Comments on: My experiences in Jaffna-Summer 2007

By: Sinniah Sivanesan

Sinniah Sivanesan — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:23:07 +0000

I read yr account of the situation in jaffna with a very heavy heart .I am reminded of Biafra situation in Nigeria and Rwanda when the world institutions like UN and Human rights groups failed miserably to save innocent lives .The very purpose and existence of these organizations is being challenged and no body cares. Prayer will fall on deaf ears of our so called followers of Buddha who preached non violence. I will be happy if the prayers will change the mind set of hard core criminals who are governing Srilanka now.God help the king ?

By: Thamarai Kumaran

Thamarai Kumaran — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:31:49 +0000

Dan says that,
“I was told that the victims were young men who were active politically, . . .or as activists during ‘Pongu Thamil’ celebrations and other political demonstrations. The killings did not appear to be random but targeted.”

These ex LTTE activists never realised that the table will turn one day and never imagined that it would turn so quickly. It was only 2 years ago the LTTE sent its men and women to Jaffna from Vanni in the name of Makkal Padai and started to kill the dissidents in the name of political work. See what is happening now. The Makkal Padai and its family members are dead bodies along the road side now.

The point is, will the expatriate young Tamils who also participate in this Pongu Thamil nonsense around the world learn a lesson from this history. What is the gurantee that the world community will not target them one day. Do not say no be’cos Karuna never even imagined that he would end up in jail in London. Even now Hitlers men are targetted around the world. They would not have dreamt that this would happen to them after 50 years!

Terrorist is always a terrorist and it does not matter where he lives and what he wears!

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:06:48 +0000

Dan
It’s people like GG and Chelenayagam who has put the Tamils in a mess and your ‘boys’ that eventlly created this horrible mess for everyone in the island.You,the bogus reffugees have done well out of this horrible mess so stay in those countries,unles you want to take the rest with you.Please don’t come back as the forces are there to finish off the devil that you have created,it is only damage control.You have created a such a mess,where we once had hournerable politicians and now we have an unaccountable bunch of rouges,created by the mess that we are in for the last 40 years.likes of you are responsible and we will have our just society once again.please don’t come to SL and add to our problems.We will be all united and come out of it together and no thanks to you.Please preach to the people in the west,as they need your guidance.

By: Dr.Eswaran

Dr.Eswaran — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:41:35 +0000

Well done Dr.Dan, let us all pray for the UN/International community to open their eyes and ears to see and hear the cries of the Tamils in the Northeast and around the globe. God can’t do any thing, because we cannot set one God against another. when the two races were set aginst each other in the name of God and religion, what can one do? We have faced a distructive political move from the time of independence. Instead of nation building,Sinhala polity dished out acts of discrimination, segregation,and hatred. This norm is still practiced to date.Now tell me who can help the victims of this unwanted “war on Terror”. Are we to support state terror? All commentators get your acts together and try to open IC/UN eyes and ears, and stop the blame culture. Prabaharan was two years when sinhala only act was passed and SWRD/SJVC pact was torn. four years when first riots. people can accuse him now, 2002 praised for his bravery. Time will tell who is right. let us stop unwanted chit chats, get on and force the International community to act now.

By: Weerawansa

Weerawansa — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:21:59 +0000

Simple solution: Denounce terrorism of all forms and renounce violence. Or trust in the good ole “boys” of Eelam to save you. Bettter yet, now that you are Americans, Canadians, and English, etc. ask for a small piece of land and then after a few hundred years, start a war for a “Tamil Homeland” in your new countries. But please don’t come back to Sri Lanka. As one Indian said of the Tamils in Tamil Nadu: shoo, shoo, go away and don’t bother us.

By: henry sathananthan

henry sathananthan — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 06:59:14 +0000

Prayer an God’s intervention seems the only way now.These are now stateless people no where to go. Why is the international community so silent??

By: henry sathananthan

henry sathananthan — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 06:59:14 +0000

Prayer an God’s intervention seems the only way now.These are now stateless people no where to go. Why is the international community so silent??

By: Joseph C.

Joseph C. — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 08:54:52 +0000

Sorry it is Dr. Dan and not Don.

By: Joseph C.

Joseph C. — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 08:52:22 +0000

Well said Dr.Don. Looking the problem in a bigger picture. From a Christian point of view you are calling men and women of good will to pray for Sri Lanka. During world war II the catholics were praying to our Lady, Mother of Jesus to save Ceylon and miracle happened. Then Ceylon was dedicated to our Lady of Lanka. Catholics have been praying in English, Tamil and Sinhala to our Lady of Lanka to save Sri Lanka from all kinds of violence from the first day of civil war. There is always a question within me seeking to find the answer. It is, why is it in a country where Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity are practised still hatred and enmity are the religion of many? Whose mistake is this? Who has to be blamed? Political policy makers or the politicians themselves? Or the intellectuals and religious leaders who knowingly or unknowingly allow this to happen? Is there any leader within the two main political parties who has the courage to acknowledge the wrong doings done to the Tamils and call for reconciliation, reconstruction and development? Apart from this what is the role of the media in Sri Lanka? specially the Sinhala media. Do they act responsibly bringing to the Sinhala masses the real situation of North and East or do they hide everything under the carpet of terrorism. How many negotiations during the last 6 decades between the government in power and Tamil minority parties and at the end nothing happened. Do the minorities in Sri Lanka have a say in decision making? The government does not have a political will to solve the problem only personal will to solve their own problem. Does not matter whichever party comes to power it is the same. No socialism or democracy in the Republic of Sri Lanka but under the emergency regulations it is a military rule. Let the justice system be impartial. Let us all pray and pray so that a miracle can happen. Pray in your own words. It does not matter whether you follow Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or Christianity pray in your own way. Even if you do not follow any of the above religion wish good, think good and do good to others in Sri Lanka. This way we all can conquer the evil not by guns or bombs but by our deeds. Even though death and destruction for decades have burden many hearts in all the ethnic communities in Sri Lanka and the weight of this of course unbearable for Tamils, prayer can change everything. United or divided Sri Lanka is not a question at this juncture. Selling arms to the warring parties has to be stop internationally immediately. If no action is taken to stop the killings, kidnappings, disappearances in Sri Lanka then we all in this “Civilized World” are not civilized.

By: A.Rajasingam

A.Rajasingam — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:55:35 +0000

More harrowing tales are yet to come but will not been realized by both the government and the LTTE at the moment. The government and the LTTE are concerned of their superiority at the expense of the innocent people. None of them are worried of the hardships caused to the innocent civilians. Both the government and the LTTE are instrumental for spreading this gun culture because people are drifted to the extent of either joining with the government or with the LTTE. On the one hand there is an endless harassment and torture caused by the Armed Security while on the other hand the people are terrorized by the LTTE with death threats if they furnish information to the Security forces. As the government has a moral obligation to look after its people at this crucial stage, the government can look into other alternatives disregarding all militant and/or terrorist groups. The people from the South should also denounce the rising of extremists in all parts of the country. The LTTE was also the cause of this problem when it had adopted a systematic and calculated act of decimating all the educated people. Simultaneously the government is also not sincere even with India. The sending away of the IPKF by both Premadasa and the LTTE eventually saw a bleeding Sri Lanka which demonstrates the necessity of the presence of moderates in the political scene. One thing is clear – that is either a Mediator comes into the scene or if it prolongs the government may designate certain areas in the North and East are designated as red, orange and green areas and when such red areas are bombed like in Malaysia in the 1950s, it would be too late to cry that human rights are violated. Even the international community would remain silent.