Sri
Lanka; is the land, according to the Hinduism’s holy scripture, Bhagavad Gita,
where Rama, the avatar of Lord Vishnu, defeated and vanquished the evil
Ravanan. This brought light to the land’s inhabitants, made them thinking that the
evil and darkness will no longer persist. But, they were wrong.
WE WERE WRONG!
Mahinda Rajapakse, in the eyes of
the international masses might be a political leader or a statesman from Sri
Lanka. Yet, from the perspective of the Tamil ethnic groups, not only in Ceylon
but also from the entire globe, coupled with human rights activists, this man
is a war criminal; having his hands bloodied in the genocide of the Tamil minority
population in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka civil war started in
1983, perhaps even earlier, when the country’s military force was sent to “cleanse”
any form of insurgency movements by the minority Tamil ethnic group. Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) headed by Velllupillai Prabhakaran who is still
highly-respected even after his demise, struck against the Government,
demanding an independent state for the Tamils in the northern and eastern
region of Ceylon.
As anticipated, the demand was met
with severe opposition from the authority and aggressive reactions from the Sri
Lankan government ensued. This translated into the LTTE retaliating back,
resulting in a civil war that lasted for 25 years, until 2009 when the final
stand-off between the insurgents and the military took place. Capt. Prabhakaran
and his unit were surrounded and attacked in a massive combat, in which
Vellupillay Prabhakaran was killed and the war was officially declared over.
What took place in reality is more horrible than what you have just read.
Throughout these 25 years, the Tamil minority was persecuted in every possible
manner. Their rights were violated, plus the children and incapable elders were
physically and mentally tormented. Innocent women were sexually-harassed by the
military personnel and raped one after another, to satisfy their lust. Countless
Tamils died in genocide attempt by the state. You want the statistics on how
many died? Well, no one can actually predict how many Tamils died and were displaced
in the devastating war.
And to our horror, recently photos
of slain Balachandran Prabhakaran, the son of Capt. Prabhakaran circulated in
mass media globally. The lad, previously seen with his late father, laid lifeless
with several gunshots on his body. This has made numerous news reports to
highlight the Sri Lankan government’s outrage by savagely killing an innocent
child.
But, you may ask, what did the
entire world was doing when all these happened? If people can give much
attention to what had happened in Palestine and Bosnia-Herzegovina, why not Sri
Lanka?!
Actually, ranging from various
nations around the globe to the United Nations, many peace-negotiations and
international intervention have taken place but to no avail. The civil war
persisted with no clear end with statistics claiming, hundreds of thousands of
lives might have lost in the conflict.
Headed by Navi Pillay, the chief of United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a meeting shall take place in a
sooner time to create a resolution on the war crimes committed by the Sri
Lankan government throughout the civil war. Already, recently the Unites States
has issued a warning to Mahinda Rajapakse, compelling him to address his
government’s atrocities in the civil war and to provide freedom to the
persecuted minority group.
But, so far, Mahinda Rajapakse, the
President of Sri Lanka does not seem to bow to any international pressure
whilst defending his government’s actions prior to this. United Nations and
other countries should be more vocal in denouncing the inhumane and callous
actions of Sri Lanka.
We waited long enough and many are
now DEAD! LET’S NOT WAIT ANYMORE!
