Page 1
do XV No.10 ISSN 02664488 15 oC
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Wivienne (it one warlete, the leftist veterall
 
 
 
 
 

ANINUAL SESCRETTO UK indla Sri Lankamama
OBER 1996 - 90p
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LTTE Leader Welupillai Pirabhakaran
LELeader Indicie
The Killinochchi Battle Iman Rights Abuses Making of a Constitution
Una VVS Federal See Interview with President
Media Censorship Rao Forced to Step Down
Lyranny of the Taliban

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2 TAMIL TIMES
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15oCTOBER 1996
"I do not agree with a word of what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
-Voltaire
Tamil
SSN 0266 - 4488
VOIXV NO.1 O 15 OCTOBER 1996
Published by:
TAML. TIMES LTD PO, BOX 121 SUTTON, SURREY SM13TD UNITED KINGOOM
Phone. O18-644 O972 Fax 0181-241 4557
Interview with the President 20 Woman of the Revolution 24
UTHROJ) Report 25 Tyranny of the Taliban 29 Rao Forced to Step Down 32 The Status of Tamil 36
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION
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Views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers.
The publishers assume no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork.
CONTENTS
LTTE Leader Indicted 3 Kilinochchi Falls 4. Censorship Lifted 4. CRM Condemns Violence 5 Anti-Tiger Propaganda 6 Human Rights Abuses 8 Media Watch 10 Making of a Constitution 12 Media Censorship 14 Racist Advertisements 16 Unitary vs Federal 18
Pir
Govt
esides the sevel B Sri Lanka’s No ties in Colom have opened up a n against the Tamil Tig leader in absentia demned bombing. rammed a truck pac into the island's Cent ary this year, devast bo's commercial hear of the greatest shock nic war.
Despite accusatio ther accepted norden the bombing.
The indictment Attorney-General Sa the High Court of Pirabhakaran and nir bers of leading rank bomb attack.
The indictment leader contains 712 der the Prevention o cluding murder and c. billions of rupees. Th ing killed 78 people: 500.
No one believes security forces will Pirabhakaran alive a court to face the char. that he wears a cyani neck, as all Tamil Ti take a bite at it and moment he suspects being captured.
LTTE Reaction
In reacting to th against their leader, warned the Sri Lank charging their leader nothing to end the c nic war.
"The governmen doors to all possible nic problem,” the LI paper Eelanatham sa 16 October.
Commenting for government's indictin the paper said: “Wor an extreme growth it when governments tu
 
 
 

TAM IMES 3
abhakaran Indicted
Closing all Doors, Says LTTE
ral battle fronts in the rth-East, the authoribo would appear to ew front in the war ers by charging their over a widely conA suicide bomber ked with explosives ral Bank on 31 Januating part of Colomtland and causing one s in the 13-year eth
ns, the LTTE has neiied responsibility for
filed by Sri Lanka's rath Nanda Silva in
Colombo charges he other LTTE memfor complicity in the
against the LTTE charges brought unf Terrorism Act, inausing damage worth e central bank bomband wounded at least
that the Sri Lankan be able to apprehend hd bring him before a ges. Everyone knows de capsule around his igers do, and he will
commit suicide the hat heis in danger of
e formal indictment , Tamil Tigers have can government that in absentia would do ountry’s 13-year eth
t is gradually closing ways to solve the ethTE’s” official newslid in an editorial on
the first time on the ment of Pirabhakaran, ld history has shown n liberation struggles y to crush them."
"The government can ban or bring charges against LTTE, but these actions are not going to bring any changes in the political and military situations prevailing in the country,' the newspaper said adding that the Tigers would not give up the struggle for an independent homeland.
Politicians and analysts said the indictment of Tamil Tiger leader Pirabhakaran in the January bombing of the island's central bank appeared to be a new offensive in a propaganda war.
This is the first time Pirabhakaran has been indicted by the Colombo government despite the many crimes that he had been accused of since 1975 when Jaffna's Mayor Alfred Duraiappah was gunned down, a murder which Pirabhakaran confessed to carrying out in an interview with the much respected Indian fortnightly, "India Today”.
"A publicity campaign could well be the real intention of the government,” said Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, who is Secretary-General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), which had been in the forefront of advocating and articulating Tamil aspirations until it was forced out of the mainstream by Tamil militant groups, including the LTTE, which resorted to armed violence against not only the government, but also the TULF and its leaders who became victims of assassination.
"Highlighting the fact Pirabhakaran has been indicted in respect of an incident which has caused so much loss of civilian lives and the destruction of properties will go well with the international campaign against terrorism." Sampanthan said. Political analysts said the government might have decided to indict the LTTE leader instead of formally banning the group to prod the West to crack down on rebel activity. "The government had pondered over a formal ban on the Tigers. This could be the first step in that direction or an alternative to such an action,' an Asian diplomat said. “Whatever the case, it has political and symbolic significance,' he said adding "If Pirabhakaran is convicted, Colombo could ask its allies to restrict his supporters' activities' in foreign countiles. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, said: “The government is taking steps in order to remain

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4 TAMIL TIMES
at the forefront of publicity that the LTTE is a terrorist organisation."
There is no doubt that the government has been seriously considering a formal proscription of the LTTE as a terroristorganisation and hardliners in the government are pushing for it. In view of the opposition to the move from other Tamil parties which support the government in parliament, the government is said to be taking a cautious approach at present while preparing the ground both locally and internationally for a formal ban of the LTTE. The move to indict the LTTE leader had been made reportedly after several Western nations assured Colombo they would help curb fund-raising by the Tamil Tigers.
Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris said after a visit to the United States this month that Washington was expected to include the LTTE on a list of terrorist groups, being drawn up for completion probably by the end of this year.
Canada and Germany also told Sri Lanka they were taking steps to curb fundraising for "terrorist groups' in their countries.
Government officials said some ministers and military leaders were pushing for a ban on the LTTE, hoping it would help limit the rebels' international propaganda and funding.
"Banning the LTTE limits your options and narrow your freedom to manoeuvre,” Saravanamuttu said. "Maintaining pressure on them on the diplomatic front, on the battlefield and on the political front is where it actually counts in substance,” he said.
After a battle between government forces and the Tamil Tigers that lasted nearly a week, the northern town of Kilinochchi which had remained the military and political bastion of the LTTE since their evacuation from Jaffna at the end of last year fell into army control according to an announcement on 29 September by the Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence.
The army offensive began on 22 September in which over 15,000 troops took part. Flanked by tanks and artillery, troops advanced from Paranthan as airforce bombers and helicopter gunships pounded alleged LTTE positions to assist the army's push.
Kilinochchi did not fall to the army easily. Though the civilians had fled the town and its adjoining areas before the real battle began, the army had to encounter fierce resistance from the Tigers. Casualties on both sides had reportedly been excessively high. As many as 230 soldiers including officers were killed and over 300 wounded. The army claimed that over 700
Tigers were killed though according to my's claim was wild The Tigers woul fered the most numb they launched a cou: thousands of cadres, their Women's Wing Reports said that wa gers with explosives : bodies advanced with army's defence lines ted to 75 soldiers b wounded during the but claimed to have k though the LTTE adr 90 of their fighters. T accept from the army ies of Tiger cadrest the LTTE because IC practical or logistica take the task in the v It would seem th ing Kilinochchi is to ing of the highway Vavuniya in the mair ter of Defense, Anur the military would t way through 70 km held territory to secul to Jaffna, which is no sea. "That is a requi open up all the hig normal," he said.
However, diplom lysts have doubted w reopen the highway percent of the 100,0 already tied up in Jaf rity there."The troop thin for them to mak and sustain it,' one
The capture of being of some strate given the military th to its morale especial bacle at Mullaitivu. columnist Taraki sa Kilinochchi has giv remarkable advantag price paid in pursuil north. It is certainly overall plan to brin centres in the northe trol, denying, thereb and administrative : LTTE availed itself c being considered t karan’s semi-con power.... Although, a report, the only livi forces had found in was a stray dog, thi town's fall cannot be
y
way.
Censorsh
The Sri Lankan tober lifted the censc country's ethnic war mestic media earlier sorship is lifted wit
 

15 OCTOBER 1996
and 600 wounded LTTE reports the arly exaggerated. i appear to have sufær of casualties when hter-attack involving many of them from g, on 26 September. ve after wave of Tistrapped around their a view to breach the The military admiteing killed and 146 Tiger counter-attack, illed over 400 Tigers mitted to the death of he ICRC declined to | scores of dead bodo be handed over to RC did not have the l facilities to under
Wa-ZOle. at the aim of capturfacilitate the reopenbetween Jaffna and land. Deputy Minisuddha Ratwatte said ry to reopen a high(45 miles) of Tigere a land supply route w supplied by air and rement...We want to hway and make life
ats and defence anarhether the army can to Jaffna. About 30 X00-strong army was fna to maintain secuis are just spread too ce such a huge thrust Asian diplomat said. Kilinochchi, besides gic significance, has e much needed boost ly after its recent de
The well informed ys, "The capture of n the government a e, despite the heavy ng its strategy in the a further step in the g all the population ast under army cony, financial, material resources which the If Eelam War II - this he basis of Prabhaventional military ccording to an agency ng creature that the the town on Sunday significance of the underestimated in any
lip Lifted
government on 8 Ocfrship of news on the imposed on the do
this year. “The cenh immediate effect,"
Media Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake told a news conference in Colombo.
The censorship was imposed just before government forces launched the final phase of their offensive against the Tamil Tigers in their northern Jaffna peninsula stronghold.
The censorship, which did not affect the foreign correspondents operating in the island, but prevented the publication of war-related news in the domestic media, has been the subject of severe criticism by local journalists and human rights organisations.
The government said the gag on war news was required to prevent leaks of military secrets and attempts to provoke violence between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils. But local newspapers have argued that the censorship was being used to cover up military blunders and corruption.
Tigers Deplore
Refugees' Pigh
The LTTE has accused the Sri Lankan government of not providing food to northern Tamil civilians displaced by the latest military, but aid workers said medicine was more urgently required.
Hundreds of thousands of Tamils, displaced by the army's push last month to capture Kilinochchi, faced starvation as the government refused to distribute food and other aid to them, a statement issued on 9 October by the Tigers from London said. "Even rudimentary help such as dry rations had not been given to them,' said the statement. “Both governmental and non- governmental organisations have totally ignored them,' the statement, faxed to news agencies, added.
Western aid workers operating in the war-torn areas were cautious in declining to comment on claims of starvation but noted the prevalence of undernutrition among refugees.
"We see undernutrition, but unlike malnutrition it has no serious effect on their health,' said Frances Stevenson, coordinator for the French aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres. "We're working in several hospitals in the area, but we actually have observed no malnutrition," Stevenson told reporter. Other aid workers said the government did not consider as refugees nearly half of an estimated 400.000 people who fled their homes in Jaffna at the instigation of the LTTE to the rebel territory of the Wanni since last March. "It seems that the government feels these people had no valid reasons to flee and hence are not entitled to food rations,' said an aid worker who declined to be identified. “But many are living with friends or relatives and seem not to be having problems finding food.'
Stevenson said she was more con

Page 5
15 OCTOBER 1996
cerned about the shortage of medicine, which was likely to affect displaced people as monsoon rains arrive in the Wanni. "The government is still not granting permission for medical supplies to come freely into the region. Therefore all basic essential drugs, from antibiotics to painkillers, are in short supply,” she said adding that malaria was on the rise and would develop into an epidemic if anti-malaria drugs were not made available soon.
The military said it has already given clearance for medicines for the last quarter to be shipped to the Wanni. "But about medicines we're a bit more cautious since we know that wounded Tigers mix with civilians to seek treatment at medical centres," a military spokesman told reporters, as if the wounded Tigers are not entitled to be treated, adding "Civilians getting medical treatment is fine, but LTTE cadres getting treatment can pose a problem for us.'
A Sri Lankan navy vessel intercepted a boat carrying 105 Tamils fleeing to southern India, military officials said on 7 October.
The refugees, including 33 women and 40 children, had come from Kilinochchi, the scene of a fierce battle between government troops and the Tamil Tigers, they said. They alleged that the Tigers had prevented the Tamils from Kilinochchi from going to government-run refugee camps in Vavuniya.
An estimated 200,000 Tamil refugees are on the move in the rebel-held jungle area of the Wanni after the army captured Jaffna peninsula in April and Kilinochchi at the end of last month.
Sri Lankan officials said 2,500 Tamil refugees had made the narrow crossing between Sri Lanka and India's southern state of Tamil Nadu since July, when the army first launched its offensive on Kilinochchi.
Refugee Boat Detained
Sri Lanka's navy seized a boat carrying 110 Tamil refugees trying to flee to neighbouring India, a navy spokesman said on 16 October.
A navy gunboat intercepted the boat during the night off Mannar island, 240 km (150 miles) north of Colombo and escorted it back to Mannar, he said.
"The frequency of the flow of refugees appears to be increasing,” he said. "The terrorists are encouraging people to leave saying there could be problems in Mannar."
A statement from the LTTE said a boat with 110 refugees capsized in the same area on the same day and that 14 people, including eight children, drowned when
the boat capsized. The by other boats.
The navy spokes information on the LT has intercepted almos ing to flee to India th accusing the Tigers of gee 4,000 to 6,000 ru the ride across the 35 Strait between Manna ern state of Tamil Nac
Indian authorities 2,500 refugees have since July after the ar fensive against the 1 Lanka.
India has promisec Tamil refugees from across the Palk Straits dian state of Tamil Nac given to the Sri Lank Mr.Lakshman Kadirg Indian counterpart Ind New York during the bly sessions in early Mr.Gujral about the s Sri Lanka.
All Partie Support Pea says Bi
Addressing the 1. Diocesan Councilin C Bishop of Colombo, th Fernando, stressed the to the ongoing war an port to the peace proc political parties in the to agree on peace prop mean that we shall hav greater national calam have already suffered, The Bishop pointe contemporary events tragedy of war was th forts are employed to "The consequence of the country with three an army of cripples, and an army of thieve
Stating that war lems, the Bishop said, ones. They do not est right, but only which "There have been time years when we have b were able to see the d distance, but these hop to the ground and wha tance has proved to be "Our government for peace early in 199 ally know that those ef cerely. The very fact t invited by the Preside ernment's Peace Dele is a token of the govel tentions. I am perso strenuous efforts mad
 

IAM L TIMES 5
others were saved
nan said he had no E's claim. The navy t 300 refugees tryis month, he added charging each refupees ($70-$105) for km (20 mile) Palk r and India's southlu. have said more than made the crossing my went on the ofebels in north Sri
to stem the flow of northern Sri Lanka
in the southern Inlu. The promise was an Foreign Minister amar who met his ler Kumar Gujral in UN General AssemOctober to brief ituation in northern
SShould ce Process, ishop
11th session of the olombo recently, the he Rt. Rev. Kenneth urgency for an end d the need for supress from all major south. "Our failure osals even now may re to face up to even lities than those we ' the Bishop said. dout that a study of had shown that the at people's best efthe people's worst. war is that it leaves 2 armies. These are an army of widows S.' never solved prob"It only creates new ablish which side is side is stronger." s during the last two een hopeful and we awn of peace in the es have beendashed it we saw in the disa mirage," he added. began negotiations 5. I myself personforts were made sinhat I was personally ent to join the govgation to the North inment's sincere innally aware of the 2 by that delegation
to persuade the LTTE to respond positively to the government's peace overtures.
"We were extremely disappointed and surprised that the effort was unilaterally frustrated by the resumption of war by the LTTE on April 19, 1995. Since that time we have been seeing nothing but escalation of the war. We hope that at least now we have reached a climactic point and that there will be a de-escalation of the conflict and a resumption of negotiations for peace,' the Bishop said.
Power Station Blasted
On 1 October, Tamil Tigers blasted power and telecommunications stations and attacked a police station killing 9 persons including policemen in the northwestern town of Mannar.
Two generators at the power station were blasted and a simultaneous explosion at the nearby telecommunication centre disrupted about 25 percent of the town's telephone lines.
The Tigers attached explosive devices to the two stations, which are about 2,500 feet apart, and set the blasts off simultaneously during the night.
CRM Condemns | Resurgence
Political Violence
The Civil Rights Movement (CRM) is appalled at the reappearance on our political scene of violence which has resulted in several deaths and many more injured. What is most horrifying is that these are the actions of extremist terrorist groups, of which Sri Lanka has certainly had its fill.
They are the result of clashes between supporters of the major parliamentary parties which claim to be wedded to democratic ideals, and which it is hoped, whether in their role in government or in opposition, would now help to restore that faith in the democratic process which had been seriously eroded in recent years.
There can be no excuse or justification for political thuggery. CRM is aware of and has documented many instances of such violence committed, instigated or condoned by the State during the last regime. The present government pledged to end that era.
During recent months CRM has felt increasingly alarmed at a series of violent clashes between UNP and PA supporters and has been seeking more information about them. Their context has ranged from co-operative society elections, and affixing of posters and banners, the disruption of meetings and rallies of political parties, and attacks on political activists including in their homes. They include incidents at Anamaduwa, Kuliyapitiya, Matale, Anuradhapura, Piliyandala and Matugama. There were also the clashes amongst UNP

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6 TAM TIMES
members themselves at Maligakanda.
The most recent killings in Negombo, however, make it necessary for defenders of civil liberties to raise their voices with no further delay. These incidents include the killing of a PA supporter and another and an attack on a church service commemorating the 50th anniversary of the UNP at the end of August, the shooting dead of four UNP members and a bystander last Friday, September 20, and the killing of a further UNP activist - a Pradeshiya Sabha Member the next day.
Such events, as well as denying the very right to life itself, place in jeopardy the freedom of association, assembly and expression, which are the bedrock of democracy. This is precisely why the CRM gave priority, in its document quoted at the beginning of this statement, to the genuineness of the belief of political parties in the right of their opponents to enjoy these freedoms. The CRM stresses the importance of these basic freedoms once again. The CRM call on all democratic parties to make a public reaffirmation of their commitment to non-violence and to make it known in no uncertain terms to their own supporters that acts of thuggery, and taking the law into their own hands, whatever the provocation, will not be tolerated. While calling upon the police to uphold the rule of law and to perform their duty effectively and impartially, the CRM emphasis the particular responsibility that lies upon supporters, members and leaders of those in power and the Head of State. Sri Lanka's recent political history has regrettably proved again and again that persons who enjoy or think they enjoy political patronage often feel they can break the law with impunity. This dangerous mindset has to be eliminated from our political life once and for all. In this context, CRM expresses its dismay at the alleged speech of the President as reported in the Lankadipa of September 17 parts of which could be construed as condoning of violence.
In the view of CRM this recent spate of killings and thuggery, though extremely serious, is not irreversible and a spiral of retaliatory violence still can and must be prevented by prompt and effective measures to restore and protect the right of free and peaceful political expression.
Suspected Bombers Held
A group of 20 suspected suicide bombers allegedly belonging to the LTTE were arrested near Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s official residence, a police officer said on 9 October.
Colombo reports said that the arrests followed police warnings that between 25 and 30 suicide bombers belonging to the LTTE had sneaked into Colombo on a mission to retaliate against the successful military offensive in Kilinochchi which was captured from the Tigers at the end of September.
"A group of 20 were arrested at Colp They are now under officer at Colpetty Po porters. The President called "Temple Trees Colpetty area.
"The arrests were hour search operation mation given by LTTE tody that LTTE suicid trated the Colpetty art
GOVt"S A
Sri Lanka’s Forei, man Kadirgamar, rece national cooperation t are denied safe have world.
"The territory of: be permitted to be u which would encoura, ist activity in anothen in a speech to the Ger "Fund raising act in particular, either d through so-called cha be prohibited," he sai national cooperation is that the terrorist does vens anywhere in the Making specific ri Tigers who are engage ernment forces in Sri gamar said this "extre in any meaningful sen ple they claim to fig never sought a mand at an election. They democratic mainstreal minority parties have tive process to seek re ances through de Kadirgamar said.
“Should terrori through international would poison the into tic, enervating democ esses the internati obliged to sustain,' h He said the LTTE form of money, equi rial, not from other s guided members oft who live and work i tries' or through ext ing, gun-running, Sn other illegal activitie countries, abusing th lating the laws of ho
Cambodian Connec
Cambodian Fil Prince Norodom Ra his government wou that Sri Lanka’s LT]
 

15 OCTOBER 1996
spected bombers (ty area yesterday. nterrogation,” the ce Station told reofficial residence, , is located in the
made during a sixlaunched on informen already in cusbombers had infill,' the officer said.
ti-Tiger
in Minister, Lakshtly called for interensure "terrorists' n anywhere in the
iny state should not sed in any manner ge or sustain terror,” Kadirgamar said eral Assembly. vity on foreign soil (rectly or indirectly ritable funds, must i. "Concerted internecessary to ensure not enjoy safe haworld.' eference to the Tamil din a war with govLanka, Mr. Kadirmist group does not se represent the peoit for." "They have ate from the people ave kept out of the n when many of the entered the consultairess for their grievnocratic means,”
sm be permitted, apathy, to fester, it rnational body poliatic processes - procnal community is e added. drew support in the ment and war mateates but from “mise Tamil community the affluent counrtion, drug traffickuggling people and in many developed hospitality and viot governments.
ion
;t Prime Minister ariddh has said that investigate reports E were shopping for
arms in Cambodia, a Reuter report dated 21 September said.
"We have no evidence, but the Sri Lankan Minister of National Defence wrote to us saying there had probably been sales of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) from Cambodia through Thailand to Sri Lanka," Ranariddh said.
The fortnightly Phnom Penh Post on 20 September cited sources in Colombo as saying the Tamil Tigers were arranging the purchase and shipment of missiles from Cambodia, which they planned to use to defend their positions in Sri Lanka. The Post quoted a Sri Lankan diplomat as saying his government had received reliable reports LTTE arms procurer Selvarajah “KP” Pathmanathan and other LTTE members had been seen working out of Phnom Penh and Bangkok in the past two months. "There are strong indications that the LTTE have set up a safe house in Phnom Penh, from where they engage in arms buying, drawing on lucrative sources of revenue such as passport and visa forging and heroin trading,' the paper said.
U.S. to Curb Fund-raising
The United States is expected to help curb international fund-raising by the LTTE a cabinet minister said on 8 October according to Reuter report datelined 8 October.
Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris is reported to have told a news conference that U.S. State Department officials told him Washington would help Colombo fight "terrorism'.
Peiris, just back from a highly publicised trip to Canada and the United States, said Washington was expected to include the LTTE on a list of terrorist groups being drawn up for completion probably by the end of this year.
"The (U.S.) officials who spoke to us were convinced that the LTTE would be one of the organisations that would appear on that list,' he said. "That, of course, will tremendously help Sri Lanka in combating international terrorism.”
Peiris said once the United States branded the LTTE as a terrorist group, its bank assets would be frozen and its members deported and barred from entering the country.
Colombo has said it believes Tamil rebels finance their military activity through funds extorted from expatriate Sn Lankans in Western countries.
"The focus (of the meetings) was very much on the question of fund-raising C these countries and the ways in which these activities could be controlled by the authorities in these countries,' the Minister said.
Peiris, who led a Sri Lankan delegation, met senior State Department officials. including Ambassador Philip Wilcox, the U.S. State Department's coordinator for counter-terrorism, and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robin Raphe Wilcox said when he visited Colomby

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15 OCTOBER 1996
August that Washington would stamp out illegal activities on U.S. soil directed against the government in Sri Lanka.
Australian Move
Following a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Australia and Sri Lanka in New York recently, the Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is reported to have stated that the his government would no longer meet with or entertain representations from any Tamil activist groups in Australia until they renounced violence or support for violent groups.
According to the Minister, the Australian government has already told Tamil groups active there that they had to first agree in writing to renounce violence before they can have any dealings with the government or Ministers.
Sri Lankan authorities are focusing their military buildup on air and naval forces in a bid to cut off arms supplies to Tamil according to military officials in Colombo.
“The most important thing is to dominate the sea, day and night at any cost," a Reuter report datelined 14 October said quoting an unnamed senior air force official. "If not, we can't end the war.'
Most of the arms used by the LTTE are smuggled in from abroad in at least five merchant ships it used to own for arms smuggling, military. The air force and navy have destroyed two such rebel arms ships in the northern waters of the island in the past two years, one with the help of the Indian Lavy, he said.
"More emphasis is being given to meeting the threat at sea and to stop LTTE arms smuggling,' said a senior navy official. "We want to expand our capability to operate in high seas and intercept and destroy LTTE arms ships. We're an island nation.'
Budget estimates for 1997 presented to parliament recently show provisions for acquiring six twin-engined maritime patrol aircraft, the first time the air force is seeking dedicated maritime surveillance capability. The navy intends to acquire two multipurpose vessels to meet the LTTE's air, surface and underwater threats. Nine fast attack craft, two fast gunboats and a fleet of almost two dozen small inshore patrol craft are also to be acquired.
The navy is also planning to buy a high-speed hovercraft for amphibious operations and troop transport, officials said. Deputy Finance Minister G.L.Peiris has said 1997 defence spending will be cut to 44 billion rupees (US$786 million) from almost 50 billion rupees this year as the bulk of the arms is being bought this year. Defence spending was originally set
at 33.9 billion rupe shot the budget as on an arms-buying operations against t
"We're spending now because we dic past)," the air force derestimated the LT not resumed the war spending would not he added.
In the past year bought Mi-24 helicc transport helicopte planes and big gun: Union states. It has a jets, laser-guided bo) vehicle for surveilla low draught waterje
craft from Israel.
China has solo anti-Submarine war the threat from LTT squads in the past ye
Army Launches R. The Sri Lankan major recruitment d cent upsurge in the Tigers and heavy los battles. The other ré recruit more and mo capture more territ large number of troo in those areas to hol ritory.
"Our resourcesh erably and we want sands of soldiers,' said on 15 Septemb 7,000 local governm volved in the nation the military was run advertisements in lo "We are now c positions in front a to wait until we ha before staging a ma ior military official
Until the recent ern Tiger-controlled the military balance unchanged since L. tary its worst setba in July when they ov base.
The army launc after the LTTE wipe Mullaitivu camp ki most its entire garris the army's push, adv northern peninsula stalled around the t gateway to the Tig of Wanni.
"About 30 perce strength has been k recapture of the pe Asian diplomat sa forces have also be series of major of LTTE,' he said.
 

TAMIL TIMES 7
es this year but overhe government went spree for intensified e Tigers. , so much on the war not spend it (in the official said. “We unTE.” If the LTTE had in April 1995, all this have been necessary,
or so the military has pter gunships, Mi-17 rs, An-32 transport from former Soviet lso bought Kfir fighter mbs, an unmanned air ince and Shaldag shal:-propelled fast attack
l it a corvette-type are vessel to counter E underwater suicide ar, navy officials said.
cruitment Drive
army has launched a rive following the rewar with the Tamil ises suffered in recent ason for the drive to remen is that as they ory from the Tigers, ps need to be stationed d on the captured ter
ave weakened considto recruit tens of thoua military spokesman er. He said more than ment officials were inwide programme and ning daily recruitment cal newspapers. onsolidating military eas and we will have ive enough resources jor offensive,” a sentold the press.
capture of the northtown of Kilinochchi, has remained largely TE handed the milick in the 13-year war 'erran a strategic army
hed an offensive soon dout the northeastern lling or capturing alson of 1,400 men. But 'ancing south from the
of Jaffna, remained own of Kilinochchi, a
•rs' jungle stronghold
nt of the military's full ept in Jaffna since its insula last April,' an d. "The government 2en weakened after a fensives against the
wf
"We will consolidate our positions until we have enough resources. We would like to clear the jungle area but we need a lot of resources to do that," an army brigadier said, asking not to be identified.
In a further attempt to bring back deserters into its fold, Sri Lanka's military on 18 October warned private companies not to employ deserters from the security forces.
“Deserters cannot be employed. According to the law, they cannot be protected by anyone other than their wives,' a military spokesman said. Under civil and military law, anyone found harbouring a male deserter can face trial except the deserter’s wife. Denying deserters the opportunity to take up other forms of gainful employment, the army authorities think, will compel deserters to return to barracks.
He said 1,400 deserters had been arrested by the military and sent back to their units, but did not say whether they had been punished. "We are stuck for manpower. If deserters return we would have our bayonet strength,' the spokesman said.
Army deputy chief of staff Major General Srilal Weerasooriya said in an interview with the Daily News that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had proposed a scheme to provide foreign employment and jobs in the government sector to security forces personnel on completion of their military duty.
A senior British Minister said that his government was willing to mediate a settlement between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers who are locked in a fierce battle in the island's north and east. Liam Fox, Under-Secretary of State at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, told a news conference on 27 September that London could play a third-party role to end the island's 14-year-old ethnic war if invited by Colombo and rebels.
"We are happy to offer our service in any conflict where both parties want us to be involved. But only when both parties are committed to a peaceful settlement is it possible for a third party to come in and be of use,' he said.
Fox was on a five-day visit to Sri Lanka less than a month after British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind came here for talks with government leaders. He was due to travel to the northern frontline town of Vavuniya on a fact-finding mission during his stay.
He said the LTTE were unwilling at present to lay down their arms and agree to talks with the government. "I think it is quite clear at the moment the LTTE are not in a position where they wish to negotiate a political settlement,' he said. Fox said the government of President

Page 8
8 TAMIL MES
Chandrika Kumaratunga had not entirely closed the door to negotiating an end to the war. "My assessment is that the government understands this is not something which can be purely settled in a military sphere and that at the end of the day there has to be a negotiated settlement to the problems that face Sri Lanka," Fox said. "And I think that is a very useful start,' he added.
Prisoner Exchange? A group of twenty-two Sri Lankan servicemen captured and detained by the LTTE for over two years is reported to have said in a letter on 13 September that they have been offered freedom in exchange for Tigers held in custody by the government. The 22 prisoners sent a letter, a copy of which was released to the press, to opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe asking him to help secure their release.
Mr.Wickremasinghe has in a letter he wrote to the Deputy Defence Minister has urged the government to consider exchanging three captured Tamil rebels for 22 members of the security forces in guerrilla custody, his spokesman said on 6 October. Among the 22 is a high ranking naval officer, Navy Commander, Boyododa, captured by the Tigers when they sank his patrol vessel, Sagarawardene, in a suicide attack in September 1994, on the eve of the commencement of peace talks between the government and the LTTE. The talks were later aborted with the LTTE resuming armed hostilities against government forces in April last year.
The letter quoted LTTE leaders as saying that the group had proposed to the government a swap of the 22 prisoners in exchange for three Tigers captured by the security forces.
The letter said the LTTE wanted the release of a Tiger cadre identified as "Kennedy' who was captured in an attack on an airbase and two female "Sea Tigers' known as "Mala' and "Uma' captured in the course of the Tiger attack on the Kankesanthurai harbour in northern Jaffna late last year. After their capture Mala and Uma were brought to Colombo. A few months later, they appeared on Sri Lanka TV giving details about their life and role in the LTTE's women's wing.
The letter signed by the 22 prisoners said, "Some leaders of the organisation (meaning the LTTE) told us on August 31 that they had put forward a suggestion to the government about exchanging prisoners. They informed us that if the government was willing to release three of their cadres, namely Kennady, Mala and Uma, they would consider releasing all of us. We believe that this is our last hope and an opportunity such as this may not come again. Exchanging of prisoners of war has been done throughout history on humanitarian grounds and this practice has continued to the present day. We would like to appeal to you to clarify our position and pressurise the government to secure our
release for the sake of and children and in th ity.”
HUMAN
Abuses in Army Controlled Jaffna
Increasing conce pressed about reportec lations in the army-c Jaffna peninsula. Fol sporadic LTTE attacks personnel, reports from the army has been eng search operations, imp the movement of peo custody of particularly male and female. The W of those arrested rema relatives.
Amnesty Internati dated 20 September ca tion has referred to th of six persons, all fro Jaffna peninsula. Am women and a 16 year c same family.
Krishanthy , Kuu "Kumaralayam”, Kai taken into custody at a between Chindikuli a September 1996 aroun arrested when returnin an examination at Chin Jaffna.
Her mother, Rasan and her brother Pran: together with a frie Kirupakaran Sithampa of Krishanthy later that by people in the area seen being arrested by try point. They went and were seen reachi and 5 pm. They have Relatives have made four persons at the se diers denied taking ar tody.
Mr. Joseph Parara longing to the TULF, tations to President urging her to interven man rights abuses by example of an 18-yea girl from Kaithady no town who - as well as to locate her after she army - has been miss week.
Pararajasingham denied arresting Krish her mother, brother although there were ey arrests occurred. "Th arresting any one of th suspicion that these "disappeared" while

ــــ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ ܝܚܫܚ - 15 OCTOBER 1996
our parents, wives name of human
RIGHTS
'ns are being exhuman rights vioontrolled northern owing continuing on security service Jaffna indicate that aged in cordon and sing restrictions on ble and taking into foung persons, both hereabouts of some in unknown to the
onal in a statement lling for urgent ace "disappearance' m Kaithady in the ong them are two ld student from the
marasamy, from hady, Jaffna, was in army sentry point und Kaithady on 7 il 10.30am. She was g home after sitting dikuli Girls School,
hmah Kumarasamy, aban Kumarasamy, nd of the family, ram, went in search day. They were told hat Krishanthy was the army at the sento the sentry point, ng it between 4.30 not been seen since. inquiries about all ntry point, but soly of them into cus
asingham, MP behas made represenMrs. Kumaratunga to stop alleged huthe army citing the r-old Tamil schoolfar from the Jaffna her family who tried was arrested by the ng for more than a
said the army had anthy Kumarasamy, nd a family friend ewitnesses when the denial of the army m causes alarm and four persons have in custody of the
army," the MP's letter said. He further urged the President to order an impartial inquiry into the arrest of the four persons concerned and "give strict instructions to the security forces in Jaffna to adhere to your Excellency's guidelines pertaining to arrest.'
Amnesty International has also learned that on August, Subramaniam, a municipal council worker, and Ganeshu Sri Ram, a student, were seen being taken into custody by the army at Kaithady. They were reportedly taken from their homes in the same neighbourhood by army personnel travelling in a truck. Since then, the local army officials have denied that these two persons are in their custody.
Amnesty International has also drawn attention to a recent report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) (Jaffna), in respect of the disappearance of two persons from Jaffna, Ponnuthurai Sinnathurai, a tailor from Sangathanai, Jaffna district, and his assistant, Muhunthan, after they were seen being taken away in an army truck in the evening of 31 July 1996. Despite numerous appeals at various army camps in the area, their whereabouts remain unknown.
Earlier that day, both men were seen assisting soldiers who came to collect some clothes tailored by them. According to witnesses, at least one soldier later returned with a truck from the direction of Chavakachcheri army camp. Ponnuthurai Sinnathurai and Muhunthan together with their bicycles were loaded into the truck and taken away.
On 13 September, Amnesty International appealed to the Human Rights Task Force (HRTF) to investigate these 'disappearances'. It was informed on 16 September that their names are not on the lists of people detained in the Jaffna district as provided by the security forces. According to presidential directives, the HRTF has to be informed of arrests and detentions within 48 hours.
Amnesty International is urging the government to open a HRTF office in Jaffna. This would allow HRTF officers to visit places of detention on a regular basis and thus prevent torture and "disappearances”. Itvouldalso provide an on-the-spot channel of communication for the civilian population to make complaints and inquiries from the security forces. In addition, observers should be allowed to visit the
area.S.
Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the "disappearances' of Ponnuthurai Sinnathurai and Muhunthan. AI urges the Sri Lankan government to swiftly investigate their whereabouts, and requests that, if there are no recognisable criminal charges against them, they be immediately and unconditionally released. AI also asks that, once a HRTF office is established in the Jaffna peninsula, the Sri Lankan government press upon its security forces to give the officers of the HRTF office full cooperation.

Page 9
T5 OCTOBER 1996
Joseph Pararajasingham also wrote in the letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga that 76 Tamils, mostly youths, were being harassed by police after being arrested by the army.
"The police have them in their custody for over three months, torture them and obtain confessions under duress,' he said in the letter which was made available to journalists.
Pararajasingham said the youths had been taken to Anuradhapura, to be produced before a magistrate there "though there is a magistrate court functioning in Jaffna."
Amnesty International in a statement said that "according to several independent sources, members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) deliberately killed 11 bus passengers, including four women and a two-year-old child, around 10.30am on 12 September at Arantalawa, Amparai district.
"Survivors interviewed by journalists and others visiting the area told how a man in civilian clothes, thought to be a member of the LTTE, signalled to the bus driver to stop. Then approximately 30 armed men in camouflage uniform approached the bus from both sides of the road and started shooting. A few armed men boarded the crowded bus and shot at the driver and passengers. At the time of writing, the bodies had not been identified by name, but it is believed that among those killed are two Muslim men; all others are members of the Sinhalese community.
"Amnesty International is once again concerned that civilians appear to have been deliberately and arbitrarily killed solely on the basis of their ethnicity, in direct violation of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. It presses upon the LTTE that it is an essential obligation under humanitarian law at all times to maintain the distinction between the civilian population and combatants.
"Amnesty International has repeatedly appealed to both the LTTE and to the Government of Sri Lanka to avoid deliberate and arbitrary killings in the context of the ongoing armed conflict in the north and east of the country.
"Since the resumption of the armed conflict in April 1995, the organization has documented several incidents of deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians attributed to the LTTE. They took place during attacks on villages in the east and bordering areas, as well as bombings in the capital, Colombo.
"In late July 1996, a spokesman for the LTTE denied that it was responsible for the deliberate killing of at least 70 civilians and injury to hundreds more when two bombs exploded on a commuter train at
Dehiwela, north of Cc man gave assurances does not target civilia ever, an alleged mem reportedly confessed was responsible for casting doubt on thes
ment.
"Amnesty Internat the LTTE to call an ir deliberate killings of human rights abuses to declare a clear con human rights at all tir
2 Innocen Killed b
Reliable evidence story put out by the and picked up by inter cies that the two youth the police on 15 Aug eastern Sri Lanka w bombers dressed as sc cycles laden with expl to assassinate Shipp SLMC leader Mr. Moh be absolutely false.
There is evidence t two persons were kille reasons by personnel b{ cial Task Force (STF) cally acquired over thi for making thousands "disappear'.
The two young me on this day would appe 50,000 each to a so-c Kalmunai to obtain job, the Middle-Eastern col agent could not keep h young men have been tain the jobs or return tl men were bribed by the them off” to avoid ha money.
One of the per Nagarajah Thameshku ployed at the time of h well-known NGO, the ment which operates ir Lanka.
In a letter address Sarvodaya, the father Kanapathipillai Nagar Kalmunai states as foll “My son was born sat for his GCE Aleve tober 1993 he worked sistant at the Volunt: Kalmunai/Pandidrupp On 19.1 1194 he was ap of Research Assistant the Ministry of Culture North-East province. ceived a letter from th North-East Provincial ( pointment to the posth After unsuccessful rep made to the authorities
 

TAMIL TIMES 9
ombo. The spokeshat the organization s. Since then, hower of the LTTE has the police that he lacing the bombs,
okesperson's state
onal is appealing to mediate halt to the civilians and other y its members and mitment to uphold es.”
Youths y STF
las emerged that the ri Lankan military national news agens who were shot by
ust at Kalmunai in
ere LTTE Suicide hool boys riding bisives in an attempt ing Minister and ammed Ashroff to
o believe that these ed for non-security alonging to the Spewhich has historie years a notoriety
of people simply
in who were killed ar to have given Rs alled job agent in s for them in one of untries. As the job Is promise, the two pestering him oble money. The STF job agent to "bump ving to return the
sons killed was mar who was emis murder with the Sarvodaya Movemany parts of Sri
ed to the head of f Thameshkumar, ajah who lives in OWS: on 24.11.74. He 1993; from 1 Ocas a Research Asry Centre at the Mahavidiyalam. bointed to the post y the Secretary to and Sports of the )n 16.5.95 he re: Secretary of the ouncil that his apKd been rescinded. esentations being to regain his ap
pointment, he joined the Sammanthurai Technical College to follow the NCAT course, and at the time of his murder he was following the first year of this course. He also has been a member of the Sarvodaya Movement from 1. 1.94. He recently went to the Kataragama temple and shaved his head in keeping with a vow he had taken. On his return from Kataragama, he decided that he would go abroad to earn some money and applied and obtained a passport for the purpose. In connection with his intention to go abroad he on his own set out on the morning of 15.8.96 on his bicycle No.24033351 to meet the Assistant Chief of Foreign Employment Opportunities. When he left, he was wearing a gold chain with a pendent and a wrist watch. After learning at about 10.30 am that the STF had taken our son into custody, my wife and I went to the Kalumani police station and when I enquired about my son, they denied any knowledge of my son. Thereafter, we learnt that our son was at the Kalmunai Support Hospital after being shot and when we went to the hospital we saw his dead body. I know very well that my son, N.Thameshkumar has never been connected with any terrorist organisations. In this connection I humbly ask you to whatever you can.'
INote by Editor. Will the "Tamil Times Reader' who wrote the letter dated 3 October from Australia supply his name and address so that we may communicate with him. The information will be kept in strict confidence)
The District Court of Colombo has awarded damages for defamation in a sum of £500,000 (40 million rupees) in favour of Mr.Ronnie Peiris who is businessman resident in the UK in the action he filed against Leader Publications Ltd, the publishers of the Sri Lankan Weekly, the Sunday Leader,
The action against the newspaper arose out of a news item titled "All the President's Friends' which appeared in the Sunday Leader on 5 February 1995 in which defamatory statements were made against Mr.Peiris. The article in question falsely alleged that Mr.Peiris was a debtor to Airlanka in the sum of Rs.7 million and had been afforded credit facilities by Airlanka totally disproportionate to the security provided and this afforded extremely favourable treatment not available to others, the imputation being that Mr.Peiris was afforded this favourable. treatment because he was a friend of the President.
The Sunday Leader has now filed papers in court stating that the summons was not duly served on it and therefore the judgement delivered ex-parte should be vacated and a full hearing of the case should be listed.

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O TAMIL TIMES
Media Watch
Being a Tamil in Colombo....
The much respected veteran journalist, Lucien Rajakarunanayake, in his weekly column in the Sunday Leader (18.896) comments as follows as to the ordeal Manoranjan, a journalist, had to go through in Colombo:
"The Tamil journalist, Manoranjan, who writes for the Yukthiya (a Sinhala weekly), who campaigned hard for the election of the PA, and is so often heard with such great interest by the Sinhala people when he explains the reality behind the LTTE, and the crisis of the Tamil people, has had his home searched and combed several times by the Police and the Army. He has gone through all the processes required of registering at the local Police station that a Tamil has to do. His mother is a paralysed victim of paranoia after the riots of 1983. Yet, he speaks against the LTTE and openly campaigns against it.
Two weeks ago, when he returned after addressing a PA workshop on Devolution at Aranayake, his home had been visited by the army looking for a Tiger suspect. They had threatened to break the door, when a good neighbour had said that the man had said that he was leaving for Kandy, and would return the next day. The army left leaving the stern message that he should report to the Police the next day. When he returned, he went to the Police as required. He explained his position. This had been the umpteenth time that his home had been searched. All details were taken down. But, last week the army rained down on his home again, and ransacked the place. To whom can he now complain? Are complaints of any effect? What can happen if there is no understanding DIG or SSP at hand
When such is the treatment given to Tamils who are open, declared and active opponents of the LTTE, what can other Tamils expect from the security forces. And what can they expect from the system of justice too. Should not a magistrate inquire as to what the suspicions about a person are, before committing a person to remand ? Where are the principles of natural justice If there is a lack of natural justice, and continued harassment is what is in store for Tamil opponents of the LTTE, what can other Tamil citizens expect 2
Is there an unseen force active, determined to drive the Tamils into accepting the LTTE and the concept of a divided land or that of a continuously subservient minority ? At least from the point of self-interest, does the Government or senior officers of the Police and other arms of governmental forces, not understand that the spread of this situation, can only help tarnish the good image of Sri Lanka built
abroad so hard by Lakshman Kadirgama commitment to peace : will of the President ment?
Or are they deli blacken the image of th upon it the total critic ternational and other have begun to appreci policies of this gover
I fear the latter, a is at work, and that democracy....'
“The Traitors’
"Pravada' is a m lished in English and and edited by two we and committed hum Charles Abey seke Uyangoda. The Sinha essarily a translation though some translat appear on the other ol
The Sinhala vers cently published a ser to deconstruct Buddh such issues as democ social organisation. It both the doctrine as e. canonical texts as we alised practice of the porary Sri Lanka. The these articles would did expect debate, alb tellectual discourse. optimistic. The Al "Pravada' has this to quent developments'
"However, subse have showed us that degree of heat inhere mate, exacerbated as conflict. These artic strued as a base attac consequently on the
With the governm tually stalled by lack the opposition and a the military front, all in Sri Lanka for an ea try’s 13-year civil wau cians say in Colombo said Rohan Edrisingl at Colombo University we have now is the sit and the people will b something hitherto ur be resorted to in orde solution,' Edrisinghe
On the military frc tion of stalemate - th winning one battle ov Tigers winning the su ing in heavy casualtic
 
 
 

H JO V VW i Vu LU ir i S3 *o
Foreign Minister ar, in explaining the and communal goodand the PA govern
iberately trying to his country, and bring ism of Amnesty Inorganisations, who ate the human rights
ment ?
more sinister hand again is a threat to
onthly journal pubSinhala in Sri Lanka ll known academics an rights workers, ra and Jayadeva la version is not necof the English one ed articles from one in occasions. ion Pravada has reies of articles trying ist attitudes towards :racy, feminism and has taken as its arena xpounded in the Pali ll as the institutionreligion in contemeditors realised that pe controversial and veit on a level of inBut they were too ugust 96 issue of say about "subse
quent developments
we underrated the nt in the current cliit is by the ethnic les have been conk on Buddhism and Sinhala community;
in encouraging such attacks, the editors are playing the game of the Tamils fighting for a separate state and deserve to be called traitors. Once again, the over-determination that the ethnic conflict exerts over all other issues. The insanely irrational nature of Sinhala Buddhist ideology was also clearly on view.
"The political overtones of the debate were made all the more prominent by a resolution moved in the Western Provincial Council by the leader of the opposition and approved without a division by the Council. The resolution called for the banning of the journal and the expulsion of its two editors from all their positions. These arguments were supported by the contention that the journal was forum for attacks on Buddhism; bits and pieces from the articles, taken out of context and with no concern for their overall thrust, were used in the debate. The age-old connections between Buddhism and the Sri Lankan state were emphasised in the course of the debate, with the implication that the articles therefore also constituted an attack on the state.
"It must be said that some members of the council spoke in defence of the content of the articles and even of the right to free expression. But even they too were caught up in the hysteria of the debate and did not rise to oppose it.
"We bring this to the attention of our readers as an illustration of a mentality that stands against all efforts to modernise our society and to work out a political structure that accords with present realities.'
While one can commend the editors of the "Pravada' for their courage in their effort to deconstruct established or reconstructed ideological myths, they no doubt would realise that there are others who seek to make similar efforts on the other side of the ethnic divide who are labelled "traitors' liable to penalties more severe than a mere denunciatory resolution of a Provincial Council.
pe of Peace has Dimmed
ment’s peace plan virof cooperation from virtual stalemate on hopes have dimmed irly end to the counr, analysts and politi... "I am pessimistic," le, a lecturer on law . "The only hope that uation will get worse begin to realise that thinkable has got to r to reach a political
said.
ont it has been a quese government forces er the Tigers, and the bsequent one resultes on both sides.
At the end of August this year the army suffered its worst debacle when the Tigers slaughtered over 1400 soldiers in operation against a military base at Mullaitivu in north-eastern Sri Lanka.
Government forces after several days of the offensive that recommenced on 20 September captured the northern town of Kilinochchi where the LTTE had set up its headquarters after it evacuated from Jaffna in November last year.
Neelan Tiruchelvam of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies in Colombo and a Member of Parliament, said he saw no end in the near future to the current stalemate in the ethnic war. "I don't see any breakthrough in the military operation. Unfortunately war has its own dynamics. Each party to a war wants to

Page 11
so UCI OBER 1996
tilt the military balance in their favour. So it is an unending cycle," he said.
Tiruchelvam said a political solution was the only way to end the conflict, but politicians and diplomats said bickering by the ruling and opposition parties appeared set to scuttle the peace package proposed by President Chandrika Kumara- tunga in August 1995.
The package, offering to devolve wide-ranging powers to Tamils through a constitutional revision, had the aim of ending the 13-year civil war. The peace plan suggests turning Sri Lanka into a union of regions and making it a federal state in all but name. Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance (PA) government has a one-seat majority in the 225-member parliament. Since any constitutional change requires a two-thirds majority, it needs support from the main opposition United Liberal Party (UNP), which holds 85 seats.
"It is impossible fo backing for the packag it to a useless level,' s Sithadthan, a Tamil me who leads the People's sation for Tamil Eelam ing defence burden an fering of the people fr UNP are seeking pett national interest is lost, look is so bleak that I out.'
Victor Ivan, editor per, said the UNP was peace package, which the PA from power in "They think the best government is to go ag The government will f the package because n Muslims will be upset
UNP General S
Sri Lankan authorities are tosella major stake in a state telecommunications monopoly as part of the country's ambitious privatisation programme.
"Advertisements are going out locally and internationally withina week, calling fora strategic partner to take up a 35 percent stake and management in Sri Lanka Telecom,' said Rajan Asirwatham, Chairman of the Public Enterprise Reform Commission on 19 September.
Asirwatham, who is in charge of government privatisation plans, indirectly ruled out any sale to a local investor by saying the offer would be limited to "experienced telecommunications operators.' He told reporters that reforming Telecom topped the list of needy reforms in Sri Lanka's creaking infrastructure and was absolutely essential fora country canvassing foreign investment to generate jobs.
“Without reforming Telecom, Sri Lanka will go into the 21st century as one of the very few countries which cannot provide telephones even on payment,” he said.
Asirwatham said the sale of the 35 percent stake would be completed by the end of this year. Restructuring Sri Lanka Telecom matches up with the government's stated goal of reforming non-profitable and badly managed public enterprises."Where a total or partial sell-off is not feasible, the government will try to end most monopolies by encouraging competition and reform others by injecting efficient management,'Asirwatham said.
According to stock analysts in Colombo,Sri Lanka Telecom would be the most complex and largest privatisation the nation has embarked on. They speculated that a 35 percent stake and management of Sri Lanka Telecom could enrich state coffers by about 15 billion rupees ($268 million). Sri Lanka Telecom's post-tax-profit in 1995 was 1.82 billion rupees and it employed 7,750 at the end of March this year.
Sri Lanka now has 226,200 direct telephone lines for a population of 18 million
people, with a waiting li 300,000 lines, and anal Telecom requires an infu. of capital to meet the col
The unionised laboul certain to view the sale of as a prelude to wholesal therefore are likely to o reforms. However the seem to be confident that labour dispute through ne unions.
Dr.A.T.Ariyaratne, th of the Sarvodaya Shram Sri Lanka, received the Peace Prize from the Gov 1994 on the 125th Birth, hatma Gandhi the Goverr lished an International P Gandhi
Peace Award. Thefi to Honourable Dr. Julius President of Tanzania.
H.D.Deve Gowda, th India, in his letter dated Ariyaratne said, "Our Hi Colombo has informed m you on telephone in re. Peace Prize.
"On the occasion of niversary of Mahatma G 1994, the Government of Gandhi Peace Prize for St Political Transforn Non-violence, with the in ing the promotion of Gan the world. Mahatma Gal fer an alternative to mar unresolvable problems til
 
 

TAML TIMES 11
r the PA to get UNP e unless you dilute aid Dharmalingam mber of parliament Liberation Organi. "Despite the soardi inflation and sufom the war, PA and politics in which 'he said. "The outdon't see any way
of Ravaya newspabent on foiling the would help unseat the next elections. hing to finish this ainst this package. ace a crisis without linority Tamils and 'he said.
ecretary Gamini
st for about another ysts agree that the sion of large amount Intry's needs.
force of Telecom is the 35 percent stake e privatisation, and ppose the proposed government would it could resolve any gotiations with trade
e founder and leader adana Movement of prestigious Gandhi ernment of India. In Anniversary of Mament of India estabeace Award named
st award was given Nyerare, the former
e Prime Minister of 8 September to Dr. gh Commissioner in eabout his talk with gard to the Gandhi
the 125th Birth Anandhi on 2 October, India instituted the ocial, Economic and nation through tention of encouragdhian values around dhi’s teachings ofy of the apparently at confront us. The
Atukorale said his party supported devolution but signalled opposition to a constitutional change to delete reference to Sri Lanka being a unitary state. "The principle of an indivisible Sri Lanka should be respected and we are against any form of federalism,' Atukorale said.
Diplomats said the recent establishment of commissions to probe abuses under past governments made it easier for the UNP to refuse cooperation for the package, which is now before a parliamentary select committee.
Edrisinghe said the package, even if approved, would not meet the aspirations of Tamil politicians, let alone the LTTE. "There is nothing in the package to provide power sharing at the centre. If you are serious about devolving power to regions I think it is important that regions should have some political clout at the central legislature level,' he said.
Prize is intended to honour a person who has worked selflessly for peace, non-violence and amelioration of human suffering, particularly of the less privileged sections of society, thereby, contributing towards social justice and harmony.
“The Jury for the Prize met under m chairmanship on 12 September, 1996. It is a particular pleasure for me to inform you that after careful consideration of all the nominations received from around the world, the Jury has recommended that the Gandhi prize for the year 1996 be conferred on you. The prize carries an Award of Rs. 10 million and a CitatOn.
"I would like formally to seek your consent to accepting the Prize, and to invite you to New Delhi for the presentation Ceremony. I look forward to an indication of your convenience, so that further arrangements can be made.
"It would be timely if, subject to your consent, the announcement of the Award can be madeon Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary on 2nd October, 1996.'
Immigration Network Busted
French authorities said that they have Smashed a network which smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka to France and Canada over the past eight years, according to a Reuter report datelined 9 October.
The Interior Ministry said the immigrants, paying a fee of 40,000 francs ($8000) were being flown from Colombo to Kiev, then driven into France through Poland, Germany and Switzerland.
Police swoops in four Paris suburbs showed the immigrants were being housed clandestinely in poor sanitary conditions and given forged documents in order to apply for political asylum. The network's profits were being channelled back to Colombo.
Seventeen persons were being held in custody, among them 11 of the network's leaders and two illegal residents.

Page 12
12 TAM TIMES
MAKING OF A CONSTITU AND BREATHING A NEW
By Rajan Hoole
A Constitution is no guarantee of a perfect society. Why American Constitutions have an air of permanence. The a with universal principles, open-mindedness and a consens
he ethnic conflict is now at a point where optimistic military expectations have faded into another cycle of despondency. The mili
tary approach to the problem pursued.
from the 70's has consistently nurtured its mirror image, making the insurgency first appear larger than life and then making it so. The Tamils too have most tragically been staggered by the destructive potential that could be extracted from a small community through totalitarian control.
The country now faces two start choices. To fight the Tigers it could, as one option, take chunks out of their book and militarise the whole polity. This, some among the more privileged have fumblingly advocated. It means sacrificing nearly everything that the voters wanted so clearly at the last elections. It means Saying goodbye to human rights, the rule of law, equality, economic and social programmes aimed at the underprivileged, and the fight against corruption in its various forms.
When commentators try to blur the difference between the SLFP and the UNP, an importantorganisational difference is forgotten. The former still remains the party that had made a tremendous investment in the peace programme and the search for a political
solution. Sections ofits cadre are al
most daily addressed in their hundreds by outsiders who are activists from peace groups, placing an emphasis on understanding the experience of the Tamils and a federal Solution.
Military pressures would tend to weaken the section within the PA who advocate apolitical solution and drive the SLFP to reverse the present healthy development and instead trumpet the primordial siren Sounds of race, nation and religion. That would be a great loss to the country while giving immense satisfaction to Tamil narrow
nationalists whose favourite line is
that nothing good can come from the Sinhalese. They too have also ignored, as becomes them, the positive change in the southern polity, to push the
claim that the cons is merely a decepti ecuting the war.
The alternative being lost sight of going appeared go logical extension of taken by the SLFP sation. This is to pu tion to its logical c( portant part of thio spirit towards the n constitution.
The Presen The first draft C tutional package re last year created hig cause it gave the fe that broke new gr quent modificatio1 strong rearguard ac legal draft, the so ci posal and the play w terms 'federal an away much of the ci constitutional exerc fications seemed to behest of those very primarily responsil Stagnation and the Examining the Edirisinghe, observ (25 August) that its consistencies from tions extended even tical'. He conclude "radical overhaul', principles... 'a ne' extend or paraphras it needs an entirely The incongruitie cies in the legal draft that it has not succ from the history of ruling interests tha constitution makin from the 1940's. Th ment of plantation independence in 1" first post-independ was not a Sudden a manipulative intent Subsequent constitut on the third with r
 
 
 
 

is so
the Indian and Inswer has to do lal approach.
titutional package ve means to pros
course that was
when the military
Od, is the natural the important step as a party organirsue democratisaInclusion. An imS is a whole new naking of the new
t Impasse of the new constileased in August h expectations beeling of freshness Dund. The SubsenS in the face of tion leading to the alled Choksy pro'ith words Over the d unitary', took redibility from the ise. All the modi) be singly at the interests that were ble for economic present conflict. egal draft. Rohan ed Sunday Times "accumulated inprevious constituto the ungrammas by calling for a "a return to basic w beginning. To se his conclusion,
new spirit.
:S and inconsisten
tonly demonstrate 2eded in escaping manipulation by t largely dictated g in this country he disenfranchiselabour Soon after 948/49 under the ence constitution, afterthought. This ion has Sullied all tions - We are now umerous amend
ments. Inconsistencies arise from the need to serve partisan interests while verbally subscribing to the rational and universal. These constitutions if not still-born, Soon become dead documents, singularly failing to create a united nation.
If we are to launch on an alternative course to protracted conflict, we need to plan and lay down investments to forge a united nation and bring back alienated minorities into the mainstream. This means breathing a whole new spirit into constitution making and simultaneously revamping the administration to remove accumulated injustices.
When a country goes through an economic depression it is the job of economists to think carefully and recOmmend measures in areas such as infrastructural investment education and skills, fiscal policy, liquidity and interest rates, so as to turn the economy around. There are no certainties. One has to monitor and respond as things go, calmly and thoughtfully making corrections if one is on the wrong track. A benign outcome may take anything from four to fourteen years. There is no reason to believe that there are quick Solutions to the twenty year old ethnic conflict. All we could do is to start making the best possible investments that the sum of human experience and wisdom gives us. The constitution is one of them.
The Spirit of the Constitution
Why is it that the Indian and American constitutions have an air of permanence far unlike ours? An important part of the answer is to do with universal principles, open- mindedneSS and a consensual approach.
Universal Principles: A constitution as we know well is no guarantee of a perfect society. We know that about half the Americans feel alienated enough, doubt their ability to bring about change and thus do not bother to vote. Despite grass-roots opposition the propensity of American ruling interest to warlike acts and to display their hi-tec destructive power on helpless people seems unstoppable. Yet the universal principles strongly articulated by the constitution have been an inspiration for succeeding generations to take corrective action, and have acted as an umbrella legitimising protest. This is a great strength. These principles have been the legacy of humanity for more than 2,500 years.
The equality of man is one such
powerful principle. Even if the mak

Page 13
15 остовЕВ 1996
ers of the American constitution did not believe that African slaves were men, succeeding generations have used that principle to mobilise protest and bring about corrective measures with remarkable effect, which even included positive discrimination. Had that principle been hedged by preferential reference, even implicity, to one group or the other, it would have been nullified and the constitution would have lacked either permanency or inspiration. There would have been no American nation.
Take now the Asoka Chakra that adorns India's flag as its national symbol. It embodies the spirit of India by immediately calling to mind the best in the common heritage of the subcontinent - the gift of Buddhism to her peoples. The Chakra symbolises the renunciation of violence and dedication to good works. How it inspired outsiders is recorded by H G Rawlinson quoting from the two well known Chinese traveller-scholars.
Fa Hian Spoke of Pataliputra under the Imperial Guptas about 405 AD: "The nobles and householders have founded hospitals within the city, to which the poor of all countries the destitute, crippled and diseased, may repair... The king inflicts no capital punishment, but merely fines offenders. The people of the country drink no intoxicants and kill no animals for food...
The second Chinese traveller Hieun Tsang, wrote about his hero emperor Harsha who with his family had strong Buddhist leanings about 630 AD: "In all the highways of towns and villages throughout India he erected hospices, provided food and drink and stationed there food and medicines for travellers and poor persons round about, to be given without stint... at one time slaughter of animals was banned under the most drastic penalties.'
Who in the sub-continent, of whose rich history we too are part, would hesitate to claim Such a heritage for one's own? The idea of India as captured by the makers of the Indian constitution would inspire generations of Indians to come as part of one great nation. It paid Buddhism the greatest possible honour - made even greater by a secular constitution.
The one thing about which all of us are agreed about our own lion flag is that it is partisan. It is a totemic symbol from pre-historic having little, if any, foundation in historical scholarship. Its ideological associa
tions based on myt stubbornly used to r sive and alienating The spirit behind it ing to unity.
The Rights ol The spirit of th turn inspires laws determine the libel life of the ordinary ( tle workings are C nised. The Ameri made a significant gards the rights of Zen that are felt in 1 One idea inspired b no one is above American law it is v libel on an individu is allowed to publish to be the truth. Thu bel law it is not enc what was publishe ated, but one must malicious intent.
The British law lowed is largely of The onus is on thej the truth of what he staggering penalt power structure whi expression is inord favour of the rich a right to accountab also corresponding. not an abstract idea term effects on t economy and on so Economy and Three very dal scandals in Britaj rather too late.
These involved Maxwell (1991), th Bank of Credit and national (1992) anc Bank (1995). It has t ed out that in the would have been ex before the damage Britain financial jo upon a story are pl pressure by threats The effects on th siderably further. have began to suspé moves of economic further structures and are certainly i libel laws of feuda. example, although in eration in the US is regulatory mechani veloped. The recor of nuclear plants a and every citizen h

TAMİL TIMES 13
have rather been sinforce an opprespower structure. contributes noth
f the Citizen
he constitution in and traditions that ty and quality of itizen. These suboften little recogcan constitution departure as rethe ordinary citimany areas of life. y its spirit was that criticism. Under ery difficult to pin ial journalist. One what one believes Is in American libugh to prove that :d is unsubstantifurther establish
which we have folfeudal inspiration. ournalist to prove has written or face ies. It reflects a are the right to free inately hedged in und powerful. The le governance is ly hedged. This is as it also has long he health of the cial peace. Social Peace maging financial in came to light
financier Robert le collapse of the Commerce Interi then of Barings been rightly pointUS such doings posed by the press was irreparable. In urnalists who hit aced under heavy of libel action. e economygo conThe reader would ect that the Current deregulation need of accountability ncompatible with l inspirations. For uclear power gen
in private hands,
sms are highly deds and log books “e public property as the right to in
spect them on demand. The same has not applied to dangerous and harmful experiments enjoying the cover of military Secrecy.
In Britain one gets a fair view of how the economy is harmed by power structures that strongly favour a particular class. The financial Sector is dominated by old boys of English public schools, Oxford and Cambridge universities. British postwar economic policy had largely favoured the financial sector to the cost of the industrial - ie financial deregulation with high interestrates to control inflation. During the Thatcher years of Conservative rule (1979-90) the decline of industry became a rout with production falling by 25%.
Our constitutional process too has generally steered clear of larger issues and appears to get bogged down in arguments about symbols, ethnicity, Sovereignty and unitarity. Behind the opposition to even the legal draft using these notions, there is a strong vested interest in keeping the structure of power intact. To the ruling interests the regions enjoying real power is an anathema. Only at one extreme is the issue about ethnicity.
Can we afford to perpetuate such an exercise of power that had ultimately resulted in two bloody rebellions in the South and a protracted war in the north-east. If the making of the new constitution is not approached in a fresh spirit, it threatens to become another exercise in appearing to give the Tamils something to chew on while the real structure of power is hedged in through contradictions. It is an illlusion to think that the consequences for the country can be managed for any length of time by the use of force. The making of a new constitution is primarily apolitical process through which a country matures. If the two major parties are responsible enough to see the Stark reality in the country and agree on basic principles, the people would no doubt go along. For the UNP or other sections to oppose even the legal draft on the grounds that it goes too far for the people to accept would be utterly irresponsible and opportunistic.
The Tamils too need to discuss matters openly and give confidence to the others that they are responsible agents for change. Passivity on the other hand renders them victims of manipulation. If we cannot do better than the legal draft, it only brings out the sad political reality in the coun
try. O

Page 14
14 AMIL TIMES
n 8 October, the Government
lifted the draconian censorship
it had clamped down for more than six months on all military news from the northeast. The Deputy Minister for Defence, General Anurudha Ratwatte made the Surprise announcement at the commencement of the monthly debate in Parliament on the extension of the island-wide emergency imposed by the PA since last year. The minister, in his
cles to the Departm
The purchase going or contempl. ployment and rec and the conduct ( and men Could no the censorship rul The emergen censorship came l from editors, defe! (who had been the
opening speech, said that he had seen reports in the press that the UNP was prepared to visit the peninsula only if the censorship is lifted and in
MEDIAF AND CEN
vited the party to see for themselves the situation
By DP
there.
"I have now lifted this censorship and I invite the opposition gentlemen to visit Jaffna and I hope they will accept it. If you fear to go alone, come with me. I will show you how Jaffna is now administered. You can then see the true picture and speak from your experience about the prevailing situation there and make a better contribution', he told the UNP.
The same day the Pooneryn base was removed and its troops were relocated at Kilinochchi. The lifting of the censorship helped papers for the first time in six months to report this and a bombing raid on LTTE's 1-4 base in the Nedunkerni region without the ubiquitous censored note mutilating their stories.
Naturally, there was general curiosity in Colombo to find out the reason why the Government decided at his particular juncture to do away with the censorship. Pressure from donor countries was considered to be one of the main reasons. Another was that the Government does not need censoring any longer because it is not planning to undertake major operations following the conclusion of Sath Jaya III which saw the recapture of Klinochchi.
The fact, however, was that the PA had begun to really feel the heat in many quarters locally. It was in danger of completely antagonising the press, with which its relationship had not been on the best of terms even before the censorship was clamped down. The Sunday Leader, according to its editor, Mr Lasantha Wickramatunge, had even decided to take the extreme step of defying the censorship by not sending defence related arti
columnists. Their can be formulated (a) The cens in that some papel times supported til ently operating w as the regulation: The censor was all to publish stories very well came un the regulations Ol contents and thrus stream papers wer ies faxed back frc fice with almost e making the little ti blue pencil utter stream Sinhala p was warned by the publishing a story into the category regulations.
(b) The Gov that this was bei vital information hands of the LT cause the Tigers from the foreig Sri Lanka to whic not apply. It was the scale of ope1 ern and eastern th it was difficult t ments from the II (c) In the p ness of the press corruption in arm ship was actually elements in the d by protecting the lic scrutiny. How in an editorial (8 rational proced monies spent on

15 OCTOBER 1996
nt of Information. armaments, oned operations, deitment of troops military officers be reported under
s.
regulations on der incesSant fire ce correspondents worst affected) and
countable to at least a Section of the Parliament if not the public.
Commenting on the latest supplementary estimates on defence, amounting to 10.4 billion rupees (which raised the total defence expenditure to Rs 50 billion) the Island said - "The ways in which this colossal amount would be spent is a matter of serious concern to the public. Only those in the Ministry of Defence will be privy to this defence
REEDOM SORSHIP
expenditure. National security demands that the manner in which it is spent should not be divulged', ... We certainly agree that the kind
Sivaram
of weaponry purchased should not be divulged,
angry arguments as follows: rship was selective s, which in former e PA, were apparth impunity as far were concerned. owing these papers on the war, which der the purview of n account of their t, while other maine getting their copm the censor's ofverything chopped, hat hadescaped the gibberish. A mainaper, for instance, censor recently for which did not fall
described by the
ornment's argument ng done to prevent rom falling into the E is nonsense berould get the same media based in the regulations did lso pointed out that
tions in the north
:atres was such that hide troop moveTTE.
st it was the alertwhich had exposed deals. The censorhelping the corrupt fence establishment h from critical pubver, the daily Island 10.96) argued for a re for making the 'fence purchases ac
if the military feels that such information would be advantageous to the enemy. Absolute secrecy can be advantageous but it also has detrimental effects too (sic... Government politicians apparently do not believe in the saying of a well known French statesman Talleyrand: "War is much too serious a subject to be left to military men.”
While some do support the Government decision to impose censorship on armament purchases in the name of national Security, in most democracies defence expenditure is subject to intensive scrutiny(sic) by Parliament. Defence expenditure is subject to Parliamentary control in Sr
Lanka at least in theory.
But as has been the practice, ques tions on armament purchases will no be answered, national security being the excuse. The Government need not divulge highly confidential arms purchases on the floor of the Parliament but should adopt the practice of disclosing, when necessary, the information to a special Parliamentary committee."
The Island's suggestion seems to have been born of the general belief that the censorship was there to stay under the PA's rule. The Concern expressed by the paper about the purchase of armaments was one shared by many belonging to almost all shades of the political spectrum, especially in the light of reports in the past about shady deals and colossal commissions in the purchase of armaments for the Sri Lankan security forces. The President cancelled . arms deal amounting to USD 72 mililion as soon as she came to power. It was alleged that this deal had not beer.

Page 15
15 остовыв 1996
done according to standard procedures for the purchase of armaments.
The whole transaction was first questioned and exposed in the local press. This was possible, say the critics of the PAs media policy, because there was no censorship on military affairs at that time under the UNP.
Again, the fact of the matter was that the foreign press, which was not bound by the regulations, could reveal details about the purchase of arms by the military that, in turn could call into the hands of the LTTE.
All this, therefore, went to prove beyond doubt, argued opponents of the censorship and the PA, that the rationale for the censorship proffered by the Government was downright phoney. It was not, they said, national Security concerns which compelled the PA to impose the regulations, but a desire to control and suppress the press. This was clear from the manner in which the censor wielded his authority to regularly cut from copies which were sent to him many matters of public interest to which the promulgated censorship rules had the slightest connection. The 'cuts were patently intended to satisfy the whims and sensitivities of those in power.
"The censor was set up to hold the fig leaf on the bumbling military activities of the Deputy Minister for Defence' fumed a journalist! Whose articles have been chopped beyond recognition on many occasions by the C01 SO1.
Although the Government has lifted censorship on military news from the northeast, suspicions about its commitment to media freedom are strong among many journalists and academics.
They point to the manner in which the PA is waffling and dragging its feet on the report of the Committee set up in January 1995 to advise the Government on the reform of the laws affecting media freedom and freedom of expression. The Committee, comprising RKW Goonesekera (Chairman), Dr Shirani Bandaranayake, Rohan Edirisinghe, Victor Gunawardene, Lucien Rajakarunanayake, Dr Jayampathi Wickramaratne and Surya Wickremasinghe, was directed by the Government (by letter dated
5.1.1995) to:
(a) study al and regulations a dom, freedom ol public's right to view to identify need to be rescin formed in order t dom, freedom of public's right to
(b) make re. the amendments isting legislation islation required freedom in gener dom of expressi right to informat
This committ terim report to th Tourism and Avia Senanayake on 7 plete report was p over this year on
The following tions on censorsl port.
"Our Commit of the 48 years of governance in Sri total of over 20 y emergency rule, C gency regulations terfered with the expression and th sembly and assoc been several spells under emergency censorship has att Capricious or whi
The report ri where all editorial papers were requi to the Competen publication. It po matters censored t on the high cost O. keting problemso ers, reference to a sault on two civili The Committee als tion of the imposi Some publication the most notable ning of the Saturd. lish Language W Jaffna in the 1980
The report dev withholding ofbol abroad by the cus time to time book ing articles which

TAMIL TIMES 15
existing legislation fecting media freeexpression and the information, with a ng the areas which led, amended or reensure media freeexpression and the information, and
ommendations as to and/or repeal of exas well as new lego strengthen media land to ensure freebn and the public's on."
e submitted an inMinister of Media tion Mr Dharmasiri April 1995. A comrepared and handed 27 May.
are Some observalip made in the re
Lee is perturbed that post-independence Lanka a cumulative ears has been under luring which emerhave seriously inright to freedom of 2 allied rights of as;iation. There have of press censorship
regulations. Such imes been arbitrary, msical.”
fers to instances comments in newsred to be submitted . Authority before nts out that among huS Were COIn DentS living, on the marpassion fruitgrowhalleged police asuns in thenorth etc. o takes up the quesg of a total ban on under emergency, ase being the bany Review, the Eng'ekly published in S.
tes a Section to the ks or journals from oms. It says “From
or journals carryare not to the lik
ing of some political or other pressure groups are held up by customs officials and are not released to the importer or the addressee. This is sometimes reported to be done on ministerial directives. We are concerned about the exercise of officials to withhold the release of books, journals and newspapers. We have been unable to ascertain the legal authority, if any, under which this is done. We find, in any event, that this power has been exercised unreasonably and arbitrarily... We recommend that the law on this be clarified...'
Here, however, the report fails to take cognisance of the fact there have been instances where some publications were released only after the pages containing the “undesired' material were ripped off from each copy imported. Part of an interview with LTTE's international spokesman, Lawrence Thilakar in the Junior Vikatan, a popular weekly from Tamil Nadu, was 'chopped out of that publication by the customs in this manner early this year.
In its recommendations, the Committee states, inter alia: “The Committee is perturbed by the fact that censorship is imposed by emergency measures without public announcement or explanation. The Committee therefore recommends that all emergency regulations which restrict freedom of expression assembly or association be published immediately in the Sinhala, Tamil and English press. They should be tabled in Parliament and lapse if not specifically approved by resolution within two weeks.'"The Committee further recommends that the law and practice relating to censorship be kept strictly within the framework permitted by international norms, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sri Lanka is a party. Policy on censorship should also be guided by the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of ExpresSion and Access to Information referred to in our report.'
As one of the Committee's members lamented recently at a Seminar, the government now prefers to conveniently ignore the fact that it commissioned a report on the freedom of the media - an idea which, it is quite apparent today, seems to leave a bad taste in the PAS mouth. O

Page 16
16 AML TIMES
WOMEN FORPEACEON ABUSE OF HISTORY AND RACISTADVER
in 18 August The Lankadeepa carried an advertisement inciting the "brave sons of Dutugemunu's lineage' to join the navy.
The reference to Dutugemunu requires analysis since it invokes a vision of history in which Sri Lanka is the sacred place of Buddhism which must be protected from outsiders. It entails an imagined past in which all Sinhalese are Buddhist and the enemies who invade are Tamil speaking Hindus. Accounts in The Mahawamsa of the defeat of the Tamil king Elara by the Sinhala Buddhist King Dutugemunu in 161 BCE has become a potent symbolic resource in a particular construction of the past by Sinhala Buddhists. This story has been used to legitimise the use of violence to protect or further the cause of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism.
In the context of an advertisement recruiting young men to join the navy, it appears that the myth of Dutugemunu and the evoked memory of how he resolved the need to conquer and kill, is being used to justify killing in order to protect sacred space. The myth resolves the moral dilemma of using violence despite the fact that violence is incompatible with a religion whose doctrine emphasises non-violence.
War involves death and suffering. It also involves the creation of 'enemies' or 'others' whose pain and humanity must not be recognised since this would make killing or 'defence' morally troubling. The solution to such ethical dilemmas often involves invoking 'duty' and 'responsibility as a greater goal. To Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists this involves protecting the sacred space of Buddhism. Killing and violence for the sake or religion becomes justified through a particular ideological construction of the past.
What we need to remember is that there are many versions of history. In fact, the irony, as Gananath Obeysekera has commented, is that The Mahawamsa itself records that Dutugemunu remained troubled by his killings: "great that it was (he) knew no joy, remembering that thereby was
wrought the destru beings.” Mahaw pp. 101-103).
We should als there existed mar texts before the Mahawamsa in th tury. These texts in nature, aimed Buddhist audience wamsa which was One example is the which was popula transmitting ideas These Stores tend Self-sacrifice of til welfare of others a ficult to imagine a use of violence. It nineteenth century new educated elite alisation of the Bu the use of The M deployment of the by Anagarika Dhal What we musi that in this historic nationalism was a of British imperial cal moment the a as a historic centre dhism was someth It must also be not himself used the to inspire nationali ish rule and neve incite hatred of T The fact that t ing Dutugemunu young men to wa ing. Particularly the people from must be protected least in the chror had a troubled c that here the State human Dutugem war is without dr. The use of the State indicates an liticised religion. the humane worl in which the inter ple is stressed. Le lar traditions of : displaced by an which only allow
 
 

15 OCTOBER 199,
TISEMENTS
:tion of millions of amsa 1912 XXV,
o remember that y other Buddhist ranslation of the e nineteenth cenvere multi-cultural at a cosmopolitan unlike The Mahaonly written in Pali. book of jataka tales r as a medium for about Buddhism. i to deal with the he Buddha for the nd it would be difstory condoning the is only in the late , with the rise of a and the institutionddhist religion that ahawamsa and the Dutugemunu myth rmapala resurfaces. also remember is cal period Buddhist Sserted in the wake ism. At this historippeal of Sri Lanka of Theravada Buding to take pride in. ed that Dharmapala Dutugemunu myth smata time of Britr used the myth to
mils. he state is now usas a hero to incite is deeply disturbwhen it seems that whom Buddhism are the Tamils. At icles. Dutugemunu nscience. It seems s resurrecting a less nu, one for whom wbacks. Mahawamsa by the acceptance of a pohis is a far cry from of the jataka tales relatedness of peous hope that populory-telling are not ethno-nationalism s for one construc
tion of the past. The jataka tales remind us of the futility of violence which tends to breed more violence. What is forgotten in the rallying cry to protect the sacred space of Buddhism is that historically Sri Lanka has been multicultural. Hindu deities have been and are present in Buddhist shrines. People from different communities have inter-married and in many areas people live in ethnically mixed aCaS.
The poignant destruction of life which is inevitable in a military conflict can only be aggravated by the misuse of history, which creates borders between communities who have been able to share space. The LTTE and the movement for Eelam may also deploy myths and symbolic resources in their attempts to create ethnic enmity.
Vengeance however is futile. Although the government is committed to a military solution it is deeply troubling to see the use of symbolic resources such as the Dutugemunu myth in recruitment advertisements. Political identifies, have tended to be based on ethnicity which has the problem of majoritarianism. It appears that the state can create different kinds of citizens, the 'sons of the soil who must die for their country, 'nurturing mothers' who must care for the maimed. It can also make divisions so that some groups are sons of the Soil whilst others are outsiders. Yet citizens are not constructs of the state, they are human beings located in communities. not in fantasy space.
What is interesting is to recognise that the State wears many masks. Thi English language advertiseme:. which appeared in the Sunday Observer makes no reference to Dutugemunu. The advertisement does glorify war, asking young men to sho. their true guts. Yet courage is abo tackling the hard problem of break ing down barriers.
What the state has to avoid is returning to an imagined past when ought to be dealing with the preser If the government is committed peace it must not resort to a discours of 'us' and 'them but be clear ab - its commitment to multiculturalisII a reality which has historic and cou. have contemporary meaning. Woms For Peace condemn the use of rac. advertisements and ask the gover ment to renew its commitment multiculturalism.

Page 17
15 OCTOBER 1996
he PA Government was elected to power in 1994 on a wave of revulsion at what had occurred during the period of the "Terror” as it is now known. On the road to Hakmana, pas- sing Matara, the Ven Dr Pallekande Ratanasara pointed to a house hidden by trees in the distance. "My cousin was killed there," he said "He was tortured before he died, he was nailed.'
The people of the south, the heartland of so-called Sinhala nationalism to whom the call to arms is now being addressed in many ways, including sophisticated advertising campaigns, have lived in the midst of insurrection and counter-insurgency operations.
The experience of living through the years of the JVP struggle, the long efforts of awareness building on the partofthe left-orientated political parties and the Buddhist ethos of universality that lays down the precept that "All fear death, considering others with oneself, neither kill nor cause to kill,” may therefore have more weight than abstract political concepts such as sovereignty and central rule, so dear to armchair generals of Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. s Ironically, most of the opposition to the government's devolution package, on both sides of the ethnic divide, comes from the most privileged sectors of society. These are the political, military, religious and intellectual elites ensconced in comfortable situations in the urban centres both in Sri Lanka and abroad. Protecting the "national interest' that also gives them economic affluence and social influence warrants, in their minds, even the destruction of tens of thousands of lives.
Lower down the social and economic pecking order in the rural countryside, however, the opinionis considerably different. Most people in the south did not want the JVP liquidated in a military solution, said the Ven Ratanasara, a PhD holder from Russia and a senior monk in the Amarapura Nikaya which is more representative of society as it is open to all sections. They wanted a political solution with negotiations taking place between the government and the JVP, he added. During the confrontation it became apparent that there were two main reasons for this which also illuminates the difficulty the Government faces in trying to separate the LTTE from the Tamil people.
The first was that the JVP in such larg the Sons and daught themselves. Therefol tion could not be dr. JVP and the people. areas in which the J certain discipline which petty crimina and rapists were sev The streets became sa for ordinary people \ litical interests to get daily lives.
The destination o Sara and other memb was a meeting orgar Kalupahane Piyarata bent of the Kambil Viharaya. At this tran tled by paddy fields and a school on the of the people was de taristic. In fact, the th ing, most appropriat temple was "What i. bility in restoring pe Faced with the exi ing State power, t) Christian churches de cept of a "just war's ago. This concept w by so-called liberatic the 960's to justif against manifestly o systems. Other religi Islam with its concep Hinduism with its o' warrior's "dharma' i Bhagawad Gita, also of violence in certair Buddhism, on th different because it h justify violence. A m the Ven Gatamanne said Buddhist monks protect only a race bu belonged to all the it. He added that the protectors of the Bu( and So they cann Dhamma on the one the young men to go on the other hand, ins cultivate "maithri' to tagonists to lay down raising them against There was no ang the large gathering O
 

TAM TIMES 17
TEANDRURALPERCEPTIONS
i By Jehan Perera
those who joined e numbers were ers of the people e, a clear distincwn between the Second, in those WP was strong, a was imposed in ls, drug dealers erely dealt with. fe, even at night, vithout party poabout with their
the Ven Ratanaers of the group ised by the Ven na, Chief incumiyapola Purana quil temple, neson the one side other, the mood cidedly not milieme of the meete for a Buddhist s your responsiace?' gencies of wieldhe mainstream veloped the coneveral centuries as taken further in theologians in 7 violent revolt ppressive social ons too, Such as it of "Jihad' and wn concept of a llustrated in the I justify the use circumstances. other hand, is as never tried to onk of the area, Dhammalankara cannot claim to t the land which eople living on monks were the dha's teachings at preach the hand, and urge o the battlefield ead they should enable the anarms instead of One another. y reaction from people. On the
contrary, there were several interventions that were quite firm on the necessity for a negotiated political settlement. The breakthroughs to peace in the Philippines and Chechenya were referred to. Apparently the SLBC had carried reports on the developments in those countries on its 'Vishva Shravaniʼ programme.
However, a debate began when one of the monks present said that the LTTE would not be aumenable toa political settlement short of Tamil Eelam
and that, therefore the military option
was necessary. He also said that while the Government's devolution package may be a reasonable one, the people would not agree to negotiations again with the LTTE. The question at the meeting then became: What do the people really want?
When the peace process broke down in April 1995, what had seemed impossible just a few months earlier came true. Full scale fighting started to take place tragically erasing President Chandrika Kumaratunga's mandate for peace that had so recently been won with such a convincing majority. The primary campaign promise of Mrs Kumaratunga, that had been bitterly attacked by the UNP at that time, was to acknowledge Tamil grievances due to the var and to restore conditions of peace for all
Similarly in the North it is well documented that the Government's peace negotiators were given a huge public welcome when they landed in their helicopter for the first round of peace talks.
In other words, people in both the North and South clearly expressed their rejection of any continuation of the war as a way of obtaining their rights and whatever else they wanted. It is therefore easy to surmise that the increasingly brutal war that is being fought out today, with several hundreds dying on some days, is one that was categorically rejected by the great majority of people as recently as a little over a year ago. Then, the question is whether the war that is being fought today is one that has the approval of the people. Isit that the people have changed their minds, or is the war being fought today is one that
(Continued on next page)

Page 18
18 TAMIL TIMES
he debate on devolution of power in Sri Lanka in recent months has been plagued by various myths and misconceptions about a number of constitutional concepts and principles. These need to be clarified. The main area of confusion surrounds the meaning of the terms unitary and federal. The defenders of the Legal Drafton Devolution often make the point that it is difficult to define these two terms. While this may be true it is possible to define the essence of these terms.
The opponents of the Legal Draft base their arguments on the fact that merely because the word unitary is deleted from the Constitution, a federal form of government is introduced. This is a false assumption. The Legal Draft on Devolution does not introduce a federal form of government.
The essence of a
Unitary Form of Government
A unitary form of government is one in which all legislative and executive authority is vested in a single legislature and a single executive. It has also been described as one in which "the habitual exercise Of Supreme legislative authority is carried out by one central power.
The single, central law making authority may if it so desires, delegate powers to subsidiary, subordinate bodies. If this is done it is done from the plenitude of its own powers.
The Essence of a Federal Form of Government "A system for decision making is federalist if it is an entity composed
of territorially defin which enjoys rela tonomy and which pate in an ordered a in the formation of ty's will”.
Max Frenkel's ( eral Theory, highligh of several key feat form of governmen vision of powers be and provincial/regio at the centre.
There are Sever which can be identi features of a federal ment. Ronald Watts, tics at Queen’s Un has surveyed sever ings on Federalism : following attributes tures of a federal for Ronald Watts, Profe Queen's University, veyed several scho Federalism and ider ing attributes as the Federalism:
1.Two orders of acting directly on th mal distribution of ecutive authority anc enue resources betw of government, incl of autonomy for ea a clear cut division
(conted. from page 18) has the approval of the people. Is it that the people have changed their minds, or is the war being fought because small coteries with power on either side of the ethnic divide want it? His is a difficult question to answer, because short of a referendum, one can never know for Sure.
At Hakmana the organisers of the meeting put the question to the people present at the temple.
There was no opposition to the notion that renewed efforts should be made to end the war through negotiations with the LTTE. Even the monk
who had raised the original objection
on behalf of the people as he saw it
now agreed to go along with the con
SCISUS.
The people at that meeting in the
premises of the Kam
Viharaya had exp1 and it was for peac tions rather than f war as the govel claiming is possi hardly any success It seems that 1 whose ranks rebe their greatest numl more aware of the pressing such ins separating the peo Therefore, it is po lar meetings are . rural Sri Lanka, bo South they will re' block to peace is at the power pyram lower levels wher. of people are local
 

15 OCTOBER 1996
groups, each of ively high auogether, participermanent way the central enti
efinition in Fedts the importance res of a federal autonomy; a ditween the centre hal representation
al characteristics fied as the basic
form of governProfeSSOr Of PoliIversity, Canada, ll scholarly writand identified the as the basic feam of government. SSor of Politics at Canada, has surlarly writings on tified the followbasic features of
government each eir citizens, a foregislative and exallocation of reveen the twO Orders uding some areas sh order, in Short, of powers,
biliyapola Purana essed their view, through negotiaor peace through nment has been ble though with Lo show for it. ural people from movements tap ers of recruits are lifficulties of supIrgencies and of le from the rebels. sible that if simield elsewhere in h in the North and eal that the major he upper levels of l, and not at the the vast majority d. O
2. Provision for the representation of regional views within the federal (central) policy making institutions, this could be in the form of provinces/ regions electing a certain number of memberS tO a Second chamber Of Parliament.
3. A written supreme constitution not unilaterally amendable and requiring the consent of all or a majority of the constituent units, Since a federal constitution is deemed to be a compact or covenant between the centre and the regions/provinces, amendments require the consent of both.
4. An umpire to rule on disputes between the centre and the provinces regions, the umpire is invariably the judiciary.
5. Processes to facilitate relations between the centre and the provinces regions where responsibilities are Shared:
(Ronald I Watts, Contemporary Views on Federalism).
These five essential features of a federal form of government ensure that there is substantial devolution c. powers to provincial/regional units and that such devolved power canno. be undermined or unilaterally reduced or abolished.
The way to overcome the glaring deficiencies in the present Provincia Council system is to introduce - scheme of devolution of power which includes the five features describe above as the essence of Federalism.
After the failure of the Thirteenth Amendment, it is totally unreasonabl. to expect the minority parties to accept a system of devolution given to devolved nits by Parliament and no. by the Constitution, a system of develution that can be Unilaterally with drawn by a Parliament which does n even include a second chamber to represent regional concerns.
Those who want the Constitutio to retain the unitary label must realise the practical implications of whthey advocate.
They should also remember th– the Unity of the country was perha best protected when the Constituti did not expressly provide for a utary form of government and the paradoxically the seeds for a separ

Page 19
5 OCTOBER 1996
tist movement were SOWn Soon after the introduction of the 1972 Constitution which expressly declared that Sri Lanka is a unitary state.
The Myth About the Legal Draft
But there is another important lesSon to be learned from the five basic features of Federalism. The Government's proposed Legal Draft, though it deletes the commitment to Sri Lanka being a unitary State, does not introduce a federal form of government.
With the possible exception of the first feature, not one of the essential features have been introduced in the legal draft.
Since the Constitution is not supreme and there is no judicial review of legislation, the umpire's role is seriously circumscribed. There are no provisions for regional representation at the Centre. The Constitution, including the entire scheme of devolution, can be changed by Parliament acting unilaterally.
Even the new South African Constitution of May 1996, which does not introduce a federal form of government has more federal features than the Legal Draft. The Constitution does not refer to either of the labels. Federal or Unitary. It does provide, however, for a clear division of powers between the centre and the provinces. The supremacy of the Constitution is unequivocally recognised as a baSic value of the document. Al llaw and conduct inconsistent with it is void. The principle of Co-operative Government is recognised in the Constitution and several mechanisms to facilitate such co-operation have been introduced. Provinces have the power to adopt their own Provincial Constitutions as well.
Provincial representation at the centre is guaranteed by a National Council of Provinces which provides for the 9 provinces to be represented in the bi-cameral central Parliament, and for the provinces to be consulted before constitutional amendments are introduced. The National Council of Provinces consists of 10 member delegations from each of the 9 provinces ked by the Provincial Premier (Chief Minister).
Each 10 member delegation consists of 6 permanent delegates nominated by the political parties in the relevant provincial legislature and 4 floating delegates who shall be selected by the provincial legislature depending on the subject/legislation
under consideratio Council of Province
Each provincial titled to one vote 10 member delegat One vote. Therefor delegation will hav sensus on any issue
The Myth Abou Federa Another myth a which Mr Batty W writings both in flav the legal draft, has is that a federal for is always established dependent or sovere together to constitul Constitutional S. that there are two n a federal form of go established. The method known as I alism is where prev ent states integrate t litical entity.
The second mi Devolutionary Fede country with a previ of government opts eral system. As Patr University of Leuv explained.
Integrative Fede Constitutional orde unity in diversity a independent or con component entities. Devolutionary F. contrary, refers to a der that redistribute previously unitary component entities, tain an autonomous fields of responsibil goal is to Organise unity. (Patrick Peet A Comparative Pe gium transforms fr a Federal State).
Belgium, Spain examples of count adopted Devolutio and moved from u forms of governmer rican Constitution of federal, has moved toO.
The fundament: Weerakoon’s argum sumes erroneously t can only be created tive Federalism.
The five features

TAMIL TIMES 19
h in the National
S. delegation is en. Therefore the ion is entitled to e the 10 member e to reach a con
in the Council.
t Establishing lism bout federalism, seerakoon in his our of and against elped popularise, m of government by previously inign states coming e a new State. cholars recognise hethods by which vernment may be 1110 TC COÎì111 Ofl ntegrative Federviously independo form a new po
ethod known as ralism is where a usly unitary form to change to a fedick Peelers Of the en, Belgium, has
ralism refers to a r that Strives at mong previously federally related
ederalism, on the constitutional ors the powers of a state among its these entities obStatus within their ity. The principal diversity within ers, Federalism: erspective - Belom a Unitary to
and Nigeria are ries which have nary Federalism nitary to federal it. The South Af1996, though not in that direction
al flaw in Barry ent is that he ashat a federal state through Integra
offederalism Out
lined above make it clear that the definition of federalism has little to do with how a form of government was introduced, but more with the relationship between the centre and the provinces. The Batty Weerakoon thesis unfortunately supports those opponents of devolution who argue that a federal form of government necessarily pre-supposes a division of the country.
The myth that a federal form of government can only be introduced when previously independent states decide to merge, coupled with the provision that Sri Lanka shall be a Union of Regions has un fortunately created the impression that under the Legal Draft, Sri Lanka will be divided into quasi-independent regions which will thereafter enter into a federal arrangement.
There is therefore an implicit division of the country or at least an implied recognition of independent regions. Therefore the phrase "union of regions' has created as many problems as the term "federal' might have done.
From the discussion above it is clear that:
(a) A State with a unitary form of government can through the introduction of devolution of power change to a state with a federal form of governIMCIlt.
(b) Though the legal draft abandons the label, “unitary, it does not introduce a federal form of government as a umber of basic federal features have not been incorporated in the document.
The Myth about Labels
Another myth promoted by the opponents of the Legal Draft is that a Constitution must bear either the label “unitary' or “federal' and that most countries bear the unitary label. This is completely false. Many countries which have unitary and federal forms of government do not refer to these words in their constitutions. Sri Lanka did not have either label until 1972.
The following countries do not use either label: South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Spain, lindia, Nepal, the United States of America.
The Indonesian Constitution con
(Continued on next page)

Page 20
20 TAM I MES
: When you were elected to of fice in August 1994, you prom
ised to resolve the ethnic conflict. You negotiated with the Tigers and, after they broke the cease-fire in April 1995, began what you called a war for peace - a military effort to corner the LTTE and a political effort to address the problems of the Tamil people. There is a widespread feeling today that the war has come to a stalemate once again following the setback at Mullativu, when one of the largest camps was overrun by the Tigers, and the halt to military operations at Kilinochchi?
A: When one is at war one does not win all the battles, even though one may win the war at the end. Especially when one is at war against a terrorist-guerrilla organisation like the LTTE, one cannot expect the results you have in a traditional war. Even in a traditional war not all battles are won, even if one wins the war in the end.
As far as the military part of the
campaign is concel very good successes since the war began to bring under the c ernment the most largest part of the N including Jaffna 60-70 per cent of th Northern Provin government-conti achie ved this vic months after militar menced. The m Mullaitvu and we certain amount tow
Q: What was t Mullaitivu debacle.
(conted. from page 19) tains a provision that the "state shall be unitarian'.
Australia, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Pakistan, Russia and Malaysia have provisions in their constitutions which refer to the words "federal' or "federation'.
It is clear, therefore, that labels are not necessary.
The need for a new Initiative
A new initiative to break the stalemate in the Parliamentary Select Committee is needed. A fresh approach breaking off the shackles of the language, structure and legalistic orientation of both the 1972 and 1978 Constitutions should be adopted. These two Constitutions were both fundamentally flawed, failed to promote values and principles and fell short of basic principles of constitutionalism.
Sri Lanka should be ashamed of both these documents.
As a start, Article 1 of the Legal Draft should be replaced with the following which is influenced considerably by Article 1 of the new South African Constitution:
The Republic of Sri Lanka is one, united and Sovereign democratic state founded on the following values:
(a) Human dignity, equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms,
(b) The Supremacy of the Constitution and the Rule of Law;
(c) Universal ad multi-party system ( CrIII hent tO enSure sponsiveness and o (d) Co-operativ which the national spheres of governm interdependent and
Neither the la "federal' should be "union of regions' doned as well. The between the centri should be spelled broadly similar to in the Legal Draft. Provisions to el ple of the Suprema tion, to introduce a Council or Region regional voice a mechanisms to fac gional collaboratic eas Such as the En also be incorporate A provision to Councils to partici tution amendment be introduced. The all religions equal Perhaps then S temptat drafting it will result in the il stantial devolution Sri Lanka in whi equal, and a Con: mands the respeci all Sri Lankans.
 

15 V, V Voc, . . . .
DRIKAWILLING FOR
Interview with Frontline
by Ram Manikkalingam
ned we have had For the first time we have been able ontrol of the Govmportant and the orthern Province, City. So about population of the ce is also in olled areas. We tory only seven y operations comajor setback is have advanced a ards Kilinochchi.
he reason for the The military did
ult suffrage and a of democratic govaccountability, repenness; e Government in regional and local entare distinctive,
interrelated, pel “unitary” nor : used. The phrase ' should be abandivision of powers 2 and the regions out in two lists the lists contained
nshrine the princicy of the ConstituSenate or National s to provide for a the centre, and ilitate national/ren in important arvironment, should d.
require Regional pate in the constiprocess must also State should treat
y. i Lanka's third atown Constitution, troduction of subof power, a united h all persons are titution that comand obedience of
O
not realise that the Tigers have the
capacity to overrun a major camp?
A: This camp had to be attacked some time by the Tigers because it was an isolated camp in the middle of a vast area of Tiger (controlled) land. Especially after the taking of Jaffna District (by the Sri Lankan Army) all the LTTE cadres had to come down. The LTTE was heavily concentrated in that area. This area is thick with jungle and Prabhakaran hide outs here
whenever he is in danger. They have
jungle hideouts and underground hideouts and underground hideouts. This camp was the only little island in a whole sea of LTTE controlled land. So it is very obvious that it was at risk at that time.
Q: If it was obviously at risk, why wasn't the camp withdrawn at that time?
A: There was a military decision not to withdraw it. And for the reasons explained by the Deputy Defence Minister (Anuruddha Ratwatte) in Parliament, it could not be withdrawn at that time. I would like to add with regard to Mullaitvu that we took the maximum possible precautions we could take, given the situation and the limited resources we had in place there.
Q: In a recent speech you gave a deadline for the defeat of the LTTE and the resolution of this conflict. namely, the end of 1997. Now the LTTE is a strong guerrilla organisation with serious conventional capability, and guerrilla organisations are very hard to defeat. The Irish Republican Army exists after more than 70 years of British efforts to stamp i. out. The Punjab conflict continues, so does the conflict in Kashmir. If you take the Sri Lankan conflict, President Jayewardene gave a deadline, vowing to end the conflict by December 1978. In September 1990, President Premadasa announced the defeat of the LTTE after the Eastern Province operations. Your own Deputy Minister of Defence gave a deadline - (the Sinhala/Tamil) New Year - we are not sure whether it was 1996 or 1997 to

Page 21
15 OCTOBER 1996
defeat the Tigers. Now you have extended this deadline to the end of 1997. All of this suggests that giving deadlines is not particularly wise. Do you actually believe that the Tigers can be defeated and this problem resolved by the end of 1997?
A: You see, I did not give a deadline. I just told the people that we intend to settle the major part of the war. Those are the kinds of words I used in Sinhalese. I am well aware that a guerrilla type of war cannot be ended just like that. What I meant was and what I still reiterate is what we believe we can come to the end of the serious part of fighting and probably take over the main population centres today held by the Tigers. So what I said was the major part of the military operations as such would come to Some kind of a settlement, after which we would have access to almost all the citizens - all the normal people - and make a political settlement with them.
This does not mean that we eliminate (the Tigers). The Tigers will go into the jungles and engage in various types of minor attacks, as has happened in Malaysia and other countries for many years. I believe we can settle the major issue and implement, as far as the Tamil people are concerned... begin toimplement the political solution in one form or another.
Q: In order to implement a political solution, the political proposals and constitutional reform provisions for devolution need to be passed by Parliament. How do you think that will be done and when will it be don 2.
A: I cannot tell you the details of how and when, but we intend to have a very definite solution by the end of next year. Simply because we do not believe that the provisions of a constitution, which we have always maintained was immoral and wrongly imposed upon us with 16 amendments, should be allowed to prevent the majority will of the people from being implemented. So if the constitutional provisions do not permit that, I think we can find ways and means of getting round those constitutional provisions. This is what democracy is.
Q: You intend looking at extra constitutional means or extra parliamentary means to resolve the political aspects of the conflict?
A: No, it would notbe extra-parliamentary means. It would be democratic means.
Q: Could you c A: No, not for
Q: You need t United National proposals through UNP does not supp choices are limite hold a consultati show that you have people for these pric dissolve Parliamen elections. Which on plan to do?
A: These are d like to talk about ment has to take dec like to tell you is th under a Constitutio guise that was very imposed upon the what the referend UNP's rule in 198 know some of the Constitution which cratic. This is what ing when in the Op time. And this is wh trying to amend the only vis-a-vis the e also vis-a-vis every ing the executive pı
Q: Isn't the stab ernment enhanced presidency, One oft, considered undemo
A: Yes, but if s undemocratic provi; tution were not the not need the executi example, with the n got we would have h ing majority in Par the normal method ( would not have net presidency to stabil
Q: About the pa committee process reform, do you thi possibility that the round?
A: That is the in
Q: You are look tions at this point. hope of getting th UNP?
A: No, I have n Not at all. But as a ernment we have t the ultimate. While cuss with the UNP and see how we cou

larify that? he moment.
he support of the 'arty to get these Parliament. If the ort you, then your d. You can either e referendum to support among the posals, or you can and hold general te of these do you
etails I would not low. The Governisions. All I would at we are working with a democratic undemocratically people. We know Im (to extend the 3) was about. We provisions in the are very undemowe had been sayposition for a long ly we are earnestly : Constitution, not thnic problem but thing else, includresidency.
ility of your Govby the executive he features that its cratic? ome of the other sion of the Constire, then we would ve presidency. For Lumber of votes we ad an overwhelmliament if we had of voting. Then we ded an executive ise the situation.
rliamentary select for constitutional nk there is still a UNP might come
nminent problem.
ing for other oplave you given up e support of the
Ot given up hope. responsible govbe prepared for ve continue to disat various levels ld COme tO a Con
TAMIL TIMES 21
sensus... One thought I would like to say is that the UNP has not been responsible in this issue. In the Select Committee or in their informal private discussions with us, they hae not put forward any positive proposals to take this forward. They have not committed themselves on any of the key clauses in the devolution proposals. We believe that still we have to go on talking to them and we will go on talking to them.
Q: But for the first time in Sri Lanka's history an Opposition has not opposed the devolution proposals presented by a government in power to resolve the ethnic conflict. Traditionally the Opposition has always been fairly chauvinistic and opposed such proposals and taken out demonstrations on the Streets. In 1957 the then Opposition leader, J R Jayewardene, opposed the pact (between the Federal Party and Prime Minister S W R D Bandaranaike); in I965 the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Left parties opposed the UNPos devolution proposals, and in 1987 the SLFPopposed the Provincial Council's scheme. Today the UNP has not actually mobilised opposition to the proposals.
A: Yes, that is a very positive sign. But I also believe it is a historic development which they could not have avoided. We are now at a different crossroads in the history of our country. Previously a majority of the najority community - a majority of the Sinhala community - was very definitely not for devolution. But today, for various reasons not the least of which is the fact that our Government had the courage, at the time of elections and thereafter, to constantly reiterate and explain to the people the need for a political solution - a majority of the Sinhala people do accept that devolution is the Solution.
Secondly, the minorities for the first time moved away from the UNP and voted for the PAGovernment. This was an important red signal to the UNP that they should not conduct themselves any more in a manner that the "other' Opposition - the UNP and the SLFP - did previously. So I think it was also a historic development that forced them into that situation.
Q: Going back to the peace process your Government is not the only one to have talked to the LTTE. There is a history of failed attempts at nego

Page 22
22 TAMIL TIMES
tiations - Thimphu, Bangalore, the Indo-Lanka Agreement, the Premadasa-Prabakaran talks and the talks between the LTTE and your Government. If you were to point to one single factor as the main reason for the collapse of all these talks and the failure to reach a negotiated settlement, what would that factor be?
A: If you had asked me this question before I came into government, I would have had all kinds of theoretical explanations... humanistic explanations. But now having bathed in it up to the neck, as it were, in the effort at negotiating with the LTTE. I can very bluntly say that it is very clear that the LTTE leadership does not believe seriously in negotiated settlements. Even before I came to power, I was very much involved in this process of promoting negotiations with the LTTE. Having personally attended to the whole process. It is very clear that the LTTE was never ever bona fide.
Q: There are some observers who suggest that one element absent from all of these previous negotiations, except may be from the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, was the role of a third party. And certainly the role of a neutral third party has always been absent because India played the role of a principal mediator by pushing both sides to come to an agreement. Would you be open at any point to the possibility of a neutral third party mediating this conflict in the near future ?
A: Yes, I have always said yes. If the conditions are correct, quite definitely. We tried to persuade the LTTE to agree to that in the past. I requested them to name people. They did not. The Government named a very neutral person from from a very neutral country. They refused.
Q: What do you see as the conditions necessary for such a neutral mediation?
A: First and foremost, we must be convinced that the LTTE would want to go to the end of a discussion and not use the negotiations process to strengthen themselves and hit back again, as they have done over and over again.
Q: What do you need to convince yourselves that the LTTE will negotiate?
A: I can’t tell you now per se one, two, three, four... but it would depend on the given situation. We also now
insist that they have before we start nego But of course, the t contact and beginnil happen even witho Other conditions are
Q: If tomorrow Prabhakaran, were that he would like to ernment or engage the Government t third party that is a sides, how would react?
A: If the LTTE ing...
Q: Yes?
A: Well, we hav As a matter of princ we would be happy depends on who it of people who have Some time, lots O NGO’s, which cann ting involved in pe ous individuals, an also. We will have ity of such people a
Q: Your Governi pleted two years in Prime Minister in President in Nove, would you consider cess in the last two
A: I would say O is that we have actu a silent revolution happen to be one ( ments to have Sora a country from a sit tatorship to total d shedding one drop this kind of transfo tury has been don people's revolutior lution or something one of the very fev achieved this throu we have been able racy and human f cally.
Some people se commitment to de ness. I do not beli that this is our grc we will allow Our worst possible lie: only deal with th and in no other w
I would say ti

15 OCTOBER 1996
to lay down arms iating with them. ird party making g discussions can it that, if certain fulfilled.
the LTTE leader, to state publicly contact the Govin some talks with rough a neutral cceptable to both our Government
say they are will
e to consider that. iple, as I told you, to do that. But it is. There are a lot been offering for f people - peace tlive without getace process, varid some countries olookat the abilind then decide.
ment has just comoffice. You became
August 1994 and
mber 1994. What your greatest sucyears in office? ur greatest success ally brought about in this country. We f the few governlically transformed lation of quasi-dicmocracy, without of blood. Normally mation in our cen2 either through a - a socialist revo... We are probably governments that gh the ballot. And o stabilise democeedom democrati
em to think thatour hocracy is a weakve it is. I believe atest victory - that nemies to tell the about us and still m democratically
y.
at another related
achievement that we can be proud of is that we have been able to convince, for the first time, all the people - the majority of all the communities living in this country - that a political solution is the only way out of the ethnic problem. The strength of this achievement is that we have been able to maintain our commitment to a negotiated Settlement and to peace, and to keep the people still with us on that score, while we were compelled to go to war in the last 16 months - much against our Own will.
It was not done with the Snap of a finger. We have done much work through various programmes - the Sudu Nelum Programme and other programmes to convince the people that the only way out is peace through political negotiations and political settlement. So these are our two greatest achievements. But we still have many more battles to win. The next main battle is the economic one, which we have begun to wage. We have to win that one as well.
Q: There is strong criticism of the Government with regard to the economy. For example, in the month of June alone, prices rose by almost 4 per cent. There is a considerable increase in the cost of living and a rise in inflation. Would you consider the economy to be the Government's greatest failure?
A: The talk that the economy is not moving and that it has failed, I completely reject that. There are certain accepted norms by which one judges the state of the economy. One is the budget deficit, another is inflation. The other is of course unemployment. And I have here with me figures. The budget deficitaveraged 13 per cent for the people of 17 years (of UNP rule).
When I took over in 1994, this budget deficit was at 10 per cent. With a 70 per cent increase in war expenditure, we were able to keep it down to 8.4 per cent last year, which is lower than for the entire 17 year period of the UNP. For the first six months of 1996, it is at 7.8 per cent. This year it is going to be more than last year, but we believe that next year again we can
keep it down to less than 7.5 per cent
Inflation (during the ... years of UNP-rule) was at (an average of) percent. During some years it was o'. 20 per cent. For the first year of our

Page 23
15 OCTOBER 1996
rule, with very strict budgeting and cutting down of expenditures, we were able to keep it down to 6-7 per cent. It was about five months after the war commenced that it started rising. During the second year (of the PA Government) it was at an average of about 12-13 percent. That is with the war at its most intense, except for the period when the IPKF (Indian peace Keeping Force) was here. Then as far as investment is concerned, we have had for the first time Fortune 500 companies coming into Sri Lanka. During the entire 17 year period of the UNP, not a single Fortune 500 company Ca.
Q: Could you name the companies
coming into Sri Lanka?
A: Shell, Caltex... big Korean and Japanese companies are about to come in to bid for infrastructural projects as well as other investments. There has been a show of interest. All of them are in the process of negotiating. Also in the case of the Board of Investment (of the Sri Lankan Government), almost all investments were in the range of Rs 20-30 million. There were just two or three - Ansel Lanka - that had invested over a billion rupees under the last regime. We have signed 23 projects, each of which is about Rs 500 millions. Ten of them have already started work. Others are about to start work.
This shows that there is no lack of confidence in the Government. Whether investors come in depends not so much on the security situation, but on the confidence they have in the stability of the Government's economic policy. They themselves have told us this over and over again. The fact that investments are coming slowly but surely is a clear indication that the big international investors are not worried at all and that they are coming in. This is the best criterion to judge the health of our economic
policy.
In fact, when I spoke to the Chairman of some of these big companies - Caltex, PY O, Daewoo, Samsung, Great Industries - they all say that they are happy with the Government's economic policy. They can see it is going in the right direction. This year quite a few big company directors, who are known to be viscerally pro-UNP, have clearly told me that they are quite happy with the Government's poli
cies... and I am sur UNP at the next e that the Governme nomic fundament that things are not I for their liking. Bu
stand that in a ve
tion, it cannot be tent.
And some of t that they believe thi off by the end of the my belief.
Q: The criticis not moving fast en ing made. The stror against this Gover the fundamentals r strategy is correct do the right thing, to get the governme ing in the right di planations have b problem, such as Do you see this as a steps have you tak
A: It is moving ing fast enough. T this is a malaise il that occurred befo came in. It is a mai right down the line seen this happenin 1977. The public si tised by state terro transferred 10 to 1 year political reven €fThIIncilt SerVantS V jobs within one wer ing into power an given promotions :
This was a mal cause of the terror C corruption on the tion seeped down from the top, all t tom. Officers I knc were very honest a ended up being ver it was the Order of moved depending money handed out So we inherited a ve ice.
When I became the Western Provi saying I dread the ( take over the (cer because of the stat tor. So now we ar. ously steps to corr

they will still vote lections. They feel nt has got the ecoals right. It is just moving fast enough it they also undery tense war situahelped to some ex
hem have told me economy will take year, which is also
m that "things are
ough" is often beg criticism levelled nment is that it has ight, that its broad and that it wants to but that it is unable ont machinery movrection. Many exeen given for this ack of experience. problem and what en to remedy it?
, but it is not mov
he main reason for
h the public sector re our government laise that haS come ... I have personally g, especially after ervice was traumar. Individuals were 5 times within one ge. Very senior govvere thrown Out Of ck of the UNP comd others were not at all.
aise that set in bein the one hand and other. And corrupall the way right he way to the botow personally who nd full of integrity 7 dishonest because he day. And things On the amount of by various people. ry sick public Serv
Chief Minister (of nce), I remember lay that we have to tral) government, ' of the public sece taking very seriect this situation. I
TAMIL TIMES 23
have a committee which is doing emergency work recommending what sort of public sector reforms we should pursue. We will have the report by the end of the year and start implementing it very soon.
Q: What do you think has been the biggest failure of this Government. If you were to look back, what would you have done differently?
A: I wouldn't call it a failure, but our biggest public inability has been to get the public sector reformed and moving. In every other way the goals that we set ourselves - I think we have achieved them - you cannot finish achieving them in two years, but we are on the right track. We wanted to achieve four major goals. The first was getting rid of the terror regime and re-establishing democracy. The second was the resolution of the war. I think that in two years, we have done a great deal. We have had many, many successes, both on the peace front and the war front. While we are on the right track, certain developments, I would have preferred them to have happened differently.
The third goal is anti-corruption. You can say that at the top level - and that is far more insidious and therefore difficult to attack - all important decisions have not been taken due to the monetary consideration that anybody got. They have been taken only in the best interest of the country. We may have made honest mistakes in taking decisions, but certainly corruption did not play a role. At the second and third level corruption is still there, but much less, because we do not encourage it at the top.
The fourth is the economic front. This is certain on the right track, as I mentioned earlier, but I would have liked it to have taken off faster. We have achieved many things (in the economy), with all the limitations imposed by the war. But we have failed, at the moment, to do anything Serious with the public service. And this is where I believe we have to take Serious action. Internationally also we have regained our respectability, but we have a long way to go.
So I feel honestly, and I would not hesitate to say so if I felt otherwise, that we have placed the country on the right track to achieve all our major objectives. O

Page 24
24 TAMIL TIMES
VIVIENNE - WOMA OF THE REVOLUTI
By Fiorence Wickramage
iolet Vivienne Goonewardena, a "fiery' light in the firmament of Sri Lankan politics is no more. Following a sudden illness, she breathed her last in a private nursing home in Colombo on 3 October 1996, bringing the curtain down on nearly a five decade participation in politics and trade unionism, which had been blessed with an equal share of laurels, and brickbats. In Or Out of local Or Parliamentary politics, Vivienne was "marked for the fiery, defiant and determined character, said to be inherited from the rebellious trait of the famous Boralugoda clan.
Born on 18 September 1916 to parents belonging to the landed gentry of that era and area, Vivienne Gunathilake was, however, not free from conservatism, considered an essential ingredient, or the hallmark of good upbringing for girls. Her school career at Musaeus College was marked with many successes, culminating in being appointed Head Girl in 1933. Spurred on by a growing spirit of nationalism. Vivienne at 17, while at school took an active interest in the Sooriyamal Movement an alternative for Poppy Day. She considered Poppy Day was essentially Western in that our war heroes at that time reaped no benefit from it. She encouraged her fellow classmates and finally the whole school to support her in the Sooriyamal Movement. The Sooriyamal Movement was the brainchild of the youthful red fraternity, organised to counteract the British Poppy Day. Vivienne conscious of the national movement which was gathering momentum, joined in as an active member with other 'Red' stalwarts like N M. Perera, Philip and Robert Goonewardene to form the lanka Sama Samaja Party which was later to stamp an indelible mark in the arena of Sri Lanka's politics. She attended meetings conducted by her uncles Philip and Robert Goonewardene the "Boralugoda Lions'. She started working on the party paper 'Straight Left and came face to face with a tryst with destiny. She met young Leslie Goonewardene, who came in as a working colleague and ended up as her life's
companion. Vivic against her parents 1939 and together c left politics.
Vivienne made local government politics. She repr Mahawatte, and De nicipal Councils an Parliament for Col considerable perio Sworn in as a Junio Minister Sirimav ( Coalition Governm was noted for her to ing Parliament ses reveal that many M ment, in O matter W vas vithin the Aug recipients of her fie Apart from beir the Sama Samaja l Councillor, a Mem and then a junior had been a trade un President of the All ernment Workers. A post sheadorned un championed the ca the oppressed and was indomitable i fight for their caus tion and Courts of ground for her. Sh phant in her cause
W
“When Mem by A.Sivanandan, novel of a Sri La for coherence and try broken by col riven by ethnic wa coherence in a ret ues; Rajan in a qui takes him to the Vijay in a fight fo in terror. But throu lives there emerg another future.
The author, Britain from Ceyl race riots of 1958 into the riots of lished two colle writings entitled

15 OCTOBER 1996
N Ο
nne and Leslie, wishes married in lontinued in active
her mark in both nd parliamentary sented Borella, hiwela in the Mud was Member of ombo North for a of time. She was Minister in Prime Bandaranaike’s ent in 1973. She ngue-lashing durSions and records embers of Parliahat their standing Ist House had been ry outbursts. g a protagonist of Party, a municipal ber of Parliament minister, Vivienne ionist. She was the Ceylon Local GovAssociation, which til her demise. She use of the needy, downtrodden and n her courage to e. The Police StaLaw were not new e continued trium, even after being
arrested, thrown on the floor and kicked by a constable at the police station in Kollupitiya. She looked at the police uniform which kicked her and simply asked "have you got no mother'.
Vivienne had been a tower of strength to Leftistactivists. On 14 October 1991, the Lanka Sama Samaja party felicitated Vivienne at a function held in her honour at the auditorium of the Colombo Public Library. It was in recognition of her fifty-five years of dedicated commitment to politics and Service to the poor and also to wish her well in her 75th year. Vivienne was honoured by India too. In the first week of August 1992 she was invited by India to attend as an honoured guest the fiftieth anniversary of the Quit India Movement held in the Red Fort, Delhi.
Vivienne celebrated her 80th birthday on 18 September. At a recent television interview she said that it was her ambition to see a Sri Lanka not burdened with economic woes. She wanted to see a land with equal opportunity for everybody where people, whatever, their caste, creed or colour would be able to live side by side with dignity. In her strong voice, she said that she would wish to live another five years to work towards this goal. But, this was not to be. She ended her life's mission for the downtrodden masses in flying colours.
Vivienne Goonewardene will be a name which would be an inspiration to her colleagues, for until she dies she was a live wire within the party. she pledged herself to uphold.
"HEN MEMORY DIES
by A.Sivanandan
Dry Dies', authored s a three generational kan family’s search continuity in a counsnial occupation and s. Saha looks for that rn to traditional valst for modernity that nother country, and socialism that ends gh the travail of their es the possibility of
ivanandan, came to in in the wake of the
and walked straight otting Hill. He pubtions of non-fiction Different Hunger
and Communities of Resistance. His short stories have been published in his native Sri Lanka. He is the founder editor of the journal Race & Class and Director of the Institute of Race Relations in London.
What the critics say: "To have written this book - or even to read it - you have to have nerve. There are no flip evasions, or post-modern cop-outs.... Another time, another continent.... crassness and nobility on a Tolstoyan scale. A humbling book which grips and strengthens us." - John Berger
Publication : November 1996; ISBN 1900850-01-X; Price: £9.99
Published by Arcadia Books, 6-9Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF; Tel:0171 713 0386; Fax:0171833 4804; Distributed by Airlift Book Company, Tel: 01818040400; Fax 804 0044

Page 25
15 OCTOBER 1996
(Continued from last issue)
Mines and unexploded devices:
This was perhaps the biggest hazard resulting in several dozens of mishaps. Local observers did not so much blame the army, as during the early period the army had lost control and people were in a hurry to go back to their homes. The worst affected areas were near Chunnakam, Tellipalai, Chankanai and Puttur, that had formed for some months part of the shifting frontline where the LTTE had buried mines. The LTTE hardly kept record of these, and perhaps those who planted the mines were not among the living. Even in the residential parts of Jaffna Town that had been the last scenes of fighting (e.g.: near Kailaspillayar Kovil), mines turned up in unusual places. It was about a month before the dangerous areas were identified and warning signs were posted. The following are some typical cases, mostly during May around Jaffna Town: Ariyalai: Kulendran who was cleaning his well pulled out the last bucketful of mud and debris, which unknown to him had an unexploded shell. When he poured it out the shell exploded, injuring him in the stomach. Temple Rd, near Kailasapillar Kovil: A 27 year old girl stepped under a coconut tree to pick up a palm leaf which she hoped to place on the ground and sit on, to attend to some domestic chores. A "Jony' mine exploded causing her to lose a leg. Rasavinthottatam: A small child playing near a dustbin picked up a small object that exploded, injuring the child. 28th May, Kondavil: A mine exploded under a tractor carrying returnees, killing eight.
Crimes involving Rape, Physical Assault and Murder
29th April 1996: Navatkuli - Kachchai Road, Thenmaratchy
Troops were moving east towards Kachchai from Navatkuli when they stopped near a small peasant settlement. Most of the people moved away. Some soldiers entered a hut and raped the wife while the husband was chased and stabbed to death. When the matter was reported to the brigadier at Chavakacheri, he came to the settlement, apologised and gave an assurance that it would not happen again. By then the troops had moved on. When asked, the villagers said that it was not feasible for them to identify the culprits in an identification parade. Other military officials in Jaffna too were aware of the incident. But as far as we are aware no attempt was made to get at the culprits by working through NCOs or to discipline them The matter was effectively hushed
up.
17th May 1996: Th rape which took pala dier’s area, may have inaction over the fir
Manthuvil lies west of Varany bi Kodikamam (Kan Nelliady-Kodikami with two sisters ma the betel leaf trade h although several oth of an increasing mi. area.
We shall describ, some detail since it i the largest incidence
forces personnel has Much of this region zium whose parallels the 8mile section oft ing from Nunavil and through Chavakachel (5 miles) and Kodik to the north the Kana Road: through Vemb east of the Kanagar two sides are the puliady road contain 2 1/2 mille section of Pedro road ending a roads that are releva the Meesalai - Vem 1/2 miles northwards Vembirai to the east: this road. From Ch northwards is a road containing Kerudavi Kanagampuliad now just enclosed wi Army has constructed Kodikamam road. N the uncleared area wł The wall is guarded intervals. Army cam about halfmile interv to Kandy. The Arm around the place at M and Mattuvil and t army camps such as tenant at Kerudavil narrative is a housing the incident was just
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 25
is second incident of ce in the same brigaresulted in part from st incident.
in the interior area etween the Jaffnady) Road and the am Road. A family rried to two men in ad remained behind, ers had left because itary presence in the
e here the location in s about this area that of crime by armed
been concentrated.
lies within a trapesides are to the south: he Kandy Road startrunning roughly east i (2 miles), Meesalai amam (8 miles); and gampuliady - Varany irai Junction 3 miles npuliady. The other Nunavi l-Kanagam ing Mattuvil and the the Kodikaman - Pt t Varany. Two other nt to this report are pirai road running 2 . Manthuvil is nearer side (Varany side) of avakacheri running to Kanagampuliady
and Vembirai are thin the new wall the ' covering the Putturorth of this wall lies ich includes Varany. by soldiers at regular ls have been sited at als on the trunkroad is thus very much [anthuvil, Kerudavil nere are also small he one under a lieuManthuvil in this colony. The time of about a month since
Intest Between Beast Within
the Army entered Thenmaratchy, and Manthu vil may have then been technically an uncleared area. 13 soldiers were killed D in a confrontation with the LTTE at Kanagampuliady about late June.
About 6.30 in the evening five armed men wearing uniforms of an unspecified kind came to the shop and began as though they wanted to buy something. They then shot dead the husbands of the two sisters, another male inmate of the house and a child of three. The two sisters and another woman were subject to severe assault and rape. The assailants left after robbing jewellery from the house. According to local sources the main motive of the assailants was robbery. The rape was attested to, to visiting journalists by the medical authorities at Pt. Pedro Hospital. The assailants were described as speaking broken Tamil, and Sinhalese among themselves.
Thangarajah Puvaneswary (36), one of the victims, and her sister who was in a very bad condition, were warded at Pt Pedro hospital. There was some confusion even among the hospital staff as to who the perpetrators were as Manthuvil was more than 2 miles interior from elther main road and was then considered part of the "uncleared area' - i.e., where the LTTE had relatively unhindered access. The strongest testimony, however, came from Puvaneswary who asked a doctor to translate to the visiting correspondent of the Hindu, her firm statement that the perpetrators were members of the Sri Lankan Army.
Although we had on two past occasions recorded instances of extreme sexual abuse by the LTTE, these were done under conditions of extreme secrecy as becomes such a group. The first incident came out through internal testimony from a disgusted member of the LTTE, and the second through a fellow prisoner. The incident in Manthuvil, however, is highly uncharacteristic of the LTTE, nor does it seem possible for LTTE cadre to carry out such calculated deception to give the Army a bad name.
To the experienced Jaffna folk an LTTE cadre stands out even if unarmed and out of uniform. In this case the highest weightage must be given to Puvaneswary's testimony. A woman who has suffered the ultimate insult and the greatest deprivation has little reason to cover up for the perpetrators. An area being uncleared may well suit men moved by lust and wanting to minimise the risk of being found out. The LTTE presence is also thin and soldiers do move into such areas in small numbers.
By the official Military Spokesman claiming that the rape was the work of the LTTE with a view to discredit the SL

Page 26
26 TAMIL TIMES
Army, any serious inquiry had been precluded. Another problem that called for firm action was buried. May 1996: Kachchai, Thenmaratchy:
The man went early in the morning to cultivate the family's field. Later in the morning his wife took tea for him. Both were later found brutally murdered. Rape is suspected. There was then a large presence of troops in the area. Early July: Mattuvil, Thenmaratchy:
Three soldiers in civils, two of them carrying arms, went to the house and pulled out a young girl. Her brother went to her defence and was assaulted badly. Crying was heard from the house while the girl was dragged out. The next door neighbour came to their aid and was kicked forcefully on the abdomen. Heimmediately passed urine and was later unable to do so until treated, owing to the swelling of his abdomen. The girl was raped and brought back home. The men warned the family that should they report the matter to the higher authorities, the whole family would be wiped out.
The girl, her brother and neighbour were later warded at Jaffna Teaching Hospital. 4th August: Kerudavil, Thenma-ratchy
Terrified screams were heard from the house about 11.00 p.m., where the father was alone with his young daughter. The neighbours were themselves too terrified to venture out. In the morning the two were found brutally murdered - the daughter after being raped. Soldiers from a nearby camp surrounded the area in the morning and claimed the LTTE had done the deed.
The girl's brother, a student at the University of Jaffna escaped death as he had gone that day to Jaffna to collect his books.
The mangled bodies of the father and daughter were then brought to the Chavakacheri Base Hospital and the public was requested to identify them
Rape was reportedly attested by the hospital authorities. A singular feature in the incident which adds to the complexity was the brutal murder of the father. His finger nails being pulled out is suggestive of torture. The main army camp, HQ 522 for Thenmaratchy, is in Sarasalai, hardly 2 miles form the location of the incident, and there are small camps regularly sited in this strategic area. These factors with the circumstances (i.e screaming and time involved) and the nature of the killing (LTTE assassinations are usually quick single bullet affairs) almost decisively rule out the LTTE.
Attacks from behind civilian cover
A continuing problem experienced almost on a daily basis is that of the LTTE using civilian cover without inhibitions in attempts to provoke the Army. During the first two months after the return of civilians, food queues were among the commonest places for such attacks. The usual modus operandi was to creep into the
queue, roll a grenac queue towards as der and then run : record soldiers hav ciplined manner a down safely before Some typical instal 25th April, St. Colombagam: 1 so Mid May, Kalladdy nades thrown at sa distribution queues One soldier killed 23rd May, Chavak An LTTE girl in sc grenade while a gr ing to some soldie dren were injured.
The Th Jaffna is divid "cleared' and "u, Jaffna Town. A wa as the Great Wallo separating the cleal eas. This wall in pl aluminium taken to nearby house roof changes from plac places it takes the f of earth and rubb houses, reinforced b trees freely cut do' The uncleared ar swathes of territory Uduvil and Nachi mam. Vaddukkod Manipay lie outside west from Nachima Jaffna Town, one and reaches Ponnal ters for the first tin to protect the Ka Chankanai was saic LTTE presence of In Vadamaratchy, V & Kattaveli east of side the wall.
In the east the two miles east of Pt the coast to Katkov wards enclosing V. Manthikai and then ing the Jaffna road whence it covers the Thenmaratchy. T Manthikai - Kodika Thenmaratchy wou area at Manthika Kodikamam. Those vate vehicles are no into uncleared area to travel from Pt. will first have to ta and then the Kandy instead of 10. A pi remains the most transport. No public in uncleared areas. ing to visit a neigh across the new wall a pass and travel s the wall through a

15 OCTOBER 1996
e along the line of the ldier maintaining orway. In all cases on e responded in a dissking civilians to lie using their weapons. |C6CS aT6C: Xavier's Seminary dier injured. Junction, Jaffna: Greldiers manning food on 3 successive days. and two injured. cheri Ladies College: hool uniform threw a up of girls was talks. Some school chil
ree Zones ed into the so called cleared' areas and ill described by wags f China runs for miles ed and uncleared araces is made partly of a large extent from ing. Its composition :e to place. In some orm of bunds made up ble from bull-dozed ystems from palmyra wn by the thousands. ea comprises large west of Kantharodai, mar Kovil in Valikadai, Chankanai and : it. As one goes north ur Kovil, just north of passes Vaddukkoddai ai where one encounne an Army presence rainagar causeway. to have a significant about 100-200 cadre. allipuram, Kudathanai Pt. Pedro, remain out
wall begins at Munai Pedro, runs east along alam, turns south inLrathuppalai, Puttalai, runs parallel enclosi up to Puttur, from Kodikamam road into hus one taking the mam Rd (9 miles) to ld leave the cleared and re-enter it at with fuel driven priallowed to take them s. Thus one wanting Pedro to Kodikamam ke the road to Jaffna road, doing 35 miles sh bicycle therefore expedient means of transport is available Often a person wantbour or his field just would have to obtain 2veral miles to cross check point. On the
uncleared side the wall has barbed wire rolls and minefields and has sentry huts at regular intervals.
Theoretically the Army's writ runs within the "cleared' area while the LTTE roams outside. There are occasional forays or large scale cordon-and-search operations by the Army. A large one during May went into Valikamam East and West. There were casualties on both sides but public relations remained good during the 2-3 days of the operation. The rest of the LTTE cadre (estimated at 100) went underground and escaped, unlike during the round up at the Chankanai Temple where cadre were trapped inside and the whole temple was destroyed with the cadre. Apparently the Army feels such operations are not worth the effort and tries instead to contain the LTTE numbers and the conflict to one of low intensity.
The LTTE in the uncleared Valikamam area is physically cut off except for radio links with their command. Thus they are completely dependent on the local population for their sustenance. The situation is that the Vadamaratchi & Thenmaratchy sectors are different in that there is easier access to the Vanni from both. The attitude of the people to the LTTE has changed. Now in general there is a tendency to uneasiness and an overwhelming desire to be left alone, and not to be involved or importuned. There have been several cases where people have informed on the LTTE.
The LTTE is also aware of this change and is trying to improve its public relations. However long posters have gone up telling the people not to be fooled by all the rehabilitation and offers of goodwill by the Government, pointing to past history. The usual warning to those collaborating with the State or its Forces has been clearly reiterated. To underscore their warning they have carried out several extra-judicial executions. One of the earliest was of Dr. Sri Vallipuram who met one of his old “buddies' in the Army and became too friendly'. Another was a businessman near Natchimar Kovilady. One of the women who took part in the masslooting of LTTE stocks towards the end of Riveresa (Sunshine) III was also "lampposted'-i.e., tied to a lamp post and shot dead. Immediately after the Army took over Kodikammam alarge number of people looted the stores of the LTTE which had been filled with hundreds of sacks full of flour and other items. People were angry that these things were sold at high prices and were on short supply until that time. Even a large quantity of coconuts(in the thousands) which were sold by the LTTE at exorbitant prices earlier were set on fire by the LTTE when they were leaving the area to make sure that they did not benefit the people who remained behind against their orders.
The arrangements between the cleared and uncleared areas are interesting. There is dusk to dawn curfew within

Page 27
15 OCTOBER 996
the cleared area. Though people have been told that in an emergency such as a medical one, they can approach the check points, few would venture to do so. Entry to cleared areas is only at certain points in the "green wait' during day time. To go to Pt.Pedro and other enclaves a pass is needed (requiring a complicated approval system).
Life in uncleared areas could be very uncertain when confrontation takes place: 28th July 1996: Thenmaratchy: Late in the morning the LTTE ambushed an army party at the junction where the Navatkuli - Kerathivu Road meets the road from Chavakacheri, killing an officer and nine other men. In the afternoon ten shells were fired into the area from Palaly. A particular reason for the shelling may have been to disperse the LTTE from the area to enable other soldiers to move in.
According to local sources the officer and his party had gone to that area on a tip-off, but had not anticipated a large group of the LTTE. May 1996: Soldiers who were part of a sweep of the uncleared area after a tip off in West Valikamam, happened to camp at a house in Sankarathai where there was also a presence of women Tigers. The latter hid in the ceiling and at length one of them coughed. The soldiers left leaving behind a delayed explosive device. Four women were killed.
Check Points Increasing the number of checkpoints and the hassle of going through them may irritate the people, but they may yet be prepared to put up with it in the hope that things might ease out after some time, and even understand or rationalise the necessity for it. But the attitude of army personnel towards them is going to determine whether these will turn out to be legitimate security checks or harassment of civilians. Up to early July, in Jaffna, the Army had taken great pains to make the people feel that the checking owes to the security situation and were even very apologetic about it. This went down well with the people. The experience of people in the East has shown that most of the time the Army's checking impressed them as a fruitless exercise carried on merely to harass them. It reached a ridiculous level during the early 1995 peace talks where the LTTE cadre were most often given VIP treatment while the ordinary civilians continued to go through routine checking standing in queues in the noonday sun.
More recently, in July and August, indiscipline at checkpoints has been on the increase with cases of petty theft reported. At Kodikamam checkpoint a transistor radio was taken from a young man, who insisted of staying until he got his goods back. The Army then sent away his companions. He is now missing and the Army denies any knowledge of the matter. Such incidents however, still remain fairly isolated and most people are una
ware of them.
Detainees, Tortu SS October 1995 - Apr tioned earlier that ab persons who fell to by the Military polic chains and regularly cember. Many of th June this year. 19th April - May 1 300 youth were deta mediate aftermath o into Valikamam. Apa number also included ers who had surrende of the LTTE and 15 in Valikamam by boa tortured. The mother the LTTE who work said that her son hac fingers with the pal surface and that the on his buttocks, prob cution. A group of ab sent to Colombo. Fo. procedure adopted w had been questioned tion. It was at this s made contact with th several weeks after family having no co edgement and no le intervening period - a unacceptable after t cle and in the conte. tions in the Vanni. May 1996: Kalviank ity: A young boy sel to the engineering de rested and tortured b to Kalviankadu camp was hiding arms. He fits and was admitted Teaching Hospital. TI died had said that h down by his big toes ficer-in-charge at Kal as having said that th take.
Irupalai, Valikam The boy who hac was living on the Irup near Rasa Veethy jun by the Army and a leader in the area ass charge at the local knew the boy well a ing to do with the LT him an assurance tha released in 48 hours. hours later and in a fu he was dead. It turned laid flat on the gro pounded on his stoma local population whc the Army became ve. Note: Both this and t were obtained by us very reliable sources. ing the geography are been able to ascertain

TAMIL TIMES 27
re and Missing Per
il 1996: It wás menout 26 mostly young he Army were held 2. They were kept in beaten until 5th Deem were released in
996: Possibly about ined during the imthe massive return rt from suspects, the some LTTE desertred, former members persons who arrived ... Many of them were of an ex-member of ed in the Kachcheri been beaten on the ms placed on a flat re were burn marks lably due to electroout 60 detainees was lowing protests, the as to send those who to KKS Police Statage that the ICRC em. This could take detention, with the bntact, no acknowlgal hold during the procedure extremely ne Mullaitivu debaXt of current opera
adu: A torture fatalected for admission gree course was arby soldiers attached on a tip-off that he then started having I to Ward 1 at Jaffna he victim who later e was hung upside and beaten. The ofviankadu is reported ey had made a mis
}02}ን፬.
done his A.Levels alai - Kondavilroad, ction. He was taken prominent religious ured the officer- inarmy camp that he ld that he had nothTE. The officer gave it the boy would be He was released 48 rther 48 hours' time out that he had been und and had been chwithapestle. The had earlier trusted y disturbed. he previous incident from different but Some factors includclose. We have not some points regard
ing the second to say definitely that it is distinct from the first. But the divergences suggest that. Mid-July: Ariyalai: An LTTE cadre escaping after killing Mr. Ramalingam (see below) had taken the bicycle of Satkunam's son who was then bathing. The cycle was later returned. Satkunam reported this to a nearby army post. The Army had not seemed interested. A few days later when the Army set about making arrests, two armed men in civils came to Satkunam's place at about 5.00PM and asked for him. His wife told them that he would be back shortly. Satkunam's daughter asked who they were and they showed Army identity cards. The men were Sinhale se speaking. But one of them spoke with an accented Tamil. While waiting for Satkunam the men spotted his son who was studying, and they took him and went away saying that he was being taken to Subhas Hotel. The father had then regularly gone to the Subhas Hotel Army HQ in Jaffna Town only to receive deniais. The local army camp at Punkamkulam Junction also denied the arrest. As long as ten days later, the ICRC office in Jaffna had no record of the arrest. 15th July 1996: Rasavinthottam: Two young men, Ravi Coomarasamy and Prabkaran were going for evening worship at the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission in Chundikuli, where the former was resident. They had just closed their shop in town. A man who saw them being questioned at the Rasavinthottam sentry point later checked with Prabakaran's mother if her son had returned home. On receiving a reply in the negative, he told her what he had seen. The mother with her daughter went to the checkpoint.Without denying the arrest they were told to go home and that the boy would come back safely, subsequent appeals to the authorities have met with denials.
Ravi had earlier worked for a communication centre in Colombo that had been frequented by Varathan who masterminded the JOC bomb blast in June 1991 and had been known to Ravi. Ravi was among several people wanted for questioning, and fearing the worst, he ab-. sconded in Jaffna. From 1992 he had been involved in the work of the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission. He had also earlier undergone surgery for hole-in-the-heart.
The case against those accused of helping Varathan was concluded in 1993 and all were released except for the three officials of the Upcountry People's Front whose continued incarceration was said to have been for political reasons. The UPF leader after his release following the August 1994 elections became a Deputy Minister in the present Government. The husband of another detainee, Ravi's sister, committed suicide after thepressquoting police sources had falsely called her a hard core member of the LTTE and a mistress of Varathan's.
Brother Stanley of the Pentecostal

Page 28
28 TAMIL TIMES
Mission had unremittingly gone to the Army and explained Ravi's position. About a week later the Army verbally admitted having Ravi, but did not allow Brother Stanley to see him. Up to the sec
ond week of August the ICRC had no
record of Ravi's arrest. 17th.July 1996: Neeraviady, Jaffna Town: Gunaratnam Ronnie Arichunan was married 2 years and his wife was expecting their first child. He had done a stint with the LTTE until 1991 and was subsequently an active worker of the Zion Church. He recently found employment at the Jaffna Post Office as a substitute. Having left home at 7.00 A.M. he was delegated that morning to deliver packages of stamps and stationery to four sub-post offices. Having made his deliveries at Jaffna SPO, and Jaffna Town PO, he went to Neeraviady SPO where the post master's assistant told him that the post master had gone out for a short time. Arichunan went promising to return after making his final delivery at Navanthurai SPO. From that time he has been missing. All army points on the route and the military authorities in Jaffna deny having taken him. July end: Meesali North, Thenmaratchy, off Meesali - Vembirai Road:
Murali (19) the eldest son with a younger brother and sister lived with his parents and was a salesman in Chavakacheri town. At about 10.00 A.M. the lieutenant in charge of the camp next door who was friendly with him asked him as a favour to borrow for his use a video deck from a house a few doors away on Murali's side of the camp. Several people who left for the Vanni had left their belongings in that house. Having taken his breakfast Murali proceeded there. Just a short distance away he passed a house that was a sentry point with 3 soldiers. One called Murali in, accused him of being an LTTE informant and took him into a darkroom. The three soldiers took large sticks and proceeded to belabour him on the head. Murali soon passed out. Shortly before the change of guard in the evening, the soldiers revived him by kicking him and cut him all over the body and finally made a deep cut in the neck causing him to pass Out Once more.
The soldiers then tied a nylon saree around his neck and dragged him into the compound of the house behind, lifted the cover of the septic tank, thrust him in, and replaced the cover. They had evidently presumed him dead or dying.
During the course of the night the lady of the house in the compound heard a feeble, but continual whimpering. What had happened was that the water in the septic tank had revived Murali for the second time. Every now and then he gathered his
strength, made a vocal effort and sank
back exhausted. In the morning the lady insisted to the men of the house that someone had been whimpering on the premises. The men who had slept soundly
were sceptical, but w lady to join her in searched everywhere was time to call it o barely heard in a stat ness, and was driven fort. This was heard protruding from the cover and promptly a ily who had inquired with sinking hearts, a tenant at the army c had a look and went Murali was then of the Jaffna Teachin, was better he said th one of the soldiers in fearful of doing so. T army camp who had tion, and those higher hear about it. 31st July: Periyama Muhunthan was a yo ing Ponnuthurai Sinn; his tailor's shop at from Chavakacheri Road. At 5.30 PM Mu ing home after a Sinh was stopped at Periya diers on two motorbi him in Tamil, “Ho Muhunthan was heard The soldiers asked for and Muhunthan off there. The soldiers t they wanted some cl order had been previ Sinnathurai and Muh the shop on bicycles, on motorcycles.
Having collected dier went back to tow an army truck. Muh thurai were loaded their bicycles and tal lies have since been search in various arm Although nearly all si had been publicly wi ties have continued edge of the event. 1st August (approx) Town: The leader of: ganisation in front c was waiting for two y Ariyalai to help him had fallen down dur operation. At about came to the premises engaged two youths he knew them. He re tive and said that h youths. He was the Eechamottai army ca ment. To his good for met on the way by a
who told the soldie
youth leader well.
At Eechamattai tractor, driven to Pas blindfolded and tak Without any warning

15 OCTOBER 1996
're persuaded by the a search. Having the men said that it f. This, Murali had e of semiconsciousto make a final efthrough the air tube ank. They lifted the lerted Murali’s famfor him far and near Id also from the lieuamp. The lieutenant away. dmitted to Ward 30 Hospital. When he at he could identify folved, but later was he lieutenant at the een him took no acup evidently did not
rady, Chavakacheri: ung co-tailor assistathurai (47) who had Sangathanai, 1 mile on the Kodikamam hunthan was returnLalese class when he mavady by four solkes. A soldier asked w is your body?" | replying "It is OK". Sinnathurai's house ered to take them old Sinnathurai that othes for which an ously placed. While unthan rode towards he soldiers followed
the clothes one solin and returned with unthan and Sinnainto the truck with cen away. The famimaking a fruitless y camps in the area. cenes in this episode tnessed, the authorito deny any knowl
: Chundikuli, Jaffna a Christian youth orf St.John's College oung labourers from re-erect a fence that ing the last military 10.30 AM soldiers and asked if he had o work and whether plied in the affirmae knew one of the asked to come to mp to record a statetune perhaps, he was person of standing 's that he knew the
|e was loaded into a saiyoor army camp, 'n to a small room. he received a severe
kick on his stomach. As he bent down in pain he received another blow on his neck, followed by his face being dashed against a wall. The youth leader collapsed onto a rail. Then several men beat him with wires, cables and s-lon pipes while being accused of belonging to the LTTE. His every denial brought forth blows of greater severity. At length he was brought back in the tractor and left from where he had been taken. To the naturally timid youth this had been a physically and mentally devastating experience.
His having been lucky may be a strange comment. But it must be one of the few times that a victim of such torture was released on the same day and did not go missing.
Remark on Torture
The accounts above describe the types of torture that are now commonly inflicted. A common experience of the detainees is that they are blindfolded and blows would start raining any time. Such experiences started occurring on a considerably enhanced scale from July. Other kinds of torture too have been reported from the time of the Army's takeover, particularly in rural areas. One is the petrol bag treatment: i.e. a plastic bag with a small quantity of petrol is placed over the victim's head and he then is suffocated with fumes. .
A postman from Palai who used to drive his car during the weekends to carry out trade in betel leaves had gone to
Nunavil. He was taken by the Army and
locked up in a room with a fierce Alsatian dog, leading to his being severely
bitten. (Continued in next issue)

Page 29
15oCTOBER 1996
azil Barysat in the back of a Toyota Land-cruiser pick-up, with a large black kettle resting on a US Army ammunition box in front of him. Three other bearded men in loose brown robes were squashed in alongside.
Now 35, Fazil spent all his young adulthood as a mojahed, “a warrior of God", resisting the Soviet occupation of his country. But when the mojahedin leaders took over the government four years ago, they "deviated from Islam”, Disappointed and betrayed, Fazil had no choice but to go back to the struggle, he explains. His younger companions nod Sagely.
With the earflaps of his Russian soldier’s hat flopping as he talked (“My turban's inside the car', he smiled), it could have been pure comedy: the glasses of tea, the tin of snuff in his hand, his name scrawled on the bonnet of the Landcruiser just to remind potential rivals that he was the one who liberated it.
Yet this is no bunch of amiable ruffians, affable though they may be to foreign reporters. As we chat, the crump of mortar fire echoes round the mountainsides. We are on the front line of an astonishing advance which has seen the Taliban militias capture Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, and several other key cities, moving forward some 200 miles in three weeks. The Panjshir Valley ahead of us is the last redoubt of the retreating government army.
Everywhere they go, the Taliban are imposing a version of Islam which has no parallel in the world. People have been forced at gunpoint to attend the mosque. Women are barred from work, men ordered to grow bears. Television is banned, and satellite dishes are shot at. They snatch music cassettes from cars and smash them with rocks by the roadside.
Fazil Bary calls himself a mullah. He has a wife and a five year old daughter. “I don't want her to go to school", he boasts. "I will give her whatever rights are bestowed by the Koran, but no more. The only knowledge which is compulsory for women as much as men is knowledge of the Koran'.
Hundreds of spent cartridges from the Soviet anti-aircraft cannon they were using as long-range artillery lay on the ground nearby. The ammunition was a token of women's work, though the militias were not to know this. A slip of paper in every tin contained the name of the packer, and the quality controller. All were Russian female names.
Zoom back from the detail, and the scene had an emblematic message. When the world had more than one su
perpower each side p dollars of hardware central Asian country sort of mission. With War is reversion to a
Afghanistan has
the soldiers of Isla people, particula brace themselves crackdown. As th tiamen continu mojahedin out ( Jonathan Steele city emerging fro war into a differe
to mention the death million Afghans.
A scrap metal met and a few flatbed tru fortune along the roac north. Disabled milit the ground, though to often hard to tell whic fire and which just le On our first trip t a Soviet tank slap-bai the road, apparently retreating governmel state of disrepair. T driver it was a traffich proportions. Sure en spot two days later, second tank, tipping gle over the side of equally useless. A TI clearly swerved too li If there is little to c Taliban and the moja loyal to the governm to mastering complica Taliban have the edge ons help, but our stre the Koran' is a refra time you accost them terview.
Their second soul is contempt for the n 'deviations'. Like e bashers, the Taliban a tants stirring up the f wayward prophets of who betrayed the pe not just their material way the men who ledt the Russians turned ( victory.
Most Taliban had bul before last week. S only have redoubledtl While war with the country in tatters, Ka

amon
TAMIL TIMES 29
umped billions of into this dirt-poor in pursuit of some he end of the Cold medieval past, not
all-but fallen to am. And now its rly the women, for a religious e fanatical milie to drive the of the country, toes to Kabul, a m the rubble of
nt terror.
ls of more than a
chant with a crane cks could make a from Kabul to the ary vehicles litter the naked eye it is hones were hit by ft to die. o the front we saw ng in the middle of pequeathed by the nt forces in some o any night-time azard of enormous ough, at the same W CIC CITOSS 2 at a terrifying anthe road and now aliban driver had ate and too far. hoose between the hedin who stayed ent when it comes ated weaponry, the in morale. "Weap2ngth comes from in you hear every for a roadside in
ce of inner power hojahedin leaders' vangelistic biblere Islamic Protesaithful against the the establishment ople's hopes. It is corruption but the he struggle against n each other after
never been to KaSeeing the city will heir determination. Russians left the bul remained un
ABN
spoilt. Set on a plateau with the magnificent high-veld climate, at least from spring to autumn, of Johannesburg or Harare, the burning blue of its skies is softened by great ridges of mountains around it. Their colour, khaki, (from the local word for "dust") gave other languages a new word. Only the heavy snows of winter add a non-African dimension.
Now much of the city no longer exists. Sarajevo has become the world's yardstick for war, the best known measure of a modern city brought to ruin. Kabul is three times worse. Rockets were the main cause of destruction in the Bosnian capital.
Kabul was hit by heavy artillery shells and even on occasion bombs dropped by aircraft. Since most buildings were made of khaki mud bricks from the surrounding hillsides, which crumble at the slightest blast, the city has gone from dust to dust. The northern districts which were out of range of the shelling are the only parts spared. They are overcrowded with refugees.
Entering the wasteland of a city, the Taliban must feel their holy mission to clean away an irresponsible mojahedin leadership is fully justified. Most of them spent years in madrassahs (religious schools) in the refugee camps of Pakistan, being trained as mojahedin. They did not expect they would one day form a second wave of warriors. This time purifying their country from compatriots and fellow Muslims rather than foreign infidel and their communist lackeys.
The spark was lit by Mohammed Omar Akhund, a senior mullah from Kandahar, who is in his late thirties. Unlike the first wave of mojahedin political leaders, who spent most of the war against Russia in their villas in Pakistan's north western city of Peshawar. Omar went into battle. He lost an eye. Two years ago he summoned the faithful to a new war, calling for volunteers from the demobbed mojahedin. He called them the Taliban, the 'students' or “seekers'. Most were country boys from Pashtun villages in the south, where women have always been treated as little more than house-slaves.
But no army can flourish solely on morale, comradeship, and faith in an idea. The big question is who is helping them with training, supplies, logistics and fuel. As they sit fearfully in their homes in Kabul, few middle-class professionals have any doubts. Behind the Taliban stands Pakistan. Although the Pakistani government insists it is not them, everyone remembers they issued the same falsehoods when their intelli

Page 30
30 TAMIL TIMES
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Page 31
15 OCTOBE Isso
gence services, the ISL, were aiding and training the mojahedin in the 1980's.
Hard evidence is hard to gather but before their assault on the eastern city of Jalalabad in mid September eyewitnesses saw the Taliban forces cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Three days before Kabul fell a Taliban plane was hijacked by its own crew and flown to a government airfield. The pilot said he was defecting to show what Pakistan was doing. Seven Pakistani officers were on the plane.
Pakistan's motives, according to Afghan observers, are to have a friendly and subservient government in control of Afghanistan. It wants to install leaders in Kabul who come from the powerful Pashtu tribes of the south rather than the Tajibs and Uzbeks of the north. For years the Pakistanis pinned their hopes on the Pashtu fundamentalist. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the original mojahedin leaders, but he blotted his copybook by failing to join a united government in Kabul after 1992. By the time he did so this June, his stock had fallen and the Taliban were already on the ΠηOV6.
Suspicion also centres on the United States. The Central Intelligence Agency used the Pakistani ISI as its main conduit for sending Stinger missiles and tons of other arms to the mojahedin in anti-Soviet days. Observers assume America knew of the new Pakistani link with the Taliban, and did nothing to discourage it.
Did they go further? Were they actively advising the Taliban? Certainly, Washington developed close contacts. In May two senior Taliban leaders attended a conference there run by Senator Hank Brown, who has long maintained an in
terest in the region. larly travelled to T. most recently one w assault on Kabul w the assistant secreta affairs, saw the mul
Such visits can government's need position groups, bu doubts as does the g line which US offici Taliban, John Holtzm of mission in Islama assumed to be the C. Pakistan, tells report can play a useful role stan's long civil w strong central gove ingly, Hotzman was Kabul last week shor took over. The head ready gone to the ai when the Clinton adm an image of cosying damentalists could American women vo postponed.
The Soviet Invas 1979 turned Afghan War cockpit and the escape the blame for to disaster. But in the tory the United State equally guilty. If not n interference in an uns affairs at least had a rationale. The United of the biggest covert CIAs history was enti ing to the last Afghar the Soviet Union as h The people whom Was “moodge were treated corruption which led
surface.
in the Footsteps c
Victory for the Taliban makes Afghanistan the third country in the world to be ruled by a militant Islamic regime: and the experiences of Iran and Sudan are not happy precedents.
Iran's leaders, inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini, came to power with the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, and have been running things more or less according to his book ever since.
Strict rules governing alcohol and the status and dress of women are still the norm, despite discreet home-brewing and occasional glimpses of Gucci boots under flowing chadors in the wealthier suburbs of north Tehran. Satellite dishes have been officially banned, but many are still in semi- surreptitious use. Intellectually, there are some stirrings beneath the
Politically, Iran has been virulently anti-American since the collapse of the Peacock Throne. It has supported radical movements in the Middle East, such as the Lebanese hostage-taking Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah and others fighting Israel - seen as Uncle Sam's expansionist client. Khomeini's infamous fatwa against Salman Rushdie has become a hallmark, though recently there have been signs that more pragmatic and world friendly leaders would like to drop it.
Sudan is even more of a parish internationally and a mess

S-diplomats reguban headquarters, ek before the final en Robin Raphel, of state for Asian hs.
explained by any r contact with opthe timing raises nerally approving stake towards the n, the deputy chief ad, who is widely A's station chief in rs that the Taliban n ending Afghanir by providing a nment. Astonishplanning to fly to y after the Taliban f protocol had alport to meet him, inistration realised up with ultra fune a disaster with ers. The visit was
ion in December istan into a Cold Russians cannot initiating the slide judgment of hiss may be seen as hore so, Moscow's table neighbour's kind of strategic States' launching operation in the rely cynical, fightin order to bleed eavily as it could. hington called the as pawns, and the in their leaders'
IAM L I MES 31
downfall after they took Kabul in 1992 had its seeds in the easy CIA money of the 1980's. Yet when victory was achieved, the US gave almost no aid to rebuild the war-torn country.
The new USA position takes cynicism a stage further. With the Soviet Union gone, today's ideological enemy is Iran. The Taliban are Sunni. Their virulent fundamentalism is directed against the Shi'ites of Iran, who, in their attitudes to women, present a model as sinfully progressive as that which the Taliban found in Kabul.
When King Amanullah was forced to abdicate in January 1929 his sin was to do what the Taliban are going today, except in reverse. He opened girls' schools, and forbade government officials from practising polygamy. Influenced by a grand tour in Europe, he and his wife switched to western dress, and forced the people of Kabul to do likewise. It was too much too son. The mullahs declared the King an infidel, and fundamentalists from the countryside descended triumphantly on Kabul to chase him away. Afghanistan's first attempt at
modernisation had come to an abrupt
end.
Today we are seeing what appears to be the death of the second attempt. It has been a slower and infinitely more bloody affair. Take away the ant-communist rhetoric, and you find the programme of the Moscow-backed People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan which took power in a coup in April 1978 was primarily aimed at bringing a feudal mullah-ridden country into the modern world.
The PDPA was building on reforms already started by the post-war King Zahir Shah and his cousin, Mohammad
if the Ayatollah
it home: the largest country in Africa has only been ruled by in Islamist-orientated military regime since 1989 but its ecoomy is in a shambles, relations with its neighbours in crisis, nd the country remains hobbled by a long and costly civil War.
It has a per capita income of just $200 and in Khartoum oats forage for scarce grass even along some central streets. t General Omar Ahmed Bashir and Dr Hassan Turabi, head f the powerful National Islamic Front, have transformed a nce multi-religious country into a strict Islamic state and esblished close ties with Muslim militants from around the 'orld.
Khartoum currently faces limited UN sanctions over it's leged role in the attempted assassination of Egyptian Presi2nt Hosni Mubarak. Iran, and Sudan have committed appallg human rights abuses including torture and arbitrary killgs as well as judicial floggings, amputations and executions. he Taliban believe some Iranians - from the rival Shi'ite anch of Islam - are dangerous liberals and modernisers. Suin could turn out to be a good friend for the new mob in
abul.
-Ian Black

Page 32
32 TAM TIMES
Daoud. While they moved gradually, the authoritarian radicals of the PDPA were systematic. They increased the pace, creating a secular and republican state, outlawing opposition, forcing reluctant villagers to send their daughters to school, and trying to undermine the role of the mullahs, who in Afghanistan happen to be landlords as well as religious leade.S.
The mojahedin revolt was the predictable result. The Soviet intervention to prop up the regime turned rebellion into national resistance. The difference from the 1920's was that by 1979 three decades of gradual modernisation had created an urban professional community which saw the traditionalists of the countryside as their enemy.
When the “moodge” entered Kabul four years ago, reporters found the middle-class with the same anxieties as today. The new rulers forced women to wear the chadour, the veil over the hair and shoulders, but allowed the face to be seen. They banned films and romantic music. They talked of separating women and men at work, not stopping women working altogether. But the restrictions soon eased, and the fears evaporated. Girls' schools continued, and the film and music bans fell away. The PDPA's school curriculum remained in force, with merely the addition of a new subject. Islamic rules and culture.
It was only this summer, when the fundamentalist, Hekmatyar joined the government as prime minister, that the regime tightened. He took women announcers off television and ordered cinemas to close. Music and films were banned from TV.
So the Taliban's grim clampdown is not a difference of kind. It is simply the final solution, the logical end-point of a trend back into the past which the PDPA radicals first provoked, and then abetted as they backed off their own reforms in an attempt to undermine the mojahedin's support.
For watchers from abroad it is an amazing reversal of modernity. Everywhere else in the ill-named “global village"the forces of globalisation backed by the electronic media are crashing into local cultures, bringing the values of the city, or rather of the northern hemisphere metropolis, into the remotest rural areas. In Afghanistan, uniquely, the narrowness of the countryside is determined to squeeze the town.
For the people of Kabul it is nothing less than a disaster. In an eastern district of the capital I visited the only woman doctor who still dares to keep open her consulting room, a small second floor office above a row of shops. "I go on working not for the money, but as part of my struggle for emancipation,
RAO FC AS CC
ormer Prime M F simha Rao has s President of th Congress. Mr north Indian leader treasurer of the Con the new President.
That the mulis should have been dis of a victory for those tude and accountabi It is not that K. revolutionising forc chance that the Cong be cleaned up - the tinues to be the leac Parliamentary Party ( Gowda Government out to ensure that h any of the cases reg go to show that his ( What is of signi that the conduct of a ister has come under tiny and he is being bar of justice to answ misdeeds.
His reign as Pre gress marks an all t tory of the party whi image plummeting ) Independence, more the late Mrs Gandhi He had not sou 1991 elections and tire from public life in the shape of the in Sri Perumbudu Gandhi refusing to left behind by her as the Congress old gua to the limelight and organisation. The ex ous regional satara
although I know m
she says.
Could modern soon, I ask. "In Ap per cent of hope”, s had a new ideolog began with bloods that way doesn't b 15 years of war, wł tions of children wi ing. Unfortunately ple ignorant.
“We are wors 1978', she conclud calamities to come
(Courtesy of T

15 остовЕВ 1996
RCED TO STEP DOWN NGRESS PRESIDENT
By T N Gopalan
inister P V Naraepped down as the 2 Indian National Sitaram Kesri, a who served as the gress under Rao is
ly stubborn Rao placed is some kind who care for rectiity in public life. sri represents any or that there is any ress's stables could acts that Rao coner of the Congress CPP) and The Deve is sticking its neck 2 is not arrested in istered against him lout is intact still. ficance, though, is former Prime Minsome intense scrubrought before the ter for his deeds and
esident of the Conime low in the hisch itself has seen its emorselessly since so since the days of
ght a ticket for the was preparing to rewhen fate intervened uman bomb Dhaau '. With Mrs Sonia step into the breach sassinated husband, rds pulled Rao back made him head the pectation of the vari)s at that time was
| life is in danger',
values re-emerge til 1978 we had 50 he said. "The PDPA y. Unfortunately it ed, and what starts ar fruit. Then came Ich left two generahout proper schoolt has kept the peo
off today than in s. “We expect more
O
Guardian,9. 10.96)
that since Rao had no mass base worth speaking of, he would remain a titular head and be content to do so. As in the case of Mrs Gandhi in the past, the senior leaders found themselves outmanouevered again.
Though at the time he was sworn in as the Prime Minister in 1991, the Congress did not enjoy an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha - it could survive in power only thanks to support from the left parties - he went on to engineer splits in other parties and finally ended up with a comfortable majority. The other leaders were suitably impressed and he came to acquire complete command over the party - why should anyone quarrel when the leader could provide his followers enough opportunity to pile up money left, right and centre?
From stock market to sugar import to telecom to urea, the Rao regime simply reeked of corruption to an unprecedented level but there was little dissent since everyone was having his share of the loot, and so merrily Rao could invalidate the results of the duly held polls to the policy-making bodies of the party, stallelections at lower levels indefinitely, nominate his own henchmen for important positions and in one word, run the party like his personal fiefdom with little resistance a la the Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi.
Then the Congress kept getting mauled in elections after elections in various states during his tenure and there was a split when Mr Arjun Singh and company walked out. Still Rao continued to wield his power because his rivals did not have any charismatic leader among themselves.
Even after the humiliating debacle in the general elections, Rao continued to call the shots because the MP's could trust only Rao to get them back to positions of power or win favours from the UF government.
But then came the stunning disclosures about the mind-boggling Rs. 133 crore urea import scam and the recovery of over three crores of rupees from the residences of former Communications
Minister and a Rao confidant, Sukh Rann
followed by the allegation by the pickles tycoon Lakhubhai Pathak that Chandraswamy had diddled him to the tune of one hundred thousand dollars and that Rao himself was a party to the . . . . and there was this charge that the MP's
(conted on next page

Page 33
15 ocoteh 1996
of citrus juice, some chemicals and a fistful of herbs. Stir the mixture well and boil the same. Presto 600cc of mineral oil, you can call it gasoline, floats to the top Ponnaiah Ramar Pillai, a diminutive villager from a remote hamlet, Mamsa- puram, in the Kamarajdistrict in southern Tamil Nadu has sent the entire country into a tizzy with what looks like a revolutionary, epoch-making discovery. There are many unanswered questions about the whole process and by the time this piece was written some had even started calling Ramar a big hoax. Still the miracle remains a distinct possibility and the entire nation is excited - after all Ramar's discovery has fascinating implications for the wold economy itself.
Ramar comes of a very poor family and is in his early thirties. He discontinued his schooling midway because of poverty and he had tried his hand in many jobs including vending door-to-door sukku coffee (a coffee-like concoction from spices and popular among the poorer sections) on the streets and picking up firewood. He also got married along the way and had two children. Life was indeed tough for Ramar, but through it all he persisted with his experiments to obtain petrol from herbs. His wife told this correspondent: "Those days he would return home ex
T ake a litre of water and add a spot
(conted. from page 32) of a minor party from Bihar had been heavily bribed into voting down a no-confidence motion against the Rao Government in 1992 and when a magistrate finally made Rao aco-accused in the Lakhubhai Pathak case and directed him to appear before it, but succeeded in installing a known supporter as his successor and also remaining as the leader of the CPP.
Besides he could get the Deve Gowda Government direct the CBI not to oppose his bail application and make the Delhi police stall the trial itself on the ground that Rao's personal security could not be ensured if the trial was to be held in open courts.
Meantime the Supreme Court itself has granted an injunction against the Magistrate's order requiring Rao's personal appearance in the Pathak case. A furious debate is now raging over the ruling - whether it is proper to treat Rao on a footing different from that of any other ordinary citizens and whether the courts are justified in taking the view that the very institution of the Prime Minister would be compromised if a former Prime Minister went to jail and so the show goes on and Rao is still evading the long arm of the law. O
hausted, but he won't time he would sit throu ing the leaves, prepari. so on when we would tion of our hut had be laboratory. It was a n and my children..."
Like the apple in ton, for Ramar it all h ing a picnic when al beedi fell on a leaf an leaves could catch fir, some fuel potential in could be extracted thi or other, he surmised a self to identify the lea the process which coul them. At one time he w of necessary resour "When feeding so m aged parents, wife, t myself was itself such where to go for the m my research, "Ramar r
And then he came a neighbouring haml who took a keen intere search and promised to became more or less a his patron Yamaiah mini-lab on a patch ( chased some rudimenta Besides Ramiah gave some money for their daughter Poongani th! and soul into Ramar’s nearly a decade since beedilighting a leaf upon the formula whic ter into gasoline.
Still frustrations ments were to dog him thanks to intervention ! tian friends (incident Christian though this p mysterious) the discov the notice of the Prime a couple of months ag. Then he was invi Delhi where he succ strated his process. Th Science and Technolo whelmed that it swun mediately, writing to th Tamil Nadu to help mini-plant in the villag 300 litres of herbal fue in motion the necessar ting a patent for Rama
 

TAMIL TIMES 33
take rest. Many a gh the night burng some paste and be asleep. A por2n turned into his )-go zone for me
he case of Newad happened dur| unextinguished l it caught fire. If there should be them and which ough some form nd vowed to himves and discover d coax fuel out of las stuck for want ces to carry on. any months, my wo children and a daunting task, oney to carry on eminisces. into contact with et Idayankulam, st in Ramar's repack him up. He In adopted son of who set up a of land and purryequipmenttoo. Ramar’s family maintenance. His ew herself heart experiments and he had seen the tamar finally hit h could turn wa
and disappointfor a while. But rom some Chrisally Ramar is a urt of it is slightly ery was taken to Minister's office
ed over to New 'ssfully demon2 Department of gy was so overinto action im2 Government of Ramar set up a 2 to manufacture a day. It also set process for get's discovery.
Still questions remained - to quote Dr V Ganesan, a professor in the Indian Institute of Technology and who was one of the first to test Ramar's invention, "To my scientific mind such an experiment seemed heavenly impossible, defying as it did Chemistry and Thermodynamics. What is the source of carbon necessary to make the Hydrocarbon?" Besides the carbon content of the output was much more than that of the input, thus violating the known physical laws governing ISS.
Ramar himself could not explain because he was not highly educated nor reveal his secrets for obvious reasons.
But the DST was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and help him perfect the process. Meantime the entire nation went gaga over the Ramar effect and he became a celebrity. Journalists from all over the country and from the BBC too started queueing up before Ramaiah's residence in Idanyankulam. Even as he and Poongani were basking in their newfound glory and various organisations vied with each other im conferring honours upon them, Ramar's wife started throwing hints that she was being deliberately ignored and that her husband was in the thrall of the Ramaiahs. Some others who had helped him in the early days charged that he was kicking away the ladder he had used to climb to success.
Then came yet another setback. He could not produce a drop of petrol during the second validation test at Madras. And Worse some of the scientists suspected that he was indulging in some foul play. Predictably many Tamil Nadu politicians jumped into the fray finding fault with the scientists themselves and demanding that he be granted the patent forthwith. And that clown of a politician Kumari Ananthan, President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee went to the extent of calling upon the DMK and TMC ministers in the union cabinet to resign in protest
An enraged Ramar himself charged the DST with jealousy and bias. Then the very same DST which had been so effusive earlier retaliated with some more damning evidence like how Ramar's fuel resembled processed petroleum products available in the market rather than crude oil and how he had (contd on next page)

Page 34
34 TAMILTIMES
AFGANISANJA TO FUNDAMENTAL
N Gopalan
small hours of 27 September and immediately imposed a complete Islamic rule in Afghanistan, sending shock waves all over the globe.
The Taliban, meaning students in Pushtu are the most dreaded Islamic group to have hit the mankind in recent times.
The fly-blown bodies of former President Najibullah and his brother left rotting in the streets of Kabul for days after they were abducted from the premises of the United Nations and hanged and also denied even a decent burial, did go to testify to the sheer brutality and insensitivity of the new regime in Afghanistan.
India, China, Iran in particular and the world in general would now have to contend with a most volatile and a most intractable player in their midst. To hark back to that most contemptible term invented by that notorious gendarme of international law and order, the US, Afghanistan under the Taliban are going to prove to be the 'roguest of all the countries on this earth at this juncture.
Pakistan which is generally credited with fathering and nurturing the Taliban militia and should be enjoying hugely the sweet and stunning successes of its protégé. Especially for the beleaguered regime of Benazir Bhutto the Taliban's success break-through could come as a much-needed breather and relief. That the ordinary Pakistani would continue to
T he Taliban entered Kabul in the
(conted. from page 33)
surreptitiously sought to introduce some kerosene-like substance into the mixture during the second experiment and so on.
However, the last word has not yet been said. In fact the odds are that Ramar had stumbled upon some magic formula for he has nothing to gain by taking the DST for a ride. Momentary glory is not what he is after but he is seeking a viable route to cheap petrol which could not only earn him international laurels but also dollars in undreamt of quantities. He remains unfazed and vows to prove his claims and make petrol production almost a cottage industry. And for once the Tamil press is devoting more space and time to such issues as economy and energy, pushing the Jayalalithas of the society to the back pages. Some welcome development that.
groan under the corrup efficient rule of the ru ferent story altogether. For its part the US vouring the moment f ently encouraged the and indirectly. And so this part of Asia, its m cern over the terrorism to human rights seem thin air - the need of ti ity in the region."
Spread over an sq km and ribbed and tic mountains, Afghani the hinge of Asia. On way to India through and the backdoor to Ru in 548-486 BC to Alex Khan to Tamerlane to fought three times to m on the Khyber Pass anc viet troops which rush shore up a weak Marxi the poor country has under the relentless pu outside forces. It was 1 of a chance.
Though the Patha ethnic group, Tajiks, T Baluchis and a host of munities are also fo 15 million plus popt Pathans or the Pushtu to Afghanistan, the ot a legacy of the succes vading armies.
Though the societ by the unending trib fiercely independent ble by-products of th esses and geographi cementing factor has b all of them are pas None of these factors count when the then in Moscow decided country and propping Marxist Government. When five years had been abolished a ernment led by Moh sumed power, it had The social and ecoj planned looked simp country languishing mode of production. of the sympathetic ot proved right by the b necine wars, cynical
 

. V V Vu 1 Vu u Cr l yySo
t, callous and ining elite is a dif
too should be saor it had consistTaliban, directly when it comes to ch vaunted conand commitment to disappear into le hour is "stabil
rea of 652,090 girdled by majesstan is considered it pivots the gatethe Khyber Pass ssia. From Darius ander to Genghis the British who laintain their hold | finally to the Soed in avowedly to st regime in 1979, continued to reel mmelling from the never given much
ns are the largest urkmen, Uzbeks, other minor comvund among the lation while the ns are indigenous her groupings are sive waves of in
y is characterised al rivalries and a pirit, the inevitae historical proccal situation, the een Islam. Almost ionate Muslims. was taken into acBrezhnev regime on invading the up a floundering
earlier monarchy nd a radical govammed Daud asall looked unreal. omic revolution y out of place in a in pre-capitalist he apprehensions servers were only Jody coups, intergames played by
US and Pakistan and the colossal human misery which all were the inevitable consequences of the revolutionary project and the Russian intervention. More than three million Afghans were displaced and the refugee inflow had serious impact on Pakistan.
The flourishing arms bazaar, narcotics trade mushrooming Mujahideen groups and carpet bombing destroyed the civil society for good. It was a fierce all-out war, first against the soviet army and then among themselves.
The Pak rulers have benefitted time and again by the developments in Afghanistan. When General Zia Ul Huq had gained international notoriety consequent on the hanging of deposed premier Z A Bhutto, the soviet invasion turned the tide remarkably in his favour with the US pumping in money and arms and setting up Pak as one of its cherished sentinels against the marauding communists.
And now the Taliban's victory should-come as a shot in the arm for the tottering regime of the late Bhutto's daughter.
Neither the US nor Pak in their cynical pursuit of power ever took into account the incalculable danger in spawning or propping up close-minded and highly fanatical guerrilla groups - both the Pakistanis and Afghans are still paying for the sins of their leaders in terms of lost lives and limbs missed economic opportunities and ...... social fabric.
The one-eyed and one-legged Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Chief of the Taliban, hailing from the Kandahar province is really an awe-inspiring figure. He had fought in the Jehad in the eighties, but disgusted by the corruption and infighting among the Mujhahideens, he called it quits and went back to his teaching job in a religious school. When he organised his students to fight the excesses ofte Mujahideen commanders the Taliban was born, some time in late 1994.
Finding the groups which captured power in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Soviet army not very amenable to its own regional ambitions, Pak went all out supporting the Taliban. In less than 24 months the students-turnedwarriors were able to capture 17 provinces in Afghanistan.
While the UN did talk of bringing the war between the Taliban and the Kabul-based coalition to an end, the US-Pak axis silently worked to undermine the coalition and strengthen the Taliban. At one time the US sent its representative to Kabul asking the Rabbani government to hand over power to the Taliban.
Now when other countries like In(contd. on next page)

Page 35
15 OCTOBER 1996
hese days in India, you love much of the country on small or big screens. Doordarshan and Indian films, especially Tamil films, Swamp you with fantastic expressions of you loving the nation, its cricket success, packaged diversity of tourism and dance. Your young schoolboys and girls sing simple adjingles to the tune of A R Rahman tuned in Ragas Kapi or Desh, praising the Indian nation and its uncompromising and consensual desire for a nuclear phallus made in Geneva (on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty).
Kashmir, television Serials and spot ads tell you, is nothing but a phony narrative of family love, simple war, trust and betrayal, like the successful Tamil film Roja directed by Mani Ratnam. A musical promotional ad before the Kashmir elections shows the Indian army as the custodian of arms, gladly accepting the Surrender of Kashmiri youth. The film, Bandit Queen, determines the electoral fortunes and media bluster of the oncebandit Phoolan Devi(l). And so on. India's resentful and vengeful rebel hero of the 70's, Amitabh Bachchan, like the Gibreel Farishta of Salman Rushdie’s life-destroying novel, fancies himself as an NRI out to sell his image. He is now not big A or big B, which might remind you respectively of Allahabad which he represented in the Lok Sabha or the Bofors gun payoffs, but simply AB, or Aby Baby. AB is pitching himself high, produc
(contd. from page34) dia, Russia and Iran are panicking, the US and Pakistan are gloating over their triumph.
The Russians are worried that the war being waged by the Islamic guerrillas in the central Asian republic of Tajikistan would now intensify and spill over into their own territory. To quote Mr Pavel Felgengauer, a defence commentator, "Russia does not have enough troops in Tajikistan to defend its border. The localTajik army can control the border with Afghanistan only as long as it is confronted by the Tajik rebels... but if the Taliban proclaims a new Jihad, there is no way Tajikistan can be defended ... The non-religious authoritarian regimes (in Central Asia) lack internal stability ... under a worst case scenario, Russia will have to leave Central Asia."
India which has just held assembly elections in Kashmir and believes it has quelled militancy to some extent is shocked at the fall of Kabul. The infiltration of Pak-trained militants and also foreign mercenaries which had been con
BLUST)
ND
ing 14 films inclu love story shot in young, ardent Tam litterateurs (Be w Sivasegaram, of a about creative Tami
And, Oops, Aby is also going to host India Contest on In cember. Where, you to ask where else, the very soil of the farmer with aeropli links. Aby Baby is v crat, you know. He ing protesting femini under the Pizza Hu tucky chicken on han arranges, in his spi Juhu residence, nocto dia’s Prime Ministers the health-status of hi father. Wasn't his fan to that of India's fi ter? In Aby's resid Minister, a humble thinking of how to water problems of p. cidentally thinks out across Bal Thackera
tained to some extent with renewed vengea militants in the valley Some time now would unleash more offensiv
Iran which had b coalition is angry and to offer refuge to the dk rearm them for another the Taliban.
For the benighted themselves there will mentioned earlier the captured power the T. a terrifying Islamic ru women not under the of thieves to closing do women to ban on their whatsoever. Afghanist ness a mindless throw dle ages. The Marxist violently push a feudal ern times. On the reb are now going to repu tle gains they had mad The entire humanity for it.

Aivil L i MES 35
RAND FOLLY OF THE AN SCREEN-NATION
by G.Ramesh
ing Ulhasam, a jermany by two Small magazine are, Professor ly lofty notions
writing). Baby, you learn he first ever Miss lian Soil this Demay be tempted but in Bangalore, 'rime Ministerial ne-flying liquor ry much a demois keen on invitsts, for a dialogue with fried Kend. Aby Baby also awling Mumbai urnal visits of Into enquire about is fossilised poetmily always close 'St Prime Minisence, the Prime farmer always solve drinking oor villagers, aca way to come y, whose flashy
is sure to resume nce. Anyway the on the retreat for now regroup and
S. acked the Kabul could be trusted posed leaders and round of war with
eople of Afghans be no relief. As ery minute they iban proclaimed - from lashes to eil to amputation wn of schools for oing for any job n is going to witback to the midille had sought to ociety into modund the Afghans
tate even the litsince the fifties.
ill be the worse
O
car-driving nephews are involved in the profession of casually explaining away mystery deaths of hard-to-evict poor tenants like Ramesh Kini in faraway cinema halls.
Can Madras, oops, Chennai, be far behind Mumbai'? The city has Madrasbased industrialists like Ashwin Muthiah genuinely wanting to start research centres on Saiva Siddhanta and barristers like Karthik Chidambaram, the tennis-playing Cambridgetrained-son of the present-day Union Finance Minister. Mr Chidambaram Karthik is getting married to one of the most accomplished Bharatanatyam dancers of Tamil Nadu (carrying on the legacy of Justice Party leader R K Shanmugam Chettiar's relationship to the famous danseuse Balasaraswathi). Thus, you can Start research on a life-style of which you have become the opposite and can have a happy married life with a person who is an image of a tradition or lifestyle which you adore. Sometimes, the image is something which is not even a photograph. You hear of videographs, which are like ad films, being exchanged among parents of brides and grooms via matrimonial columns of The Hindu.
Mamallapuram, the rock-cut wonder, or the Dharasuram or the Brahadeeswar temples in Thanjavur District, were just backdrops for film shooting. These have been replaced by the mock-sculpture of the V G Panneerdas Golden Beach at Injambakkam, the dream setting in many Tamil films. The fake will suffice, you don't have to see the real one. The image has killed the real and the real has gone out of existence.
Talking of Tamil films, they seem to have taken the lead. Be it Roja, where a computer-cryptographer douses a burning national flag by falling across it; Bombay, which seeks to gloss over deeper Social divisions by wallowing in pulp secularism, or the recent Indian, which sees Kamalhassan become an impatient selfrighteous neurotic old vigilante killing sundry tahsildars with his kungfu-like varmakkalai (origins: Southern Tamil Nadu, destination: China

Page 36
36 TAM TIMES
and Japan). He ends up as an Aussie NRI after killing his own corrupt son, also played by him. The Hindi films have only followed suit: 1942: A Love Story, released a few years ago, pathetically tries to draw upon the mystique of the Quit India Movement. And realistic Malayalam is not far behind, with the genial Mohanlal becoming a tough revolutionary doctor in Kalapaani. He is imprisoned by the British in the Andaman cellular jail along with freedom fighters from other parts of India. You listen to Ilayaraja's fake Bach piano/violin numbers while gazing/gaping at lifeless corpses hanging from the dreaded jail's walls.
These films have stopped making you puke. They evoke the nausea after puking. You need a lemon to scratch your tongue and head after seeing them. They seem to have something to tell you about the modern Indian dream or its abject failure. The dream has not only gone Sour, you have forgotten the element of sweetness; and also that you have chosen to take the Sourness for Sweetness. Offering impossible solutions, the films first indicate the existence of
intractable problems and seek to .
trivialize and nullify them. Ultimately, they offer the only surviving perverted frameworks to look at Our failures at the mass level.
Gandhi has been canned, first by the British Attenborough and now by Shyam Benegal, who is meditating on the apprenticeship of the Mahatma in Ahimsa and Satyagraha, South Africa. His film, Making of the Mahatma, shot this year, has been released on the Gandhi Jayanthi day. Both films indirectly indicate what India has not been. Of what India has become, Raj Kapoor, one of the doyens of the trulypopular cinema of the 1950's, seems to have had the right idea. In one of his films Shree 420, he plays the role of a hero, a sophisticated cheat and a forger. He stands reformed by Nargis, the heroine. You see, he realised the fickleness of the modern Indian dream. A man who has been Prime Minister has now been charge-sheeted for cheating (Section 420 of the IPC) in the 100,000 Us S case involving Lakkubhai Pathak, the typical London-based Gujarathi pickle-king (whatastereotype) and forgery in the St Kitts case. He has also been named in a case registered in connection with the bribing of subaltern-tribal Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Members of Parliament to keep his Government
O OF TA
read with in Sivasegaram's c tember issue) Ol status of Tamil in Nadu (15 Augustis my comments:
1 I celebrate heteroglossia) of la Tamil just as he do my article that all subcontinent are Sanskrit. Sanskrit be diglossic.
The major dif Tamil and some oth Subcontinent is the their classical mod Sanskrit down the eral languages ha classical modes of e skrit, Tamil poets a mentators evolved mode for our lang stuff of the much-to itage of Tamil. In heritage was packa people of Tamil Na poses. This violent lic sphere has unde tial of the creative in classical Tami many modernist w ception of Subram a few dissenters pitthan, generally tive potential of cl
going during the lá Both cases indi istence, for PV Na than fifth-rate En volving Godman C his aide Kailash N Mamaji (what a ni dia revels in exhi while Narasimha R sted until date, hi Chandra Swamy been jailed. You wo MP's who took th since the bribe-giv free so far. The e nal Affairs and Fi tablishment comes gling forgers. A po on this. And both not have the patie ing up success att

N THE STATUS ML A RREJON DER
by G.Ramesh
erest Professor omments (15 Sepmy article on the present-day Tamil ue). Following are
liglossia (in fact nguages including :S. I have Stated in languages of the diglossic, except WaS nOt Incant to
ference between er languages of the
manner in which es have parallelled
ages. While sevd modelled their xistence after Sannd linguistic coma unique classical uage. This is the buted classical herrecent times, this ged and sold to the du for political puractivity in the pubrmined the poten
space enunciated l. Consequently, riters, with the exania Bharathi and
like PudumaipShunned the creaassical Tamil. The
st five years.
cate a fictional ex"asimha Rao worse glish thrillers, inhandra Swamy and ath Aggarwal alias kname). The mebiting these cases. ao remains unarreaccomplices like and Mamaji have nder why the JMM a bribes are in jail 2rs have gone Scot tire Indian Exterhance Ministry esup as a Set of bunor Tamil film is due you and me might ce to see it notchle box-Office.
present-day little magazine tradition of Tamil Nadu, which has been recently celebrated by Sivasegaram in your columns, avoids this issue altogether. A few poets like Gnanakoothan and Vikramadityan are exceptions to this trend.
2. Sanskrit, at any rate, did not remain fossilised as easily claimed by Sivasegaram. His penchant for political correctness is very much understandable. However, history proves that the situation was otherwise. Sanskrit, as I have stated, was not meant to be a language with diglossia. Sanskrit, as it is known, means language classicised. It was meant to draw upon some robust popular modes of the subcontinent's languages for its sustenance. That it did so for many centuries is unquestionable. Its success and fading out are still puzzles unsolved. That an illiterate goat-herd like Kalidasa went on to produce the greatest of Sanskrit literature remains a key puzzle for literary historians. George L Hart, as I had stated in my article, has shown that Kalidasa's poetry drew heavily from Dravidian elements via the Maharashtrian Sattasai poetry. This solves only one part of the puzZle.
3. That linguistic life in the subcontinent will continue to oscillate between classical and popular modes is again borne out by history. For instance, Arabic-Persian, which first replaced Sanskrit as a classical language, decisively contributed to the birth and development of modern Hindustani, which has two scripts, Devanagari and Urdu.
Somehow Sivasegaram seems to labour under the illusion that all popular modes of Tamil could one day be brought under the umbrella of standardised Tamil. Standardisation and classicisation are completely different processes. In the best of contexts, the two can relate to each other. Classicisation is necessarily a creative process, Standardisation need not be so.
No amount of standardisation of languages and corrections of spellings will change the ground-level situation of diglossia in the subcontinent. Even in Malayalam and Sinhala, cited by Sivasegaram, the situation obtained is similar. The problem is about linguis

Page 37
15 1996
tic situation per se and not the instrumental use of institutions like the media by elitists or subalterns.
My argument is that the attempt to standardise Tamil language in the public sphere is at the expense of its popular dialects (and their creative spaces) as well as the creative potential enshrined in classical Tamil. The attempt to standardise Tamil is parallelled by the emergence of a mass Tamil which has strangled popular linguistic/literary creativity. At any rate, this has been the experience of Tamil Nadu in the last few decades.
4. My comparison of English and Sanskrit is in the context of their roles, in the present and past subcontinent, respectively. I must admit that I was not referring to English in Britain or Australia or the United States or South Africa. English may be diglossic elsewhere, but what is it in India and the rest of the subcontinent. Does English at all have a popular existence in India? If so, what is it? In other words, when a subcontinental person says something in English rather than in a native language, the fact that it is in English adds something to its content. Or bluntly: what does English mean in the subcontinent, which the Subcontinent’s own languages do not? The answer to these difficult questions are explored in a recent book called The Otherness of English: India's Auntie-Tongue Syndrome (by Probal Dasgupta, Sage Publications, 1993).
In this book, Dasgupta makes the point that while Sanskrit in ancient India learnt from the popular modes of other languages as it was meant to, English in contemporary India is trapped within a teaching Social mould. The exception to this trend may be happening when India is written about as English literature by R K Narayan, Salman Rushdie or Amitav Ghosh!
5. Sivasegaram's derisive comment on my alleged contempt for convent drop-outs is misplaced. I have a lot of empathy for dropouts from both government-run and convent schools. I myself am a dropout from a particular successful professional career. My point was that one's ability to speak fluent English should not be construed as the person's knowledge or capacity. The mass media of Tamil Nadu is guilty of pandering to this myth in the case of Jayalalitha. Sivasegaram should realise that she became the Tamil mass media's mythical knowl
edgeable Auntie!
6. Sivasegaram ing from a misplace ing neither pessimi tic, I am performing of describing an extr tic situation obtaini rary Tamil Nadu.
7. Sivasegaram ing that the Singapo software contribut characters. I have c it uses Tamil consor One needs to punch board, the appropri letters to get a Tam KI or SO. Tamil ty get ready for this ( typewriter had bee chanical design. On an electronic design The features of the T build the new Tami is what Professor N the Singapore-bas done. He has taken t "our Western maste keyboard design ofC Over 2,000 characte 8. Lastly, Profes knows me through in nym, Nagarjunan, an
Koreans in t
South Korean busin built an economic power of the Korean War are no foreign investment in w. recent Reuter report state
Wansasiri Abeywick the state Board of Inve Korea and Singapore w targets in a drive to attre to Sri Lanka, whose ec hard by prolonged ethnic
But South Koreans : by the Sri Lankan confl potential investors. "Japa by the internal conflict bl used to a difficult and dar in an interview.
A total of 145 South projects totalling 12 billic lion) were under way or tation in Sri Lanka, the b{ did not include expansio Illelt,
"The Koreans are th tors here,” Abeywick projects are in the manufa creates many jobs, unlik gapore which focuses of service sectors, he said.
In the latest South foray, Korea Heavy Indu tion Co said it was negoti to invest a total of $650m generation and oil refine

TAMILTIMEs 37
says I am sufferd pessimism. Bestic nor optimisthe Serious task ordinary linguisng in contempo
is wrong in Saye scholar's Tamil on uses Roman learly stated that ants and vowels. twice in the keyte uyir and mey lil character like sists will have to hange. The Tail built for a me: can make use of , which includes amil alphabet, to l keyboard. This Govindaswamy, ed scholar, has he idea, not from rs" but from the hinese which has
S. sor Sivasegaram ny Tamil pseudold my literary and
cultural criticism which operates at the sphere of little magazine tradition celebrated by Sivasegaram. However, having worked in this for more than a decade and a half, I would say that the literature produced by Tamil Nadu this century has seen very few innovators at the level of Bharati, Pudumaipitthan, Mouni and Nakulan. Tamil literature needs more and not less of such writers working with cosmic forms of language. The contemporary crop of writers including those celebrated by Sivasegaram are either excessively concerned with the public sphere or happen to be followers of the se three path breakers. Sivasegaram should not get shocked, but let me inform him that the latest folly of Tamil writers, including those celebrated by him, is to produce short stories, in Doordarshan, based on various ornaments for a famous Colombo and Madras-based jewellery house. Each writer will produce a story for an ornament specified by the owner of the jewellery house.
9. I am willing to be proved wrong, but only in the course of a long debate for which I offer Sivasegaram the columns of the famil quarterly Vidh yasam edited by us.
he Vanguard of investment in Lanka
ess executives who house from the ashes w in the vanguard of ar-torn Sri Lanka, a d quoting Colombo. rema, a manager at stment, said Japan, ere Sri Lanka's top ct foreign investors nomy has been hit W8.
seemed less worried ict than some other nese are very scared it Koreans appeared gerous life," he said
Korean investment on rupees ($218 milawaiting implemenbard said. The figure after initial invest
e most active invesema said. Korean cturing sector which investment by Sinthe real estate and
Korean investment stries and Construcating with Sri Lanka illion in steel, power y projects. If imple
mented, it will be the largest ever investment by a single foreign investor in the island.
Korea Heavy executive managing director Shin Sang-hong told Reuters he was confident his company would win a 90 percent stake in Ceylon Steel Corp being privatised by Sri Lanka. "If we take over Ceylon Steel, we will upgrade capacity first but our major investment in steel production will be in the form of a new mill near a harbour,' Shin said after visiting Sri Lanka recently to explore investment opportunities. Ceylon Steel's plant is inland.
Shin said the state South Korean company tentatively planned to spend a total of $150 million on steel projects in Sri Lanka and hoped to build power plants at a cost of $150 million and an oil refinery at a cost of $350 million.
"We see oil refining as a promising business in Sri Lanka which is short of supply in petroleum products," he said.
Military service in South Korea- still technically at war with the North since their 1950-53 conflict - helps steel South Koreans against the fear of warfare and hones their business acumen, business leaders say. "All Korean men must serve in the military for more than two years and they have naturally become used to war and probably get aggressive in their business practices as well," said South Korean executive Kang Dong-hyun, whose Kabool Textiles has spent $100 million on a factory in the island.

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38 TAMIL TIMES
CLASSIFIED ADS
Op. Charge for ment essential
he Advertisement Managi ni Times td. PO Box
йіопg: 018-644 0972
MATRIMONAL
Jaffna Hindu uncle seeks partner for widowed niece, beautiful, fair, 31, British citizen, professionally well qualified in permanent employment, marS afflicted... Sendi horOscope, details. M 885 C/o Tamil
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Lankan Tamil parents seek attractive, well educated partner preferably living in USA for their son, 29, civil engineer with Masters degree and working in USA. Religion immaterial. Send details. M 886 C/o Tamil Times. Hindu parents seek professional bride for engineer son, M.Sc., 26, 5'9" employed in US. Details and photo to P.O Box 21006, Columbus, OH
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Hindu professional parents seek partners for sons, the doctor, 26, 5'8" and the financial analyst who prefers a doctor, dentist is 25, 5'8". Both employed in US. Send horoscope, details to P.O.Box 21006, Columbus OH 43221, USA.
Tamil Christian brother seeks professional doctor groom below 35 in UK/Australia for qualified accountant sister, 28, working in UK. Hindu with no mars afflictions Considered. M 889 C/o Tamil Times.
British Jaffna Hindu parents seek professional doctor groom for their British qualified doctor daughter, 29, with own house and working in UK. Send photo, details. M 890 C/O Tamil Times.
Jaffna Hindu doctor uncle seeks partner under 30 for nephew, 35, 6, Canadian resident with business interests. M 891 C/O Tamil Times.
Brother seeks educated bride preferably early thirties, Tamil Catholic for ACA, ACMA, Srilankan, employed in Australia, 39, tall, non-Smoker, teetotalar. Send full particulars and recent photograph (returnable). M 892 C/o Tamil Times. Jaffna Hindu mother seeks professional partner for fair daughter, 37, partly qualified accountant, Mars afflicted, in employment in London. Send horoscope, details. M 893 C/o Tanni Tinnes.
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Jaffna Hindu parents seek professional groom for fair attractive, Biochemistry graduate daughter, 25, in good UK employment, Mars afflicted. Send horoscope, details. M894: C/O Tamil Times. Jaffna parents, permanently resident UK seek partner preferably medical doctor, 27-30, for fair, beautiful daughter, 26, 5'4", London medicinal Chennistry graduate registered for M.Sc. Send horoscope, details, recent photograph (returnable). M 895 C/o Tamil Times. Jaffna Hindu professional brother in UK seeks professional/part qualified groom under 39, for very fair, slim Sister, 30, teacher in Colombo. Send horoscope, details M 896 C/O Tamil Times.
WEDDING BELLS
We congratulate the following couples on their recent wedding. Suuresh Son of Mr. & Mrs. Sivagnanam of 29 Crescent Way, Brockley, London SE4 and Susanne daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Joseph of 6 Barloch House, Henley Street, Battersea, London SW11 on 28th September '96 at the Civic Suite, Wandsworth Town Hall, London SW18. Dano Son of Mr. & MrS. V. Sinnadurai of 101/1 Hunupitiya Lake Road, off Ramanayake Mawatha, Colombo 2 and Cynthiya daughter of Mr. & Mrs. S. Jeevachandran, 24/1 1A/1 Aponso Avenue, Dehiwela on 28.9.96 at Holy Trinity Church, Wella watte, Colombo 6.
OBITUARES
Mrs. Luximipillai Sinnathura (86), beloved wife of the late
 
 
 
 

'r. Sinnathamy Sinnathurai Pariyariar, Thanbachety, Pt. edro) loving mother of Karuanantham (Colliers Wood), Irs. Karuneswari Ratnasingam (Wimbledon), Mrs. Indrani elautham (New Malden), Saranandam (Morden), Sathaandam (Wimbledon) and atchithanandam (Alvai, Sri anka); mother-in-law of Raalaxmi, A.T.S. Ratnasingham, A.T.S. Velautham, Sashikala, delen and Ranji; grandmother of Jayanthan, Geetha, Latha, Ranjit, Arun, Janakan, Janani, Premala, Kelly, Mandy, Prema, loga passed away in London on 25th September and was 2remated on 1st October 1996.
The members of the family hank all friends and relatives who attended the funeral, sent messages of sympathy and assisted them in several ways during the period of great sorrow. - 12 Valley Road, London SW19. Tel: O1815430378; 178 Oueens Road, London SW19. Tel: 0181 946 1140, 46 Albert Road, New Malden, Surrey. Tel 0181 336 1439.
IN MEMORAM
Lovingly remembered and very much missed on the 7th anniversary of the passing away of
Daniel Selvarajah Sanders, Ph.D., ACSW Sept. 28, 1928 - Oct. 14, 1989 The Sixth Annual Daniel S. Sanders Peace and Justice Lecture internationally known as a leader in effOrts fo achieve world peace, human rights and social justice, Daniel S. Sanders was DEAN, Professor and Director of International Program at the University of Hawaii School of Social Work, USA from 19711986.
Dean, Professor and Director for the Center for the Study of International Social Welfare Policies and Services, University of Illinois, Urbana
15 ulu Uber 1996
Champaign, School of Social WOrk frOfm 1986-1989.
Founder and first President, Inter-University Consortium for International Social Development (UCSD) 1980-1989.
President UNA-USA Hawaii Chapter 1983-1986. Dan received the Peace Award by the United Nations in the International Year of Peace for the
UCSD in 1985.
Dan's last presentation on "The Role of the Universities in Peace and Social Development” was at the International Conference on Mass Media in a Time of Crisis and Our Common Future in Wasteras, Sweden, September 1989. The article was published in The Journal of Social Development in Africa Vol. 9, No. 1, 1994, University of Zimbabwe, Editor, Professor Nigel Hall.
The sixth annual Daniel S. Sanders Peace and Justice Lecture was given by ProfesSor Richard Estes from the University of Pennsylvania on "The World Social Development and Peace' in March 1996 at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign followed by spontaneous questions from the audienCe.
The fourth biennial Daniel S. Sanders Peace and Justice Lecture was given by Dr. Harriet Jacobson, UN Consultant and Prof. University of Orebro, Sweden on "Children in War Times' in July 1996 at the UCSD Conference in Oporto, Portugal. The lecture was translated in Portuguese. Dr. Jacobsson received a standing ovation for the very stimulating lecture.
With much love to Rajan, Mrs. Christobel Chelvathy Sanders, SanderS/Niles families, Selvaranee, Chandraranee. Chandran & Mangai, Balan & Susilla; Ariam & Sushila, Alagan & Thavayogam, nieces and nephews. - 1807 Vancouver Place, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA.
memory 高 Mr. Ed Ward F. Xavier On the first

Page 39
15 OCTOBER 1996
anniversary of his passing away on 27th October 1995.
A year has gone by since the day you left us. It was a Sudden parting. Too bitter to forget. This lonely year without you is the hardest we have known. They say that time is a good healer, but neither time nor the reason will change the way we feel. Your love, yourgentle care and the strength you gave us is what we miss each day. But the precious memories linger on and shall be with us for ever.
Fondly remembered by your loving wife (Ranee), son (Frank), daughter (Davina), sister, family and friends. - 18, Woodchurch Road, West Hampstead, London NW6.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
October 27 6.00pm Newsmedia linternational Ltd presents Sangamam — A Musical Extravaganza by Mrs. Malini Thanabalasingam — Veena, Mrs. Thanathevy Mithradeva - Violin and Mr. Gnanavarathan Pichayappa - Flute accompanied by Karaikudi Mr. R. Krishnamurthy - Mridangam, Mr.
Baskaran Srikaram -- Ghatam and Mr. Muthu Sivarajah - Khanjira at Greenford Hall,
Ruislip Road, Greenford,
Middx. Tel: 0181933 3498/426 1677.
November 1 lypasi Velli 3; All Saints' Day. Nov. 2 All Souls' Day. Nov. 27.00pm Chundikuli - St. John's Past Pupils' Association (UK) A.G.M., Dinner, Dance at Ealing Town Hall, New Broadway, London W5 2BL. Tel: O1737 357 424.
Nov. 3 12noon - 3.30pm Medical Seminar organised by Tamil Association of Brent at Alperton Community School, Ealing Road, Wembley, Middx. Tel 0181 908 6993.
Nov. 3 6.00pm London Sivan Temple presents Dance Drama "Rajendra Cholan' produced by the famous Indian Archaeologist Dr. Nagaswamy at The Great Hall, Goldsmith College, Lewisham Way, New Cross, London SE14 6NW. Tel: 0181 3189844/690 O401.
Nov. 6 Krishna Ekathasi.
Nov. 8 Pirathosam; lypasi Velli 4.
AUSTRALIAN NEWSLETTER
The Annual Ganesha Visarjana Festival was celebrated at the Sri Venkateswara Temple, Sydney on 22nd September and overa dozen Hindu organisations took part with thousands of devotees from all parts of the New South Wales state thronging the temple. The Hindu organisations set up stalls to exhibit their publications and posters. A very large canteen opened at 11 a.m. and did a brisk sale of South Indian delicacies like Dosa, Vadai, Laddu and North Indian snacks like Samosas, Gulab, Janun etc.
The religious rituals began very early in the morning with Kalasa Pooja and Sri Maha Ganapathy Homam followed by Maha Abishekam and pooja at 12.30 p.m. At 2 p.m. a pooja was conducted for a specially made clay statue of Sri Ganesha also known as Visarjana Ganapathy. This statue was taken in procession to Stanwell Park Beach and immersed in the waters of the Pacific Ocean with great pomp and cereтоту.
There was a cultural show with a variety of items including dances, plays and speeches by both adults and children contributed by the participating organisations. One of the popular events for children was a colouring competition of an outline drawing of Sri Ganesha. Hundreds of children took part and winners were awarded prizes and merit certificates.
Wembadi Old Girls' Association A.G.M.
(N.S.W.) was held c Uniting Church Hall Strathfield. After the Raghavan read the m Nimmi Manohar prese the Combined Vent dinner held last year. elected office-bearers dent: Devi BalaSubra dent: Tilaka Mylva Shanta Fonseka, AS Sivagowri Manam Shyamala Raghavan Nimmi Manohar, Co lndra Balakrishnan, Kala Thiruchelvam, S Geetha Amiltharn, Sul lan, Kumuthini Sunde Kanthasamy.
There was a lively events and activities decided to hold a Vet Dance on 22nd Febr enthusiastically receiv sent.
Tamil Senior Citi; (N.S.W.): The Fifth A ing was held on 14 following office-bea President: E. Vijaya dent: C.S. Sebaratna Canagasingam, As E.J.J. Aiyathurai, Ti ataraman, Asst. Trea apillai, Committe Alagendran, A. N Murugesu, N.C. Raja nananda, V. Satchith nam and l. Wijayana)
 
 
 
 

TAM TIMES 39
Nov. 10 Deepavali; AmmaVaSai.
No v. 1 1 Ska n das h a S h ti Viratham starts; Feast of St. Martin.
Nov. 14 Chathurthi. Nov. 15 fypasi Velli 5.
Nov. 16 Soora Samharam; Feast of St. Edmund.
Nov. 17 Thirukkalyanam.
Nov. 17 12noon Skanda VarOtdaya College Old Students" Association (UK) 11th Annual Reunion Lunch, A.G.M. and Variety Entertainment. Tel: D181644 O972/769 4855/651 5129.
Now. 21 Ekathasi.
Nov. 22 Pirathosam, Feast of St. Cecilia.
Nov. 23 6.00pm Jaffna College Alumni Association (UK) A.G.M., Dinner, Dance at Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, London W4. Tel: 01234 85.4355.
Nov. 23 6.30pm S.C.O.T. presents exclusive Vocal Recital in London by Sri T.V. Sankaranarayanan, most acclaimed vocalist from India accompanied by Sri P. Sunder Rajan on Violin
and Sri Srimushnam V. Raja Rao on Mirudangam at A. D.T. College Main Hall, 100 West Hill (A3), Putney SW15 2UT. (Entrance via Portinscale Road), Nearest Tube: East Putney. Tel: O181 693 4088/870 9897/952 7249. No v . 24 Thiruk karthika i Dheepam, Full Moon; Feast of Christ, The King. No v . 28 Chan ka ta ha ra Chathuirthi.
Nov. 30. Feast of St. Andrew.
At Bhawan Centre, 4A Castletown Road, London W14 9HQ. Te: O171 381 3086 4608. Nov. 16 6.30pm Bharatanatyam by Sangeeta Banerjee.
Nov. 17 7.00pm Bhavan & Asian Music Circuit present Jugabandi.
Nov. 24 6.00pm S.C.O.T. presents exclusive Vocal Recital in London by Sri T.V. Sankaranarayanan, most acclaimed vocalist from India accompanied by Sri P. Sunder Rajan on Violin and Sri Srimushnam V. Raja Rao on Mirudangam. Also Telephone: 0181 693 4088/870 9897/952 7249.
on 27th July at the Carrington Road, secretary Shyamala inutes, the treasurer inted the accounts of adi/Central college The following were fOr 1996/97. Presimaniam, Vice PresiJanam, Secretary: ist. Secretary: Dr. }han, Treasurer: Asst. Treasurer: mmittee Members: Shivani Narendran, hanta Arulampalam, girtham Dharmaparesan and Nanthini
discussion on future and it was formally nbadi O.G.A. Dinner tary 1997. This was 9d by everyone pre
ens’ Association nual General Meetth September. The ers were elected. atnam, Vice Presin, Secretary: L.S.C. it. Secretary: Dr. easurer: A. Venksurer: R. Sithampare Members: C.
Jeya the va, N. nayagam, N. Satkunanda, K. Sivagnaаgат.
CANADIAN NEWSLETTER
Weather: Mild with a lot of autumn sunShine.
The Sahara Cup sponsored by Sahara India, a company which has a significant presence in the fields of para banking infrastructure, housing, aviation and mass communication, is a five-year Annual Challenge Series of cricket to be played between India and Pakistan in Canada. This unique event was conceived by the international Management Group and its associates with the co-operation of the Cricket Boards of Pakistan and India as well as the support of the international Cricket Council. This year's 50-over, oneday international was hosted by the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club between the 14th and 22nd of September and was the biggest ever cricketing event Toronto had seen. Though rain and its inevitable delays marred the start of the game, the fans here were treated to a bonanza of scintilating cricket. Pakistan won the Series 3-2.
Volunteer Awards: The Government of Ontario has elected to award the 10 year Voluntary Service Awards to Kingsbury Jeevanayagam, Aloy Ratnasingham, Fred Balasingam and Mani Pathmarajah for their continued dedication to the upliftment and welfare of the Tamil Community especially the elders. Ann Canagaratna, Bavani Sivaramalingam and Dominic Rajan were recipients of the Five Year Volunteer Service Awards.

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40 TAMIL TIMES
Manickavasagam Suresh: Professor Francis Boyle of the University of Illinois, an expert on International Law Continued his evidence as a defence witness in the Federal Court of Canada in the matter of two security certificates filed against the above-named. The allegations are that there are reasonable grounds to believe that (1) he is a member of an organization that will engage in terrorism (2) that he has engaged in terrorism and (3) that he is or was a member of an organisation which is or was engaged in terrorism. The organisation in question is the L.T.T.E.
During the hearing so far the government counsel Conceded that there were no allegations of criminal activity or misconduct, that he engaged in terrorism in Sri Lanka or any known procurement of arms, ammunition, weapons or material of military application in Canada orany allegation that he was involved in shipping such material from Canada. The Court sessions are presided over by Mr. Justice Max Teitelbaum. Mr. Pala Nedumaran, President, Tamil National Movement and Mr. V. Navaratnam, former M.P. for Kayts have appeared as witnesses for the defence.
Shivanthi’s Bharatha Natya Arangetram
The Bharatha Natya Arangetram of Kumari Shivanthi, daugher of Pax and Janaki (Gladys) Chinnakone of Letchworth, Hertfordshire and disciple of Smt Rajini Shureshkumar received an overwhelming ovation at the Beck Theatre, Hayes, Middlesex on 27th July 1996. By her meticulous rendering of her performance with interwoven poised gesture, intricate rhythmetic limb movements, poetic expression and angelic grace she held the audience hypnotically spellbound.
The distinguished chief guest at the occasion, Dr. R. Niththyananthan Con
gratulated Shivanthi Rajini Shureshkumar her skill, grace an Shivanthi has a brilli field of our ancient at and I am confident tha field with the care given by her parents Smit Rajini for presen talented dancer in thi
The accompanying vangam: Smit Rajini al: Smit Seetha LakSI family of musicians Tamilnadu, where the born), Mirudangam: Desikar, Flute: Sri G iapopa, Violin: Sri Thir and Morsing: Ka anathan.
The programme w Winal Sockanathan.
The guest of honou Headmaster of The J School, Stevenage, H
Shivanthi is a pupil.
P
Arulnandy T (An Appr
The untimely and L Tha vendran, a re Accountant and Fin ombo, came as a rud relatives and friend lindranee, his wife, ha May 1996 to spend with their two childr there, but fate Snatch ly on the 14th of Jul sightseeing in Las V it is indeed very Aruinandy Thavendr but the two nam Thavendran will ren for ever. Thavendrar Arulmandy, was an educationist, and th head the Departme! his excellent acade Sound practical expe Contributed immen,Se of Sri Lanka's natio On retiring as Dire Continued his Servi education as a Lectu University of Ceyl greatness lay not on professional achieve alla generousandk who had ungrudgir serving persons to e life.
Providentially, all Arulmandy had inher lect and noble hurr those who have bee ated with the Arulina COnCede that Thay morè with his father his siblings. Undo Called the most illus rious father.
Thave (as Thave
 

15 OCTOBER 1996
and her Guru Smit speaking in praise of Self esteen said nt future in this great She is only thirteen she will excel in this and encouragement I must congratulate ing before us such a
art field. artistes Were NatuShureShkumar, Vocmi (she hails from a from Thiruvarur in music trinities' were Sri Soma Sundara nanavarathan PitchIvarur Kothandapani diah Chida mbar
as compered by Sri
r was Mr. M.J. Kelly, ohn Henry Newman ertfordshire of which
adma Navaratnam.
havendran - eciation)
nexpected death of nowned Chartered ancial Advisor, Col'e shock to his family, 's. Thavendran and ld gone to the USA in a six-month holiday en who are residing ed him away suddeny 1996, while he was 9gas.
hard to accept that an is no more With us, es Arulnandy and lain in our memories 's father, the late Mr. eminent scholar and e first Sri Lankan to it of Education. With mic background and rience, Mr. Arulmandy ly to the development Jal education system. for of Education, he es to the cause of rer in Education at the on. Mr. Arulmandy's y in his academic and ments, he was above nd-hearted gentleman gly helped many deStablish themselves in
sight children of Mr. ed their father's intelan values. However, very closely associdy family will readily 2ndran was blessed qualities than any of btedly, he could be rious son of an illust
dran was affectionate
ly referred to by his many friends and relatives) was born on the 18th of December 1932. He spent his boyhood in Point Pedro, Jaffna, and received his early
education at Royal College, Colombo, where he won the mathematics prize. After graduating from the University of Ceylon with an honours degree in mathematics, Thave opted for a career in the field of Accountancy. At the final examination conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, he won the much coveted Landers Prize awarded for overall outstanding performance.
Thave's first professional appointment was with the Colombo Commercial Company, then ranked among the largest multi-national enterprises, where he soon rose to become one of two Sri Lankans appointed for the first time to the Company's Board of Directors. With the nationalization of the Colombo CommerCial Company, Thave accepted a position as Financial Controller at Maharajahs, the well-known Sri Lankan business conglomeration. In recent years, Thave has served as Financial Consultant to several leading commercial establishments in Colombo and to international organizations including the World Bank. Thave was also a keen sportsman; tennis and table tennis were his favorite outdoor games. He had won the tennis colors at the University of Ceylon and was Sri Lanka's table tennis doubles champion. On several occasions he served as the Manager of his country's table tennis team. Like his father, Thave was also an ardent chess and bridge player,
It is no exaggeration to state that Thave excelled his father in terms of humanitarian qualities. He was the one to whom many turned to for support and solace in their hour of need. Particularly during the July 1983 ethnic pogrom when several of his relations and friends in Colombo were rendered homeless and helpless, Thave's residence in Colpetty served as their refuge. Despite his busy professional schedule, Thave continued to accommodate and assist his numerous friends and relations fleeing to Colombo from Jaffna and other areas affected by the ongoing ethnic violence.
ln rendering these humanitarian services, Thave had always received the whole-hearted support of his equally genial and generous wife Indranee and his two adorable children Anjali and Ravi. Nilo amount of words will comfort these souls over their irreparable loss. They can only draw consolation from the fact that their beloved husband and father was adored and admired by all his friends, colleagues. and relations. This was amply demonstrated by the large and distinguished gathering of his friends and relations, most of whom had flown from as far as Australia. Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Canada. United Kingdom, and from various parts C USA to pay their respects at the sirr, a and solemn last rites performed by children at Palm Dale, California on 17 July 1996,

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15 OCTOBER 1996
Truly it could be said that neither in bronze nor in marble will Aruinandy Tha vendran be remembered better than in the hearts of hundreds of persons who have had the privilege and pleasure of being associated with him at sometime or other in one way or another.
May Baghawan Sri Sathiya Sai Baba grant Thave the eternal bliss.
S. Selvaratnan, Retired Senior Expert, United Nations, Bangkok.
Ahraniʼs Arangetram
South London Tamil School in Croydon which celebrated its tenth anniversary two years ago has the distinction of staging five Arangetrams so far. In Mrudangam, Ranjit Kanagasundaram (1992) and Muhilan Padmamohan (1996), and in Bharata Natyam: Brinda Selvarajasingam (1993), Jane Rasiah (1996) and Ahrani Balasundaram (1996).
Ahrani's Arangetram on 20th August at Croydon's Ashcroft Theatre was conducted with a full orchestra by her Guru Smit Malathi Jayanayagam. Malathi is an alumnus of Ramanathan Academy of Jaffna, who has had teaching experience in Sri Lanka and now in London. Ahrani is her first student prepared for presenting at an Arangetram.
The programme started with Easwaranjali, homage to Easwara who presides over the three important shrines of Lanka - Tirukonanmalai, Tirukethiswaram and Munneswaram. This is a beautiful composition. The rest of the repertoire followed the usual pattern with Jathiswaram, Varnam, Keerthanam etc. Ahrani's steps and movements in Jathiswaram showed her intensive training and good grasp of time and adavus. The Varnam 'Roopamu Juchiʼ in Thodi ragam, a long and involved composition (originally choreographed by
Krishnamachariar fi Selected, but con arangetram. Those have noticed the di anam part of it the s. be shown only with h Malathi has perseve lisation which can Mithradas is an up blessed with a suita for Bharata Natya would do well in the f diction.
Muthu Sivaraja an is a superb ensemb formance. Ahrani, Arangetram Nayakis stage occasionally w. her parents and keep
S. Si
Chandrikka
Arang
Smit Priyadharshana navalaya School of Arangetram of herse ka, on board the B London SW11 On Young Chandrikka S at the Burntwood SC under Smit. Priyad! years, performed in Kalashetra Style in w. Guru's Guru Smt. were trained.
After the usual C Alarippu followed by drikka performed th The audience gaspec the approximately 2( as none appeared to perform a solo of One in Maha Bharat — th the Gaurava Palace ing of Draupati. One e vil Thuchathana Draupati, the nex Draupati with her h head calling for God moved to tears at the of mono acting perfo) Natyam piece by Ch drama student at her Varnam should also for choosing this ana and also to Sri Ma who sang the Varnar ate modulations. Co.
 
 

TAML TIMES 41
Dr Kalakshetra) was densed to suit an ho are familiar Would erence. In the Char"ncopation (usi) could ard and long practice. ed on her jati verba2 out clearly. Yaso
and coming singer ble voice particularly n performance and ture with progress in
d his orchestra team e at any dance perlike many other should try to take the th the cooperation of
the art in Shine.
vapatha Sundaram.
Sathasivam etram
Yogarajah of the PraDance presented the cond pupil, Chandrikattersea Grand Hall the 1st September. athasivam, a student hool Tooting, trained larshana for seven he traditional Adayar lich her Guru and her Subadra Sivadasan
anesha Sthuthi with Jethiswaram Chane Sakiye' Varnam. f with disbelief during ! minutes of Varnan expect Chandrikka to of the Climax Scenes 2 gambling scene at ending in the disrobmoment we saw the gleefully disrobing nonent we Saw ands held over her Krishna. Many were superb performance ned in this Bharatha andrikka - a popular School. Credit for this pe given to her Guru training Chandrikka, nikkam Yogeswaran ! song with approprinpering for this per
formance was in the trained voice of Sri Wimal Sockanathan who added colour while introducing the items.
The chief guest was Dr. Richard Widdes, a Scholar in Indian Music at the London University. Mrs. Barbara Williams, Deputy Principal Burntwood School and Mr. T. Pathmanathan, Retired Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of information & Broadcasting, Govt. of Sri Lanka, and presently of the British Red Cross London were guests of honour.
After the interval Chandrikka presented four attractive padams on Krishna, Goddess Meenakshi and Lord Shiva and on Bharathi Song. In all of them Chandrikka showed her understanding and skill. The accompaniments were — Sri P. Kirupakaran on Mirudangam, Sri L. Kothandapani on Violin, Sri. P. Gnanavarathan on Flute, and Sri K. Sithamparanathan on Morsing. Chandrikka who we were told is a keen painter and dramatist and a member of the Merton Sai Centre achieved 7A's and 9A stars in the recent GCSE exam. Keep it up Chandrikka.
Muhilanʼs Mrudanga Arangetram
缀
Before the Summer holidays ended parents of children are naturally anxious to finalise their children's Cultural Commitments. The cluster of Arangetrams in August showed this anxiety.
The Mrudanga Arangetram of 12 year old Muhilan, son of Mr. & Mrs. Padmamohan, held on 24th August at Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon happened to be one of the many Mrudanga events. The young artist was trained by Muthu Sivaraja who is an acknowledged Guru to many students in London. Smit Kokila Thangarajah who teaches music to Muhilan took the part of lead singer and made the occasion into a full Sangeetha Kacheri, with fifteen items of songs. Her renderings in a variety of thalams provided ample opportunity to Muhilan to exhibit his grasp of mrudanga solkattus. Thisrann, misrann, khandam and other combinations of rhythmic measures were exhibited by this young artiste.
The supporting instrumentalists played an important part. The contribution of violinist Gnanambikai PadnaSikanani to the voice of Kokila was beautiful and showed maturity in training. Gnanavar

Page 42
42 TAMIL TIMES
MMIGRATION, ASYLUM, NATION
CAUS FOR FRIENDLY
Ya
adan's flute and Chidambaranathan's morsing highlighted the event. The appearance of young Anjalo Kumaradasan playing on the ghatam and doubling on the kanjira was a surprise. He is a TVG product we know, but his appearance was rare His handling of the instruments is tender and attractive. He needs more exposure. Congratulations to Muhilan who should continue playing the mrudangam after what was indicated in the warning note in the speech of the Guru Muthu Sivarajah.
A word about the inevitable colourful brochures that are produced at every Arangetram ceremony. In many cases important information is neglected. Muhilan's brochure displays on the front cover the young man as a left handed mrudangist. In the listed items for performance many facts are wrong. This happens commonly in many cases.
S. Sivapatha Sundarah.
Vijaya Delights Devotees
M.R. Vijaya and her prestigious troupe from Tamil Nadu, South India stole away the hearts and minds of the vast numbers of devotees who attended her performances staged in the Hindu temples of London from 2nd to 18th August 1996. Vijaya is a renowned vocalist and her enchanting singing earned her and her troupe much deserved chorus of applause. Her daughter Sarada Sri Devi displayed her talents splendidly and raised hopes of immense potential for a bright future.
The song invoking the blessings of Goddess Amman to bring peace and harmony to the people of Sri Lanka was the highlight of the programme.
Excellent support was provided by the following group of artistes:- Sri Muthu Sivarajah and Sri Kirupaharan on Mirudan
Rengan N. Devarajan
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Selladurai Ve - Appre
At a time when Tam the expatriate Tamil c ing a vanishing phe world has lost a gre. and literateur in the durai Velauthapillai. Il the Ceylon Educatiot Dictionary Assistant, employed as an Edi responsibility of pu books for schools. H humble that it took or the depth of his knoy of his devotion. It w were learning Tamil Karunalaya Pandiya cherish his friendshi great qualities of hea one of the very few w the fever of haughtine immersed in Tamil Siddhantham that he maintained that the Was the same - to ac
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

5 OCTOBER 1996
ALITY & CRIMINAL SOLICTORS ܠ
ANT ISSUES SING SSUES
ADVICE RY OLAMS
on Violin, Sri Sunand Sri Sithampar
of London should Mr. Sundaram of
the arrangements ful programme.
Sri Ganesh.
lauthapillai ciation
scholarship among ommunity is becomOmenon, the Tamil Tamil grammarian emise of Mr. Sella1962 when I joined al Publications as a 2 was already there ir charged with the lishing Tamil text was So Simple and SOme time to know 2dge and the width s when both of us erature from Sivan r that I began to and appreciate his and heart. He was ) did not suffer from . He was so deeply erature and Saiva ways stressed and n of both of thern lve the equipoise of
“Yaathum ooray, yaavarum kelir” (every Country is my Country, every man is my kinsman).
Mr. Velauthapillai who was born on 25.9.23 graduated from the University of Ceylon with an honours degree in Tamil and became a teacher of Kokuvil Hindu College in 1947. His linguistic abilities and teaching skills and his penchant for research took him in 1953 to the Official Languages Commission where he was a Tarnis ir Structor until 1958 When he WaS invited to join the Educational Publications department as an Editor in which capacity he contributed in great measure towards the production of many textbooks and the coining of many new technical words in Tamil. In 1976 he was appointed an Assistant Commissioner of Examinations to reorganise the Confidential Branch, which he put in proper shape within a period of three years.
Though quiet and modest, Mr. Velauthapillai was a highly sociable person ever ready to help anyone in need. He was very affable and amenable. So unassuming and cheerful was he that anyone could have access to him. Colombo Tamil Sangam and Kotahena Vivekananda Society were two main organisations through which he rendered yeoman service to the Tamil language and Hindu religion. It could be said that there was no Tamil organisation in Colombo, which did not benefit from his fund of knowledge at some time or other. The political storm of Sri Lanka compelled even the polite soul of Velauthapillai to uproot and implant himself in Canada which was neither Conducive to his health nor congenial to the propagation of his erudition. He complained to me on the phone of his inability to pursue his literary activities in the way he was used to in Colombo. It is unfortunate that the expatriate Canadian Tamils should have failed to benefit from this Tamil treasure house.
Mr. Velauthapillai passed away after a brief illness on 23.8.96. He is survived by his dear wife Nesamalar (nee Perampalam), an ideal partner equally skilled as he was and four children Drs. Sivapalan (USA), Nandapalan (UK), Manjula Jayaprakasan (Canada) and Mr. Sivakumar (Canada). May he be born in a land where he can continue his service to the Tamils. S. Sriskandarajah, 16 Roman Road, liford, Essex.

Page 43
15 ocTOBER 1996
Memories of a Great Man
It was with immense sadness that I learned of the passing away of Dr. Nagalingam Thirugnana Sampanathan, in Colombo, on the 2nd August, For several decades he was a much loved physician and surgeon in Jaffna, where many thousands benefited from his care and compassion, including myself. Through the columns of the Tamil Times I would like to pay my tribute to this great man.
He was much more than a physician to me. Our association spanned many years. It began when we were both undergraduates and what was later a doctor-patient relationship became a close friendship and his demise has left me with a deep sense of loss. I offer his family my heartfelt sympathies.
Memories of this great man come flooding back as l relive the anguish experienced when I left him bidding good-bye at his residence in Kondavil on the eve of my departure to Australia.
Dr. Sampanthan hailed from an illustrious family with its roots in Karainagar. Being one of the first MBBS graduates of the University of Ceylon, he proceeded to the United Kingdom and very quickly obtained the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons; but on returning to Srilanka his heart was not in the Health Department "rat race' and he gave up his appointment in Kandy to return to Jaffna to be with his people.
Then began a dis general physician a only for his brilliant warm humanity. Sampanthar and Je anOther PS. Dr. S. Provincial Surgeon vered by the people Dr. Sampanthan we of Such Skill, dedik The burgeoning cc provided Dr. Sampa tunity to fulfil to Services in a mann He became the Mec the Moolai Hospital institution and bring, all care within easy and Women. Follow was invited to pra Road Clinic, Jaffna, focal point for the medical care. Dr. S his practice despite extensive experienc mature judgement in ing for any visual im
He could have ea and safer pastures t One would expect - was his hallmark. dured a terrible trag viously when his bri government servant their lives in his Outbreak of IPKF
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TAM L TIMES 43
inguished career as a d surgeon, known not skills but also for his ampanthan became fna was blessed with bramanian, One time in the north, was refor his service and in saw another example ation and popularity. -operative movement 7than the ideal opporlevelop the medical 2r he always wanted. ical Superintendent of building it up as an ng high quality mediceach of ordinary men ing his retirement he ctise at the Hospital which again became a delivery of excellent ampanthan continued failing eyesight, his 2, Critical analysis and lore than compensatpairment.
sily moved to greener ut faced life in the way - with stoicism, which With courage he enJedy some years preOther, a retired senior , and Sister in law lost presence during the disturbances. He had
accepted his failing eyesight, deteriorating health and the una voidable move from his Cherished homeland with fortitude as he was not one for self pity. I have often Wondered what justice there is in all this, perhaps there is some kind of higher justice that one cannot comprehend. How else can one think of the suffering great men like Ramakrishna had to endure towards the culmination of their moral lives? May his soul rest in peace at the feet of God.
C.K. Kanthaswami, Australia.
PRINCE OF PEACE As a Christian if you wish to be part of a global net-work of prayer & intercession for the people of Sri Lanka please write to us: intercessors' Action Group, (Attn. Pastor Barnabas Alexander), Beulah Baptist Church, Beulah Crescent, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR78JL ENGLAND Tel/Fax: 0181 251 8325 UK Charity No. 277149. (This is purely a spiritual exercise without any political leanings).
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