Jaffna University: In the Shadow Of War And Peace On A War-Footing
Jaffna University professors are threatened and the University is closed without giving any explanation.
Secretary MOD Gotabaya Rajapaksa
“Early in the week beginning on 5th May, events bearing on the anniversary of the end of the war on 18th May followed in quick succession. The Registrar sent out letters announcing the closure of the University from 16th to 20th May with no explanation. On the 7th leaflets
were posted on the University premises making death threats against
professors who are allegedly guiding students to support terrorism and
student leaders of just the Arts and Science faculties and the leader of
the University Student’s Union. The academics threatened are Prof.
Sivanathan, Dean of Arts, and Mr. Rasakumaran, Head of the English
Language Teaching Centre, and the leader of the University Teachers’
Association. The same day, Major General Udaya Perera invited university
officials, including the Vice Chancellor, deans, and student leaders,
for discussions the following day, 8th, where they were
garlanded, feasted and flattered with dancers and singers. General
Perera told them very politely that no observance in the University
would be permitted on the 18th, as any observance would
amount to extolling the late LTTE leader Prabhakaran and would thus
count as an inducement to terrorism. SSP Jaffna told the Sunday Times (11th May),’Any
persons trying to hoist black flags, distribute leaflets or put up
posters will be Considered supporting of terrorism and such persons will
be taken into custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.’ says the Jaffna University Science Teachers’ Association.
Issuing a statement
JUSTA Dr. J.P. Jeyadevan today asked; Why should Tamils speaking of the
war be such an explosive issue five years after it ended, a war in which
neither side owned a monopoly on terrorism?
We publish below the statement in full;
Jaffna University: In the Shadow of War and Peace On A War-Footing
Postwar, Jaffna University has shown considerable promise. After the
lethargy and isolation of the war years, students from all communities
are studying in the University, showing greater interest in their
studies and library usage has livened up. The challenge is to provide a
quality academic environment and reputation for probity in
administration so that these students who work hard will take away with
them the qualifications that are respected for worthy intellectual
effort. Then we have ominous intrusions that dash hopes of the
University regaining the stature it had in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Early in the week beginning on 5th May, events bearing on the anniversary of the end of the war on 18th May followed in quick succession. The Registrar sent out letters announcing the closure of the University from 16th to 20th May with no explanation. On the 7th
leaflets were posted on the University premises making death threats
against professors who are allegedly guiding students to support
terrorism and student leaders of just the Arts and Science faculties and
the leader of the University Student’s Union. The academics threatened
are Prof. Sivanathan, Dean of Arts, and Mr. Rasakumaran, Head of the
English Language Teaching Centre, and the leader of the University
Teachers’ Association. The same day, Major General Udaya Perera invited
university officials, including the Vice Chancellor, deans, and student
leaders, for discussions the following day, 8th, where they
were garlanded, feasted and flattered with dancers and singers. General
Perera told them very politely that no observance in the University
would be permitted on the 18th, as any observance would
amount to extolling the late LTTE leader Prabhakaran and would thus
count as an inducement to terrorism. SSP Jaffna told the Sunday Times (11th
May),“Any persons trying to hoist black flags, distribute leaflets or
put up posters will be Considered supporting of terrorism and such
persons will be taken into custody under the Prevention of Terrorism
Act.”
Why should Tamils speaking of the war be such an explosive issue five
years after it ended, a war in which neither side owned a monopoly on
terrorism? The answer has to do with the ideological polarization that
remains because there is even less hope now of a political settlement to
the national question that has been with us from Independence. Let us
not forget that the Government is to observe the same anniversary in
grand style in Matara, as the sole author of victory over the LTTE, and
with all the pomp and circumstance that goes on around it.
Is it to prevent the Sinhalese people from asking awkward questions
that the Government needs to play on their fears by harping on the
revival of terrorism?
Why should the Tamils be barred from remembering thousands of people,
young and old, most of them innocent, who died during the last phase of
the war? They were scattered; many were separated from their families
and many died when their loved ones were not in a position to mourn. The
Tamil people should have the freedom to mourn collectively the untimely
death of a large number of members of their community whether or not
the dead persons are members of their family. When Sinhalese people
remember dead JVP insurgents they are not subjected by the authorities
to such repressive measures.
While the Government wants to use the war for political deception, it
is only to be expected that its obverse, in the wake of hopelessness
and humiliation in being forced to accept the Sinhalisation of their
lands and symbols, and the erasure of huge civilian suffering in the
latter months of the war, might lead to latent nostalgia for the LTTE –
despite the anger against its holding the civilians hostage in the last
stages of the war. The way to deal with such nostalgia is allow people
to express themselves freely, and to ensure that the mechanisms of
justice function to eradicate, and not to instate impunity.
The war is part of our history and we need to talk about it frankly,
not just the end of it, but about the depraved politics on all sides
that sustained it for three decades and even after its close, conspire
to hold us in the mire of partisanship for decades to come. It is the
very task of a university to offer the community leadership on such
questions. But a politicized university that the authorities try to
sanitize and repress cannot contribute to the task of reconciliation
with dignity. This is evident in the way the University was closed.
The Registrar and Vice Chancellor are responsible for issuing the
notice of closure referred to, but have evaded questions and refused to
take responsibility. The threatening notices in the University again
singled out the Dean of Arts, Prof. Sivanathan, as trying to revive the
LTTE. The authorities and the Council should have condemned such crude
intimidation, which strikes at the very root of a University – that the
LTTE did this in its day is no excuse. The Dean was practically the only
member of the Council to oppose, as he had done before, the recent
recruitment as Computer Application Assistants a list of unqualified
persons at the behest of a political party that virtually runs the
Council. He rebuked the Council that this was a ‘malpractice’.
The issue of freedom to discuss the war thus runs much deeper; it is
about defending academic freedom and excellence. It is to do with
political appointments to the non-academic staff, which adds another
dimension to surveillance and the appearance of threatening posters, as
well as favouritism in academic appointments. Sadly these kinds of
threats are not new to Jaffna University: in the post-war period threats
against students and staff were issued in 2010, 2011, and 2012. The
culture of threat and surveillance at the university affects everyone
who works there: spying and intrigue inhibit collegiality and the open
exchange of ideas that are needed to produce excellent teaching and
scholarship. If the university cannot be a safe place for the exercise
of freedom of speech, for dissent and debate; if faculty are afraid to
teach known facts, if students are afraid to attend classes, and if
rehabilited ex-combatants are never allowed to pursue their studies but
are continually detained, pressurized, or made into informers, then we
are not only cheating our youth of the chance positively to change
their futures, but cheating our entire society of the opportunity to
transform itself for the good of all who live in Lanka. Repression and
intimidation only leads to further self-censorship and silence; this may
secure acquiescence, but at the expense of the truth, which is at the
heart of scientific inquiry, and of all knowledge. The university simply
cannot function under these circumstances.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. J.P. Jeyadevan, President JUSTA
