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Wol XIV No.1, ISSN 0266-4488 15 NOWE
Mass Exodus. As
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15 NOVEMBER 1995
I do not agree with a word of what you say, but it defend to the death your
ISSN 0266-4488
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CONTENTS
NeWS Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.
Prospects of an Olive Branch to the Tamil Tigers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Whither Operation Sunray. . . . . . 6
interview with Anton Balasingham... . . . . . . . . . . 8
Civilians & the Jaffna Offensive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Mass Exodus of Civilians and the War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Time is Ripe to Resume Talks...15 The Devolution Package and the
North-East War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The Silent Emergency in North Eastern Sri Lanka. . . . . . . 20 Situation Intolerable for Civilians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Sub-Continental Scene. . . . 24
T
In the ongoing arm recent turn of ever ultimate tragedy up of Jaffna comprisit Short notice to a R to a humanitarian ( of the tragedy that annals of the ethni at such short no compelled to turn
The abrupt brea, hostilities in mid-A decade-long confli War Ill has been f. commitment the p the lethal nature pOured in bOlster self-deceptive da unconvincing rhe guaranteed its ine,
Whether or not tragic turn of even thrust Would Certa within a matter of j uprooted from the Whatever privation they were a settle areas and home.S. suffering, and thei
Will the displace Jaffna, and if so W refugees in mak depending for thei the war is fought t end to this horrors their homes remai schools, hospitals social and econom people going to be going to be their f
The fate of thes who are engaged may entertain the weakened, they w would respond po, from a position of hope that it will as ment. If that is the thousands Jaffna camps in a state of an end to their pitié OnCe described a ConCerned to ask, introspection.
Whatever the fu ineScapable moral of military or sec humanitarian neec itself unable to m government shoul rian organisations should readily acci the field of prov government is dut
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

TAM TIMES 3
e Ultimate Tragedy
red conflict between government forces and the LT TE, the its in northern Sri Lanka has led to the perpetration of the pon the Tamil people. Almost the entire civilian population g several hundreds of thousands have been subjected at wanda-type enforced evacuation from their homes leading disaster of catastrophic proportions. The sheer magnitude has struck the civilian population is unprecedented in the C conflict in Sri Lanka. Never before have so many people tice been so cruelly uprooted from their homes and themselves overnight into refugees.
kdown of the peace process and the resumption of armed pril this year led to the present disastrous phase of the ct in the island. The menacing ferocity with which Eelam Jught from its commencement, the scale and extent of the arties in conflict have brought to bear in its prosecution, pf the weapons used in pursuing it, the vast resources ing up the weapons-capability on either side and the ngerous illusion of invincibility on one side and the 'oric of peace through war on the other side soon xorable escalation to almost a point of no return.
those engaged in this brutal war anticipated the present ts, the ordinary people of Jaffna upon whom this war was inly not have expected even in their wildest dreams that ust six months that the entire civilian population would be ir homes to become refugees with no food or shelter. is they might have been subjected to over the past years, d people in the land of their birth and living in their own Presently their plight is one of unbelievable misery and r future has become uncertain to say the least.
ld Tamil civilians be permitted to return to their homes in when? Or are they to be condemned to live in misery as eshift camps in the Wanni and Kilinochchi districts r Survival on handouts from humanitarian benefactors as o the bitter end? In the end - one hopes there will be an ‘ome day - if they survive and if and when they return, will in for them to live, or will it be to a land without houses, etc.? in the meantine, how are the medical, educational, lic needs for a refugee population of an estimated 400,000 met, and who is going to provide them? in short what is ate? e unfortunate and tragic people is in the hands of those in this brutal and unconscionable war. The government hope that once Jaffna is captured and the Tigers are ill be offered talks on the political package and the LTTE sitively. The LTTE may refuse to talk to the government weakness in military terms and continue the war in the ssume military parity or superiority vis-a-vis the governprospect on offer, the fate of the displaced hundreds of civilians is likely to be grim - suffer silently in refugee abject dependence for their sheer survival with no sign of ble plight. How and why this happened to a proud people s self-reliant and industrious is a matter for all those themselves and seek answers objectively and in spirit of
ture may hold for these people, it is the immediate and and political responsibility of the government, irrespective tarian political considerations, to cater to the urgent ls of the displaced people. For whatever reason if it finds 9et those needs through the state machinery, then the d not hesitate to use the various international humanitawhich are already in the island. The government also apt the offer of other international agencies specialised in iding humanitarian assistance. That is the least the y bound to do in the present circumstances.

Page 4
4 TAMIL TIMES
NEWS REVIEW
Mass Exodus as Army Enters Jaffna
November 20 - Troops belonging to the Sri Lankan army are reported to have entered in large numbers within the perimeter of the Jaffna town centre following the biggest and most sustained military offensive codenamed "Operation Rivirasa' launched almost a month ago. It is just a matter of time before we take control of the city centre', an army spokesman is reported to have said. But LTTE sources claim that their cadres are continuing to confront the army offering fierce resistance.
While being jubilant about the success of the military operation against the Tigers, the government appears to be dismayed by the mass exodus of almost the entire population of Jaffna leaving it an empty town except for the sick, old, infirm and those looking after them and the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna who has apparently refused to leave.
According to news reports, on 20 November thousands of soldiers stormed through Nallur, where the famous Kandaswamy hindu temple is located, on the eastern edge of Jaffna town shortly after dawn overcoming stiff resistance from Tamil Tigers. 'We are in Nallur. It means we are now in Jaffna. The advance is continuing,' a military spokesman said adding that troops backed by tanks, artillery and the air force were advancing slowly because the Tigers had booby-trapped almost every building and mined every street in the town.
Another column of a large number of soldiers remained stalled at Thirunelveli on the town's northern outskirts, but was poised to enter the town at the time of its choosing. However, reports attributed to LTTE stated that the Tigers were offering fierce resistance and inflicting heavy casualties upon the advancing troops. The army admitted to over one hundred soldiers killed or wounded on 19 November, but claimed that the casualties among the Tigers ran into the hundreds.
"About 150 combatants have also been injured on both sides in closequarter fighting. The Tigers are blasting houses in built-up areas to slow our advance,' army spokesman Brigadier
Sarath Munasinghe said. As reports
quoting army sources said that the Tigers were indiscriminately blasting public buildings and private houses
and had slaughter ter asking the civ statements from th cused the military c criminate aerial ar sulting in several The State Ministe) has been personally ing military operat gers are destroying they will soon lose It is estimated t military offensive b reportedly lost ne several hundreds m LTTE lost over a with many more in
Concurrently wi army's entry into Jaffna town, the "Voice of Tigers' rac directed all civilia peninsula, includir fled to Vadamara Then maradchi Chavakachcheri ar vious week, to cross outside the Jaffna had remained the a stronghold of the ' five years. Everybc to go to the Wanni peninsula', a persc the radio said. Alı people have moved lagoon in boats ope. into Kilinochchi, a situated south of t under the control of As days pass, the f rapidly.
During the previc troops smashed th strongholds of Ne Kopay and Thirune. resistance from the leadership including Pirabhakaran, is moved out of the Ja the Wanni area in the course of the a claimed that the well-equipped undel Neerveli which had the medical needs ership and its injur tical headquarters training camp at . Tamil Eelam Devel tion head office at K camp included 'an of roads and a wel complex with lectur ground bunkers,' th
Even before the around Jaffna, it ga of a ghost town follo evacuation of almost
population except aged and disabled a

15 NovEMBER 19ss
d the livestock af. lians to evacuate, e Tamil Tigers acfengaging in indisd shell attacks recivilian casualties. for Defence, who involved in directKons, said, “The Tithe town knowing t to us.' at since the latest egan, the army has urly 400 men and ore injured and the 1000 ofits cadres jured. th reports of the the vicinity of the LTTE through its io on 20 November ns in the Jaffna g those who had dchi and parts of (Point Pedro - eas) during the preinto the mainland peninsula which lmost unassailable Tigers for at least dy has been asked region south of the on who monitored ready over 80,000
across the Kilali
rated by the LTTE
district which is he peninsula and f the Tamil Tigers. igure is increasing
bus two weeks, the rough the LTTE »erveli, Kondavil, lveli in spite of stiff Tigers whose top g its leader, Mr. V. reported to have ffna peninsula into
the mainland. In dvance, the army forces captured a ground hospital at
been catering for
of the LTTE leaded cadres, its poliand intelligence Kondavil and the opment Organisaopay. The training elaborate network laid-out building e halls and undere army said.
army closed in ve the appearance wing the enforced the entire civilian for the sick, the nd those who had
to look after them. The people in their thousands fled within a space of 48 hours in pouring rain with the minimum of belongings leaving behind most of their prized possessions including their homes. Almost the entire civilian population of Jaffna, numbering over 400,000, was being evacuated in anticipation of the military moving in. While the majority of the people trekked their way to Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi, an estimated one hundred thousand people crossed the narrow lagoon that separates the peninsula and the mainland in small crowded boats towards the LTTEcontrolled Kilinochchi district.
"In late October, the Tigers ordered civilians to evacuate Jaffna town. Thousands of people packed the road south-east to Chavakachcheri in a human tide of misery, lashed by monsoon rains as the Tigers fought to hold Navatkuli bridge. Ten people were killed in an air attack on a makeshift refugee camp at Ariyalai a few miles south, LTTE claim. . . .
A handful of Jaffna civilians crossing into Army-controlled territory at the northern frontier town of Vavuniya have spoken of the horror of the mass exodus from Jaffna. Mallika, her two children clutching her sari, sobbed as she described how old people and children were crushed underfoot as thousands of civilians fled Jaffna in panic after the Tigers toured the town with loudspeakers announcing that 'a demonic force will attack us from several directions. We will respond likewise. Since we are going to resist every inch against the state drunk with racism, you people must evacuate this same night' (Sri Lanka Monitor).
Tens of thousands of leaflets dropped from the air in Jaffna stated, "This war is not against you. The war that is being currently fought is not of our choosing. It is a path we are regretfully compelled to tread but we are determined to continue our journey towards peace. ... Ours is a battle for peace. In no way is it a war against our Tamil brethren.' But the governments attempt to halt the movement of the civilian population met with no success as the exodus continued. The government accused the Tigers of perpetrating a “contrived exodus” and using the 'civilians as a human shield for their own protection'.
The Jaffna General Hospital has ceased to function following the transfer of all its equipment and staff to Manthihai in the Point Pedro area in
Vadamaradchi. the International com
mittee of the Red Cross also has ceased all operations in the Jaffna town and moved to Point Pedro. The University

Page 5
1SNOVEMBER 1995
of Jaffna has been closed down and it is expected to function from its agricultural faculty located in Kilinochchi.
When the army moves in such great numbers and with heavy fire-power, it is not advisable for us to engage them in direct confrontations. We will do our utmost to prevent the army from entering Jaffna, but not at the cost of losing thousands of our cadres, the Paris-based international spokesman for the LTTE is quoted as saying to Time International'. Commenting on the enforced exodus of civilians from Jaffna, the leader of the PLOT Mr. Dharmalingam Sidharthan is quoted as saying, "The LTTE wants to show that the army can capture the land but not the Tamil people. This is an attempt by the LTTE to frustrate the Government's effort to restore its writ un Jaffna.”
Meanwhile a statement from the London-based International Secretarat of the LTTE said that its 'civil administration' had been moved from Jaffna to Thenmaradchi. Following the mass exodus of civilians from the Jaffna city and areas of Valikamam, the Jaffna Secretariat and all other local government administrative bodies had been relocated in the Thenmaradchi area. To avoid being trapped by the Sri Lankan army, functioning government agencies and civil administrative bodies had also been moving to the new population areas of Thenmaradchi, the statement added.
As the mass exodus of civilians from Jaffna increased to unprecedented proportions, Tamil parties in Colombo called for third-party mediation to end the conflict and urged the supply of food and medical supplies to the displaced people. They also called for an immediate cessation of hostiities.
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party - LSSP) "recognised that bodies like the UNHCR, the Red Cross and other organisations of a similar nature can play a decisive role in ensuring that the food and medicines supplied by the government get across to the people who need these. Every possible facility should be afforded to these bodies in their functioning at this very difficult time. This is the time when our friends outside can also be most helpful.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros Ghali, expressed deep concern on hearing reports of the massive displacement of the civilian population in northern Sri Lanka and urged all concerned to iacilitate humanitarian relief assistance to the affected population by humanitarian organisations.
However, a statement from the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry rejected the
嗣
idea of any third pal asserted that the g provide the required to the displaced peop ance of local and int nitarian agencies ( north like the ICRC, Children Fund, MSF
The Tigers shot built Y-8 cargo plane when it was approacl military airbase at P peninsula. Undaunt it has suffered in it the Tigers have been attacks on security fic the country inflictil ties. On 19 Novemb least 38 and wounde fierce two-hour gun ern Batticaloa distric ports from the distr; Vice Chancellor of versity located in abducted allegedly b 7 November and has yet.
yr In a stateme1 November from its ternational secretari that the commande. Wing, Lt. Col. Akh battle. The statemen la attained martyrdc during the defence O from Manipay (Jaffn LTTE in 1987 and f forces. She was all several battles duri and III and prove assisting the develop women fighters div ment added. Follow announcement, new ombo and India were that Akhila was o accused in the ongo. murder trial.
Six Tamil Jesuit taken into custody b November on suspic Tamil Tigers were re held for nearly 20 h were taken into cust of a raid by the p Conference held in central city of Kandy Miller, an American has worked in the is
The police claime information that thi sives" at the confere raided the place to ch and passports of the
i In Colombo se intensified fearing a attack on important personalities in the to military reverses

TAMIL TIMES 5
ty mediation and overnment would relief assistance le with the assisternational humaperating in the CARE, Save the etc.
down a Chineseon 17 November hing to land at the alali in the Jaffna ed by the setback s northern front, stepping up their orces in the east of ng heavy casualer, they killed at d 24 soldiers in a pattle In the eastit. Meanwhile, reict state that the the Eastern Uni
Batticaloa was y LTTE cadres on not been released
ht issued on 11 London-based inat, the LTTE said r of its Women's ila was killed in it said that "Akhiom on October 30 f Jaffna.' Hailing a), she joined the ought the Indian so a veteran of ng Eelam War II d invaluable in ment of the LTTE ision, the stateving the LTTE's 7spapers in Colquick to point out ne of the main ing Rajiv Gandhi
priests who were y the police on 11 ion of links with leased after being tours. The priests (ody in the course olice on a Jesuit the Sri Lankan y, said Rev. Harry Jesuit priest who land for decades.
d that they had ere were 'subvernce and that they eck the identities priests. curity has been In LTTE counterinstallations and south in response it had suffered in
northern Jaffna at the hands of the security forces. All schools in the south of the island were declared closed in early November, a month ahead of the usual December holidays, allegedly in fear of the Tigers targeting schools for attack.
"The atmosphere is mixed with jubilation at the military success in the north and tension in anticipation of a Tiger backlash. It may not happen soon, but it will certainly happen, the LTTE is known for its meticulous planning. When the Tigers strike, they make it count for something,' an analyst in Colombo said.
tr The government has offered a reward of $50,000 for information regarding the whereabouts of the LTTE leader, Mr. Velupillai Pirabhakaran. According to knowledgeable circles in Colombo, this move appears to be a prelude to the Attorney General filing a motion in the High Court asking that the LTTE leader be extradited to Indian in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi murder.
tr Mr. Bal Thackeray, the leader of Shiv Sena, the extremist Hindu militant outfit in India, said on 19 November that he would warn the Sri Lankan government not to "massacre any more Tamil Tigers.' That is Hindu blood they are spilling in their genocide,” he said, adding, “I will not tolerate any more of it. I am proud of the Tamil Tigers.' On the other hand the Tamil Nadu state unit of the Bhartiya Jantha Party (BJP) has demanded that the Central government of India take over the security of the Tamil Nadu coastline in the wake of intensified military action against the LTTE in northern Sri Lanka to prevent any movement of Tamil Tiger cadres into Tamil Nadu.
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Page 6
6 TAMIL TIMES
Prospect of an "Olive
To the TamilTige
by Rita Sebastian, Colombo
20 November - Despite the euphoria in southern Sri Lanka that the capture of the LTTE stronghold of Jaffna will be a mortal blow to the rebel group and the beginning of the end of the war, the political leadership has not lost sight of the fact that it will only be another battle won, not the war.
Winning the war, is winning the hearts and minds of the people of the peninsula and putting into place a negotiated political settlement and a durable peace.
In an interview to the Sunday Island the deputy Minister of Defence Colonel Anuraddha Ratwatte, who has adopted a hands-on policy in the current operation "Riviresa', has said that following the capture of Jaffna the army will launch a “winning hearts and minds' exercise.
Ratwatte does not think it will be difficult. For in his own words "our boys are disciplined and have already won the hearts and minds of those living in the liberated areas.
Not everyone will agree with his assessment of the Sri Lankan armed forces as being "one of the best armies in the world where courage, discipline and fighting abilities and the like are concerned'.
Army excesses in the past, as well as recent bombing and shelling raids in the peninsula, which has taken a heavy toll of civilian life and property has not endeared the army to the people. But in fairness to the army it must be said that foreign aid agencies have confirmed that in the current phase of military operations civilian casualties have been minimal.
But the Tigers and the army have been trading charges against each other about damage to property. While the Tigers claim that the advancing troops have flattened the northern landscape, the army charges the Tigers of blasting buildings and key installations in the town as they make a last ditch attempt to prevent the capture of Jafna.
Minister Ratwatte has also spelt it out in unequivocal terms that even after capturing Jaffna, military operations against the LTTE will con
tinue. He knows even if the Tig Jaffna, it will st guerrilla force to
Ratwatte atter successes of the a and the necssary which was missi nure of the previ al Party Gover them both', he sa gives direct ordt military carry th
And strangely the capture of J commentators an argue that this invite the Tigers tiating table. Ar puts it “the inv extended with re there are no win peace all are win
The Indian P (IPKF) is project ample of how a
Whith
In the monsoon la sula the countdow the rebel heartlal gun. Thousands diers, backed by arsenal are just kilometres away But that four ar riddled with Tige traps is the islan at the moment.
For the Tigers. announced their town, where for a ran a de facto go puted kings of th the decision mus indeed. For it was that the Tiger citizenry, trauma bitter and bloody would defend Ja massive casualti forces that the ar. it decided to mar
But the tide se Government fo several humiliati

15 NOVEMBER 1995
Branch' rs?
only too well that ers fail to defend ll be a formidable contend with.
butes the recent rmy to political will military hardware ng during the tepus United Nationnment. 'We have lys. "The President ers and I and the em out.
it is on the eve of
affna that political d military analysts is the best time to
back to the nego
ld as one of them
ritation should be spect, as in a war ners and losers. In ners”.
ece Keeping Force ed as the best exh army, the fourth
largest in the world with its trained manpower and sophisticated equipment failed to bring the Tigers to their knees or apprehend Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.
According to The Sunday Times's military analyst the timing is just ripe for offering the Tigers the olive branch, but at the same time continuing the fighting.
The bottom line in counter insurgency according to him is politico-military and not just one or the other.
And offering the olive branch he feels will demoralise those in the Tigers who have portrayed a demonic image of the Sri Lankan government and its military. It will also
prevent the Tigers driven into de
speration to attack the Sinhala border villages.
The key question however is whether the government is ready to move in the direction of peace talks with the Tigers at this stage. There are hardliners both in the government and the army who would be against any such move.
And the Tiger leadership itself would not want peace talks on the assumption that they have been militarily weakened by government.
ler "Operation Sunray'?
from Rita Sebastian in Colombo
shed northern peninn for the capture of hd of Jaffna has beof Sri Lankan sola massive military four and a half from their target. d a half kilometes, r mines and boobyd's deadliest terrain
who last fortnight, withdrawal from the most five years they ernment, the undisterritory they held, have been difficult not many weeks ago assured Jaffna's ised by 12 years of a
civil war, that they
na and inflict such s on the advancing ly would rue the day h into Jaffna.
ams to have turned. ces who suffered
g reversals in their
battle against the Tigers in the past. have had their sagging morale boosted by a series of recent triumphs.
Military operations for the final assault on Jaffna began in July with 'Operation Leap Forward”. But the military hype that Jaffna was almost within seeing distance when four brigades broke out of their forward defence lines at the northern Pallaly airbase on July 9 and marched forward meeting with little rebel resistance soon faded away when troops returned to base and the operation was cynically dubbed operation Leap Backwards'. Other operations were to follow culminating in operation "Rivirasa' (Sunray), launched on October 17, now making a slow and steady move forward.
"The decisive moment is still ahead. First the army will have to capture Jaffna, and secondly the question is what next? In a way it will be a hollow
victory for the forces because the gov
ernment's twin objectives would not have been achieved', says military analyst Iqbal Athas.

Page 7
15 NOVEMBER 1995 k
The twin objectives are liberating the people of the north from the clutches of the Tigers and militarily marginalising the Tigers'.
The Tigers with an estimated 17,000 cadres have still not been militarily marginalised. And the army will find no people in Jaffna to liberate because there has been a mass exodus to Thenmarachchi, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu in the wake of operation "Rivirasa' (Sunshine).
The government of course believes
that once Jaffna is captured people can be wooed back on the promise of safety and security.
The displaced persons in the peninsula as a result of the ongoing operations is estimated by agencies as well as the Tigers, to be around 400,000. A figure disputed by the govenment who not only alleges that the displacement was a creation of the Tigers, but also a clever ploy to internationalise the humanitarian aspects of the conflict.
This massive displacement of people depriving them of shelter, adequate access to food and medicines and the basic amenities has quite naturally stirred the world's conscience. No less a person than the spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros Ghali, expressed"deep concern about the plight of the displaced and called on the international community to help, humanitarian assistance on a significant scale would be essential to minimise suffering” the statement said.
The statement brought a sharp rejoinder from the government. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said the statement had been made without a true knowledge of the situation. In a letter addressed to the UN Secretary General, Kadirgamar pointed to the fact that "despite the terrorist initiated violence that has plagued Sri Lanka for over a decade, the government has given the highest consideration to the humanitarian needs of the people in northern Sri Lanka and has been supplying essential food and other items to them with the full knowledge that a substantial portion of the supply was being appropriated by the Tigers'.
The government's inadequate relief efforts have also come under fire from local Tamil political groups. The moderate Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) a once close ally of the government issued a scathing indictment on the Kumaratunga government.
It accused the government of an “appalling insensitivity to the humanitarian issues of the conflict and bitterly criticised the government's military offensive in the north calling on both parties to the conflict to recom
mence the politica
The governmen there can be nore ing table unless th hostilities, a symb arms by the reb timeframe for a settlement.
The laying down bolically is anathe there seems no p tions. Besides th turned down the mediation, and re. that the war will n. fought to a finish.
The tragedy of th ary according to tors is that its war has often crossed country's political strike at Tiger tan just as quickly be o and abandon ter. great cost. It is C military and the g be of like minds on Added to it all wa army.
The divisions har except that adoptin defence deputy, C Ratwatte, effected c mand structure on t anybody who did n ceremoniously move
"Today's military mapped out not so I on the battlefield Ratwatte' says a ret Ratwatte has given rame to capture Ja Tigers back to the n
Although there is ticism in the sout Ratwatte can achiev out to do, there is n has the support of a in the south.
For the Sinhala h no alternative to the thinking of a powe) Buddhist clergy. A the war President become the toast of
In the short term Jaffna that has becc But in the long term the holding of Jaffn hearts and minds of peninsula and dem uncertain terms tha is committed to a n settlement that is j ensure a durable pe
What then of Tige pillai Prabhakarar There is no way marginalised rebel

TAMIL TIMES 7
process.
is quite firm that Lrn to the negotiatre is a cessation of lic laying down of ls and a specific egotiated political
of arms, even symna to the Tigers so ospect of negotia
government has ffer of third party erated its position t be abandoned but
e Sri Lankan militolitical commentatrategy in the past
swords with the
will. Ordered to gets, troops would rdered to pull back itory captured at nly now that the vernment seem to he military option. s a deeply divided
e not gone away, g a hands on policy olonel Anurudha hanges in the comhe battlefield with ot fall in line uned out.
strategy is being much by the army but by Minister ired army official. an year and timeffna and force the egotiating table.
considerable sceph as to whether e what he has set denying that he significant section
ardliners there is war. It is also the ul section of the d in prosecuting umaratunga has he south.
t is the taking of me the key issue. it will not only be but winning the the people of the instrating in no the government gotiated political st and fair, and ’e.
supremo Velluand his men? at a militarily oup like the Ti
gers will be forced back to the negotiating table from a position of weakness as the government hopes they will. Nobody has, and nobody will, write them off. They will continue their guerrilla operations from the Mullaitivu jungles, the Wanni and the east, building up pockets of resistance, and strike when least expected. For the Tigers it is a fight to the last man.
And while the battle rages, inflicting heavy casualties on the two warring sides speculation is rife that President Kumaratunga might go in for a snap general election.
Her wafer-thin majority in parliament is a constant worry with most of her time spent negotiating with her coalition partners.
According to a political observer a snap election would bring President Kumaratunga an additional 10-15 seats. Although this would not give her a two-thirds majority in parliament, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will be able to impose its will on policy issues without depending on its very demanding coalition partners.
But there are others who argue that her going for an early election is not without its risks, since the government has failed to deliver a whole series of election promises like generating employment and providing income support promised an year ago.
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Page 8
8 TAM TIMES
INTERWEW WITH ANTON BA
Tigers Did Not Kill Rajiv Gandhi "Mahataya' Was Sentenced to Death k Doors Open for Negotiations k Sinhala-Tamil Fighting for 2000 Year k Colombo's Illusion of Winning the W
Attack on Muslims, a Mistake der Prabhakaran is a National Hero
The following are excerpts from an interview to A.S. Paneerselvan, Chief of Bureau in Madras Of the Delhi-based journal "Outlook' (8.11.95) by the main spokesman and ideologue of the LTTE, Mr. Anton Balasingham, on 9 October
1995.
Q: Why did you kill Rajiv Gandhi?
A: I've the same answer for this oft-repeated question. We did not kill Rajiv Gandhi.
Q: The investigations are over and the Special investigation Team charge sheet clearly states that the LTTE had assassinated Rally,
A: No, the trial is still going on. The Indian Government so far has not proved the LTTE's involvement in the assassination. As far as Prabhakaran's extradition is concerned, it is an academic matter. Everybody knows it's practically impossible for the Sri Lankan Government to catch Prabhakaran. The Indian Army was here for two years and couldn't do it. The extradition request is a political move to discredit the LTTE rather than a practical way to get at the truth.
Q: Why should the LTTE be targeted?
A: Any comments will have serious implications. We were not involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Q: Recent Indian intelligence reports say you are planning to ellminate top Indian leaders, Including Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao.
A: This is not true. I think some vested interests are spreading these TUlIOl'S.
Q: What is the role of the LTTE in India?
A: As far as the LTTE is concerned, we consider India a friendly ally. Even now, we don't have any animosity towards the Indian Gov
ernment and involved in an terrorist move LTTE will not involved in thi politics. It is no manner inimic: the geopolitica Our struggle f here is legitim because of th oppression.
Q: But wh generate such India?
A: Our stru understood. Al problems betw ernment and tervention at strengthen the freedom move had their ow India thought the former Sov the spread of Indian Ocean. world order olc ped. In this co! our liberation valid. Therefo. maintain the ity towards us, of the people, the Indian Go
Q: But your reveal that yo In the Mahat deputy leader the Tigers' 1993), it was collaborating
A: The strug ple is legitima We have no sy - neither in India. So the helped the Sri intensify its of cerned that t which is hostil pursuing its r our people.

15 NOVEMBER 1995
people. We are not y insurrectionary or ments in India. The contribute to or get Indian secessionist tgoing to act in any l to the national and l interests of India. or self-determination late. It is primarily le intolerable state
y should the LTTE a fear psychosis in
ggle is not properly ld that has led to the een the Indian Govthe LTTE. India's inthat time was to hands of the Tamil ment. Besides, they political objectives. it should align with viet Union to prevent JS Imperialism in the But now in a new alliances have snapntext, India feels that struggle is no longer re, it is untenable to resent level of hostilWe need the support political parties and vernment.
internal discussions u still suspect India. aya case (the LTTE who was arrested by ntelligence wing in charged that he was With the Indian State. gle of the Tamil peote. We have nobody. mpathisers anywhere Tamil Nadu nor in
Indian position has Lankan racist state to erations. We are conhe Indian attitude - 2 - helps Sri Lanka in uthless policy against
Anton Balasingham
Q: You have not answered my question. There ls talk lin Jaffna that the various all-breaks by LTTE cadres in Tamil Nadu were not fall-breaks but efforts by India to send back some cadres who could #? access fo Prabhakaran and kili
A: I can't comment on that. There is some element of truth in the RAW intrigues. We know very well tha: they might send agents to kill LTTE leaders or assassinate Prabhakaran We don't want to talk about it.
Q: What happened to Mahattaya?
A: He was arrested and subjected to interrogation for one year. We found him guilty and he was sentenced to death. He was involved in a plot to kill Prabhakaran and take over the LTTE.
Q: Is there any room fora negoafed settlement now?
A: You will have to ask the Sr. Lankan Government this question. because it has ruled out a negotiatec settlement. Our door for peace is open. We are for peace provided the Sri Lankan Government stops the war and creates conditions for normalcy in the north and east.
Q: But they say you unilaterally called off talks and resumed host lies.
A: Parleys were held for six months. There were four rounds c. talks in Jaffna. Fifty letters were exchanged betwen Prabhakarar. and Chandrika Kumaratunga. We asked for an embargo relaxatior We asked the government to perm: the people to use the land route by

Page 9
15 NOVEMBER 1995
relocating the Pooneryn camp. Mind you, we did not ask for the withdrawal of the camp. These were not the demands of the LTTE, but of the people. If the government wanted to act, it could have done so in 24 hours. If it is not prepared to meet this small demand, how can we expect it to resolve major problems. Q: What about the latest Lankan oftensive?
A: There is a qualitative difference between the current offensive and the past ones. This is the first time that all troops have moved into the Peninsula. Forces have been pulled out of the east and consequently, we have taken it over. Colombo is under an illusion about winning the war. Even if they take over Jaffna, it will not be a military success. The North-east is a vast area and our guerrilla movement cannot be crushed in conventional battle. The Indian Army realised this truth after a two-year bloody conflict. The Lankan forces can take over the territory. But they cannot hold on. We'll strike back.
Q: But Jaffna Peninsula las nof just a territory, it is the symbol and metaphor of the LTTE resistance. If he army captures Jaffna, will it not be able to start a dialogue with a
wgalkened LTTE? .
A: First, to take over Jaffna is not easy. Secondly, it took the Indian Army, a much larger and sophisticated force, two months to capture Jaffna. At that time we were a small force, but things have changed. We are stronger now. Suppose they succeed in taking over Jaffna, they cannot take over the entire territory. Do they want to leave the entire Wanni jungle region and the other three districts in the east to us?
I am not talking about this aspect. What will the metaphorical and psychological impact of the capture of Jaffna be? As a guerrilla movenent, we do not attach any importance to any place. We attach importance to mobility. The LTTE will not talk from a position of weakness. Military pressure will not force us to talk. Concentrating only on the north actually means that the east is virtually free for us. We are not going to keep quiet there.
Q: Do you mean the government is unaware of its vulnerability in the
est?
A: There is no military strategy behind this war. It is the outcome of the government's desire to dominate
Tamils and destro which has been years. It is not Cha Believe it or not fighting the Sinl years. The very is conquest of the wrong. It is essent
Q: What about age announced rer?
A: With bombs heads, we do not cuss such proposal with the governme ing our guns and h through this docun als were not sent te itself is a tragedy. through war. It is ing the internatio attention from the sions and genocide Q: Do you thir independence on
A: Independenc word. It is our rig political destiny. T ing of “right of sel The LTTE is a re military operation. we have had nonWe are confident t Tamils of south Il Government and munity will recogni struggle. But if Co stop the war and se ated settlement, we accept it. We have that a federal form acceptable to us.
Q: Very few bel ready for a plur forceful eviction fron the north is C ple of your intoler
A: It was an uu and we apologise. communal tension them to leave th doing any harm tc mistake. We have they have an inal live in peace in the normalcy is restor turn to their homes
Q: Prabhakaran pared by some others to Arafat, N er Or PO PO FOIMy hllr?
A: Prabhakaran hero. He is a mili One essential diff Prabhakaran and t is his deep commitm

TAMIL TIMES 9
y Jaffna, a desire there for 2,000
ndrika's strategy.
we have been alese for 2,000 lea of a military Tamil people is tally racism.
he present packby the govern
falling on our have time to diss. We are at war nt. We are clearave no time to go ment. The proposus. The proposal It talks of peace aimed at deflectnal community's ongoing represin the north. nk you can win military terms? e is the wrong ht to decide our hat is the meanlf-determination'. sult of the state For four decades violent struggle. hat one day the ndia, the Indian the world comse our legitimate lombo decides to ttles for a negoti2 are prepared to ! even suggested of autonomy is
eve that you are all society. The of the Muslins ited as an exan
V}Ce.
nfortunate affair But there was and we asked e place without them. It was a told them that ienable right to North-east. Once ed, they can re
has been cono Mandela, by etaji, Stalin, Hitdo you describe
is a national tary genius too. erence between he other leaders ent to the cause.
Even under Indian military pressure he was prepared to die rather than give up. He is generally misunderstood by others. Our methods of warfare are unacceptable to various people. But Prabhakaran as well as our movement had survived precisely because of these. This is the only struggle that has been going on for 20 years without any assistance from anywhere. The willingness of our cadres to die for our cause must be viewed as selfsacrifice rather than as selfdestruction. This structure which has been created by Prabhakaran must be understood and not undermined.
Q: Then who is responsible for the growing discontent within the LTTE? Even today (9.10.95), the Srilankan Radio announced that Pottu Annan has been sacked.
A: The recent news is not true. There are some changes that have taken place. But the story about Pottu Amman is not true. He is air intelligence wing chief. This does not reflect anay disunity. We can tell confidently that LTTE remains a disciplined organisation and there are no conflicts among the leaders.
G2: lin that case do you suspectan Indian role.
A: We can't comment on who are the forces that were behind the plot. All I can say is that Mahattaya was involved in a plot to kill Prabhakaran.
Q: How do you look at the present stage of your struggle?
A: All armed struggles have various stages of historical evolution. We started as a tiny armed group. Then various groups started appearing on the scene and there were at least five major groups which received support from India. The other groups have been reduced to a status of colaborationist mercenary functionaries in Colombo. We have emerged as the dominant politicomilitary organistion here. In this long struggle, we have not confined to armed struggle alone. It is also a political struggle on one side and an economic struggle on the other side. While we are engaged in an armed struggle to liberate our homeland, we have created various civil and administrative structures in the North-East. So we have reached a stage where actually we are a de facto state in the North and East. And this is reflected in the nature of Sri Lanka's latest offensive.

Page 10
10 TAMIL TIMES
. . --ة جمچچچs "يي.*
Civilians and the Jaffna C
The following is the text of the Information Bulletin N University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) on 8 N
A recent evacuee from Jaffna described the situation thus:
'You cannot look at the expressions on the faces of the people - staring eyes, frozen with fear. No one talks any sense. The continuous noise of shells is unbearable. There are wild stories going around about atrocities of the army in recently captured areas with no way of verifying them. People do not want to take chances. They have lost their ability to think and act. For many years we have been treated like sheep and now we are behaving like sheep. Only the survival instinct works. It is maddening. There was an aerial attack near where I was staying. I was told that several people had been killed. I did not go to look. I did not wish to know more. Few in fact know with any accuracy. Had I remained two more days. I would have gone mad. I left Jaffna with my family, crossed the lagoon and brought them to Kilinochchi.
A large number of people leaving Jaffna and moving into very difficult conditions in Thenmaratchi, having frequently quit their homes under pouring rain, has received publicity worldwide.
In the meantime the LTTE had launched a series of massacres on largely unprotected Sinhalese villages close to the border of the Eastern Province. Among the hundred or so killed indiscriminately at close range were many women and children.
The LTTE had made it clear in a variety of ways that it wanted people to quit Jaffna. On 30th October the LTTE made a loudspeaker announcement in Jaffna in which it stated: “No one must take this announcement lightly. We are doing battle intensely and bravely with a demonic force. It will attack us from several directions. We too will respond likewise. Since we are going to resist every inch against a state drunk with racism, you people must evacuate this same night and leave for Thenmaratchi and Vadamaratchi'. When questioned later by Jaff. na Hospital authorities, a key LTTE leader said that whoever announced had not said that it was the LTTE, but stated that those staying may not be able to leave as the periphery of the ICRC zone would be mined by them, in the event of either party breaking the 'agreement. Elsewhere masked LTTE cadre went to houses and acted intimidatingly. There were also a large num
ber of refugees a next to the ICRC. a kind of shells, w were rubber she camp to force thei
Some of the ot the exodus howev in the attitudes Government and armed forces. The vide any tangible people of Jaffna t was duty bound t( military spokesm November that th 10 unconfirmed missing the figur ment Agent/Jaffn atunga in a telev. earlier again r casualties and cla ary operation had ful. But aerial a place and shells h from areas of a civilians were forc riedly burying th ment claimed to targets and aske away from such then such safe pl fugees camping i on the outskirts o' ed? The experien fear and devastati attacks were a claims now are to The LTTE's unco of Sinhalese civili ern border had al the fearamong ci the armed forces.
If anything, the ing itself with den censorship which Indeed, the censo: to the Governm lacks evidence of featured in any s thinking. Althou, the situation in a the army, the strict instruction the security forc civilian interests. operation has ho pendent on intel warranted bomb structions givent their best behavi less, since the e operation is to d from their home

ffensive
2.8 issued by the
Vember 1995
John Bosco school Here the LTTE fired nich people thought ls, at the refugee
evacuation.
er main causes for r are all-too-evident of the Sri Lankan the actions of its se had failed to proreassurances to the hat the Government provide. The official an claimed on 2nd ere had been at best :ivilian deaths, dises given by Governa. President Kumarsion address a little ninimised civilian imed that the militbeen highly successLttacks have taken lave fallen far away ctual fighting, and ed to flee after hur2 dead. The Governbe attacking LTTE ld civilians to keep places. Where are aces when even ren temporary shelter Jaffna were attack:e of the people is of on. If targeted aerial fiction earlier, the tally unsustainable. nscionable massacre ans along the Eastso no doubt added to ilians of reprisals by
Government is foolals behinda mask of few others believe. ship has contributed nt's conduct which the civilians having gnificant way in its h little is known of eas under control of dications are that have been given to s to be sensitive to The overall military fever been very dese shelling and ung. Against this, inthe soldiers to be on ur become meaningactive thrust of the ve the people away and villages.
15 NOVEMBER 1995
Civilian Casualties:
For the month of October this was placed at 104 killed and 194 injured by the Government's administrative machinery in Jaffna. The breakdown is as follows:
Date Dead injured 4th October 22 90 17th " 6 15 18th " 20 23 26th " 10 10 30tከ " 46 56 Total 104 194
The dates refer to the date of receipt of report and the figures record the progress of the army from Atchuvely to Kopay. These figures are generally conservative and are lower than those given by civilians leaving the area, since they are mostly based on claims by families for government relief.
Figures given by other agencies (eg. NGOs) may differ in some detail according to the source (eg. Jaffna Teaching Hospital) and time of record. The ten killed on the 26th were sheltering in a coconut estate in Ariyalai, in the eastern extremity of Jaffna town, 5 miles from the combat zone. They were victims of an aerial attack at 7.00 A.M. First reports placed the number killed at 20 to 30.
The 46 reported on the 30th were civilians killed on the 29th when there was intense fighting between the SL Army and the LTTE for the control of Neervely, six miles from the Jaffna town centre. Shells fired by the army from early morning reached the edge of Jaffna's municipal limits 2 miles from the centre, particularly about the Nallur market area along Pt. Pedro Road. Civilians had to flee in pouring rain. Most civilian casualties however occurred in aerial attacks six to nine miles from the scene of fighting.
Of the 46 recorded by the government administration, 42 were killed in aerial attacks and 4 in artillery shelling — 30 in Anaikkottai, 12 in Chavakacheri and 4 in Kokkuvil.
Other sources accounted for several among those killed in aerial attacks on the same day. One witness was near the area when rockets fired by Puccaro aircraft hit Potpathy Road in Kokkuvil quarter of a mile from the University of Jaffna. The number killed were reported as six including an unidentified old lady. He had helped to bury the pieces of “mangled flesh'. Other sources said that the rockets fell either on or near an LTTE camp - one among many interspersed among civilian dwellings. The Roman Catholic parish priest in Anaikkottai reported 14 killed (two sisters, ages 8, 10, two boys

Page 11
15 NOVEMEBER 1995
7, 12), girl (14), three women 25, 26, 30) and six others). Koolavady, Manipay - 5 dead, 10 injured. At Navaly near the Catholic Welfare Centre - 1 girl (15) killed and 4 boys injured. At Chavakacheri missiles fired from the air hit houses opposite the old police station. 12 were killed including an old lady after admission to hospital. All were refugees, some bodies were in pieces and two remained unclaimed. All these incidents took place in the morning. The discrepancies between reports are mainly due to the circumstances of the sources and the demarcation of areas.
On Wednesday 31st October bombs were aimed at Chemmani bridge just before Navatkuli on the Jaffna-Kandy
Road along which civilians were
streaming towards Chavakacheri. Two civilians were killed. Other sources said that it is difficult to put a number on those killed at Anaikkottal on the 29th since several bodies remained unidentified at that time.
During breaks in the rain clouds, the aircraft were seen as small specks at a distance whose sound was barely heard. The sound was heard as the aircraft swooped down, followed by a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder', with the aircraft keeping well outside the range of a possible missile attack. Even during the 80s when Sia Machetti aircraft used to dive low to attack, it was mainly civilian dwellings that were hit.
Refugees
From about the 20th of October those already in refugee camps began keaving Jaffna. They were mainly people from Valikamam North and the Islands who had been refugees for 3 years or more after their areas came under army control.
They were given free transport by the LTTE across Jaffna Lagoon to Killinochchi. These are people over whom the LTTE has exercised patronage by becoming the effective channel of all relief, as among displaced populations in the Wanni areas. Those seeking refuge in the Wanni are among the poorest.
Then came others who were required to show a receipt to prove that they had the contribution recently demanded for the LTTE's national defence fund, before being allowed to cross Jaffna Lagoon. Several others moved to Chavakacheri 9 miles east of Jaffna and to refugee camps in Thenmaratchi, often on foot or on bicycles. These were mainly people displaced recently with little hope of returning to their homes or even finding them other than as rubble. Many of those last remaining in Jaffna were those
still having some go back to.
By 29th October Jaffna had movedt of refuge close to t these are the ICR Teaching Hospital of local refuge we Station, St. Patr John's College, Ch. lege, Nallur Kand University of Jaffn schools and places areas. The Univers persons. Kandasar cincts formed the li. centration during Indian Army advan ple living north of in Kokkuvil, Konda either quit their spend the nights November Jaffna tioning with the patients totalling a received a few da that the movement increased after the ment referred to ea been received for t be informed that a are remaining in sc worship. NGO souri ber remaining in 50,000.
A report giving November quoting gures at 73,000 r Chavakacheri ar AGA Division) & 2 ing to cross Jaffna nochchi. A governn report on 6th No number of peninsul nochchi at 110,00 were new arrivals. population of V Thenmaratchi to leaves a further 1C They would either persons not accoun
The latest repor few doctors remain Patients had little evacuated to very in Chavakacheri F only a base hospit reserved for LTTE lians were forced Among those refug Jaffna, many elder seen sitting on the could not move a seemed lifeless and know who they wel rankers were heal “Give two months would forget all thi
Relief supplies: Both the Govern

TAM TIMES 11
modest property to
those remaining in o schools and places heir homes. Among C protected Jaffna Zone. Other places re Jaffna Railway. ick’s College, St. undikulli Girls” Colasamy Kovil area, a and several other of worship in these ity had about 5000 ny Kovil and preargest refugee conthe October 1987 ice intoJaffna. PeoAdiapatham Road vil and beyond had homes or did not in them. On first Hospital was funcmedical staff and about 200. Reports ys later suggested t out of Jaffna had LTTE announcerlier. Messages had he Government to number of people hools and places of ces placed the numJaffna at about
the situation on 3rd ; NGOs put the finew refugee in the ea (Thenmaratchi 5,000 families waitLagoon into Killiment administration vember placed the lar refugees in Killi0 of whom 70,000 Taking the normal adamaratchi and
be 300,000, that 10 or 200 thousand.
be old refugees or ited for.
ts say that only a in Jaffna Hospital. choice but to be crowded conditions hospital which was al. The beds were
patients and civito take the floor. ees forced to leave ly and infirm were roadsides as if they iny further. Some | no one seemed to re. Two LTTE high rd sharing a joke: s and the people s'.
ment and the LTTE
have contributed to the problems of civilians in Jaffna over several years. But the responsibility for relief has fallen on the Government while the LTTE had not made matters easier by insisting on keeping closed the trunk road to Jaffna through Elephant Pass. There are difficulties in sea borne deliveries arising from the weather and docking facilities. The tendency has been to blame the Government exclusively whenever there was a crisis in Jaffna, without any reference to the fact that the LTTE has compounded civilian suffering for political and military gain without any acknowledgement of responsibility for the people.
At present three ships ply between Trincomalee and Jaffna carrying supplies that are handed over to the Government Agent after being unloaded at the improvised pier at Pt. Pedro. There are sometimes breaks in schedules due to technical problems such as unavailability of labour in Trincomalee on certain days or due to other disruptions such as the hijacking of the passenger vessel Irish Moana by the LTTE and the recent attack on the petroleum installation in Colombo. A total of 96,500 tonnes of supplies were scheduled for delivery in Jaffna as agreed to between GA/Jaffna and the Ministry of Rehabilitation. The delivery was due to have been completed by October-end before the North-East monsoon set in. But only 58,000 tonnes had been delivered by October-end and deliveries are continuing into the monsoonal weather.
The Government too has at times opened itself to accusations of being grudging and vindictive when it should have been seen to be going. extra lengths in showing concern for the very deprived people of Jaffna. Following the LTTE attack on the petroleum installation, apparently citing a shortage of fuel, the Government Agent/Jaffna was asked to leave behind a part of the kerosene purchased and taken to Trincomalee for shipment to Jaffna. The matter was resolved after he argued his case and lobbied through concerned persons in the South.
For the last year or so the relief supplies reaching Jaffna are placed by Government sources at 30 to 40% of what is required. For the poor this has often meant missing meals. The recent rise in the refugee population has made matters significantly worse.
Salient features of the military operation:
1. No change of practice regarding the use of aerial bombing and shellContinued on page 13

Page 12
12 TAMIL TIMES
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This annual fund raising event which was planned for 9th December 1995 at the Ealing Town Hall has been cancelled as a mark of our deep concern for the plight of Several thousand Tamils who have been forced to flee their homes and reduced to the status of refugees to escape the military offensive on Jaffna. Over the years, people living in the Tamil areas have been similarly displaced, but the scale of this current exodus represents a human tragedy of unprecedented magnitude.
We are in the process of making available all our
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Page 13
15 NOVEMBER 1995
Continued from page 11
ing. Despite well-known absurdities and fiction, there has been no reassessment based on past experieCe.
2. The rejection of reliable information about civilian casualties has shown a continuing lack of sensitivity to civilian voices. 3. No clear strategy to give confidence to the people through tangible practical measures such as providing at the outset safe areas and procedures. No contingency plans for possible outcomes of the operation and no clearly thought-out policy towards civilians. 4. No proper mobilisation of NGO and government machinery to coordinate relief work and provide food and shelter for civilians in anticipation of different scenarios.
5. Censorship and the barring of
journalists from effectively show ment is prepar interests of civili military gain.
The humanitaria
For the moment : nitarian crisis has ting up scores of casualties. It is ps gineered by the LTT arising out of Gover and even callousne number is 200,400 c not the main issue. I numbers have lost turned out in inclen live in utter want. children have died would otherwise be Tamil Service intervi ment official describ woman who had cr
Mass Exodus of Civ from Jaffna and the
by Dr. S. Narapalasingam
The horrendous news about the mass exodus of Tamils from Jaffna after the Sri Lanka army entered Neerveli on October 30, one of the strategic towns of the LTTE in the war to defend that part of the Northern province which had been under their control for the past 5 years, caused much distress in the Tamil community living abroad. Emotions rose to feverish level, especially when the scale of the human disaster was reported by foreign news agencies and international relief organisations. The most heart-breaking news came over the air waves when foreign correspondents interviewed a few refugees, who had struggled to reach Vavuniya, the border town beyond which foreign journalists are not permitted to proceed by the Sri Lankan army. Since the latest offensive began on October 17 journalists are not allowed to enter the war zone.
The Government administrator in the Thenmarachchi area still under the control of the LTTE, where the displaced persons from Jaffna have sought refuge was also interviewed and was in tears while describing the nisery of those who had been forced to walk miles in heavy rain and to cross the lagoon in small boats. Some had walked for four to five days sleeping rough without food and proper sanitataon to reach Kilinochchi. Many had iost their loved ones either crushed by
the simultaneous panic-stricken and along narrow roads exhaustion having drink or eat. The rea tives reminded one c exodus. Even babies out of Jaffna gave a what was heard bef Bosnia. One interv that the road was s took an hour to move
According to ano children and the v departed on the w, miseries in this wi world. Many were so they could not eve could not believe that the miserable plight roof over their head drink or eat. One lad gled to make the l journey found her ch crossing the lagoon. that it was for the sal moved out of Jaffr along with others. A told the officer whe what she needed mos a plain cup of tea milk but with a littl end her misery as w predicament.
According to Gerar head of the ICRC in

TAMIL TIMES 13
the war zone has that the Governd to negate the ns for short term
Crisis
t least the huma
vershadowed tot
LTTE and army rtly a crisis enE and in part one niment negligence ss. Whether the r 500 thousand is is true that large heir homes, been ent weather and
It is true that of exposure who living. In a BBC ew, a key governed how a weary ossed Jaffna La
goon had asked for plain-teas with poison for herself and her children, such instances are often dramatised for propaganda against the Government. But anyone familiar with Jaffna would know that it is a subtle indictment of both sides by those rendered helpless and disillusioned. That is the stae of mind among the people.
The initial wrong-headed decision to impose censorship has led the Government step by step to a position where it cannot rationally face up to the humanitarian crisis. The apparent decision on 7th November to suspend GA/ Jaffna was a symptom of it. The priority of the Government should have been to address the problem rather than quarrel with GA/Jaffna about technicalities and figures. By making this an issue so much is being sacrificed, and in particular the polical process initiated for which the Government has duly received credit.
ilians War
mass exodus of frightened people or through sheer had nothing to ding of the narraif the Bosnia-type born on the way tot of similarity to ore in the war in iewee mentioned o jammed that it one step forward
ther it was the ry old who had ay, ending their cked and brutal traumatised that n speak. Others , they would be in
of not having a s and nothing to y who had strugong and tedious ld had died while She cried saying ke of the child she a as instructed nother lady had she was asked t, she replied just without sugar or 2 poison so as to ill as the officer's
d Peytrignet, the Sri Lanka about
half of the 400,000 Tamil refugees are living and sleeping outdoor in heavy monsoon rains. The rest are holed up in churches, temples, schools and relatives' homes. The refugees have very little food or proper sanitation.
The answer given by a lady to the vital question: "Who asked you to leave Jaffna?" was short but crucial viz. "They’. This short answer speaks volumes of the dilemma of the ordinary Tamils who have been suffering immensely since the ethnic conflict turned into a bloody war. They have become an important tool for some in winning the war, while for others they are inconsequential in defeating the enemy. The lady even in her condition of extreme distress was careful not to be explicit in her answer!
Neglected people
The statements issued by the military have highlighted the numbers of rebels killed and wounded in the latest offensive codenamed 'Sun Ray' that began on October 17 to capture Jaffna, the headquarters of the LTTE. The centre of its own administration, justice and law and order was until recently in Jaffna town. Civilian casualties and destruction to property as a result of aerial bombing and artillery shelling were not reported by them. On the rebels' side, their statements highlighted both the enemy and the civilian casualties as well as the bravery of the LTTE cadres. Despite the conflicting estimates, the fact that both sides have incurred heavy losses recently in the most gruesome war cannot be concealed. The suffering of the people consequent upon not only
Continued on page 14

Page 14
14 TAMIL TIMES
Continued from page 13
the offensive operations of the military
(claimed to be directed against the rebels as if the means were available to separate them from the civilians from afar places) but also the acute shortages of food and medicines in the rebel areas was brought to the attention of the Sri Lankan Government and the outside world by the international relief agencies and by the Government's own administrative officers in the affected areas.
Western relief agencies have accused the military of blocking desperately needed aid. The restrictions are reported to be preventing the delivery of drugs, tents and blankets as well as equipment to build latrines. Even materials needed to help the wounded are said to be unavailable to the relief workers. Food and medicines would appear to have become weapons in the war to capture Jaffna. As I have pointed out in my previous articles, the Government has not been serious about winning the hearts and minds of the people especially when its declared aim of capturing Jaffna was to liberate the people from the rebels' domination. It failed to appreciate the difference between winning the battle and the war. As a result, the Government allowed itself to be portrayed as a tyrant waiting to destroy the Tamils in Jaffna. Undoubtedly, Government is handicapped by its inability to communicate by conventional methods with the people in the areas under the control of the LTTE but this is not a valid excuse as seen from the airdropping of pamphlets in Tamil and English belatedly over the war-torn Jaffna peninsula. It served little purpose as the damage had already been done.
As a result of indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas by the military, the people had also the justifiable fear that their safety was no longer guaranteed. It was only concerned about capturing Jaffna just 3 miles away after capturing Neerveli at tremendous cost and no attempts were made to assure the people of their safety. This fear would have deepened when it became known that the LTTE was also moving its headquarters to Thenmarachchi taking the heavy weapons with them. The Government would have gained a lot of support had it also facilitated the supply of basic essentials to the rebelheld area, notwithstanding the fact that some would have been used by the rebels. It was important to have known, on balance, the political advantage of such humanitarian measures. Going by the well meant declarations of the President reiterated by
her recently in a b the world leaders si and the contradict ground by the mill siderable confusion the shots
If the Governm sive of being criti tremists for appea stil worse prever from assisting the protection, it had vince the whole wo of its actions. The only made matters ernment, as it gav alienating the Ta area.S.
Even ten days af of Tamils to Thenm reported hearing t exploding just outs If the Governmer safety of the Tamil and take sincerely them back to their at this late hour c that it cares for th
The actions of th mous cost in relatic achieved so far and as the inaction oft the diplomatic a fronts, have not h sponsibility for t trophic tragedy in are the civilians, w and economic fre have claimed to be The war now bear of taking revenge f red by either side. come to their ser carnage, there wil suffering of the pe East and the anxi South.
Why the exodus
Foreign diplom observers in Sri several reasons fol displacement of hu. (the numbers vary 500,000) of Tamil and its environs. workers Tiger Rad broadcasts telling ate as quickly as people responded they could with thi
One explanation civilians to leave th after the military was to deny the l victory of taking o' with its populatio advanced was bas aspect of the exod seized from fisherm

15 NOVEMBER 1995
ooklet presented to he met in New York ory actions on the itary, there is conas to who is calling
ent was apprehencised by a few exsing the Tamils or hted by the rebels Tamils under their the means to conprld of the rightness failure on this front worse for the Gove the impression of mils in the rebel
ter the mass exodus arachchi, the ICRC he sound of shells ide the Jaffna city. it can assure the s who fled the town all measures to get homes, it can even onvince the people eir well-being. Le military at enoron to what has been the set goal as well the Government on ind humanitarian elped to evade rehe present cataswheh the victims hose political, social edoms both sides their main concern. s all the hallmarks or the losses incurJnless the two sides nses and stop the l be no end to the 'ople in the Northety of those in the
s?
ats and impartial Lanka have given the instantaneous ndreds of thousands between 300,000 to s from Jaffna city According to relief io had made urgent the people to evacupossible and the taking whatever e.
for ordering the heir homes in Jaffna entered Neerveli latter the strategic ver the prized town n. Another reason ed on the unusual lus involving boats hen and used by the
LTTE to ferry the fleeing people across the lagoon to Kilinochchi. It was alleged that the LTTE was enhancing its reputation among Tamils as their protector in times of distress. Significantly, the LTTE had closed the road back to Jaffna, telling the people that the town might fall and would be dangerous for them. Some analysts were careful when they said that the motive for helping Jaffna civilians to leave the town was unclear; whether they were doing it as good samaritans or as good strategists. Others had suggested that the exodus was orchestrated to show the world that there was havoc in the North.
The most damning report on the subject was from the Tamil human rights group released on November 9. According to this report, masked Tamil guerrillas moved from house to house threatening civilians to force the evacuation of Jaffna town. They had also ordered people by loudspeakers on October 30 to evacuate the town saying they were fighting a "demonic force'. A school next to the Red Cross premises which was used as a refugee camp was also forcibly emptied. The group also said air attacks by the Government forces were partly re
sponsible for the exodus.
Why the secrecy?
It will not be long to know for certain whether the people were used as pawns in the war. Truth has been a big casualty in this war. The aim of secrecy is to hide the truth, which no doubt seems to be useful to both sides in the short term. Eventually, truth will surface and questions will be asked by the people in the North and south on the human costs of the war. Hopefully, the most tangible gain from the senseless war will be the lesson not to get deceived by leaders who act using the instrument of secrecy or duress to achieve their war objectives. Their actions, however damaging to accepted norms of human behaviour and tolerance not just in the short term but importantly for generations to come are portrayed as essential to promote and/or safeguard the interests of the people! People will also discover the enormity of the cost incurred just to learn this lesson. This is perhaps the price to be paid for being gullible. The estimated defense spending of Sri Lanka Government in 1996 is a staggering 745 million dollars, which is 18.8% higher than the 1995 estimated expenditure. Defence expenditures in 1996 will swallow nearly one-third of the national budget. Can the Sri Lankans expect the sound of artillery fire, aerial bombing and warplanes to vanish in 1996?

Page 15
5 NOVEMBER 1995
Community in disarray
Many from priests to politicians have thrown in the slogan of peace and unity in their acrimonious speeches and writings. The simple truth is that either one cannot be had without the other. All the indications are that the bulk of the Tamil society has lost its bearings by their indifference to the long-term goals of peace and unity, not least the repercussions of the present adverse trends, which ironically are being glorified. A case in point is the use of children in the war as combatants in the front lines to shoot and kill. Recent experience in Africa reported by UNICEF, indicates the difficulty in reintegrating later these children who survived the war into the society. It has been found that their instinct to kill even fellow members of the society for trivial reasons remain intact. According to recent Reuters' report (November 9) based on information provided by aid workers, LTTE has intensified recruiting school children to fill its ranks after heavy losses in recent clashes.
Tamils living abroad have protested against the Government's military operations in the North. The more sensible demand of the Tamils should be to ask both sides to stop the endless war immediately and start talking with the help of outside intermediaries. Many foreign governments and organisations have offered to help if requested by both sides. It is the foreign governments that are actively pressing both sides to stop the war and settle the conflict peacefully through negotiations. Britain's foreign office minister of state Jeremy Hanley in a Commons written reply said: “We condemn the recent brutal massacres of civilians which have taken place, especially those in the villages of the north and east of Sri Lanka. . . . . We deplore the loss of life and destruction resulting from this conflict and urge both the government and the Liberation Tigers to take all further steps to avoid civilian casualties.' He urged the warring factions to seek a peaceful solution. The following appeal is significant especially coming from outside. We urge all who are concerned to see a lasting and peaceful settlement to the conflict to make every effort to persuade the Liberations Tigers to respond positively to the constitutional opportunities now emerging.'
Danger in intransigence
Compared with the mounting international pressure on both sides to return to the negotiating table, the Sri Lankan's attitude to the human disaster in their own country is somewhat nuted. Perhaps the domestic cenContinued on page 33
Time is Oper
Dear Mrs. Kuma Madam Presiden The political pat sued at the time ( your IPA at the 1 tions, as well as idential Election like. Your Sinhal you in your si through constitu to Tamils and ot ities by firstly sto talking to the T. Tamils greatly a rect and courageo you support as be could. I myself your spirit of ju world urges you You did start gers, but not wł sincerely. You promises to eas burdens of the l were not readil plemented. On another, and the patience and reg the cessation of h you. There has nc spate of killings ern areas. I am enjoyed the lates LTTE, not the you, and certail majority of people or Muslims. The pursued? For w will lose by it, su You’ve shouv) again шhen you s recently, signalli be prepared to res LTTE if they wo, plete Cessation least Symbolical and Agree to a Serious Political you confirm this Lanka, I feel the respond positive your troops are fi to barracks and arms, and you de cessation of host plete and perтат LTTE had sugge
As for a timepolitical negotia dates could indee within a matter (

TAMIL TIMES 15
s Ripe to Resume Talks Letters to President and LTTE Leader
ratunga, t: h which you purof campaigning for 994 General Elecduring the Pres, was statesmana people supported earch for peace tionalised justice her ethnic minorpping the war and amils' LTTE. The dmired your corus stand and gave st as they possibly was taken up by stice. The whole along that path.
talking to the Tiholeheartedly, not made the correct e up the urgent Famils. But those y and fully ime thing led to LTTE lost their rettably broke off ostilities pact with ow been a renewed in the Northeastsure no one has t battles - not the armed forces, not nly not the vast 2: Sinhalas, Tamils n why is it being hose benefit? All rely.
statesmanship poke in New York. ng that you would start talks with the uld agree to Comof Hostilities, at у Lay Dошуп arтs, Time-Frame for Negotiations. If stand again in Sri at the LTTE uvill ly, provided that rstly ordered back to lay doun their clare not merely a ilities, but a conent ceasefire as the
sted before.
frame for serious ations, tentative ld be agreed upon of weeks, after the
ceasefire and symbolic arms-down. But before actual negotiations begin, there must be serious sets of proposals available to start discussions. It is my belief that the package you did bring out in August in good faith (which you must at least now send formally to the LTTE) does not go far enough to be acceptable to the Tamils. I recommend my own Peace Plan for consideration as a starting point, which was sent to you and others. I hereby offer to supply copies to all the 225 MPs through you, as soon as you want them.
Yours sincerely,
Prof. Kopan Mahadeva, Ph.D., 99-101, Sutton Road, Erdington, B23 5XA,
Dear Thamby Pirabakaran, LTTE Leader:
You have become the foremost leader of Eelam's Tamils, and the idol of several million Tamils, and others all over the world, including thousands of Sinhalas. No one doubts your dedication to the Tamils' cause. Your organisational skills, self-taught expertise in warfare, sense ofdiscipline and political acumen are beyond doubt. Your personality and leadership qualities are profound.
Only as a last resort, almost in desperation, you decided to organise the Tamil youth as today's LTTE towards winning the legitimate rights and aspirations of Tamils through armed resistance to the oppressive and disingenuous methods resorted to by successive governments of Sri Lanka. I am sure you well know of the horrors of war. You also know of the value of human life, be it of your own cadres or of Sinhala soldiers, or civilians in the Tamil, Sinhala or Muslim sides. I do believe that you really hate warfare and killing, but have resorted to both only as the last resort, since as far as you could see there was no alternative. Tamils do realise that short-term losses of the past were for winning real justice and peace finally, and that from over there you can't seek much advice from outside, but do consult those devoted men and women
Continued on page 19

Page 16
16 TAMIL TIMES
The DeVolution Pa and the Northeast
by Rev. S.J. Emmanuel, Vicar General,
For over a decade, Sri Lanka is caught up in an ethnic war of increasing death and destruction in the North and East. And of late the political package to end the ethnic conflict has been evoking heated discussions among various groups and leaders. Though both the war and the debate are proclaimed to be for peace and unity of the country, in reality they are being conducted on two different fronts - the debate within the Southern constituency seeking support from the people and the War in the Northeast alienating the Tamils. Thus effectively the debate and the war tend to scuttle one another making peace and unity more evasive than ever before.
The extremes in the Debate
The package of political proposals for a peaceful solution of the ethnic crisis and thereby seeking the restoration of peace and unity in the country marks a turning point in the political history of this country. Understandably it is receiving a great attention from various sections of the population and accordingly evoking diverse reactions. On the one side, there appears an euphoria, spontaneous applause and even a blind support from those who hope that the package, if implemented, will avoid injustices and discriminations against the minorities and usher in an era of peace and unity in the country. On the other side, there is a strong and desperate opposition, especially from the Buddhist hierarchy, who see the proposals as paving the way for a division of the country in favour of the Tamil, or more particularly the LTTE, demand for a separate Eelam.
Between these two extremist groups are the majority, who apparently prompted by the wisdom of past experiences and the de facto deteriorating situation in the country, keep their fingers crossed about the outcome of these proposals. Their experience of the past with promises of political parties in power and with pacts and agreements that were never implemented deter them from any euphoria or giving unconditional support to the proposals. The fund of unprecedented good will and trust generated in them by the new President keep them still open for options and changes in the approach and from opposing any good attempt towards a solution of the national crisis.
There is no dou has demonstrate political vision, f: predecessors, in c of proposals for s in the constitut towards a stables problem. In com broken-pacts sig leaders, and in ( decentralization during the UNP offers a horizont between the cent ies for a reasona autonomy, going many countries, number of regiona give a boost to bric the whole country responsible partic sroots talents.
The opponents t ly those politicial used to centraliz vilege, are reluct with the periphe central import Although such po on in other cou supporters and unitary state-nat corrupt practices going on for a lo centralized burea genuine power sh
Debate in the
Although it is
large section of tuency has come proposals as a m flict and restore p out a division of conflicting blocks ing to see that th discussion is taki south, and that to and the discussion entirely around t tent of the pack much power, la should be given regions, especiall how much is to centre), and not lating war, nor a implementability nor about the un of the Northeast
general attitude paid soldiers fron

15 NOVEMBER 195
ckage War
Jafna.
yt that the President
much courage and r superior to all her oming out with a set ich a radical change On so as to move blution for the ethnic arison with all the led between earlier omparison with the of power envisaged egime, this package all sharing of power re and the peripherble autonomy. This by the experience of will help resolve a l problems as well as ader development of with the active and ipation of the gras
o the package, mostns and bureaucrats sed power and priant to share power ries and lose their ance and power. wer sharing is going ntries, the present beneficiaries of the ion as well as the
which have been ng time within the ucracy will hinder a aring.
South
encouraging that a he southern constibut in support of the ans to end the con2ace and unity withhe country into two yet it is disappointe whole debate and ng place only in the mostly in Colombo, s are centred almost le substance or conage (i.e. as to how nd, resources etc., y the centre to the the Northeast, and be retained at the t all about the escabout the viability or of such proposals, Lemocratic exclusion rom the debate. The ppears to be, let the the poor peasantry
fight the war at the cost of their lives and bring us victory over the LTTE and we will go on with our dinnerdebates and our decisions will be inposed on the Northeast
The escalation of war towards a permanent stationing of troops and military bases in the Northeast, the absence of the people of Northeast in the debate and the overlooking or silence about the viability of such proposals in the context of war - these are omissions tooglaring forany sensible person. The debates are, at their best, a concerted effort of many at a political education of the South for a devolution of power, possibly preparing the way for the future realities to COe.
Participants and their Reasons for Support or Opposition
Among those taking part in this southern debate are people of various interests and institutions. There are the politicians from the various political parties - including some Tamil political groups - expressing support or opposition, partly motivated by their specific ideology and partly by political opportunism. Then there are the intellectuals and professionals, who have come out openly and voluntarily, individually and collectively. with their knowledge and expertise to help their motherland in crisis. The non-governmental organizations too stimulate debate and discusion on one point or other depending on their own interest and ideology. And finally the influential Buddhist and Chistia. hierarchies according to the self. understanding of their role in this country as well as according to their vision of unity and peace for the country.
There have been introductions cf new constitutions and changes there. in the past, but the present debate appears to be well participated by all sections of the southern constituency
Among the supporters of the package, there are the few who understand devolution positively as restructuring government to suit the multi-ethnicity of the country and preserving a unity of the country without further loss c. lives through a senseless war. The proposals to make Sri Lanka into a Union of Regions is a wise move to ge: away from the unitary nation-state without endangering the unity of the country and the people. It is far better to acknowledge the plural character C: the population and design a realist: unity out of the multi-ethnicity than to cling on to an unbuilt unitary-state as left behind by the colonial British anc suffer the loss of so many lives,
The eloquence of the elite and of the

Page 17
15 NOVEMEBER 1995
power-seeking politician to defend and preserve the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the nation, through immense loss of lives, not of their own sons and daughters, but of the poor peasants of this country, must be pointed out and condemned as a hypocritical patriotism.
Among the opponents to this package are the vociferous Sinhala chauvinists and the Buddhist hierarchy who speak the language of the Landlord imagining the Tamils and Muslims to be mere tenants in this land. There are also other opponents, those who have tasted for too long too much of centralized power, privilege and wealth at the centre. They are unwilling to devolve power and give up their posh residences and pajeros to th o se elected to govern the peripheries.
It is unfortunate that the majority of the backbenchers of parliament appear not to have the ability to present the package in a positive light. They are used to vote-seeking approaches. They resort to an antiapproach saying that the proposals are meant merely to wipe out the LTTE and their Eelam ideology. It is regrettable that their support to the President is so fragile and non-constructive for building peace and unity in the country.
Tamils of the South
Understandably for the majority of Tamils living outside the Northeast, the devolution package as a package aimed at rectifying injustices and discriminations is bound to be attractive and may evoke a sigh of relief and hope for the future. Depending on the degree of rootedness they have in the South, their reactions can vary from a Colombo-centred cosmopolitanism (anti-regionalism) to a Northeast based regionalism or separatism. In this context it is misleading to assess the opinion or stance of a few Colombobased elite intellectuals as that of all the Tamils in the South.
The Government is informed by and talking mostly to Tamils who are born and bred in Colombo and who are well settled to enjoy a fair amount of success in business and comforts in living. They may be even in the envy of their Sinhala neighbours. In the event of a massive racial riot as was in 1956, 1958, 1977 and 1983 they have suffered. Many may have been unjustly discriminated against in promotions or suspected as potential terrorists in their workplace. They have a right to fight gainst the discriminations or injustices they suffer. But let them either assume the leadership of a place or people with whom they have
not identified the long time nor dev just cause of thos death and destru east. The radically the North and Ea leadership. Any must include that
On the other ha Government to b ombo based able al mere Tamil name any interests in have not visited th as tourists, for the present as a Tar world outside, or t that of the Tamil shameful deception recognized, leave a Tamils of the Sout. known practice off to buy over such for Tamil represen But such tactics v future.
Still worse, tho “elected” with the si the police and the election, and not re ity of the Tamils a of the Tamils are than a help in ra crisis.
Among the activ package are a vari or groups too. Th unconditional and their support maki sis. The TULF star that has all along tion of power thro ture or at least thr regional autonomy state-nation. It is t as a party remair democratic structu unitary system of have come out ope package of propos represent the asp section of Tamils North and East. questionable. One long absence in the of identity with t surviving there, are they of the pro the Tamils still sur and East. Second two-pronged appro ment, debating pro and continuing wa how they justify exclusion of North bate.
The reasons fol participation of th debate are eviden well informed of t

mselves for a very falue or betray the e still surviving the ction in the Northchanged realities of st call for their own meaningful debate leadership.
nd, the option of the uy over some Colind elitist brains with s, (who have hardly the Northeast and nese areas, not even last few decades), to mil minister to the o count his voice as s of Northeast is a n.They are not even alone elected, by the h. It has been a well former governments persons to make up tation at the centre. will not help in the
se Tamils who got uspicious backing of
IPKF in a staged2ckoned by a majors any genuine voice
more a hindrance 2solving the Tamil
e supporters for the ety of Tamil parties heir support is not the motives behind e interesting analynds out as one party fought for a devoluugh a federal strucough a structure of y within a unitary understandable that hing faithful to the ure and the present
Government, they nly in favour of the als. They may well irations of a good
living outside the But two things are , in view of their war zones and loss hose suffering and now representative esent aspirations of viving in the North lly in view of the ach of the Governposals in the South r in the Northeast,
the war and the meast from the de
the absence and e Northeast in the t to those who are he ground realities
TAM TIMES 17
there. While presenting the package to the country, both the President and her ministers have clearly stated their two pronged approach to the crisis, namely, that the proposals will be debated outside the North and East, that they will not be sent to the LTTE, that there was no intention of any dialogue with the LTTE, that the war in the North and East is to go on till the LTTE are exterminated, that the embargo and the restrictions on the life of the people will continue. Can such pronouncements, however much they may be intended for the Southern voter, ever create an atmosphere, leave alone a conducive situation, for a political consideration of proposals?
Tragic escalation of war
However good and promising these proposals and debates may be, how mesmerized or fascinated the majority may feel with the leadership, their promises and their proposals, one cannot afford to lose sight of the tragic consequences of what is really going on today in the country, in terms of an escalating war and its irreparable losses. It does not require much intelligence or commonsense to see that the present pattern of escalation of war and acquisition of hardware for stabilizing this war as a permanent state of the country are taking the country to an irreversible disaster.
Both sides are going more and more for sophisticated weapons. While professors and politicians go on promising to their audience a war-victory and a peaceful solution in one and the same plate, and academics split hairs over the finer points of the professors' proposals, those engaged in war are escalating their efforts towards a permanent war in the Northeast. There is no sign of reducing the war or easing the conditions of life in the Northeast. With more and more loss of life and property, without any sign of victory or weariness, the blood-thirst and the hatred increases on both sides.
Therefore in spite of the courageous proposals for a radical change in the structure of the Government, in spite of the golden promises and enthusiastic debates and so on, we are not at all moving in the direction of reconciliation, peace and unity of the country. With every death and destruction going on in the Northeastern theatre of war, we are definitely and for all time moving away from reconciliation, peace and unity - those very ideals which the proposals proclaim to achieve.
However much the Government and the people of the South may try to
Continued on page 18

Page 18
18 TAM TIMES
Continued from page 17
justify this war as a war for peace, as a war directed only against the LTTE and not against the people of the Northeast, as a war to liberate the people from the LTTE, as a war to weaken, if not wipe out, the LTTE, the naked truth is that it is against those living in the Northeast, enormous lives and property are lost every day and the gap between the South and Northeast is widening beyond any proportions.
Besides the escalating war and its consequences for the people, there are also other measures of the Government directed to isolating the Northeast and punishing them with an inhuman embargo on the essentials for life.
Keeping the Northeast closed for journalists, the Army is dishing out well cooked newsreports and leading the country by the garden path to a grave deception about the Northeast reality. Trying to label and count all those killed by the Forces as Tigers and intensify hopes of a war victory over the Tigers is nothing but a dangerous deception of the country by the Government and its Armed Forces.
Nothing can be substitutive of the visit of journalists from Colombo and elsewhere to the Northeast, the theatre of war and its tragic consequences. Giving minute details of the war and its consequences in Bosnia with the help of pictures and in the next minute giving only an army-tailored report of tragic events happening in our own country and just a few hundred miles away from Colombo is a ridiculous attempt to deceive millions. Why are people and journalists not protesting against such restriction of freedom?
Nor is the attempt to justify the inhuman embargo and restrictions on the life of the people living in the Northeast acceptable to those still surviving in the war zones. What has the Government achieved by this embargo? People know that the Forces have achieved something, at least in their pockets. But otherwise?
Is keeping a population in an enlarged prison-peninsula without basic amenities for life, without sufficient food and medicine, without electricity, transport, postal services etc. and then subjecting them to continuous shelling and bombing to take over the land and
people - are these going to pave the
way for a reconciliation, peace and unity of the country? Or is it not making the Northeast another colony - imprisoned and supplied with mini
mum food facilities or captured alive?
Those who talk sovereignty and un betray their hypoc when they cry out war. Most of these have never even v but simply want to rule over the people
After all the best consequences of the who fire the shells a nor are the majorit the Northeast and h est experience of the its consquences. In ances one has eith places for a direct situations or at leas of the survivors fron
Options for the
In the context consuming not only of the Tamils of No) the whole country tions left for the G towards reconcilia unity?
One option is to g and consider with re all of all the state the Northeast agai people to enable an militancy and terrol
The second is to s' a permanent way Tamil protest for and rule. This will military service for a those in robes in or Northeast colony
The third and the to recognize willy emerged leadership Tamils, normalize ( man life in the No) towards a negotiate
More than thirty y ranted and immoral the Northeast (fron given birth, both to and to a full scale w; many in the Soutl history of this eth only from 1983 or with the emergence wipe away of the LT victory may appear tion and the politicia appear well within r cally, as President minded us often, the true victory in this war means losing th
From the beginnin Forces were sent ti East to put down w

15 NOVEMBER 1995
ill they are killed
about integrity, ty of the country ritical intentions for war and more are people who sited these parts own the land and
judges about the war are not those hd drop the bombs r living outside of aven’t had slighthorrors of war or these circumster to visit these xperience of lifebelieve the word the Northeast.
Government
of a war that is lives and property theast, but also of what are the opOverment to move tion, peace and
o back into history alism a withdraworces stationed in inst the will of a atural death of all rism.
tabilize the war as of containing the self-determination equire compulsory all youth including der to maintain a
more realistic, is nilly the newly of the Northeast conditions for hurtheast and move i peace.
rears of an unwarArmy presence in h the 1950s) has terrorism (1977) ar (1991 - ?). For l, for whom the nic conflict starts so, and that too, of the LTTE, a TE and a military a realizable soluans promises may each. But realistiPremadasa rere can never be a war. Winning the e other side. g when the State the North and ith ruthless force
all forms of Tamil opposition, the Government has over-reacted to Tamil opposition and put its foot in the wrong place and in the wrong way. It is still striving to extricate itself without losing face. That is the bitter truth about this military mission to Northeast.
As evidenced in the history of all colonialism (British, French etc.) and imperialism (Americans in Viet Nam), true peace can usher in only with the withdrawal of a war in Northeast and a mortal fear of continuous terrorism hanging on in the South?
If pulling out of the Northeast is considered a shameful defeat by the Government and not a rectification of an earlier error in governance, if the majority still want to foster a superiority and dominance over the minority Tamils, then continuing the war with the support of a compulsory military service and international borrowing is inevitable. Increasingly with every Tamil considered as a potential threat, if not a terror, to the majority Sinhalese, then we slide into this horrible situation. Hopefully and happily, the majority of the major race are clearly against such a move.
Recognising the Defacto Leadership
The only sane and realistic approach is to begin acting from the de facto situation in the Northeast. Not all is lost. Neither the people have lost their humanity in spite of this prolonged war and inhuman restrictions on life. Nor are the LTTE adamantly war hungry and blood-thirsty as made out to be by emotionally charged reports. There is still hope for sanity, reconciliation, peace and unity of the country.
Speaking about leadership in the present North and East, it must be said at the outset that the absence of a form of democracy as in the South or the absence of elections (however corrupt and manipulated some of them were under the IPKF), does not necessarily mean absence of any leadership among the people there. People who tend to absolutise the ways of democracy and think only of those ways as valid forms of leadership, will not be able to understand, leave alone accept, the de facto LTTE leadership of the Northeast. Whether one likes it or not, as was done by President Chandrika, one has to acknowledge the de facto leadership and proceed.
The long and frustrating experience of Tamils for almost three decades
when democratically elected par
liamentary representatives were not listened to but heckled and finally thrown out coupled with the two de

Page 19
15 NOVEMBER 1995
cades of military oppression or state terrorism in the North and East, has given birth to a new form of leadership in the North and East. All those who refer to the LTTE as a child of the Northeast, forget their own contribution for the emergence of such leadership. Who fathered such a leadership? Much more than the politics of the Tamil Congress or the Federal Party, or the combined TULF it was the oppressive actions of the State Forces sent to the Northeast almost like an army of occupation to suppress any Tamil aspirations with military violence. This has been accepted by President Chandrika too.
Whether one likes it or not, the de facto situation is that the LTTE has emerged to leadership, admittedly not through the elections the South is familiar with, but through militancy with the gun. It has established itself.
i) as the only group which articulates the liberative aspirations of the Tamils in the North and East,
ii) as the only protectors of the people against the violence, shellings and the aerial bombings of the State Forces
and iii) as the only group that has set up sub-structures (police, courts, education, transport etc.) of governance for human life to continue with some discipline.
The fact that Prabaharan is the de facto leader of the Tamils in the North and East is partly the result of the intransigence of the governments who responded to three decades of democratic leadership among the Tamils of North and East with military force and humiliating rejections.
Talks with the Tigers
The Government often justifies their course of present action stating that the LTTE has betrayed the trust imposed on them by the Government and has gone back to its war path, and hence they must be exterminated or weakened before any meaningful action. It is puerile to argue that the blame for the breakdown of talks must be borne entirely by the LTTE. Not to mention the failure of the Government, in not implementing promises or not bring to book the bribe-hungry army who refused to implement them must be not overlooked or forgotten.
It is the long experience of the Tamils that many things promised, agreed upon and even gazetted are not implemented by the army or the bureaucrats. In the political history of this country, how many times the Government either tore agreed pacts or went back on its promises to the Tamils? How many times the Tamils
felt totally betray leaders?
So the present P demonstrate her s this hour in callr resumption of talk
The LTTE wel negotiating table, pleasure for them their midsummer cause the Tamils more in prolonge equal effort for th This applies event and until some ge life of people in the by the Governmen ble with the LTT threat of a total en threat of an elimin meaning.
In a press intel 17th of August 1 Peiris has clearly possibility of a th tion as well as a LTTE. Understanc foreign governme. two parties. Out o the Government, v must be the par further talks with out, then the Gove ly saying, that th process will be one Government in those outside the that decision will second partner, th North and Eastthis once again th of democracy
In short, the ap ernment amount
Continued frO
close to you ver every major makes.
Although y within the peri more than any leaders since Ramanathan, opposite route needs of your t yet to accompl how your contri ly valued by th by the other Sr side world, and
In this respe member that al
ensure a more own people. I Lanka, peace w at mutually ju

TAM TIMES 19
red by the Sinhala
resident is called to stateswomanship at ng the LTTE for a S. nt away from the not because war is a as some cry out in madness, but bedo not believe any talks without an eir implementation. o the future. Unless sture of easing the e Northeast is made t, no talks are possiE. Talks under the mbargo or under the ation by war has no
rview on Thursday 995, Minister G.L. ruled out even the ird-party interveniny talks with the ling third party as a ht, we are left with f these two if one is who is the second? It tner in conflict. If the LTTE are ruled rnment is effectivehe decision making -sided, that is by the consultation with North and East, and be imposed on the lat is, the Tamils of against their will. Is e Sri Lankan mode
proach of the Govis to dangling an
attractive set of proposals before the international community and the southern constituency as its sincere attempt and willingness to solve the problem peacefully through political reforms and at the same time pursuing a war of weapons on the LTTE and of restrictions (embargo on essentials, denial of communication, transport, prevention of journalists to Northeast etc.) on the people of Northeast. This approach of dangling the carrot to the South and wielding the stick to the Northeast will only aggravate the situation and become counterproductive to the whole country.
The present path of a war for peace, war to weaken or exterminate the Tigers and in that operation destroying what is left is counter productive if not suicidal. There is no justification for continuing this war. The immediate need is to show true statesmanship, create conditions for a truly human living in the Northeast and call for a resumption of talks with the LTTE directly or through a third party from where it broke off.
The LTTE leadership, in spite of going away in desperation from the table, has expressed its willingness through the international media that it is still open for peace-talks. without giving too much into a pharisaic mistrust of partners, let an opening be made for such talks even with the help of a third party mediation.
A government that claims itself to be democratically elected and mandated to bring peace and unity must show more understanding and statesmanship. Nothing by way of a return to the table is too costly to avert a disaster to the whole country.
n page 16
y thoroughly before move the LTTE
ou have achieved od 1983-1995 much other past Tamil Sir Ponnambalam by a diametrically chosen to suit the imes, what you are lish will determine ibution will be finale Tamils as well as i Lankans, the outby history itself.
ct, it is well to rel wars are fought to peaceful life to one's n the case of Sri rould mean arriving st, workable pacts
with the country's "democratically elected Governments, whatever may be their earlier shortcomings. The Government of Mrs. Kumaratunga is keener to bring peace to the island by constitutionally granting the due rights of Tamils, than any previous regime. The present Opposition is led by a person of the same age-group as yourself and the President, who are all more honest regarding justice and peoples' welfare than the older men of the past. I believe you will do the right thing by the Tamils and by the island's other citizens if you now decide to re-enter peace talks for our Tamils' rights. Yours sincerely,
Prof. Kopan Mahadeva, Ph.D., 99-101, Sutton Road, Erdington, B23 5XA.

Page 20
20 TAMLTTMES
The 'Silent Emerge in NOrth-Eastern Sri |
by Dr. N. Sivarajah MBBS, DTPH, MD Head, Department of Community Medici
Faculty of Medicine (University of Jaffna) Jaffna, Sri Lanka
introduction
Emergencies may be loud' with much worldwide attention through television and newspaper coverage. These are too wellknown. On the other hand there are 'silent' emergencies which receive very little or no attention, but are more damaging and detrimental to the society, costing more lives and more disintegration than the 'loud' emergencies.
When a few hundred die in a bombing spree’ or a “military operation’ in the North-Eastern Province (NEP) of Sri Lanka, much publicity is given to it and leads to demonstrations in the major cities throughout the world.
But many more are dying in the 'silent emergency' with no protests and no public demonstrations.
Today, "wars' are lasting longer than previously, thus pushing more and more people every day into the group of victims of these 'slow onset emergencies'.
When 'slow onset emergencies' occur people start coping. Initially, the coping is non-erosive. There is reduction in dietary intake, switching especially to cheaper and less nutritious food, reduction in the number and size of the meals taken, and migration in search of employment.
As the emergency continues, the children start to suffer. As the parents spend most of their time in search of employment, collecting food, water and firewood, the care provided to the children decreases.
As the crisis continues the coping becomes erosive and seriously effects the family. They sell their livestock and tools used in their occupations such as agriculture, fishing and carpentry and even their lands - if they own any. Food becomes rationed within the family and the most affected by this process are the children and WOS.
During the final stage, coping mechanisms fail and a stage of destitution is reached. At this stage they become entirely dependent on charity or live in refugee camps. This stage of destitution leads to mental apathy, abandonment of children, prostitution, alcohol dependence and petty thefts.
In this stage of apat tant to accept rehab, live on the edge of st children form band social problems. Som join the militants.
In the North-Ea lanka we see people
The silent death
Deaths of pregr children are occur cedented rate in thi
In 1988, following the Indian Peace (IPKF), 42 pregnano district died as resu related to their pre trict is only one of th the NEP. Calcula (Maternal Mortalit 100,000 live births) been 110 mothers died in one year complication of thei is important is tha three and a half tin years earlier.
43% of these motl under 30 years. Or mother left behind t a bleak future. It many of these orpha to reach their nex mothers also left b rents and youngers who were under happened to them i.
More than halfth were due to anaens contributed by dela; hospital. Most of t. have been prevente War.
Children are als numbers. Registrati in a war torn are complete. Data avai University field pro within three kilome na Teaching Hospi betterhealth care se of the NEP) indicat Mortality Rate is 4 births. At this rate over 2100 infants (c year) dying every y

15 NOVEMBER 1995
ncy Lanka
ne,
hy most are relucilitation. They also arvation. Starving it groups causing he of these children
stern part of Sriin all these stages.
lant mothers and ring at an unpree NEP of Srilanka. g the occupation by 2 Keeping Force t mothers in Jaffna lt of a complication gnancy. Jaffna dishe seven districts in ited at this rate y Rate of 220 per there would have
who would have as a result of a r pregnancy. What at this number is hes the mortality 5
hers who died were an average each hree orphans with is not known how aned children lived t birthday. These behind elderly pasters and brothers their care. What s anybody's guess.
e maternal deaths ia and infections, in transport to a nese deaths could d - if not for the
o dying in large on of infant deaths 'a is usually not lable in the Jaffna ect area (which is ers from the Jaffal and having a rvice than the rest es that the Infant 2.4 per 1000 live
there should be hildren under one ar. This is double
the number of infant deaths which occurred ten years ago.
As in most of the developing countries children die of preventible causes. But the most heart breaking part of it is that most of the deaths in the NEP could have been prevented if there were enough Family Health Workers to provide Health education and primary care, or if there was enough fuel to transport them to a hospital, or if there were sufficient drugs in the hospitals to treat these children.
The food shortage
The ban on fishing, destruction of the fishing gear and army occupation of parts of the coastal belt deprived the people of the NEP their main source of animal proteins. The restriction on the transport of kerosine oil deprived the farmer of his ability to water his crop and was left at the mercy of the monsoon. The ban on the transport of fertilizer and pesticides prevented him from providing the manure and protecting his crop from pests. These, together with the state control on the transport of food to parts of the NEP resulted in a food shortage.
The food supplied to the refugees are mostly unfamiliar and sometimes unpalatable. Meat and fish are never supplied in refugee camps although fish had formed a regular diet of those displaced from the fishing villages. The refugees sell their rations to buy fish, meat, firewood, clothing, soap, etc., and thereby depleting themselves of even the meagre food rations supplied to them.
The unfamiliar and unpalatable food together with the emotional stress causes a lack of appetite which in turn leads to withdrawal from food - especially so in children.
When there is shortage of food the most affected are the children, women and the elderly. In general malnutrition decreases work performance and places a severe burden on individuals and societies. Malnutrition among children, especially infants and toddlers leads to poor physical and mental development. Malnourished children are liable to be stunted and also have impaired psychomotor development and cognitive functions.
Anaemia, among pregnant women predisposes to increased frequency of lowbirth weight, prematurity and increased perinatal mortality.
Surveys (1) carried out showed that in 1975/76, 3.7% of the children in Jaffna district were wasted and 28.4% were stunted. Among all the districts in Srilanka, Jaffna district recorded the lowest percentage of wasting. Recent studies (2) carried out in the

Page 21
* Is NOVEMBER 1995
Jaffna district in 1993 showed that 18.9% of the children under three years were wasted and 31.4% were stunted. The present degree of wasting is more than five times that observed in 1975/76. These malnourished children are liable to develop severe forms of infections and die; and add to the numbers who die of the “silent death”.
A moderate estimate puts at over 4000, the number of children under five years in the NEP who are wasted and most of them are going to die or be maimed for life, unless there is some intervention. Intervention programmes initiated by Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working in the war torn areas are making some inroads into this problem. But more intensive action is necessary to avoid a calamity.
Observations made by health personnel and Non-Governmental Organizations working in the Jaffna district have shown that 50 to 100% of the mothers attending antenatal clinics in the Jaffna district are anaemic. Most of these severely anaemic mothers will die as a result of the pregnancy or bring forth premature or low birth weight infants who will eventually develop malnutrition and die of a respiratory infection or diarrhoea.
The percentage of low birth weight infants is also on the increase. In a study (2) it was found that 19% of the children born in the Jaffna district during the period 1990-92 were below 2500 grims at birth. More recent observations of children born to mothers in refugee camps indicate that the percentage of low birth weight babies born is over 35%. It has been found that more than half of those born with low birth weight eventually become severely malnourished.
Child Health
The World Health Organization has set targets in child health to be achieved by 2000 AD. Srilanka's Health Ministry is working towards this goal and hopes to eradicate soon, vaccine preventible diseases like poliomyelitis. But immunization coverage in the NEP is not satisfactory. Age appropriate immunization cannot be satisfactorily achieved due to lack of regular supplies of vaccines. Vaccines reach the Jaffna district (where one third of the population of the NEP live) by ship, only once a month. The quantity depends on refrigeration space available in the ship and there are no ships available for 3-4 months of the year, due to rough weather. Refrigerators are not available to store larger quantities of vaccines. Since the supply of electricity to the north has
been interrupted tinuous supply of tain the electric sine refrigerators ( tively because of kerosine. Solar r the answer - but invest in a few sol save the lives of th
The Srilankan provides a nutr named "Thriposh children, and pre mothers. During the Jaffna distric eighth of the requ calculated before t conflict - althoug
Ore OW. The primary car village level is pro Health Workers ( Health Midwives) 42% of the Fami needed, are availa of this shortage During the years Family Health W working in the NI although two tra available in the N.
The lack of all til to childhood morb and eventually to 1
Education
Education has b main asset of the
St.
The government's tion of accountabi hensible and is har of the last governi medical situation teriorating in the Nk own predictable ma to take any respot being of the people. Conducting themse tions regarding civ plight of the people the University Te Rights (Jafina) sa relating to the curre ern Sri Lanka.
The following ar. UTHRO) statemen '95:
The events in V on Friday 22nd Se widely reported ext In the worst incic school children we Sri Lankan Air Fc

TAMIL TIMES 21
there is no conelectricity to mainrefrigerators. Kerolo not function effecthe lack of pure frigerators will be
there is no one to ar refrigerators and nese children.
Ministry of Health itional supplement a' to malnourished gnant and lactating the past four years t received only one tirement, which was the escalation of the h the need is much
'e for children at the vided by the Family also termed Public . In the NEP only ly Health Workers ble. The main cause is lack of training. 1992-93 only 12 Workers capable of EP were trained (3) aining centres are EP.
hese will contribute idity and mortality the 'silent deaths'.
been considered the Tamils of Srilanka.
With half of the population of the NEP displaced and several schools destroyed and many more damaged, the school attendance has dropped.
In a study of children in refugee camps in the Jaffna district it was found that 52% of the boys and 46% of the girls in the 16-18 age group did not attend school. With a lowering of the educational level, the health status will eventually decline leading to more disease and deaths.
Conclusion
The people of NEP are at a critical point in their history. The war has to end and rehabilitation started immediately. If this is not possible, a concerted effort must be made by all involved, to stop this decline in health status.
If this trend in disease and deaths continues the 'silent deaths' will eventually consume more lives than all the deaths directly due to the war in Srilanka.
References
1. Srilanka Nutrition Status Survey (Sept. "75 - March 76). In Statistical profile of children 1977. Srilanka Department of Census and Statistics. Colombo, 1978. 2. N. Sivarajah, Nutritional Survey of Children in the Jaffna District. Department of Community Medicine, University of Jaffna. Jaffna, 1993. 3. Annual Health Bulletin - Srilanka 1993. Ministry of Health, Colombo.
lation intolerable
For Civilians
conduct on the quesity in war is repreily different from that ment. The food and is now rapidly deorth. The LTTE in its Inner is not prepared isibility for the well
With both sides now Ives with few inhibi'ilian CaSualtieS, the remains unen viable, aChers for Human aid in a statement rt situation in north
9 excepts from the t dated 10 October
adamaratchi, Jaffma ptember, had been cept in this country. lent more than 30 re killed when the orce dropped bombs
in the vicinity of the school in Nagarkovil. The incident took place about 12 hours after the Government imposed press censorship on reporting military events.
Two days before, Sea Tigers attacked a supply ship returning from KKS and its naval escort. Although the Government claimed that the ship Muditha and a Dvora craft were damaged, the LTTE claimed that the latter had been sunk. On the 22nd morning the LTTE was moving the hijacked pasenger vessel Iris Moana which was then close to Nagar-kovil according to local sources. Shelling had also commenced that morning from the Army base at Palaly, 15 miles away.
Seeing bomber activity overhead the principal and staff of Nagar-kovil Gov. ernment School were in a dilemma about what to do with the pupils. In the prevailing state of anxiety no clear
Continued on page 23

Page 22
22 TAM TIMES
 ീഗ്ഗed / ر //7%aa میگر
Telep
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15 NOVEMBER 1995
he SOOOOO people per annum Who sufera and had to stop work today, What position ny or Family be intomorrow? .
hich will ensure that your Company or Fam
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Page 23
15 NOVEMEBER 1995
Continued from page 21
decision was taken. When the Junior School broke at 12 noon, the children began moving home and the senior boys remained. In the meantime a commemoration relay fast was taking place all over Jaffna for Thileepan (who went on a protest death fast during 1987. There was also a pandal (decorative tent) near the school over which the bombers had been active. Several children who had come out of school had sheltered under a tree near the pandal waiting for the bombers to leave. At about 12.45pm a bomb fell among the people under the tree, instantly killing 24 children and 15 others. The pandal was said to have been slightly damaged. Several of the corpses were beyond recognition and
were identified by their possessions.
The injured continued to die on subsequent days bringing the total dead to well over 50.
In the meantime sporadic shelling had also been taking a large number of civilian lives. On the 22nd itself a shell fell on a house in Savanai, Thumpalai, along Vallipurakovil Road going east from Pt. Pedro to Kudathanai and Nagar-kovil. Upon hearing bomber activity the mother asked her four children (14 years and below) to remain indoors and came onto the road to assess the intentions of the Air Force. Just then a shell fired from Palaly fell on her home killing her four children and a child next door.
The pattern of shelling, which continued for a week, was such that it took place about four times a day and at any hour, at least six shells at a time. They were fired into the Vadamaratchi area at random and were no doubt intended to vent the anger of the Forces on civilians.
With the commencement of "Operation Thunderbolt' on 1st October around the Atchuvely area, there was shelling into areas near Nelliady, Irupalai, Kopay and other areas closer to Jaffna town, all some way from the operational area. In Kondavil (a mile outside Jaffna municipal limits) four from a displaced family were killed by shelling. The fact that so many amputations are being performed in hospitals is a reflection of the strain on medical staff and the running down of normal facilities. People of the area praised the MSF for their unstinting service.
After a week of maintaining that the bombing of children at Nagar-kovil was LTTE propaganda, the Defence Spokesman admitted the incident. The
first reports had
MSF press releas Defence Spokesma what had been bor facility and sugges the dead must hava
After the very b. abortive July milit ple are not taking least sign of dange homes to trudge wards an area dee their meagre bel back again a day some decide that th danger. Incidental withdrew from a captured in July, h who had remained harassed by the ILTI arrested by them informers. The rea number ofpoor peo other place to go incursions.
The firing of shel ist Mission compou. is since late under a cause for further that were fired in 9th October fell on al now housing ol inmates. If these ha LTTE as claimed b it places the civil dilemma when th The LTTE has bee ing civilians not t which the Army wo control. The dilem worse as the Army (with a two mile str nears Jaffna. Wi rains, the situatio tolerable for the ci Army takes a mon confining itself to torture for the civil
The Governmen question of accou reprehensible and from that of the las main effect of the c to keep the people the dark about t particular section Although the main ly come out with regarding civilian North-East, there openings in recentt the people. By impo Government has be concerned about th know about the ugl must take respons. about preventive a

been based on an from Paris. The however said that bed was an LTTE ad that several of been LTTE cadre.
d experience of the ary operation, peohances, and at the r are leaving their long the road tomed safer carrying ngings, and then or two later when ere is no immediate y, when the Army eas which it had undreds of civilians in those areas were TE and a few were is suspected Army lity is that a large ple do not have any
to during Army
ls into the Methodnd in Puttur, which Army control is also concern. The shells the early hours of the mission hospitfolk, killing nine ud been fired by the y the Government, ians in a difficult e Army advances. n since July warno remain in areas uld bring under its ma would become
now 7 miles away p of no-man’s land) th the oncoming could become infilians. Even if the soon break merely shelling, it will be ians.
's conduct on the tability in war is is hardly different t Government. The ensorship has been of this country in he sufferings of a of its citizenry. ine press had rareactual information fe in the war-torm had been some mes to write about sing censorship the en seen to be more 2 public coming to revent for which it oility, rather than d disciplinary me
TAMIL TIMES 23
asures to minimise civilian suffering.
The food and medical situation is now rapidly deteriorating in the North. The LTTE in its own predictable manner is not prepared to take any responsibility for the well-being of the people. Its refusal to reopen the Elephant Pass or Pooneryn land routes together with its Sea Tiger attacks on ships near KKS harbour, are symptoms of its total disregard for civilian interests. To the LTTE, commemoration meetings and public gatherings have been a "Heads I win, Tails you lose proposition. The Government, whose Air Force observes
these gatherings from the air sees
them as a provocation. Similary when the tortuous seaborne supply of food from the Government does not reach the people of Jaffna in time, the LTTE campaign on it by crying genocide. If the people are on the other hand provided with adequate food by the Government, the LTTE then boast that they are running the civilian adminstration efficiently. But it is the Government's duty to ensure that they have their own agenda reflecting concern for their own people. It is this concern that would save them from playing to the LTTE's agenda.
With both sides now conducting themselves with few inhibitions regarding civilian casualities, the plight of the civilians remains unenviable.'

Page 24
24 TAMIL TIMES
雛
Kashmir: Concrete Me: Not Balancing Acts, N
by Seema Mustafa
The long-awaited Kashmir "package' has been announced and elections recommended for mid-December. Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao appears to have ended his policy of drift, which tore apart the sensitive Valley for five long years, to cull some kind of compromise, which he hopes, will pass for action. Compromise because the socalled policy announcement by the Prime Minister appears to be a neither here nor there solution, inherent in which is the danger of not solving the existing problem of alienation within the Valley on the one hand, and whipping up communal frenzy outside the Valley on the other.
The timing of the election, for one, could not be worse. Never has Kashmir gone to the polls in the snow bogged month of December when even the most ardent supporters of the Kashmir proposal will have to admit that the turnout, even in the best political conditions, will be from negligible to low. The timing is crucial in the present situation as the low turn out will give credence to the militants' inevitable propaganda of a rigged election where the security forces and not the people of the Valley are the “voters.”
This, of course, will not be the main problem and considering the tenor of the Prime Minister's announcement and the reaction thereafer it will be overtaken by other, far more far reaching, consequences. Kashmir presents a case for clear, direct, unmitigated action. There is no room for compromise, no room for appeasement of either the militants or the Bharatiya Janata Party fanatics active in the rest of India, as the Valley presents a situation where the government has to step in and take action which will ease the peoples' pain and give a signal of trust and confidence. The government can proceed further only by disarming the militants of their emotional hype, of offering a solution which will be acceptable to the people, fed up of strife and unrest and longing for peace and in the process isolating the extremists. The last is very possible, judging from reports coming in from the Valley, particularly as the extremists are now having to rely more on the gun than on the
support available to stages.
Rao has done the the only reason that hailed by certain s the first time in his the Prime Ministen action. Such is the pi the sense of despair soever trivial, seen But a closer look w 'action' is fraught w sequences for it car process and also c whereby the openi ated might be close As it appears to b actually there is no can convert it into option.
Prime Minister ment has to be se yardstick in mind, t mir. The BJP hyst tional criticism, and burst have to be purview of any mean all these amount ta which have nothing being of India, but trimental to Indian i ple of the Valley ha back into the fold sense of alienation r in the Indian system announcement rega should at least be a ground for this mar would say in Urdu, long-lasting and effe
In this context, defective in two res not kept the people mind but is more i balancing act betw note set by the BJP autonomy raised by the Valley. This old of balancing two e and resorting to po settle complicated p long ceased to work. of such action has a terproductive and cr unrest, the most r course being the Bal where the governme talking to Hindu far
 
 

15 NOVEMBER 1995
àSures, eeded
them at the initial
very opposite. And his action is being actions is that for five year innings, has taken some blitical climate and that action, howis to be welcome. ill reveal that this th dangerous conretard the peace reate a situation ng seemingly cred for a long time. e an opening but space inside which a viable political
Rao's announceen with only one he people of Kasheria, the internathe Pakistani outkept out of the hingful analysis as ) pressure tactics to do with the well are, in fact, denterests. The peoave to be brought as it were, their 2duced, their trust revived - and any rding the Valley ble to prepare the ham, patti as one for the cure to be ctive. Rao's package is pects. One, it has of the Valley in the nature of a een the strident and the demand of the extremists in Congress practice xtreme positions, litical jugglery to olitical issues has In fact, the result lways been couneated tremendous cent example of pri Masjid episode nt spent years in atics and Muslim
extremists in its supposed search for a secular solution! Eventually it had to take sides, and the result is there for all to see.
So also in Kashmir. This compromise formula will not work. It has been made clear from day one. The BJP is opposed to it, the extremists in the Valley are not going to accept it. Rao has in effect, spoken of autonomy for the Valley without giving it. He has spoken of an election, which cannot be held in real terms. And by changing the titles of the governor and chief minister into Urdu equivalents he has sought to give a bright wrapping to an empty package. No one can buy it, the extremists, the secularists or most importantly, the people.
The BJP is looking for a political issue and will oppose any initiative in the Valley, short of abolition of Article 370. It cannot be wooed or won over as Rao has tried to do by softening the autonomy offer into a meaningless exercise. The situation is such that the BJP will cry itself hoarse even if the Prime Minister visits the Valley, so the question of even trying to deal with this communal force is merely to give fanatics credibility. The same goes for the militants. Nothing will be acceptable to them, short of selfdetermination and complete freedom. The government can bend backwards to strike a dialogue but the militants have tasted heady power through the gun, and are not going to give this up for some political deal. For both, the BJP and the militants in the Valley, power and not the future of the people or the country is the determining criterion for any action or dialogue.
The Prime Minister is thus left with only one yardstick as stated earlier - what is in the best interests of the people of Kashmir and the nation. Peace is the answer but this can only be effected through mature, committed, decisive, clear political action. One has chosen these adjectives with care as all these requisites are necessary for restoring peace in the Valley.
If Rao was really serious in his offer, and was not doing it as an experimental precursor to the forthcoming polls, he would have gone about it entirely differently. For one, he would not have made such a crucial annoucement from the back of beyond, but from within his own country. It is not an international issue but one with completely Indian dimensions, and the entire world can be reached from Indian soil as well. He would have not bothered with the cosmetics of nomenclature but would have made a unilateral announcement of autonomy as per the Nehru-Sheikh Abdullah Delhi Agreement of 24 July 1952.

Page 25
15 NOVEMBER 1995
There can be no polls unless the people come out to vote. The people will not come out unless the right signals are sent, and a feeling of confidence created. The 1976 accord is meaningless as it came at a time when much water had flowed beneath the bridge, and the process of alienation of the Kashmiris had already begun.
The Valley which had come out resoundingly in favour of India at the
time of Independ from the process o this was not eno rigged by the Cent the electoral ver repeatedly tampe. chief ministers C The "Lion of Kash lah was jailed, anc ous history of the were continuously
BJP Stands Expo
T.N. Gopalan
The Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), this right-wing communal party, seeking to impose a Hindu hegemony on India, today stands poised tantalisingly close to the Red Fort, a conventional metaphor for the seat of power in New Delhi.
Consequent on a variety of historical factors including misplaced cultivation of the Muslim vote-bank through misconceived policies by successive Congress governments, today the overwhelmingly Hindu population of the country is swept by a wave of revanchist ideology, though the degree of communalisation might vary from region to region.
Inevitably the BJP which has played a very important role in fanning the communal flames is hoping to reap a rich electoral harvest in such a vitiated atmosphere and whatever happens to the party is of serious concern to the media.
The ugly factional squabbles in Gujarat and the parting of ways between it and the Dalit-based Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in the country, seems to portend ominous things for both the BJP as well as for the entire country.
The moral bankruptcy of the party, as revealed in the major developments of October, almost ruined its claim to be a much better alternative to the Congress.
The BJP, had always prided itself on being a “disciplined party” whose members, however ideologically queer they might be, are a "dedicated lot whose commitment is only to their cause.
Since the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), the close-knit godfather organisation of the Hindutva forces, is generally perceived to be charting the BJP's course meticulously, such claims of high moral ground by the BJP were readily conceded by observers.
And so what happened in Gandhi Nagar, the capital of Gujarat in Sept.-
Oct. came as a rud the Sangh support media in general.
A senior BJP Vaghela, followed MLAs presented h ernor Naresh Cha demanded the dis Chief Minister, Ke staked his claim ment, the entire co
It was a gestu defiance unprecede of the country — si lenge to the high c been thrown even career of the hopel gress. Any show o confined to the part aimed at convinci mand of the need chief minister or the unit of the party.
What the 55-yea) had built the party Gujarat, did was ignore all norms of pline, split the legis lish contacts with reportedly get theil port if and when form a government
What he did ther more galling to the withdrew into his in ly 15 km from the with his followers the approach roac party president L. cidentally represent the Lok Sabha, by him or his emissari
More theatricals When the Chief post-haste, started porters and true to group of the saffro storm Vassan Vag attack the rebel M leader simply flew posh hotel in t Madhya Pradesh in tioned private aircr

TAMIL TIMES 25
nce was sidelined development. As if gh, elections were e in Kashmir, and ict of the people ed with to install lhi could control. hiro, Sheikh Abdulin the long torturValley the people sacrificed for poli
tical considerations and power. The alienation did not come over night, it has a long history behind it and any solution today has to address itself to this history.
The time for talk, drift is over. If Kashmir has to be solved the Centre has to act. But to act, not with the Lok Sabha polls, but with the people of this beautiful, sensitive Valley in mind.
sed
e shock not only to ers, but even to the
MP Shankarsinh by more than 40 imself before Govndra on Sept. 27, missal of the BJP shubhai Patel, and o form a governuntry was stunned.
re in daring and nted in the history uch a brazen chalommand had never
in the chequered essly divided Conf dissent would be y forums alone and ng the high com
to change, say, a leader of the state
-old Vaghela, who brick by brick in to contemptuously inner party discilature wing, estabthe Congress and assurance of suphe was invited to
eafter proved even BJP leadership. He ative village, hardstate capital, along and barricaded all s. He humiliated ... Advani, who ins Gandhi Nagar in refusing to meet S.
were to follow. Minister returned nobilising his suptheir reputation a brigade tried to nela’s village and As, the dissident he entire lot to a e neighbouring specially requisift。
Even as the senior leaders cried foul, blamed it all on the collusion of the Congress and a leading industrial house, alternatively cajoled and bullied the dissidents, Vaghela himself remained impervious to it all and stuck to his demand that Keshubhai Patel step down as Chief Minister.
There were only two options before the BJP high command - to sit tight, dare Vaghela to form a government with the support of the Congress and face the odium or simpy give in to his demands including Keshubhai's removal and a greater say for him in the governance of the state and avert the disadvantage of losing power in its own bastion on the eve of general elections.
The BJP, never tired of projecting itself as a principled party, chose the second option, gave in all the way and installed a compromise candidate as the new CM.
At the end of it all Mr. Advani admitted, "Everybody felt relieved, but none of us is happy with the developments, though whatever happened "was no compromise of principle, but only crisis management'.
Such contortions and tribulations in a state where the BJP had coasted to power, bagging 121 of the 182 seats in the Assembly elections only ten months ago, showed up the party as a god with clay feet, a sanctimonious humbug, a clone of Congress shorn of all principled behaviour and which would do just anything, give just anything, to cling on to power, besides being riven by all kinds of dissensions and ego-clashes.
The image of Mr. Advani, considered the party's mascot and chosen to steer the party through the next year - his controversial rath yathra five years ago had brought down the then V.P. Singh government and catapulted the party to a position of strength rivalling that of the Congress itself-suffered a big dent and it was the moderate A.B. Vajpayee who worked out the compromise successfully. A factor which could even help tone down BJP's stridency on various fronts.
Continued on page 26

Page 26
26 TAMIL TIMES
Continued from page 25
Even as the commentators were assessing the fall-out of the Gujarat developments, came the news that after all its high-pitched rhetoric of its concern for the Dalits, it had finally decided to pull the carpet from under the feet of the Mayawati's government in U.P.
In the latter state, it may be recalled here, when the Samajwadi Party (a party essentially of intermediate castes, and with a strong appeal among the Muslims) and Bahujan Samaj Party (of Dalits, and Most Backward Castes) coalition government fell through only four months ago under the weight of its own internal contradictions,
It was then the BJP, the largest single party in the Assembly, came forward to extend unconditional support to an exclusively BSP government. With no other party ready to incur the odium of opposing the Dalits also falling in line, the acerbic and volatile Mayawati became the first Dalit chief minister in the country -
incidentally an el the lot of the Dali independence and own commitment
The BJP's strate outgrow the perce party of the upper an alliance with th the Hindu hierarc with the more creasingly powe castes are more ac the past. The uppe would be a winni BJP calculated.
However it fa account neither t such a pact north both Mayawati hel party as a whole. antagonising anc bureaucracy, enco minals and blithel from the state leac keeping the Adva good humour, her I continued with h Manuvad, organis in Lucknow, den Gandhi and gener
PAKSTAN
Wake-up Call
in Pakistan Arn Trouble in the Arm
P.S. Suryanarayana
The latest rumblings within the Pakistan Army, a major player in the country's peculiar 'constitutional order', seem to have been detected "in time'. Remedial measures have been initiated, going by current indications. All the same, the episode, whose contours and political connotations remain a mystery, was no tempest in a tea cup. Nor is Pakistan bogged down in clearing the fallout of either a failed coup attempt or a conspiracy of some other kind.
In the absence of authentic information on the true nature and scope of the events that led to the arrest of an unspecified number of relatively senior Army officers, guessing games are aplenty. Both the "informed' sections of the Pakistani media and the knowledgeable Western diplomatic circles in Islamabad are agog with theories.
Of the greatest significance is the fact that Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto herself has chosen to acknowledge, even if only in reply to a journal
ist's question, tl number of army interrogated for 'n vities'. And there with many gaps.
Pakistan's Arm dictatorial power; coups and abon usurpation of a pages of the count
Viewed in this reason why the re investigation shou lic, especially whe. endear herself to which, whatever quintessentially a
However, the ci latest episode are question is wheth control over event proven capacity head on, she is, ne turn adversity tol
In this sense, sh hinted that the la

15 NOVEMBER 1995
quent testimony to
ts in 18 years after to the Congress's
on the issue.
gy evidently was to ption that it was a castes and to forge e most oppressed in hy whose problems numerous and inrful intermediate te now than ever in r caste-Dhalit front g combination, the
illed to take into he untenability of e suicidal streaks in self and in the BSP While she ran amok humiliating the uraging known criy ignoring any plea lers of the BJP, but ni and company in mentor Kanshi Ram is baiting of the ing a Periyar Mela ouncing Ram and ally cultivating his
own constituency in his own inimitable ways, raising apprehension in the minds of the top echelons of the BJP that alliance with such a temperamental outfit could ultimately backfire on it, robbing it of its traditional vote base.
Suddenly all the concern for the Dalits evaporated into thin air, and the BJP withdrew support from Mayawati and the BSP government had to bow out.
What followed was even more disgusting. The BJP let loose horsetraders with bulging purses among the distraught BSP MLAs and staked a claim to form the government.
Mercifully the sordid drama came to an end with the dissolution of the Assembly.
What next for the BJP and what next for the nation? Has the former been discredited enough to be repelled by the votes and is the Congress in a position to exploit the situation to its advantage? Can a third force to the left of centre on the political spectrum still emerge? Observers will be groping for answers to such questions in the months to come.
ту V
hat an undisclosed officers were being on-professional actiby hangs a tale -
y is no stranger to stories of successful tive attempts at uthority litter the ry's history.
light, there is no sults of the current ld not be made pubn Benazir is keen to the United States its other faults, is democracy.
ircumstances of the complex, and the er Benazir is losing s. As a leader with a to face challenges vertheless, known to her advantage.
e may have already est crisis is of some
adverse consequence to the concept of ultimate civilian authority ovel national affairs. The basis for such a reading is her singular plea of "national interest as the rationale against speculation on the ramifications of the latest stir.
Some observers tend to believe that her plea for the preservation of “national interesto in this specific context might not be a political codephrase for a probe into an offence such as, say, drug-related transactions by the Army officers now under arrest. If drug trade menace should at all figure in the discussion on the apparent unrest in the Army, the reason is not far to seek. Not long ago, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had spoken of his having disapproved of an alleged blueprint, said to have been prepared by the Army, for raising funds for its presumptive covert and overt operations abroad through drug trafficking.
Now, although Benazir has declared a jehad or holy war against the drug trade, besides social and political evils such as terrorism and poverty, the invocation of 'national interest' is seen to reflect a much larger national agenda of protective politics than that of safeguards against relatively less treasonable offences such as drug traf. ficking.
A reasoning of this order leads to a critical question – does Benazir's concern for "national interest' conceal a desire for her own political survival or

Page 27
15 NOVEMEBER 1995
a plea for the preservation of a system that could one day sublimate itself as a genuine pluralistic democracy? It is of course possible that both these aspects define her urge to sustain the present dispensation and prevent the apparent unrest in at least some pockets of the Army from spreading any further. Whatever her compulsions, the policy preferences and operational style of the country's Army chief in the present circumstances will be of greater consequence to any eventual denouement.
It is a truism in Pakistan's contemporary politics that the Army chief, Gen. Abdul Waheed, has consistently acted in a manner designed to give the civilian politicians a transparent chance to democratise a polity that was ravaged by the ruthless totalitarianism of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, not to mention the methodical martial rule of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Gen. Waheed supervised the general election of 1993 in a manner that earned him highly deserved praise for conducting the ‘fairest” polls ever in Pakistan. it is this image of a democracyfriendly demeanour that Gen. Waheed may have to uphold as he unravels the secrets of the crisis.
There is no indication that Gen. Waheed and Benazir could be out of step with each other in trying to put the house in order. To this extent, even as Benazir struts on the international stage in a bid to prove that all is well at home and that the only Pakistanspecific issue in need of urgent attention is the Kashmir dispute', some Pakistani observers tend to suspect that a cover-up of the causes of the crisis may have already begun. But this apprehension is of a very vaguely defined dimension.
In this overall milieu, the U.S. attitude towards the Benazir Government could become important. After all, it is no secret that Benazir has offered to place Pakistan in the forefront of America's so-called battle against Islamic fundamentalism. However, there is no credible indication yet that the Pakistani authorities have taken the Clinton administration into confidence about the details of their efforts to decode the motives and methods of the renegate military elements.
In fact, as independent enquiries reveal, the only conclusion the U.S. seems to have made so far is that the civilian and military authorities in Islamabad have been alerted by a wake-up call’ of indeterminate implications for Pakistan's internal democratic experiment.
The only give-away clue to the crisis at this time is to be found in a "reactive'
statement by the religious group wi in Pakistan. Com of the Jamaat-i-I the Army for it purging its ranks lim faithfuls in th ing a purported c1
Obviously, the available unconfi some Army office jor-General' and caught gun-runni ing as suspectec identified as Isla one of them is evel military attache Commission in Ne
If it is indeed a radicals unhappy U.S. policies and political “neutralit will be of greater to Islamabad. In t at stake will throw over the new 'disc
Lankan
T.N. Gopa
Operation Riverse huge civilian casu not a leaf stirs in the Operation Lea most of the politi streets, even tho exercise shorn of all content and no plated any signifi But Riversea h; of a reaction ever reaching Madras tion over there wa the Lankan army Jaffna before long
See this dirge nidhi: "Oh, the valiant cl Have you peris struggle? We're drowned in (This is a free tr shortened. The o Nakkeeran, a pop much more evocat His ally, the Ramdas of the Pa was, as usual, stri tion of the 'army a Lanka while the c champion of Lank er K. Veeramani the UN general s tervention, but

TAM TIMES 27f
leader of an Islamic th a political agenda ments by the ʻAmirʼ slami are critical of s alleged effort at of puritanical Musname of investigatime by them.
reference is to the med indication that rs, including a "Maa "Brigadier', were ng. All those figur'conspirators' are mist puritans, and said to have been a in Pakistan's High w Delhi.
“revolt by Islamist with Benazir's pro
the Army chief's r”, a related question long-term relevance his sense, the issues up a question mark ipline” of the Pakis
tan Army - does the crisis symbolise an internal putsch in the Army or a move to overthrow the civilian regime or indeed both?
If it is eventually established that Islamic fundamentalists were trying to upset Benazir's applecart of a 'modernising Muslim state', she will probably portray herself as an Islamic Joan of Arc in need of Western support. Should, on the other hand, proof be established that the suspected gunrunning was primarily aimed at arming the Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir, nothing substantive may be heard about the outcome of the investigation. It is, however, arguable that Benazir, who fancies herself as a Margaret Thatcher-like "Iron Lady', cannot afford to suppress the findings of the investigation and draw an iron curtain around her country. In the end, Benazir's equation with the Army chief will be what matters.
(Frontline, November 17, 1995).
Tamils Stand Friendless
in Tamil Nadu
lan, Madras.
a might be claiming Lalties in Jaffna, but
Tamil Nadu. At least
p Forward did bring cal parties on to the ugh it was a ritual any serious emotionparty had contemcant follow-up.
as not evoked much | though the reports said that the situais rather critical and might even capture
from Mr. Karuna
hildren of Eelam. . . hed in the great
sorrow...' anslation and rather iginal published in ular Tamil weekly, is ive.) ver outspoken Dr. tali Makkal Katchi, lent in his denunciarocities' in northern ther self-proclaimed an Tamils, DK leadsent a telegram to scretary seeking inneither have the
strength to carry on any sustained struggle, even if they have any such inclinations - Veeramani's credentials are particularly suspect in that he has never raised his voice against the many punitive measures initiated by the Jayalalitha regime against the Lankan Tamil refugees in the state.
Even as the war was raging, Union Home Secretary K. Padmanabhiah visited the state and urged the AIADMK government to contain militancy, tighten the grip on pro-LTTE Tamil nationalist groups and beef up coastal security to ward off possible infiltration either by militants or a refugee influx.
Only Mr. V. Gopalasami, general secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), protested the blatantly inhuman move to block the entry of the refugees.
Incidentally the Home Secretary had specifically mentioned the PMK, MDMK and the DK when talking about the pro-Tiger lobby. “We won't be cowed down' declared Gopalasamy and went on to criticize the centre for endorsing the current Lankan offensive against the Tamils'.
However, as has been underlined in these columns earlier on, having hitched his star to that of the Communist Party (M) which denounces the LTTE
Continued on page 28

Page 28
28 TAM TIMES
Continued from page 27
as a fascist force, there is no way he is going to translate into action his professed concern for the Lankan Tamils.
Only a couple of months ago he had ducked a question from this correspondent whether he would dare make the sufferings of the Lankan Tamils both here and in the island a major theme of his election campaign.
Meantime the government of India had been rushing men and materials to fight the fire resulting from the Tiger attack on the oil installations in Colombo and virtually sealing off the Indian coastal waters both for the militants and the refugees.
For its part the AIADMK government has further tightened the restrictions on the special camps, making life even more difficult for the inmates.
However, a relatively positive fallout of the dramatic escape of the LTTE men from the Vellore camp in August has been that all the families put up at the Hyder Mahal have been relocated in normal camps - only the unmarried and allegedly hard-core youths continue to be detained in Tipu Mahal. That many of them are physical and mental wrecks and not necessarily that involved with the Tigers, the government will not concede.
The conditions in the special camps elsewhere are even worse with no relief in sight. It will be a long, long time before the Lankan Tamil community can recover from the Rajiv assassination.
As of now the Tamil Nadu politicians are more worried about the panchayat elections slated for Dec. 2, working out various combinations in the hope that the verdict in the rural areas might give a clue to the mood of the electorate and the prospects in the next year's general elections.
The last time the local body elections were held in the State was in 1986 when the DMK captured the chairmanship of 64 out of 97 municipalities while the AIADMK-Cong-I combine won only 22. The DMK also performed better in the rural segment, bagging the chairmanship of 138 out of 380 panchayat unions, the AIADMK claiming 120 and the Cong-I 89. The DMK had virtually reversed the trend in favour of MGR ever since 1972, setting the stage for its come-back three years later.
Right now elections are to be confined to the panchayats alone, evidently because Jayalalitha is jittery about how well she will fare in the urban areas, what with a constant barrage of media criticism over her style of functioning and corruption.
Again the DME off the blocks, c. with the PMK, t led by Mr. Vazhap and the Commun Tiwari Congress about Ramamurt sion' to join hands by its association lers' and thus anr who alone could II to the sagging for but Ramamurthy down. A small Prabhu MP is Jayalalitha, but it where for the Tiv vival in the stated hold of Ramamurt niyars.
Of course the C are fighting the el it will be the f strength for Vai.G Again as usualt is in a fix as to wh different factions directions.
Even as the TN Ananthan pompo nine-party front le most of the part non-existent, they on some sectional union minister claimed that the f sanction, meaning Prime Minister.
This minister is man for Jayalalit against Karuppiah
Celel
Takin
by T. Ja
On Tuesday, Oct dreds of thousand ed the total sol majestic celest swept through ol nsely populated r Millions more ou totality watchedt television, in a un which leading sci directly into peop
On the occasio solar eclipse in hysterical mas: evoked in vast population was st though they also information, wer

15 NovEMBER 1995
& was the first to be linching an alliance he Tiwari Congress padi K. Ramamurthy ist Party (CPI). The leaders are unhappy hy's “unilateral deciwith a party tainted with the “Rajiv kilnoying Sonia Gandhi make any difference tunes of this rump, t has put his foot section led by Mr. assiduously wooing , might not get anyvari Congress's surlepends solely on the hy among the Van
PM and the MDMK ections together and irst major trial of
0.
he official Congress nich way to go, with pulling in different
FCC leader Kumari usly announced a d by the Congressners are virtually all hope to cash in appeal or other - K.V. Thangabalu ront had no official the assent of the
said to be a frontha and is ranged Moopener in the
internal power struggle. Though he has no roots in the state, the fact that he is propped up by the lady and that Narasimha Rao himself does not seem to have finally turned his back on the AIADMK, lends some credibility for Thangabalu.
The High Command has not yet come out with any statement of intent on the alliance issue.
Yet another imponderable is the Rajni factor. The superstar continues to keep people guessing, though the media is awash with reports of a grand coalition of the Congress and MGR loyalists disenchanted with Jayalalitha and Rajnikanth's plans to campaign for it in the panchayat elections by way of testing the waters.
As for the AIADMK itself, it seems to be in a pickle of sorts, what with the Centre closing in on the clan of Jayalalitha's confidante Sasikala, launching systematic investigations into the wealth amassed by senior associates of the Chief Minister, her image being perceived to have taken strong knocks and the alliance with the Congress still failing to materialise despite her best efforts.
It is indeed a dicey situation. With all talk of dismissal of the Jayalalith. government on corruption charges or her resigning in the wake of a possible adverse ruling against her in the supreme court in the case challenging the sanction for her prosecution still remaining in the realm of speculation, one has a feeling that the Jaya show will go on some more time to come.
brating the Eclipse
ig Science to the People
nyaraman
ober 24, 1995 hunls of Indians watchar eclipse as the ial phenomenon ne of the most deegions of the world. utside the path of he phenomenon on ique programme in entists took science le's homes.
n of the last total
1980, the nears fear that was
sections of the riking. The media, carried scientific e full of alarmist
statements, based on obscurantist or pseudo-scientific ideas that provoked a sense of fear and alarm. These statements, together with the more common superstitious fears, provoked entire cities close to or on the path of totality, like Madras or Hyderabad, to close down during the period of the eclipse. Most people stayed indoors, behind shut doors and windows, waiting for the dreaded period to pass; and public transport stayed off the roads.
How was the situation different during this eclipse? Acutely aware of the 1980 experience, a number of scientific institutions and popular science organisations launched a prolonged national campaign before this eclipse. Volunteers had over the

Page 29
15 NOVEMBER 1995
past year spent considerable amount of time and energy in educating and informing the public of the event that was to take place. Safe, inexpensive solar filters for viewing the eclipse were manufactured and sold in unprecedented numbers. A sustained media campaign provided substantial information to the public on the total solar eclipse and educated it on safe methods of watching it. Science was certainly more in evidence this time than in 1980.
Nowhere were the results of this campaign more in evidence than in West Bengal. Large numbers ofpeople made the trip from Calcutta to Diamond Harbour, which was in the path of totality, turning the occasion into a mass science festival. Every observer on the scene commented on the marked difference in attitude between 1995 and 1980. In the city of Calcutta itself, where the eclipse was close to totality, large numbers of people gathered in the streets to watch the phenomenon. Those who are concerned with the development of a scientific temper in India can legitimately gain some satisfaction from the results of this national campaign, especially after the experience of the "milk miracle' a few weeks ago.
Doordarshan deserves full credit for the extraordinary resources it invested in the live coverage of the eclipse from the path of totality. Professor Yashpal, other scientists and lay correspondents rose splendidly to the occasion.
But there were also a number of negative features in the popular and media reaction to this event that allow no room for complacency. The campaign to provide scientific information on the eclipse was met by a counter-campaign in the media. This came from astrology and pseudo-science which constantly created confusion amongst the public.
The absurdity of astrology in the age of space travel is obvious. When spacecraft visit various planets in the solar system and gather scientific data for different kinds of study, to treat these planets as the origin of malefic influences on the daily life of people or individuals is laughable. If anything, the scientific understanding of these planets provides us with valuable insight about the earth itself, a point that has been frequently made by scientists like Carl Sagan. It is clear from their pronouncements that the purveyors of astrology prey on the uncertainty that exists in people's minds regard
ing political and that matter ther that can befall a
The Railway from the link fr astrology between and planetary absolves it from a the matter of pr And apologists fo draw sustenance B.V. Raman's pro ler's rise and fall stars and nothing or society. The absurd statement through in detail reiterate that no tion in any scienti between planeta events on earth. by astrologers is of events that coil something that or ly find.
Alongside astr other kinds of ps uses scientific te ill-informed. Cla "poisonous gases foetus', for stran, hanced radiation only during eclip effects' that wi their presence fe contamination of virtually endless unscientific and b iota of evidence; i. most such claims dence to the conti claims carry labe In one of the n stories that car eclipse, doctors in Hospital 'confirm that was special there were no sp the eclipse on th such an absurd p any scientific reb
Even more r accusations leve when they rebut : issue statements to watch the et appeal to obscu damentalism of th are accused of 'i tional wisdom' ( sages and an at portray them as There are also p to smuggle in ast) able scientific circ given to an astrol Science Congress demonstrating t

TAMIL TIMES 29
ocial events, or for umerous accidents
yone.
Ministry benefits equently made by railway accidents movements. This ny responsibility in oper maintenance. r Nazism may well From the astrologer nouncements: Hithad to do with the to do with politics
number of such is is too large to go . It is sufficient to statistical correlafic sense is present y movements and What is presented a random selection Incide with eclipses, he can always easi
ology also appears eudo-science which rms to confuse the ims are made for that will harm the ge radiation or enthat is present ses, for "magnetic ll suddenly make lt, for the possible waters. The list is . All of them are aseless, without an ndeed in the case of there is firm evirary. Some of these ls of respectability. more bizarre news me out after the the Thane Mental ed'', after a study ly conducted, that ecial effects due to eir patients - as if roposition required uttal at all. evealing are the illed at scientists astrology or simply encouraging people clipse. In a clear rantism and funhe brand, scientists gnoring the tradiof ancient Indian tempt is made to peing anti-religion. ersistent attempts ology into respectles, like the award loger at the Indian a few years ago, he political clout
that sections of this obscurantist fraternity carry.
It is clear that scientists, as well as those interested in the development of a scientic temper, cannot reply to these attacks in the media and on public platforms with kid gloves on. What is needed is a strong response that nails down the blatant attempt to mislead the uninformed and exposes as well the links that such arguments have to fundamentalism. There is no need to be defensive in combating the obscurantist appeal to tradition. It is modern Indian science that is the inheritor of the tradition of ancient Indian science and the true followers of Aryabhatta or Varahamihira are the astronomers and astro-physicists of today, and indeed all those who carry forward the spirit of critical enquiry, and not those who simply parrot the ancients. Any attempt to ward off attacks on supersitition by accusing scientists of being anti-religion must also be replied to clearly and firmly. While religion is a matter of personall belief, there is no room in the practice of science for godly intervention or other supernatural causes as either the cause or the explanation of natural phenomena.
There are also more sophisticated apologists of "miracles' and belief in supernatural phenomena or plain superstition who have argued that the tendency to believe in nonscientific and irrational explanations constitute some manifestation of a deep popular protest against a dominant 'authoritarian' rationality which is thrust on the people. Or in another variant they equate the 'authoritative rhetoric' of science to the rhetoric of religion or astrology and argue for an even-handed treatment of science as well as superstition and irrational beliefs. Many of the proponents of these and other apologist viewpoints find ready space in the media. And too often, unfortunately, many scientists are defensive in the face of the propeople' posture that seems implied in these arguments.
While obscurantism cannot be justified in the name of popular protest, it is not even true that rationality has become the dominant feature in Indian society today. The very fact that perhaps more people took a ritual bath in the Ganga or at Kurukshetra on the day of the eclipse than watched the phenomenon at Diamond Harbour
Continued on page 33

Page 30
30 TAM TIMES
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We congratulate the following couples on their recent wedding. -
Dinesh Son of Mr. & Mrs. S. W. Wijayanayagam of 90 Mossbrook Crescent, Scarborough, Ontario M1 W 2W9, Canada and Darshini daughter of Mr. & Mrs. P. Jayanandan of 5072900 Battleford Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5N2V9, Canada on 28. 10.95 at Sangam Banquet Hall, Mississauga, Ontario.
Sivabalan son of Mr. & Mrs. C. Balasingham of Araly North, Vaddukoddai, Sri Lanka and Sutha daughter of the late Mr. Kullanthavel and Mrs. P. Kulantha vel of Vaddu South West, Vaddukoddai, Sri Lanka on 12. 11.95 at Recreation Complex, Ellesmere Road, Scarborough Canada. Sivaganesan son of Mr. & Mrs. S. Navaratnam of Puloly East, Point Pedro, Sri Lanka and Anusha daughter of Mr. & Mrs. S. Rajendra of 28 Hervy Park Road, Walthamstow, London E176L On 11.11.95 at London Murugan Temple, London E12.
Sivaratnam brother-in-law and brother of Mr. & Mrs. KanagaSabanathan of 10 Stonehill Court, Apt. 207, Scarborough, Ontario M1 W2X8, Canada and Shyamala daughter of Mr. & Mrs. C. Duraisingham of 32 Bandaranayake Mawatha, ColOmbo 1 2 On 4. i 1.95 at St. Lawrence Martyr Church Wedding Hall, Scarborough, Canada.
OBTUARIES
Gnanaranjani Selladurai, Teacher Hindu Ladies College, Jaffna, Beloved wife of the late Mr. Selladurai, Palaly Training College, loving mother of Banurekha, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thilaianbalan of Aiyanarkoil Street, Vannarponnai, sister of Kanalasani Rasiah (Sri Lanka), Meenalosani Thambyahpillai (UK), Gowrie Thurairajah (Sri Lanka), Thayapari Rasaendiran (UK), Jegatheesan (Canada) and Karthikeyan (Australlia) passed away in Jaffna after a brief illness on 24.995-34 Grangeway Gardens, Redbridge, llford, Essex lG4 5HIN.
Mr. E. F. Xavier, born 18.6.1939, beloved husband of Rani, loving father of Frank and Davina, Son of late Mr. & Mrs. Edward of Kayts; brother of Rani Arulanantham (Paris), Baby Celestine, Baba Thaninmayagam and Saroja Charles (Colombo) passed away in London on 27th October 1995.
 
 
 
 

15 NOVEMEBER 1995
The funeral took place at the Hampstead Cemetery, London NMV6 or 6th Novernber 1995.
Mrs. Xavier and members of her family sincerely thank all the relatives and friends who attended the funeral Service and funeral and sent floral tributes, messages of sympathy and condoled with them during their time of great sorrow. - Flat 4, 18 Woodchurch Road, London NMV6. Tel 0171 3288550.
Mailvaganam, Vamadeva, Fetired Manager, Bank of Ceylon, beloved husband of Ambiga, loving father of Sumathi, Konnathi and Inthunathi, fatherin-law of Mohanadas, brother of Meerhalojani, Late Vanajalojani ard Balakumar and brother-inlaw of Varatharajah (Toronto) and Sivapackiampassed away On 24th October and funeral took place in Jaffna. - Thilagaddy, Chunnakam/ 146 Ridge Lane, Watford, Herts. Tel: O1923 235552/ 3161 Eglinton Avenue East Apt 714, Scarborough, Ontario M1J2G7, Canada. Tel: 4162674220.
IN MEMORAM
。霰
Richard Jeyarajasingam Born: 2O. 11.28 Called to Glory: 27.11.90
This is your day of memory But everyday will be a day When by your family You are remembered lovingly. No one day goes by throughout the year Without some thought that brings you near Within our hearts you will remain And someday we shall meet again Saved by faith in Him who said The word of life that raised the dead, The light that shines through death's deep rift Eternal life is God's Own gift.
Fondly remembered by Ranee and Children.
Third Death Anniversary
of Dr. P.S. Alageswaran
Born 4.728 Died: 1.O. 11.92
A beautiful life full of kind deeds A helping hand to those in need Unselfish, loving and kind Sweet memories that are left behind.
Much loved and missed by Ratnes, Krishna, Shyamala, Family, Friends and Relations.
in loving memory of Mr. P.V. Nadarajah on the seventh anniversary of his passing away on 16th November 1988.
Fondly remembered and sadly missed by his loving wife Thilagavathy; children Usha, Varathan, Nalini and Nanthini; sons-in-law Sivanathan, FRajkumar and Vathsayan, daughterin-law Savithiri, grand children Bairavi, Luxmi, Uruthiran and Abhirami. - 45/6 Everton Road, Strathfield, NSW 2145, Au
Stralia.
LSSLSLSLS
FORTHCOMING EVENTS December 2 Eekathasi. Dec. 3 Feast of St. Francis Xavier. Dec. 4 Pirathosam; Karthigai Somavaram 3rd Monday. Dec. 5. Thirukkar thigai Dheepan. Dec. 6 Full Moon, Feast of St. Nicholas.

Page 31
15 NOVEMEBER 1995
Dec. 7 Feast of St. Ambrose. Dec. 9 1.45pm Launching of Book of Poems of Lakshmi Srikantha Rajah at Parkhouse School, Arthur Road, Wimbledon, London SW197DZ. Dec. 9 4.00pm Navalar Day Celebrations at London Muru
3698.
gan Temple Annexe, 78 Church Road, London E12 4AF. For details Tel: Mrs. T. Muttucumaraswamy 0181 675
Dec. 11 Karthigai Somavaram 4th and last Monday.
Dec. 14 Feast of St. John.
NEWS LETTER
Demonstration at U.N. Headquarters: Over 5000 Sri Lankan Tamils from Canada demonstrated at the U.N. Headquarters in New York where the 50th anniversary meeting was held attended by World Heads of State including President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The participants called for the recognition of Tamil Eelam as a state with Prabaharan as its leaders. The demonstration was followed by a meetingaddressed by Mr. Sam Duraiswamy, President of the Tamil Eelam Society of Canada Mr. R. Thangavelu, Vice President of World Tamil Movement, Canada and Others. Just before the scheduled demonstration Mr. Suresh, President of the World Tamil Movement was detained under the lmmigration Act and continues to be in detention.
Ceylon Tamil Jewellers Association of Toronto was inaugurated on 24th September, through the initiative of Mr. Siva Sivaramalingam, Chairman, Business and Finance Committee of the Canada Ceylon Tamil Chamber of Commerce.
Ceylon Tamil Jewellers of Toronto
A seven member executive Committee was elected to manage the newly formed association.
Ouebec Referendum: The Ouebec Referendum dominated the Canadian scene in October. The French Canadians settled in the province of Quebec exercised their constitutional right as founding fathers and took a vote on separation from Canada. The election was conducted in a very peaceful manner and the separatists lost by a slender margin. However it was a moral victory for them and the English Canadians are now considering to offer the province of Quebec a distinct Society status and also a veto over future constitutional changes to the Canadian constitution. These developments have made some of the Sri Lankan Tamils wonder whether similar provisions cannot be made for the N.E. province of Sri Lanka in the
peace proposals of fert.
Family Services A. Jeyanathan, a for Bank of Ceylon and Society for the Aid Canada, has been Family Services As tan Toronto. The l making organisation members and is a tion.
Mr. Thi Manick - An Ap|
Mr. Manickawasaga Education in Sri peacefully on 12th born on 2nd January Hindu family of M Jaffna, and studied: Mission College, Pu and later at St. Joht St. John's, he camı Supervision of the Peto during the yea graduated from the joined the teaching 1943. The major par was at Skanda Varc nakam.
ln 1949, Mr. Manic postgraduate trainin Teachers' College á came a Circuit Educ lin 1963, he was awa scholarship in the te Second language at ney, where he distir debater and had appointed to the Col
In 1969, he was Officer-English. He Writers of Textbooks valuable contributio advisor to the Tam Books Committee, a tral Transfer Board f was promoted Chief
In 1971, he was a Education and was newly created Tamil Education. In 1972 Director of Educatio lt was during his te Jaffna University Ca. at Parameshwara C stiff opposition from of the college. His ti ing their transfer to avoided an ugly sit guration of the Camp He also launched
 
 
 
 
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 31
Dec. 18 Eekathasi. Dec. 19 Pirathosam. Dec. 21 Amavasai.
Dec. 25 Christmas; Chathurthi. Dec. 26 Feast of St. Stephen.
27 Thiru Vemb ha vai
Dec. Starts.
Dec. 29 Feast of St. Thomas.
At Bhawan Centre, 4A Castletown Road, London W14 9HQ. Te: O171-381 3086/ 4608. Dec. 21 6.30pm Carol Singing, Dance and Snacks. All wellCOrne.
the Chandrika govern
Sociation: Mr. M.J.A. mer executive Of the
past president of the of Ceylon Minorities in lected Director of the ociation of MetropoliS.A. is a non profit run by a board of 18 prestigious organisa
lainathan avasagar Oreciation
, Emeritus Director of Lanka passed away June 1995. He was 1920 into the affluent alavarayar of Puttur, at Atchuvely American littur Sri Somaskanda l's College, Jaffna. At 9 under the personal principal Rev. Henry IrS 1935 to 1939. He Madras University and profession in June of his teaching career odaya College, Chun
kavasagar underwent
g at the Maharagama ind subsequently beation Officer, Grade 1. roded a Colombo Plan ching of English as a he University of Sydguished himself as a he honour of being innittee for Debates, appointed Education served in the panel of in English and made s. He was also an and Hinduism Text d seved on the Cen'r Teachers. Later he Education Officer.
pointed a Director of put in charge of the Jnit of the Ministry of he was appointed of Northern Region. ire of office that the pus was established lege in the midst of he staff and students 'ely action in arrangeighbouring schools ation, and the inaus took place in 1974. campaign for the
eradication of social disabilities in the schools in the region and achieved great Success. Later he was Director of Education for Eastern Region.
In 1980, he was promoted to Class 1 of the Education Service and was assisting in the restructuring of the Education Department into 24 administrative districts. As the Chairman of the School Structure Committee, he was responsible for making recommendations regarding the opening of new Schools, upgrading schools etc.
Wherever Mr. Manickavasagar served, he took an active part in the Social, Cultural and religious activities of the people. In Nawalapitiya, he played an important role. in the organisation of the first Thirukural Conference in 1954. He was Vice President of the All Ceylon Hindu Congress and of the Vivekananda Society. He was President of the Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service Union and was an active trade unionist until his retirement.
Mr. Manickavasagar came to Canada in November 1990. He SOOn became involved in the social, religious and cultural activities of the Tamil people who revered him for his eminent goodness. He was patron of the Sri Somaskanda College OBA, President of the Hindu Cultural Council, the Music Society (Kalai Koyil) and a director of the Senior Tamils Centre and the Society for the Aid of Ceylon Minorities. In recognition of his services, he was honoured in February this year by the Eelam Tharmil linformation Centre the Catholic immigration Bureau (Scarborough) and was presented the Murugesu Kandiah Memorial Medal.
Mr. Manickavasagar is survived by his wife, Gnanambigai, daughters Mrs. Sarijinidevi Sathianathan, Dr. Shantha S. Raj, Miss Paranaladevi, Mrs. Susheeladevi Robinson and sons Mr. Srikrishnanathan and Mr. Thillainathan.
Kavijar V. Kandavanam, Canada.
Bharatha Natya Arangetram of Arulmoli Sivagunam
The Bharatha Natya Arangetram of Dormatilla Arulmoli, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Sivagunam of Walthamstow took place on 30th of September '95 at the Lloyds Park Theatre, London E17. Arulmoli also fondly known to many as Suji, had her audience captivated and enchanted by her impressive performance. Suji's dance repertoire was unique and had all the traditional components of a Bharatha Natya Arangetram. Credit goes to her Guru Mrs. Pathmini Gunaseelan for introducing two Christian

Page 32
32 TAMIL TIMES
pieces into the dance repertoire without disturbing the traditional norm.
The dancer commenced her Arangetram with "Pathanjala' a Christian theme
seeking blessings from God in Ragamalika. This was followed by Jathiswaram in Raga Kalyani and Sabtham in Raga Ragamalika. The Varnam was a 30 minute piece in Raga Sangaraparanan and one could see the excellence in foot-work and aesthetic abhinayas.
For the first time in an Arangetram a Patham relating to our Homeland was introduced and was very well received by the audience. This was written by Pulavar Sivanathan for this special occasion and was presented as the "Holy Awakening Of Mother Thamil Eelam’. The navarasas were excellently portrayed by Suji in her Sancharibhava illustrations, which realistically expressed the longing for the freedom of the oppressed people and was in empathy with the spellbound audience, The Vocalist for this Pathan was her talented Guru, This was followed by a Patham 'Annunciation'' - the announcement of Christ's birth by the Angel Gabriel to Our Lady. This Patham was a mini dance drama which was very elegantly and artistically performed. Incarnation is the fulfillment of the prophesy of the Messiah as quoted in the Old Testament, bridging of the old and the new order. God enters human history, the base of Christian belief Thiliana in Raga Birinthavana Saranga was a brilliant piece in quick
tempo which she perfc gestures were grace gaiety in her movemer aesthetic bhava in he
The Guru Mrs. Pat a talented teacher an Student. She founded laya in 1985, to pror style of Bharatha Na gam, choreography a of the dance pieces h Suji in bringing out talents,
The chief guest fort Rev. Fr. T.E.T. Raja received speech insis unfathomable perenni the East.
The impressive er
panying artistes for "Eelathu Seerkhazhi" waran the vocalist, Mr. his Miruthangam, Mrs mar on the violin, Mr. F Varathan on the flute ensemble were Ka anathan on the norsin Skandamoorthy on the
W
An Unfor Experi
it was the rhythmic vi and elegance, beaut bana, daughter of Mı Northwood, Middlese Sevaluxmy Ramakri, accompanying orche, auditorium at the Log her Bharatha Natya A September '95.
Debutant? One w sembled more of a p! challenges between Ceir and an Orches manifested their disti the evening and the former turned up trut
 
 

15 NOVEMEBER 1995
rrned with ease. Her ful and there was rts and awareness of
performance.
innini Gunaseelan is d Suji is her seventh the Narthana Kalamote the Kalashetra yam. Her Nattuvannd careful selection ave greatly assisted her superb artistic
he performance was n, who in his well fed continuity in this all cultural heritage of
semble Of accOnthat evening were Mr. Manikam YogesMuthu Sivarajah on . Kalajvani lindrakuPitchaiyappa Gnanaand completing the ndiah Chidambarg and Mrs. Thayalin 9 Thambura.
Smt Rathika Rajan.
Jettable eCe
brations, full of Colour fully created by Sho& Mrs. Balaratnam, x and disciple of Smt. shnan, along with her stra that engulfed the an Hall when she had rangetram on the 9th
Ordered Since it reofessional session of a well seasoned dantra of artistes Who ict talents throughout charming young pernps at every piece of
her well selected repertoire. Gifted in many ways - ideal physique, natural poise, stamina - she may have, but the sheer hard work coupled with dedication and determination must be of astounding propOrtions.
Shobana's execution of every piece, especially the intricate "Varnam, lively "Panthaattam' and the dazzling "Thilana, had stylish precision and graceful expressions and were synchronous with the rapturous Orchestra and all these With Overflowing confidence throughout that betwitched the chief guest Miss Gypsy Booth - Principal of Gypsy Booth School of Ballet and Theatre Arts - who, in her speech, couldn't hide her fascination and praised What she saw as the best of a different dimension in this form of ancient stage entertainment,
The satisfaction and appreciation of Shobana's splendid contribution that evening was there to see on the happy faces of the accompanying musicians and that gave away the score of the occasion. Perhaps it is that spiral of hypnotic eastern rhythms they created that gave Shobana the extra momentum that resulted in an evening of scintilating experience.
The rich vocals of 'Sangeetha Sironmani' Sri K. Rajasekharan from Madras were ably supported by Smt. Selvaluxmy Ramakrishnan on nattuvangam, the magical miruthangist Sri Bhavani Shankar, violin maestro Sri Chandrashekar and serenading flutist Dr. Nimalraj in their company, vocalist Rajasekharan could have sung all night, especially the evergreen creations like Parathiyar's Kaani nilam vendum', without moving anyone off their seats. Ravi Sanguhan's crisp compering and the imaginative lighting of Chitra Satkunananthan added extra spice to the evening's entertainment.
lf there was another key winner other than Shobana to take pride and to share the acclaim at the end of the events, it must surely be Shobana's guru Smt. Selvaluxmy Ramakrishnan who had been the kingpin of the whole setup from perfecting the youngster to such standards of excellence through fine edged choreography to providing us all with an evening to remember. For a person who helped Shobana to achieve the biggest among all her other conquests-speech and drama, music and dramatic arts (gold medal), plus jazz, ballet etc., she was quietly confident and was beaming with delight throughout the performance.
One can only admire the Bharatha Natyam teachers like Smt Selvaluxmy Ramakrishnan, who despite the many adversities of having to perfect several youngsters in countries other than the 'natural lands' of this fine artistry and yet still manage to produce stars performing class acts and Surely ought to raise the hat to their hidden assets.
Well done Smit Selvalluxmy Ramakrishan and more of them please. What an experience for one evening and for once, I didn't have to carry my children to the car at the end of it all.
Logan Rasiah.

Page 33
15 NOVEMBER 1995
Continued from page 15
sorship on all news pertaining to the war is responsible. The most unfortunate things is that there are some who are keen to tell others what they consider as appealing to the listeners and some who want to hear only what coincides with their biased views. The saying: one can take a horse to the pond but cannot force it to drink the water is apt here. However, some lights are visible in the darkness. The group of nine Tamil unions and parties in Sri Lanka have called for the immediate resumption of the attempts to negotiate a settlement. It is clear that the Tamils in the war zone are not in a position to make this demand. Posterity will blame the others for their silence and indifference to the happenings affecting the Tamils caught in this war. People are ready to applaud courageous acts in this war turning a blind eye to their long-term effects on the society as well as peace and unity in the whole country. As pointed out earlier, peace is what every society aspires to have and this is not possible
without a will to warring factions
more difficult to together within an rent communities.
The intransigen tude displayed by vious attempts to settlement of the ( cated further wh complex process. that prevailed unt truce agreement broken and the a targets resumed LTTE cannot be suddenly after the cious claiming the armed personnel present Governme told the world that not of their choice, unwillingly forced sponse to the call fo disappointing as se foreign minister's reportels at the A wealth meeting. '
Continued from page 29
makes it clear what the 'dominant' reality is. The fact that these people were joined by many political leaders, public figures and others, or, to take another example, the manner in which powerful sections of Indian society greeted the milk miracle, makes it clear that obscurantism has a considerable following in ruling circles. The obscurantism and irrationality that we witness in Indian society is no new phenomenon. It is a continuation of what has existed in our society for a long period. Its persistence points to yet another national goal that we have failed to achieve in the years after IndependeCe.
The plain fact is that science in India, along with education, has been kept away from the majority of the people and the encouragement that the development of a scientific temper has received, apart from much lip-service, is still far from adequate. With the constant efforts of fundamentalisms of various brands to make political headway using obscurantist beliefs, it is clear that what we need is more science and not less of it. Mass science education of good quality together with the elimination of illiteracy and the promotion of universal school
education is one of the major un- .
finished tasks on the national agenda for development. Occasions such as the total solar eclipse provide
opportunities to
directly about sc paigns are no su tinuing educatio they provide a c and stimulate pe science in a partic
The increasing science movement taking science to t increase in simila! tists acting on t cooperation with ments, have no do a significant way mood that preva eclipse compared t But the relative their campaigns in the country is als larger social ques combating obscura in comparing the Bengal to that in country, that the campaign fell on 1 soil there - prepa and social history much needed spa and science and h at least to some ex is not to take away the efforts made country, especially people did not hav this time to witne tacular. Popular sc take their message er section of the p up in a bigger wa

seek it. Both the lave only made it bring the people between the diffe
e and defiant attithe LTTE in prereach a negotiated onflict have compliat was already a he trust and hope April 19 when the
was unilaterally ttacks on military instantly by the 2xpected to return war became atroives of thousands of and civilians. The nt has repeatedly the ongoing war is and they have been into it. Their rera cease-fire now is en from Sri Lankan comment given to suckland CommonMy reaction to a
TAMIL TIMES 33
cease-fire would be that we have had bad experience with cease-fires. Their track record with regard to cease-fires is bad. They have used them to regroup and rearm. Before meaningful negotiations are held which do not involve a separate state, there must be some clear evidence that they will be willing to renounce violence and commence negotiations that will conclude within a reasonable amount of time.'
It is to be noted that the present Government did not place any conditions when it had four rounds of talks soon after it was elected on a mandate of all the people to settle the conflict peacefully. This hardening of attitude is the result of the hasty and perhaps miscalculated decision to throw away the opportunity to reach a political solution. The joint statement of the nine Tamil unions and parties reflects the growing fears that the Government might resort to force to resolve the conflict, despite its past declaration rejecting the military option. This must be taken seriously, considering the events over the past few weeks.
speak to people ience. Such camubstitute for conn. Nevertheless, hance to awaken ople's interest in ipatory way. role that popular is are playing in he people, and the r efforts by scienheir own and in popular moveubt contributed in to the different iled during this 0 the one of 1980. effectiveness of different parts of ) a pointer to the tions involved in ntism. It is clear, response in West ther parts of the eeds sown by the nuch more fertile red by a political that has given ce to rationalism eld obscurantism, tent, at bay. This from the value of alsewhere in the in Kerala where the opportunity is anything spec|ence movements to a much broadople if they link 7 with trade un
ions, NGOs, kisan organisations and students', youth and women's movements.
Science can do even better in 1999. A more concerted campaign through the media and greater efforts to ensure availability of means to view the eclipse safely will prove rewarding. There is no reason why the Bolivian example, where the Government itself ensured through a mass distribution of solar filters that more than half the population watched the total eclipse of November 1994, cannot be emulated in India. There should also be greater effort to counter the more alarmist statements from a section of the medical profession. The kind of anti-eclipse watching campaign that they launched (for instance, a newspaper and television campaign by the National Blindness Control Programme under the Ministry of Health of the Government of India urged people not to watch the eclipse at all) is something that could be prevented. The lesson is that there must be a serious effort to bring influential sections of the medical community into the planning phase of the campaign.
Again in 1999, with the end of the millennium close at hand, astrology and pseudo-science will be out in the field in full cry. They must be met Kasparov-like, by a combination of solid home preparation and offence.
(Courtesy: Frontline).

Page 34
34 TAMIL TIMES
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Shipping Warehouse
T : A 2.50 Per Cu. Ft. : 12.50
லமாகவோ உரிய நேரத்தில் பாதுகாப்பாகவும் துரிதமாகவும் அனுப்புவதற்கு TENTAL SHIPPING ம்பிலுள்ள பாதுகாப்பான சேகரிப்பு கிலையத்திற்கு (Privatewarehouse) உங்கள் கையில் ஒப்படைப்பதில் விர்ப்பன்னர்கள்
NA SIPPING லையில் நிகரற்ற சேவைகளை செய்து கொடுப்பதில் முன்னணியில் கிற்பவர்கள் DINNENTAL
: Harry Mahendra, Asoka Femando or Nagabalan OPEN
lite 412, Ashley House SEVEN London N22 4HF : DAYS
INCLUDING
4500, FAX: 0181-889 2676 SUNDAYS

Page 35
15 NOVEMBER 1995
BRITISH
BRITISHA
TO COL FROM 31 C
Tuesdays and Satu From Ga
Via Abou
Return POSSible F British A
Competitive F in Sri L
Major Credit Ca
GLEN EXPRESS
155. Notting Hill Gate
Telephone: 0171221 34

TAMIL TIMES 35
\IRWAYS ص
AIRWAY
OMBO ICTOBER
days at 10.30pm atWiCK
Dhabi
From Madras On irways
fOte| RateS anka
rds Accepted
STRAVELLTD
, London W11 3LF
98 Fax: 0171243 8277

Page 36
SHIPPING – AR FF
UNACCOMPANIED BAGGAGE — PERSO WEHICLES, MAC
To COLOMBO AND OTHER MAN AGENT FO ΥΣ Passenger Tickets and Una
Please Contact Us For Wa
To Colombo And ( DeStin
GLEN CARRIE
 14 Allied Way, off Warpl
Telephone: 0181 * U Lι) Fax: O' EBONDE سمي%
Laksirisewa, 253/3 Awissa We
TRICO
INTERNATIONAL (SHIPPING) LTD TCO SHIPPING SCHEDUILE
EELESLLLLacLELaL0KaLSaa LLLLLL K LLLSSLLLS ELYSJSYJ0L K LELaaLLGL0LL0LEEEG LaLaLaLL LLEaLLLL
WESSI NED Closing Date Saling Arrival
Hamlin Calkland 3.12.5 Dß.12.25 24.12. S5
Han i Seattle 17.12.95 22,12.95 I7D1,9
Har||im Felixstrowe T.D.'s 12.196 2.E.IT.EE;
CANADA ДISTRALIA
Trico Shipping - 685 Lansdowne Av. Unll B, 24-26 Carrick, Sulle 202, Toronto, OnL MIGH 379. Iulamările, Tol|Free: 1-800-565 S1 in Wictoria, 3,043 Tel: 16535 Doge Fax: 416535.1991 Tel. 63133885978
Our Todern warehouse and offices are under one root with armple LL LLLYLHMa LLLLLLLO LLLLL LHLLC LLaLkHGGL LEOLLL LLLLL KKSLL LLLL LL packir their guixd5 Lherm:5Flwės Wilh UU 3155istar"It LLLLLL LLLLLL CCaaallLS LCa GGLLlL000LLeLk LaLLLLL LLLLL LHHLHHLLLLLLLE LLLLLLL Once your goods are in Jur hands, we guarantee a safe and efficient delivery loyour destination. We also offer FREESTORAGE to our customers of a period of ONE MONTH in our bonded yayıf housi i Calrırı OC. LLLLLL LLLLYLLLEL OLLL LLLLLLLLYLLLLLLLE LLLLLLLLS LLLLLLLLLL
FOI WA FIDING COMPANY" IN THE UK Trico International Shipping Ltd Limit d, Building "C"The Business Centre at Wood (reen,
Clarendon Rd, London N22 GXJ Tel: 0I81-888 8787 Fax: ዐI8I 88፵ 5445
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

EIGHT - TRAVEL
AL EFFECTS, HOUSEHOLD GOODS,
NERY ETC.
WORLD WIDE LO ESTINATIONS
AIRLANKA
Companied Baggage W7.
rious Discounted Fares )ther World Wide ltions
RS LIMITED
} Way, Acton, London W3 ORQ 74O 837.9/O181749 O595
81 740 4229
WAREHOUSE Illa Road, Colombo 14 Tel: 575576
UNIWEST
INTERNATIONAL
3) FricT Barnel Road, Londyn N11 1 NA T: I8-: 537
[]ISI-;፥ፅናS ዴ}j..!! + Hኋ : []ISI-3ïïï Š ዘዴሏጎ
All goods are lodged in a modern, fully computerised. Borded warehouse outside the Port)
Ceylon Shipping Liries, 2941) D.R. Wij9Wardena Mawatha, Colombo 10. Tel: 432994/5
WE ARE STILL THE BEST AND CHEAPEST
NO HIDDEN CHARGES
Air Lanka Appointed Travel Agent
Travel Agents for Kuwait, EIIlirates, Gulf Air, Air France, KLM, Royal Jordanian, PIA and Balkan Airlines. Ship Your CAR in a Container for £795 + Insurance hur Colombx Office Warehouse is Staffed by 2 Experienced Officers to Ensure Personal Attention
and Speedy Clearance of Your Goods
Branch Offices in Toronto & Paris