Tamil Transnational

TAMILS TOWARDS TRANSNATION STATE

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

TOWARDS TRANSNATIONAL STATE OF EELAM

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

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Our tireless pursuits…… We have sent an appeal to all member nations of the United Nations urging the nations to heed to the demand of probing the war crimes of Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe. We have sent complaint to the Public Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of Justice. We with special emphasis on the cross-border terrorism of killing of Indian Tamils by Srilankan navy had made appeals to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Seas. These appeals by mail and emails to Presidents, Prime Ministers of various countries and to ambassadors of member nations of UN were also mailed to numerous journalists across the world. We know that India had to act, hence our appeal to the new Indian Minister for External Affairs Mr.S.M.Krishna to review India’s policy towards Srilanka. He advised Srilanka to address the root cause, for which Srilankan defense ministry asked him, who are you and advised him to mind your own business. This snub to Indian External Affairs Minister should have been construed as an insult to India, but since Srilanka showered praise on Indian Prime Minister, India swallowed the insult with silence. Aringnar Anna taught us to fight for Tamils rights and we will continue our pursuits to generate awareness among nations of the world. Certain champions in Tamilnadu, who spoiled the Eelam cause by clubbing it with rhetoric for separate Tamilnadu, have sidelined us, but let them realize their mistakes and usher Tamil unity with single minded devotion to win liberation for Tamil Eelam. N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai 53 B Calve Subburayar Street Puducherry 605001 India

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Contents : 1. Tamil Eelam Transnational Government

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2. Red Carpet to China

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3. Appeal to Member Nations of United Nations

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4. To International Tribunal for Law of Seas

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5. Complaint to International Criminal Court of Justice

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6. Mails to Leaders of Nations

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7. Appeal to Indian External Affairs Minister

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8. Nose-cut to India by Srilanka

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9. Lawyers Boyle and Fein charge Srilanka

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Published by Aringnar Anna Foundation First Edition Year :2009 Copies : 300 Donation : Rs 100

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TAMIL EELAM TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT: APPEAL TO NATIONS TO SUPPORT [20th May 2009 in http://uk.360.yahoo.com/dravidaperavai ] Political scientists term the globalization as one that leads to death of the nation. Some others predict that in future city states will be the order of the day. Tamils are now focusing their minds on how best they can define their transnational status. Indian citizens who live in other countries are bestowed with dual nationality status. Similar to that, Tamils should also be citizens of a Transnational State of Tamil Eelam and citizens of whichever country they live or opted to live. It is high time world recognizes a state without borders to preserve the language, culture and liberty of people uprooted from their traditional homeland. It will be a far fetched scheme or day dream to others who hear the Tamils demand for first time. To fit the long term goal of Tamils to get back their lost homeland of Tamil Eelam with the support of the nations on earth or to remain forever in the lands of their current domicile, thought could be given to give concrete shape to create a Transnational State for Eelam Tamils. It will be like a state in space or like a virtual state in cyberspace, in no way infringing the governance of existing nations on earth. Tamils dreamland is a homeland on Earth. Jews had their dream till they attained Israel, but that dream is born out of never healing wounds that continue to bleed over the annals of two nations crossing swords without cessation of hostilities. Tamils being the peace loving citizens, who were driven by historical accidents to wield weapons to protect their soil and its people from ongoing genocide that had past half a century, are now at historical cross roads. Their protests had awakened the nations to their plight. Sympathetic voices and moral support from all men of conscience is offering them solace in this grave hour, when their kinsmen in the battlefields of Tamil Eelam have laid their lives for a just cause. Hence Dravida Peravai appeals to the leaders of USA, UK, and France and of the European Union and to Norway which is sympathetic to Tamils to permit Tamil Diaspora to launch a Tamil Eelam Government in Exile. These Tamils must decide to opt for peaceful and democratic way of getting their homeland through diplomacy. The Government of Tibet in Exile is in Tibet House 1, Calworth Street, London NW8 TAF Telephone: 0044-20-7722-5378. Tamil Diaspora in UK must get in touch with the Government of Tibet in Exile and must learn from them on how to run a Government of Tamil Eelam in Exile. The 5

support democratic Britain gives for Tibetan Government will be also showered on the Government of Tamil Eelam in Exile. The armed struggle has ended. Tamils must rise above affinity towards the Marxian or Maoist underground movements of yester years of history, and look for fresh initiatives. One such could be emulating the example of the Tibetan Government in Exile headed by His Holiness Dalai Lama. Tamils must also know that the seat of the Tibetan Government in Exile is Dharmsala in North India. India patronizes Tibetan Government of Exile; why not it starts patronizing the Tamil Eelam Government in Exile. All the refugees placed in various refugee camps can become citizens of The Tamil Eelam Government in Exile, and all moneys towards refugees could be spent through the Tamil Eelam Government in Exile. Though for India to assimilate this idea will take a decade, Eelam Tamils can have their seat of Government in London or whichever nations grants them permission to set the government in exile in its soil. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had expressed solidarity with Noble Laureate Aung San Sui Kyi, and western democracies are fully aware of the National coalition Government of Burma with Dr.Sein Win as Prime Minister. The elected Members of Parliament of Burma before people’s verdict was thrown to winds and democracy butchered in last decade, are the founding fathers of the Government in Exile. The Tamil Members of Parliament who hope to get better deal under the bullet fire of Srilankan President can exhaust their energies to get what has been denied to Tamils since independence. Once they get disillusioned they can be the nucleus of The Government in Exile of Tamil Eelam. India who proclaims to be a friend of Tamils though ditching Tamils in dire need, must allow Tamils of Eelam to form their Government in Exile within Indian Territory. The Indian War of Independence saw the birth of the Provisional Government in Exile on 21st October 1943 headed by Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose. It took its inception in Singapore, and recalling the past precedent, India can permit the creation of Tamil Eelam Government in Exile. Of course India can choose who should head that Government, like Lord Mountbatten chose and propped up Jawaharlal Nehru from behind. This is not to belittle Nehru’s stature in the independence movement, but to remind preferences of powers too matter in propping up leaders of the Tamil Eelam Government in Exile. Wikipedia states that Republic of Cabinda created in 1975 remains a Portuguese protectorate. The Government in Exile of the Republic of Cabinda is based on France; further that Government remains a protectorate of Portugal. Similarly India can be the protectorate for the Tamil Eelam Government in Exile, or France can be the patron. The issue is 6

left in the hands of Tamil Diaspora to collectively decide. The exercise should also lay the foundation for a transnational state, the idea of which had to be lobbied and concrete shape to be given in future. Lao’s People Democratic Republic since 1975 was based in Paris. Republic of Maluku Seltan claiming nation in Indonesia was based in Netherlands since 1950. The fact is west is aware of the concept of a Government in Exile, and Eelam Tamils must canalize all their thoughts to form such a government aiming to regain the lost homeland but in mean time cementing the bonds of comradeship that blossomed in the streets of the world where Tamils rubbed shoulders for a common cause to stop the Genocide of Tamils. N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai WHAT WE MOOTED NOW GAINS ACCEPTANCE IN TAMIL NET…. Read...

Setting the hands of the clock right [Tamil Net, Monday, 01 June 2009, 20:04 GMT] The Eezham Tamils and their political representatives have no obligation to anyone now, to engage in the deliberations of fruitless alternatives. But the world has an obligation now to tell the Tamils whether its opposition is to what it has perceived as 'terrorism' or to Tamil nationalism. The Eezham Tamil mainstream has a historic responsibility on its shoulders to be performed right now. If the oppression to their nationalism is trans-national, the Eezham Tamils have to respond by forming a trans-national government fully responsible to them based on democracy, to negotiate with the world and to look after their own affairs. Tamil Net Editorial Board The foremost is the task of re-structuring the political struggle. All the anger, frustration and unfulfilled aspirations have to be now translated into positive energy of formulating a political idiom suitable enough for a global discourse to achieve liberation. Among the very few classical as well as living cultures of humanity, such as the Chinese, Hebrews and Arabs, the Tamils, especially the Eezham Tamils, have become an endangered identity. The world neither protected them nor allowed them to protect themselves. The response of Eezham Tamils to such a situation should suit their great cultural heritage. If the present world system is working against them in total and if the world doesn't have enough appetite to look into their righteous 7

aspirations, then the Tamils matching to their civilization should come out with introducing something innovative and creative to the world system itself. If the oppression to their nationalism is trans-national, the Eezham Tamils have to respond by forming a trans-national government fully responsible to them based on democracy, to negotiate with the world and to look after their own affairs. Needless to say, the appropriate beginning is re-mandating the fundamentals of Vaddukkoaddai Resolution, and based on that democratically endorsed commitment, electing representatives for a trans-national assembly and government. Eezham Tamils in Norway have already set a model for conducting democratic elections in Diaspora context. A publication on the procedures experimented in Norway are awaited soon. The Tamil request to the civilized world at this juncture is to support their democratic experiment and to listen to their democratic voices.

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ROLLING RED CARPET TO CONVERT INDIA INTO A COLONY OF CHINA The editorial of leading English daily of India, Times of India dated 29th May of 2009 about Aung San Kyi contains a paragraph which I would like to quote: “ We have just concluded a spectacular democratic exercise and are still showing it off to the world .But unfortunately when it comes to speaking up for the defenders of democracy in Myanmar our voice drops to a whisper. To put it bluntly India’s foreign policy with regards to Myanmar is caught in a trap. We chose to play tootsie with the military regime in the hope of getting access to Myanmar’s natural resources and to secure our north-east from infiltration. We have achieved a degree of understanding on border infiltration but have been well eclipsed by China as far as exerting influence in Myanmar is concerned. We have meanwhile let down the people of Myanmar in their quest for democracy. If India is to make amends, this new Government must redraw India’s approach map to Myanmar. Given our aspiration towards a greater role, New Delhi under the foreign ministry would do well to recalibrate its approach towards our neighbors, especially towards ruthless dictators whom nobody in the world particularly likes” Tamils thank Times of India. The newspaper instead of dictator or neighbor had used plural which indirectly indicates the tin-pot dictator of Srilanka. These comments open a Pandora’s Box. Indian foreign policy had let down its own citizens in past. We Indian citizens, who rediscover the past, are baffled at the statement tabled in Indian Parliament on July 23 1974 by then Indian External Affairs Minister Mr.Swaran Singh [Lok sabha debates cols 186-201] for ReAgreement between India and Srilanka on boundary in historic waters between the two countries and related matters. India must be aware what its own representative sought before UN Sub-committee on the need to extend its maritime belt in view of thorium find in Indian territorial waters. When we had national interest to extend our maritime belt, only a nincompoop would opt for an agreement that will hand over Indian island of Katcha Tivu to Srilanka by way of this agreement. We would like to remind that one Member of Indian Parliament, speaking on the floor of the house on 23rd July 1974 raised a point or order. Mr.P.K.Deo, Member from Kalahandi of Indian State of Orissa said “Nowhere the Indian Constitution provide for cession of even an inch of Indian Territory. All the Revenue records of Madras Government, a state of India, corroborate that Katcha Tivu was part of former Ramnad zamindary 9

and an integral part of this country. So under no circumstances the Government has got any power under the Indian Constitution to cede even an inch of our country. A few days back the Coco islands which is part of Andaman group of islands belonging to India was ceded to Burma. Now it is Katcha Tivu. It is utter contempt and disrespect shown to the House [Indian Parliament] by not taking the house into confidence and facing us with a fait accompli” The handing over of Coco island by the foreign policy experts of seventies to Myanmar had paved way for China obtaining its in lease from Myanmar and to build a harbour there apart from installing Russian made radars and satellites to spy on Indian Missile programme operated from Orissa, a state of India just facing Coco islands in the west of the Bay of Bengal. Sitting entrenched in Eastern side of Bay of Bengal that too just 40 nautical miles away from Indian Territory of Andaman Nicobar islands, China had established its access and control of Bay of Bengal. The intelligent foreign policy experts who had no broad vision but had only a thread opened the gateway of Bay of Bengal to the Chinese dragon. Dr.Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist Member of Parliament and contemporary of Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru urged that India should extend her frontier to the Yarlung Zangbo River, which he refers as Brahmaputra; only then Indian troops would be able to meet the Chinese on more equal terms as far as physical conditions are concerned. While such opinions were aired, who took decisions, let us go back to the past pages of history. “The office of the Military Intelligence was almost closed down by Nehru. Anyway the Intelligence Bureau was pursuing the guidelines laid down by Nehru in his 1954 directive “with single minded effort’ in this Mr.Mullick and the Intelligence Bureau he headed apparently had the support of the Prime Minister, steady and equally single-minded. As was not the case with the Intelligence Bureau’s cooperation with instructions to paper nor did he let even his Cabinet colleagues or senior officials into the secrets of his understanding with his Intelligence Director “ These passages quoted indicate when and how India’s foreign policy took the diversion from cabinet accountability and collective responsibility and became a tool for the first among equals namely the Prime Minister of India to act through agencies bypassing other layers in democratic set up. Until 1959 border security was the exclusive concern of the Home Ministry and especially the Intelligence Bureau. Intelligence Bureau was under Home Ministry till 1970 and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi separated it from Home Ministry and attached to Prime Ministers Office. It is not which Ministry controlled Intelligence Bureau that forms the theme of our debate. 10

Cabinets were kept in dark. Cabinet colleagues were sidelined. Defense Secretary or Home Secretary was ignored. IB playing the tunes of Prime Minister started by Nehru is the starting point where India’s foreign policy went in wrong direction committing blunder after blunder. This culminated in Indian Cabinet headed by Mr.Manmohan Singh brushing aside his cabinet colleagues in the cabinet, misguided by National Security Adviser an extra-cabinet authority not accountable to public or Parliament, committing blunder after blunder in India’s Srilankan policy. The Himalayan blunder is joining hands with China and Pakistan and trying to get a certificate of good conduct to the worst ever barbarian dictator that history had even seen in neither past nor will tolerate one in future. Indian citizens, of Tamil ethnicity, fishermen who were fishing in Indian waters or contiguous waters were killed now and then, and Indian Prime Minister who should have sent Indian navy in hot pursuit of those killers from Srilanka, was busy pursuing single mindedly to take revenge for Rajiv Gandhi’s murder. Now having accomplished his revenge mission, Indian Prime Minister is duty bound to take revenge for the killings of Indian Tamils. The least he can do is to take the matter to International Court of Justice seeking compensation from Srilanka. Indian citizens, [who are not terrorists] hundreds of them, had been killed by Srilankan navy, and India shakes the blood soaked hands along with China, putting the conscience of India into suspended animation and making Mahatma Gandhi turn in his grave in shame. “India and China are now members of the Financial Stability Board, the apex institution to monitor global risks of financial crisis. Their voting shares in the International Monetary Fund will also be slightly increased through an accelerated quota reform process. However post-reform the USA will retain its de facto veto power with a 17 percent share and the US, EU and Japan will control 53 percent of IMF shares. Individually the shares of US, UK, France and Japan will still be larger than China’s share of fewer than 4 percent.” Hence China had planned a new offensive according to Professor of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy Mr.Sudipto Mundle. “Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the Chinese Central Bank on the eve of G20 summit suggested that dollar should be replaced with SDR’s as the new reserve currency. The huge dollar reserves held by Central Banks and other global investors would be severely eroded if the dollar were to suddenly depreciate. Yet these investors cannot easily diversify away from the dollar since this itself would trigger dollar depreciation. The Chinese are particularly concerned, an estimated 1 trillion dollars of their total reserves of around 2 trillion are held in dollar asset. The SDR exchange rate is a 11

weighted average of exchange rates of the major convertible currencies. Accordingly under Zhou’s proposals, China and other countries could convert their reserves from dollars to SDR’s at current exchange rates without any erosion in their value. Implementing such a proposal would also mark the end of the dollar as reserve currency.” This is the game plan of China which has let the cat out of its bag. The New Indian Finance Minister cannot distribute rasagollahs over his assumption of office. Indians expect, what is he going to do? By joining hands with China to butcher Tamils and to bury the genocide before UN Human Rights Council, India had shown that it follows Chinese footsteps. If India treads the Chinese path, the Left parties of India will be rejoicing. If China launches SDR missiles to strike at the Dollar regime, India had to toe Chinese line, if Indo-China-Srilanka partnership to ethnic cleansing of Tamils is a forerunner to such cooperation. USA realizing the Chinese designs had been urging India to sign End-use Monitoring Agreement, Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum agreement, and Logistics Support Agreement. China causes grave concern for USA, hence USA urges India to sign these pacts. China had become emboldened to say to USA to concentrate on western Pacific and China will look after eastern Pacific. Pacific Command Chief Admiral Timothy J Keating had recently held discussions with the extra-cabinet authority the National Security Adviser of India and Foreign Secretary of India, the duo that dances to Srilankan’s tunes. Are we with USA or are we with China? Is USA a grave danger to the territorial integrity of India or is China, the aggressor who claims our Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh will be a threat with high magnitude? China hand encircled India with tie-ups starting from Myanmar to Srilanka, Maldives to Pakistan and Bangladesh. With harbours in all these countries carefully built from 1990, China had acquired a might India cannot challenge. If China could suggest to USA to divide Pacific Ocean as eastern zone and western zone between them, will it not say to India confine to your coast in Bay of Bengal and from Myanmar China will control half of Bay of Bengal. Will not China with harbours in Pakistan and Maldives suffocate Indian presence in Arabic Ocean? Sitting in Srilanka’s southern tip China could block passage to Bay of Bengal and from Myanmar control Malacca Straits. India which supports Srilanka hoping it will shield its geopolitical interests will cut a sorry figure in days ahead. Srilanka needed the support of India only to finish the Tamil demand for homeland. Helping Srilanka to crush Tamil freedom struggle China had succeeded in sowing distrust towards India in Tamil minds. Each and every step China plans is to establish it as Super power of Asia. It is the neo-colonial power which will colonize Myanmar and Srilanka. In Indian state of Bihar, the influx of 12

Chinese women to marry Indians born in Buddha’s land is silently establishing a Chino-Indian population like early Anglo-Indians. Our foreign policy must be debated in Indian Parliament. Few individuals should not decide the foreign policy of a continent like India with 100 crore population. Ours is Indian Union, though it became unitary due to the trauma of partition, it must be borne that Indian States have a right to shape India’s foreign policy. Consensus can emerge in our National Integration Council, debates in Parliament can offer constructive course corrections, and Cabinet should not be bypassed, few people should not be shouldered with crafting nation’s foreign policy, however super brains they may be. But seeing how China had outwitted us by encircling India, and within India opening a Red corridor Nepal to Andhra Pradesh where Maoists rule the roost, it becomes evident that only fools will join hands with China, and those evil brains that want India again to become a colony, this time a colony of China will only get conduct certificates from Communist parties and not from Indians with common sense. N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai Courtesy: Tamil National Network http://tamilnational.com/indian-news/tamil-nadu/1205-rolling-red-carpetto-convert-india-into-a-colony-of-china.html

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APPEAL TO MEMBER NATIONS OF UNITED NATIONS TO FIX SRILANKAN PRESIDENT FOR TAMIL GENOCIDE

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

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[Letter emailed to 147 nations out of 167 nations that have office in Geneva, to their ambassadors at Geneva by email on 25.05.2009.The emails of 15 nations bounced. We did not mail to China, Russia, Pakistan and India. The regular 11th session of the UN Human Rights Council starts from 2nd June to 18th June 2009. Hence this appeal was mailed to generate awareness among ambassadors at UN. Identical letters addressed individually were mailed.]

Respected Leader Subject: Appeal to Member Nations of UN to punish guilty over Tamil Genocide and to evaluate various options and then support Tamil Eelam liberation which is inevitable -regarding... World has to wake up to the war crimes of Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe. The war had been a war without witnesses but the Western nations and United Nations have in their possession satellite pictures which will go a long way to establish the war crimes. Even after declaring victory, the Srilankan Government adamantly refuses access to international media and non government organizations with the sole motive to destroy whatever evidences remain in the theatre of war. Report of the International Law Commission had defined war crimes under Principle IV as early as 1950. Every word of that definition suitably fits into the charges against Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe. War crimes are violations of the laws and customs of war which include but are not limited to murder, ill treatment or depredation to forced labour or for any other purpose of civilian population or in the occupied territory murder or ill treatment of the prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages or devastation not justified by military necessity. 1. The elected representatives of Tamil people, members of parliament had been murdered in Srilanka. Within four walls of the well protected prisons, political prisoners were assaulted by fellow prisoners instigated on racial grounds to pluck the eyes of Tamil leaders, and such barbarian acts is a continuous process for 5 decades and more. Journalists who do not hide the crimes of the government

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were murdered. Indian Tamil fishermen, who for centuries pursuing their profession were killed not by thugs but by Srilankan navy, just because Sinhalese nurture hatred towards Tamils, They have killed not only freedom fighters, but fishermen of a neighboring country, India, just because of ethnicity. The wanton destruction of Tamil properties and Tamil massacres were a regular feature from 1956 to 2009. In the last 5 months on the pretext of targeting terrorists, Srilankan army had brought heavy destruction of Tamil villages and towns. The uncivilized savages in Srilankan army had bombed hospitals schools and no fire zones. In the concluding hours, the Srilankan army had killed freedom fighters who came with white flags to surrender, as advised by neutral nations to conflict. These are the war crimes committed by Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe, Defense Minister and Army, Naval Chiefs of Srilanka. 2. Nuremberg Charter describes crimes against humanity as crimes such as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds. The nations of the world are not aware of the root causes that led to the civil war. Now everyone talks that devolution of powers and equal treatment to all is within reach, forgetting the fact that Tamils have been chasing this mirage for past 5 decades. To drive home our charges of genocide we begin with seeking justice for the genocide of elected Members of Parliament of Srilanka. Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian for National List, Joseph Pararajasingham, 70, was shot and killed by two gunmen belonging to a paramilitary group operated by Sri Lankan Government in the St. Mary's Cathedral in Batticaloa town while he was attending the Christmas Eve mass of 24th December 2005. Parliamentarian for Jaffna District, Nadarajah Raviraj, 44, was shot and killed in Colombo on 10/11/2006 around 8:30am by Paramilitary group operated by the Srilankan Government. Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian of Jaffna District, Kiddinan Sivanesan, 50, was killed on 06/03/2008 in a Claymore attack carried out by the Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit on A-9 road.30 minutes after he crossed 16

into Vanni through Omanthai/ Puliyamkulam entry/exit point. Claymore attack took place at Kollarpuliyamkulam 1:20pm. Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah assassinated, by Mahindarajapakse Government August 21, 2006 .Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, 68, was shot and killed at his temporary residence inside the High Security Zone of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Tellippalai Sunday night around 7:20 p.m. He was the Managing Director of Jaffna Tamil daily "Namathu Eelanadu" and the veteran chairman of MultiPurpose Co-operative Society (MPCS) in Tellippalai, Jaffna, and Mr. Sivamaharajah is a former parliamentarian (TULF) and a senior member of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the main constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of Tamil Nation, awarded the 'Maamanithar' meda. Vanniasingham Vigneswaran assassinated, by Government Friday, 7 April 2006 around 9.30 a.m

Mahindarajapakse

Mr.Vanniasingham Vigneswaran, President of the Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples' Forum (TDTPF) was shot dead Friday, 7 April 2006 around 9.30 a.m. by the SriLankan Military intelligentsia when he was about to enter the main branch of the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) located along Inner Harbor Road between the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police and Trincomalee Harbor Police. The assassination of the key Tamil activist has taken place when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was about to announce the appointment of Mr. Vigneswaran as the national list Parliamentarian to fill the position held by Joseph Pararajasingham MP who was slain in Batticaloa on Christmas eve. Mr.Gumar Ponnambalam murdered by Chandrika`s Government on 5th January 2000 Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, president of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, was shot dead by SriLankan government sponsored gunmen at Wellawatte, suburb of the capital Colombo on 05th January 2000, around 11.15 a.m. The attack took place at Ramakrishna road, near a by lane known as 'Muhamthiram lane'. He was born on 12 August 1938; Ponnambalam entered the Sri Lankan politics in the early 60's. In 1966 he became the president of the Tamil Congress' Youth Wing. Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of 17

Tamil Nation, awarded the 'Maamanithar' medal, to Yogaluxmi Ponnambalam, wife of late Kumar Ponnambalam, in honor of her husband in a special function held in Kilinochchi, Sunday 11May 2003 We could also give statistics of journalists killed in Srilanka, but that will be done in our complaints to UN Human Rights Council. Now we are taking back to the past to trace the root causes of the conflict and to tell you in brief about the various initiatives that failed to yield fruits. .Federalism is buried: “After the UNP Government of 1977-1989 adopted its 1978 Constitution, political devolution and the establishments of a federal system of government were precluded by Article 2, which declared “The Republic of Srilanka is a unitary state. The remaining scope for political decentralization was eliminated by Article 76 which specified that the Parliament shall not abdicate or in any manner alienate its legislative power and shall not set up any authority with legislative power. The two articles were incorporated explicitly to forbid devolution. Indeed when the Constitution was adopted, then President J.R.Jayawardene confidently claimed to have “all but closed the door on federalism”. These observations in the Assessment of conflict resolution initiatives in Srilanka from 1957 to 1996, reveals that unless these two provisions in the Constitution is removed no federalism can come into existence. Official language status is deprived: Till 1956 Tamil and Sinhalese languages enjoyed equal status. India which always boasts of the 13th Amendment of 1987 to the Srilankan Constitution as a fruit of its intervention conveniently closes its eyes to the article 18, which had taken the life out of the amendment. The article states that official language of Srilanka shall be Sinhala. Tamil shall also be an official language. English shall be link language. Neither India then nor the other nations that sermonize the need to resolve issues within Srilanka are going to get the Constitution amended to read “The official languages of Srilanka shall be Sinhala and Tamil. This alone is equality, which Srilanka will never concede, that too when it is in a position of strength. Dictatorship in garb of Democracy: The UNP Government creation of Executive Presidency dealt a death knell to the Cabinet system of governance, devalued the office of the Prime Minister, and by 1981 Parliament was reduced to silent spectator with no powers. Unless Executive Presidency is done away and Parliament regains its supremacy, there can neither be democracy for Sinhalese or Tamils. Under Occupation forces safety in peril: Preferential recruitment of Sinhalese only in army and police force starting from sixties had led to a 18

situation where Tamils does not even constitute one percent of the armed forces. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s emissary Mr.G.Parthasarathy who drafted the Annexure C proposals was aware of this imbalance and made first effort to address the issue of security forces remaining foreign forces in the eyes of Tamils. Till date the security and police forces have no space for Tamils, which makes Tamils insecure in the unitary Srilankan state. After defeating the so called terrorists, if the Srilankan Government had given General Amnesty to the Tamil forces, and had absorbed them, some degree of trust towards government would have reared its head in Tamil hearts. But it is not so. We once heard US President calling for General Amnesty, but now no such voice is heard in international arena. All the civilians uprooted from their villages due to war will not be immediately resettled, but they have to remain in concentration camps, till all physically able young boys and children are taken away for screening and killed so that not a single young men with able bodies will be allowed to resettle, seems to be the order of the Srilankan Government, and this act falls under the criteria of crimes against humanity. Hence along with Srilankan President, Defense Minister and Army Chief, Naval Chief, Air Chief of the Srilankan Government and the Para-military forces patronized by Srilankan Government should be charged with war crimes and brought to book. Theocratic state that buries Secularism: India prides itself to be secular state, but it patronizes a theocratic state, just because the Sinhalese call themselves Aryan. Racial affinity blinds some of the Aryans who consider indigenous Dravidian people as their eternal enemy. There cannot be any common ground between the rulers of India and Srilanka on secularism. There cannot be common ground with the geo-political interests of China and Pakistan, but the racial affinity makes the rulers of India remain adamant with like rock like stubbornness, with no prick from conscience unmovable by the protests, self immolations, and cries of help from Indian Tamils, who are Dravidians. Racial common thread between so called secularists of India and theocrats of Srilanka blinds Indian vision towards Tamil genocide. The 1978 constitution reserved for Buddhism the foremost place [art.9] in contrast to other religions, a provision which was introduced in the 1972 Republican Constitution with the motive to make Buddhism the State Religion. The January 1996 Draft Provisions by Art 7 strived to entrench Buddhism and create a Supreme Council of the Buddhist clergy to advise the Government elected by various religious communities, on the process of fostering only one religion, Buddhism. The Indian brains which remains in paralysis, will never seek amendment to make Srilanka a secular state. They will advise all religions to dismantle their structures in Srilanka and get assimilated by Sinhala language, religion, and authority. Such unitary state 19

will be an open air concentration camp for people of other religions. Now Tamils, within them considerable amount of Christians live in concentration camps allowing breathing time for Sinhalese Government to nip in bud all young boys and girls, so that a physically handicapped Tamil people’s state can be established as vassal state of Srilanka. Broken Pacts of Past and to be Broken promises to Donor Nations now: The countries that had borrowed the Indian formula to solve the aspirations of the Tamil people are not aware that both India and Srilanka are hiding the hidden truths about so many pacts and initiatives of the past in this direction ended in a fiasco. If democratically mandated Tamil parties from 1957 failed to realize federalism and equal rights by pacts with Srilankan Governments of all times, now India wants Tamils to expect the victor who had crushed a freedom struggle to offer better panacea to the vanquished, is totally foolish. Indian Governments pact with Srilanka itself is broken to pieces, and now India wants Tamils to pick the rags of that agreement from the dustbins of Srilankan President. This is to fool the world and Indian Tamils urge the nations with conscience not to buy the Indian argument but to individually evaluate the solutions that they can offer to people of Tamil Eelam. A] Pact between Prime Minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Srilanka and Leader of the Federal Party Mr.S.V.J.Selvanayagam signed in July 1957 and abrogated unilaterally by the Prime Minister in May 1958, stands for scrutiny here, to remind the nations that preach a solution within Srilanka, that however they may wish, it won’t get fulfilled. The Federal party agreed to abandon its demand for a federal system, and agreed to regionalism, which means political decentralization within the unitary framework of governance. Srilanka that did not accept this compromise in 1958 but now after vanquishing the freedom struggle, it will only offer slavery. 1] The Pact agreed that in Regional Councils Members of Parliament representing the Central Government can preside, which gave room for Parliament to directly control these regional councils. Instead of seeking powers for the Ministers in the Regional Council, the pact paved way to reduce powers and to vest some powers to Parliament. 2] The Pact agreed that regional councils should have powers for subjects including agriculture, cooperatives, lands and land development, colonization, education, health, industries and fisheries, housing and social services, electricity, water schemes and roads. The flaw in this pact is it did not delineate the legislative powers of the regional councils.

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3] The Pact did not specify the Executive powers of the proposed regional councils. The powers of Regional Council would not be greater than that of municipalities. 4] The Pact reiterated Sinhala as the sole official language of Srilanka. The Federal Party accepted the secondary status given to Tamil language but the Pact remained silent on non-sinhalese speaking peoples living outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces. 5] The Federal party, commentators say failed to vigorously defend the rights of Tamils and Muslims over land distribution in the Gal Oya scheme. 6] The 1957 Pact did not address the law and order issue 7] The 1957 Pact states that the Government will provide grants to regional councils and the regional councils will have powers to taxation and borrowing. 8] The 1957 Pact totally remained silent on economic resources but under infrastructure subject’s electricity, water schemes and roads were for regional councils. 9] The 1957 Pact conceded that over education Regional Councils will exercise controls. 10] The 1957 Pact kept silence over employment. 11] Linking citizenship to ethnicity that too the majority and relegating other ethnic groups lead to new class of Tamils called stateless Tamils being created to brand Tamils of Indian origin, the up-country Tamils. The Federal party prayed for the abolition of discriminatory classification of citizens of Registration. 12] The 1957 pact recognized Ceylon as a Sinhalese state, where Sinhala would be sole official language of the country and Tamil to be made as the language of administration of the North and Eastern provinces without infringing the position of official language. This was the pact of 1957 when Tamils backed the Federal Party and even these concessions were not given and pact abrogated in May 1958. Then so many pacts, promises and initiatives, which did don’t give the minimum requirement of Tamils, the nations of the world must bear in mind.

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B] Senanayake-Selvanayagam Pact of 1965. After the Parliamentary elections of 1965 the UNP lead by Mr.Dudley Senanayake did not have majority and it needed the support of the Federal Party of Tamils led by Mr.Selvanayagam. The Senanayake-Selvanayagam Pact of 1965, which Tamils pinned hopes will get them regionalism was not fulfilled by a national government in coalition with Federal Party. This show how treacherous the Sinhalese leaders and political parties have been in past, and they have changed names but not stance. C] Model Constitution for the Federal Republic of Srilanka: The constituent assembly met to draft the first Republican constitution in 1972; Federal party tabled a model constitution which was rejected by the steering committee of the constituent assembly. D] Presidential Commission on Development Councils 1979:Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvan Report of 1980 went to dustbin. E] INDIAN INTERVENTION: Annexure C proposals: The holocaust of July 1983, which marks the daylight state terrorism without any sense of shame made then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to intervene. India initiated talks with Srilankan Government and Tamil United Liberation Front, a political party pursuing democratic path to fight for Tamils rights. This led to Annexure C proposals master minded by Mr.G.Parthsarathy, which could have formed the basis of further talks in the All Party Conference. 1] Annexure C failed to demand repeal of Article 76 thereby making the promise to transfer powers an empty promise. It neither urged to repeal Article 2 thereby accepting the unitary system nor does not pave way for regionalism. 2] The Annexure did not indicate whether Regional Councils would exercise control over Regional Public Service Commission and Regional Public Service. No provision was made to create Regional Judicial Service Commission. 3] The Annexure C confirmed the discriminatory treatment of Tamil language in 1978 Constitution. 4] Annexure C did not envisage transfer of the subject of land to councils. 5] The Annexure C did not even suggest placing Regional Police Service under the Regional Councils. The wanton exclusion of Tamils from employment in armed forces was not addressed to instill a sense of security 22

for Tamils, and also to give them equal rights as citizens to join armed forces. 6] The 1983 Annexure C proposals addressed India’s concerns by suggesting creation of a Port Authority under Central Government for administering Trincomalae Port. 7] Though Annexure C allocated culture as subject allocated to Regional Council, it did not define culture. 8] The Ceylon Tamils objected to the design of the National flag and anthem which did not reflect the multi national and multi cultural society of the country. Annexure C did not find remedy for this grievance but first time this issue was subjected to debate. Having dealt what little was offered when India brokered peace in 1983 that too when the Iron lady Ms.Indira Gandhi was Indian Prime Minister, it will be wild goose chase again to seek for Tamils rights under unitary Srilankan State of Theocratic Dictatorship which had been a terrorist state to Tamils since 1956 till date. F] District-Provincial Councils Bill of 1984: All Party Conference in August 1984 created a Working Group of Officials and Experts which submitted its report to the plenary sessions of the All Party Conference in September 1984. President submitted his statement to the All Party Conference in December 1984. A draft bill for District and Provincial Council was adopted in the conference, which did not satisfy Tamil aspirations or meet Tamils demand. Tamil United Liberation Front, the political party with majority representation of Tamils in Parliament expressed unhappiness which was a good excuse to President J.R.Jayawardene to shelve the bill in cold storage. G] Thimpu Talks 1985 and after : Government of India brought Srilankan Government and Tamil militant groups LTTE, TELO, PLOTE, EROS, and EPRLF to negotiating table in Thimpu, capital of Bhutan, a Himalayan country. Talks failed. But Indian External Affairs Ministry continued its dialogue with the Srilankan President and a Draft Framework of Terms of Accord and Understanding was arrived at in August 1985. President J.R.Jayawardane should have submitted that draft to Srilankan cabinet, but he chose not to do, lapsing the agreement. H] Rajiv Gandhi’s Initiatives: Tamil United Liberation Front presented few proposals to Indian Prime Minister Mr.Rajiv Gandhi in December 1985, and India sought the opinion of Srilankan Government which rejected the 23

demand of federalism. Then Indian Minister Mr.P.Chidambaram led a delegation to Srilanka and discussed with the Government of India and Tamil United Liberation Front. Government of Srilanka as a follow up sent its proposals to Government of India. Government of Srilanka prepared a Draft Amendment to the Constitution of Srilanka to provide legal sanction to Chidambaram proposals in September 1986. Subsequently discussions took place in Bangalore between Indian Prime Minister Mr.Rajiv Gandhi and Srilankan President Mr.J.R.Jayawardane and a working paper emerged on 18th November 1986. This paved way for proposals of 19th December 1986. I] Indo-Srilankan Accord of 1987: It should be noted that while Srilanka was discussing ways and means to solve the Tamil conflict between 30th August 1985 to 19th December 1986 it was continuing its genocidal war. India then had a wise leader Mr.Rajiv Gandhi which provided all material and moral support to militants in the field while bringing diplomatic pressure on Srilanka to fix it for violation of human rights. Unlike the whole world that watched helplessly without coming to the rescue of starving civilians in recent genocidal war, India headed by Mr.Rajiv Gandhi did not remain with lip service. It intervened to airdrop food and medicines to the war zones of Srilanka. This act forced Srilanka, which understands only the voice of the might, agreed to sign the Indo-Srilankan Agreement to establish peace and normalcy in Srilanka in July 1987. The traditional Tamil homelands which were infiltrated by Sinhalese colonization were merged into a single North-Eastern province. The merger should be confirmed by referendum before end of 1988, thereafter it will be permanent. We all know how this promise was broken using Courts, and Indian leaders who swear by the name of Rajiv Gandhi have completely forgotten the longstanding demand of Tamils which Rajiv Gandhi obtained for Tamils after so much efforts. To implement the accord Indian Peace Keeping Force was sent. LTTE agreed for cessation of hostilities and token surrender of arms and started handing to IPKF. The same accord contains a general amnesty clause. The general amnesty “to political and other prisoners now held in the custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and other emergency laws, and to combatants, as well as those persons accused, charged and or convicted under these laws”. After signing the accord Government of Srilanka went back saying that amnesty does not apply to persons who have committed offences outside

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the North Eastern provinces and withheld amnesty to 1250 political prisoners. The LTTE retaliated by suspending surrender of arms. Recently in May of 2009, the USA President Mr. Barrack Obama called for grant of General Amnesty to the freedom fighters of Tamil Eelam. If Srilanka in past had gone back on general amnesty agreed in a pact between India and Srilanka, how can United Nations or all civilized nations on Earth except those who condone the Tamil genocide by Srilanka, are going to get general amnesty to the 9100 LTTE fighters claimed by Srilanka to have surrendered. If the UN Secretary General had to go all the way praying for free access to humanitarian agencies to help Tamil civilians in concentration camps, who is going to pray for general amnesty for the LTTE fighters who have surrendered. They will not be treated as prisoners of war; all canons of international law will be thrown into winds. These 9100 fighters and all able bodied young men and girls among the Tamil civilians will be annihilated, Tamil villages and towns will be implanted with Sinhalese colonization, then the physically incapacitated, mentally derailed slaves now who remain behind barbed wires, may be allowed to go back to their original places. The time needed till year end is not to de-mine the areas but to de-tamilize these places and to break down the will power of those who bore the brunt of the civil war, but somehow survived to become slaves. J] The IPKF did not act in neutrality, here some bureaucrats or army officers derailed the purposes for which IPKF was sent to Srilanka. Let me quote few pages from Prof Daya Somasundaram`s book Scarred Minds The Psychological Impact of War on Sri Lankan Tamils.[Professor Daya Somasundaram is the Professor of Psychiatry in the University of Jaffna and concurrently Consultant Psychiatrist, General (Teaching Hospital) Jaffna. He was one of the four authors of the book, Broken Palmyra, which was critical of the LTTE, a co-author of Mental Health in Cambodia, where he served as a Consultant Psychiatrist] If American forces during Bush era indulge in excesses, America under President Barrack Obama makes amends and civilized democracy condemns such acts. India we have democracy but we are ashamed to wash our dirty linen in public. Anyhow as we look back at history we have to see the reasons behind LTTE and IPKF clashes culminating in the Rajiv Gandhi’s murder.

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Civilians Massacred by IPKF Jaffna Hospital: - Doctors, Nurses and Patients inside the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, numbering 68 in all. .Their names are:- Dr A. Sivapathasuntheram, Dr M.K. Ganesharatnam (St.John`s College,Jaffna), Dr Parimelazhahar, Mrs. Vadivelu, Matron, Mrs. Leelawathie, Nurse, Mrs. Sivapakiam, Nurse, Mrs. Ramanathan, Nurse, Mr. Shanmugalingam, Ambulance Driver, Mr. Kanagalingam, Telephone Operator, Mr. Krishnarajah, Works Supervisor, Mr. Selvarajah, Works Supervisor, Eleven (11) Minor employees and forty six (46) patients .Duraiswamy brothers :- Two sons of late Sir Waithialingam Duraiswamy, Speaker of the State Council, residing in their ancestral home next to the Jaffna Clock Tower. One was R. Duraiswamy (SLAS) Retd. Secretary. Ministry of Local Government and M. Duraiwswamy Retd. Staff Officer Bank of Ceylon. Retd Director of Irrigation Mr. S. Sivasubramaniam, retired Director of Irrigation, Mrs. Sivasubramaniam, his retired teacher wife and their only son, a brilliant boy who had studied at St. John’s College, Jaffna, scored 4A`s in the GCE(Al) and was in the second year of Medical College. Other Civilians Killed in Jaffna:- Prof. P. Chandrasekeram, University of Jaffna, Dr R.W. Crossett Thambiah, Dr Selvaratnam Former DMO Maskeliya, Dr S. Pararajasingham J.M.O, L.F.M. Samuel Rtd. Teacher (St. Thomas College, Mt. Lavinia & Royal College), K.J. Sambanthar Retd. DLO & Asst. Land Commissioner, Jaffna, Mrs. S. Sivanandaraja (mother), Mohanraj (son) (St.John`s College, Jaffna- 81 Batch) Technical Officer, Irrigation .Dept, Mrs. Kishnam, Mrs. M. Sebastiampillai, Mrs. N.R. Thuriappa, Mrs. V. Ruthiralingam, C.S. Aaron . Urumpirai: - A. Subramanian Attorney at Law, Mr. & Mrs. Pancharatnam, Rtd. Teachers, K. Navaratnam Rtd. Divisional Supdt. of Post Offices, S. Nadarajah, Formerly SLBC, Tamil Service, P. Arooran, M. Nadaraja, S. Rasanayagam Rtd. Credit Controller CCC Ltd. Anaikoddai: - Mrs. M. Weerasegaram Pillai, (Mother), Pillai Yasotha Weerasegaram (Daughter), Mrs. S. Thanapalasingham (Mother) Miss N. Thanapalasingham (Daughter) S. Kulasegerampillai, Retd. Station Master, Mrs. M. Arumugam .Mrs. R. Gnanamuttu, A. Candappu Rtd. State Officer, S. Selvaranee .Pirampadi, Kokuvil etc: - A large number of civilians were killed in Pirampadi and Kokuvil and buried in mass graves. The whole matter requires a book to do full justice. Ariyalai (my village) Ariyalai is at the eastern end of Jaffna town and the A9highway passes through it. This was one of the four routes the Indian Army took to enter and capture Jaffna. From Oct 10, 1987, we, living in Dehiwala, lost all contact with our relatives who lived in Ariyalai, among them my wife’s 71 year old mother, her sisters and their children, my close friends from my boyhood days in Jaffna. For twenty one (21) days, there was a continuous curfew imposed by the IPKF with half an hours notice. The local and foreign media were completely cut off from the scene of operations and terrible things yes, I use words carefully, TERRIBLE THINGS, were done to the Tamils in Jaffna. 26

Rumors were rife. The militants said 30,000 civilians were killed. But I searched for reliable evidence, and these started trickling in, from late October 1987. One reliable class of evidence is the number of persons known to me personally, quite a number are blood relatives, who were killed. Among those killed was a 45 year old cousin brother, S. Shanmugasuntharam, Electrician, Jaffna Municipal Council, married, with two children, shot while going to his paddy field in East Ariyalai. No one could reach the body jackals and dogs ate the flesh and his brother Sinnathurai told me that the limbs and other parts were in different part of the paddy field and he gathered them and buried them in the paddy field. Sinnathurai had wept tears of a different sort in 1981 when he told me what he found on the day following the burning of the Jaffna Library, where he worked as an Assistant Librarian. But let us remain focused on the IPKF in this article. An 84 year old uncle, S. Thambiah, father of the well known Journalist T. Sabaratnam, was killed inside his home by an Indian artillery shell. His daughter Pathma and grandchildren had taken refuge inside Ariyalai Sri Sithivinayagar temple and were unaware of what had happened. One of my childhood classmates, Poologasingam, who lived nearby and had also not gone to the temple as a refugee, discovered what had happened, cut a pit in the garden, put my uncle in a sack and buried him there. No last rites no cremation. Poologasingam went near the temple and shouted, `Pillai Pathma, Appah Vaikundam poddar naan thevai yathanich seythu poddan` (Child Pathma, your father has gone to heaven I have done what was necessary). My cousin Sabaratnam`s loss did not stop with his father. His mother in law, 80 year old Mrs. Thambimuttu was a refugee inside the temple. But an old lady cannot easily adjust to conditions inside a tightly packed temple and Hindu temples do not have toilet facilities, as devotees are expected to come in a `clean` state. So she went to her home within 250 meters of the temple for her morning ablutions. She was walking back feebly, with the aid of a walking stick and holding a flickering lamp, and was within 50 meters of the temple when she was shot dead by the Indian soldiers, from Sri Parwathi Vidyasalai which they were occupying. They discovered who they had killed and set fire to the body where it lay, using a tyre. She and my late mother Mrs. Saraswathy Thamotharam had been classmates in Chundikuli Girls College, Jaffna. She had been a source of comfort to my mother when we lost our father when mother was 28 years old and had to face the grim prospect of feeding, clothing and educating my brother (7 yrs) and myself (2 yrs), with not even a pension as father had served for less than 10 years. What burning pain, More than our relatives, we mourn the death of the elder son of the chief priest of our temple, Subramaniya Kurukkal. Young Kannan Iyer, 24 years old, very fair, very handsome, well versed in Hindu neethi and also a fully qualified Accountant, was managing his own Accounting firm in Jaffna and assisting his father in carrying out the temple duties. He told his father on Deepavali Day in Oct 1987, when the father was getting ready to go to the temple to open the inner sanctum and light the lamps inside, to stay at home and that he would go by bicycle by a circuitous route to the temple to light the lamps. The inner sanctum had not been opened or lit after the influx of refugees. Only

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Brahmin priests can enter the inner sanctum. Instead of going to the temple, he went to heaven. If anyone is interested, I shall take him or her to speak to Kannan Iyer`s mother. His father, the chief priest of our temple, performed the ancient Hindu marriage ceremony for me and my wife in 1962. He repeated it for our elder daughter and son-in-law in 1982. He is a learned and pious man and he has the spiritual resources to withstand the loss of his elder son. But tears flowed down the cheeks of his wife for the entire 45 minutes we spent with them in March 1988, five months after the joy of their life was snuffed out by the Indian army. To me, this is the worst crime of the IPKF assault on Jaffna. The life of a young and brilliant Brahmin priest, who would have risen to great heights promoting Saivaism, was snuffed out wantonly and this on Deepavali day when he set out to open the sanctum sanctorum and light a lamp inside the temple. Twenty six persons lost their lives in my village alone, during the Indian army’s campaign to gain control of Jaffna Peninsula in October-November 1987. The IPKF Operation in Jaffna did not stop with massacres of civilians. A large number of women were raped. K] Other Initiatives that failed: After the 13 th Amendment of 1987, the Democratic People’s Alliance came out with proposals in 1988. The drafting committee of the All Party of Conference was given with proposals by participating Tamil parties. Thondaman proposals were handed over in 1991. UNP party’s Presidential candidate Mr.Gamini Thissanayake came out with a vision for 21 st century. The Up-Country People’s Front in December 1994 submitted its peace formula to the Parliamentary Select Committee. Then Srilankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga came out with Basic Ideas on 3 rd August 1995. These basic ideas were formulated into draft proposals on January 1996. L] India is not in a position to intervene or influence as it did during the times of Rajiv Gandhi. The unfortunate murder of Rajiv Gandhi had thrust one point Agenda on the ruling party of India to take revenge on LTTE. Now that revenge had been accomplished, it is high time for India to evaluate its foreign policies. In recent months overnight so many retired army men from IPKF turned into columnists occupying media space to support the Agenda for Revenge, unfortunately forgetting that what their army did in Srilanka brought about the turn of events and agendas for revenge. To err is human but to kill our conscience and supporting Tamil Genocide is behavior of brutes. We appeal to all nations to look at the list of massacres from 1956 to 2001 till the Norway brokered peace dawned in Srilanka.

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1. Inginiyakala massacre [05.06.1956] 2. 1958 pogrom 3. Tamil research conference massacre 10.01.1974 4. 1977 communal pogrom 5. 1981 communal pogrom 6. Burning of the Jaffna library 01.06.1981 7. 1983 communal pogrom 8. Thirunelveli massacre 24, 25.07.1983 9. Sampalthoddam massacre 1984 10. Chunnakam Police station massacre 08.01.1984 11. Chunnakam market massacre 28.03.1984 12. Mathawachchi – Rampawa September 1984 13. Point Pedro – Thikkam massacre 16.09.1984 14. Othiyamalai massacre 01.12.1984 15. Kumulamunai massacre 02.12.1984 16. Cheddikulam massacre 02.12.1984 17. Manalaru massacre 03.12.1984 18. Blood soaked Mannar 04.12.1984 19. Kokkilai Kokkuthoduvai massacre 15.12.1984 20. Vankalai church massacre 06.01.1986 21. Mulliyavalai massacre 16.01.1985 22. Vaddakandal massacre 30.01.1985 23. Puthukkidiyiruppu Iyankovilady massacre 21.04.1985 24. Trincomalee massacres in 1985 25. Valvai 85 massacre 10.05.1985 26. Kumuthini Boat massacre 15.05.1985 27. Kiliveddi massacre in 1985 28. Thiriyai massacre 08.06.1985 29. Sampaltivu 04 to 09.08.1985 30. Veeramunai massacre 20.06.1990 31. Nilaveli massacre 16.09.1985 32. Piramanthanaru massacre 02.10.1985 33. Kanthalai 85 massacre 09.11.1985 34. Muthur Kadatkaraichenai 08, 09, 10.11.1985 35. Periyapullumalai massacre in 1986 36. Kilinochchi Railway Station massacre 25.01.1986 37. Udumbankulam massacre 19.02.1985 38. Vayaloor massacre 24.08.1985 39. Eeddimurinchan massacre 19, 20.03.1986 40. Anandapuram shelling 04.06.1986 41. Kanthalai 86 massacre 04, 05.06. 1986 42. Mandaithivu sea massacre 10.06.1986 29

43. Seruvila massacre 12.06.1986 44. Thambalakamam massacres 1985, 1986 45. Paranthan farmer’s massacre 28.06.1986 46. Peruveli refugee camp massacre 15.07.1986 47. Thanduvan bus massacre 17.07.1986 48. Mutur Manalchenai massacre 18.07. 1986 49. Adampan massacre 12.10.1986 50. Periyapandivrichchan massacre 15.10.1986 51. Kokkadichcholai 87 massacre 28.01.1987 52. Paddithidal massacre 26.04.1987 53. Thonithiddamadu massacre 27.05.1987 54. Alvai temple shelling 29.05.1987 55. Eastern University massacre 23.05.1990 56. Sammanthurai massacre 10.06.1990 57. Xavierpuram massacre 07.08.1990 58. Siththandy massacre 20, 27.07.1990 59. Paranthan junction massacre 24.07.1990 60. Poththuvil massacre 30.07.1990 61. Tiraikerny massacre 06.08.1990 62. Kalmunai massacre 11.08.1990 63. Thuranilavani massacre 12.08.1990 64. Eravur hospital massacre 12.08.1990 65. Koraveli massacre 14.08.1990 66. Nelliyadi market bombing 29.08.1990 67. Eravur massacre 10.10.1990 68. Saththurukkondan massacre 09.09.1990 69. Natpiddymunai massacre 10.09.1990 70. Vantharamullai 90 massacre 05, 23,09,1990 71. Mandaithivu disappearances 23.08.1990, 25.09.1990 72. Oddisuddan bombing 27.11.1990 73. Puthukkudiyiruppu junction bombing 74. Vankalai massacre 17.02.1991 75. Vaddakkachchi bombing 28.02.1991 76. Vantharumoolai 09.06.1991 77. Kokkadichcholai 91 massacre 12.06.1991 78. Pullumalai massacre 1983 1990 79. Kinniyadi massacre 12.07.1991 80. Akkarayan hospital massacre 15.07.1997 81. Uruthrapuram bombing 04.02.1991 82. Karapolla Muthgalla massacre 29.04.1992 83. Vattrapalai shelling 18.05.1992

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84. Thellipalai temple bombing 30.05.1992 85. Mailanthai massacre 09.08.1992 86. Kilali massacre 1992, 1993 87. Maaththalan bombing 18.09.1993 88. Chavakachcheri Sangaththanai bombing 28.09.1993 89. Kokuvil temple massacre & bombing 29.09.1993 90. Kurunagar church bombing 13.11.1993 91. Chundikulam 94 massacre 18.02.1994 92. Navali church massacre 09.07.1995 93. Nagarkovil bombing 22.05.1995 94. Chemmani mass graves in 1996 95. Kilinochchi town massacre 1996 1998 96. Kumarapuram massacre 11.02.1996 97. Nachchikuda strafing 16.03.1996 98. Thambirai market bombing 17.05.1996 99. Mallavi bombing 24.07.1996 100. Pannankandy massacre 05.07.1997 101. Kaithady Krishanthi massacre 07.09.1996 102. Vavunikulam massacre 26 09 1996, 15 08 1997 103. Konavil bombing 27.09.1996 104. Mullivaikal bombing 13.05.1997 105. Mankulam shelling 08.06.1997 106. Thampalakamam massacre 01.02.1998 107. Old Vaddakachchi bombing 26.03.1998 108. Suthanthirapuram massacre 10.06.1998 109. Visuvamadhu shelling 25.11.1998 110. Chundikulam 98 bombing 02.12.1998 111. Manthuvil bombing 15.09.1999 112. Palinagar bombing and shelling 03.09.1999 113. Madhu church massacre 20.11.1999 114. Bindunuwewa massacre 115. Mirusuvil massacre 19.12.2000 Appeal to the Conscience of Leaders of the Nations under UN: Having seen the list, and now Tamils having lost the freedom struggle, would you say that Tamils will be treated as human beings within unitary Srilankan State? Whether UN will stand guarantee, or which nation on Earth can assure Tamils a life with dignity within unitary Srilanka. We Indian Tamils urge United Nations to constitute a Tribunal on War Crimes for Genocide of Eelam Tamils, on the lines of Nuremburg 31

Tribunal constituted the war criminals of Nazi-Germany after the II nd World War ended. Nuremburg Tribunal had laid down certain principles which are relevant to the war crimes on Eelam Tamils. i] The crimes against international law are committed by men not by abstract entities and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced. ii] Report of the International Law Commission of 1950 states “The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible government official does not relieve him from responsibility under International law. Having stated the position of International law, we Indian Tamils urge the nations in Security Council and if roadblocks caused by veto hinder then the general assembly of the United Nations to constitute International Tribunal for Srilanka for violation of International humanitarian law and Genocide committed in the traditional homeland of Eelam Tamils acting under the Chapter VII of the UN charter. Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe had committed war crimes. It would be appropriate to remind the Member Nations of the United Nations that the General Assembly Resolution 3074 [XXVIII] dated 3rd December 1973 declaring Principles of International Co-operation in the detention, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity must be borne in mind and all nations, Indian Tamils urged must cooperate in bringing to book the Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe for war crimes and genocide. “ War crimes and crimes against humanity whenever or wherever they are committed, shall be subjected to investigation and the persons against whom there is evidence that they have committed such crimes shall be subject to tracing, arrest, trial and if found guilty to punishment.” According to this we urge Srilankan President to be fixed for his war crimes. The Nuremburg charter describes crimes against humanity as the crimes such as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, in execution of or in connection with any crime …… Though Nuremburg Trial, Tokyo Trial , Eichmann case, Chernigov Trial, UN War Crimes Commission to investigate war crimes committed in former Yugoslavia, Milosevic War Crimes Trial, International Tribunal for Rwanda etc may be there, the one that stands apart is the Mai Lai Trial. Mai 32

lai is a village in Vietnam whole population of which was killed by American personnel. American citizens proved to be worthy citizens of humanism and condemned their own military officers committing war crimes. International community brought pressure. It is a landmark in the history of trials on war crimes. Mai Lai Trial marks the new trend where reaction of the international community and the pressure of its own citizens compelled to hold trial. This example of the greatest democracy of America makes every citizen on earth bow their head to salute the humanness of American people. Such a state, which does not even spare its officers, is now urging the United Nations Human Rights Council to initiate action on Srilankan President for Tamil Genocide. The Indian state of Tamilnadu in one voice is demanding India to back the countries that are moving resolution to charge Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe for Tamil genocide. Unfortunately along with China and Pakistan, India is to give a clean chit to Srilankan President. India must hold a referendum In Tamilnadu, and if its own citizens give clean chit to Srilankan President, then India can whitewash the crimes committed by Srilankan President. Like America, India should have put its own IPKF officers for trial in war crimes. It missed that chance to prove that Gandhian India will not tolerate crimes against humanity. Now when Indian satellites would have given more evidences of genocide, India is morally bound to share those evidences with international community that is seeking justice for Tamils butchered under genocide. India had followed the policy of appeasing Srilanka to prevent it from falling totally into the kitty of China. In pursuit of this illogical foreign policy, India had turned a blind eye towards frequent killing of Indian Tamil fishermen in Palk Straits by the Srilankan army. The international community that seeks action against Srilankan President must also seek action against Srilankan President and Srilankan naval chief for their genocide of Indian Tamil fishermen in the Palk Straits. The International Court of Justice in Cu Channel case [1949] had conceded that in times of peace states has the right to send their ships through straits provided that passage is innocent. The same had been incorporated in UN Convention on Law of the Sea, 1982. When innocent passage is permissible to ships it also must apply to fishing craft. There has been no war between India and Srilanka, and there is no reason for Srilankan navy to continuously resort to killing of Indian Tamil for decades. India and Pakistan are enemy nations but if Indian fishermen stray into Pakistan waters, Pakistan arrests them and releases. But India and Srilanka are friendly nations, yet Indian fishermen are killed. It has become a regular occurrence periodically reported in media leading to fishermen protests. Srilanka resorts to 33

indiscriminate firing on Indian fishermen just because they are Tamils by ethnicity. Dravida Peravai had collected information on the lives lost under the Right to Information Act of India. Date: Person’s

Boat Reg. No.

Place of Sea

26.11.92

RMS 030/CG

27.02.93

RMS 540/MB

28.07.93

RMS 540/MB

21.09.93

RMS 330

08.10.93

RMS 1432

Dhanushkodi Sea Thalaimannar

08.10.93

RMS 1807

Dhanuskodi

08.10.93 21.11.93

RMS 26 RMS 1362

Dhanuskodi Dhanuskodi

Murugan Chinnaiya Mari Rajendhiran

16.02.94

RMS 57

Kachcha tivu

Arul Arasan s/o

25.02.94 06.04.94 10.07.94

RMS1024 RMS 325 RMS 1546

Dhanuskodi Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu

10.07.94 24.10.94

Kachcha tivu Dhanuskodi

02.11.94

RMS 190/CV RMS 640 RMS 2038 RMS 1917

29.04.95 15.06.95

RMS 1357 RMS 1815

Kachcha tivu Katchateeu

Sammandham Murugesan Larans Selvam Munisamy Vellaichami Sendhurapandi Jesin Cristraj Tamilselvan Seni s/o Ramaya

Nedunteevu Sea Kachcha tivu Sea Dhanushkodi Sea

Dhanuskodi

Injured

Death

Mangalaraj

-

Ganesan

-

Kumar Poominadhan Gopal Segaraj s/o Maickel Thangaiya

-

Pondi s/o Karuppaiya Rameswaram Ramamoorthy Kakkoor Mudhukulathur Dk. Palanichami s/o Karuppaiya Thazhaiuothu, Tuticorin. Sankar s/o Dharmalingam Kodimunai, Navaladi, Nanguneri. Balraj s/o Muthukani Natarajapuram Arul Arasan s/o Nicolas, Bampan Sebestiyan s/o Ayyapillai, Bompan Sagaraj s/o Rayappan Bompan 34

20.05.95

RMS 249

Dhanuskodi

Thangavelu

Suyambudurai s/o Balavesamuthu Settigulam -

10.06.95

RMS 617

Dhanuskodi

Date:

Boat Reg.No. Place :Sea

Injured

Dead

15.07.95 06.03.96

RMS 705 RMS 2148

Dhanuskodi Kachcha tivu

Nageswaran -

Sedupathy

01.05.96

RMS 2000

Thalaimannar

-

14.08.96

RMS 657

Dhanushkodi

Solaimalai Sankar Kalimuthu

10.06.96 09.09.96

RMS 1690 RMS 1614

Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi

Kailasam Ramanadhan

Ramesh

25.09.96 28.10.96 06.11.96 07.11.96 09.11.96 23.11.96 21.12.96 20.01.97 30-01.97 26.03.97 13.03.99

RMS 2276 RMS 993 RMS 777 RMS 538 RMS 1933 RMS 2364 RMS1992 RMS 225 RMS 2027 RMS 2721 RMS 2352 RMS 2278

Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi Kachcha tivu

Karunanithi Ganapathy Thirumal -

21.04.97

RMS 247

Kachcha tivu

08.06.97

RMS 117

Kachcha tivu

18.06.97 18.06.97 18.06.97 19.11.97

RMS 1437 RMS 2057 RMS 2297 RMS 350

Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu

Karuppaiya Palani Selvam Andoniraj Murugesan Sanjeevi Munusami Vanniraj Munisamy Muniyandi s/o Muthukaruppan Ratinakrishnan Lingamani\ Senthil Ganesan s/o Muniyandi Raju Subramanian -

19.11.97

RMS 1980

Kachcha tivu

-

13.05.98 25.11.96

RMS 1620 RMS 412

Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu

Ramalingam Murali s/o Veerppathiran,

-

-

Mariyajaan Dharman Chinnamuniyan Balsami Muthusami Ifragim, Ganesan, Murugesan, Vengatesan -

35

05.07.99 21.07.99 08.12.99

RMS 576 RMS 1872 RMS 1512

Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu

19.02.2000 RMS 600

Kachcha tivu

10.05.2000 RMS 1126

Kachcha tivu

19.06.2000 T.U. 328 27.11.2000 RMS 2759 16.02.2001 RMS 583

Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu

30.08.2001 RMS 1654

Kachcha tivu

18.10.2003 RMS 229/MB 09.08.2004 RMS 2721 09.09.2004 RMS 401

Dhanushkodi Kachcha tivu Dhanuskodi

17.08.06

RMS 2283/MB

Kachcha tivu

10.07.06 06.10.06

RMS 103/MB RMS 334/CV

Kachcha tivu Kachcha tivu

22.11.06

MDM 689/MB

27.02.07

RMS 3787/CV

South Sea Side Kachcha tivu

06.03.07

RMS 3582/CV

Kachcha tivu

Govindharajan s/o Krishnan, Perumal s/o Sudalai Jothi Manikkam s/o Anguchami Vazhivittan s/o Dharmalinga Devar Selvapandian s/o Soosai Muniswaran s/o Pandi Babu s/o Natesan Murugesan s/o Rathinavel Saravanan, Kottai Muniswaran Pirabu s/o Dhoss Naganadhan s/o Dhavasiyandi Devar Naburajan s/o Nagaligam Rajan s/o Andi Perish s/o Arulanandhan, Bompan. Arulanandhan, Bamban. Xevier s/o Andhoni, Thangachimadam Viswar s/o Andhonisamy Bampan, Sagayaraj s/o Andhonipicchai, Bompan, Dhasan s/o Rayappan, Bampan. Soosai s/o Devadhoss,

Albert s/o Soosai Jaanson s/o Andhoni -

Murugesan s/o Periyasamy Munisamy s/o Natarajan -

Ramu s/o Sokkaligam -

-

-

Cristoper s/o Andhonisamy

36

18.06.07

TN/09/MFB/11

13.11.07

TN/10/MFB/978 Kachcha tivu

12.01.06 05.03.06 05.03.06

TN/10/MFB/51 Kachcha tivu TN/10/MFB/935 Kachcha tivu TN/10/MFB/442 Kachcha tivu

Bampan Gunabalan s/o Sagayarajan, Thangachimadam Kirubaraj s/o Abaranam, Bampan S. Sekar Francis -

02.06.08

TN/10/MFB/244 Kachcha tivu

-

Kachcha tivu

21.06.06 TN/10/MFB/650 Kachcha tivu 30.06.06 TN/10/MFB/409 Kachcha tivu 28.09.06 TN/10/MFB/109 Kachcha tivu 04.09.1993

15.01.1994

30.04.1994

06.01.1997 10.05.1997

25.06.1991

Andran Morris -

-

-

Cristy s/o Anthonisamy Thangachimadam. Santhiya s/o Maickel, Thangachimadam Murugan, Madhurai 1. Sekar s/o Kaliyaperumal, Jegathapattinam, Pudukottai. T.N. 2. Ranganadhan s/o Ramasami, Jagathapattinam. 1. Anbalagan s/o Subramanian, Sellendhal. 2. R. Selvam s/o Pakkirisamy, Sellendhal. 1. Dhanavel s/o Palanisamy, Sellenendhal. 2. Ravi s/o Mani Sellenandhal. 1. Ramesh s/o Aniyash, Uvari, Nellai. 1. Chandhiran s/o Natarajan, Jagathapattinam. 2. Sivaganam s/o Natarajan, Jagathapattinam 3. Kuttiyandi s/o Chinnadhambi, Kasadudimedu, Pondicherry. 1. Dhanasekar s/o Perumathan, Ramanadhapurm 2. Ramu s/o Kasi Ramanadhapurm.

37

3. Govindhan, Ramanadhapurm 1. Gopi s/o Anjappan, Kizhmoovarkarai, Sirkazhi TK. Nagapattinam Dk. Thangapandian s/o Palani, Jagadhapattinam 1. Latchumanasamy s/o Arumugam, Akkaraipettai, Nagapattinam. 2. Rajendhiran s/o Rajan, Akkaraipettai. Nagapattinam. 1. Veeran s/o Chinnayan, Jagathapattinam. 1. Sivaraj s/o Manipal, Nagapattinam 1. Soundharajan s/o |Chinnappu, Mandapatthur, Pondicherry. 1. Aruldhass s/o Andhonimuthu, Kottaipattinam.

14.03.2001

09.02.2008 08.04.2000

09.01.2001 13.11.2004 16.10.2006

24.02.2007

1.

Marivel

2. 3. 4.

Kannan Murugavel Subramanian

As an 20-032009 Fishermen at Srilangan Prison s/o Nagarathinam s/o Thangavel s/o Selvaraj s/o Parith Devar As on

This is the first list of Indian Tamil fishermen killed by the Srilankan Government in its pursuit to annihilate all Tamils whether they seek 38

independent state or whether they belong to India. We are sending the above stated details to the UN Human Rights Council and to the Public Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of Justice, urging that the Genocide of Tamils committed by Srilankan President is not confined to Srilankan soil, but it is pursued in international waters, as well as Indian waters. Hence we urge upon the nations in United Nations to request India to deliver the list of Indian fishermen killed by Srilankan navy, so that the Genocide of Indian Tamils also could be included in the genocide charges against Srilankan President. Indian Government or other Nations that show adamancy to accept the separate state demand of Tamils must re-evaluate their policies in the light of the genocidal war unleashed by Srilanka aimed at ethnic cleansing. This ethnic cleansing had been the single goal pursued by various Srilankan governments and political parties for nearly half a century. Let the civilized democracies of this earth touch their conscience and say whether they have forgotten the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Now let them read what Sinhalese Members of Parliament had spoken in their country’s Parliament. Can any Parliamentarian speak openly with impunity in any of the Parliaments or Senates of this Earth, in the manner in which Sinhalese Members of Parliament had spoken in past? Sinhalese Buddhist Member of Parliament from Kundasale Mr.D.M.Chandrapala spoke in July 1981 in Srilankan Parliament: Quote “Now Sir…. What should we do to this so called leader of Tamils? If I were given powers, I would tie him to the nearest concrete post in this building and horses whip him till I raise him to his wits. Thereafter let anybody do anything he likes, throw him into the Biere[lake] or into the sea, because he will be so mutilated that I do not think there will be life in him “ Mr.G.V.Punchinilame, Sinhalese Buddhist Member of Parliament from Ratnapura to explain in Parliament on how cruelly Tamils should be tortured. Quote: “Since yesterday morning, we have heard in this honorable house about the various types of punishment that should be meted out to them. [Tamil Parliamentary leaders]. The M.P for Panadura, Dr.Neville Fernando said that there was a punishment during the regime of Sinhalese kings, namely two areca nut posts are erected, the two posts are then drawn towards each other with a rope, then tie the each feet of the offender to each post and then cut the rope which will result in tearing apart the body. These people [Tamil M.P’s] should be punished that way. Some members suggested that they should be put to death on the stake, some other members said their passports should be confiscated, still other 39

members said they should be made to stand at Galle Face and shot. The people of this country want and the government is prepared to inflict these punishments on these people. Before violence erupted or militarist movements took inception, when purely Tamils were pursuing democratic path demanding state autonomy through peaceful means, Srilankan Parliament had debated on how Tamil Members of Parliament should be killed and tortured. Such hatred possessed only by their predecessors, the Aryan Nazis, is inbuilt in the minds of Aryan Sinhalese. Cruelty is their creed. Barbarianism is their gospel. To teach cannibals to behave in civilized manner if efforts are put, it will yield results. But the Sinhalese who inscribed their language letter Sri with hot irons in the forcibly exposed bare chests of Tamil women in fifties, Sinhalese who could pluck the eyes of freedom fighters within their prison and to crush it with their boots in sadistic arrogance, will torture the entire Tamil race. World watched helplessly when civilians are killed in so called safe zones. World watched while international agencies could not reach Tamils with medicines and food for internally displaced peoples. If under unitary Srilanka, Tamils are forced to live it will only be a life worse than a slave, and whoever moots that idea for whatever geopolitical compulsion, will be placed as abettors of genocide before future generations and in history. Before concluding, it is my duty to recall the words of then Srilankan President as published in Daily Telegraph of Srilanka on 11th July 1983. Mr.J.R.Jayawardane with whom innocent political novice Mr. Rajiv Gandhi inked an accord in 1987 had spoken in 1983, as follows: “I am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people, now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or opinion. The more you put pressure in the North, the happier will the Sinhalese people be here. Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhalese people will be happy.” We urge the United Nations that seeking punishment for war crimes and genocide is not enough. They must realize that Tamils and Sinhalese cannot co exist in unitary Srilankan State. In order to drive home Dravida Peravai had quoted from fiery speeches in Parliament. UN Secretary General Mr.Banki Moon after meeting Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa and other top officials in Kandy warned during a news conference with Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama that unless the government can reconcile with the country's Tamil minority, "history could repeat itself." It shows the concern of the UN Secretary General for Tamil 40

cause, but Tamils know from experience that his warning will fall on deaf years. 1. We, Indian Tamils appeal to world nations to send UN Peace Keeping Force to Srilanka, to supervise the rehabilitation and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons. Srilanka only wants funds but it will not use for resettlement or rehabilitation. It will use to colonize Tamil villages and towns with Sinhalese that is why it is keeping IDPs in barbed wire camps preventing them from going back to their traditional homes even after declaration of success in war by the Srilankan Government. 2. The adamancy shown by Srilankan Government to grant free access to international media and non governmental organization is not only aimed at concealing the usage of banned and chemical weapons used to inflict genocide but it needs time to erase all traces of brutality by its security forces in the final phase of the Tamil Eelam war. UN and Member Nations must impose economic sanctions on Srilanka unless it opens its war zones and concentration camps to international media. 3. We remind the suggestion of General Amnesty made by US President Mr.Barrack Obama. The fate of 9100 LTTE cadres who had supposed to have surrendered, as per announcement by Srilankan Government itself is at peril. Though actual figures are not available, the process of screening conducted by Srilanka is to eliminate these LTTE cadres who should be treated as Prisoners of War in accordance with the tenets of international law. UN must exert diplomatic pressure on Srilanka to grant general amnesty to the LTTE cadres, and these cadres must be absorbed into the Srilankan army, since Tamil representation in army is almost nil. Tamil regiment in Srilanka cannot emerge in near future, the only way is to give employment to the freedom fighters in the army thereby assuring Tamils that the phobia of Sinhala dominated army need not exist, and safety of Tamils can be left in the hands of Tamil army. Unless General Amnesty is granted world is going to witness mass killings of all able bodied youth in Srilanka, any time in next few weeks. 4. Tamil struggle in fifties started with demand for a federal state. If like USA, a federal model is brought in Srilanka that could be considered by Tamils of Eelam and not the Indian model, which in name only is Union but in reality a unitary state.

41

5. To ensure the safety of Tamils Srilanka must be forced to allow Condominium .Condominium exists when over a particular territory joint dominion is exercised by two or more external powers. In past England and France exercised control and had rights over the territory of New Hebrides between 1914 and 1980. This gave joint sovereignty of France and Britain over New Hebrides. Historically in British India, India had condominium over Srilanka, and to assure Tamils till the historical wounds are healed and unity emerges, India can exercise condominium over the North Eastern Provinces, which will act as guarantee for Tamil lives against future genocide of Tamils. If not India, UN can have condominium along with Srilanka. 6. India wants to safeguard its geo-political interests, and USA accepts India as regional power in this region. In these circumstances, we urge USA and Nations of the European Union, and Democracies all over the world, member nations of United Nations to help Tamils gain Tamil Eelam, which can be a Protectorate State under India’s hegemony. The twin objectives to support Tamil Eelam Government in Exile, while pursuing to prosecute Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe for crimes against humanity and genocide, needs the support of all Member Nations of UN. Dravida Peravai, a political party of Indian Tamils shares with you its views to generate awareness and also initiate a global debate on how to resolve the Tamil Eelam conflict. Mere lip services for equal rights within Srilanka will not resolve anything, as day be day world comes to know by the adamancy shown by Srilanka to starve Tamils to death during war, to keep Tamils in concentration camps in post war phase, to have kept international media in war to hide its chemical weaponry or brutality and now too to keep them at bay to erase all traces of evidences amount the large scale massacre of Tamils. With Regards Yours fraternally N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai India www.dravidaperavai.org.in

42

SRILANKAN GENOCIDE BEYOND ITS BORDERS: JUSTICE SOUGHT for KILLING OF INDIAN TAMIL FISHERMEN

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai, India

43

THE REGISTRAR INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE LAW OF SEA Am Internationalen Seegerichtshof 1 22609- HAMBURG GERMANY Before the Respected Judges of the Tribunal Subject: Action against Srilanka for killings of hundreds of Indian Tamil fishermen and compensation sought for lives lost in genocide beyond borders, and the redrawing of the maritime borders to protect the fishing rights of Indians regarding... The maritime belt of the coastal India was based on the canon shot principle till 1956.Jurist Bynkershoek laid the foundation for this rule, when he enunciated that the breadth of maritime belt extends to the distance where a canon can fire i.e. 3 miles of maritime belt. This principle based on canons that were in usage in eighteenth century existed till twentieth century. The Hague Conference of 1930 which tried to extend the maritime belt did not yield results and hence Conference on Law of Sea at Geneva attempted to revise the breadth of maritime belt. India which was following this 3 mile maritime belt for centuries till 1956 extended the maritime belt by 6 miles through Presidential Proclamation. In the year 1967 it was extended to 12 miles. Subsequently Indian Representative at UN Dr.Pannikkar made a statement before the Sub-Committee of the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-bed and Ocean Floor beyond the limits of National jurisdiction on 17th August 1971, wherein [ Ref :UN Doc.A/C 1331] for extending the maritime belt in view of the discovery that Indian territorial waters contained huge quantities of thorium. We Indian citizens, who rediscover the past, are baffled at the statement tabled in Indian Parliament on July 23 1974 by then Indian External Affairs Minister Mr.Swaran Singh [Lok sabha debates cols 186-201] for Re-Agreement between India and Srilanka on boundary in historic 44

waters between the two countries and related matters. India must be aware what its own representative sought before UN Sub-committee on the need to extend its maritime belt in view of thorium find in Indian territorial waters. When we had national interest to extend our maritime belt, only a nincompoop would opt for an agreement that will hand over Indian island of Kachcha Tivu to Srilanka by way of this agreement. We would like to remind that one Member of Indian Parliament, speaking on the floor of the house on 23rd July 1974 raised a point or order. Mr.P.K.Deo, Member from Kalahandi of Indian State of Orissa said “Nowhere the Indian Constitution provide for cession of even an inch of Indian Territory. All the Revenue records of Madras Government, a state of India, corroborate that Kachcha Tivu was part of former Ramnad zamindary and an integral part of this country. So under no circumstances the Government has got any power under the Indian Constitution to cede even an inch of our country. A few days back the Coco islands which is part of Andaman group of islands belonging to India was ceded to Burma. Now it is Kachcha Tivu. It is utter contempt and disrespect shown to the House [Indian Parliament] by not taking the house into confidence and facing us with a fait accompli” After fixing the maritime belt in 1967, India realized the need to protect every inch of our territorial waters in view of finds of precious metals within our waters, yet it conceded Kachcha Tivu to Srilanka. But in 1976, Article 297 of Constitution of India was amended for fortieth time “ All lands, minerals, and other things of value underlying the ocean within the territorial waters or the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zones of India shall be such as may be specified from time to time, by or any law made by the Parliament.” In 1976 again Indian Parliament passed The Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act 1976. The act fixed the limit of territorial waters as the line every point of which is at a distance of 12 nautical miles from the nearest point of appropriate baseline.” In his book entitled: Conflict Over Fisheries In the Palk Bay Region (Lancer, New Delhi, 2005) Prof V Suryanarayan says that it is very important for India to find ways for fishermen from Tamil Nadu to fish in Palk Bay/Palk Strait (up to 5 nautical miles from the north Sri Lankan coast) and around Kachcha Tivu, because this is a traditional right as well as an economic necessity. According to him, a grave injustice was done to Tamil Nadu fishermen in 1974, when New Delhi decided to give in to the Sri Lankan government's contention that

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Kachcha Tivu was part of Sri Lanka, and agreed to draw the maritime boundary line in a such a way that the island was included in the Sri Lankan side. New Delhi had callously overlooked the fact that Kachcha tivu had been part of an Indian "Zamindari" and that Indian fishermen had, from time immemorial, fished in the waters around it, Suryanarayan says. The area around the island and beyond, nearer the Sri Lankan coast, is rich in prawns, and prawns are the main source of income for these fishermen since 1969. The annual fish production in the Palk Bay region is 85,000 tones in 2005. Over a 100 fishermen have been killed, and catch and equipment worth millions of rupees, have been lost in the process. But the fishermen are undaunted.” [But nearly 432 Fishermen were killed gathered information through various Government sources says, we add first list in end and further through next mail] Although the Art 73 of the UN Law of the Sea prohibits shooting of straying fishermen, the Sri Lankan Navy had been quite triggerhappy. The Government of India could do little to stop it. Art 5 of the 1974 maritime boundary agreement, read with statements of Indian ministers in parliament, gives Indian fishermen the right to fish around Kachcha Tivu. Given the deaths and the political fallout in Tamil Nadu, a State of India in 1991, the state Chief Minister, J Jayalalitha, called for the "retrieval" of Kachcha Tivu from Sri Lanka. She even suggested taking the island on "lease in perpetuity." In this case, sovereignty over the island will rest with Sri Lanka, but India will get the right to use the island and the waters around it. In 1974, India gave Bangladesh the territory of Tin Bigha on such a lease, to settle the vexed question of access to enclaves in each other's territories. Why this cannot be replicated in the Indo-Sri Lankan case, Chief Minister Jayalalitha took the cue, and in 1994, asked the Central government to get the island on perpetual lease. She reiterated this demand in 2004 in a letter to the Indian Prime Minister. A country of India's size and resources should not only assess the dangers emanating from a changing strategic environment but, it should also zealously safeguard autonomy in decision making. The recently published Indian Maritime Doctrine highlights not only the importance of the control of the seas but also the necessity to deny its use to the adversary Licensed Indian fishing in Palk Bay region

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India was urged to pressurize Sri Lanka to give in to its demand for licensed Indian fishing in Sri Lankan waters in the Palk Bay/Palk Strait area. In 2003, Sri Lanka had agreed to consider such a proposal mooted by India at the Prime Ministerial level. This "window of opportunity which India should exploit", had been closed. Killings continue. Periodical protests continue. India treats Srilankan fishermen caught in its waters with dignity and deports them, whereas Srilankan navy fires and kills each and every Indian Tamil all these years. To buttress its case, India can point out that in the 1976 maritime boundary agreement, it had unilaterally offered Sri Lanka, licensed fishing for three years in the Wadge Bank area, the experts says. Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen from Jaffna and Mannar are indeed opposed to poaching by Indian fishermen, but they have been practical enough to accommodate it with some conditions. A recent agreement allowed Indian fishermen to fish as close to 3 nautical miles from the North Western coast and 7 nautical miles from the Northern coast, provided the Indians did not use trawlers. Trawling, which sweeps the bottom of the sea, is what the Sri Lankan fishermen are really bothered about, not the traditional fishing methods. But Srilankan navy killed hundreds who pursued traditional fishing methods. The fishermen of the two sides seem to want to share the marine resources in the restricted Palk Bay area. Why can't the governments of India and Sri Lanka follow suit? Sri Lankan Establishment, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Fisheries, is against licensed Indian fishing despite the 2003 offer. In 2003, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was going out of the way to accommodate India and the offer was part of the mood of the time. But the mood had not percolated to officialdom and the rest of political system. In her Public Interest Litigation Writ Petition, under Article 32 of the Constitution, then Tamilnadu Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalitha has appealed to the Supreme Court of India for an appropriate writ order or directive for declaring as unconstitutional the two agreements signed between India and Sri Lanka in 1974 and in 1976, under which the island of Kachcha Tivu was ceded to Sri Lanka and the traditional fishing rights of Indian fishermen were given up. She has appealed for a directive to the Union of India to take appropriate steps for retrieving the island or alternately to take steps to obtain or regain the right of access to Kachcha Tivu and right to engage in fishing around the island. She has also appealed for a directive to the Union of India to protect the lives and livelihood of Indian fishermen who regularly fish around the island. 47

While researching on the subject, we had to face severe limitations. All documents relating to the Zamindari rights of the Raja of Ramand have been taken away to New Delhi and are kept behind the stonewalls of secrecy. However, there are number of secondary sources to prove, without an iota of doubt, that the island was a part of the Zamindari of the Raja of Ramand. The East India Company and the British Government upheld these claims. And when Zamindari was abolished after independence, the revenue jurisdiction came to Madras province. New Delhi did not dispute the Zamindari rights of the Raja of Ramand, but it was not certain that the Zamindari rights conferred sovereignty. No one claimed that Zamindar was sovereign, but what must be highlighted is the fact that the sovereign had delegated the powers of collecting the revenue to the Zamindar. Once the Zamindari was abolished, all rights reverted to the Government. New Delhi’s argument is tantamount to questioning Indian unity. It must be remembered that on the eve of independence, large parts of India were under Zamindari system. In the nine provinces of British India, the Zamindari system covered 57 per cent of the area, the Ryotwari system covered 37 per cent and the Mahalwari system 5 per cent. If New Delhi’s (and Colombo’s) argument is accepted, the very existence of India as a united country will be at stake. A few other relevant points must be highlighted. If any Indian territory is to be ceded to a foreign power, the Constitution needs to be amended. In order to avoid such a contingency, New Delhi adopted the stance that Kachcha Tivu was a “disputed territory”. Indira Gandhi sought legal opinion whether India had historical claims on the island, but the opinion was not unanimous. While Niren De, then Attorney General was of the view that “on balance, the sovereignty over Kachcha Tivu was and is with Sri Lanka”, MC Setalvad, former Attorney General, upheld India’s claims. Adding insult to injury, the principles of equi-distance and median line, the fundamental principles of delimitation of maritime boundaries, was not adhered to in the case of Kachcha Tivu. According to SP Jagota, then Director of the Legal and Treaties Division, “the boundary line between India and Sri Lanka followed the median line except as adjusted in the Palk Bay in relation to the settlement on the question of the Island of Kachcha Tivu” .

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And a careful reading of Articles 5 and 6 of the 1974 Agreement, in conjunction with Indian External Affair Minister Swaran Singh’s clarification in Lok Sabha, clearly reveal that Indian fishermen continued to enjoy these rights in and around Kachcha Tivu. But unfortunately these rights were bartered away by the 1976 Agreement, that too when India was under emergency clamped to freeze democracy. It is surprising that no Government in Indian State of Tamil Nadu have thought it fit to challenge the cession in the Supreme Court as the Government of West Bengal did at the time of the proposed transfer of Berubari to East Pakistan. Can they do so now after the lapse of 34 years? It is possible that they may apprehend the law of limitation, but the time limit of 30 years, prescribed by Article 112 of the Limitation Act, 1963 does not apply to a suit in the Supreme Court in the exercise of its original jurisdiction. The matter can be argued whether Kachcha Tivu had always been a disputed territory or it was a part of India or a no man’s island. If the State Government in India is unable or unwilling to move the Supreme Court, it is open for a concerned citizen to seek judicial remedy through public interest litigation. The question will also arise whether the two international agreements, a matter relating to Public International Law, can be questioned in a Municipal Court. The answer is clear. No treaty can override the Constitution of India, which is the supreme law of the land. But this issue could not be settled by the Supreme Court of India. The Srilankan Government is on record in its Parliament that: However, a decision given by a Court of law in a jurisdiction outside Sri Lanka would not be binding on Sri Lanka. Any such Court Order or judgment will not alter or have an impact on a bilateral treaty concluded between two sovereign States. Hence our petition to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea is mailed today as last resort. Since all avenues to settle the maritime boundary and fishing rights of Indian Tamil fishermen are exhausted bilaterally and through legal framework of India, we are seeking justice from International Tribunal of the Law of Seas. Indian fishermen are getting killed by Srilankan navy over years without any provocation just because of their ethnicity. These Indian citizens are neither terrorists nor freedom fighters seeking a homeland for Tamils. For thousands of years they have been fishing in the Bay 49

of Bengal and Indian Ocean, and not even colonial powers ventured to kill them. Srilanka which tries to escape its Tamil genocide hiding behind India, can neither justify its killings of Indian Tamils nor India can too long hide the skeletons it its cupboards. The time for humanity to ask India, why you tolerated the killings of your own citizens for decades had come. If stray violence erupts in Australia Indian Prime Minister acts fast. If it is Mumbai blasts his government gathers momentum, but when it comes to periodical killings of Indian citizens by Srilanka, India freezes into slumber, and this prejudice against Tamils should change, civilized democracies in UN must advice India. Having waited for India to protect the interests of Indian Tamil fishermen’s fishing rights, we had to knock global institutions to secure justice and compensation for Indian citizens from the trigger happy Srilankan Government. The global efforts led to the Convention of the Law of the Sea which had been signed and ratified by India on 29th June 1995 and by Srilanka on 19th July 1994. After this milestone in international law, there arose a necessity to re-demarcate Indian territorial waters. Dravida Peravai, an Indian political party launched a campaign among the Members of Indian Parliament on the necessity to redraw the maritime belt and to retrieve Kachcha Tivu bartered to Srilanka in 1974. Srilanka had been killing Indian Tamil fishermen for decades in the Palk Straits. It cannot claim right over Indian Territorial waters, or in international waters of Palk Straits in Bay of Bengal. As per International Court of Justice Rep 1951 page 116: “The Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, Court observed that the states are not completely free in respect of delimitation of territorial waters with regards to other states .The delimitation of Sea areas has always been an international aspect, it cannot merely be dependent on the will of the coastal state as expected in its municipal laws. Although it is true that the act of delimitation is necessarily a unilateral act because only the coastal state is competent to undertake it, the validity of the delimitation with regards to other states depends upon international law. The Palk Strait is a strait that lies between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the island nation of Sri Lanka. It connects the Bay of Bengal to the northeast with the Gulf of Mannar to the south. The strait is 40 to 85 miles (64-137 km) wide. The strait is named after Robert Palk, who was a Governor of Madras Presidency (1755-1763) during the British Raj period. Srilanka is not free to delimit its territorial waters and it is bound by international law, as per the judgment in The Anglo Norwegian case in the International Court of Justice.

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The question of delimitation of Sea between states with opposite or adjacent states as prescribed in Article 15 of the Convention on the Law of Sea states: “where the coasts of two states are opposite or adjacent to each other, neither of the two states is entitled failing agreement between them to contrary, to extend its territorial sea beyond the meridian line every point of which is equidistant from the nearest point of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial seas of each of the two states is to be measured. The above position does not apply, however, where it is necessary by reason or historic title or other special circumstances to delimit the territorial seas of the two states in a way which is at variance therewith.’ A] Srilanka had been unilaterally delimiting its territorial waters. The faux pas committed by India in handing over Indian island of Kachcha Tivu had created more confusion. Further India has many islands belonging to its territory in the Gulf of Mannar. The Gulf of Mannar has a chain of 20 islands located between 8 º 48' N, 78 º 9' E and 9 º 14' N, 79 º 14' E on the southwest coast of India. All islands in the Gulf of Mannar have fringing reefs. In addition, there is a 8 km long reef in the Palk Bay adjacent to the Gulf of Mannar, as well as patching coral formation in the passage (Adam's Bridge) between India and Sri Lanka.The Gulf of Mannar is particularly important for Green turtle and sea cow population, both of which depend on the large sea grass beds particularly around Musal, Appa and Balayamunai islands. Olive Ridley turtle is also occasionally found in this area. The pro-chordate Balanoglossus is found in the northern reefs. Mangroves are found on all islands and are particularly extensive in the Mandapam group. Most of the islands have no freshwater and are therefore uninhabited. The most productive chank and pearl oyster beds in India are found near Tuticorin and Kilakarai. The Windowpane oyster Placuna placenta is also found in the same area. Large quantities of molluscan shells for the ornamental trade are collected in this area. Recently, native people of this area have begun developing tourism also. The delimitation of Indian territorial waters or Srilankan territorial waters had not taken into account these islands that belong to India. Hence we urge the International Tribunal on Law of the Sea to go for rational delimitation of the territorial waters of both countries. In case Srilankan state refuses to abide by such delimitation, we urge India to take the issue before International Court of Justice. The International Court of Justice on 15th March 2001 in the Case Concerning Maritime Delimitation and Territorial questions Quatar and Bahrain had cited Article 15 and also pointed out that it is virtually identical to Article 12 paragraph 1 of the 1958 Convention of the Territorial Sea. The Court said that the contiguous zone 51

is to be regarded as having customary character. It often referred to the equal-distance/ special circumstances rule. India had forgotten to restrain Srilanka from its unprovoked killing of hundreds of Indian Tamil fishermen, in view of the ambiguity over territorial waters. Kachcha Tivu is 17 kilometers from Indian town of Rameswaram. It comes under the contiguous zone even if 12 nautical miles is accepted as territorial waters from the coast. But Kachcha Tivu had been an Indian Territory for centuries. It was one among the 8 islands belonging to the Tamil Kingdom of Ramnad. As per the copper plate inscriptions unearthed as archaeological findings of 1531 it was in the possession of Sethupathy Kings who ruled Indian state of Ramnad. The Sea between India and Srilanka is even today known as Sethu Samudram, which means the Seas of Sethupathy kings. This toponomical evidence also proves it to be Indian Territory. The East India Company of the Britain had obtained this Kachcha Tivu Island on lease in 1822 from the Sethupathy King. In 1880 one Abdul Kader of Kilakkarai, a village in Tamilnadu state of India had obtained on lease Kachcha Tivu, Kuthukaal Tivu, and Mannali tivu from the District Collector of Ramnad, under Madras Presidency of India. In 1913 The Government of Madras Presidency had obtained lease of Kachcha Tivu from the King Sethupathy of the Princely State of Ramnad, and had given fishing rights to fishermen of Madras Presidency. In 1947 one Mr.Mohammed had taken lease of the island of Kachcha Tivu which was registered in the Sub-Registrar’s office of Indian town of Rameswaram [Ref: Reg.No. 278/1948. After India attained independence the Indian State of Madras by way of Government Order No: 2093 dated 11.8.1949 declared that Kachcha Tivu as barren land under Rameswaram revenue village Survey Number: 1250 in an area of 285 acres and 20 cents. Thus for centuries Kachcha Tivu was under the Princely state of Ramnad in British India, and under Government of Madras in Independent India. Srilanka clandestinely sent it troops to that uninhabited island in 1955, for training their naval personnel. There was uproar in Indian Parliament. But Srilanka went on claiming rights over that Indian Territory. In 1974 India conceded that territory to Srilanka through an agreement which India claimed will protect the fishing rights of Indian Tamil fishermen and the right to worship the lone church that was built in 1939. Srilanka misinterpreted the agreement by saying the Indian Tamil fishermen have rights only to dry their nets in the island and Indian Tamil citizens have no right to fishing. Using this misinterpretation, Srilanka till date goes on killing spree of Indian Tamil fishermen.

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Hence we Indian Tamils are urging our Government and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea to redefine our territorial waters to protect the lives of Indian Tamil citizens of India. Srilanka in its madness to ethnic cleanse Tamils of its soil indulges in cross border terrorism to annihilate Indian Tamil fishermen. We urge the International Tribunal on the Law of Seas to order for: A] Scrapping the Indo—Srilankan agreement on Kachcha Tivu signed in 1974. B] re-demarcating the territorial waters of India, not only taking into account the landmass of the Southern mainland of India facing Bay of Bengal but also the baselines of the 20 islands of India in the Palk Strait, more particularly in the Gulf of Mannar. C] Defining the equal-distance not from mainland but various points from these 20 islands. D] Ensuring the traditional and historical fishing rights of Indian Tamil fishermen in India’s territorial waters, contiguous areas, and right to enjoy the freedom of seas in international waters. E] directing the International Criminal Court of Justice to probe the thousand killings of Indian fisherman by Srilankan navy, and to punish the naval authorities and the Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe for the genocide of Indians who were not demanding independent nation, but were in India for centuries enjoying the freedom of seas and pursuing fishing profession in peace. F] Directing the Srilankan Government to pay damages and compensation to all lives killed by Srilankan navy since 1974 to 2009. We pray before the Respected Judges of the Tribunal to deliver Justice to Indian Tamils. With Regards Yours sincerely N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai.

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IN THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT OF JUSTICE AT HAGUE N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai 9 Ramaraja Street Puducherry 605001 To Mr. Luis Moreno Ocampo Public Prosecutor Office of the Public Prosecutor International Criminal Court of Justice Post Office Box; 19519 2500 CM The Hague THE NETHERLANDS Respected Sir, Subject: Complaint against Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe on the genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes throwing all canons of international law to winds. The petitioner recalls your words at the outset. "I deeply hope that the horrors humanity has suffered during the 20th century will serve us as a painful lesson, and that the creation of the International Criminal Court will help us to prevent those atrocities from being repeated in the future." [Statement made by Luis Moreno-Ocampo on the occasion of his election as first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court by the Assembly of States Parties in New York on 22 April 2003.] International Campaign to End Genocide lists out that 1.5 million Armenians, 3 million Ukrainians, 6 million Jews, 2,50,000 gypsies, 6 million Slavs,1 million Ibos, 200,000 Guatemalans, 1.7 million Cambodians, 500,000 Indonesians, 200,000 East Timorese , 2,50,000 Burundians, 500,000 Ugandans, 2 million Sudanese, 800,000 Rwandans, 2 million North Koreans and 10,000 Kosovo's lost their lives under Genocide during last century. Awareness on Genocide started in 1944, when a Jewish Refugee from Poland who taught in USA coined the word Genocide in his book “Axis 54

Rule in Occupied Europe”. Tamils of Ceylon, currently known as Srilanka started to learn the bitter truth about Genocide from 1956. Dravida Peravai encloses you a book titled Tamil Genocide under NeoNazism, which is a charge sheet against Srilankan Governments wherein Tamil massacres since 1956 to 2001 are complied by a non-governmental organization. Though the language used is not so fluent with many spelling mistakes on the names of persons and places, we have thanked the first ever effort made, and had attached that report to our complaint made to the President of the Security Council for the month of May, to the General Secretary of the United Nations and to the representatives of the Member Nations of the Security Council. In that letter we have urged the Security Council to direct our complaint to you urging you to begin the probe into the issue of Tamil Genocide since 1956 to till date i.e. 2009. The copy is in the first few pages of the enclosed book. We urge The International Criminal Court of Justice probe using all arms of the United Nations and non governmental organizations and to compile all the crimes of genocide committed by Srilankan governments since independence but with emphasis of the current Government of Mr.Mahinda Rajapakhse. Winston Churchill called genocide, a crime without name, before the word was coined. Now the Srilankan President is pursuing that crime without witness. The War without witness may be called a war against terrorism by Srilankan Government, but the day when independent observers and non governmental organizations and international media gets free access to the people of Tamil Eelam, you will be getting all the evidences needed to fix the Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe for war crimes and crimes of genocide. Further even after declaring victory in the War, The Executive President of Srilanka who executed Tamils in thousands and thousands, is nor stalling access to UN only to destroy the evidences against the crime, like burning the corpses so that numbers killed could get concealed. Before we could mail this complaint news from Srilanka once again proves that President wants Peace too to be without witnesses. Boston Globe voices concern. EU must investigate Sri Lanka war crimes - Boston Globe Tuesday, 19 May 2009 "The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been claiming a glorious total victory - and denying allegations from doctors on the scene that tens of thousands of innocent civilians have been the victims of indiscriminate artillery fire and scorched-earth tactics," said Boston Globe in Tuesday's editorial, adding "the European Union must follow up on its 55

call for an investigation of war crimes against civilians." The editorial also said that "the United Nations adopted a resolution in 2005 on the "responsibility to protect" populations that are not protected by their own governments. The massive killing and wounding of civilians on Sri Lanka represents exactly the sort of case that resolution was meant to address." Full text of the editorial follows: Sri Lanka, after the war ONE OF THE WORLD'S bloodiest conflicts has come to a violent conclusion in the island nation of Sri Lanka. The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been claiming a glorious total victory - and denying allegations from doctors on the scene that tens of thousands of innocent civilians have been the victims of indiscriminate artillery fire and scorchedearth tactics. Rajapaksa must give aid organizations access to hundreds of thousands of uprooted Tamils in the islands northeast. Overwhelmed doctors in overcrowded camps are amputating limbs without sufficient drugs and medical supplies. The people in those camps desperately need medical care, food, and water. And they should be allowed to return to their homes as soon as possible. Once the humanitarian crisis is addressed, the European Union must follow up on its call for an investigation of war crimes against civilians. The Rajapaksa government has tried to draw a screen around its actions, banning independent journalists and international aid groups from the war zone. But the United Nations adopted a resolution in 2005 on the "responsibility to protect" populations that are not protected by their own governments. The massive killing and wounding of civilians on Sri Lanka represents exactly the sort of case that resolution was meant to address. Ultimately, the only way for Sri Lanka to avoid another Tamil rebellion is to grant the Tamils some form of local autonomy in their region. Now that the Tigers have been crushed, the Sinhalese majority of Sri Lanka has no excuse for not addressing the legitimate grievances of the Tamil minority. Srilanka won’t heed Boston Globe or even all nations in our globe. The purpose in our reproducing the Boston Globe editorial is to urge you to start investigations into the war crimes in Srilanka. Lies, deceptions, hallmark of Sri Lanka war- Telegraph

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Monday, 18 May 2009 "Chinese weapons, intelligence, Sinhala Armed personals and racist Sri Lankan leaders came together to perform one of the most cruel war that has cost the lives of many thousands innocents," says Richard Dixon, a columnist in London's Telegraph. While "Tamils all over the world are mourning the death of their loved ones back home," and "birds have now stopped singing in a land called Vanni," Dixon writes, "leaders of Sri Lanka and some responsible officers in the UN, should be questioned in international courts in order to find out if they were responsible for the deaths of innocent Tamils." Full text of the article follows: The Real Culprits behind Sri Lankan War Birds have now stopped singing in a land called Vanni. Sun, moon and the stars in the sky have hidden their faces. Angel of death flew over the skies of Vanni and took the lives of more than twenty five thousand innocent Tamil men, women and children in a single day. Thousands of wounded are still are crying out for help. They are bleeding to death on the streets. They have touched neither water nor food for days. Nobody has come to rescue them. Those who fight for the rights of the animals and those who preach about Buddha and Mahatma have no compassion for the dying Tamils. Chinese weapons, Indian intelligence, Sinhalese Armed personals and racist Sri Lankan leaders came together to perform one of the most cruel war that has cost the lives of many thousands innocents. While thousands of innocent children and women are facing painful and slow death, Sinhalese Buddhist extremists are celebrating victory with flags and fire crackers in the south of the country. War that was started with hidden agendas of local and international forces went on for months not just with the strength of the weapons but with well organized false propaganda done by the Sri Lankan officials. This war was orchestrated and staged with lies and deceptions from the beginning till the end. Sri Lankan leaders are still vomiting out worms of lies Rulers of Sri Lanka are continuing to vomit out worms of lies to justify their atrocities against innocent lives. They started with “War on Terror” but changed the buzz word to “Humanitarian Operation” in order to deceive the international community. “War on Terror” was an accepted norm during 57

the Bush era but lost its validity now. Therefore they had changed the name of the game to “Humanitarian operation” Why do they lie? Because they have many hidden agendas behind this dirty war they want to hide the atrocities that are being committed against innocent civilians. They themselves know, what they are doing is wrong and not acceptable in a civilized world. Above everything they want to protect India who is orchestrating the war in Sri Lanka. Indian intelligent agents and military experts are working closely with the Sri Lankan forces in the war zone. How do they manage to lie? They simply hide the truth. When the truth is hidden what comes out is lie. Foreign journalists and aid workers are barred from the war zone and IDP camps. Those who try to enter and report about the war are kicked out of the country if they are critical of the government. Local journalists are intimidated, tortured and sometime killed. Telling the truth is considered a crime in Sri Lanka. Phone lines are tapped. Web sites are blocked. Anybody who talks against the government is considered as Terrorist or Terrorist supporter .In the war front, dead bodies of the civilians is burned to ashes using powerful chemicals. This is to hide the number of innocent civilians that have perished in the wars Lankan government officials very often organize staged visits to the IDP camps and force the refugees to lie to the foreign diplomats. What did they lie about? They lied about the objective of the war, weapons used, number of civilian causalities and military operations. Although they initially claimed that the objective of the war was to defeat the LTTE, they have in fact killed and wounded several thousands of innocent Tamil civilians with heavy weapons. They used chemical weapons and cluster bombs on innocents, but they continue to deny the usage of such weapons. Sri Lankan forces have destroyed Schools, hospitals and farm lands and made the whole place into a graveyard for the Tamils. This is also regularly denied by the Sri Lankan authorities. This war has claimed more than fifty thousands lives just within the last few months but the Sri Lankan government is not going to open their mouth and tell this truth to the world. Why didn't the UN intervene? 58

United Nations, who is supposed to be a guardian for the oppressed people in the world turned out to be a silent spectator of a man made disaster that has taken the lives of many thousands. There is a conspiracy behind this whole war game. China was initially blocking every attempt that was made by UK and France to discuss the Sri Lankan issue in the Security Council. What we are witnessing in Sri Lanka is neither “war on terror” nor a Humanitarian operation. This is simply a racist war against the Tamils conducted with the help of India and China. You wouldn't shoot at the passengers and bomb the whole bus, if you had to rescue the hostages. Sinhalese extremists are already celebrating and they have also started to intimidate Tamils in the South of the country. India and China have started to work on their hidden agendas in Sri Lanka. Tamils all over the world are mourning the death of their loved ones back home. What Next? When the rocket scientists designed highly complex derivatives and greedy traders traded these new emperors cloths, many investment banks collapsed. Pension funds lost money. Bankers committed suicide. The whole financial disaster was caused by greedy and selfish individuals who had short term hidden agendas. We took action. Greedy bankers and traders were taken to courts. New rules and regulations are now in place to prevent this happening again. In the same way, the masters of this war in Sri Lanka should be brought to justice. Sinhalese government with racist agendas, China and India with their strategic interests and UN with corrupt officers are the evil ingredients of this dirty war that has cost the lives of many thousands innocent Tamils. Leaders of Sri Lanka and some responsible officers in the UN should be questioned in international courts in order to find out if they were responsible for the deaths of innocent Tamils. If we didn't, we would end up seeing more of such evil games repeated over and over again. Richard Dixon [email protected] 59

Our comments: [We are baffled at the reporter’s charge about India, and being patriots we are ashamed if such things were happening and we pray it wont be true, but it is left to International Court of Criminal Justice either to take cognizance of the views or to probe the matter further. India should refute these charges and not bury truth, even if some one had bypassed the Government to engage in such crimes. Since pursuit of truth and justice for Tamils is our goal, amidst biased propaganda blitzkrieg of Srilanka, we don’t want to censor The Telegraph, quoted in above paragraphs. …N.N] SINHALESE GOVERNMENTS AND TAMIL GENOCIDE Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the crime of Genocide adopted by Resolution 260[ iii] A of the UN General Assembly on 9th December 1048 is a remarkable milestone and this came into effect on 12 th January 1951. The Srilankan Government started its first genocide on 5.6.1956. People thought it is just ethnic clash but never at that point Tamils thought ethnic cleansing had started. We are sending the Charge sheet against Sinhalese Governments listing out the people who were butchered to death in the genocidal agenda consistently pursued by almost all Sinhalese Governments. The book Journey of Man by Spencer Wells establishes that all men are from common source. All genes of human beings have common genes and gene markers. Science had proven beyond an iota of doubt that race is a myth. But Sinhalese regard Mahavamsam, their sacred book which inculcates in them wrong notion of racial supremacy. Even the legend on the origin of Sinhalese race starts with a lion and a human princess, which itself will shatter the very foundation of the origin of their race, as unscientific fiction. Yet with the same racial superiority which Adolph Hitler proclaimed to be an Aryan, who went to annihilate the inferior Jews according to his mindset, Sinhalese rulers have been indulging in massacres of Tamils from 1956. Though the world woke up to the horrors of genocide in 1948, the report on The Genocide Convention: First 50 years [1948-1998] by William Schabas available in the online library of the US Institute of Peace fails to mention crimes against Tamils. Tamils are the most peace loving people, whose leaders have failed to highlight or bring to the notice of the UN all these years about the Tamil Genocide in Srilanka since 1956.

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We are now starting to knock the International Criminal Court of Justice and the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner. The Special Report on first 50 years record with anguish “that in 1994 while 800,000 Tutis died in Rwanda State Department debated whether it was genocide and the United Nations Security Council withdrew UN Peace Keeping Force who could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.” But in this century Tamils are placed in a better position because all over the world Tamil Diaspora relentlessly fought to draw the attention of the civilized world and we are grateful for the President of the United States Mr.Barrack Obama and Secretary of State Ms.Hillary Rodham Clinton, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary Mr.Millind, the Norway Minster Mr. Eric Solheim and to European Parliament for echoing the plight of Tamils of Tamil Eelam crushed under the genocidal war machine of Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe. The Special Report on first 50 years points out that on 2 nd September 1998 only International Tribunal for Rwanda issued first conviction for genocide condemning Rwandan Mayor Jean Paul Akayesu and justice done to Tutis. Similarly from the theatre of Eelam war obeying the resolution of the UN Security Council, the freedom fighters expressed willingness to surrender arms to a neutral country, they announced that their guns will become silent, they pleaded for ensuring safe passage for 25000 civilians wounded in the combat zone. But unmindful of the conscience of the humanity and comity of nations Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe went ahead in his war of ethnic cleansing and committed the gravest crime of genocide. We hope UN and other bodies will belatedly deliver justice to out Tamil kinsmen. After all wars are essential to test newly invented weaponry and China with its single minded pursuit to encircle India and to teach India a lesson for its involvement in Tibet, provided all the arms of mass destruction and chemical weapons to the blood thirsty war mongers of Srilanka. India tells UN that it has complied with Weapons Convention : Chemical Arms Destroyed says a news in English Daily :Deccan Chronicle of 15 th May 2009.The news paper says that India has informed the United Nations that it has destroyed its stockpile of chemical weapons in compliance with International Chemical Weapons Convention. Though the Government of India had notified on 26th of March 2009 on the fulfillment of its obligation to completely destroy its declared chemical weapons stockpile, the news was broken a day before the counting of votes in recently held Indian elections were to begin. If the news had broken in March 26th, there would not have arisen doubts in the minds of Indian Tamils. That is internal matter of India.

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Here the purpose is to urge the Public Prosecutor to find out how come and wherefrom Srilanka obtained its chemical bombs and weapons? Let me begin my complaint by quoting UN documents itself Sri Lanka: UN expert on genocide prevention Calls for end to conflict

Overcrowding remains a problem at the transit/IDP sites in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka 15 May 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Adviser on the prevention of genocide today said that “it is not too late” for Sri Lanka's Government forces and rebels to end their brutal conflict, underscoring the toll the clashes are taking on civilians. “This polarizing conflict is identity-related with ethnicity and religion as deeply divisive factors,” he said. “It will not end with winners and losers and it cannot be ended solely through a military victory that may not be sustainable in the long-run unless legitimate grievances are addressed.” Mr.Deng underscored that women and girls are particularly vulnerable to “excesses of conflict,” stressing that the Government is legally obligated to give them special protection. He called on authorities to allow the UN and other agencies “full and unfettered access to all civilians and detainees.” Mr.Kälin also expressed his concern over the dire living conditions in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) who escaped the conflict, with the influx of an additional 110,000 people during the last 10 days of April posing further challenges for the Government and its humanitarian partners. “Ensuring adequate humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons is first and foremost a Government responsibility, especially since the Government decided to intern them in camps, citing security concerns,” he said, adding that authorities continue to hold nearly 200,000 IDPs in temporary camps. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today reiterated that the loss of civilian life and the situation of

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those trapped in the conflict zone are unacceptable, deploring the use of heavy weapons and of civilians as human shields. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said today that it believes that an independent commission of inquiry is needed given the conduct of this war and the number of civilians who have been killed.

Patients, medical staff, aid workers, and other witnesses have provided Human Rights Watch with information about at least 30 attacks on permanent and makeshift hospitals in the combat area since December 2008. One of the deadliest took place on May 2, when artillery shells struck Mullaivaikal hospital in the government-declared "no-fire zone," killing 68 persons and wounding 87. •

HRW: List of attacked hospitals

HRW quoted “several independent sources” as saying that each time a hospital was established in a new location, the doctors transmitted GPS coordinates of the facility to the Sri Lankan government to ensure that the facility would be protected from military attack. Medical staff said that, on several occasions, attacks occurred on the day after the coordinates had been transmitted. “Permanent and makeshift hospitals within LTTEcontrolled territory continue to receive hundreds of patients daily. Many arrive wounded from the fighting, while others are sick due to inadequate sanitation, and acute shortages of food and clean water,” HRW said. "Hospitals are supposed to be sanctuaries from shelling, not targets," Adams said." Repeated Sri Lankan artillery attacks striking known hospitals is evidence of war crimes," he added. "The government cannot hide behind LTTE atrocities to justify their own unlawful acts.”HRW has criticized both the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for numerous violations of the laws of war during the recent fighting.

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UN experts demand international scrutiny in Sri Lanka Four UN Human Rights Council experts on right to health, food, water, and sanitation, in a statement said that "there is good reason to believe that thousands of civilians have been killed in the past three months alone, and yet the Sri Lankan Government has yet to account for the casualties, or to provide access to the war zone for journalists and humanitarian monitors of any type," and that "shipments of food and medicine to the "no fire zone" have been grossly insufficient over the past month and the Government has reportedly delayed or denied timely shipment of life saving medicines as well as to chlorine tablets," and urged the U.N. to establish a commission to address the critical human rights situation, and demand full respect to human rights. Philip Alston, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law, appointed Special Rapporteur in 2004 by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Anand Grover, appointed Special Rapporteur in 2008 by the United Nations Human Rights Council, Mr. Olivier De Schutter was appointed Special Rapporteur in 2008, and Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque began her work as Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation in November 2008, signed the statement. Full text of the statement follows: current humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka gives cause for deep concern, not only in terms of the number of civilians who have been and continue to be killed, but because of a dramatic lack of transparency and accountability. "There is good reason to believe that thousands of civilians have been killed in the past three months alone, and yet the Sri Lankan Government has yet to account for the casualties, or to provide access to the war zone for journalists and humanitarian monitors of any type", said Philip Alston, the UN expert on summary executions. The continuing catastrophic situation of civilians in Sri Lanka trapped in the midst of fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE, in an area measuring less than 10 sq km, must be immediately addressed. "These civilians do not have sufficient access to food, essential medical supplies or services and safe water and sanitation. Even if they do escape death or injury at the hands of the hostile parties, their continued presence in this area without access to these basic rights is an effective death sentence," declared the Experts of the UN Human Rights Council. "The safety of civilians, including their safe passage out of the conflict zone, must be prioritized by all actors involved" said the Experts. While many thousands of civilians have now left this area, the Experts maintained their concern about the safety of more than 50,000 estimated by the UN to still remain. Shipments of food and medicine to the "no fire zone" have been grossly insufficient over the past month and the

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Government has reportedly delayed or denied timely shipment of life saving medicines as well as to chlorine tablets. "As a result of the blackout on independent information sources, it is impossible to verify any of the Government's claims as to the number of casualties to date or as to the steps that it says it is taking in order to minimize the further killing of innocent civilians, and ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance", said the Experts. "When people manage to escape, they reportedly continue to face scant supplies, entirely insufficient access to adequate medical treatment and severely overcrowded hospitals, providing no relief to the horrors they had been living," remarked Anand Grover, the UN expert on the right to health. "Access to food has also been hampered by arduous and lengthy registration procedures for the internally displaced persons; the desperation and chaos witnessed in some cases show that the situation is critical," said Olivier De Schutter, the UN expert on the right to food. Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN expert on water and sanitation, also expressed concern about "water shortages reported at Omanthai and at most of the transit sites as well as inadequate sanitation facilities, which put the health and lives of the population at further risk." The Government must take urgent measures with the assistance of the international community to ensure that security concerns do not result in unjustifiable suffering. The Experts called upon the Sri Lankan Government to provide convincing evidence to the international community that it is respecting its obligations under human rights and international humanitarian law. It is also clear that the LTTE, for its part, has acted in flagrant violation of the applicable norms by preventing civilians from leaving the conflict area and having reportedly shot and killed those trying to flee. "There is an urgent need to establish an international commission of inquiry to document the events of recent months and to monitor ongoing developments." The Experts called upon the UN Human Rights Council to establish such a commission, as a matter of urgency, to address the critical situation in Sri Lanka, and demand full respect for all human rights. Any such inquiry should study the conduct of all sides to the conflict. Sri Lanka in "interminable and intractable crisis"- UN Even before the genocidal war was started by Government of Srilanka at the behest of President Mahinda Rajapakshe i.e. on Monday, 23 October 2006, Prof. Philip Alston, United Nation's Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Third Committee, 20 October 2006, said that the "dramatic attacks in recent days and spiraling number of extrajudicial executions" indicate that "Sri Lanka is not so much on the brink of a new crisis but, instead, only in the midst of an interminable and intractable crisis that has already exhausted its fair share of international attention," and 65

called upon the United Nations Secretariat to "establish a full-fledged international human rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka." •

Prof. Alston's address to UN Assembly

•

Prof. Alston's Report on Extra-judicial killings

"Widespread violence during a faltering ceasefire is not the same as an all-out civil war that costs tens of thousands of lives. Real progress has been made over the past four years, and nothing that has happened in these past few months has made achieving a sustainable peace founded on respect for human rights impossible. But there is little reason to think that the opportunity will be available for much longer," Prof. Alston warned. He said although the "issue was placed squarely before the Human Rights Council last month but the signals are that any action the Council might take in November will do very little to make a difference as this tragic situation swells and threatens to reach bursting point." The following challenges should be immediately addressed, Prof. Alston told the UN assembly: • •

To acknowledge the need for significantly more sustained and highlevel international involvement To accept the fact that there is no national institution capable of monitoring human rights throughout Sri Lanka, and To establish an effective international human rights monitoring presence.

In the report Prof Alston presented, he said: "The Sri Lanka Government should not, however, interpret the widespread proscription of LTTE as a terrorist organization as an endorsement of its own record. Neither its past nor its present conduct would justify great faith in its ability to respect equally the rights of all citizens. Indeed, it is an enduring scandal that there have been virtually no convictions of government officials for killing Tamils, and many Tamils doubt that the rule of law will protect their lives." The warning from Prof.Alston comes in the wake of assurances given by Sri Lanka's President "of his intention to invite an international commission to inquire into recent killings, disappearances and abductions in Sri Lanka." Human Rights bodies have raised serious doubts of the bona fides of Sri Lanka Government's intentions to set up an independent Rights body with international participation.

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"Unless the government has announced something new, they have been calling for a Local Commission of Inquiry (COI) with international observers. However that is different from a human rights monitoring mission," Senior Legal Advisor, Human Rights Watch, New York, James Ross told The Sunday Leader." Just having international observers is insufficient as international monitors need to play a more direct role to ensure that the commission is independent and impartial and would report its findings publicly," Ross said, Sunday Leader reported.The New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent a fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka has also denied government claims that they had decided to send observers to the local commission, the paper further said. According to Ross, HRW has not held any discussions with the government on the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry nor had the terms of reference for such a commission been discussed. The government had earlier in the month said that a eight member local commission headed by a Supreme Court judge with international representatives as observers would be set up in order to investigate human rights violations, the Leader reported. British Parliamentarians call for UK to rein in Sri Lanka Wednesday, 12 March 2008 A group of Parliamentarians from all of Britain’s main political parties condemned the assassination last week of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP K Sivanesan and, lamenting the recent exit of the international panel overseeing rights abuses probes in Sri Lanka, called on the UK government to take all possible steps to ensure that Government of Sri Lanka plays by accepted international rules. The British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Tamils expressed its serious concern at the decision of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) - headed by former Indian Chief Justice P N Bhagwati to terminate its operations in Sri Lanka. “Violence in Sri Lanka remains terribly and unacceptably high. The British APPG for Tamils deplores all killings and assassinations including the assassination of K. Sivanesan, a democratically elected member of the Sri Lankan parliament,” the MPs, said. “The decision by the IIGEP to terminate operations raises serious questions about the claims made by the Government of Sri Lanka that it is taking all efforts to uphold human rights. “It is extremely worrying that a reputable body such as the IIGEP has now concluded that there is no 67

further use for it in probing the abductions, disappearances and extrajudicial killings which the Group was invited to investigate in September 2006” The APPG welcomed comments by British Foreign Minister Lord Malloch-Brown at the UN Human Rights Council in which he criticized the Sri Lankan government of President Mahinda Rajapakse. “We will now be asking the British Foreign Secretary to consider what other action is available to the British government and to take all possible steps to ensure that Government of Sri Lanka plays by accepted international rules,” the APPG said. “A political solution to the continuing conflict in Sri Lanka is as vital now as ever. There must be an end to the spiral of violence if the seventh decade of an independent Sri Lanka is to be one of justice, peace and prosperity.” The APPG for Tamils includes Parliamentarians from the ruling Labour party and the main opposition parties, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, as well as the Scottish National Party. SRILANKAN GOVERNMENT LACKS WILL TO BRING JUSTICE– IIGEP 08 March 2008 A lack of will on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka was one factor in the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) terminating its operations in Sri Lanka, Prof. Sir. Nigel Rodley, representing Britain in the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), told BBC Tamil service in an interview. Sir Nigel Rodley (Photo: BBC) “It was I think a lack of will ... they certainly didn’t have the money in order to have full servicing from the private bar,” Sir Nigel Rodley said on being asked by BBC Tamil service correspondent whether it was administrative problems or the lack of determination to maintain law and justice, or disinterest on the part of GoSL which ended in the termination of the operations of IIGEP in Sri Lanka.

the

"We felt that there were shortcomings in the structure of the Commission of Inquiry and the duty of IIGEP was to find what was wrong in the investigations of Commission and the reason for the perpetrators of the crimes involved escaping the arms of the law.” The Attorney General’s presence in the Commission and the participation of his office in the 68

commission was a factor that reduced the credibility of commission," Sir Nigel Rodley said in his interview."Sri Lanka was accused yesterday of widespread abductions in its counter-insurgency operations against the Tamil Tigers, making the country one of the worst in the world for 'disappearances,'" said The Guardian, a British daily, in its Friday edition. "The Presidential Commission was so obviously an eye-wash and the IIGEP was only called upon to give respectability to a very deliberate design to subvert the process of law for which purpose alone this Commission was appointed," said Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a Hong Kong-based Rights watchdog, in a press release issued Friday. Meanwhile, Dr. Manohar, the father of Rajivar, one of the five university students killed in Trincomalee in January 2006, told BBC Tamil service Thursday, “Sri Lanka Government realized the danger of being exposed if IIGEP continued to monitor the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) investigating into the killings and was worried of the repercussions on the IIGEP's move to take the issue to levels of international standards.” “Now that I am out of Sri Lanka I am no longer afraid to state that it was the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops who killed my son,” Dr. Manohar added.“The IIGEP monitored the investigation of the Commission of Inquiry and was moving it to international standards which were something the Government of Srilanka could not put up with and that is why it applied pressure on the IIGET forcing it to terminate its service,” Dr. Manohar said. GoSL says that it is unable to continue investigations because witnesses do not turn up at the trials, the BBC correspondent told Dr. Manohar and sought his response in the interview. “No one will come forward to bear witness because whoever who dared to so had been killed,” Dr. Mahohar replied. “It was very dangerous to speak the truth and I admit that I too was scared to bear witness that it was the SLA troops who killed my son and other four youths in Trincomalee,” he said. “Two of the students in the group, seriously injured in the grenade attack which killed the others, had testified in the inquest into deaths that it was the SLA troops that killed their five colleagues. ”“Even though the two are now in countries away from Sri Lanka they will not come forward to bear witness because of the danger to the lives of their parents and siblings who still are in Sri Lanka,” Dr. Manohar told. “There have been many commissions of inquiry appointed to investigate into the human rights violation in Sri Lanka but none of them had been of any use because Sri Lanka government will do what it wants,” he told BBC. 69

The only way to find justice is to take these cases of gross human rights violations to the International Courts of Justice and international agencies like UN should intervene to offer direction and help to Sri Lanka and the commissions to bring justice to the Tamils in Sri Lanka The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), headed by P N Bhagwati, former Indian Chief Justice, decided to terminate its operations in Sri Lanka, according to a statement issued by the IIGEP on Thursday. "The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP," an AFP report has quoted a statement by the IIGEP. Trincomalee residents were shocked and angered over the killing of five old students of Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College in a grenade attack alleged by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on 2 January at about 7.50 p.m. Two old students, one from Sri Koneswara Hindu College and another from St.Joseph’s College in Trincomalee were warded in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Trincomalee general hospital. All the dead and injured were identified as Tamils and below the age of 20 years. Two of the dead students have gained university admission for the current academic year, police sources said. IIGEP faults Commission of lacking Independence, Timeliness Monday, 11 June 2007, International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), in a report released to the President of Sri Lanka on 1st June on the President’s Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights, said: "We have identified and raised a number of concerns with the Commission and the Government of Sri Lanka. We remain concerned that current measures taken by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Commission to address issues such as the independence of the Commission, timeliness and witness protection are not adequate and do not satisfy international norms and standards." Justice P.N. Bhagwati On the issue on independence, the IIGEP Report and SL Govt. report signed by P N Bhagwati Response Chairman, IIGEP, said" "The Attorney General’s Department is the Chief Legal Adviser to the Government of Sri Lanka. Members of the Attorney General’s Department have been involved in the original investigations into those cases subject to further investigation by the Commission itself. As such, members of the Attorney General’s Department may

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find that they are investigating themselves. Furthermore, it is possible that they be called as material witnesses before the Commission. We consider these to be serious conflicts of interest, which lack transparency and compromise national and international standards of independence and impartiality that are central to the credibility and public confidence of the Commission. "The IIGEP accused the Commission of not executing the expected investigations in a timely manner.” We are concerned that the Commission did not commence even preliminary investigations and inquiries until May 2007, despite being constituted six months earlier in November 2006. To date, internal processes have not been transparent; no detailed work plan has been announced; essential staff have not yet been fully recruited; investigative and witness protection units are not functioning; and significantly, evidence already known to be in the possession of Governmental bodies relating to the cases has not been gathered and transmitted to us. Such unnecessary delays undermine public confidence in the ability of the Commission to carry out its mandate in a timely manner," the report said. The report also criticized the CoI for not enacting appropriate "legislation that accords with international norms and standards" to protect victims and witnesses. "The public statements from State officials are creating the misleading impression that the Commission and IIGEP have wide mandates and powers and the resources to address ongoing alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka. This is not the case. In the current context, in particular, the apparent renewed systematic practice of enforced disappearance and the killings of Red Cross workers, it is critical that the Commission and IIGEP not be portrayed as a substitute for robust, effective measures including national and international human rights monitoring," the report said. According to an announcement made on 6 September 2006, Sri Lanka's President invited an International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to act as observers of the activities of the Commission [consisting of Sri Lanka nationals] which was mandated to investigate alleged abductions, disappearances and extra judicial killings. COMMISSION OF INQUIRYAmnesty INTERNATIONAL EXPOSES November 2006, Amnesty International said that the Commission of Inquiries consisting of 8 Sri Lankan nationals, and the International Independent Group of eminent Persons (IIGEP) of foreign nationals to act as observers, as announced by Sri Lanka's President, lack "credibility and confidence of parties to the conflict and sections of the society to be able to

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conduct meaningful investigations, obtain critical testimony information from witnesses and gain the acceptance of recommendations by all relevant parties," in a report issued November, and declined to nominate an AI member to stand candidate to IIGEP.

or its 17 as

Contrary to Mr. Rajapakse's AI's observations on CoI, announcement on 4 September 2006 that IIEGP Sri Lanka government would "invite an international independent commission to probe abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings," Mr. Rajapakse on 6 September 2006, instead announced that "he would invite an International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to act as observers of the activities of the Commission consisting of Sri Lanka nationals] which will investigate alleged abductions, disappearances and extra judicial killings," Amnesty said. "In light of decades of impunity for perpetrators of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Sri Lanka, characterized by the failure of the authorities to investigate and prosecute such perpetrators effectively, only an international and independent Commission would have the credibility and confidence of all parties to the conflict and sections of society," Amnesty added. Amnesty expressed serious concerns on the functioning of the CoI established under the Commissions of Inquiry Act No. 17 of 1948. The Act grants the President the power to: • • •

set the terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry and appoint all its members (sec.2); add new members at his/her discretion (sec. 3); revoke the warrant establishing the Commission at any time (sec. 4); and Appoint the Commission’s secretary (sec. 19) without needing to consult the Commission or its chairperson.

Amnesty said. The Amnesty said further that "The decision as to whether the inquiry – "or any part thereof" is to be public also rests solely with the President (sec. 2(2) (d)). In addition, there are no provisions in the Act requiring that the reports or recommendations of the Commission are made public. "Amnesty International is concerned that these and other provisions, which grant the President a wide discretion, may undermine the independence and impartiality of the COI, as well as the Commission’s ability to inspire public confidence and interact freely with the public. Accordingly these factors may undermine the willingness of the public to engage with the COI and to come forward with evidence, the report said. Amnesty called on Sri Lanka's

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President to add independent, impartial and competent international experts to the proposed COL and to ensure that the COI’s work is developed in consultation with a representative profile of civil society, including NGOs.

Dravida Peravai had taken pains to quote very few Reports from various sources spanning over past few years to drive home to the Office of the Public Prosecutor that we Indian Tamils are urging your probe not as an act of vendetta against the victor Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe in the war against Tamils. We in fact are producing evidences beyond his term and even before his arrival in the scene, to emphasize that all Sinhalese Governments more or less were adopting the same policy to ethnic cleanse, and the charges against current Government is but a continuation of those charges, which in overall context must be probed in totality. BACKGROUND: "At the end of July 1983, Sri Lanka witnessed its worst outburst of ethnic violence since independence, causing severe loss of life and property to the Tamil minority..... A (Sri Lanka) government spokesman has denied that the destruction and killing of Tamils amounted to genocide. Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, acts of murder committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such are considered as acts of genocide. The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the Sinhalese rioters on the Tamils amounted to acts of genocide." - The International Commission of Jurists Review, December 1983 " ..The present conflict has transcended the special consideration of minority rights and has reached the point where the basic human rights of the Tamil community - the rights to life and property, freedom of speech and self expression and freedom from arbitrary arrest have in fact and in law been subject to gross and continued violations. Tamils of Sri Lanka: Minority Rights Group Report, September 1983 "The ethnic violence which erupted in Sri Lanka in July 1983 brought untold misery to the Tamils. They were beaten, hacked and burnt to death in a frenzy of racial hatred. Their houses and businesses were selectively looted and destroyed. The Sri Lankan government had admitted that the violence was pre planned and well organized and that even sections of the security forces joined in the attack against the Tamils. . . Yet to date 73

no impartial inquiry into these violent attacks has taken place. Amnesty International (AI) recently reported a number of cases of extrajudicial killings and secret disposal of bodies without inquest or post mortem. The Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) have also reported on a number of cases of torture and death in custody of persons detained incommunicado for period up to 18 months under the Sri Lankan Prevention of Terrorism Act.' No legislation conferring remotely comparable powers is in force in any other free democracy... such a provision is an ugly blot on the statute book of any civilized country'(International Commission of Jurists). [David Alton MP, Paddy Ashdown MP, Norman Atkinson MP, Tony Banks MP, Prof John Barret, Kevin Barron MP, Alan Beith MP, Tony Benn MP, Gerry Birmingham M.P., Prof Tom Bottomore, Sydney Bidwell MP, Malcolm Bruce MP, Dale Campbell-Savors MP, Dennis Canavan MP, Alex Carlile MP, Tom Clarke MP, Bob Clay MP, Anne Clwyd MP, Harry Cohan MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Ron Davis MP, Eric Deakins MP, Alf Dubs MP, Professor Michael Dummet, Derek Fatchett MP, Mark Fisher MP, Martin Flanrcery MP, Roy Hattersley MP, MichaelFoot MP, Simon W.H. HughesMP, Lord Jenkins, RusselJohnston MP, Sir David Lane" Robert Kilroy Silk MP, Archy Kirkwood MP, Ted Knight, Terry Lewis MP, Bob Lither land MP, Ken Livingstone, TonyLloydMP,EddieLoydenMP,MaxMaddenMP,JoanMaynardMP, Willie McKelvy MP, Bill Michael MP, Dr.Paul Noone, Bob Parry MP, Alan Roberts MP, Ernie Roberts MP, Allan Rogers MP, Aubrey Rose, Ernie Ross MP, Steven Ross MP, Clare Short MP, Dennis Skinner MP, Prof Peter Townsend, Jim Wallace MP, Gareth Wardell MP, Dafydd Wigley MP , The Guardian, 28 July 1984] Srilanka is tying to kill or terrorize as many Tamils as possible accuses Margaret Trawick, Professor of Social Anthropology, Massey University Palmerton North, New Zealand 28 April 1996 ."I have been reading reports about the SLA's northward march with mounting despair. At first, the reports coming from the SL military and from the LTTE appeared diametrically opposed. The military said that displaced Tamils were returning north to their homes voluntarily; the LTTE said they were fleeing across the lagoon to the mainland. The military reported that there were bodies laying around that the LTTE hadn't picked up, and the Tigers were chastised for being so disrespectful of their own dead. The LTTE responded with a brief silence. Then the reports began to converge. The LTTE also reported that there were bodies lying around that, indeed, it had not had the capacity to bury properly. Not only LTTE bodies, but civilian bodies. Now according to the Reuters report, the military says it has captured the key lagoon crossing, "to halt the flow of hundreds of Tamil civilians fleeing the peninsula."

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The Defense Ministry appears to admit that the people traveling north were trapped and forced in that direction by the advancing army. The LTTE has reported that fleeing Tamil civilians have been subject to strafing and shelling by the army; military officials say that "hundreds of Tamil civilians are risking being shot at" to flee to safety across the lagoon. One may well ask these military officials who exactly is shooting at these fleeing civilians. Meanwhile those who travel north into the Valigamam area are, according to the military, "screened to ensure there is no LTTE infiltration," while the LTTE reports that all young Tamil men and women entering Valigamam are being arrested and being taken in for questioning, which is the only thing (in this context, and in my view) that "screening" could mean. No journalists or outside reporters or observers of any kind are allowed into the north. No aid of any kind is allowed into areas that are not "controlled by the military." Such areas are being shelled as enemy territory... I have been struggling in my mind against the conclusion that the SL government is trying to kill or terrorize as many Tamil people as possible; that the government is trying to keep the conditions of the war unreported internationally, because if those conditions were reported, the actions of the military would be perceived as so deplorable that foreign nations would have no choice but to condemn them. And this would be embarrassing to everybody. But it seems now that no other conclusion is possible... Sri Lanka's Reprisal Killings of Tamil non combatants The bullet-ridden bodies of Sivarasa Krishna and Palanivel Gunasingham were found at Selvanayagapuram in Trincomalee on-29 May. The two Tamil youths had been abducted in a white van the previous night from Anbuvalipuram. White vans are associated with military death squads and a number of people abducted have disappeared. Tamil MP M Chandrakumar says in a letter to President Chandrika that white vans are creating widespread fear and has called for immediate inquiry. Observers say abductions are the Army's response to Tiger attacks. - Sri Lanka Monitor, published by British Refugee Council, May 1996 "Police (mostly STF officers) and army personnel committed extrajudicial killings in both Jaffna and the Eastern Province... In February 1996 army troops murdered 24 Tamil villagers, including 2 children less than 12 years of age, in the eastern village of Kumarapuram. ... In some cases these extrajudicial killings were reprisals against civilians for LTTE attacks in which members of the security forces were killed or injured. Several such reprisals occurred during operations by the STF. In many cases, the security forces claimed that the victims were members of the LTTE. However, human rights monitors have determined that these victims were civilians. ... There were also a number of suspicious deaths attributed to the security forces, mostly involving detainees..." - U.S. 75

Department of State, Sri Lanka Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996, January 1997 "Sri Lankan forces stationed at Elephant Pass have directed artillery shells at the Kilinochi hospital. The attack is thought to have been the army's retaliation for the fall of Mullaitivu. The indiscriminate shelling resulted in the deaths of five civilians. Another sixteen were wounded. Those injured included the head of the Sri Lankan Red Cross Mr.Vinayagamoorthy. Many who had lost their limbs in the attack have been dispatched to the hospital at Vavunya. Also in retaliation for the fall of Mullativu Sri Lankan soldiers stationed at the Thandikulam barrier fired on Tamil civilians who were waiting to cross the barrier. Mortar shells and bullets were directed towards the people by the army." - Tamil Monitor, 29 July 1996 All branches of the security forces as well as Muslim and Sinhalese home guards and armed cadres of Tamil groups opposed to the LTTE were cited by survivors and witnesses as responsible for human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, "disappearances", torture and arbitrary arrest and detention. Some of the violations apparently took place in reprisal for attacks by the LTTE... - Amnesty International Report, September 1996 Trial by Fire: National Geographic Explorer Programme on Sri Lanka, broadcast on TBS on 2 December 1996 Patricia Lawrence, Anthropological Consultant for the Film, Anthropolgy Department, Colorado University. The film examines a Tamil family's response to the government's practices of arrest and imprisonment under emergency law in the eastern District of Batticaloa. The story unfolds through the voice of a young Tamil mother whose husband has "disappeared" and whose brother has been transferred from a local detention center to Kalutara prison in the south. In connection with this program I might mention that I have received "hate mail" from Sinhalese viewers, telephone calls from the State Dept, and a wheel chair for a Tamil father who had both hips broken during interrogation-he was held for three years in a number of prisons and as his fractured hips were never treated he suffers a permanently frozen pelvic girdle. There should be a fund for Tamil people who suffer permanent physical injuries as a result of torture. I would like to congratulate National Geographic for the recent airing of "Trial by Fire," a documentary which presents a profile of one young Tamil mother `s struggle in eastern Sri Lanka, a region cordoned-off from the rest of the island by government military forces since 1990. Her husband is listed among the tens of 76

thousands of Tamil people who have "disappeared" in this Tamil-speaking region. Her brother was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned without charge under the government's emergency regulations. She is urgently in need of employment. The circumstances of her life are not atypical in eastern Sri Lanka, where Tamil families have suffered 14 years of civil war. National Geographic's documentary has provoked official protest from the Sri Lankan embassy and a flood of messages from Sri Lankan Tamil people living in the United States and Canada who expressed gratitude for media acknowledgment of the human impact of the protracted war-even though, as National Geographic has stated, "much of the political content was virtually eliminated." The transmission of "Trial by Fire" coincides with the US State Department's approval of the sale of lethal weaponry to the government of Sri Lanka-even in a historical moment when human rights conditions are deteriorating on the island. The idea of endeavoring to send a film crew into eastern Sri Lanka arose at the 1995 American Anthropological Association meetings in Washington D.C., where a BBC -Granada film director listened to my presentation of ethnographic material about survivors of torture and families of the "disappeared" in Batticaloa District. When I agreed to work as anthropological consultant for the film project, I was frank about ethicalpolitical problems and my doubts that we could overcome government censorship on life inside the Tamil-speaking areas. Yet we succeeded in carrying out the film project in Batticaloa District, under the shadow of daily government intelligence and counter-subversive unit scrutiny, and difficulties of movement under the de facto military regime in the eastern coastal plain. The greatest obstacle, however, was finding people who could speak on camera in a population so vulnerable to human rights atrocities. The segments of film aired in "Trial by Fire" depended largely upon the collaborative effort of five women. We encouraged one another and worked together in the face of uncertainty about the consequences of our acts. Brian Moser of the "Disappearing Worlds" series directed the film crew. The larger film project produced more than 30 times the footage transmitted in the National Geographic show. This footage serves as material for several documentary films. An hour-long BBC documentary to be aired early next year in the UK incorporates local Tamil people's narratives on the recent history of retaliation killings and mass extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling, and intense social suffering of Tamil people...

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Control over editing, scripts and voice-over was not granted to me as anthropological consultant, following the usual policy. Some important film segments pertinent to this story were deleted in the editing process. For example, narratives on the prisoner's experience of torture were cut as were discussions between the prisoner's sister, wife and the human rights lawyer which reveal how abduction, ill treatment, forced confession, incommunicado detention and long-term detention without charge is facilitated by emergency law and the Prevention of Terrorism act in Sri Lanka. As an ethnographer, I wished to hear the original words of the speakers - for the voices of ordinary Tamil people are hardest to hear outside the war zone. The use of voice-over instead of subtitles contributes to distortion and misrepresentation. I regretted the editors' selection of titillating film segments of "exoticized" local religious practices. It is interesting, however, that the written responses of Sri Lankan Tamil viewers lack criticism of the exoticization of Tamil "otherness" portrayed in scenes of the resurgence of local Amman temple ritual. The overwhelming concern expressed by Tamil viewers was that in spite of rigid censorship a message about the desperate plight of Tamil people who endure and bear violent repression succeeded in reaching an international audience. Emergency powers have been used by successive governments in Sri Lanka to close newspapers, to prevent camera equipment and journalists from entering areas of active conflict, enable government security forces to destroy evidence of possible extrajudicial executions, and to prohibit distribution of academic writing and information about human rights violations. For more than 26 of the past 42 years Sri Lanka has been ruled under a declared state of emergency. From the perspective of many local families with whom I have lived in the eastern war zone between 1991 and 1996, this is a historical moment when there is no room for dissent. These families live in an uncertain world where the rule is to "keep quiet" (maunamaka irukkavum; amaityaka irukkavum) about broken connections in the closest circle of human relationships. The question I am left with is how can we, as South Asian scholars, follow in the footsteps of this film project and contribute more effective responses to political silencing of severe human rights crises? Tamil Civilians disappearing says TULF MP A Tamil MP has alleged that about 300 persons disappeared" during the last three months while in Army custody in the Government-controlled Jaffna peninsula. Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, TULF MP, said in a letter to the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga: "Disappearances while in Army custody are increasing day by day in the Army-controlled peninsula. I am reliably informed that during the last three months about 300 78

disappearances while in Army custody are reported to have taken place in Jaffna." Mr. Joseph stated in his November 21 letter that six decayed bodies of Tamil civilians had been found on November 18 in the Tenamarachchi portion of the peninsula. "These are civilians arrested by the Army in the first week of October 1996 and when the relatives inquired from the Army authorities immediately after their arrest they were informed that none of them was taken into custody by the Army. The bodies of these unfortunate civilians found in a decomposed state were discovered by the local residents of the area," Mr. Joseph alleged in his letter. According to the MP, four of the six bodies had been identified as Ponnu Alagaretnam (33), Kandiah Thiyagarajah (44), Kandiah Kulendrarajah and Thamu Manickam (43). While the first three named were residents of Eluthumadduval, Manickam hailed from Mirusuvil. Mr. Joseph, who has given a list of 24 "disappeared" persons, said unless immediate action was taken against the offenders such cases would bring "discredit to the Government". Mr. Joseph called upon the President to appoint a commission of inquiry into the disappearances from August 1996 in Jaffna and a judicial inquiry into the killing of the six civilians in Tenamarachchi. [- Hindu Report from Amit Baruah, 23 November 1996]

[Mr.Joseph

Pararajasingam

and

Nandhivarman in New Delhi 1997] Article URL: http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?id=503 BACKGROUND INFORMATION Since the security forces regained control over the Jaffna peninsula from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in late 1995 - early 1996, there have been continuing reports of arbitrary arrests and torture, including rape, and 'disappearances' in custody. In particular the number of’ disappearances' reported has been of serious concern. Amnesty International has so far submitted more than 200 cases of people who were seen taken into custody but whose detention was subsequently denied by the security forces to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. It has urged that an independent and impartial investigation be instituted to establish their fate

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or whereabouts. Local human rights organizations and Tamil members of parliament have also repeatedly brought cases of 'disappearances' to the attention of the President and other authorities. Article URL: http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?id=505 Human rights agencies say safeguards in the law are being circumscribed British Refugee Council Publication: Sri Lanka Monitor "SUPREME COURT Judge ARB Amarasinghe says in a judgment that Sri Lankan authorities often breach laws and regulations relating to arrest and detention. The detention of Jaffna Tamil youth Vijayam Vimalendran for over three years was illegal the Court declared on 20 December and ordered Rs 25,000 compensation. Although Emergency regulations give wide powers to the security forces there must be adequate grounds for arrest. The Court says the Defense Secretary should have sufficient evidence before signing detention orders. Even those detained under Regulation 17 (i) as posing a threat to national security, should be informed of the reasons for arrest... Human rights agencies say safeguards in the law are being circum- scribed by authorities. In the north-east arrested persons are held for 60 days under Emergency regulations and then under the Prevention of Terror- ism Act (PTA) which provides for 18 months detention without being produced before a court. In southern areas, including Colombo, suspects are generally detained for seven days under Emergency regulations and then under the PTA on the orders of a magistrate. Agencies say such prolonged detentions are illegal. Twenty three prisoners in Kalutara prison for over two years allege that their detention is illegal and say they will fast unto death if they are not released before 19 January... There is a fear in Colombo that military death squads have returned. Retired Tamil engineer Mahadeva was abducted in the dreaded "white van" on 25 December from his residence in Bambalapitiya..." Article URL: http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?id=506 Torture - including electric shock, burning, beating on soles of feet, gasoline soaked bags over head...says US State Department Report

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"Torture remained a serious problem... Members of the security forces continued to torture and mistreat detainees and other prisoners, both male and female, particularly during interrogation. Although the number of torture reports was somewhat lower than in previous years in the Colombo area, the situation in Eastern Province did not improve. Torture also emerged as a problem in the newly recaptured Jaffna Peninsula. In November a Supreme Court judge stated publicly that torture continued unabated in police stations in spite of a number of judicial pronouncements against its use. Pro-government Tamil militants in the east and north, directly responsible to the security forces, also engaged in torture... "Methods of torture included electric shock, beatings (especially on the soles of the feet), suspension by the wrists or feet in contorted positions, burning, near drowning, placing of insecticide, chili powder, or gasoline-soaked bags over the head, and forced positions. Detainees have reported broken bones and other serious injuries as a result of their mistreatment..:' - U.S. Department of State, Sri Lanka Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996 "Sri Lanka's minority Tamil community on Saturday complained of human rights abuses as battles raged between the predominantly Sinhalese forces and Tamil Tiger rebels near a northern guerrilla stronghold. A progovernment Tamil party urged President Chandrika Kumaratunga to intervene and stop alleged human rights abuses against Tamils and make sure those detained by the army in the Tamil- dominated Jaffna area were tried fairly. ... Joseph Pararajasingham, parliamentary leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), wrote in the letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga that 76 Tamils, mostly youths, were harassed by police after being arrested by the army. "The police have them in their custody for over three months, torture them and obtain confessions under duress," he said in the letter which was made available to journalists." - Reuter Report, 28 September 1996 "Torture of Tamils is now widespread in Sri Lankan-occupied parts of the northeast. In Valigamam district last week, Tamil inmates of the Navaly Pulavar refugee camp were taken away by soldiers to their army base. Witnesses say soldiers forced the young men to hold mouthfuls of stones while they were beaten senseless. A 21-year old, Rasiah Satheeswaran, died during his beating. Half of the refugees who were taken have been released, the other half are still in army custody. Relatives fear the worst. Article URL: http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?id=507

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Police powers promote torture says Colombo Judge British Refugee Council Publication Sri Lanka Monitor, November 1996 "Supreme Court Judge P Ramanathan says despite judicial orders against law-enforcement officers, torture in police stations continues unabated. Police have powers to record statements, investigate and prosecute offenders. The concentration of powers allows the police to take short-cuts by torture in custody, says Mr Ramanathan. Human rights agencies say prolonged detention also leads to ill-treatment. Currently there are over 1,100 Tamils in custody, 300 of whom are held for over two years. MPs who met detainees in Kalutara prison in early November say six Tamil youths are held for over five years and another six above the age of 50 are detained for over 18 months. Seven had been earlier re- leased, arrested again and held for over two years. Over 100 Tamil prisoners in Kalutara began a fast on 28 November demanding trials or release. Following a fast protest by detainees in June, the De- fence Ministry promised to solve the issue within three months. Prisoners bitterly complain that the Ministry has failed to take any action. Lawyers say the Defense Ministry has failed to act on several recommendations for re- lease made by the Attorney General's Department. Human rights agencies are concerned about illegal detentions. Some prisoners continue to languish in prison despite court orders for their release. In a habeas corpus application, Meenatchy Chitrasenan alleges that her daughter Thirumagal arrested in September is illegally detained in a police station without being produced before a court." Article URL: http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?id=510 150 Tamil women and children raped by law enforcers last year say rights groups “Human rights activists claim more than 150 women, mostly minority Tamils, were raped by police and armed forces personnel last year. In the past few months the nation has been outraged by a series of sex offences, followed in some instances by the death or disappearance of victims. Security forces are allegedly behind the incidents, which are widespread in the war-ravaged north and east. Rights groups and mainstream Tamil political parties are now up in arms over the alleged rape of five women by policemen in Colombo's suburbs. 82

Politicians and rights agencies have made repeated demands for investigations of the large numbers of rapes allegedly committed by officials entrusted with enforcing law and order. In one of the suburban rape cases, the victim, from the eastern Batticaloa district, had approached a reserve police constable for directions to a relative's home in Colombo. The policeman accompanied the woman to her destination but then raped her in a lonely suburban thicket. At least 15 soldiers and policemen have been accused of rape since June last year." - South China Morning Post January 11, 1997 "Amnesty International has documented several cases of rape by members of the security forces. Because many women are reluctant to give testimony about their treatment by the security forces, Amnesty International believes that these testimonies represent only a fraction of a widespread pattern of human rights violations. In those cases reported to Amnesty International, the authorities took some initial action against the alleged perpetrators. However, the organization does not know of any member of the security forces who has been brought to justice on charges of rape. In January 1995, three women were reportedly raped by soldiers at Poomachcholai and Kayankaddu, Batticaloa district, in reprisal for an attack by the LTTE on the nearby army camp at Thandavanveli. In August 1995 Lakshmi Pillai was raped at her home in Trincomalee by two army informants in front of her two sons. The motive may have been revenge as she had spoken out about being raped before at Plantain Point army camp in August 1993. The informants were arrested but later released on bail pending trial. On 7 March 1996, a 45-year-old woman was raped by soldiers at Thiyavedduwan checkpoint. Her husband was beaten with rifle butts. Both were admitted to Valaichchenai hospital. Following a complaint by several people of Thiyavedduwan at Valaichchenai army camp, an identification parade was held and the soldiers were identified and taken into custody by the military police. It is not known whether any further action has been taken against them." - Amnesty International Report, September 1996 Article URL: http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?id=509 Para Military Groups torture & execute Tamils 83

Shadowy Tamil militant death squads are once again on the rise in Batticaloa. The Mohan group aligned to PLOTE has terrorized Batticaloa for several years and has been linked to former intelligence officer Richard Dias alias Captain Munas, implicated in the disappearance of 158 Tamils from the Vantharumoolai refugee camp in 1990. The Raziq group associated with EPRLF has recently surfaced. Observers believe EPRLF, which kept aloof from military activities for several years, has decided to throw in its lot after the fall of Jaffna and the apparent weakening of the LTITE. The Tamil militant cadres ostensibly provide translation service to the military and act as scouts and spotters during security operations. Both EPRLF and PLOTE deny that they have links with death squads. But reports from Batticaloa say these two groups are involved in detention, torture and execution of people suspected of links with the LTTE. Observers say that at least ten incidents of torture and execution in the last three months are known to human rights groups. - Sri Lanka Monitor, published by British Refugee Council, June 1996 Article URL: http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?id=511 Rapes and Murders in Occupied Jaffna "Allegations of ill-treatment of women and extra-judicial executions are also being made against the security forces. Reports say that three women were raped by soldiers at their home in Manthuvil on 1 August." - British Refugee Council Publication, Sri Lanka Monitor, August 1996 "Vanni MP S Shanmugnathan says number of women at the Poonthottam school camp have been sexually abused by the police. A woman who was raped has been admitted to the Vavuniya hospital. Pregnant women have been denied access to the hospital and one woman has died in labour" -British Refugee Council Publication, Sri Lanka Monitor, November 1996 "Of the numerous arrests, rapes and murders of the girls and boys in Jaffna, one comes to light. Most, however, go unreported because the Sri Lankan army bans independent reporters from traveling to the peninsula, and the government censors news about conditions in Jaffna.

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On Saturday Sep. 7, 1996, Krishanthi Kumarasamy, an 18 year old student at Chundikuli Girls' High School went missing, soon after she had taken her first paper at the GCE A/L examination. She was seen by a number of witnesses being taken into custody by Sinhalese army personnel at the Kaithady checkpoint, and she disappeared soon after. According to a report published later in the Sri Lanka Sunday Times (Nov 3, 1996), "She was stopped at the checkpoint and three soldiers allegedly raped her until she fell unconscious. When she revived, according to the confessions, police officers and six soldiers further raped her." On learning of Krishanthi's detention at the army check-point, her mother, Rasamma (59), who was the vice principal of Kaithady Maha Vithyalayam, accompanied by her son, Pranaban (16), and a neighbor, Kirupakaran Sithamparam (35), went to the army camp, and then they too disappeared. The same Sri Lanka Sunday Times report said, "Her journey was not only futile but she, her son and neighbor were strangled, cut into pieces and buried in a little hut within the gates of the arm camp." y Krishanthi's relatives in Colombo, including her older sister, Prashanthi (21), who was staying in Colombo at that time, took up the matter with authorities in Colombo, including President Kumaratunga, but nothing was done as the army headquarters denied the arrests. On Sep 20th, Amnesty International published an Urgent Action Appeal (UA 222/96), and even at this stage the government remained silent. On Oct 23, more than 6 weeks after their disappearances, the Colombobased Tamil daily Virakesari published the story. Although none of the other newspapers published it, things began to heat up. The matter was raised in Parliament, and all of a sudden the four bodies buried in a shallow grave within the army camp were found. Tip of an iceberg? Tamil Voice has information that these kinds of atrocities are quite rampant in the Jaffna peninsula, and in other Tamil areas occupied by the Sri Lankan army. This is not an isolated incident... The reason for lack of publicity is the unofficial ban on independent reporters and human rights organizations from visiting these areas... A recent Asia Watch report said, "The army only permits access to the state run media." Foreign humanitarian organizations that are allowed to function in these areas are ones who (by charter) do not publish such crimes. They consider such silence necessary for them to be able to carry out their primary humanitarian work.

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News pertaining to large scale violations, such as those in the peninsula, however, is difficult to conceal. A Tamil Voice editor had an opportunity to meet with a number of new refugees who had escaped recently to Tamil Nadu by boat. He reports that, their accounts are "horror stories from hell." A large number of Tamil men and women are reportedly being held in the Kankesanthurai police premises in the army-held Jaffna peninsula. They are reported to have been arrested between 30 Mar 96 and 29 Aug 96. The Government Agent of the army occupied Jaffna peninsula published a list of names and details of only 135 Tamils, out of the 740 who the armed forces admitted to holding at the Kankesanthurai police station. He has also reported that nearly a hundred Tamil girls are missing. Several incidents of rapes and molestations were also reported. "On Sep 30 at about 3.20 PM Velauthapillai Rajani, 22, from Urumpirai North was arrested in Kondavil-Urumpirai Road by the Sri Lankan army. This arrest was seen by several people. Rajani, who was planning to leave to Canada, went to see her relatives in Kondavil to say good-bye. On her way she was stopped by the Sri Lankan soldiers manning the Kondavil checkpoint and was dragged into a house where two elderly people were living. The soldiers chased the two occupants out of the house and Rajani was raped. Her naked body was found later in the compound." Another report stated, "Vasuki, a young Tamil girl living in Kilner Lane was harassed by Sri Lankan soldiers from the army camp next to her house. On Sep 8, Vasuki was watching TV at her home between 11 PM and 12 PM at night when 4 Sri Lankan soldiers in civil dress and 2 soldiers in army uniform came into her house and tried to take her away by force. She and her neighbors raised cries and the soldiers fled with Vasuki's National Identity card." "On Saturday morning August 7, a Sri Lankan military truck rammed into a group of school girls who were cycling to the Examination hall for their GCE (A/L) examinations. Nineteen year old, Thayananthi Kananathan from Ariyalai, a student of Chundukuli Girls College was killed on the spot." "On Sep 10, a 55 year old woman employed in the Thirunelvely Cooperative Milk Society was gang-raped by Sri Lankan Army personnel." "In Kachchai a husband who tried to prevent the rape of his wife was cut to death. His wife was also murdered later." These are just a few of the hundreds of incidents reported to Tamil Voice. The rape and murder of Krishanthi is just one of them. 86

(Tamil Voice, published by the US Based llankai Thamil Sangam, Fall 1996, edited by Dr.Rajan Sriskandarajah M.D.) WE ARE PREPARING A DETAILED COMPLAINT WHICH WILL BE MAILED SHORTLY. THIS COMPLAINT QUOTES UN AGENCIES, MEDIA, JUDGES, VICTIMS, AND OTHER REPORTS. ALL THESE REPORTS MUST BE TRACKED CONSTRUCTING A CLEAR CUT CHARGE SHEET.OUR INTENTION IS ONLY TO DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE GRAVITY OF THE CRIME, WE ARE URGING THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR TO PROBE FURTHER. Prof. Boyle of University of Illinois College of Law and an expert in International Law, pointed out that "under Chapter XV of the United Nations Charter, the U.N. Secretariat, headed-up by the U.N. Secretary General, is one of six independent organs of the United Nations Organization itself. As such the U.N. Secretary General is obligated to implement the "Purposes of the United Nations" set forth in Article 1 of the Charter. "Article 1(3) of the Charter provides that one of these "Purposes of the United Nations" is: "To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion." Boyle added, "In other words, the U.N. Secretary General has a U.N. Charter obligation "in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for" the Tamils in Sri Lanka as required by the preemptory norm of international law set forth in Article I of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, called on India, the United States, Britain and France to fulfill their obligations under the Geneva Conventions and Protocol, and under the Genocide Convention by launching an immediate humanitarian air-drop relief operation for the starving Tamil civilians within the so-called safety zone, who are suffering without adequate humanitarian supplies for weeks. Starvation of civilians, as a method of warfare, can also constitute an act of genocide as defined by Article II (c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention. 87

Though timely action in this direction did not arrive at least in post-conflict period International Court of Criminal Justice must charge sheet Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe for starving Tamils to death and stalling UN to rescue Tamils from starvation. "Article 54(1) of Additional Protocol I to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 sets forth a rule of customary international humanitarian law that obligates every state in the world: "Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited." Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime. Every contracting party to the Geneva Conventions and Protocol has the obligation under Common Article 1 thereof "to respect" the Conventions and Protocol themselves and "to ensure respect" for the Conventions and Protocol "in all circumstances" by other contracting parties such as Sri Lanka. "Furthermore, starvation of civilians as a method of warfare can also constitute an act of genocide as defined by Article II (c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention: "Deliberately inflicting on the group {in this case Tamils} conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." Every contracting state party to the Genocide Convention has the obligation "to prevent" genocide by Sri Lanka against the Tamils as required by Article I thereof. HENCE DRAVIDA PERAVAI URGES THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR TO PROBE THE DEATH OF TAMIL CIVILIANS DUE TO STARVATION IN THE WAR ZONE AND FIX SRILANKAN PRESIDENT ON THIS CRIME ALSO. Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative, on the Situation in Sri Lanka, in Security Council Consultations April 30, 2009 The United States is deeply concerned by the situation in Sri Lanka, where fighting between government forces and the Tamil Tigers has led to a growing and grave humanitarian crisis that has left innocent civilians pinned down and desperate. We are very concerned by the serious allegations against both parties of violations of international humanitarian law. Despite the Government of Sri Lanka’s promise to suspend combat operations, multiple accounts indicate that shelling into the conflict zone continues. We have also received reports of alarming number of civilian casualties. 88

On April 28, limited quantities of food were delivered to the conflict zone— the first such delivery in more than three weeks. We welcome the arrival of this sorely needed aid, but we are deeply concerned that critical medicines were not able to reach the conflict area as well. We share Under-Secretary-General Holmes’ disappointment that the Government of Sri Lanka has not yet allowed a UN humanitarian team into the conflict zone to facilitate relief operations and the safe evacuation of civilians. We urge the Sri Lankan government to reconsider. This Council must also grapple with the sheer scope of the problem. Latest reports indicate that more than 170,000 displaced persons have registered in government-controlled camps. The Government of Sri Lanka must allow the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross access to all sites where newly arrived displaced persons are being registered or being provided shelter. These reports pertain to the period of war without witness. Now since Srilankan Government had declared war is over immediately UN agencies must step in and Office of the Public Prosecutor starts its investigations before all bodies are exhumed and all people are silenced at gun point. INDEPENDENT MEDIA INDICTS ARMS SUPPLIERS; Chinese F7s and Russian MIG fighters fly over the skies of Vanni continuously and they regularly bomb hospitals, schools, churches and orphanages. Cluster bombs and phosphorous bombs are used against innocent Tamil civilians. Children are dying in front of their parents and the parents are dying in front of their children. Many of the dead have nobody to mourn for them. More than eight thousand innocent Tamils have been killed just within the last three months. Tamils are now left with nothing. All their homes and farm lands have been made into grave yards. Many families have lost their loved ones. Thousands of orphans and widows are longing for death than suffering from hunger and untreated wounds in the killing fields of Sri Lanka. They have no more comforters left to comfort the victims. As part of the so called deceptive humanitarian and rescue operation, Sri Lankan forces surrounded an area that is almost two times bigger than Singapore, bombed and destroyed all the hospitals, schools, orphanages and homes in this prosperous land that was once flowing with milk and honey.

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They destroyed farms, fruit trees and the cattle belonging to the people who have lived there for years. They dropped cluster bombs and killed so many thousands of innocent people including children, women and old people. They have forced people into starvation and made them to live in tents and bunkers for months. All this is according to them for just to catch or kill few hundreds LTTE fighters that were living among more than three hundred thousands of innocent Tamil civilians. Tamils are persecuted all over Sri Lanka Tamils who are forced to live in the open fields are bombed and killed in thousands. Those who leave the war zone are sent to barbed wired concentration camps and torture camps. The ones that live in the other parts of the country live in open prisons with the constant fear of abductions, extra-judicial killings, torture and rape. World very well knows how the Sri Lankan soldiers were asked to leave Haiti after they were blamed for rape, while doing peace keeping operations as part of the UN force. There are many peace loving Sinhalese people living in Sri Lanka. Several academics, human rights activists, journalists, Christian leaders and professionals from the Sinhalese community are supporting the Tamils in their struggle for freedom. Some Tamils even tend to intermarry with the Sinhalese. Although the extremists are only a minority among the Sinhalese, they have been successful in influencing politicians, military leaders and ordinary Sinhalese people to incite racial hatred, violence and discrimination against Tamils. In recent times, China has been actively involved in building ports in the South East Asian countries including Sri Lanka. China is spending 1 billion dollars to construct a port in the south of Sri Lanka. China is planning use this port as a refueling and docking station for its navy, as it patrols the Indian Ocean and protects China’s supplies of Saudi oil. Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March 2007, China has given it all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tamils, without worrying about the West. China has so far given six F7 jet fighters free of charge, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Pakistan is also trying to 90

spread its influence in the Indian Ocean and in order to build a launch pad in Sri Lanka.Pakistan has transferred huge amounts of automatic rifles, heavy mortars, multi-barrel rocket launchers, and artillery and tank shells to Sri Lanka in recent years. Sri Lanka is also getting JY-11 3D air surveillance radars, armored personnel carriers, T-56 assault rifles, machine guns, antiaircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, missiles and bombs Iran provides low-interest credit to Sri Lanka to help them to purchase military equipment from Pakistan and China and to train Sri Lankan Army and intelligence officers in Iran. India never wanted to supply offensive weapons to Sri Lanka which is the very reason why the Sri Lankan government went after China, Pakistan and Iran in the first place. Having 65 millions Tamils in India, it will be difficult for India to give offensive weapons to kill the Tamils in Sri Lanka. However, India faces a real threat from China and Pakistan in its own backyard. Sri Lanka has always maintained good relations with India. In order to look after its interests in the region and to deal with the threats from China, India had come up with the clever idea of providing with intelligence and military expertise to Sri Lanka.Many Sri Lankan ministers have recently acknowledged that they wouldn't be winning the war without the help from India. This is not because India hates the Tamils and loves the Sinhalese but they are not ready to see Sri Lanka going into the hands of China and Pakistan. More than seven hundred Indian fishermen were killed by the Sri Lankan Navy within the last few years but India is willing to sacrifice even their own for a greater gain in the region. India is a looser. India has made a historical blunder by assisting the Sri Lankan government to commit genocide against Tamils. Once the war is over, Sri Lankan government will go after China and Pakistan as they did before. India has now lost credibility both among the Tamils in Sri Lanka and India. India would have been in a better position if they helped the Tamils to establish a prosperous secular state in order to free them from State oppression and to secure Indian strategic interests in the region. Even now, it is not too late for India to change its mind. When the twin towers fell and the innocents died, we declared war on Terror. We have done the right thing and we have been successful in preventing many disasters in our great cities. Unfortunately, some of the countries that have been terrorizing their minorities for a long time have started to use the loop holes in the "War on Terror" strategy to declare war on the vulnerable. 91

Theory of War on Terror has failed miserably in countries like Sri Lanka because the oppressor has got the freedom to declare war on the innocents who are already going through hell in their hands. Many freedom movements that have been fighting for the freedom of the oppressed are now wrongly branded as Terrorists groups. Some of these countries like Sri Lanka have been spending so much money in doing false propaganda, to convince the world that these freedom movements had links with Al Qaeda. War on Terror is a great idea but the problems come when we wrongly recognize the Terrorists and the ones who are fighting the Terrorists. When the “War on Terror” strategy is used by a Terror government that is already killing its own citizens, alarms should be raised to protect the vulnerable. Did we permit Saddam Hussein who was a democratically elected president to wipe out all the Kurdish people? Hitler was democratically elected but he was still responsible for killing millions of Jews. Rajapakse government, although it is democratically elected, shouldn't be allowed to use the “War on Terror” agenda to annihilate Tamils. UK government would never bomb the whole city of Belfast and force people to live in the bunkers without food and medicine for months, if they had to catch few hundreds of IRA rebels. They wouldn't use chemical weapons against innocent women and children unless they had a hidden agenda of killing the people. Sri Lanka is doing something what no other governments on this earth would do for their own citizens. As usual, UN has so far failed to protect the innocents. They failed in Rwanda and they failed in many other countries where millions died of man made disasters. They always waited till it was too late to act. UN had sent it's representatives to Sri Lanka few times in the last few months ,but they couldn't convince the Sri Lankan authorities to stop the war.UK and the US are working really hard to bring the Sri Lankan issue before the security council. China, being a permanent member is not allowing the war in Sri Lanka to be discussed for an obvious reason that they are also partnering with Sri Lanka. They don't want to be blamed for fuelling the war in this tiny island by freely supplying offensive weapons in order look after their own interests in the region. [email protected]

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We thank the Journalist Mr. Richard Dixon for above mentioned report Sri Lanka acquired ‘banned’ weapons Monday, 13 August 2001, The Sri Lanka Army has acquired an infantry weapon with a chemical warhead whose use has been shunned internationally except by Russia due to the risk to civilians, press reports said this weekend. In an expose, the Sunday Leader said that the SLA had spent several million dollars to acquire 1000 units of the shoulder-fired RPO-A Shmel Rocket Launcher, but that amidst bribes sought by the SLA commander, Lt. General Lionel Ballagalle, the weapons delivered were of old stock and may have exceeded their shelf life. The US Defense Intelligence Agency says the weapon’s chemical warhead is toxic and hence dangerous even if it fails to detonate. The flamethrower type weapon, which the Sunday Leader says has been banned by the United States is only manufactured by a single firm in Russia and was bought by the SLA via a London-based company, Gladstone Industrial Holdings, whose directors include a retired SLA officer, Lt. Col. Upali Gajanayake. The Sunday Leader interviewed the latter as part of its investigation into the alleged corruption. “It is an internationally banned weapon,” Lt. Col. Gajanayake told the Sunday Leader, explaining why the SLA needed to go through his firm, rather than directly to sole Russian manufacturer, to acquire the Shmels. “Officially these items cannot be negotiated via an open tender but can only be bought underground; this is a very sophisticated chemical warhead.” Although usually referred to in descriptive literature as a flame-thrower, the RPO-A Shmel (Bumblebee in Russian) is a rocket-propelled incendiary/blast projectile launcher, according to Janes’ weapons expert Terry Gander. “One projectile fired is described by the Russians as `thermo baric' as it appears to utilize advanced fuel-air explosive techniques which, on detonation, create deflagration as the warhead cloud expands,” says Gander. When utilized against structures the blast effect of the projectile is stated to be equivalent to a 122 mm howitzer shell, he says. The weapon – along with other fuel air mixture weapons - has been used by Russian troops in Chechnya, where human rights groups have long criticized the indiscriminate nature of the weapon which has resulted in heavy civilian casualties and horrific injuries.

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In a statement February 2000 on the use of such weapons in Chechnya, Human Rights Watch said “The use of fuel-air explosives … represents a dangerous escalation in the Chechnya conflict--one with important humanitarian implications.” In urban settings it is very difficult to limit the effect of this weapon to combatants, and the nature of FAE explosions makes it virtually impossible for civilians to take shelter from their destructive effect,” HRW said, adding that “because they are wide-area weapons, military forces must exercise extreme caution and refrain from using them in or near population centers.” The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in a 1993 report says, “The [blast] mechanism against living targets is … unpleasant… If the fuel deflagrates but does not detonate, victims will be severely burned and will probably also inhale the burning fuel. Since the most common FAE fuels are highly toxic, un-detonated FAE should prove as lethal to people caught within the cloud as most chemical agents” A separate Central Intelligence Agency report says “it is possible that victims of FAE’s are not rendered unconscious by the blast, but instead suffer for several seconds or minutes while they suffocate.” One thousand RPO-A Shmels were delivered to the SLA in a single planeload on July 17, the Sunday Leader claimed, adding that the colleague of Gajanayake, Ameer Temour, who negotiated the deal with a Ukrainian arms supplier was fired on July 17. Temour told the paper that Gajanayake had submitted expenses claim of nearly half a million US dollars which were bribes for Ballagalle and other senior SLA officers. Whilst the SLA had expected to take delivery of 1000 brand new warheads, the paper claims the batch delivered comprised 400 manufactured in 1989 and 600 in 1991. The weapon expires after 10 years. The sole manufacture is KBC Instrument Design Bureau in Tula, Russia. “The age of the delivered units explains how Gladstone was able to negotiate the supply and export the items without contravening any rights the manufacturing company in Russia held to be the sole authority to supply the brand new item,” the paper said. Read this WEAPONS BOUGHT in 2001 used in 2009

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Colombo uses chemical weapons Tuesday, 07 April 2009, Sri Lanka Army extensively used chemical weapons on LTTE combatants at Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) during the weekend, according to Lawrence, a senior commander of the LTTE, who personally encountered the attack and escaped, LTTE sources told TamilNet Tuesday. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Defense Ministry has claimed that it has killed hundreds of Tiger combatants including senior commanders in PTK last weekend. The use of chemical weapons were the suspicion of many who have seen the photographs released by the SL Defense Ministry, but now the accusation comes from the LTTE. The Tiger sources neither confirmed the type of the chemical weapon nor said anything on the casualties claimed by Colombo. Not matching with their tall claims, Colombo's websites have released comparatively fewer photographs of LTTE combatants it killed in action this time. Yet, the released photographs were enough for viewers of forensic experience to suspect the use of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons such as nerve gas were strictly prohibited by international conventions after world experiencing gruesome mass deaths of combatants during the World War I (1914 - 1919). Colombo government was already on record for clandestine purchase of prohibited chemical weapons and accessories in 2001. Colombo government, its president Mahinda Rajapaksa as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the defense secretary and Sarath Fonseka, the army chief, may have to face indictment as serious war criminals if the accusation of the use of chemical weapons is proved. UN withheld civilian casualty figures – report Wednesday, 18 March 2009, Publishing two leaked documents by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN, in an exclusive report on Wednesday revealed that the United Nations office had its own estimates of casualty figures. The UN had internal documentation for 9,924 civilian casualties including 2,683 killings and 7,241 injuries since 20 January to 07 March 2009. "Now it appears that unlike in other conflicts from Darfur to Gaza, the UN withheld the Sri Lanka figures, in effect protecting the Sri Lankan government from criticism," the Inner City Press reported Wednesday 95

UN document: Civilian casualties in the Vanni (courtesy: Inner City Press) "Between January and 12 February, the reporting network was spread over a broad area. Since most civilians are now in the small No Fire Zone (NFZ), including the reporting network - the information is better. The assumption is that the casualties were greatly under-reported prior to 12 February," said the UN document which put the total minimum number of documented civilian casualties since 20 January 2009 as of 07 March 2009 in the conflict area of Mullaiththeevu district: 9,924 people including 2,683 deaths and 7,241 injuries. Between January and February 2009 the combat area was reduced from 100 square km to 45 square km, including the NFZ of 14 square km. As the combat area reduces, the daily average shows an increase in the number of killed (from 33 to 63) and a slight decrease in the number of injured (from 184 to 145). This is due to increased density, the use of heavy weapons which continue to strike the NFZ and inadequate medical treatment. Two thirds of the documented casualties occurred in the No Fire Zone (NFZ), according to the UN report obtained by the Inner City Press. It is not humanly possible for the Tamil Diaspora or Indian Tamils to collect each and every detail concerning the genocide; hence there is historical necessity for the Office of the Public Prosecutor to start the probe to establish the guilt of the perpetrators of Tamil Genocide. Hence Dravida Peravai, the Indian political party of socialists, appeals to the International Court of Justice for justice. In pursuit of justice we had earlier made our appeal to the current month’s President of the United Nations Security Council and the General Secretary of the United Nations marking copies to the Representatives of the Member Nations in Security Council. We have urged the Security Council to forward our complaint to you, which we are sending you in the form of a book. This is our first attempt to reach your office, and we have just tried to give supportive evidences to make your mind arrive at the circumstantial evidences to come to the conclusion to launch a probe against Srilankan President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakshe and others for their Tamil genocide. Thanking You Yours sincerely N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai India. Date: 20.05.2009 96

MAILS TO LEADERS OF NATION :FEW EXAMPLES Mr.JAN PETER BALKENENDE Hon’ble PRIME MINISTER Binnen Hof 20 Post Bus 20001 2500 EA DEN HAAG NETHERLANDS [ Europe] Respected Prime Minister We, a political party of Indian Tamils in India are placing our prayers before your conscience seeking your moral support and intervention in the General Assembly of United Nations to get justice for our Tamil kinsmen in Srilanka who had been crushed by the genocidal war. It had been a war without witnesses, and attempts by USA, UK, France and UN Secretary General to stop the war failed by the adamancy shown by Srilankan Government. The Security Council could not arrive at a unanimous resolution due to the veto powers that vested with Russia and China. The Srilankan Government had declared the war is over and even in post-war phase independent journalists of the world media, non-governmental organizations and agencies of United Nations are prevented brazenly by Srilankan Government to visit the concentration camps where more than 3,00,000 people are kept behind barbed wires in open air prison, that too when monsoon had begun. Srilanka had used banned chemical weapons on its own minority Tamils, and it had slaughtered those who surrendered thereby had violated all humanitarian laws and international conventions. The mass killings to pursue ethnic cleansing started in 1956 and culminated during war is not yet over even after war ended. All able bodied young men and women are whisked away to death. Mass cremations and washing the ashes in sea to leave no traces for world bodies when they step in is now taking place. In no war since human race evolved entire civilian people were subjected to starvation during entire war time running into months. After having failed in Security Council due to the veto of the two communist giants and dragons, 18 nations led by USA, UK, France tried their level best to pass a resolution urging UN Human Rights Council to accept for an Independent UN enquiry into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Srilanka. But China, Russia and India led 18 countries stalled international enquiry but favored by the accused nation itself. In view of this it has become inevitable to take the issue before the General Assembly of the United Nations. We are mailing a brief note on Tamil genocide, which comes as attachment to this letter. We would urge your nation and more particularly you to read our appeal and take the lead in mobilizing the global support of all nations against this barbarian genocide committed in 21st century before our eyes. History should not record world’s conscience was in slumber, when this happened. N.Nandhivarman General Secretary 27.05.2009.

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Mr. DONALD DUSK Hon’ble PRIME MINISTER Chancellory of Prime Minister Al.Ujazdowskie 1/3 00-583 WARSZAWA POLAND [Europe] Respected Prime Minister We, a political party of Indian Tamils in India are placing our prayers before your conscience seeking your moral support and intervention in the General Assembly of United Nations to get justice for our Tamil kinsmen in Srilanka who had been crushed by the genocidal war. It had been a war without witnesses, and attempts by USA, UK, France and UN Secretary General to stop the war failed by the adamancy shown by Srilankan Government. The Security Council could not arrive at a unanimous resolution due to the veto powers that vested with Russia and China. The Srilankan Government had declared the war is over and even in post-war phase independent journalists of the world media, non-governmental organizations and agencies of United Nations are prevented brazenly by Srilankan Government to visit the concentration camps where more than 3,00,000 people are kept behind barbed wires in open air prison, that too when monsoon had begun. Srilanka had used banned chemical weapons on its own minority Tamils, and it had slaughtered those who surrendered thereby had violated all humanitarian laws and international conventions. The mass killings to pursue ethnic cleansing started in 1956 and culminated during war is not yet over even after war ended. All able bodied young men and women are whisked away to death. Mass cremations and washing the ashes in sea to leave no traces for world bodies when they step in is now taking place. In no war since human race evolved entire civilian people were subjected to starvation during entire war time running into months. After having failed in Security Council due to the veto of the two communist giants and dragons, 18 nations led by USA, UK, France tried their level best to pass a resolution urging UN Human Rights Council to accept for an Independent UN enquiry into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Srilanka. But China, Russia and India led 18 countries stalled international enquiry but favored by the accused nation itself. In view of this it has become inevitable to take the issue before the General Assembly of the United Nations. We are mailing a brief note on Tamil genocide, which comes as attachment to this letter. We would urge your nation and more particularly you to read our appeal and take the lead in mobilizing the global support of all nations against this barbarian genocide committed in 21st century before our eyes. History should not record world’s conscience was in slumber, when this happened. With Regards Yours fraternally N.Nandhivarman General Secretary

27.05.2009.

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Mr.JOSE SOCRATES Hon’ble PRIME MINISTER Rua da Imprensa a’ estrela 4-1200-888 LISBON PORTUGAL Respected Prime Minister We, a political party of Indian Tamils in India are placing our prayers before your conscience seeking your moral support and intervention in the General Assembly of United Nations to get justice for our Tamil kinsmen in Srilanka who had been crushed by the genocidal war. It had been a war without witnesses, and attempts by USA, UK, France and UN Secretary General to stop the war failed by the adamancy shown by Srilankan Government. The Security Council could not arrive at a unanimous resolution due to the veto powers that vested with Russia and China. The Srilankan Government had declared the war is over and even in post-war phase independent journalists of the world media, non-governmental organizations and agencies of United Nations are prevented brazenly by Srilankan Government to visit the concentration camps where more than 3,00,000 people are kept behind barbed wires in open air prison, that too when monsoon had begun. Srilanka had used banned chemical weapons on its own minority Tamils, and it had slaughtered those who surrendered thereby had violated all humanitarian laws and international conventions. The mass killings to pursue ethnic cleansing started in 1956 and culminated during war is not yet over even after war ended. All able bodied young men and women are whisked away to death. Mass cremations and washing the ashes in sea to leave no traces for world bodies when they step in is now taking place. In no war since human race evolved entire civilian people were subjected to starvation during entire war time running into months. After having failed in Security Council due to the veto of the two communist giants and dragons, 18 nations led by USA, UK, France tried their level best to pass a resolution urging UN Human Rights Council to accept for an Independent UN enquiry into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Srilanka. But China, Russia and India led 18 countries stalled international enquiry but favored by the accused nation itself. In view of this it has become inevitable to take the issue before the General Assembly of the United Nations. We are mailing a brief note on Tamil genocide, which comes as attachment to this letter. We would urge your nation and more particularly you to read our appeal and take the lead in mobilizing the global support of all nations against this barbarian genocide committed in 21st century before our eyes. History should not record world’s conscience was in slumber, when this happened. With Regards Yours fraternally N.NandhivarmanGeneralSecretary

27.05.2009.

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Mr. CRISTIAN DIACONESCU Hon’ble Minister for Foreign Affairs AleeaAlexandru.nr31. Sector 1 011822 BUCHAREST ROMANIA [Europe] Respected Prime Minister We, a political party of Indian Tamils in India are placing our prayers before your conscience seeking your moral support and intervention in the General Assembly of United Nations to get justice for our Tamil kinsmen in Srilanka who had been crushed by the genocidal war. It had been a war without witnesses, and attempts by USA, UK, France and UN Secretary General to stop the war failed by the adamancy shown by Srilankan Government. The Security Council could not arrive at a unanimous resolution due to the veto powers that vested with Russia and China. The Srilankan Government had declared the war is over and even in post-war phase independent journalists of the world media, non-governmental organizations and agencies of United Nations are prevented brazenly by Srilankan Government to visit the concentration camps where more than 3,00,000 people are kept behind barbed wires in open air prison, that too when monsoon had begun. Srilanka had used banned chemical weapons on its own minority Tamils, and it had slaughtered those who surrendered thereby had violated all humanitarian laws and international conventions. The mass killings to pursue ethnic cleansing started in 1956 and culminated during war is not yet over even after war ended. All able bodied young men and women are whisked away to death. Mass cremations and washing the ashes in sea to leave no traces for world bodies when they step in is now taking place. In no war since human race evolved entire civilian people were subjected to starvation during entire war time running into months. After having failed in Security Council due to the veto of the two communist giants and dragons, 18 nations led by USA, UK, France tried their level best to pass a resolution urging UN Human Rights Council to accept for an Independent UN enquiry into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Srilanka. But China, Russia and India led 18 countries stalled international enquiry but favored by the accused nation itself. In view of this it has become inevitable to take the issue before the General Assembly of the United Nations. We are mailing a brief note on Tamil genocide, which comes as attachment to this letter. We would urge your nation and more particularly you to read our appeal and take the lead in mobilizing the global support of all nations against this barbarian genocide committed in 21st century before our eyes. History should not record world’s conscience was in slumber, when this happened. With Regards Yours fraternally N.Nandhivarman General Secretary 27.05.2009.

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Mr.ANDRIUS KUBILIUS Hon’ble PRIME MINISTER Gedemino Ave.11 LT -01103 VIL NIUS LITHUNIA [Europe] Respected Prime Minister We, a political party of Indian Tamils in India are placing our prayers before your conscience seeking your moral support and intervention in the General Assembly of United Nations to get justice for our Tamil kinsmen in Srilanka who had been crushed by the genocidal war. It had been a war without witnesses, and attempts by USA, UK, France and UN Secretary General to stop the war failed by the adamancy shown by Srilankan Government. The Security Council could not arrive at a unanimous resolution due to the veto powers that vested with Russia and China. The Srilankan Government had declared the war is over and even in post-war phase independent journalists of the world media, non-governmental organizations and agencies of United Nations are prevented brazenly by Srilankan Government to visit the concentration camps where more than 3,00,000 people are kept behind barbed wires in open air prison, that too when monsoon had begun. Srilanka had used banned chemical weapons on its own minority Tamils, and it had slaughtered those who surrendered thereby had violated all humanitarian laws and international conventions. The mass killings to pursue ethnic cleansing started in 1956 and culminated during war is not yet over even after war ended. All able bodied young men and women are whisked away to death. Mass cremations and washing the ashes in sea to leave no traces for world bodies when they step in is now taking place. In no war since human race evolved entire civilian people were subjected to starvation during entire war time running into months. After having failed in Security Council due to the veto of the two communist giants and dragons, 18 nations led by USA, UK, France tried their level best to pass a resolution urging UN Human Rights Council to accept for an Independent UN enquiry into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Srilanka. But China, Russia and India led 18 countries stalled international enquiry but favored by the accused nation itself. In view of this it has become inevitable to take the issue before the General Assembly of the United Nations. We are mailing a brief note on Tamil genocide, which comes as attachment to this letter. We would urge your nation and more particularly you to read our appeal and take the lead in mobilizing the global support of all nations against this barbarian genocide committed in 21st century before our eyes. History should not record world’s conscience was in slumber, when this happened. With Regards Yours fraternally N.Nandhivarman General Secretary

27.05.2009.

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Ms.JOHANNA SIGUROARDOTTIR Hon’ble PRIME MINISTER Stjornarradshusinu 150 Reykjavik ICELAND Respected Prime Minister We, a political party of Indian Tamils in India are placing our prayers before your conscience seeking your moral support and intervention in the General Assembly of United Nations to get justice for our Tamil kinsmen in Srilanka who had been crushed by the genocidal war. It had been a war without witnesses, and attempts by USA, UK, France and UN Secretary General to stop the war failed by the adamancy shown by Srilankan Government. The Security Council could not arrive at a unanimous resolution due to the veto powers that vested with Russia and China. The Srilankan Government had declared the war is over and even in post-war phase independent journalists of the world media, non-governmental organizations and agencies of United Nations are prevented brazenly by Srilankan Government to visit the concentration camps where more than 3,00,000 people are kept behind barbed wires in open air prison, that too when monsoon had begun. Srilanka had used banned chemical weapons on its own minority Tamils, and it had slaughtered those who surrendered thereby had violated all humanitarian laws and international conventions. The mass killings to pursue ethnic cleansing started in 1956 and culminated during war is not yet over even after war ended. All able bodied young men and women are whisked away to death. Mass cremations and washing the ashes in sea to leave no traces for world bodies when they step in is now taking place. In no war since human race evolved entire civilian people were subjected to starvation during entire war time running into months. After having failed in Security Council due to the veto of the two communist giants and dragons, 18 nations led by USA, UK, France tried their level best to pass a resolution urging UN Human Rights Council to accept for an Independent UN enquiry into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Srilanka. But China, Russia and India led 18 countries stalled international enquiry but favored by the accused nation itself. In view of this it has become inevitable to take the issue before the General Assembly of the United Nations. We are mailing a brief note on Tamil genocide, which comes as attachment to this letter. We would urge your nation and more particularly you to read our appeal and take the lead in mobilizing the global support of all nations against this barbarian genocide committed in 21st century before our eyes. History should not record world’s conscience was in slumber, when this happened. With Regards Yours fraternally N.Nandhivarman General Secretary

27.05.2009.

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APPEAL TO INDIAN EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER ON THE DAY OF HIS ASSUMPTION OF OFFICE Mr.S.M.KRISHNA HON’BLE UNION MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Government of INDIA South Block NEW DELHI 30.05.2009 Respected Thiru.S.M.Krishna Subject: Re-appraisal of India’s China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Srilanka policy sought We from Tamilnadu and Puducherry are happy in seeing you well versed in International law and with vast experience in feeling the pulse of the people placed in the External Affairs Ministry in a juncture when India is at cross roads. We are socialists and you know why our heart beats in joy in finding you in a position to offer course corrections to India’s foreign policy. The urgent agenda, which we feel that awaits your application of mind, is the Chinese moves in each and every issue in international arena. China had been for years scheming to become the sole Super Power of Asia. Nothing wrong in any nation to aspire higher status, but that status when it tends to downsize India, it is our duty to counter Chinese dragon. The editorial of leading English daily of India, Times of India dated 29th May of 2009 about Aung San Kyi contains a paragraph which I would like to quote: “ We have just concluded a spectacular democratic exercise and are still showing it off to the world .But unfortunately when it comes to speaking up for the defenders of democracy in Myanmar our voice drops to a whisper. To put it bluntly India’s foreign policy with regards to Myanmar is caught in a trap. We chose to play footsie with the military regime in the hope of getting access to Myanmar’s natural resources and to secure our north-east from infiltration. We have achieved a degree of understanding on border infiltration but have been well eclipsed by China as far as exerting influence in Myanmar is concerned. We have meanwhile let down the people of Myanmar in their quest for democracy. If India is to make amends, this new Government must redraw India’s approach map to Myanmar. Given our aspiration towards a greater role, New Delhi under the foreign ministry would do well to recalibrate its approach towards our neighbors, especially towards ruthless dictators whom nobody in the world particularly likes”

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Tamils thank Times of India. The newspaper instead of dictator or neighbor had used plural which indirectly indicates the tin-pot dictator of Srilanka. These comments open a Pandora’s Box. Indian foreign policy had let down its own citizens in past. We Indian citizens, who rediscover the past, are baffled at the statement tabled in Indian Parliament on July 23 1974 by then Indian External Affairs Minister Mr.Swaran Singh [Lok sabha debates cols 186-201] for ReAgreement between India and Srilanka on boundary in historic waters between the two countries and related matters. India must be aware what its own representative sought before UN Sub-committee on the need to extend its maritime belt in view of thorium find in Indian territorial waters. When we had national interest to extend our maritime belt, only a nincompoop would opt for an agreement that will hand over Indian island of Katcha Tivu to Srilanka by way of this agreement. We would like to remind that one Member of Indian Parliament, speaking on the floor of the house on 23rd July 1974 raised a point or order. Mr.P.K.Deo, Member from Kalahandi of Indian State of Orissa said “Nowhere the Indian Constitution provide for cession of even an inch of Indian Territory. All the Revenue records of Madras Government, a state of India, corroborate that Katcha Tivu was part of former Ramnad zamindary and an integral part of this country. So under no circumstances the Government has got any power under the Indian Constitution to cede even an inch of our country. A few days back the Coco islands which is part of Andaman group of islands belonging to India was ceded to Burma. Now it is Katcha Tivu. It is utter contempt and disrespect shown to the House [Indian Parliament] by not taking the house into confidence and facing us with a fait accompli” The handing over of Coco island by the foreign policy experts of seventies to Myanmar had paved way for China obtaining its in lease from Myanmar and to build a harbour there apart from installing Russian made radars and satellites to spy on Indian Missile programme operated from Orissa, a state of India just facing Coco islands in the west of the Bay of Bengal. Sitting entrenched in Eastern side of Bay of Bengal that too just 40 nautical miles away from Indian Territory of Andaman Nicobar islands, China had established its access and control of Bay of Bengal. The intelligent foreign policy experts who had no broad vision had opened the gateway of Bay of Bengal to the Chinese dragon. Dr.Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist Member of Parliament and contemporary of Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru urged that India should extend her frontier to the Yarlung Zangbo River, which he refers as Brahmaputra; only then Indian troops would be able to meet the Chinese on more equal terms as far as physical conditions are concerned. Let us ignore him, after all he is a Chinese baiter, the rulers ignored him. But the threats from China are not only in our border but everywhere. Unless India watches every move of China, we will fail in our patriotic duty to preserve our nation and its status among comity of nations.

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“India and China are now members of the Financial Stability Board, the apex institution to monitor global risks of financial crisis. Their voting shares in the International Monetary Fund will also be slightly increased through an accelerated quota reform process. However post-reform the USA will retain its defacto veto power with a 17 percent share and the US, EU and Japan will control 53 percent of IMF shares. Individually the shares of US, UK, France and Japan will still be larger than China’s share of fewer than 4 percent.” Hence China had planned a new offensive according to Professor of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy Mr.Sudipto Mundle. “Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the Chinese Central Bank on the eve of G-20 summit suggested that dollar should be replaced with SDR’s as the new reserve currency. The huge dollar reserves held by Central Banks and other global investors would be severely eroded if the dollar were to suddenly depreciate. Yet these investors cannot easily diversify away from the dollar since this itself would trigger dollar depreciation. The Chinese are particularly concerned, an estimated 1 trillion dollars of their total reserves of around 2 trillion are held in dollar asset. The SDR exchange rate is a weighted average of exchange rates of the major convertible currencies. Accordingly under Zhou’s proposals, China and other countries could convert their reserves from dollars to SDR’s at current exchange rates without any erosion in their value. Implementing such a proposal would also mark the end of the dollar as reserve currency.” This is the game plan of China which has let the cat out of its bag. If China launches SDR missiles to strike at the Dollar regime, India had to toe Chinese line, if Indo-China-Srilanka partnership to ethnic cleansing of Tamils is a forerunner to such cooperation. USA realizing the Chinese designs had been urging India to sign Enduse Monitoring Agreement, Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum agreement, and Logistics Support Agreement. China causes grave concern for USA, hence USA urges India to sign these pacts. China had become emboldened to say to USA to concentrate on western Pacific and China will look after eastern Pacific. Pacific Command Chief Admiral Timothy J Keating had recently exposed this game. Are we with USA or are we with China? Is USA a grave danger to the territorial integrity of India or is China, the aggressor who claims our Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh will be a threat with high magnitude? China had encircled India with tie-ups starting from Myanmar to Srilanka, Maldives to Pakistan and Bangladesh. With harbours in all these countries carefully built from 1990, China had acquired a might India cannot challenge. If China could suggest to USA to divide Pacific Ocean as eastern zone and western zone between them, will it not say to India confine to your coast in Bay of Bengal and from Myanmar China will control half of Bay of Bengal. Will not China with harbours in Pakistan and Maldives suffocate Indian presence in Arabic Ocean? Sitting in Srilanka’s southern tip China could block

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passage to Bay of Bengal and from Myanmar control Malacca Straits. India which supports Srilanka hoping it will shield its geo-political interests will cut a sorry figure in days ahead. Srilanka needed the support of India only to finish the Tamil demand for homeland. Helping Srilanka to crush Tamil freedom struggle China had succeeded in sowing distrust towards India in Tamil minds. Each and every step China plans is to establish it as Super power of Asia. It is the neo-colonial power which will colonize Myanmar and Srilanka. In Indian state of Bihar, the influx of Chinese women to marry Indians born in Buddha’s land is silently establishing a Chino-Indian population like early Anglo-Indians. Our foreign policy must be debated in Indian Parliament. Few individuals should not decide the foreign policy of a continent like India with 100 crore population. Ours is Indian Union, though it became unitary due to the trauma of partition, it must be borne that Indian States have a right to shape India’s foreign policy. Consensus can emerge in our National Integration Council, debates in Parliament can offer constructive course corrections, and Cabinet should not be bypassed, few people should not be shouldered with crafting nation’s foreign policy, however super brains they may be. But seeing how China had outwitted us by encircling India, and within India opening a Red corridor from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh where Maoists rule the roost, it becomes evident that China wants India again to become a colony, this time a colony of China will only get conduct certificates from Communist parties and not from Indians with common sense. THE BORDER QUESTION: Speaking in Indian Parliament on 20 th November 1950, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru states “Maps of China for last thirty years have shown a certain portion of that North Eastern Frontier which is now part of India…. Our maps show that McMahon Line is our boundary and that is our boundary map or no map… and we will not allow anybody to come across the boundary “The problem between India and China, which now stakes claim to Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh, started actually not by the tongue slip of Jawaharlal Nehru, but by the fact about the weakness of both side over the maps. Emergence of Chinese Nation Let me further quote Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru “The administration of the Mongol Empire must have been a very difficult task. It is not surprising therefore that it began to split. Kublai Khan died in 1292. After him there was no great Khan. The Empire divided up into big areas. 1. The Empire of China including Mongolia, Manchuria and Tibet. This empire was the principal one under Kublai Khan’s descendent of the Yuan dynasty. 2. To the far West Russia, Poland and Hungary was the Empire of the Golden Horde as the Mongols were then called.

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3. In Persia and Mesopotamia and part of Central Asia there was the Ilkhan Empire, which was founded by Hulugu and to which the Seljuk Turks paid tribute. 4. North of Tibet in Central Asia there was a great Turkey as it was called, the Empire of Zagatai 5. Between Mongolia and Golden Horde there was a Siberian Empire of the Mongols. Mongol Empire was split up, each one of these five divisions it was a mighty empire wrote Nehru in page 224 of his book Glimpses of World History. That was the divided nature; fragmented nature of a country those in later days became China. Now China wants to expand. It reminds of Adolph Hitler’s invasion of other countries for “living space”. With its burgeoning population China is hungry for the soil of neighbours, is for creation of access to seas hitherto it cannot reach, and wants to impose its will over Asia. Emergence of Indian Nation During British rule about 60% of the Indian sub-continent's territories were Provinces and 40% were Princely States The Indian sub-continent was always a bunch of different entities ruling different parts in India. While the arrival of the British in India, the most dominant empire in the Indian subcontinent was the Moghul Empire. The Moghul Empire acted as patrons to many smaller kingdoms all over India. With the collapse of the Moghul Empire, which began in the 18th century, the different rulers became semiindependent. The Indian sub-continent at the time of independence in 1947 had 562 Princely States. Some of them like Kashmir, Mysore and Hyderabad were as large as England. There were also smaller Princely states like Junagad, Udaipur, Janjira, Aundh and Cochin. Along with the Princely States there were also 11 Provinces in British India. These Provinces were under direct British control. These Provinces were formerly Indian entities, which the British annexed from the Indian rulers, attached them together and turned them into British Provinces. Among these Provinces were Bombay, Madras, Bengal, Assam and United Provinces. This introduction will indicate how our borders have become widening and changing with integration of princely states within Indian Union. India and China two countries have fought bitter war and even today normalcy never returns in fostering better relationship. The legacy of the colonialism has left a border dispute, which had triggered wars in the past and now claims over settled issue like Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh...New threats are emerging in Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Seas, All such threats emanate from China only.

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THE MAPS AND THE CONFUSION The maps of 1930 show Indian border in North East sector, which is McMahon line between India’s Assam and Tibet region as Boundary Undemarcated. In Northwest, North sectors [from Kashmir Ladakh to Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh it was inscribed as boundary undefined. Miss Dorothy Woodman in her book Himalayan Frontiers in 1969 wrote, “The innumerable discrepancies on maps might lead to the most naïve student of cartography to the view that the devil can quote maps to serve its own purpose.” The discrepancies in maps are a disease infecting both sides. Both countries based their claims on erroneous maps. In Indian side as per eminent parliamentarian and scholar Kuldip Nayyar “ The Government itself with drew several official maps and books which did not indicate meticulously a curve here or a bend there or which left the boundary undefined. Many maps of the Survey of India and the books of Publications Division were withdrawn, and there was a circular sent to return all such materials “[Between the Lines p 137-138]. Similarly Chinese Premier Chou–en-lai made it clear in April 1955 during Bandung Conference, that China’s borders with neighbouring countries had not yet been fixed. COLONIAL MENTALITY REFLECTED IN MAPS While we talk about the faulty maps of both countries based on which the people of both countries have undergone the agony of war, we must also take note of the colonial mind and colonial mentality behind the maps. To divert the subject here from India and China, so that none can say we are blind by nationalism but to stress the need to apply rationalism in evaluating our past and present claims and counter claims over territory let me draw your attention to other maps. “Open a geography book or take an Atlas or a traditional map adorning a wall. Greenland and Scandinavia appear to be ten and three times larger than India respectively. However in reality Greenland is only eighty percent of India’s size. Scandinavia is three times smaller than India. The discrepancy does not end here. Russia appears bigger than entire continent of Africa; Alaska bigger than Mexico and tiny Europe seems to occupy more area than entire South America. This mismatch runs against basic common sense. Locate the equator and see how the northern hemisphere occupies two thirds of the space, and southern hemisphere the remaining one third.” Wrote Columnist Vishal V Sharma in Times of India. He cites the reasons for this. “The world map being shown in our books and Atlases is the Mercator map, made during the age when Europe dominated and exploited the world. The white dominated countries are thus portrayed to be extraordinarily large while non white countries extraordinarily small.” United Nations in 1974 acknowledging this discrepancy accepted a new map made by Arno Peters, a German scholar. Peter’s map shows countries in their relative sizes, and is based on his decimal grid, which divides the surface of the Earth into hundred longitudinal fields with equal width and a hundred latitudinal fields of equal heights.

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Dravida Peravai wishes to draw your attention that our countries have not understood the colonialism and its legacy, the maps, McMahon lines over which we were engulfed in enmity for decades, and spent the energies of our economies to fuel wars instead of eradicating poverty in our most populous countries. BANGLADESH BORDERS: The legacy of past not only haunts India and China, it also hurts India and Bangladesh. There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladesh enclaves in India.” The legacy of high stake card games between two kings, rulers of Cooch Bihar and Rangpur within old Bengal State centuries ago where they used estates as stakes when they ran out of cash, resulted in our nation having Bangladesh enclaves and Bangladesh having our enclaves. This is an issue, which had not been sorted out yet; it applies to the Indo China border dispute. The sudden raking up of a claim over Arunachal Pradesh by China had created heartburns amidst Indian people. Indian people did not expect that Chinese would go on digging a past, a creation of colonialism, to put roadblocks to normalcy between two great civilizations and countries. But whatever China does aims to cut India down to size and to dwarf India as super power, eating into its geo-political spheres of influence.

THE SRILANKAN POLICY Let me narrate the fate of failed initiatives, so that India under your guidance can contemplate for new solutions to resolve the Tamils issue. Federalism is buried: “After the UNP Government of 1977-1989 adopted its 1978 Constitution, political devolution and the establishments of a federal system of government were precluded by Article 2, which declared “The Republic of Srilanka is a unitary state. The remaining scope for political decentralization was eliminated by Article 76 which specified that the Parliament shall not abdicate or in any manner alienate its legislative power and shall not set up any authority with legislative power. The two articles were incorporated explicitly to forbid devolution. Indeed when the Constitution was adopted, then President J.R.Jayawardene confidently claimed to have “all but closed the door on federalism”. These observations in the Assessment of conflict resolution initiatives in Srilanka from 1957 to 1996, reveals that unless these two provisions in the Constitution is removed no federalism can come into existence. Official language status is deprived: Till 1956 Tamil and Sinhalese languages enjoyed equal status. India which always boasts of the 13th Amendment of 1987 to the Srilankan Constitution as a fruit of its intervention conveniently closes its eyes to the article 18, which had taken the life out of the amendment. The article states that official language of Srilanka shall be

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Sinhala. Tamil shall also be an official language. English shall be link language. Neither India then nor the other nations that sermonize the need to resolve issues within Srilanka are going to get the Constitution amended to read “The official languages of Srilanka shall be Sinhala and Tamil. This alone is equality, which Srilanka will never concede, that too when it is in a position of strength. Dictatorship in garb of Democracy: The UNP Government creation of Executive Presidency dealt a death knell to the Cabinet system of governance, devalued the office of the Prime Minister, and by 1981 Parliament was reduced to silent spectator with no powers. Unless Executive Presidency is done away and Parliament regains its supremacy, there can neither be democracy for Sinhalese or Tamils. Under Occupation forces safety in peril: Preferential recruitment of Sinhalese only in army and police force starting from sixties had led to a situation where Tamils does not even constitute one percent of the armed forces. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s emissary Mr.G.Parthasarathy who drafted the Annexure C proposals was aware of this imbalance and made first effort to address the issue of security forces remaining foreign forces in the eyes of Tamils. Till date the security and police forces have no space for Tamils, which makes Tamils insecure in the unitary Srilankan state. After defeating the so called terrorists, if the Srilankan Government had given General Amnesty to the Tamil forces, and had absorbed them, some degree of trust towards government would have reared its head in Tamil hearts. But it is not so. We once heard US President calling for General Amnesty, but now no such voice is heard in international arena. All the civilians uprooted from their villages due to war will not be immediately resettled, but they have to remain in concentration camps, till all physically able young boys and children are taken away for screening and killed so that not a single young men with able bodies will be allowed to resettle, seems to be the order of the Srilankan Government, and this act falls under the criteria of crimes against humanity. Hence along with Srilankan President, Defense Minister and Army Chief, Naval Chief, Air Chief of the Srilankan Government and the Para-military forces patronized by Srilankan Government should be charged with war crimes and brought to book. Theocratic state that buries Secularism: India prides itself to be secular state, but it patronizes a theocratic state, just because the Sinhalese call themselves Aryan. Racial affinity blinds some who consider indigenous Dravidian people as their eternal enemy. There cannot be any common ground between the rulers of India and Srilanka on secularism. There cannot be common ground with the geo-political interests of China and Pakistan, but the racial affinity makes few in India remain adamant with like rock like stubbornness, with no prick from conscience unmovable by the protests, self immolations, and cries of help from Indian Tamils, who are Dravidians. Racial common thread between so called secularists of India and theocrats of Srilanka blinds Indian vision towards Tamil genocide.

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The 1978 constitution reserved for Buddhism the foremost place [art.9] in contrast to other religions, a provision which was introduced in the 1972 Republican Constitution with the motive to make Buddhism the State Religion. The January 1996 Draft Provisions by Art 7 strived to entrench Buddhism and create a Supreme Council of the Buddhist clergy to advise the Government elected by various religious communities, on the process of fostering only one religion, Buddhism. The Indian brains which remains in paralysis, will never seek amendment to make Srilanka a secular state. They will advise all religions to dismantle their structures in Srilanka and get assimilated by Sinhala language, religion, and authority. Such unitary state will be an open air concentration camp for people of other religions. Now Tamils, within them considerable amount of Christians live in concentration camps allowing breathing time for Sinhalese Government to nip in bud all young boys and girls, so that a physically handicapped Tamil people’s state can be established as vassal state of Srilanka. Broken Pacts of Past and to be Broken promises to Donor Nations now: The countries that had borrowed the Indian formula to solve the aspirations of the Tamil people are not aware that both India and Srilanka are hiding the hidden truths about so many pacts and initiatives of the past in this direction ended in a fiasco. If democratically mandated Tamil parties from 1957 failed to realize federalism and equal rights by pacts with Srilankan Governments of all times, now India wants Tamils to expect the victor who had crushed a freedom struggle to offer better panacea to the vanquished, is totally foolish. Indian Governments pact with Srilanka itself is broken to pieces, and now India wants Tamils to pick the rags of that agreement from the dustbins of Srilankan President. Indian Tamils urge the leaders in Union cabinet with conscience not to buy the argument but to individually evaluate the solutions that they can offer to people of Tamil Eelam. A] Pact between Prime Minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Srilanka and Leader of the Federal Party Mr.S.V.J.Selvanayagam signed in July 1957 and abrogated unilaterally by the Prime Minister in May 1958, stands for scrutiny here, to remind the nations that preach a solution within Srilanka, that however they may wish, it won’t get fulfilled. The Federal party agreed to abandon its demand for a federal system, and agreed to regionalism, which means political decentralization within the unitary framework of governance. Srilanka that did not accept this compromise in 1958 but now after vanquishing the freedom struggle, it will only offer slavery. 1] The Pact agreed that in Regional Councils Members of Parliament representing the Central Government can preside, which gave room for Parliament to directly control these regional councils. Instead of seeking powers for the Ministers in the Regional Council, the pact paved way to reduce powers and to vest some powers to Parliament. 2] The Pact agreed that regional councils should have powers for subjects including agriculture, cooperatives, lands and land development, colonization, education, health, industries and fisheries, housing and social services,

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electricity, water schemes and roads. The flaw in this pact is it did not delineate the legislative powers of the regional councils. 3] The Pact did not specify the Executive powers of the proposed regional councils. The powers of Regional Council would not be greater than that of municipalities. 4] The Pact reiterated Sinhala as the sole official language of Srilanka. The Federal Party accepted the secondary status given to Tamil language but the Pact remained silent on non-Sinhalese speaking peoples living outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces. 5] The Federal party, commentators say failed to vigorously defend the rights of Tamils and Muslims over land distribution in the Gal Oya scheme. 6] The 1957 Pact did not address the law and order issue 7] The 1957 Pact states that the Government will provide grants to regional councils and the regional councils will have powers to taxation and borrowing. 8] The 1957 Pact totally remained silent on economic resources but under infrastructure subject’s electricity, water schemes and roads were for regional councils. 9] The 1957 Pact conceded that over education Regional Councils will exercise controls. 10] The 1957 Pact kept silence over employment. 11] Linking citizenship to ethnicity that too the majority and relegating other ethnic groups lead to new class of Tamils called stateless Tamils being created to brand Tamils of Indian origin, the up-country Tamils. The Federal party prayed for the abolition of discriminatory classification of citizens of Registration. 12] The 1957 pact recognized Ceylon as a Sinhalese state, where Sinhala would be sole official language of the country and Tamil to be made as the language of administration of the North and Eastern provinces without infringing the position of official language. This was the pact of 1957 when Tamils backed the Federal Party and even these concessions were not given and pact abrogated in May 1958. Then so many pacts, promises and initiatives, which did don’t give the minimum requirement of Tamils, the nations of the world must bear in mind. B] Senanayake-Selvanayagam Pact of 1965. After the Parliamentary elections of 1965 the UNP lead by Mr.Dudley Senanayake did not have majority and it needed the support of the Federal Party of Tamils led by Mr.Selvanayagam. The Senanayake-Selvanayagam Pact of 1965, which Tamils pinned hopes will get them regionalism was not fulfilled by a national

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government in coalition with Federal Party. This show how treacherous the Sinhalese leaders and political parties have been in past, and they have changed names but not stance. C] Model Constitution for the Federal Republic of Srilanka: The constituent assembly met to draft the first Republican constitution in 1972; Federal party tabled a model constitution which was rejected by the steering committee of the constituent assembly. D] Presidential Commission on Development Councils 1979:Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvan Report of 1980 went to dustbin. E] INDIAN INTERVENTION: Annexure C proposals: The holocaust of July 1983, which marks the daylight state terrorism without any sense of shame made then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to intervene. India initiated talks with Srilankan Government and Tamil United Liberation Front, a political party pursuing democratic path to fight for Tamils rights. This led to Annexure C proposals master minded by Mr.G.Parthsarathy, which could have formed the basis of further talks in the All Party Conference. 1] Annexure C failed to demand repeal of Article 76 thereby making the promise to transfer powers an empty promise. It neither urged to repeal Article 2 thereby accepting the unitary system nor does not pave way for regionalism. 2] The Annexure did not indicate whether Regional Councils would exercise control over Regional Public Service Commission and Regional Public Service. No provision was made to create Regional Judicial Service Commission. 3] The Annexure C confirmed the discriminatory treatment of Tamil language in 1978 Constitution. 4] Annexure C did not envisage transfer of the subject of land to councils. 5] The Annexure C did not even suggest placing Regional Police Service under the Regional Councils. The wanton exclusion of Tamils from employment in armed forces was not addressed to instill a sense of security for Tamils, and also to give them equal rights as citizens to join armed forces. 6] The 1983 Annexure C proposals addressed India’s concerns by suggesting creation of a Port Authority under Central Government for administering Trincomalae Port. 7] Though Annexure C allocated culture as subject allocated to Regional Council, it did not define culture. 8] The Ceylon Tamils objected to the design of the National flag and anthem which did not reflect the multi national and multi cultural society of the country. Annexure C did not find remedy for this grievance but first time this issue was subjected to debate.

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Having dealt what little was offered when India brokered peace in 1983 that too when the Iron lady Ms.Indira Gandhi was Indian Prime Minister, it will be wild goose chase again to seek for Tamils rights under unitary Srilankan State of Theocratic Dictatorship which had been a terrorist state to Tamils since 1956 till date. F] District-Provincial Councils Bill of 1984: All Party Conference in August 1984 created a Working Group of Officials and Experts which submitted its report to the plenary sessions of the All Party Conference in September 1984. President submitted his statement to the All Party Conference in December 1984. A draft bill for District and Provincial Council was adopted in the conference, which did not satisfy Tamil aspirations or meet Tamils demand. Tamil United Liberation Front, the political party with majority representation of Tamils in Parliament expressed unhappiness which was a good excuse to President J.R.Jayawardene to shelve the bill in cold storage. G] Thimpu Talks 1985 and after : Government of India brought Srilankan Government and Tamil militant groups LTTE, TELO, PLOTE, EROS, and EPRLF to negotiating table in Thimpu, capital of Bhutan, a Himalayan country. Talks failed. But Indian External Affairs Ministry continued its dialogue with the Srilankan President and a Draft Framework of Terms of Accord and Understanding was arrived at in August 1985. President J.R.Jayawardane should have submitted that draft to Srilankan cabinet, but he chose not to do, lapsing the agreement. H] Rajiv Gandhi’s Initiatives: Tamil United Liberation Front presented few proposals to Indian Prime Minister Mr.Rajiv Gandhi in December 1985, and India sought the opinion of Srilankan Government which rejected the demand of federalism. Then Indian Minister Mr.P.Chidambaram led a delegation to Srilanka and discussed with the Government of India and Tamil United Liberation Front. Government of Srilanka as a follow up sent its proposals to Government of India. Government of Srilanka prepared a Draft Amendment to the Constitution of Srilanka to provide legal sanction to Chidambaram proposals in September 1986. Subsequently discussions took place in Bangalore between Indian Prime Minister Mr.Rajiv Gandhi and Srilankan President Mr.J.R.Jayawardane and a working paper emerged on 18th November 1986. This paved way for proposals of 19th December 1986. I] Indo-Srilankan Accord of 1987: It should be noted that while Srilanka was discussing ways and means to solve the Tamil conflict between 30th August 1985 to 19th December 1986 it was continuing its genocidal war. India then had a wise leader Mr.Rajiv Gandhi which provided all material and moral support to militants in the field while bringing diplomatic pressure on Srilanka to fix it for violation of human rights. Unlike the whole world that watched helplessly without coming to the rescue of starving civilians in recent genocidal war, India headed by Mr.Rajiv Gandhi did not remain with lip service. It intervened to airdrop food and medicines to the war zones of Srilanka. This act forced Srilanka, which understands only

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the voice of the might, agreed to sign the Indo-Srilankan Agreement to establish peace and normalcy in Srilanka in July 1987. The traditional Tamil homelands which were infiltrated by Sinhalese colonization were merged into a single North-Eastern province. The merger should be confirmed by referendum before end of 1988, thereafter it will be permanent. We all know how this promise was broken using Courts, and Indian leaders who swear by the name of Rajiv Gandhi have completely forgotten the longstanding demand of Tamils which Rajiv Gandhi obtained for Tamils after so much efforts. To implement the accord Indian Peace Keeping Force was sent. LTTE agreed for cessation of hostilities and token surrender of arms and started handing to IPKF. The same accord contains a general amnesty clause. The general amnesty “to political and other prisoners now held in the custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and other emergency laws, and to combatants, as well as those persons accused, charged and or convicted under these laws”. After signing the accord Government of Srilanka went back saying that amnesty does not apply to persons who have committed offences outside the North Eastern provinces and withheld amnesty to 1250 political prisoners. The LTTE retaliated by suspending surrender of arms. Recently in May of 2009, the USA President Mr. Barrack Obama called for grant of General Amnesty to the freedom fighters of Tamil Eelam. If Srilanka in past had gone back on general amnesty agreed in a pact between India and Srilanka, how can United Nations or all civilized nations on Earth except those who condone the Tamil genocide by Srilanka, are going to get general amnesty to the 9100 LTTE fighters claimed by Srilanka to have surrendered. If the UN Secretary General had to go all the way praying for free access to humanitarian agencies to help Tamil civilians in concentration camps, who is going to pray for general amnesty for the LTTE fighters who have surrendered. They will not be treated as prisoners of war; all canons of international law will be thrown into winds. These 9100 fighters and all able bodied young men and girls among the Tamil civilians will be annihilated, Tamil villages and towns will be implanted with Sinhalese colonization, then the physically incapacitated, mentally derailed slaves now who remain behind barbed wires, may be allowed to go back to their original places. The time needed till year end is not to de-mine the areas but to de-tamilize these places and to break down the will power of those who bore the brunt of the civil war, but somehow survived to become slaves. J] The IPKF did not act in neutrality, here some bureaucrats or army officers derailed the purposes for which IPKF was sent to Srilanka. Let me remind Prof Daya Somasundaram`s book Scarred Minds The Psychological Impact of War on Sri Lankan Tamils.[Professor Daya Somasundaram is the Professor of Psychiatry in the University of Jaffna and concurrently Consultant Psychiatrist, General (Teaching Hospital) Jaffna. He was one of the four authors of the book, Broken Palmyra, which was critical of the LTTE, a co-

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author of Mental Health in Cambodia, where he served as a Consultant Psychiatrist] .This book lists out IPKF excesses. If American forces during Bush era indulge in excesses, America under President Barrack Obama makes amends and civilized democracy condemns such acts. India we have democracy but we are ashamed to wash our dirty linen in public. Anyhow as we look back at history we have to see the reasons behind LTTE and IPKF clashes culminating in the Rajiv Gandhi’s murder. K] Other Initiatives that failed: After the 13 th Amendment of 1987, the Democratic People’s Alliance came out with proposals in 1988. The drafting committee of the All Party of Conference was given with proposals by participating Tamil parties. Thondaman proposals were handed over in 1991. UNP party’s Presidential candidate Mr.Gamini Thissanayake came out with a vision for 21 st century. The Up-Country People’s Front in December 1994 submitted its peace formula to the Parliamentary Select Committee. Then Srilankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga came out with Basic Ideas on 3 rd August 1995. These basic ideas were formulated into draft proposals on January 1996. L] India is not in a position to intervene or influence as it did during the times of Rajiv Gandhi. The unfortunate murder of Rajiv Gandhi had thrust one point Agenda on the ruling party of India to take revenge on LTTE. Now that revenge had been accomplished, it is high time for India to evaluate its foreign policies. In recent months overnight so many retired army men from IPKF turned into columnists occupying media space to support the Agenda for Revenge, unfortunately forgetting that what their army did in Srilanka brought about the turn of events and agendas for revenge. To err is human but to kill our conscience and supporting Tamil Genocide is behavior of brutes. We appeal to you to look at the list of massacres from 1956 to 2001 till the Norway brokered peace dawned in Srilanka. 1. Inginiyakala massacre [05.06.1956] 2. 1958 pogrom 3. Tamil research conference massacre 10.01.1974 4. 1977 communal pogrom 5. 1981 communal pogrom 6. Burning of the Jaffna library 01.06.1981 7. 1983 communal pogrom 8. Thirunelveli massacre 24, 25.07.1983 9. Sampalthoddam massacre 1984 10. Chunnakam Police station massacre 08.01.1984 11. Chunnakam market massacre 28.03.1984 12. Mathawachchi – Rampawa September 1984 13. Point Pedro – Thikkam massacre 16.09.1984 14. Othiyamalai massacre 01.12.1984 15. Kumulamunai massacre 02.12.1984 16. Cheddikulam massacre 02.12.1984 17. Manalaru massacre 03.12.1984

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18. Blood soaked Mannar 04.12.1984 19. Kokkilai Kokkuthoduvai massacre 15.12.1984 20. Vankalai church massacre 06.01.1986 21. Mulliyavalai massacre 16.01.1985 22. Vaddakandal massacre 30.01.1985 23. Puthukkidiyiruppu Iyankovilady massacre 21.04.1985 24. Trincomalee massacres in 1985 25. Valvai 85 massacre 10.05.1985 26. Kumuthini Boat massacre 15.05.1985 27. Kiliveddi massacre in 1985 28. Thiriyai massacre 08.06.1985 29. Sampaltivu 04 to 09.08.1985 30. Veeramunai massacre 20.06.1990 31. Nilaveli massacre 16.09.1985 32. Piramanthanaru massacre 02.10.1985 33. Kanthalai 85 massacre 09.11.1985 34. Muthur Kadatkaraichenai 08, 09, 10.11.1985 35. Periyapullumalai massacre in 1986 36. Kilinochchi Railway Station massacre 25.01.1986 37. Udumbankulam massacre 19.02.1985 38. Vayaloor massacre 24.08.1985 39. Eeddimurinchan massacre 19, 20.03.1986 40. Anandapuram shelling 04.06.1986 41. Kanthalai 86 massacre 04, 05.06. 1986 42. Mandaithivu sea massacre 10.06.1986 43. Seruvila massacre 12.06.1986 44. Thambalakamam massacres 1985, 1986 45. Paranthan farmer’s massacre 28.06.1986 46. Peruveli refugee camp massacre 15.07.1986 47. Thanduvan bus massacre 17.07.1986 48. Mutur Manalchenai massacre 18.07. 1986 49. Adampan massacre 12.10.1986 50. Periyapandivrichchan massacre 15.10.1986 51. Kokkadichcholai 87 massacre 28.01.1987 52. Paddithidal massacre 26.04.1987 53. Thonithiddamadu massacre 27.05.1987 54. Alvai temple shelling 29.05.1987 55. Eastern University massacre 23.05.1990 56. Sammanthurai massacre 10.06.1990 57. Xavierpuram massacre 07.08.1990 58. Siththandy massacre 20, 27.07.1990 59. Paranthan junction massacre 24.07.1990 60. Poththuvil massacre 30.07.1990 61. Tiraikerny massacre 06.08.1990 62. Kalmunai massacre 11.08.1990 63. Thuranilavani massacre 12.08.1990 64. Eravur hospital massacre 12.08.1990 65. Koraveli massacre 14.08.1990 66. Nelliyadi market bombing 29.08.1990 67. Eravur massacre 10.10.1990

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68. Saththurukkondan massacre 09.09.1990 69. Natpiddymunai massacre 10.09.1990 70. Vantharamullai 90 massacre 05, 23,09,1990 71. Mandaithivu disappearances 23.08.1990, 25.09.1990 72. Oddisuddan bombing 27.11.1990 73. Puthukkudiyiruppu junction bombing 74. Vankalai massacre 17.02.1991 75. Vaddakkachchi bombing 28.02.1991 76. Vantharumoolai 09.06.1991 77. Kokkadichcholai 91 massacre 12.06.1991 78. Pullumalai massacre 1983 1990 79. Kinniyadi massacre 12.07.1991 80. Akkarayan hospital massacre 15.07.1997 81. Uruthrapuram bombing 04.02.1991 82. Karapolla Muthgalla massacre 29.04.1992 83. Vattrapalai shelling 18.05.1992 84. Thellipalai temple bombing 30.05.1992 85. Mailanthai massacre 09.08.1992 86. Kilali massacre 1992, 1993 87. Maaththalan bombing 18.09.1993 88. Chavakachcheri Sangaththanai bombing 28.09.1993 89. Kokuvil temple massacre & bombing 29.09.1993 90. Kurunagar church bombing 13.11.1993 91. Chundikulam 94 massacre 18.02.1994 92. Navali church massacre 09.07.1995 93. Nagarkovil bombing 22.05.1995 94. Chemmani mass graves in 1996 95. Kilinochchi town massacre 1996 1998 96. Kumarapuram massacre 11.02.1996 97. Nachchikuda strafing 16.03.1996 98. Thambirai market bombing 17.05.1996 99. Mallavi bombing 24.07.1996 100. Pannankandy massacre 05.07.1997 101. Kaithady Krishanthi massacre 07.09.1996 102. Vavunikulam massacre 26 09 1996, 15 08 1997 103. Konavil bombing 27.09.1996 104. Mullivaikal bombing 13.05.1997 105. Mankulam shelling 08.06.1997 106. Thampalakamam massacre 01.02.1998 107. Old Vaddakachchi bombing 26.03.1998 108. Suthanthirapuram massacre 10.06.1998 109. Visuvamadhu shelling 25.11.1998 110. Chundikulam 98 bombing 02.12.1998 111. Manthuvil bombing 15.09.1999 112. Palinagar bombing and shelling 03.09.1999 113. Madhu church massacre 20.11.1999 114. Bindunuwewa massacre 115. Mirusuvil massacre 19.12.2000

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Appeal to the Conscience of Indian Leaders and Indian Government: Having seen the list, and now Tamils having lost the freedom struggle, would you say that Tamils will be treated as human beings within unitary Srilankan State? Whether India will stand guarantee, or which nation on Earth can assure Tamils a life with dignity within unitary Srilanka. Now please read what Sinhalese Members of Parliament had spoken in their country’s Parliament. Can any Parliamentarian speak openly with impunity in any of the Parliaments or Senates of this Earth, in the manner in which Sinhalese Members of Parliament had spoken in past? Sinhalese Buddhist Member of Parliament from Kundasale Mr.D.M.Chandrapala spoke in July 1981 in Srilankan Parliament: Quote “Now Sir…. What should we do to this so called leader of Tamils? If I were given powers, I would tie him to the nearest concrete post in this building and horses whip him till I raise him to his wits. Thereafter let anybody do anything he likes, throw him into the Biere[lake] or into the sea, because he will be so mutilated that I do not think there will be life in him “ Mr.G.V.Punchinilame, Sinhalese Buddhist Member of Parliament from Ratnapura to explain in Parliament on how cruelly Tamils should be tortured. Quote: “Since yesterday morning, we have heard in this honorable house about the various types of punishment that should be meted out to them. [Tamil Parliamentary leaders]. The M.P for Panadura, Dr.Neville Fernando said that there was a punishment during the regime of Sinhalese kings, namely two areca nut posts are erected, the two posts are then drawn towards each other with a rope, then tie the each feet of the offender to each post and then cut the rope which will result in tearing apart the body. These people [Tamil M.P’s] should be punished that way. Some members suggested that they should be put to death on the stake, some other members said their passports should be confiscated, still other members said they should be made to stand at Galle Face and shot. The people of this country want and the government is prepared to inflict these punishments on these people. Before violence erupted or militarist movements took inception, when purely Tamils were pursuing democratic path demanding state autonomy through peaceful means, Srilankan Parliament had debated on how Tamil Members of Parliament should be killed and tortured. Such hatred possessed only by their predecessors, is inbuilt in the minds of Sinhalese. Cruelty is their creed. Barbarianism is their gospel. To teach cannibals to behave in civilized manner if efforts are put, it will yield results. But the Sinhalese who inscribed their language letter Sri with hot irons in the forcibly exposed bare chests of Tamil women in fifties, Sinhalese who could pluck the eyes of freedom fighters within their prison and to crush it with their boots in sadistic arrogance, will torture the entire Tamil race. World watched helplessly when civilians are killed in so called safe zones. World watched

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while international agencies could not reach Tamils with medicines and food for internally displaced peoples. If under unitary Srilanka, Tamils are forced to live it will only be a life worse than a slave, Before concluding, it is my duty to recall the words of then Srilankan President as published in Daily Telegraph of Srilanka on 11th July 1983. Mr.J.R.Jayawardane with whom Mr. Rajiv Gandhi inked an accord in 1987 had spoken in 1983, as follows: “I am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people, now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or opinion. The more you put pressure in the North, the happier will the Sinhalese people be here. Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhalese people will be happy.” 7. Tamil struggle in fifties started with demand for a federal state. If like USA, a federal model is brought in Srilanka that could be considered by Tamils of Eelam and not the Indian model, which in reality is a unitary state. 8. To ensure the safety of Tamils Srilanka must be forced to allow Condominium .Condominium exists when over a particular territory joint dominion is exercised by two or more external powers. In past England and France exercised control and had rights over the territory of New Hebrides between 1914 and 1980. This gave joint sovereignty of France and Britain over New Hebrides. Historically in British India, India had condominium over Srilanka, and to assure Tamils till the historical wounds are healed and unity emerges, India can exercise condominium over the North Eastern Provinces, which will act as guarantee for Tamil lives against future genocide of Tamils. If not India, USA can have condominium along with Srilanka. 9. India wants to safeguard its geo-political interests, and USA accepts India as regional power in this region. In these circumstances, we urge India to lobby with USA and Nations of the European Union, and Democracies all over the world, member nations of United Nations to help Tamils gain Tamil Eelam, which can be a Protectorate State under India’s hegemony. Fresh brain in Foreign Affairs Ministry must look for fresh initiative. I hope you as true democrat will grasp whatever grain of truth exists in our logical presentation on the challenges faced by India, and the course corrections we had suggested to amend India’s foreign policy.

With regards yours fraternally

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

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Nose-cut to India: Srilankan army delivers thanks In the 11th special session of the UN Human rights council held on 26th May 2009, Italy voted for probing Srilanka for its Tamil genocide. It is but natural for all Italians to toe the official line of their homeland, but unfortunately a political novice Madam Sonia Gandhi heading the Italian Congress party directed India to join China and Pakistan in supporting genocide. We mailed a detailed memorandum to a lawyer in International Law, who happens to be India's news External Affairs Minister Mr.S.M.Krishna. And he had done the right thing to advice Srilanka to address to the root of the problem. For this voice of sanity, the insane Srilankan army in its official website had hurled abuses. Let the leader of Italian Congress Party answer to her conscience , on what India is going to offer to Tamils if India had become unwanted guest after soaking its hands in blood. This is the article is written by the Sri Lankan army in the SL official military website.http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090601_07 A few excerpts from the article:"Apart from the SAIC countries there are all kinds of Indian politicians giving us orders from India. According to the Asian Tribune the most recent case is the new Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna who urged us to address the "root cause of the conflict" by effective devolution of powers to all communities in the Island nation. I say to Mr. Krishna "Who are you to tell us, a sovereign nation how to run our country? You just mind your own business or wind up like that woman Navi Pillai. The choice is yours. To India we say that not only will there be no devolution of any sort because it is the necessary and sufficient step to separation but also the Indo Lanka Accord forced on us by India will be annulled and thrown out so that we could cleanse this land of the last vestige of Indian hegemony. You created the LTTE with the intention of annexing our land. We liquidated what you created. You can annex the moon much easier than that. We thank India for not voting against us at the UNHRC. We attribute it to the wisdom of that very harmless and soft spoken intellectual Dr.Manmohan Singh. There are many in India who would have loved to vote against us but if that happened, India would have found it very uncomfortable to live anywhere in Asia in particular at her present location with her neighbours. She will then have to move the entire Indian sub continent to a location near America where she would be under the protection of American hegemony. That probably is why Japan decided to abstain though she was originally for voting against Sri Lanka."

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Boyle, Fein charge Sri Lanka of Genocide in Chennai seminar [TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 02:20 GMT]

Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, and Bruce Fein, a Washington D.C. Attorney, speaking at a seminar in Chennai organized by the International Tamil Center Monday, reiterated charges of Genocide against the Sri Lanka Government alleging massacre of more than 50,000 Tamil civilians, sources attending the event said. While Prof. Boyle urged India to file charges in International Court against Sri Lanka for violating Geneva conventions, and to stop Colombo "to cease and desist from all acts of genocide against Tamils," Fein stressed the urgent need for the Tamils to reach a "consensus on their political aspirations." The event was organized by Dr Panchadcharam, a consultant physician from New York. Full text of draft of Prof. Boyle's talk at the seminar follows: THE RIGHTS OF THE TAMILS LIVING ON THE ISLAND OF SRI LANKA UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PRACTICE Introduction There are two basic points I want to make: First, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have been the victims of genocide. Second, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have the right to self-determination under international law and practice, including the right to establish their own independent state if they so desire. And the fact that the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have been victims of genocide only strengthens and reinforces their right to self-determination, including establishing their own independent State if that is their desire. Genocide Article I of the 1948 Genocide Convention requires all 140 states parties to immediately act in order “to prevent” the ongoing GOSL genocide against the Tamils. One of the most important steps the 140 contracting states parties to the Genocide Convention must take in order to fulfill their obligation under Article I is to sue Sri Lanka at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (the so-called World Court) for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention on the basis of Article IX thereto: “Disputes between

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the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfillment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in Article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.”Any one or more of the 140 states parties to the Genocide Convention (1) must immediately sue Sri Lanka at the International Court of Justice in The Hague; (2) must demand an Emergency Hearing by the World Court; and (3) must request an Order indicating provisional measures of protection against Sri Lanka to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the 300,000 Tamils in Vanni. Such a World Court Order is the international equivalent to a domestic temporary restraining order and permanent injunction. Once issued by the World Court, this Order would be immediately transmitted to the United Nations Security Council for enforcement under U.N. Charter article 94(2). So far the member states of the United Nations Security Council have failed and refused to act in order to do anything to stop the GOSL’s genocide against the Tamils (1) despite the fact that the situation in Vanni constitutes a “threat to the peace” that requires Security Council action under article 39 of the United Nations Charter and (2) despite the fact that they are all obligated “to prevent” Sri Lanka’s genocide against the Tamils under article I of the Genocide Convention. This World Court Order will put the matter on the Agenda of the Security Council and force the Security Council to take action in order “to prevent” the ongoing genocide against the Tamils by Sri Lanka. Article II of the Genocide Convention defines the international crime of genocide in relevant part as follows:In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group such as:(a) Killing members of the group;(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Certainly the Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka and its legal predecessor Ceylon have committed genocide against the Hindu/Christian Tamils that actually started on or about 1948 and has continued apace until today and is now accelerating in Vanni in violation of Genocide Convention Articles II(a), (b), and(c). For the past six decades, the Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka has implemented a systematic and comprehensive military, political, and economic campaign with the intent to destroy in substantial part the different national, ethnical, racial, and religious group constituting the Hindu/Christian Tamils. This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has consisted of killing members of the Hindu/Christian Tamils in violation 123

of Genocide Convention Article II(a). This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has also caused serious bodily and mental harm to the Hindu/Christian Tamils in violation of Genocide Convention Article II(b). This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has also deliberately inflicted on the Hindu/Christian Tamils conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in substantial part in violation of Article II(c) of the Genocide Convention. Since 1983 the Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka have exterminated approximately 100,000 Hindu/Christian Tamils. The Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka have now added another 300,000 Hindu/Christian Tamils in Vanni to their genocidal death list. Humanity needs one state party to the Genocide Convention to fulfill its obligation under article I thereof to immediately sue Sri Lanka at the World Court in order to save the 300,000 Tamils in Vanni from further extermination. Self-determination This gets into the second point that I want to make concerning the Tamils as a group of people living on the Island of Sri Lanka – their right to selfdetermination under international law and practice. And here I wanted to quote from an international treaty to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party, thus explicitly recognizing that the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka have a right of self-determination. This is from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party. They are bound by their own treaty, which says quite clearly in Article One: “All peoples have the right of self-determination.” And clearly, the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka are a “people.” The Tamils on Sri Lanka have a separate language, race, ethnicity, and religions, from the GOSL. The Tamils see themselves as a separate group of “people” and they are perceived to be such by the GOSL. For that precise reason the GOSL has attempted to exterminate the Tamils and ethnically cleanse their Homeland. So no better proof is needed than that. Both the objective criteria and the subjective criteria for establishing a “people” with a right of self-determination under international law and practice have been fulfilled by the Tamils living on Sri Lanka.Let me continue enumerating a few more of the most basic self-determination rights of the Tamils living on Sri Lanka under international law that are recognized by this International Covenant that the GOSL is a party to: “By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.” Those are rights that the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have today even as recognized by the government of Sri Lanka. Those are group rights and not just individual rights. And those are group rights that must be protected because the government of Sri Lanka has attacked the Tamils as a group, not just as individuals. So, since Tamils have been victims as a group, 124

they must be protected as a group. And one of the most basic rights of all that the Tamils have to protect themselves is this right of self-determination including determining their political status and pursuing their own economic, social and cultural development, as well as the establishment of an independent state of their own if that is what the Tamils decide is required for them to accomplish these objectives. Another component of this right of self-determination for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka is set forth in paragraph (2) of this Article One of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party. Notice here I am only using the treaties the GOSL itself is a party to, including the Genocide Convention. I am not citing any principles of international law that the GOSL has not already recognized and indeed violated grievously with respect to the Tamils living on Sri Lanka: “All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic cooperation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may the people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.” Yet we all know for a fact that the GOSL has done everything humanly possible to deprive the Tamil people of their own means of subsistence to a level that now constitutes genocide, in violation of that provision I quoted before from the Genocide Convention prohibiting inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part. Notice these economic and political rights are related to each other. Both elements of the right to self-determination must protect the Tamils since they have been victims of genocide. We must protect their political rights as well as their economic rights, to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources. The Tamil people, not the GOSL, must control their traditional Homeland in the North and the East of the Island, their farms, their mines, their plantations, their forests, their waters, their beaches etc. This is critical. Yet today we know that the GOSL is currently in the process of stealing, destroying and negating all these economic and political rights of the Tamils in their traditional Homeland in the North and the East of the Island of Sri Lanka. The GOSL is currently inflicting ethnic cleansing on the Tamils living there. I have already established that the Tamil people living on Sri Lanka have a right of self-determination, even in accordance with the GOSL’s own treaties themselves. What are some of the other political consequences of their right of self-determination? These are set forth in what is known as the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations (1971). The government of Sri Lanka approved this Declaration in the United Nations General Assembly -- so I am not quoting here any provision of law that the GOSL 125

has not already approved. And from the Declaration let me state what are the political alternatives that are open to the Tamil people, and they are set forth as follows: “[1] The establishment of a sovereign and independent State, [2] the free association or integration with an independent State, or [3] the emergence into any other political status freely determined by a people constitute the modes of implementing the right of self-determination by that people.” So again, it is not for the GOSL to determine what might be the ultimate political outcome here. It is for the Tamil people living on Sri Lanka to determine which of those three options they desire. I also want to make it clear that it is not for me to tell the Tamils on Sri Lanka which of these three options they should choose. Moreover, it is not for the Tamils of India to tell the Tamils on Sri Lanka which of these three options they should choose. This is for them to decide pursuant to their right of selfdetermination under international law and practice. However I do want to note that historically the only way a people that has been subjected to genocide like the Tamils on Sri Lanka have been able to protect themselves from further extermination has been the creation of an independent state of their own. Indeed as the world saw for the last several months the government of Sri Lanka wantonly, openly, shamelessly, and gratuitously exterminated over 50,000 Tamils in Vanni; yet not one state in the entire world rose to protect them or defend them or help them as required by Article I of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Hence the need for the Tamils on Sri Lanka to have their own independent state in order to protect themselves from further annihilation by the GOSL. International law and practice establish that an independent state of their own is the only effective remedy as well as the only appropriate reparation for a people who have been the victims of genocide.Now the Indian government has basically argued that if it were to recognize the right of the Tamils on Sri Lanka to self-determination and an independent state of their own, then the 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu would also assert that same right and proceed to secede from India. I submit this is a false dichotomy under international law and practice. It must not be used as an excuse for inaction by the government of India when it comes to protecting the Tamils living on Sri Lanka. In this regard, let me return to the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States that was approved by both India and Sri Lanka and sets forth rules of customary international law interpreting the terms of the United Nations Charter itself as determined by the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua case (1986). In particular let me draw to your attention the following language: “Nothing in the foregoing paragraphs shall be construed as authorizing or 126

encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent States conducting themselves in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as described above and thus possessed of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.”This paragraph of the Declaration sets forth the rules of customary international law when it comes to the right of a people to secede from another state by means of exercising their right of self-determination. As you can see from the above language secession is permitted only when a government does not conduct itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and selfdetermination of peoples” and thus does not represent “the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.” From its very foundation in 1948 the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has never conducted itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples” with respect to the Tamils. Furthermore, the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has never represented “the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour” with respect to the Tamils. In fact the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has always discriminated against and persecuted the Tamils on grounds of race, creed, colour, and language. This endemic pattern of criminal behavior by the Sinhala has now culminated in wholesale acts of genocide against the Tamils being inflicted by the government of Sri Lanka. So of course the Tamils have the right to secede from Sri Lanka under international law and practice and especially under the terms of this Declaration. Conversely, the government of India does conduct itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples” with respect to the Tamils in Tamil Nadu and is thus “possessed of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.” India just had elections where the Tamils in Tamil Nadu participated on a basis of full equality with everyone else. The Tamils in India have full legal equality with all other peoples in India and indeed have their own state here in Tamil Nadu. Therefore in my opinion, the 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu do not have a right of secession under international law and practice according to this Declaration, which sets forth the basic rules of customary international law on this subject. Conversely, however, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka do have a right of secession under international law and practice including this Declaration for which both India and Sri Lanka voted. So with all due respect to the position of the Indian government, it is a false dichotomy for it to assert that recognition of the right of self-determination with an independent state 127

of their own for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka would lead to the same for the Tamils in Tamil Nadu. There is no basis in international law for this conclusion. Indeed, basic principles of international law including this Declaration would fully support the territorial integrity of India in the event the government of India were to recognize the right of the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka to self-determination including an independent state of their own. Conclusion Be that as it may, even if out of an excess of caution the government of India is not prepared to go that far at this time, nevertheless at a minimum, since it is the original homeland for the Tamils, the government of India has the right, the obligation, and the standing under international law and practice to act as parens patriae for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka. Therefore, India must immediately sue the GOSL for genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, demand an Emergency Hearing of the Court, and request that the World Court issue a Temporary Restraining Order against the GOSL to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Tamils living on Sri Lanka. The ghosts of Dachau, Auschwitz, Cambodia, Sabra and Shatilla, Srebrenica, Rwanda, Kosovo, and now Vanni demand no less!

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