The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Velupillai Pirapaharan congratulated the Tamil Diaspora across the world for rallying together with Pongu Thamil events to strengthen the Tamils struggle for freedom.

B Nadesan, the political head of LTTE conveyed Pirapaharan’s greetings when commenting on the Pongu Thamil events organized by Eelam Tamils in the Diaspora in cities across North America, Europe, Africa and Australia in which over 150,000 Tamils have taken part so far to express their solidarity with their brethren back home.

“Even as the Sri Lankan state intensifies its oppressive actions, killing and terrorising Tamils daily, it is engaged in a global campaign of misinformation to portray the Tamil struggle as terrorism,” said Nadesan.

“The Pongu Thamil events attended by tens of thousands of Tamils have exposed the lies spread by the Sri Lankan state to the international community and declared the aspirations of Tamils to the world loud and clear.”

The show of solidarity expressed by the Diaspora Tamils have strengthened and encouraged all Tamils in the Northeast of Sri Lanka, he added.

Passing on Pirapaharan’s greeting, Nadean added that the LTTE leader was pleased with the overwhelming response of Diaspora Eelam Tamils to the call of Pongu Thamil and requested the Diaspora to continue their activities to strengthen the liberation struggle.

In a spectacular show at short notice, more than 75,000 Canadian Tamils spontaneously gathered at Downsview Park in Toronto, Canada, for the Pongu Thamil event, forging solidarity for the cause of Eelam, on Saturday, July 5.

It was in fact a response to the oppressive policies of the International Community against Eelam Tamil nationalism, observers said.

The Pongu Thamil declaration at the gathering included seeking International Community recognising Tamil nationalism, Tamil homeland and self determination of Tamils; Canada to reverse the decision on the ban of LTTE and the World Tamil Movement and urging the IC, including Canada, to put an immediate end to the genocide of the Tamils by applying military, economic and diplomatic sanctions against Sri Lanka.

The key speaker for the event was Australia based Sri Lankan physician Dr. Brian Seneviratne, a member of the Bandaranaike family, who said international lobbying, strengthening the military might of the Tamils and influencing the Sinhala people to pressurise Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to come to his senses are the three ways to end the sufferings of the Tamils.

The event started at 3:00 p.m. by ceremonious lighting of lamps by Paramu Visaaladchi, the mother of the late S.P. Thamilchelvan, former political head of the LTTE and Sukunam Pararajasingham, the wife of the late Joseph Pararajasingam, TNA parliamentarian from Batticaloa.

The venue was turned into a sea of red and yellow flags and balloons, while motorists trying to reach the site of the rally clogged many of the main roads.

The time and venue of the event was announced only by 6:00 p.m. on the previous day, to prevent sabotage by the agents of the Government of Sri Lanka, according to the organisers.

The rough estimate of Eelam Tamil population in Canada is around 300,000.

"It was compelling realities that made every fourth person to think it as his or her duty to attend the rally. There is enough message for the International Community to read," said the organisers.

Tamils in Australia gathered at Pongu Thamil (Tamil upsurge)events in Melbourne and Sydney over the weekend of 5 and 6 July to lend their voices to the global show of Tamil solidarity.

“Let the International Community hold a referendum to get the will of Eelam Tamils for an independent homeland if it is not convinced of their sentiments shown explicitly through the events of Pongu Thamil all over the world. Australia supported such a referendum in East Timor,” said Tamil National Alliance MP, M. K. Shivajilingam, when he came to address the Pongu Thamil event held at Sydney on Sunday July 6.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Gnanam Sivathamby, a former principal said that the International community is ignorant of the fact who are the terrorists and who are the terrorized in Sri Lanka.

"We do not want war. The Tamils are a peace-loving people. We want a peaceful solution. But, we want peace with justice and freedom", said a young member who spoke at the event.

"We have witnessed too much discrimination, too much blood shed and too little justice. It is too late and we have come too far to compromise on Tamil Eelam" spoke another young member.

Over 3000 Tamil Australians gathered at Mason Park in Sydney Sunday afternoon for the event, which was largely organized and addressed by the Tamil youth of Australia.

Many of those who attended were clad in red and yellow and carried pictures of the LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan.

A similar event was held in Melbourne on Saturday at which over a thousand Tamils gathered in Federation Square. The event included traditional Tamil dancing, music and speeches on the Tamil people’s struggle for self-determination in Sri Lanka.

Mahenda Rajah, president of the Eelam Tamil Association of Victoria, outlined the oppression of the Tamil’s in Sri Lanka. He described the state-sponsored “colonisation” schemes, where Sinhalese settlers were placed in traditionally Tamil areas with the aim of making Tamils a minority, told of the decision to make Sinhala the sole official language of Sri Lanka, and described other state measures that discriminate against Tamils in “employment, economy, education and every other area of life”.

Peaceful protests have been met by violent repression. Rajah said: “Tamils have been subjected to intimidation, torture, rape, unlawful imprisonment … There have also been cases of targeted killings of Tamil members of parliament, journalists, human rights activists, religious and community leaders, and civilians who speak out against the human rights violations of the Sri Lankan government and armed forces.”

Referring to the formation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Rajah said, “Tamils were forced to defend themselves” against the violence. The LTTE had been willing to negotiate with the Sri Lankan government and a peace agreement was signed in February 2002, but the government later withdrew from it.

Rajah urged people to “support us to achieve a lasting negotiated political solution” that would “establish a recognised homeland for the Tamils with full autonomy”.

Other speakers at the Pongu Thamil event included Bishop Hilton Deakin, retired Uniting Church minister Richard Wootton, Tamil radio broadcaster Anthony Gration, aid worker Jason Thomas, Margarita Windisch from the Socialist Alliance and Green Left Weekly, and visiting TNA MP M. K. Shivajilingam.

LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan participated in the Black Tigers commemoration day events held in Vanni on July 5.

356 Black Tigers have laid down their lives, 254 of them in sea operations, during the last 21 years since 05 July 1987, when the first Black Tiger Captain Miller, drove an explosive laden truck on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops garrisoned at Nelliyadi Central College in Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna, the LTTE said.

Last year, Black Tiger commandos stormed the Sri Lankan airbase in Anudradhapura in LTTE's first combined Black Tiger and Tamil Eelam Air Force attack, destroying more than 10 aircraft.

LTTE's media unit released edited photos of LTTE leader paying homage to Black Tigers who died in their missions.

Senior Commanders of the LTTE and other Black Tigers were present with Pirapaharan at an undisclosed location in Vanni.

76 of the 254 Black Sea Tigers who have died were female commandos. 81 male and 71 female Black Tiger commandos have died in ground operations.

Six music albums were published by the head of the LTTE Intelligence Wing S. Poddu, Special Commander of the Sea Tigers Col. Soosai, Head of LTTE's Military Intelligence Ratnam, Political Head B. Nadesan, Head of LTTE's military academies Col. Aathavan and a commander of the Sea Tigers Naren in the event, Tiger officials told media in Vanni.

Attempted German bargain

Der Spiegel, a renowned German weekly news magazine, in its 23 June edition, revealed that the Sri Lanka government and the permanent representative of the government of Germany in New York agreed in February to a deal prior to the voting in U.N. General Assembly in May, where Germany would vote for Sri Lanka's re-election to the Human Rights Council, and Sri Lanka in turn will vote for German seat in the Security Council in 2010. The paper said Germany's deal with the Human Rights violator Sri Lanka was 'indelicate', despite Sri Lanka's defeat in the race. "In order to be included again in the Security Council of the United Nations, the [German] government is obviously willing to pay any price necessary," the paper said. "The deal is very fiery because Sri Lanka has aggravating accusations of violating Human Rights," Der Spiegel said. It cited Human Rights Watch's listing of 99 cases in March, that dealt with the disappearance or kidnapping of Tamil civilians, Human Rights officials and journalists with alleged involvement of the Sri Lankan forces. The German foreign office had refused to comment on the deal, according to the weekly. (TamilNet)

Four killed in bus attack

Four people were killed and 25 injured when armed men opened indiscriminate fire at a moving passenger bus in the southern town of Buttala, south-east of Colombo, Friday, July 11. The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus, belonging to Monaragala depot, was plying from Buttala to Kathirkaamam (Kataragama) and was attacked at Galge. "A group of gunmen hiding by the side of the road near Buttala raked the passing civilian bus with gunfire," news agency Associated Press quoted military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara as saying. "The bus driver sped through the ambush, only stopping when he reached safety," he said. Defence officials, who blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) for the attack, said the gunmen were hiding in the forests on either sides of the road and opened fire as the vehicle came within firing range. Military spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told media the gunmen took advantage of the fact that large swathes of the area are covered in forests. The day after the attack, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in a joint cordon and search operation conducted along Buttala-Kathirkaamam road arrested six Tamil civilians.

Civilians wounded in air raid

At least four civilians were wounded at Vaddakkachchi on Sunday July 6 when two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked a residential area twice. Maniyar Sellathamby, 67, and Rooban, 24, were among the seriously wounded in the air raid. A day later, SLAF bombers targeted Iyakkachchi village, 15 km southeast of Mukamaalai in Jaffna peninsula. A 50-year-old father of five was wounded in his stomach. Another civilian, Sellaththurai Kamal, a father of two, was wounded, on Tuesday July 8, when two SLAF bombers attacked Kugnchupparanthan and the adjacent paddy fields along Paranthan - Poonakari (Pooneryn) road. The SLAF fighter jets dropped bombs while he was watering his paddy field. Medical sources at Kilinochchi hospital said the doctors were struggling to avoid amputation of his left leg as he was badly wounded below the knee. The TamilNet correspondent who visited the attack site in Kugnchupparanthan said that the bombardment has caused extensive damage to the agricultural lands in the 5th canal. (TamilNet)

Journalists under attack

Sri Lankan journalists are facing increasing attacks over their reporting of the conflict, according to Amnesty International. Hundreds of local reporters and cameramen protested outside Rajapaksa's home earlier this month demanding an end to a spate of killings and assaults on journalists, Agence France- Presse reported. Some journalists fear a crackdown if the victory promised by the government doesn't materialize. “The media has come under very staunch criticism for expressing views which are not of the government,” said defence correspondent Iqbal Athas. “Anybody who doesn't tow the line is called a traitor. You can draw the inference on what's going to come.” A journalist and member of the British High Commission staff were assaulted in Colombo last week. The U.S. embassy condemned the attack and other recent violence against journalists. Alleged human rights violations against journalists by the government are being “blown totally out of proportion,” a government official said. The sources of such allegations are largely non-governmental agencies with LTTE sympathies, he added. (Bloomberg)

British Commission employee attacked

A British High Commission employee and a journalist were assaulted in Sri Lanka on June 30, prompting media groups to say they feared it was the latest in a series of attacks against journalists. A Sri Lankan attached to the commission and a defence journalist at the Sri Lanka Press Institute were attacked by a group in their car in the capital Colombo, witnesses said. Both were wounded but hospital workers said they were not in danger. The High Commissioner condemned the "despicable act" and urged the government to bring those responsible to justice. "We will be working with the authorities to do everything that we can, to make sure that happens," Peter Hayes said at the private hospital where they were being treated. Journalist and media rights groups say the government has done little to stop the violation of media freedom and attacks against journalists in Sri Lanka. "This is related to the suppression of media," said Sunanda Deshapriya of the Free Media Movement. "We hope the government will do something to stop this. If government can't do that, we should hold government responsible for the attack." (Mirror) 

Around 30,000 people attended the Pongu Thamil (Tamil Upsurge) rally in London at the Roehampton Vale sports ground on Saturday, choking traffic in one of the highways, said the organisers.

A number of British parliamentarians cutting across party lines, international representatives of liberation movements, rights activists, and politicians from Tamil and Sinhala communities addressed the event, and sent messages in support of the event.

Even by conservative estimates, nearly 150,000 Tamils of North America, Europe, Africa and Australia have so far demonstrated their support to the cause of Eelam during the last one-month through Pongu Thamil 2008.

The overwhelming response of Diaspora Eelam Tamils to the call of Pongu Thamil was not only impelled by the stepped up sufferings in Sri Lanka, but also was due to suppressed anger over the attitude of the International Community, opined an independent observer reading the mood of the people who attended the London rally.

Dr Bajram Rexhepi, the former Prime Minister of Kosovo and current Mayor of Mitrovica, spoke of the similar history between the Tamils and the Kosovans. He mentioned that though they had international support, the intransigence of the Milosevic government meant that Kosovo remained oppressed until they fought for their freedom.

Mentioning that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was identified as a terrorist organisation by a number of countries, he said his country was finally freed in 1999, but even then they had to prove that they would not abuse their people’s human rights, which they finally succeeded in doing in February this year.

“It was not easy,” said the first elected and internationally recognised post-war Prime Minister of Kosovo, adding that “we will show solidarity and support for your struggle.”

Professor Thiyagaraj Dasaratha Chetty, Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Qwazulu Natal and a member of the African National Congress restated his government’s position that there can be no solution without the involvement of the two principle parties and that no solution can be imposed from outside.

The Liberation Tigers are engaged in an armed struggle as a response to structural failures and though two states may be the answer, that too has problems that need to be addressed, he said. The South African government is willing to help with all efforts that lead to reconciliation and peace, he said.

Liam MacUaid, editor of Socialist Resistance and a member of Respect, spoke of his family’s experience of being forced to leave their home (in Belfast) at the end of the guns of an occupying army. He expressed the solidarity of the workers with all oppressed people, such as the Tamils.

A message of support from Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne of the Nava Sama Samaga Party (NSSP) was read out by local party member Sashie Peiris, in which he expressed his regret at being unable to attend, and his support for the Tamil cause.

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats Foreign Affairs spokesman expressed the need to ‘get the message’ to the Sri Lankan government that they need to get back to the peace negotiating table. He also called for an end to the human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

Andrew Pelling MP (Conservatives) said the problem in Sri Lankan can only be resolved by negotiation and called on the parties to come back to the table.

Welcoming the efforts by Britain that resulted in Sri Lankan being removed from the UN Human Rights Council, Virendra Sharma MP (Labour) stressed that there was no quick fix.

"Sri Lanka is not just a failed state", said the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils. "There is more."

Mr Sharma said he understood that the crowd felt Tamil Eelam was the only solution and promised to work with the British government to force the Sri Lankan government to take steps towards solving the conflict.

Mike Griffiths, the General Secretary of the Trade Union UNITE said while he understood the Tamil suffering, there was great ignorance of it among the British populace. Stating that many peoples cry for self-determination, he said Tamil voice are raised in the same cry at events like the Pongu Thamil gathering.

Pledging to re-double his efforts to restore peace in Sri Lanka, Mr. Griffiths called on all those gathered to do the same.

Comparing her experiences as a migrant to Britain, Siobhan McDonnagh, Labour MP, spoke of understanding Tamil experiences and thanked the Tamils for their contributions in Britain.

Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP (Liberal Democrats) called for there to be many more opportunities to hear Tamil voices expressing their opinion. “It is deeply important to anyone concerned with human rights and justice that we get a political solution that recognises the cultural and linguistic identity,” she said. She urged all parties to return to the negotiating table and called for an end to human rights abuses.

Dawn Butler MP (Labour) spoke of seeing the Tamils “walking with purpose for a purpose” to attend the event. Stressing that governments must listen to the sound of so many Tamil voices, she stated her belief that change was possible. “We will make a change together,” she pledged.

Messages of support were also received from Tony Benn MP (Labour), Robert Evans MEP (Labour), Stephen Hammond MP (Conservatives), Simon Hughes MP (Liberal Democrats), Susan Kramer MP (Liberal Democrats), Joan Ryan MP (Labour) and Roy Padayachie (South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Communications).

Independent sources said that more than 25,000 people attended the event and the estimation by the Metropolitan Police was between 20,000 and 30,000. A small number of police were present, as were security officials organised by the event organisers to ensure the event was peaceful and crowd control was maintained.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Jeyananthamoorthy said that Tamils have historically ruled themselves, and that this has been denied them since the colonial times. “Tamils are fighting now to reclaim what is ours,” he said.

S Kajendren, TNA MP for Jaffna, spoke of the war currently being fought on Tamil soil. “The Tamils are not terrorist,” he said, expressing the hope that the freedom of the Tamil people would be achieved soon.

Thaya Iddaikarar, British Tamil Councillor, compared the Tamil struggle to the sacrifices the British people were prepared to make in their defence of the Falkland Islands.

Solicitor Matt Foot expressed his shame at being a British citizen when the government, elected on an ethical foreign policy, banned liberation struggles like the LTTE and the PKK. “Seeing you gives me hope that we can fight,” he said.

Other speakers included Suresh Krishna, of the Tamil Councillors Association, former Kingston Mayor Yogan Yogananthan, Merton Mayor Martin Whelton,

The event began with the lighting of the common flame of sacrifice by the parliamentarian for Batticaloa, S. Jeyananthamoorthy, followed by the traditional moment of silent respect.

The folk dance drama that followed was an interactive event, with full participation. Expression of support for Tamil Eelam were greeted with overwhelming applause from the audience, and chants of “We want” roused the crowd to its feet with responses of “Tamil Eelam”.

The programme also included traditional Nathaswaram music, the broadcasting of a poem by poet Puthuvai Ratnathurai, and dancing by local youth to Pongu Thamil songs. David Pararajasingham of the British Tamil Forum delivered the welcome address, before the politicians took to the stage to express their support.

Arriving from across the British capital, with some making the journey from outside London, Tamils gathered to reinforce the global call for “motherland, nation, self-rule”. The traffic congestion attendees blocked the main A3 road leading to the event, with the traffic backed up for over a mile even after the event had begun.

As a balloon flew overhead expressing the sentiment that “Tamil Eelam must be free”, mini stages set amongst where the Tamils were gathered commemorated the great rulers of the Tamil kingdoms in Jaffna, including Sangkiliyan, Ellalan, Pandara Vanniyan and Princes Kuruvichchi Nachchiyar.

As is now common at all Tamil events in London, a food stall provided traditional foods and soft drinks, while children were entertained with face painting, balloons and flags. Shops around the grounds also sold Tamil Eelam t-shirts and umbrellas.

The large crowd, waving the red and yellow flag in the Tamil colours, braved the weather to turn out in force, with most staying through to the end despite periodic bouts of rain. The red, black and yellow Tamil Eelam umbrellas were not only colourful, but also useful in the British weather.

Striking a sharp contrast to Colombo's portrayal of Eelam struggle as a terrorist issue, Frances Stewart, the director of the Oxford based Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE), looks at the crisis as a case of inequalities in political power between the Tamils and Sinhalese.

In an interview that appeared in Human Rights Tribune, on Thursday, she said: "Horizontal inequalities have political, economic, social and cultural dimensions… Inequalities in political power, which are very important, where one group may have total dominance of the political system, and another group does not have any access, which is the situation more or less in Sri Lanka."

Ms. Stewart said it while answering to a question posed by IPS correspondent Michael Deibert, who interviewed her in relation to a publication of CRISE, 'Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: Understanding Group Violence in Multi-Ethnic Societies', which is going to be released shortly.

CRISE, directed by Ms. Stewart is a Development Research Centre within Oxford University, supported by the British Government Department for International Development (DFID).

Answering another question on steps that should be taken by governments and international institutions to address these inequalities and prevent conflict in the future, she said:

"This issue has been surpassingly neglected by the international community. If you look at the normal policies that we advocate, such as democracy, saying that countries have to be democratic and they have to have many parties, we don’t think about the implications between groups."

"Democracy can lead to quite a dangerous situation in a multi-ethnic society unless you accompany it with policies to protect groups. If you have one group that is in a majority, they can really suppress the freedoms of a minority group," she said.

"On the political side, what it requires is recognition of the importance of distributing power across groups and not having exclusive power."

A CRISE working paper by Ms. Stewart, titled "Horizontal Inequalities: A Neglected Dimension of Development," available at the Centre's website, reveals that the research was based on nine case studies, ranging from Africa and Asia to Latin America.

The paper says that Horizontal Inequality has provoked a spectrum of political reaction, including severe and long-lasting violent conflict (Uganda, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Northern Ireland), less severe rebellion (Chiapas), coups (Fiji), periodic riots and criminality (the US), occasional racial riots (Malaysia) and a high level of criminality (Brazil).

"Where ethnic identities coincide with economic/social ones, social instability of one sort of another is likely –ethnicity does become a mobilising agent, and as this happens the ethnic divisions are enhanced. Sri Lanka is a powerful example; Chiapas another," is one of the conclusions found in the working paper.

However, the main problem in the development analysis of the CRISE research is its basis that Tamils were better placed in development than the Sinhalese under the British rule, said a Sri Lankan development analyst in Colombo when contacted by TamilNet.

The CRISE paper places Sri Lanka along with Malaysia, South Africa, and Uganda and says these are situations where the politically powerful represent the relatively deprived.

The paper argues that the government policies to bridge the gap in Sri Lanka provoked serious violence because the policies were culturally (language policy) and economically invasive and because of the geographic concentration of Tamils in the Northeast, facilitating a demand for independence unlike the case of the Indians in Fiji.

The paper also compares and contrasts Sri Lanka and Malaysia:

"Both apparently started in a similar situation, with the political majority at an economic disadvantage, but while attempts to correct this situation in Malaysia were successful, they actually provoked war in Sri Lanka."

The paper continues with statistics in education and government employment in Sri Lanka and argues that government policies to bring in horizontal equality by reverting the better position held by Tamils earlier, were successful, but provoked crisis.

But, according to the Colombo analyst, the better position held earlier by Tamils in education and government service, doesn't mean that they were better developed. This is again falling a prey to the sophisticated propaganda of the Sri Lankan state to justify its genocidal programme. Not only the international study groups, but even some Colombo-centric Tamil intellectuals have taken the bait, he said.

"Education and government service never meant an economy for Tamils in their own land and never helped the accumulation of capital in the Tamil areas."

"Economic autonomy last prevailed in the Tamil areas only under the Dutch. At that time, there were Eelam Tamils who were able to compete with officials of the Dutch East India Company in getting the pearl-diving contracts."

The British period marked a decline and eventual disappearance of the foreign trade of Tamils. "The plantation based economy of the British helped only the accumulation of capital in Colombo and made Tamils to depend on it," he observed.

The ports and communication infrastructure of the Tamil regions, which were vital for development, were neglected under the British.

"For instance, while railway was introduced to southern Sri Lanka in 1864, it came to Jaffna only in 1905. The coastal highways linking the Tamil areas were never developed. Even the Jaffna - Colombo coastal route was abandoned in British times."

Observing further, he said that there was no urbanisation in Tamil areas under the British.

The last population influx to Tamil areas was only under the Dutch, if the Sinhala colonisation schemes are not counted. "The fact that people were moving out from Tamil areas and urban centres since British times only indicate that there was no development."

Talking on education as an index of development, he said that education in Tamil areas were actually developed by the American Mission, whom the British wanted to downplay at that time by sending them off to a region, which was not in their priority.

The kind of education that was developed first by the missionaries and later by the native schools, helped a middle-class formation, produced professionals and was the only option for livelihood, but this was never translated into a sound basis for the development of the Eelam Tamil region, he opined.

"It is a myth that the Tamils were the favourites of the rulers and received advantages under the British. Anyone, who doubts it should read the British government assessment of Ceylon communities in the Donoughmore report of 1928. The coastal Sinhalese were assessed as the most progressive community and not surprisingly independent Ceylon was transferred to them in 1948."

"Had the Tamils been 'the developed' and the 'favourites,' they would have seen Eelam in British time itself," said the Colombo based analyst, who doesn't wish to be named due to the naive ban on TamilNet and the prevailing security situation for journalists and academics in Sri Lanka.

SETTING aside domestic Tamil sensitivities, the Indian government appears to have involved itself in a full-fledged proxy war in Sri Lanka.

While claiming to have adopted a hands-off policy with regard to its neighbour’s continuing ethnic conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the forces of the Sinhalese government, India is extending the latter its covert support.

This was revealed by Sri Lanka’s army chief, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, last week during an interaction with members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association in Colombo.

“Eight hundred of our officers are trained (in India) every year; free of cost,” Fonseka is reported to have said. “India gives them an allowance for the duration of their courses there. The support from India is huge.”

Fonseka’s remarks came on the heels of a high-level Indian delegation’s visit to Colombo at a time when the government troops and the LTTE are locked in a fierce battle in northern Sri Lanka.

The Indian officials’ trip was kept a close secret. According to media reports, even the Lankan foreign ministry came to know about the visit of India’s national security adviser, MK Narayanan, defence secretary Vijay Singh, and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon only hours after they landed in Colombo on an Indian Air Force plane.

Fonseka, who survived an assassination attempt last year, has vowed to achieve a military victory against the LTTE. His confidence stems from his military success against the Tigers in the Eastern provinces last year and covert Indian support to his war efforts.

Fonseka, President Mahinda Rajapakse and his brother and defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse together form the powerful Colombo triumvirate that advocates a military solution to the ethnic strife that has claimed over 70,000 lives in the last three decades. In March, Fonseka made a six-day state visit to India, during which he met with top defence officials.

Military relations between India and Sri Lanka have developed over recent years even though the two countries have not entered any formal cooperation agreement. While many in Delhi support such an agreement, it has not seen the light of day due to stiff opposition from political parties in Tamil Nadu.

At present, however, India appears to have cast aside all neutrality in the Tamil-Sinhala conflict, and adopted a policy best encapsulated by an unnamed military officer to a news agency on the eve of Fonseka’s Delhi visit: “India wants to ensure that the Sri Lankan army maintains its upper hand over the LTTE.”

India’s training of Sri Lankan army personnel has never been officially confirmed by either country, until Fonseka’s boast last week. More details of the military cooperation are, however, emerging.

According to a July 1 report in The Times of India, in 2008-2009 alone, over 500 Lankan army personnel are to be trained in Indian institutions like the Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte in Mizoram and the School of Artillery at Devlali in Maharashtra.

According to the report, about 100 gentlemen cadets will receive training at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, 39 officers at the College of Military Engineering at Pune, 15 in the School of Artillery at Devlali, 29 in the Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre at Ahmednagar, 25 in the College of Materials Management at Jabalpur, 30 in the Electronics and Mechanical Engineering School at Vadodara, and 14 at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering at Mhow.

Support does not stop at training alone. India has been supplying ‘defensive’ military equipment to Sri Lanka, including the indigenouslymanufactured Indra radars.

Officially, India claims it does not supply offensive weapons to Sri Lanka, but there are strong possibilities of a secret arrangement being in place already.

However, in June last year, when MK Narayanan publicly cautioned Sri Lanka against purchasing arms from China and Pakistan, he also said it could approach India for any help it required. Narayanan’s statement could have meant only one thing, that India was ready to meet Sri Lanka’s arms demands.

India’s relations with Sri Lanka is seen by many from the perspective of the Chinese geopolitical strategy in the region. Sri Lanka has moved closer to China in recent years, and Rajapakse, who came to power in 2005, has been particularly adept at playing the China card against India.

Sri Lanka figures prominently in Chinese naval strategy, being part of China’s “string of pearls” (or strategic bases) starting from the South China Sea and extending through the Strait of Malacca, Indian Ocean and on to the Arabian and Persian Gulfs.

Security experts like B. Raman, a former additional secretary of the Government of India, have been expressing concern about the Chinese threat. In a recent column, Raman noted: “The semi-permanent presence, which the Chinese are getting in Sri Lanka, will bring them within monitoring distance of India’s fast-breeder reactor complex at Kalpakkam near Chennai, the Russian aided Koodankulam nuclear power reactor complex in southern Tamil Nadu and India’s space establishments in Kerala.”

While India’s need to counter this threat is beyond doubt, sections of those sympathetic to the Lankan Tamil cause see striking similarities in the present developments to the situation in the 1980s, in the run-up to the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord in 1987.

In that period, the then Sri Lankan president, JR Jayawardene, got India embroiled into fighting the LTTE. The consequences of that flawed intervention, and the immense suffering it caused Tamils at the hands of the Indian army, are yet to be erased from the bruised memories of Tamils all over the world.

Discontent over the Centre’s policies in Sri Lanka continues to simmer in Tamil Nadu, with various parties urging the Indian government to stop military aid to the country.

The LTTE has also made appeals. Following Fonseka’s visit to Delhi in March, the outfit issued a statement against India’s growing military aid to Sri Lanka, saying: “While proclaiming that a solution to the Tamil problem must be found through peaceful means, India is giving encouragement to the military approach of the Sinhala State. This can only lead to the intensification of the genocide against the Tamils.”

A pro-LTTE Sri Lankan Tamil MP said recently, “We are optimistic even during this darkest hour. The Sri Lankan government will ditch India in favour of the Chinese in due course. Then India will have to change its policy and support the Tamils as Indira Gandhi did during her time.”

Whatever may be the future twists and turns in South Asia’s highly unpredictable diplomatic world, as of now India cannot disown responsibility for its part in the Eelam tragedy.

Popular NorthEast sportsman and Jaffna Schools Sport Association (JSSA) secretary during late 70's, Mr. T. K. Vilvarajah passed away Sunday June 22 in Ottawa, Canada after a brief illness.

Mr. Vilvarajah served as vice president of Jaffna Amateur Athletic Association during 1993-1996, and was known as the best starter for track events at a national level.

He was also instrumental in developing and training sports officials in track and field in Jaffna district.

He was born at Changkaanai in Jaffna district and had his primary and higher education in Jaffna College. Later, he completed his teachers training college diploma and joined the teaching profession.

Mr. Vilvarajah taught at Parameswara College (present Jaffan campus) and Muthuthamby Mahavidiyalayam from 1972 till he retired in 1982.

He also excelled in soccer and later became a popular referee.

Mr. Vilvarajah’s brother, the late Mr. Tharmarajah, excelled in field hockey and played for the Sri Lankan national team.

Tamil Diaspora quarters lament the inability or unwillingness of the International Community to read the Diaspora public opinion.

They feel that Tamil Nationalism has to be differentiated from the issues between the International Community and the LTTE and no power should dictate or exert insinuating pressure on what the Tamils should aspire for and what not.

According to them, in the guise of protecting the Diaspora from intimidation of terrorism, the International Community is intimidating the Tamil national sentiments and such approaches in the name of the international system are not going to bring in any credibility to the powers involved.

This happened some years ago in a country where members from all communities of Sri Lanka were employed in considerable numbers as expatriate workers.

The Sri Lankan High Commissioner, who was a Tamil, strived hard with many innovative ways to bring all communities together for programmes organized by the High Commission.

Due to his efforts, many Tamils who usually avoid visiting Sri Lankan High Commission other than official requirements thought of attending the Independence Day functions that year.

When the occasion came to sing the national anthem, along with Sinhalese who were singing the anthem in Sinhala, a Tamil lady joined singing the Tamil version of the anthem.

Almost all of the Sinhala participants were not even aware of the fact that the national anthem has an official Tamil version for the use of the Tamil people, and it was in regular use in the Tamil areas and in Tamil schools.

As early as in 1945, when the anthem was composed, there existed a parallel Tamil version. The way the country coursed through, the national anthem lost all its credibility with Tamils and the fact that the Tamil version has a statutory status became lost to the Sinhala memory.

Most of the Sinhala participants at the function thought that the lady had sung an LTTE song and she had the guts to do so because the High Commissioner was a Tamil.

It became a big issue of protest and the High Commissioner had to convene a reconciliatory meeting. The Sinhalese were not prepared to accept the parallel status of the versions and demanded apology from the lady.

One among them, ignorant of the fact that the Indian national anthem is in Bengali language, even argued why can’t the Sri Lankan Tamils sing the anthem in Sinhala when all Indians sing theirs in Hindi.

Such intolerance, which many feel was the root cause for the failure of the Sri Lankan state, and the Tamils to seek their own nationalism and symbols.

The issue of symbols seems to have now come to the streets of Europe, involving world governments.

The four-coloured flag with the tiger emblem, which has widely been adopted as the Tamil National flag by the Eelam Tamils since 1990, has become a serious irritant to Sinhala protestors carrying the Lion Flag of Sri Lanka to show their opposition to rallies organized by Tamils in Europe.

The Lion Flag of the Sri Lankan state is seen as a symbol of oppression by the Eezham Tamils. They rejected it long back for the explicit communal symbolism in it.

Even at the time of independence it had been pointed out that the lion in the flag, taken as a symbol of the Sinhala people according to their myths, holding a sword against minorities represented by the colour stripes in the flag, was a deliberately designed insult to the minorities.

The Sinhala Buddhists also have another flag for their cultural identity, known as the Buddhist flag, which was designed a century ago by a group of people in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil National Flag, described as symbolizing the political, social and cultural aspirations of the Tamils of Sri Lanka was declared in 1990 by the LTTE, at a time when it was not banned by any government. The Tamil National Flag was also differentiated from the LTTE flag by having no legend on it. The Flag soon got into wide use with the masses and became a symbol of their nationalist aspirations.

Citing the ban on the LTTE, and encouraged by the attitude of some governments, the Sinhala protesters now demand a ban on the Tamil National Flag with the police of EU countries, seeing it an opportunity of dismembering Tamil nationalism.

What surprises the Tamil circles in Europe is the ready connivance of the police of some of the EU countries with the demand of the Sinhala protestors.

In Italy the police, citing Sinhala protestors, requested the Pongu Tamil organisers to bring down the Tamil National Flag, which had been already hoisted. The Italian police have reportedly told the Tamil activists that they are under severe pressure from some quarters to take action against them.

The arrest of around 30 Tamil activists in Italy is seen as a repercussion to defiance and to discourage Tamil Nationalist programmes in future.

In France, it is said that the Pongu Tamil organisers were asked by the authorities not to hoist the Tamil National Flag.

The timing of the ban on the World Tamil Movement (WTM) in Canada is also seen by the Tamil circles as a pre-emptive move to prevent holding Pongu Tamil rally.

The uniformity in the overreaction of certain countries has made many to suspect a single hand behind, pressurizing them.

It is not merely a flag affair.

It is said that the Sri Lankan government has become oversensitive to any demonstration of overwhelming Tamil Diaspora support to Tamil Nationalism as it may jeopardize the claims it makes to impress the International Community.

It is also said that now it has embarked upon a global programme to erase out Tamil Nationalism and cultural identity of the Tamil Diaspora by targeting their cultural institutions, symbols and media by pressurizing governments and commercial establishments.

A South Asian power is also actively involved in assisting the Sri Lanka government in this venture.

Its veteran intelligence officers, who had long connections with the Sri Lankan affairs, were seen recently in potential world capitals, trying to organize Tamil groups to dissuade them from the goals of Eelam Tamil Nationalism.

The Diaspora is viewed as the vanguard of Tamil Nationalism and it has become the target of all antagonists concerned, according to a leading Diaspora journalist.

What is lamented in the Tamil Diaspora quarters is the inability or unwillingness of the International Community to read the Diaspora public opinion. They feel that Tamil Nationalism has to be differentiated from the issues between the International Community and the LTTE and no power should dictate or exert insinuating pressure on what the Tamils should aspire for and what not.

The Pongu Tamil rallies and show of flags involve spontaneous and voluntary participation of people who are under no compulsion or intimidation to do so, said Diaspora Tamil circles.

According to them, in the guise of protecting the Diaspora from the 'intimidation of terrorism', the International Community is intimidating the Tamil national sentiments and such approaches in the name of the international system are not going to bring in any credibility to the powers involved.

Today it is not weapons or terrorism that brings down empires, but it is the loss of credibility with people that does the job.

One can already see how the money of a great power got halved in no time, said a political analyst.

Tamil youth activists addressed a packed audience, who attended 'Resistance 2008', an annual conference of Australia's largest socialist youth organisation, held at the University of Technology in Sydney this weekend. At a workshop on Saturday the Tamil presenters urged the socialist activists in Australia to voice support for the right to self determination of the Eelam Tamils.

"Demonised as terrorists across the globe, the plight of a people remains hidden from view through state propaganda," said the presenters, adding that the Tamil resistance movement was entirely based on an overwhelming public mandate obtained in a free and fair election held in 1977, in which the people of Tamil homeland voted for their right to secession based on the right to self determination.

The International actors who interact with the Sri Lankan state, should demand Colombo to allow for a referendum on the question of Tamils Right to Self Determination among the Tamil people in the traditional Tamil homeland under international supervision, the presenters who talked to media after their presentation said.

The Sri Lankan government, in 1983, outlawed and criminalised the Tamil demand for Right to Self Determination, by introducing the Sixth Amendment to its unitary constitution, forcing the elected members of the Tamil United Liberation Front to forfeit their seats in October 1983.

The theme of the Resistance 2008 conference in Australia this year was “war, racism, environmental destruction, homophobia, and sexism."

The conference also focuses on the land rights of Aboriginal communities, on the forthcoming elections in El-Salvador, social movements in Bolivia, the Palestinian issue, Nepal the newest republic, the global food crisis, homophobia, sexism and the struggle for women's liberation.

The 'Resistance' movement in Australia, established in 1967 by two organisations the Sydney University Socialist Club and the Vietnam Action Campaign, is a member of World Federation of Democratic Youth, and is head-quatered in Sydney with branches throughout Australia.

As the World Tamil Movement (WTM) announced that it would challenge its listing as an outlawed terrorist organization, opinions across Canada came out querying the decision by the Canadian government.

Claiming that the Canadian government is acting more like a police state than a democracy, the WTM announced on June 19 that it will appeal Ottawa's decision to add it to a list of terrorist groups.

"They feel they've been tried, convicted and charged without even knowing they were charged," said one of the WTM's lawyers, Marlys Edwardh.

"This is not the conduct of a democracy where people are entitled to meet a challenge in a courtroom . . . it's much more for them like the actions of a police state."

Edwardh insisted that the Toronto-based non-profit organization never received any invitation to submit evidence from the RCMP, which has aggressively been gathering documents about the WTM's funding practices.

"The process involved is entirely without any rights of the individual or the organization to examine the evidence, challenge the conclusions and to put forward their positions."

Calling the listing ‘hasty’, The Gazette in Montreal said “It's quite possible that the WTM is, as [Public Safety Minister Stockwell] Day said this week, a leading front for the Tamil Tiger insurgents back home in Sri Lanka. But so far the evidence against the group is pretty thin.”

“No WTM member has ever been prosecuted for a crime, let alone convicted. And a major raid on the movement's headquarters last spring has resulted in no charges so far,” the paper noted.

“But until they're confirmed, government suspicions alone should never be enough to shut down a voluntary organization of Canadians,” it said.

“It's one thing to ban a foreign entity as terrorists. But it's entirely another matter to ban an organization started and run by Canadians, and registered as a non-profit organization under Canadian laws, without due process or even as much as a day in court to defend the allegations,” wrote Dushy Gnanapragasam in The Globe and Mail.

“But in this climate of colour-coded fear, due process and basic rights are the furthest thing from the minds of people,” the letter to the paper said.

“The Tamil community is shaken, but it is the general populace who should take notice,” wrote Manjula Selvarajah in the National Post newspaper.

 “The Tamil Canadian community looks forward to seeing the Canadian government apply a balanced approach to both parties of this conflict and consider imposing economic and diplomatic sanctions against the government of Sri Lanka for its appalling human rights record. It is time to send a stronger message.”

 “It is unclear what the actual effect of this listing will be on the World Tamil Movement and its ability to continue to exist, as never before has a domestic group been criminalized in this manner,” wrote Harini Sivalingam in an opinion in The Star.

“In the meantime, an entire community has been tarnished and painted with the same brush. After the listing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the Canadian government in April 2006, there was significant backlash against members of the Tamil Canadian community who experienced discriminatory treatment at schools, workplaces and in the general public. There is a concern among Tamil Canadians that this listing will have a more profoundly negative impact on the community at large,” she wrote.

“The listing of the WTM is a clear instance that "they have come for the Tamils." Even if one is not a Tamil, we should all speak out and voice our concerns about protecting important,” she wrote.  

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan, told a visiting delegation of top Indian officials that "Tamils believed all these years that they were the natural allies of India, but it is not so today."