Sunday, December 30, 2012

Jaffna Arrests: Replaying The 1970s

By M. A. Sumanthiran MP, Sundayleader

November 27th this year marked an important milestone in the different phases of ethnic relations in this country. For those of us who still retain the memory of the events of 40 years ago, it was like Déjà vu. Students of the Jaffna University observed Heroes’ Day within the University premises.

The security forces invaded a female hostel; beat several students who protested the next day and the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police arrested four University students. Subsequently over 40 other youth have also been arrested and detained.

None of them have been produced before courts, except one Medical College student who was released. They seem to have been detained under the provisions of the infamous Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The Defence authorities say that these youth have been sent for ‘rehabilitation’ at their own request!
It is important to assess these developments in the backdrop of history and we cannot but notice the forty year cycle. In the early 1970s the Tamils of this country were alienated from national life in a very significant way.

The supposedly autochthonous Constitution was created by a majoritarian vote at the Navarangahala. Every single resolution proposed by the ITAK was defeated by the use of majority votes. The ITAK then walked out of the Constituent Assembly, leaving behind the All Ceylon Tamil Congress MPs Thiagarajah, Arulampalam and Anandasangaree.

The ITAK leader S. J. V. Chelvanayagam resigned his Parliamentary seat in protest and challenged the government to hold a by-election in order to demonstrate that the Tamil People endorsed their decision and that they rejected the First Republican Constitution. The government delayed holding the by-election by two years but when it was eventually held, he won with a massive majority.

Parallel to this there were other developments that took place around this time. The standardisation practised for admission to universities ended hopes of tertiary education for the Tamil youth. Many of them were sent to the UK for higher studies by their parents after selling or mortgaging their lands.

Frustrated by this alienation many of them started movements in the UK, which turned out to be first militant groups. General Union of Eelam Students (GUES) and Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS) are examples of these. Note that both of these were student organisations! The LTTE which emerged a little later must be seen and understood as part of this evolutionary process.

In the mid-1970s the Tamil youth were radicalized, first by unfairly denying them higher education and then when they protested, mainly using democratic forms, by arresting them and incarcerating them under the then extant emergency law without charging them in courts.

Over 40 Tamil youths were held without trial for over four years and were released only after they went on a fast unto death in the prisons just before the Non-aligned summit held in Colombo. Mavai Senathirajah, MP and the present General Secretary of the ITAK, was one of those.

But the most accelerated form of militarizing them was by sending the army to the North under ‘Bull’ Weeratunga to ‘crush’ ‘terrorism’ in six months. Groups of Tamil youth congregating at junctions in the evenings were rounded up, beaten mercilessly and detained under the PTA and tortured.

Unable to defend themselves, many youths started joining the several militant organizations that had emerged and went under-ground. Several of them went to the Middle East and were trained in guerilla warfare.
They returned and engaged in hit and run attacks against the oppressive army. It was the large-scale violence that was unleashed against the Tamils in July 1983 that forced the Tamil youths in their thousands to join the different militant groups. This is an undeniable fact.

This shows that Tamil militancy as seen post 1983 was a direct result of Anti-Tamil pogroms of the State. This is not intended to exculpate any of the militant groups from responsibility for the terror they themselves unleashed, but certainly the State played a significant role in bringing this about.

Violence and counter-violence devoured thousands of Sri Lankans until May 2009, when the State used its military might to decimate not only the LTTE but also several thousand Tamil civilians for which it is still to be held accountable. After May 2009 there was no fighting between two forces, which gave the civilian population in the entire country some respite.

Other forms of violence however continued unabated mainly against the Tamil civilians. Over a hundred thousand displaced persons are yet to be permitted to resettle in their original places; heavy militarisation continues with its attendant evil consequences; land grabs by the military and the continuing detention of hundreds of detainees under the PTA, etc., are but some examples of such violence. A government that brooks no dissent even in the South of the country, does not tolerate any form of democratic opposition in the North.

Although there has not been a single act of violence against the State from the Tamil side as it were since May 2009, the government has continued to deal with the populace in an overly oppressive way. This includes the non-recognition of the democratically elected representatives of the Tamil People at the Parliamentary as well as local council levels in development and other activities.

If the imposition of the will of the majority on the Tamil People through sheer numbers was the form of oppression until 1970, actions that directly target the dignity and self-respect of the Tamil People, in addition to the physical violence that is being heaped on the Tamils is the form it takes now. This is exactly what was done 40 years ago and the cycle seems to be restarting again.

Once again the target is the youth in general and the student community in particular. The replay of events 40 years later has significant similarities. Again just over 40 youth have been arrested and without being produced in court, are being held under the PTA and are even purportedly being given ‘rehabilitation at their own request’ at the Welikanda Army Camp.

The fact that these detentions are wholly illegal somehow seems irrelevant to the government, which is focused on trying to show the world that the LTTE is now rising from the ashes. Ironically this is sweet music to the die-hard LTTE supporter! But in reality both sides are dragging the Tamil youth and the University students in particular down a slippery slope.

The presence of LTTE flags at the joint opposition May Day rally in Jaffna and other protest rallies, though laughable for their amateurish attempts, is an indication of what the government is trying to portray. Astonishingly, the extremist forces within the Tamil polity are their greatest allies in this.

The portrayal of the LTTE as having re-emerged may suit the different, if opposite, agendas of both sides.
But it is one that will do serious damage to any meaningful reconciliation being achieved. Right thinking people in both communities must thwart this attempt; Tamil youth must not fall into this trap wittingly or unwittingly.

We must often remind ourselves of history if we are to learn from it. Unfortunately the only consistent lesson that history teaches is that no one learns from history!

Jaffna youth arrests continue over suspected Tiger activity

View(s):

Teachers fear university may have to close down
By Chris Kamalendran, Sunday Times
Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) detectives are continuing their arrests of youth including students in Jaffna over what Security Forces Commander there, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe said was over suspected Tiger guerrilla activity.
However, clergy, parents and academics complain that the exercise has spawned a fear psychosis amidst warnings that the Jaffna University may close down.

According to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran, at least forty Tamil youth have been arrested but not produced in courts. The arrests, he said, had been made under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
The Government claims that the students are being rehabilitated at a camp in Welikanda at their own request. The detentions are wholly illegal but this seems irrelevant to the Government, he told the Sunday Times.
“The arrests are being carried out under normal laws by the TID,” Major General Hathurusinghe told the Sunday Times.
Investigations, he said, revealed that some students were engaged in activities similar to those practised by the outlawed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). “This is why some students have been inducted to undergo rehabilitation programmes,” he added.
Father Christopher Jeyakumar, Parish Priest of St Mary’s Church in Kayts said that the university students missed studies for three months due to the recent strike by the academic staff.
“One more month has been lost due to the situation created by the arrests,” he told the Sunday Times.
V. Paramalingam , the mother of a student who is already in custody told the Sunday Times “My son Dharshaan is now undergoing rehabilitation in Welikanda.
I went to see him at the camp. He assured me that he was not involved in any agitation campaign against the government. Nor has he been questioned on this aspect.”
“There is a tense situation prevailing. We have had to postpone all examinations,” A. Rasakumar, President of the Jaffna University Teachers’ Association told the Sunday Times. Earlier, the university authorities were informed when arrests were made. Now, the Vavuniya based officials of TID were sending messages directly to the students asking them to turn up in their office, he added.
He said there were fears that the university may close down.
புனர்வாவின் பின்பே மாணவர் விடுதலை; கோத்தபாய ராஜபக்க்ஷ­ திட்டவட்டம், http://onlineuthayan.com
news
கைதாகித் தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள யாழ். பல்கலைக்கழக மாணவர்கள் நால்வரையும் புனர்வாழ்வு வழங்காமல் விடுவிக்கவே முடியாது. இவ்வாறு அடித்துக் கூறியிருக்கிறார் பாதுகாப்பு அமைச்சின் செயலாளர் கோத்தபாய ராஜபக்ஷ.
 
கொழும்பு ஊடகம் ஒன்றுக்கு நேற்று வழங்கிய விசேட செவ்வி ஒன்றிலேயே அவர் இவ் வாறு கூறியிருக்கிறார். புனர்வாழ்வு வழங்காமல் மாணவர்களை விடுவிக்க முடியாது என்ற விடயத்தை யாழ். பல்கலைக்கழக துணைவேந்தர் உட்பட பல்கலைச் 
சமூகத்துக்கு தான் ஏற்கனவே தெரிவித்து விட்டதாகவும் அதனை அவர்கள் ஏற்றுக் கொண்டுள்ளதாகவும் கோத்தபாய இந்தச் செவ்வியில் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.
 
அவர் அந்தச் செவ்வியில் மேலும் தெரிவித்தாவது:
 
கைதாகித் தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள நான்கு பல்கலைக்கழக மாணவர்களையும் புனர்வாழ்வு வழங்கிய பின்னரே விடுவிக்க முடியும். அதற்கு முன்னர் அவர்கள் விடுவிக்கப்படுவதற்கு சாத்தியமே இல்லை.
 
தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர்கள் யாழ்.பல்கலைக்கழகத்துக்குள் ஏன் போகவேண்டும்? அவர்களுக்கு அங்கு என்ன வேலை? பல்கலைக்கழகத்துக்குள் சென்று இவர்கள் பயங்கரவாதத்தைத் தூண்டு விடுகிறார்கள்.
 
தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பின் இளைஞர் அணி தலைவரின் பின்னணியிலேயே கடந்த காலச் சம்பவங்கள் நடந்துள்ளன. இவற்றை நாங்கள் ஆதாரத்துடன் நிரூபிப்போம். 
 
மாணவர்களுக்கு புனர்வாழ்வு வழங்கிய பின்னரே அவர்கள் விடுவிக்கப்படுவார்கள் என்ற விடயம் யாழ்.பல்கலைக்கழகத் துணைவேந்தர் உட்பட பல்கலைக்கழக சமூகத்திடம் நான் ஏற்கனவே தெரிவித்துவிட்டேன். அவர்களும் அதனை ஏற்றுக் கொண்டுள்ளனர். 
 
மாணவர்களுக்கு எதிராக சட்ட நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க முடியும். ஆனால் நாங்கள் அவ்வாறு செய்யவில்லை. அதற்குப் பதிலாக அவர்களுக்குப் புனர்வாழ்வளிக்கின்றோம். என்றார். 

Army harasses Tamil students

Reconciliation or repression in Jaffna University?



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by Kumar David, Sunday Island

Let there be no doubt about it; the military entering Jaffna University, framing allegations and incarcerating Tamil students is intended to send a chilling and brutal message to all Tamil dissent. "We have crushed you once, don’t dare raise your heads again; we will do it again. Learn your place as second class citizens of Lanka; a new social order has been defined. Live with it!" The reconciliation and rebuilding covenant that Rajapaksa tried to sell to the international community has caved in; the age of another round of ethnic conflict is opening up.

Let’s get the facts on the table as far as known; and I rely on sources that are credible. It all started when Tamil students in the University decided to commemorate their war dead which undoubtedly included many LTTE cadres - so what! - and chose to do so on Heroes’ Day. The military intervened and broke up the commemoration, not because there was any disturbance of the peace, but because Tamils were commemorating their war dead and LTTE cadres were among the fallen. So the Sinhala-Buddhist state is going to lay down to the Tamil people who and what they are allowed to commemorate! This is the quintessential definition of racial oppression.

I am tired of explaining that I am not and have never been a LTTE member or sympathiser, despite Sinhala chauvinists attempting to pigeon hole me thus, most recently subtly assisted by Vasudeva Nanayakkara, but that I am most vehemently opposed to the Sinhala-Buddhist state laying down how the Tamils should conduct their lives, I have never hidden. This is the essence of what has happened on Jaffna Campus; the Sinhalese will decide who and what the Tamils are allowed to commemorate or celebrate. It’s just one step short of the army deciding how the Tamils should think.

The defence establishment is now arm twisting the staff to commence lectures although students are on strike till their colleagues in detention are released. The defence establishment (I do not want to quote names until I am able to get verification) has decided that detained students must undergo rehabilitation. This was not decided by a court of law, this was a unilateral decision of the military without sanction of any judicial process. The Rajapaksa government is quite prepared to play fast and loose with due process whether it be impeachment of a Chief Justice or forced indoctrination of university students with no process in law to justify its arbitrary actions in either case. It is palpably clear that Tamils will not be allowed to conduct their affairs, in their areas of domicile, free of military coercion and a Sinhalese dictate, for many more years and for so long as the Rajapaksa regime rules Sri Lanka.

The chauvinism of the government and the military repression are taken as given, but what to my mind is most disturbing is the neglect and indifference of the Sinhalese public and the English language and Sinhalese media, without exception. This is where the roots of future ethnic dynamite lie dormant, but for how much longer? The same has to be said about the fires of anti-Muslim pogroms being stoked by dark forces, while press and public play blind-man’s-buff. Even the SLMC is more interested in protecting its cabinet posts and perks than in what may happen to the Muslim people, so it won’t make trouble for Rajapaksa or make a fuss about the issue.

Letter from over 100 lecturers

About 120 lecturers of the University of Jaffna have sent an open letter to President Rajapaksa titled "Grave and dangerous plight of students of the University of Jaffna". Unsurprisingly, it has got no coverage in the press so far as I am aware (this is being written on Christmas Day). I am reproducing parts of it, considerably abridged, below.

It began with the Army entering the students’ hostels on November 27, ostensibly to prevent the lighting of flames. The occasion had a political association that has polarized society and the community needs space to discuss its significance and to sort out its own differences. Default on the part of the Government through continued presence of the military without tangible moves towards a political settlement, has helped the mobilisation of youthful feelings to turn it into a day of defiance, where its original association becomes less important. The Army entering the halls, separating the Sinhalese from the Tamil students and showing hostility to and even threatening the latter has serious implications for the future.

The demonstration on the following day, 28th, was a protest carrying slogans that were well within the norms of democratic protest. If the students had been allowed to walk the short distance from the main entrance on Parameswara Road and re-enter by the Science Faculty entrance nothing untoward would have happened. Rather than calm the situation matters were made worse by the Police physically attacking the students.

The same night a petrol bomb exploded at the Sri-TELO camp behind the University. Security around the university, including by several agents in mufti, had been very tight and we find it puzzling that the perpetrators got away scot-free. Even more remarkable is that Kopay Police was able to come up with names of four persons to arrest over the incident, which evidently no one had given them. We are confident that these students had nothing to do with bomb throwing. Two were arrested at their homes before the night was out and two were handed over by the University authorities the following day. They were all detained under the PTA and taken to Vavuniya.

There were several acts of harassment in the University by persons in mufti and the interrogation of an assistant lecturer over the phone over his casual reference to heroes’ day in response to a text query by a Sinhalese student. These reveal an attempt to tackle a political question through heavy handed intimidation. Instead of putting an end to the insanity, more followed.

On the morning of December 6, the university administration was given a list containing names of ten persons to be produced at the Jaffna Police Station, without any intimation of the reasons or the charges against them. The news shocked the university community and parents were distraught. A study of the list convinced us that all these students were wanted only because they were well known as prominent in student activities.

The war is long over and the PTA is most inappropriate to deal with questions that are political in nature. To see terrorism in political gestures and political opinion that do not take recourse to violence and to respond to them by an overwhelming show of force, is both illogical and counter-productive. There is now no anti-state terrorism in Jaffna. An important part of consolidating peace is for the State to conduct itself in a manner that induces respect for the rule of law. Of immediate concern to the University is that in 2011 student leaders were twice attacked and grievously injured by men wielding metal rods. The reasons were entirely political and they had not committed any crime. The Police showed no interest in arresting the culprits. Now using the petrol bomb explosion as a pretext the Police seem determined to detain and harass student leaders and those active who had nothing to do with the bomb.

The result is to cause considerable fear, anxiety and trauma among the students. More importantly dragging innocent students through police stations and police cells, as happened in the 1970s and 1980s, hardens them and breeds contempt for the law and for the officers entrusted to uphold it. Where there should be trust and co-operation there is fear, resentment, and then defiance. Surely, we do not want the consequences of that again.

The purpose of reproducing portions of this letter is not because I suffer from illusions that the political leadership or the military authorities will take any notice of it. It is the hope that some sections at least of Sinhalese opinion will respond that motivates me.

Correction: Tissa Jayatilaka has pointed that the short quotation I attributed to Macbeth in my piece in the Sunday Island of 16 December is from Hamlet, Act III, Sc.3. Sorry about the slip up.