchi. That is Karunanidhis "passport" to help the terrorists. There may be military like articles hidden among the humanitarian commodities transported from Tamil Nadu. That may be why Karunanidhi insists that these items be sent by Agencies other than that of the Government.
Even the IRC may not check the items being sent to Kilinochchi, for whatever reason . Therefore the Government should insist that these items being sent to Kilinochchi are thoroughly checked by the Security Forces. -
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The Plight of the Sri Lanka Women as Domestic Servants in Lebanon.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
" To run away from the misery of poverty , and to let the families live, a number of Sri Lankan women leave their homes to go to countries in the Middle East, more particularly to Lebanon to wok as domestic servants.
Lebanon with a population of four million receives 800 000 immigrant workers, among them 150 00 are Sri Lankan women. Many among them find them selves in worst conditions, than they were in their homes in Sri Lanka. For a few dollars, they find themselves without their passport, locked up in the home of their employer , and subjected to ceaseless work until exhaustion. Some attempt to runaway, while others commit suicide."
So begins an introduction to a documentary film " Bonne à Vendre/ a Maid for Sale" produced by a Lebanese woman film maker Ms.Al-Joundi . It is a sad film of Sri Lanka Women going to Lebanon to work as domestic servants, with hopes of earning money ,with which they expect to make life for them selves, and their families better when they return to their homes in Sri Lanka.
But their hopes do not end with the realisation of those tender hopes. But instead, in Lebanon where there are no laws to protect domestic servants, their rosy dreams end up working as slaves, working from early morning, to dawn of the following day, at the mercy of their employer, without a moment of rest, scolded , punished, locked up in rooms, none to speak to, and no way to escape. Their life of hope end in being mutilated, raped, thrown from upper floors of buildings , or in suicide.
Ms.Al-Joundi calls it the modern day slavery. These poor women with their unrealised dreams, live in tears, and pain hoping for death to release them from the misery they had unknowingly courted in their search for dollars, and a better life. According to a report of the Human Rights Watch in Lebanon, released in August , this year, 95 migrant domestic workers had died in Lebanon since January 2008. About 40 of the cases were suicides, while 24 were described as workers falling from high-rise buildings, often in an attempt to escape their employers.
Al-Joundi has said that "Bonne à Vendre" (A Maid for Sale), was her attempt at shining a light on the situation, "and to give voice to these silent women" who have been suffering within a system which she characterizes as "modern day slavery."
She says, she remembers how she was pressed, by over sixty Sri Lankan women waving goodbye to their families and friend from the bus which was taking them from the airport exit lounge to the plane, to take them with their hopes and pleasant expectations, to the homes of their employers in Lebanon.
They were in tears crying over the children and families they were leaving behind, and Ms.Al-Joundi found it difficult to hide her own tears. She decided to make this heart rending episode into a documentary to open the eyes of the Governments of Sri Lanka, of Lebanon and the humanitarians in the world, to the plight of the Women of Sri Lanka, in their attempt to fight against their poverty in their own way, by sacrificing themselves to an unknown life as domestic servants in Lebanese homes.
She starts her film with, Janika, a domestic worker from Sri Lanka, in her Lebenase traditional pink maid's uniform, cleaning the vegetables, preparing dinner and washing the dishes in the home of her Lebanese employer. Janika says, "……while working I think always about my country. My heart is with my husband and my children. Although I am here, for more than three years… I have cried for my daughter."
In making investigations Ms.Al-Joundy found that there was more to it than the poor women going to Lebanon to earn and take back some money to make their conditions at home in Sri Lanka a little better. There was " big" business in domestic servants from Sri Lanka to Lebanon, and she carried out a one and a half year long investigation flying between Lebanon and Sri Lanka before she made her film.
It is the Sri Lankan recruitment Agencies that target the candidates for recruitment mainly from among the poor, the uneducated and the desperate. One of its recruits for instance was a woman who did not have enough money for the burial of a parent, a recruiting agent immediately stepped in to get her to sign a contract for an employment in Lebanon and advanced the money for the burial.
In order to lure their probable candidates, the Employment Agencies present Lebanon as a land of plenty and a place where one can earn high salaries. Many women tempted by the riches of the Lebanese families where they may find lucrative employment, get easily into debt, paying fees for training, visas, and travel expenses.
The Lebanese employees also pay the Agencies up to US$ 3000 to find them a domestic servant. The employment Agencies stand to gain from both parties.
As for the domestic servants, when she pays back the debts she had incurred, there is often nothing to take back home, if she is one of the lucky ones to be allowed to, go home.
It is only on arrival in Lebanon and to the home of the Employer that the innocent Sri Lankan woman from the village where she lived happily despite poverty, becomes aware of the reality of being a domestic worker in the Arab World. Her passport and the identity cards are confiscated, and locked up in a servant's room.
Ms.Al-Joundi says that for the Lebanese having a domestic maid from Sri Lanka, is like having an internet connection which is open day and night for which you pay only a monthly fee. The Domestic Servants are not covered by any labour law in Lebanon, and she can be made to work according to the pleasure of the employer.
The employer's only liability is on the "kafalate", the agreement, the employer has obtained for the duration of the contract. To protect their interest the Employment Agencies encourage the employer to confiscate the Passport and other identification documents . To further strengthen the protection the employer keeps the maid locked up in a room.
The Employment Agencies have established a "Training schools in Sri Lanka ", which offer newly recruited domestic workers a 10-day Arabic course, use of household appliance ,and a course on how to please their new employer.
Ms.Al-Joundi says she was the first in 1996 to visit these training schools, which no one from the outside had ever seen before. This is where the women learn how to tend to their household duties Lebanon, because the Arab women are very picky about hygiene.
Blood and Tears yet A sure Foreign Exchange Earner.
Ms. Al-Joundi , adds that according to the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment, there are now over 86,000 Sri Lankan women employed as domestic workers in Lebanon. They constitute the largest population of female migrant workers in the country. Women from the Philippines, another big category, are more often employed as nannies.
There is a substantial economic gain by the Government of Sri Lanka in this export trade in Sri Lanka women as domestic servants. In 2006, Sri Lanka received $3.4 billion in remittances from migrant workers abroad, making it the second-highest form of foreign exchange, and twice the amount the country receives in foreign aid and direct foreign investment. In fact, domestic workers now surpass tea as a Sri Lankan export product.
Kingsley Ranawaka, chairman of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), had said that Sri Lanka is planning to cut the number of women migrants exported to the Middle East due to the growing number of complaints of ill-treatment, breach of contract, sexual and physical abuse and unpaid wages.
Until now, it seems the Sri Lankan government has been quite content to allow the trade to go on.
Ms. Al-Joundi , says that, one of the things she discovered while making the film was that the Sri Lankan government was very happy to export its women abroad and treat them like cattle because their contribution to the national income is helping to fund the war against the Tamil Tigers.
So neither the Middle Eastern nor the Sri Lankan governments want this business to stop. But it is a shame that has to stop, the sooner the better.
This is an earnest plea to the President of Sri Lanka, to please stop this shameless export trade of poor Sri Lankan Women as domestic servants, without hesitation. -
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Why is Karunanidhi so keen in a cease fire in embattled north Sri Lanka.?
by Charles.S.Perera
Karunanidhi has said that he would not opt for any thing less than a cease fire in Sri Lanka. It is like Prabhakaran saying that he does not accept any political settlement other than a separate Eelam State.
What is behind Karunanidhi's incessant call for a cease fire when there is more than clear evidence that the innocent Tamils have not been severely affected in the attacks against the terrorists in Kilinochchi by the Sri Lankan forces ?
Even more, this demand of Karunanidhi, seems to go beyond a simple desire to help the civilian Tamil Population in Kilinochchi. Because the President of Sri Lanka has given the assurance to the Central Government of India, that he would take the responsibility not to put in danger the lives of the Tamil Civilian population, in the areas occupied by the terrorists , in the attacks against the terrorists by the Government forces. That was an assurance given by the Head of one Sovereign State to the Head of another Sovereign State.
Yet Karunanidhi is not satisfied, and reiterated his call for a cease fire attributing the reason for his call, to avoid putting in danger the lives of the Tamil civil population. This repeated call after the assurance given by the Sri Lanka President, shows that Karunanidhi has some other motives. It is evident that his call is not so much to save the Tamil Civil population , but to save the terrorist "thalaivar" Prabhakaran, and his lackeys.
It may also be the fear that the capture of Velupillai Prbhakaran alive may result in the opening of the Criminal case against Prabhakaran for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi which will bring to light Karunanidhi's role, however remote it may seem to be in the assassination. According to the findings by the Commission, a charge sheet would have been appropriate for Karunanidhi, at least to have absolved him from his participation directly or indirectly in the assassination. But it was not done.
The answer for Karunanidhi's present endeavour to get the Sri Lanka to agree for a ceasefire, may be in the Interim Report of the Jain Commission. Before we look into the relevant information in the report, let us see who is Milap Chand Jain. He was the One man Commission appointed by the Central Government of India to investigate into the circumstances that lead to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on the night of 21 May,1991.
Justice Milap Chand Jain was born in 1929 in Jodhpur, Rajastan. He was appointed a judge of the Rajastan High Courts in 1978, and promoted as the Chief Justice of the Rajastan High Court. Unfortunately there is not much information about Justice Milap Chand Jain that could be gathered from internet research.
But, the Jain Commission had made its report based on evidence examining hundreds of witnesses, coming to conclusion on the facts that he had carefully shifted from the vast amount of notes he had made through out the investigation. His commission was not to advance theories but to come to legally acceptable conclusions. He did not even suggest a conspiracy. It was left for a judge to come to that conclusion examining the witnesses in terms of the charge sheets.
There were, however, a plot hatched in the jungles of Sri Lanka, by the single minded Prabhakaran leaving the planning , and carrying it out to Pottu Amman and Akhila. They had to recruit the personnel some in Sri Lanka and others in Tamil Nadu, find lodgings, find experts in explosives, buy the explosives, get a tailor to prepare an appropriate blouse to hide the explosives and the detonators.
The Commission Report consists of seven volumes, and 5280 pages. Justice Jain interrogated 113 witnesses making laborious notes. He took sixty six months to complete the report and instead of presenting it to the Parliament presented it to the Minister of Home Affairs Indrajit Gupta.
Jain Commission did not directly accuse any one but merely laid bare the fact as they came to light in his investigations, making his conclusions. Rajiv Gandhi died in the bomb that was exploded by Dhanu. She was only the last link in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, but behind her was the chain of events that had been put in place by the conspirators that made it possible for the assassination with the explosion of Dhanu in the immediate presence of Rajiv Gandhi.
It was in to that chain Karunanidhi had been brought in, by the LTTE. Karunanidhi had reasons and motives enough to have liked Rajive Gandhi removed from Indian politics. It was Rajiv Gandhi's federal government that dismissed Karunanidhi's Tamil Nad Government in 1976 for corruption. Karunanidhi came back into power in 1989. Two years later he and his government, were once again dismissed by the Federal Government, for encouraging the presence of LTTE terrorists in Tamil Nadu without any control by the State Government.
During this period, points out the Commission Report, Karunanidhi had actively supported the LTTE terrorists, by allowing them to have their supplies of arms, ammunitions , explosives , fuel and other essential items to fight the Indian Peace Keeping Force. Karunanidhi was already acting as a traitor against the National interest of India to disrupt the India Sri Lanka Peace Agreement.
The Commission Report further states, that after DMK came into power in 1989, " the LTTE slowly began to consolidate itself in the (TN) State and their clandestine activities, heretofore dormant, became more and more pronounced. All the activities of the LTTE at this stage towards recourse mobilisation, propaganda and the treatment of their wounded cadres, had taken an anti-national dimension "
DMK MP Mr.V.Gopalasingham had clandestinely gone to north of Sri Lanka and met with Prabhakaran LTTE terrorist leader between 8 February, 1989 and 3 March, 1989. This gave the LTTE, and anti-India Peace Keeping Forces, groups, to act with impunity in Tamil Nadu State. The LTTE agents had access to Karunanidhi , and interacted with him to assure that their activities in Tamil Nadu even after the assassination of ERLF Leader Padmanabha, continued unhindered .
The LTTE was demanding Karunanidhi his help for the formation of the Tamil Eelam State. Even though at this stage the connivance between Karunanidhi, DMK, and LTTE was brought to the notice of the Central government, it had not taken effective steps to stop it. The Commission Report concluded that there was tacit support to the LTTE ,by Karunanidhi his government and law enforcing agencies. The Report stated, that the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi would not have been possible the way it happened without the nexus between the LTTE, and the DMK.
Following the Commission Report, and the police investigations, the charge sheets were filed on the 22 May, 1992. 41 persons were accused 12 of the them were by then dead, of the 10 Sri Lankans accused Prabhakaran, Pottuamman and Akhali were declared procedural absconders. Akhali died in November,1995. 26 persons were finally brought before the courts charged on various counts for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Among the Indians was a former DMK Minister Subbulakshmi Jagadishan and six activists of politicians from the Dravida Kazhagam (DK). Justice Jain had asked the Government to ``adopt such course of action as it may think fit,'' against the list of ``suspects'' in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
In view of the foregoing Karunanidhi's direct or indirect involvement in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi had been made evident by the Jain Commission Report. Nevertheless, no charge sheet was filed against him for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Karunanidhi had been manipulated( if he did not voluntarily contributed to the conspiracy), by Prabhakaran who was clever in brainwashing and drawing in persons for his murderous schemes. Prabhakaran formed a squad of black tigers who would not hesitate to blow themselves as human bombs according to his diabolical whims and fancies, that was the terrible influence he could command over others. As for Karunanidhi, he had shown from his boyhood days a tendency to be influenced by others.
Who is Karunanidhi and how did he come into association with a psychopath like Prabhakaran ?
Mutuvale Kalainagar Karunanidhi had humble beginnings, born to a poor family of the Vellalar caste on 3 June,1924, in Thirukkuvallai, of the Tanjore District. He began his career as a script writer for Tamil films. He belonged to the Self Respect Movement, or Dravidian Movement. He wrote Tamil stories based on History and Social Reforms. He seems to be a person easily influenced by speeches and ideas. It was listening to a speech of Alagiriswami of the Justice Party, that drew him to politics when he was still 14 years old. He took part in Anti-Hindi Agitations, and Tamil Eelam movements, and was arrested on many occasions for those activities. He edited a handwritten news paper. Wrote poems and stories.
He is not an intellectual of any sort. He had written poems and books in Tamil . His Social contacts had not been politicians, philosophers, scholars, or academicians. He had the ordinary local politicians, and the visiting LTTE agents as his immediate associates. He was susceptible to be drawn by sentimentality to the Tamil Eelam cause and therefore adulated the Sri Lanka Tamils terrorist for their Eelam Tamil State concept.
That adulation of Sri Lanka terrorists is seen from his sitting down to write a Tamil Poem in memory of the LTTE terrorist Thamil Selvam. There is good reason to believe that Prabhkaran had a great influence on Karunanidhi and also his daughter Kanimoshi , and was able to bring them to believe in him.
Prabhakaran may have sought Karunanidhi's help to make a reality of his Tamil Eelam State in Sri Lanka. A concept which did not leave Karunanidhi unmoved, because he was already an anti-Hindi and a Tamil Eelam agitator, who had been imprisoned 14 times on account of those agitations.
Karunanidhi had no contact,or social relations with any Tamil political leader in Sri Lanka, such as Anandasangaree, Nilan Thiruchelvam, or Lakshman Kadirgamar.
He had been more at home with his association with the LTTE leaders, and received them in private, as the Commission Report had pointed out.
Therefore, when he claims that the Sri Lanka Government should declare a cease fire, he has in mind Prabhakaran, Pottuamman and the rest of the terrorists fighting for an Eelam State , and definitely not the Tamil Civilians in Kilinochchi. - Sri Lanka Guardia
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Felicitations our brave heroes of the Government Forces.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
We cannot thank you enough our brave heroes of the Government Forces, for the task you have undertaken to free our motherland, of the uncouth terrorist virmins. You have taken risks, gone through physical and mental sufferings we can little imagine. Some of your companions have made their ultimate sacrifice. You have taken risks to save the motherland putting your lives in danger. You have done all this for us without distinction of our race, colour , or religion, so that we , our children, and generations thereafter may have this motherland of theirs', an undivided Unitary State where the Sinhala, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and Malays may live as a Nation of Sri Lankans.
You have done this not to receive applause, but as true heroes of our Nation, to free our country from the terrorists, who were ruthless murderers, who assassinated many a great sons of our land.
Please forgive those who unwittingly minimised your heroism, fail to recognise the risk you were taking to save this motherland of "ours and theirs". While you fought your valiant battles without knowing whether your next step would be on a personal mine , or wading in waist deep marshy waters carrying your guns and back packs not knowing whether you would be the target of an enemy bullet, when you had cramps of hunger while crawling on the ground to be safe from the enemy, we shamelessly waited in comfort to get news of your victories, or defeats. We prayed for you when we heard of your victories, we were saddened by your defeats, but we wept for those who died by your side.
Those who were hard hearted, who could not understand your suffering, the price you are paying to save the motherland, were critical of your violation of human rights, when you violated none, critical you claim the motherland as belonging to you, when you claimed no ownership. You are not politicians but real heroic sons of Sri Lanka.
A journalists who believes he is the cream of defence reporters said the capture of Poonaryn is not significant, as there are many pockets of active terrorists elsewhere. This sad reporter believes a military victory is annexing a whole territory all at once. He does not know that wars are won by taking villages, towns, and provinces one after the other. For us, every step you take into terrorist held areas, every square meter you have taken from the terrorists, is a victory, for which we honour you, and pray for your safety.
The Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora will not hail your victories, for they live in clover in foreign lands, dreaming a Tamil Kingdom for themselves in the north east, for which they are paying the terrorists to continue to fight a loosing war.
Pardon them, our valiant heroes, for they are angry men who think of only of themselves, and what they can get out of your sufferings, after your brave heroic deeds are done.
But, those others know that you go through all that suffering and take all those risks ,to save this motherland for all those who share it, to live in peace and unity. - Sri Lanka Guardian
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Who is Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi ?
Thursday, November 13, 2008
by Charles.S.perera
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi has moved a resolution in the Legislative Assembly, which is an insult to democracy, displaying his ignorance of correct political approach in dealing with other sovereign states.
What right has Karunanidhi to move this resolution , which is a damning proof of his links with the terrorists ? This also proves his past involvements with the Sri Lanka terrorists, and the part he played in 1991, in which year the most promising young Rajiv Gandhi who was present for his last public meeting in the elections campaign at Sriperumbudur, in Tamil Nadu, was assassinated by Dhanu LTTE Black tigeress who detonated the bomb she was wearing under her blouse ?
In asking the Sri Lanka Government to agree to a cease fire with the terrorists, he put the central government of India in to an embarrassing situation. However, it should be rememeberd that, this is not the first time Karunanidhi had embarrassed the Central Government of India.
Karunanidhi's tilt towards the terrorists is well known. His support of LTTE terrorists has a long history. After he became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in January,1989, he continued to extend his support to the LTTE terrorists group.
On 21st May 1991 Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. Karunanidhi who was talked of as being involved in the assassination of the EPRLF leader Padmanabha by the LTTE hit squad, was also suspected to have had his hand in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
The UF government of I.K.Gujral, immediately after the assassination of Rajive Gandhi commissioned Justice Milap Chand Jain to inquire into the circumstances leading to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, and submit a report. Justice Jain took 66 months to submit an interim report, for the preparation of which he had examined 110 witnesses, including politicians, bureaucrat, terrorists and even cranks as he had said. Presenting the interim report he said,"I am fully satisfied with my interim report and what it contains. Each one of my conclusions and observations is based on documents on record with the commission."
The 17 volumes of the Interim report of the Jain Commission presented to the cabinet for discussion was like a "live bomb", and every one tried to disassociate from it. Some even suggested putting off discussing it.
The 5280 pages of the 17 volume Jain report had accused the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and his DMK responsible for abetting Rajiv Gandhi's murderers. It also blamed two former prime ministers, V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar, for their laxity in assessing the threat to Rajiv. http://www.tamilnation.org/intframe/india/rajiv/97chawlaonjain.htm
In the Interim Report, Jain holds the DMK guilty of encouraging and assisting the LTTE even after the Indo-Sri Lankan accord of 1987 pitted the Indian Army against the Tigers. And adds, "Under the changed scenario, the LTTE made a strategic shift in their political alignments. They sent personal emissaries to Karunanidhi for seeking his active support in their battle against the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF).
These overtures of the LTTE towards the DMK started a chain of events which led to LTTE's survival and growth in Tamil Nadu even after the attitude of the Government of India had changed towards the LTTE after the hostilities between the IPKF and LTTE in Sri Lanka." The Jain report also concludes that the LTTE was getting its supplies, including arms, ammunition, explosives, fuel and other essential items for its war against the IPKF from Tamil Nadu. That too with the support of the Tamil Nadu government and the connivance of the law enforcement authorities".
Karunanidhi who now leads the Tamils of Tamil Nadu taking them by their nose have not explained to them his involvement not with the Tamils of Sri Lanka, but with the LTTE terrorists of Sri Lank. Karunanidhi protected the LTTE terrorists in every way possible when they were in Tamil Nadu. He did not allow the Tamil Nadu police to go into areas where the Sri Lanka terrorists were in hiding.
Jain report further says, "The fact that Anandan was released is not disputed by anyone. An impression is created by the different versions that the entire state machinery was, in one way or the other, involved in supporting the LTTE at that time. Evidently, the police was not given a free hand to deal with the LTTE.
Indeed, the Jain Commission report has raised doubts over the DMK's committment to the Centrally-sponsored action plan for handling the LTTE. It has alleged that even coded messages between the Centre and the state government were promptly relayed to the LTTE leaders in Jaffna. "There is evidence to show that, during this period, some of the most vital wireless messages were passed between the LTTE operatives based in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna. These messages, which were decoded later, are directly related to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.''
This is the man Karunanidhi who had been pointed out in the Interim Report of the Jain Commission as responsible for the assassination of Rajiv Ghndhi, who is now pontificating what Sri Lanka government should do vis à vis the terrorists in Sri Lanka.
This article was prepared based on information in India & the Struggle for Tamil Eelam, Prabhu Chawla on Jain Commission Report India Today, 17 November 1997 found in websit: Tamilnation .org: http://www.tamilnation.org/intframe/india/rajiv/97chawlaonjain.htm
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Racial hatred towards the majority Sinhala Community, is organised by the Tamil diaspora.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
by Charles.S.Perera
Sri Lanka Guardian website Published an article with the image of the President Mahinda Rajapakse along side the image of Hitler and a swastika. The article compared the President Rajapakse speaking in Tamil at the UN GA, to Hitler speaking in Hebrew. That image was really shocking and a saddening reminder of the hatred of the Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora towards the Sinhala Community. The Sri Lanka Guardian Website should not have published that image.
That historic speech of the President in Tamil was an earnest call coming from deep down his heart for the patriots of Sri Lanka to rally round him what ever differences they have. That call was not received with any respect or appreciation. It was made an occasion for contempt and derision.
Then again when the President referred to the Tamil Community as "brothers and sister of the north and east", another from the Tamil diaspora, challenged the President's right to call the Tamils of the north and east , as "brothers and sisters". Though the Tamil diaspora would not call the Sinhala their "brothers and sisters", the President has a right more than any one else to call the people of any community in Sri Lanka "brothers and sisters".
These out bursts of intolerance are a recognisable mark of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. Until that hatred is eliminated, the Tamil diaspora cannot expect a communal unity in their motherland . It is the expiation of intolerance, anger and hatred, that will bring them close to their people-the Sinhala, Tamils and Muslims. A patriot cannot love his or her motherland without extending love and compassion to all the people sharing the same motherland.
A Sinhala can say that Sri Lanka belongs to him, so can a Tamil , a Muslim, a Burgher or a Malay. That is logically true, but belonging to Sri Lanka makes each one a part of the larger Nation. Therefore, no one could call the President of the Country elected by a larger majority of voters from all communities, a Hitler. It is worst of the insults that one can make to any person, let alone the President.
A person of the Sinhala diaspora, to my memory, has not still called the ruthless terrorist, the psychopath Prabhakaran a Hitler. It is regrettable it had to come from a writer from the Tamil diaspora, to call the President of Sri Lanka who has given so much of hope, for the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim Communities, to live together in peace and unity after nearly three decades of suffering under terrorism.
These flames of hatred are being kindled by the Tamil diaspora, now with the blessings of Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu who is openly supporting the terrorist in Sri Lanka. Fortunately, our own Tamil sisters and brothers, living with their Sinhala, Muslim, Burgher, and Malay compatriots, are not hateful racists. There are of course those political fanatics like Mano Ganeshan and Chandrasekaran who will brandish their racial torches, but it will not have the desired effect as the local Tamil Community are becoming more aware of the reality of terrorism as a danger to desperately needed peace and unity in the country.
Therefore, we begin to see that the racial hatred towards the Sinhala is being fanned by the Tamil diaspora , projected to attract the sympathetic attention of the International Community towards the terrorists, as Tamils whose human rights are being violated by the Sinhala majority government. This does not work any more, even though the Tamil Nadu has swallowed the human rights issue, hook, line and sinker, and is all out to get the Central Government of India to call for a "cease fire" in Sri Lanka. The more knowledgeable International Community , and the Indian Central Government have understood, that it is the Tamil diaspora and the Tamil Nadu that is carrying on a campaign to save the ruthless terrorist Prabhakaran and his mislead companions.
The Government of Sri Lanka is not fighting against the civilian population , but on the other hand the government forces in attacking the areas occupied by the terrorists have so far avoided the civil population. There is evidence in an article carried in the TamilNet website under the title: " Five wounded, SLAF bombers attack again civilian targets in Paranthan" dated 9.11.2008.
The 7 images attached to the article, except for the child being treated in a hospital and a wounded boy on a hospital bed, show only buildings that have been damaged . If there were a large number of civilians that had been killed , the TamilNet would have capitalised the situation by showing the photos of mutilated bodies of civilians killed in the bombardments. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=27435
This is perfectly clear evidence that the Government Air Force bombardments had not killed any civilians, only five had had been wounded. The Tamil diaspora, Tamil Nadu and the International Community should take note.
The Government Forces of Sri Lanka are carrying out a remarkable "war" against the terrorists, that should be a model for the American Armies in Iraq and Afghanistan. This they are doing taking lot of risks in view of the fact that these inhuman terrorists have laid innumerable personal mines and booby trap. In addition to that the battle is being carried out in difficult tropical weather conditions, in marshlands, mud and water.
Despite this the Soldiers of the Government Forces have not left the bodies of fallen terrorists, without checking to see whether any one is still alive. That is how they were able to save the 18 year old terrorist "Priya" who had been found among the bodies of the fallen terrorists. Who could therefore say that the Soldiers of Government Forces are brutal and violators of human rights ?
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