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15 JUNE 1999
“I do not agree with a word of what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it,”
-Voltaire
ISSN 0266 - 44 88 Vol. XVII No. 6 15 JUNE 1999
Published by:
TAMIL TIMES LTD PO Box 121, Sutton,
Surrey SM13TD
United Kingdom
Phone: 0181 644 0972 Fax: 018 241 4557 Email: prajan(agn.apc.org
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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
Mass Grave Probe 03 Balasingham's Return 05 After PC Elections 08
Civilians & Militarisation 11 Pakistan-Eve of Millennium 19 Kargil - the Senseless War 22 The Shrinking Indian Left 24
Jayalalitha on Trial 25 Book Review 28 The Curse of Nationalism 29 Classified 30
Forensic exper believe to be skel June during the fir of a suspected m northern Sri Lan Jaffna. The findin man knee, along clothing that appe blue trousers, aft painstaking diggin 4.30 p.m. on the f tion at Chemmani ers commented tha a major breakthro veloping into a ted investigation.
On 8 June, identified two sk from the massgrav men. According to skeletons of the t hands tied with ro by family membel as those of Rasiah and Mahendran B appeared" in 199 Jaffna peninsula. worked as mechan from the remains One of them als chewing betel lea liceman in Jaffna One of the sk and blindfolded an of material still att ies. Another was ré by his wife from h teeth.
“One of the hands tied with a were remains of one of the victin Kesavan, a lawye at the exhumation telephone from Ja acting Jaffna Ma sagam Illancheliy exhumation after found to enable f file their reports the forensic repo
 
 
 
 

| AML TIMES 3
теактоugin
SS Grave Probe
ts found what they etal remains on 16 st ever excavations lass grave in the kan peninsula of g of part of a huwith fragments of ared to be part of er three hours of g occurred at about irst day of excavain Jaffna. Observut the detection was ugh in what is deious and prolonged
weeping relatives celetons exhumed resite as that of two police sources, the wo men, one with pe, were identified 's and an employer n Satishkumar, 22, abu, 28, who “dis6 in the northern “The victims who lics were identified of their clothing. ) had stains from ves,“ a senior potold reporters. eletons was bound d there were scraps ached to both bodportedly identified is tobacco-stained
skeletons had its nylon rope. There black trousers and hs had a vest,“ K
r who was present
l, told the press by ffna town. He said gistrate Manikava an had stopped the the skeletons were orensic experts to to his court. Until rts are submitted
there will be no further digging. The skeletal and other remains would be kept at a police station and friends and relatives of the "disappeared' have been invited to try to identify them. The Magistrate postponed further exhumation till July 15, to allow forensic experts to submit a report on the skeletal and other remains found.
The internationally monitored excavations began at Chemmani village after the convicted soldier Rajapakse pointed to a site where he said three victims of extrajudicial killings were buried three years ago.
The Jaffna Magistrate Manikkawasagam Ilancheliyan ordered the excavations after soldier Somaratne Rajapakse, a convict in a rape and murder case told in open court that he knew 10 grave sites in the area. Hundreds of heavily armed police and soldiers guarded a low-lying swampy land at Chemmani as the magistrate asked the convict to show a grave where he believed victims of security forces were buried.
"I know of 10 places where people have been definitely buried and some more graves in several other places which I can show to the authorities,” Rajapakse told the court when he was flown to Jaffna under tight security to help in investigations. The soldier repeated in courthere that he was innocent of the crime but said four of his superior officers were responsible for killing civilians. "I only buried the bodies given to me,” he said. “I did not know the identities of the victims.'
Rajapakse said that he was enlisted in the Army and was serving at Ariyalai. He alleged that some senior military officials arrested and killed Tamil persons and ordered the soldiers to bury the bodies. He named some senior officials for alleged murdering of some Tamil persons. "I decided to reveal the truth because I was convicted for a murder that I was not

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4 TAMILTIMES
involved in. The killers are at home, we the innocents are in the prison,' he added.
Rajapakse was in the Bogambara Prison till he was flown to Jaffna on a special flight.
A qualified team of forensic scientists from three international human rights groups, Amnesty International, Asia Foundation and Physicians for Human Rights, were present at the site of the mass grave in Chemmani village in the northern Sri Lankan peninsula of Jaffna when the exhumation began on 16 June under tight security provided by hundreds of police and troops. T Sundara lingam, Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka was also present. The forensic scientists team comprised the Professor of Forensic Medicine of Ruhuna University, Chandrasiri Niriella Additional Government Analyst A M J Mendis, and Forensic Soil Scientist Dr K A Nandasena. The forensic scientist doctor William Haglund of Physicians for Human Rights, Ms. Ingrid Massage of Amnesty International and Melissa Connor, Kevin Lee who have been granted “observer status' by the government were also present. The pressure upon the Sri Lankan authorities to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings and "disappearances' carried out by security service personnel gathered momentum following the unexpected outburst in court by former lance corporal Somaratne Rajapakse, following the passing of death sentence after being convicted, along with others, on charges of murder and rape of the teenage Tamil schoolgirl, Krishanthy Kumarasamy, and the murders of her mother, brother and a neighbour. He told the Colombo court last year that the bodies of some 300 “disappeared" persons were buried at Chemmani.
Amnesty International had previously reported that some 600 persons had "disappeared" in Jaffna in 1996 after government troops captured the peninsula driving Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) out of their long-held stronghold.
“We have taken one step in the direction of truth, accountability and redress for the victims,” Ingrid Massage of Amnesty International told the press. She said some 540 people had disappeared in Jaffna since late
1995 and that the taking a bold step t of its own security
In the meantime convicted in the Kri murder case, D.M told one of the Com Human Rights Col Lanka that he also k in Jaffna where the ians were disposed According to omn several bodies were wells at Nedunkulan junction and Pilla Thereafter those we by sand using bull Jayatillake voluntee the wells where de dumped.
In spite of the Lankan army receiv its image by the rev Chemmani mass gr ment appears to ha pat on the back for p investigations. Visit observers who wer be associated with til the alleged Chemn said they were ent pace at which the i being conducted an as "exceptional” th decision to proceed gation despite being an armed conflict.
They made thes a media conference morning at the Pala proceeding to the M and later to Chemn mencement of the e
SS.
The Sri Lankan statement quoted D land, Forensic anth Physicians for Hum he was in the islan and was willing to tions, if asked, on t 'We are encour sideration and the investigation is prc hurried and it is d another crime, if th mitted would be per evidence would be lies would be den possibility of having tified. He express through the upcomi

government was o dig up victims forces.
', another soldier shanthy rape and .Jayatillake had missioners of the mmission of Sri new several sites : bodies of civilof by soldiers. hission sources, dumped in three l, Thapp-atkaddu wiyar Kovilady. lls were covered dozers, revealed ring also to locate 2ad bodies were
fact that the Sri ved a battering to elations from the ave, the governve been given a ersisting with the ting international 2 in the island to he exhumation of nani mass grave couraged by the nvestigation was d have described he government's with this investiin the middle of
e observations at held on 16 June lly Base, prior to agistrates Courts lani for the comXhumation proc
Foreign Ministry r. William Hagropologist from an Rights saying d as an observer offer any suggeshe process.
aged by the conace at which the gressing. If it is one improperly, 2T6 VoìS Of16 C0111petuated, because destroyed. Famied the potential the victims idend the hope that ng months justice
15 JUNE 1999
would be done and individuals who might have done these acts would be held accountable, he had said.
"From my point I'd like to see that a historical record is accurately documented so that rumours can be put to rest". He said an important need of the families who have basically been hitherto ignored, is that they are able to find out the whereabouts about people who are missing and have them identified so that they can be returned to them.
"Part of what was being done was to give voice to the victims, so that they can tell their story. A story that has remained silent and hidden with their buried bones', Dr. Hagland had added.
Ingrid Massage, representative of Amnesty International (AI) said they were here to take one step in the direction of truth, justice, accountability and redress for the victims and their relatives who disappeared, most likely in mid 1996. She observed. "Our presence here as observers is to ensure, or try to establish whether the investigations are being done professionally. By that I mean, in accordance with international standards that have been laid down for the investigation of extrajudicial killings and transparency, inthesense that alpeople who have an interest in this case, and I am particularly concerned about the relatives will be kept informed and will have an opportunity to hear the results of the investigations.” She said Amnesty International had visited Sri Lanka in 1997 and collected evidence about the disappearances of the time and that they subsequently produced a report on the widespread pattern of disappearances of 1996. She said "we are pleased to see that the government is proceeding with these investigations. Especially for a government which is still in the middle of an armed conflict, it is rather exceptional that the authorities are taking a bold step to actually dig up bodies ofvictims ofhuman rights violations committed by its own forces during its tenure. We know there are people within the security forces who are not happy with this happening. We also know that there are people in the security forces who are happy that this is happening, who are in favour of establishing a high standard of accountability within the forces.”O

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15 JUNE 1999
Balasingham's Ret to Britain Raise to of Revival of Peace
DBS Jeyaraj
ews reports in "The Island" and the Chennai based "Hindu' newspapers about the relocation of LTTE Political advisor Anton Stanisl aus Balasingham from the Wanni to Britain have now been directly confirmed by Tiger sources themselves. On Sunday 13th the BBC Tamil Service “Thamizhosai' relayed an interview with Anton Rajah, the LTTE spokesperson based in London. Anton Rajah whose real name is Ramachandran said in the interview that Balasingham had arrived in Britain three weeks ago. He also outlined briefly what Balasingham hopes to accomplish within his stay that extend to the year 2000.
Ramachandran alias Anton Rajah said in the interview that Balasingham has been asked to take charge of the Tiger International Secretariat in London by LTTE leader Prabakharan. He is expected to reorganise it and inject a fresh enthusiasm into the LTTE propaganda machine overseas. Balasingham will be directing and co-ordinating LTTE propaganda in the Western world.
More importantly Balasingham known generally as “Bala Annai” has also been entrusted with the responsibility of reviving the negotiation process with Colombo again. He is expected to interact with various Western Governments and influential Non-Governmental Organizations in this regard and impress upon them the necessity to restart talks between the government and the LTTE within a mutually acceptable framework. A prerequisite from an LTTE perspective would be the participation of a third party to facilitate talks this time.
Thirdly Balasingham, a diabetic patient will utilize his stay in London to procure advanced medical treatment. He had fallen seriously ill after shifting to the Wanni from Jaffna in 1995. The information divulged by Anton Rajah about Anton Balasingham had already been revealed in detail by the Hindu' and "Island' newspapers.
Nevertheless hearin the horse's mouth Tiger mouth adds a tive confirmation.
It is clear theref premo Velupillai Pri ced a tremendous singham the man de tician of the Tigers stance what is requir is solid practical acti vide worthwhile res cific time frame. Th question therefore i ngham can fulfil"T tions and deliver th tally Balasingham, Baby Subramaniam personalities within still address Prabakh and more endearing "Thamby” (Younge haran refers to Balas and his spouse Adel In the first plac matters to be clari circumstances of Ba Britain. He and his A are both British citi ish passports. Bot known to have been of violence. As suç possible legally to c with any act of terr national court. The reau of Investigatio over its face when persons with the c under the dreaded TI preme Court overtu the lower court in , ment.
So Britain despi stringent anti-terr likely to take any Balasingham duo. remember that the duced within the ci ter group “Real Il sabotage the famc agreement enterec Fein. It seems to ha

TAMILTIMES 5
)pes Talks
g it directly from or in this case the tamp of authorita
ore that LTTE suabakharan has plaburden on Bala'scribed as theore... Only in this in2d of Bala-singham on that should proults within a spee “Kodee Roopai” s whether Balasihamby’s” expectae goods? IncidenAppiah Annai and are the only three the LTTE who can haran by the earlier term of affection r Brother). Prabakingham as “Annai” le as “Akka". xe there are a few fied regarding the lasingham's stay in ustralian born wife zens carrying Britof them are not involved in any act ch it would not be harge them directly orism in any interIndian Central Bu - ns had “Muttai’ all it tried to "fix' 26 harge of terrorism ADA law. The Suned the decision of a remarkable judg
te the enactment of orism laws is not action against the It is also useful to e laws were introontext of the splinA” attempting to us “Good Friday"
into by the Sinn ve met with limited
success. The new legislation was never intended to deal wit terrorism in other countries though some provision could be applied in these cases too. What is necessary for this is tangible proof that terrorist activity is being planned and plotted on British soil. It is quite obvious that this type of activity is planned and executed on Sri Lankan soil. Indeed the thrust of the Rajiv Gandhi case against Prabakharan and Pottu Amman was that the conspiracy was hatched by both in the “Jungles of Jaffna”. Incidentally one tends to feel "ticklish” when the Indian media blares forth about the so-called conspiracy to assassinate Sonia Gandhi being plotted in the South African city of Durban.
What should also be realised that notwithstanding stringent anti-terrorism laws. There must be genuine intention and follow up action on the part of Western nations to apply these to the LTTE. Although there is an impression in Sri Lanka that the efforts of our foreign minister have caused a situation where every Western country is all out to penalise the LTTE the reality is somewhat different. Most governments though unhappy about the LTTE presence within their borders do not consider it a problem so “threatening” that harsh action should be taken. Besides it would be very difficult for these governments to obtain proof of illegal Tiger activity even if it desires to take action. Unless and until the Tamil Diaspora itself turns against the LTTE in a big way such scenario does not seem possible at present. The inability of the "Sinhala' polity to implement any meaningful proposal to resolve the crisis can only prolong this situation.
Another factor to be taken note of is that even in countries where at least some action has been taken against the LTTE, such action has not resulted in corresponding less Tiger activity. The only consequence has been that the Tigers have become less overtly visible. In India, despite the seven year-oldban clandestine Tiger activity relating to logistical requirements has continued. In Canada and Switzerland legal action against the erstwhile Tiger chieftains Suresh and Murali has not affected the LTTE. Also despite the most powerful nation in the world designating the LTTE as a terrorist organisation and proscribing it, the Tigers though maintaining a low profile are certainly not inactive in the USA. A major deficiency

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6 TAM TIMES
on the part of the anti-terrorist laws is that the Tigers do not function under their own name, the LTTE. It has several front organisations. Of course if a Western Government was really determined to take action against the Tigers then it can do so. But most governments only engage in token action against the LTTE that gratifies Sri Lanka instead of pushing really hard.
Against this backdrop it is certainly a very remote possibility that the British government would take any punitive action against Balasingham. As stated earlier there is no "real' terrorist act that he can be charged with unless of course Sri Lanka tries to cook up a charge of conspiracy in the courts against him. Even then the retrospective factor would be in Balasingham's favour. The only charge on which Balasingham can be convicted in a Sri Lankan law court is "section five of the Prevention of Terrorism Act which deems the failure to inform authorities despite having knowledge of terrorism” an offence. In fact most of the unfortunate souls who languished for long periods in jails were ultimately convicted only on that charge. But the reality is that if this PTA provision is diligently applied then the entire Tamil population of the North- Eastern Province, substantial sections of the Muslim population and even quite a number of Sinhala people could become liable to be indicted under this provision. It would be unrealistic therefore to expect any British action against Balasingham at this juncture.
It would also be pertinent to scrutinize the response of Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ravinatha Ariyasinghe to the presence of Balasingham on British soil. His was a cautious "No Comment' Apart from the fact that the Sri Lankan mission in London in spite of having an intelligence section was caught totally unawares of Balasingham's move to the UK there was another reason for Ravi's reaction too. It would not be in the best interests of Sri Lanka to create an unnecessary and possibly a futile controversy about Balasingham when the ostensible purpose of his shift to London is allegedly to promote peace. Even if peace moves do not eventually materialise a responsible and democratically elected government can ill afford to take up a pugnacious position against Balasingham. It just cannot be perceived as being standing in the way of
peace.
In that context note the fact that th fronted by news r ham's presence in I to hide it as in the reports of a simil about the LTTE De Karikalan few yea LTTE has chosen over the most prest tution of the Worl been disclosed ope in charge of the I secretariat despite t of the former In Sathasivam Krishn being served with a by Britain. Kittuth not for his political alleged involvemen military equipment he was a Sri Lank: obtained his initia treatment to affix lost leg.
Since Balasin passport holder the tation will not arise ever, only if he co crime on British soi able to see pueri Balasingham in "h that he will be invo particularly of the every expatriate Ta who make this alle to be aware that th chinery of the LT streamlined and ef services of Balasir delicate health of B allow him to do so One possibility very physical prese in London will in in particular and t in general to make the cause. Balasing culpable for this. Il gham has never b indulged in fund Such “mundane” t nows. Also the ( within the LTTE st mit him to do so.
There are a col to be cleared up to duo is certainly r LTTE office as all ters. It would attr most unwelcome 1

15 JUNE 1999
it is important to e LTTE when conports of Balasingondon has not tried earlier case where ar nature surfaced puty Political leader rs ago. Instead the o admit it publicly igious media instid, the BBC. It has nly that he will be (TTE international he earlier precedent ternational Chief akumar alias Kittu deportation notice en was treated thus activity but for his tin fundraising and purchases. Besides an citizen who had l visa for medical eplacement for his
gham is a British question of depor'. It may emerge, if ommits a dastardly l. It is indeed laughle attempts to put ot water” by stating lved in fund raising "pound a day from mil” variety. Those gation do not seem e fund raising maTE is much more ficient to enlist the gham. Besides the alasingham will not even if he desires. however is that the nce of Balasingham pire Tamil Britons he Tamil Diaspora hefty donations to nam cannot be made icidentally Balasineen known to have raising after 1983. isks are for the minlivision of labour ructure will not per
uple of trivial things ). The Balasingham ot residing in any eged in some quaract attention that is o the Tigers at this
point of time. The Balasinghams have been residing in Britain for quite a while and have certainly accumulated a circle of affluent friends who can accommodate them. Balasingham hailing from Karaveddy has many close relatives in London who would only be too happy to oblige their famous kinsman. More importantly there is a vast array of LTTE supporters and well wishers in the greater London area who will consider it a personal privilege to provide hospitality to the feline couple. It is also quite obvious that the Balasinghams will not stay in one place for a lengthy period because of security considerations.
The other facetious piece of trivia relates to Balasingham being allegedly seen worshipping at a Hindu temple. The purveyors of this illogical fiction do not seem to have understood even the bare fact that Balasingham with his marxist leanings is a confirmed "rationalist'. In fact he was an ardent disciple of the legendary Dr. Abraham Kovoor in his younger days at the “Virakesari' and British High Commission (Perhaps Dr. Carlo F may remember). Balasingham's rational beliefs also provided him a meeting point with the Dravidian followers of "Eevera' or “Thanthai Periyaar' when in Tamil Nadu. Even during his stay in the Northern Province from 1989 to 1999 “Bala Annai” was never seen attending a Hindu temple. Also let it not be forgotten that he was born and raised a devout Roman Catholic belonging to the Sacred Heart Church parish. Given the fact that ageing and health had reduced his "rational beliefs' it is more likely that he would have worshipped at Lourdes rather than at London Hindu temple.
Under these circumstances the reality seems to be that Balasingham would reside and even travel about Europe for a while. During which he would galvanise propaganda and resurrect negotiations. It is indeed a Himalayan task given the general deterioration that has set in among the upper LTTE echelons abroad. LTTE supremo Prabakharan is apparently concerned and disappointed that his overseas branches have not been able to gain much propaganda mileage for the movement. In recent times the expatriate Tigers have not been able to get the negotiation process going despite Prabakharan having announced in his great heroes day speech that the

Page 7
15 JUNE 1999
"Peace Doors are open'.
The chiefdrawback suffered by the Tigers abroad is the conspicuous absence of an able, high profile leader. The charisma and ability of Prabakharan is able to attract and administer the movement on native soil. From the LTTE point of view Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP is executing a wonderful job in acquiring and transporting arms and ammunition to the organisation. But there is woeful inadequacy in overseas propaganda and political work. Kittu had the stature, drive and personality to co-ordinate and direct the overseas Tigers from 1989 to 1992.
Then the gap was filled by Thilagar from 1993 to 96. His performance too was found wanting and was subsequently recalled to the Wanni by Prabakharan. Since 1996 Velummayilum Manoharan an engineer by profession is chief of the overseas LTTE. Though Manoharan on whose “legal' behalf the US ban on the LTTE is being challenged in the US courts is a sincere Tiger his achievements too are negligible. The LTTE has not spread out widely in recent times and confines itself to the monolingual Tamil Diaspora for the most part of its time. Although the motions of holding International Conferences in English and publishing English journals etc. are dutifully followed the real impact of these is hardly discernible. The LTTE has failed miserably to propagate their cause outside the Tamil milieu in recent times. One reason for this is that both the International and Country chiefs lack media savvy and political mobilisation techniques. They also cannot relate to the English oriented Tamil intelligentsia and professional classes. A Tamil elite non-proficient in English is yet to emerge.
The greatest minus point of Mano and most LTTE country chiefs however is that they were never proper members of the LTTE at any time. They lack interactive experience with their leader and do not possess an insight into his thinking. Also they lack an imaginatively bold and creative approach to problems. This was a quality that Kittu possessed in abundance and Thilagar lacked. What is needed therefore by the overseas LTTE is an overall leader who has the full authority of the LTTE leader behind him. He should bbe a person who is fully awar of the reali
ties on ground a Prabakharanʼs mi] spect Balasingham This writer recalls former PLOTE l. waran in the eightie chief of the pre-1 Bala Annai's plu; knew exactly how worked and antici occasions. Or cou. derogatory terms point made is wor! Another relate part of LTTE prop. lack of an authent sonality to spearhe the Tigers to fallba of propagandists li balam of the Ta. EPRLF member S Rupavahini Chair TULF MP Pararaja not wishing to asse what must be poi propaganda from a itself becomes "we sonalities are invol of these persons : ristic' than Prabak it comes to pompo Yet the visible lack ity leaves much tol that respect Balasil credentials to lead a ganda drive. In fa greater utilitarian v the West rather tha Wanni.
Although there reference to it by considered opinior an important item agenda would be t LTTE political wi the impossibility o LTTE outfit funct this seems the best Prabakharan who d political front set deputy Mahatthaya luctant to set up ap earlier. But now th perience may have a formation is essel the "morons' ove it. But it can be su 0000kharan will n about Balasingham outfit abroad. Aga attract many able T of the Tigers to b

TAM TIMES 7
ld also know how d works. In that refits the bill ideally. a conversation with ader. Uma Mahess where the one time 80 LTTE said that point was that he Prabakharan's mind lated it in on many se Uma said this in ut nevertheless the h recollecting. i deficiency on the ganda abroad is the c, well known perdit. This has caused ck on a motley crew ke Kumar Ponnammil Congress, exathanandan, former man Vasantharajah, singham etc. While ss their performance hted out is that the n LTTE perspective ak” when these perved. Of course some sound more “Tigeharan himself when as pronouncements. of Tiger authenticbe desired. Again in ngham has the right und direct the propact he would be of alue to the LTTE in un in the jungles of
has been no public the LTTE it is the of this writer that on Balasingham's he setting up of an ng overseas. Given a Sinn Fein type of oning in Sri Lanka bet for the Tigers. issolved in 1991 the up under his then may have been reolitical wing abroad hard school of exaught him that such tial even if some of seas do not realise rmised that Prabait have any qualms setting up such an n Balasingham can mils standing aloof come part of this
political wing. Of course any LTTE supporter overseas entertaining notions about being a minister of a shadow “Eelam” cabinet abroad after a unilateral declaration of independence is likely to have his desire unrequited for a long, long time.
It is also relevant to note the timing and procedure of Balasingham's entry to Britain. Although he went out of Mullaithivu clandestinely on an LTTE ship the circumstances of his ultimate entry to Britain were quite open. While not suggesting any prearranged manoeuvre it becomes necessary to point out that there was little apprehension on the LTTE over adverse action being taken by Britain. This is because Britain will not like to jeopardise any move for peace in the context of the former Minister Liam Fox's moves in Sri Lanka to promote a bipartisan approach. The Labour governmentos primary concern in South Asia is certainly Kashmir. But it will not be averse to playing a facilitator role in Sri Lankan peace talks if called upon to do so.
So too would a number of European Countries. Even the United States that has banned the LTTE will revoke it and become intermediary if required. The chief reason for this is that as far as the West is concerned the Kumaratunga's war for peace strategy has failed to bring about peace. The collective Western wisdom does not entertain any hope that the Tigers could be marginalised militarily or politically without a Sinhala consensus on a settlement. There is grudging acceptance that there is no wishing away the LTTE. Under these circumstances Western nations would like the government to enter into talks with the dominant Tamil entity, the Tigers. The Tiger hierarchy abroad has on more than one occasion indicated willingness on their part to negotiate. But Western leaders do not attach much credibility to these persons and so have responded lukewarmly.
The main reason being that it has now been more or less established that no LTTE leader abroad can take any important and binding decision in this regard. It is known that only Prabakharan can take such a decision and that his overseas representatives do not have a clue as to what and how their leader thinks. It is in that respect that the advent of Balasingham can help revive the peace process. Having the full author
(continued on next page)

Page 8
8 TAM TIMES
Political Prospel After PCElectio
D B.S Jeyaraj
he Peoples Alliance led by Chand
rika Kumaratunga has registered a victory at the Southern Provincial Council Election. The party obtained 25 initially and then a further 2 bonus seats thus making its tally 27 out of a total strength of 55.The chief opposition United National Party has 2 and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 7. With this win the PA has nominally made a clean sweep of coming out first in all Provincial Councils in the predominantly Sinhala areas. As reported in these columns earlier the PA has an absolute majority in the North Central Provincial Council; it has cobbled together a fragile lead with Ceylon Workers Congress support in the Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces. In the Cen
tral Province, supp well as the Up Col has given it comfo
But in the West not been able to co It has formed amin there and faces cri UNP and JVP decid pull it down. It fac lem in the Southern in spite of the PA cc all verdict is a hun is one seat short of is possible that the could be toppled if forge a common ac
The JVP howev position that it will with either the PA'
(Continued from page 6)
ity of Prabakharan he can function autonomously and take crucial decisions in this regard. This writer would also hazard a guess that Balasingham would have been authorised to suspend if necessary the preconditions of demanding the army to withdraw to pre-war positions. In that context Balasingham will be perceived as an authentic substitute for Prabakharan and will carry much credibility.
In spite of all this genuine enthusiasm displayed for talks there is always the nagging doubt whether Prabakharan is really ready emotionally to give up his dream of Thamil Eelam. The government will no doubt be subjected to a lot of pressure to restart talks by the aid consortium countries in the future. Reinforcing this pressure would be the UNP position that talks be initiated with the LTTE, the efforts of the business community and the exercises of the inter- religious group. Having a point, man like Balasingham available will greatly facilitate preliminary endeavours for talks. Once the modalities are finalised a Tiger delegation is likely to Venture Out.
It is a moot point whether the do
mestic compulsion will allow her to when none of her pl military front have There will naturally military too. For n sacrifice the terri gained at the altar ( what must be reali cratic government ( fer of a peace negc course it is credibl gham is able to m support behind the talks then the gove strained to accept it. past experience one ernment making an sion before a tang reached.
So Balasinghar sure of all eyes in th ever the intentions i whether Balasingha Western nations in initiative for peace is his health condi ing months would d this diabetic in his liver the goods or r

15 JUNE 1999
CS
S
ort by the CWC as Intry Peoples Front table majority. tern Province it has mmand a majority. ority administration sis if and when the e to act together and *es a similiar probProvince too where ming first the overg Council. The PA a majority. Again it PA administration the UNP and JVP tion plan. er is currently of the not have any truck "Montagues' or the
is of Kumaratunga opt for peace talks lans on the politicomaterialised so far. be resistance by the o one would like to torial advantages of negotiations. But sed is that a democannot spurn the of tiation provided of e. Thus if Balasinuster international LTTE for initiating inment will be conNevertheless given cannot see the govy territorial concesgible settlement is
n will be the cynoe near future. Whattremains to be seen m can convince the to backing a fresh ... Another problem ion. Still the comemonstrate whether mid sixties can deot? O
UNP"Capulets". A plague on both your houses is the credo for the moment.The JVP will extend support to the PA administrations on an issue by issue basis it has been announced. So temporaririly at least the PA administrations in the six Provincial Councils can function without any major hinderance.
Five factors however have emerged quite clearly. Firstly the "Sinhala' vote banks of both the PA and UNP are more or less intact. There has not been much erosion of both at the expense of each other. One reason for this is that there Were no major national issues canvassed at these elections. There was for instance no reference worth noting about the resolution of the ethnic problem except for Kumaratunga's routine reference to the merits of her "package'. The UNP did not refer to this issue at all.
Secondly it can be discerned that notwithstanding the Sinhala vote banks not suffering much reduction there is a visible decrease of votes for the PA and corresponding increase for the UNP against the backdrop of the 1994 General and Presidential Elections.This is attributed to the Swing of the minority community votes from the PA to the UNP. The importance of the minority vote can be seen very clearly in the Upcountry and Colombo areas.
Thirdly it is clear that the JVP is now emerging as the new third force in the Sinhala areas. It has attracted much of the new votes of the youth. Both the traditional Left as well as the Sinhala Right have been superseded by the JVP. If it wanted to the JVP could have formed viable joint administrations with the PA in four provinces. The party has decided against playing the Kingmaker role at least for the time being.
Fourthly there is also a growing component of voters who seem disillusioned with the entire system. Apart from the Southern Province all other Provinces had an unusual number of spoilt votes. Likewise there was a conspicuous drop in the numbers who voted. The exact cause or causes for this trend is yet to be ascertained. But all signals point to a serious crisis for democracy if voters continue to lose respect for the prevailing electoral system.
Fifthly the situation seems quite

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15 UNE 1999
dicey in terms of the prospects of the UNP. Though the fact that the PA came first in all six councils seems at first glance a terrible defeat for the UNP, a closer perusal of the vote differences indicates that the UNP can by no means be written off that simply.There seems to be a widely believed notion that Kumaratunga is more charismatic than Ranil Wickremasinghe and that the latter is not assertive.
As such many feel that Kumaratunga will romp home the winner at the Presidential Stakes. The PC results however raise serious doubts on this count. Judging by the results it looks like Kumaratunga will gain a fragile lead in the Southern areas. She may also enhance that lead in the Presidential elections. But if the Provincial Election results are a yardstick to measure future polls it does seem patently clear that the next Parliament too would be a hung Parliament. Also Kumaratunga herself may not get 50% of the Votes in the Presidential election results in the first count, and consequently may be compelled to face a second count. In any event if the current southern trends continues, whoever wins either in Parliamentary or Presidential polls, neither will obtain an “absolute” victory.
The crucial difference however would be the significant minority vote. If and when a national election is held for Parliament or the Presidency, the people in the Eastern and Northern Provinces will be eligible to vote. In that context the Tamil and Muslim votes may provide decisive effect in influencing the final verdict provided of course the Sinhala vote base is more or less equally divided as at present. Even the minority votes in the Southern areas can be of strategic importance in this regard. Under these circumstances a vital development in coming months would be the conduct of the PA and the UNP on this issue. Both parties who refrained from harping on the ethnic problem during the Provincial Council Elections in the Sinhala areas will be compelled to address the problem more openly before elections. It would be interesting to see how developments along these lines occur.
In the first place a question that needs to be answered first is which election would come next? The Parliament or Presidential Elections? Unless something occurs unexpectedly it seems very
likely that the Pres will be held first. T sons for this. When Presidential Electio jority was very sle the Parliamentary lowed should have Parliament verdict. impact Premadasa V by virtue of him b dent, the UNP obta majority. In 1994 D elections to Parliam erroneous calculat with a slender lead became Prime Mini able to use that po record voter turn elected as Presiden As far as the c concerned the PA Parliamentary stake fact the situation is UNP may be able to edge out the PA by sides the PA does ni its Prime Ministeri: ing to be. A battle 1 ing Mrs Bandaranai ter at this juncture c divisions within the liamentary Election can only spell dis Therefore the PA wo dent to go in for Pri first.
The second rea Presidential election candidate Kumaratl the favourite as opp singhe of the UNP. is that Kumaratunga the Presidency. Bo tory Parliament is tions held. The PA dency would help i mentary elections v ity. After her Presid over Kumaratunga ture the Constitutio the Executive Presi become Prime Min ers as in the case { model.
The third reas Presidential electio ensure that the min change allegiance. election it is in the ity parties like th Congress, the Up

TAMILTIMES 9
eidential Elections here are three reaPremadasa won the ns in 1988 his mader. On that basis elections that folregistered a hung But because of the as able to produce sing elected Presined a comfortable B Wijetunga held ent first making an ion. The PA won and Kumaratunga ster. Again she was sition to inspire a out to get herself t. urrent situation is lead Over UNP in is is very flimsy. In quite dicey and the do better and even a seat or two. Beot know as yet who al Candidate is goo succeed the ageke as Prime Miniscould result in deep : party. Facing Pars in such a scenario aster for the PA. ould consider it prusidential Elections
son for having the is first is that the PA nga is perceived as osed to WickremaThe calculation then competes and wins lstered by that viclissolved and elecvictory at the Presit to win the Parliafith a viable majorential term is almost will seek to restrucn and do away with dent. She will then ister with full powf the Westminster
on for having the hs fiirst would beto ority parties do not In a Parliamentary interests of minorCeylon Workers Country Peoples
Front, the Tamil United Liberation Front, the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress to strike out independently instread of contesting as a junior partner with the PA. This autonomy of action may lead to a decline in PA votes as well as create a situation where the parties may arrive at an understanding with the UNP, If Presidential elections are held first then these parties would be compelled to hitch their wagons to the Chandrika star. It is in the parochial interests of these Parties to cling on to the government. After Kumaratunga wins the Presidency again she could "persuade" these parties to stick along with her in the Parliamentary polls too. Thus it does seem reasonable to conclude that the Presidential Elections are going to be held first. Also Election Year for both the Presidency as well as Parliament is very likely to be the year 2000. Given the narrowness of the Sinhala electorate's verdict in the six Southern Provincial Councils both parties will definitely focus on the ethnic crisis to attract that voter-swing necessary for complete victory. It has to be emphasised again that in 1994 the Kumaratunga phenomenon was able to claim a resounding victory as a result of the minority vote and vice versa the UNP debacle was accentuated also as a result. Chandrika's platform of peace saw her win with ease. But now events have overtaken whatever promise she held out then. As a result the situation is somewhat a reversal of roles.
Though the UNP has remained vague and evasive on the devolution proposal package of the PA, its leader Wickremasinghe is perceived by many Tamils as not being as aggressive on the issue of the ongoing war against the LTTE while Kumaratunga is projected as pursuing the war with a vengeance. While remaining non-committal and evasive on the issue of devolution, the plus point for the UNP is that it has not whipped up a campaign against it. It is this abdication of what has been seen as the traditional role of the opposition that has led to the mushrooming of neofascist Sinhala outfits determined to abort a settlement. But though the UNP is to be commended for not ganging up with such groups, the party has certainly not been acting very responsibly either. It has performed bizarre somersaults like stating it stood for sharing

Page 10
10 TAMILTIMES
power at the centre instead of the periphery on the one hand and then also calling for asymmetrical power sharing for the North-East. At the same time it has let its objection to crucial elements of the devolution package be known albeit on a low key.
Though not strident in its opposition the UNP's objection to proposals such as changing Sri Lanka from a Unitary State to Union of Regions, on land, policing, obtaining foreign loans etc makes the party's proclamations as to its commitment to devolution quite meaningless. But the paradoxical aspect to the whole thing is that despite very clear indications of the UNP stonewalling on the devolution proposals it has been able to attract Tamil votes more than the PA. The Provincial and Local Authority polls held in the recent past bear testimony to this galling prospect. The main reason for this is the problems faced by the Tamils owing to the ongoing war. While the North and East bears the brunt of the conflict, Tamils living elsewhere in Colombo and the Up Country have also been subject to much harrassment. The allegation is that the government has displayed a callous disregard for the well being of these people in spite of numerous representations. It is also said that no other government has resorted to the savage method of depriving food and medicine to a beleaguered people to the extent the PA has done. The ongoing war also has uprooted thousands of Tamils and turning them into displaced internal refugees. The government is also accused of promoting structures of Sinhala colonization in predominantly Tamil areas thereby drastically altering the demographic pattern of the traditional Tamil homeland. The total lack of commitment by the PA to either implement the Tamil Official Language provisions or remedy the slow judicial process in dealing with the innocent Tamils arrested under emergency and prevention of terrorism laws are also issues that have turned Tamil opinion against the government. In such a situation the government's frequent pronouncements about merits of its devolution package does not make any impact with the Tamil voter at all.
Besides the government has not made any constructive effort to make its proposals a reality. There is a clearly transparent absence of effort to reach a
bipartisan consensu spite ofthe British i by Liam Fox. Inst peace option what is a determination ( the LTTE that spur bitter lesson. The government is enga trition against the guise of fighting th be widespread. Sad current round of con faced by Kumaratu bered. Instead the h affecting Tamils a ther compoundin against the Kumara marked reluctance Tamil psyche to en any dissenting thou the negative role p in this pathetic sce
The UNP is cash sentiment. Wickre overtly critical of til war. He has stated the government w weapon of war in to the Wanni. F Jayewardene is unc manitarian venturi with Tamils. Ab asinghe's trump ca that a fresh roun should be initiated v certainly strikes a among a large num salient questions ar. - Is the LTTE reall genuinely within t United Sri Lanka? the UNP, that opp ernment ́s diluted v lution proposals, ol gers? But these iss in the desire to brin to the war. There c the overwhelming Sri Lankan Tamils minorities in gene causing great hard pended. Kumaratun lution package is r Sky” proposal tha right now.
The fact that su plemented with U provide a lasting out a reasonable sol is forgotten. Insteac pect of peace thro

15 JUNE 1999
is with the UNP in hitiative undertaken 2ad of pursuing a seems more visible on its part to teach ned its peace offer a perception that the ged in a war of atTamils under the e LTTE appears to ly the causes for the flict and constraints nga are not rememlarsh consequences e felt deeply. Furg these feelings tunga regime is the of the collective tertain or articulate ght or feeling about layed by the LTTE nario. ning in on this Tamil masinghe has been he pursuance of the in Parliament that as using food as a restricting supplies His MP Jayalath dertaking many huas that find favour »ve all Wickremird is his insistence d of negotiations with the LTTE. This responsive chord ber of Tamils. Two e ignored here. First y keen to negotiate he parameters of a Second - What can oses even the govversion ofits Devofer to the Tamil Tiues are overlooked gan immediate end an be no doubt that opinion among the in particular and the ral is that the war ship should be susga's offer of a devomerely a "pie in the ut lacks credibility
ch a package ifimNP support could ramework to work ution in the long run the short term prosugh talks with the
Tigers as held out by Wickrem-asinghe is more alluring. "Life is a game of short runs and in the long run we are all dead.'
Against this backdrop Kumaratunga's options seem limited. She can present the package in Parliament and pass it by a simple majority. Without UNP support it would not get a two thirds majority and therefore will not become law. The only possible benefit would be that she could expose the UNP in the eyes of some Tamil voters at least. The Tamil and Muslim parties supporting her will then be happy at least. But on the other hand even a gesture like that will not wean votes away from the UNP Tamil vote-base. The adverse consequences of the war will prevent them from voting for her on the basis of a package merely presented to Parliament alone. But by presenting the package she runs the risk of losing Sinhala voters. A tragic fact unfolding now is the accretion of Sinhala hardline support to the PA because of the “successful' way it is prosecuting a war against the Tigers, the adverse effects of which are felt by the Tamil people in general. So presenting the package could detract from her increasing Sinhala base while there may not be corresponding support as expected from the Tamils. So the package being presented in Parliament now will not benefit the PA.
Under these circumstances it seems likely that Kumaratunga will prosecute the war further to gain more and more territory until the Presidential elections without presenting the package beforehand. Even if she does not attract much minority votes she would hope to win with preponderant Sinhala votes. Of course an "unknown factor' is how the armed forces will "influence' votes in the North - East in her favour. If and when she wins the Presidency she may then present the devolution package in Parliament thus hoping to win a new lease of support among minorities. Such a move could help keep the minority parties with her. Then if the PA wins well in the Parliamentary stakes the UNP could be pressurised to support an "Amended” devolution package in Parliament. That then seems to be the most possible scenario after the Provincial Council Elections. But then there is always the LTTE factor to upset the best laid calculations. O

Page 11
15 JUNE 1999
The following is the text of a report in the infor Bulletin No. 20 released on May 19, 1999 by the University Teachers for Human Rights(J
he Vanni has been the focus of war news from Sri Lanka ever since the LTTE importuned a large number of civilians in Jaffna into the Vanni at the end of 1995 and engineered a humanitarian crisis. As the result of effective lobbying no doubt, the UN Secretary General, Mr. Boutros Ghali expressed his concern about the situation there and the Vanni was thrust into international attention. The Government therefore was obliged to be seen as caring for the people there by providing food and medicine, while the LTTE tried all means to mould the civilians and civilian life to service their military needs. The Vanni became thus the last fortress of the Liberation Tigers. The Government on the other hand while verbally espousing concern for the civilians, has been subtly applying pressures to make life difficult for them, forcing scores of thousands to leave the Vanni and move into refugee camps. For example essentials for a farming community such as kerosene, rope, fertiliser and basic medicines for a malarial region and even panadol were either banned or always in short supply. The LTTE for its part always administered supplies sent by the Government keeping its military needs in view and profited from encouraging black-marketeering, artificially aggravating shortages.
On school-children and the young there was always heavy pressure to join the LTTE. The LTTE's military successes at Mullaitivu and Killinochchi and even halting the northward military advance had nothing in them for the civilians. Their children were turned into cheap cannon fodder in a war that was only bringing progressive ruin on the Tamil people. In the so-called cleared, liberated or Government controlled areas, an oppressive and debilitating regime has been imposed on the Tamils on the pretext of security considerations. The Government has evaded world-wide censure only by not having these offending regulations on the statute book. They are imposed covertly, illegally and administratively. By so doing they are made all the more worse by being arbitrary, while making legal redress impractical for the ordinary man.
A graphic illustration of the fate of Vanni folk is the refugee camps in Vavuniya. Confined to these camps the inmates are allowed out for a few hours at a time after obtaining a pass. They cannot leave Vavuniya for another part of the country as the means of obtaining clearance are way beyond them. These once hard-working farmers are now idling in camps, living on meagre government handouts, with no proper schooling for their children, under conditions utterly ruinous to both community and individuals. This has now gone on for close upon three years. The camps being under government control with a police guard, the NGOs are not allowed to intervene directly. At Poonthottam camp with 500 inmates for instance, the thatch roof of their camp was in tatters. A refugee said that he did not bathe for three days as he had been sitting in the rain. To the rest of the country and to the Tamils abroad vocally supporting the LTTE, these people have by now become “out of sight, out of mind'.
 

TAM TIMES 11
Where the State is concerned, subjecting Tamils to such a regime has meant rampant corruption and a degradation of state functions and state machinery. It is a worrying comment on the Sri Lankan State that by its inability to address security concerns imaginatively and intelligently,
lation keeping democratic ideals in view, it has been moving in the direction of conjuring fna) up images of apartheid, an arbitrary form
of it without legal sanction.
When the Vanni saga began in November 1995 with the UN Secretary Generals expression of concern, it passed off as a false alarm after it became widely known that the LTTE had forced the people out of Jaffna. But today the alarm is a very real one and it should not be too late for the people when the world reacts.
Recent Developments
The Army halted its northward advance along the A9 trunk road and changed tactics after losing Killinochchi last September with heavy casualties to an LTTE onslaught using cannon and suicidal waves of fighters. The losses among the LTTE too were heavy at 700 or more killed and compared with the Army's losses of considerably more than 1,000. Both sides were in crisis and the LTTE launched an ambitious and somewhat heavy-handed recruitment drive. But its success was very limited.
Each of the two sides had lost between 2000 and 4000 killed during engagements in the Vanni. In deploying about 4 to 5 thousand cadre for the attack on Killinochchi, the LTTE thinned down its defences at Mankulam, which it had defended for several months, enabling the Army to capture it with ease. Such indications suggest that the present strength of the LTTE is below 10,000.
In the meantime from last December the Army adopted tactics where it had surprise on its side and has by now taken control of considerable territory on either side of the A9 between Vavuniya and Mankulam. By taking over the famed Roman Catholic shrine of Madhu which also functioned as a UNHCR supervised refugee camp and the surrounding agricultural region, a large segment of the Vanni population has been brought under Army control. It is now estimated that about 125,000 civilians in the Vanni have come under Army control and 150,000 to 200,000 live under LTTE control. A number well above 50,000 have gone to India and a smaller number to Jaffna, over the last 3 years.
The recent operations have been conducted with hardly any loss of life. In villages people woke up to find themselves among the Army. Farming villages not under Army control too hope that the Army would move in, in a like manner. The immediate reasons for them are economic and the protection of children. Under Army control they hope to obtain Rs. 1,200 for a bushel of paddy instead of the Rs. 500 the LTTE pays them. Apart from drastic reductions in prices of food and fuel, the cost of hiring a tractor to prepare an acre of land for sowing would drop from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 2,500. Even rope for tying cattle has presently to be purchased in the black market for smuggled goods. Their present disposition is to do with tiredness from what both sides have very unreasonably imposed on them and has nothing to do with any love for the Government.
On the whole the civilians are relieved that the recent military operations passed without causing them much hurt or damage. But there is anxiety about future uncertainties. They were tired of the regime to which the LTTE had subjected them. Food

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rations to displaced families though inadequate, became regular after the Army take-over. Necessities such as batteries, milk food and medicines are available at normal cost. But for the refugees who were displaced from Killinochchi, Jaffna and other areas where military operations are taking place, it is going to be rising frustration with oppressive regimentation of a different kind.
These refugees are now without means, living on dry rations. Earlier many of them formed the mainstay of farm labour in the surrounding areas. For example Adampan was a flourishing agricultural area which had its harvest in mid-April. But the refugees from Madhu who used to work in those fields have this time been prevented from going there by the Army because it is still under LTTE control. Apart from them those who ran small shops, were involved in the fish trade, or used to fetch items for sale from the Government controlled area, are now out of work.
Out of sheer desperation many children and even teenage girls started queuing up with plates outside the Army camps at mealtimes. This gave room for rumours placing individuals at risk. When the Army took over Madhu in late March, the civilians had to register for dry rations. The Army made an announcement calling upon “Maaveerar” (Great Heroes – LTTE men and women who died in action) families to register first. Taken in an unguarded moment, several of them went forward and were casually registered without anything being given away. Today the Army is said to be getting much information from persons who once had ties with the LTTE.
Derivation, Hysteria and Social Disintegration
With large sections of the Vanni population coming under Army control, the LTTE took measures to retain some of the
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15 JUNE 1999
weaker sections under its control. Recruiting among them is easier and their presence ensured relief supplies. Many of the fisherfolk from Jaffna who were displaced to the Vanni during the 1995 Exodus had settled comfortably over the years at Vidatthalthivu and Pappamoddai on the Mannar mainland coast. Early this year the Army indicated its new strategy by a westward move from A9. Just before the second move towards Madhu in late March, the LTTE asked the refugee fisherfolk in Vidatthalthivu and Pappamoddai to remove themselves northwards to Kalliady, Illuppaikkadavai, Vellankulam and further north.
The LTTE is thus squeezing them into a smaller area where conditions are difficult. Their earnings have dropped as they now face increased risk and harassment from naval patrols operating out of Karainagar. There is also a problem of watershortage in their congested new habitations in the villages mentioned above. Along with an inadequate supply, water has to be purchased at Rs. 2/= for a pot. The provision of dry rations to the displaced in several areas is very irregular for a variety of reasons, including a reduction of supply by the Government, the LTTE taking a share and disruption of administrative arrangements. The people have heard the Government claiming over the radio that they are being given rations monthly. But in the Adampan/Parappankandal area for example, rations have been given only once since the beginning of this year.
Vast numbers of people in the area north of Illuppaikkadavai/ Kalliady are suffering from repeated bouts of malaria. The proportion is more than 50% according to some observers. This condition can be overcome with proper medical care. For permanent relief from the commoner"Vivax" variety, a commonly used treatment involves a supervised dosage of "Chloroquin" and "Premaquin” taken over a cycle of 8 weeks. These drugs
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15 JUNE 1999
too are in short supply. But these people, in addition to not having had proper nutrition for 9 years and having undergone displacement for 4 years, are made to endure malaria on top of their vastly reduced resistance. Almost everyone is physically very weak, having a skeletal appearance.
Shocking Events
Amidst this deprivation there are shocking events, the like of which have not been heard of in this country for more than 150 years. These have followed the new displacement into the Illuppaikkadavai, Vellankulam areas. The parents of a new born babe quarrelled over the father's inability to find the money for purchasing milk food for the infant. Then they, together, killed the baby. In another incident the parents became so desperate without cash, that they poisoned themselves and the children to death.
There have been several cases, two of them well-established, where even in a generally impoverished environment, persons have been killed on lonely jungle tracks for their money. In one incident it was made to appear that the murdered person had hanged himself.
In Jeyapuram, close to Mulankavil, a displaced family originally from Jaffna arrived, desperately hungry and without money. They sought relief by digging up some wildyam, which they did not know was poisonous. The entire family perished. Medical and educational services are in a state of breakdown. Even in a relatively better off area such as Adampan, there was only one clinic served by an RMP (Registered Medical Practitioner) who was trying to leave. Antibiotics are not available. There is no panadol in hospital, but it is available in the black-market for Rs. 5 a tablet. Due to the absence of refrigeration facilities, infants have not been given their routine vaccine that are given in the rest of the country. It has been suggested that the MOH Mannar could arrange for monthly visits to the area with the vaccines carried in boxes of ice.
An incident which illustrates the attitudes of both the Army and the LTTE took place at Uyilankulam on 17th April. An ICRC convoy carrying food was crossing into the LTTE controlled area. Some policemen at the final checkpoint may have moved forward a little into the "no-man's land” as the convoy passed. The LTTE opened fire and killed three of them. Technicalities aside it was an ungracious gesture, considering that it was government food coming to them. The Army closed the entry point for about 12 days preventing all movement, demanding a guarantee that the LTTE will not do it again. It is understood that agreement was reached.
But recently the ground situation has changed and the LTTE has removed its permanent establishments in the area. Consequently it has become easier for civilians to cross over into the Army controlled area. The LTTE sentries withdraw north and come to their checkpoint near Uyilankulam (i.e. Kattankulam) only at 11.00 AM. Many civilians get to the Army point before then.
The Drive for Militarisation
Amidst this anarchy of crime, starvation, sickness and hopelessness, the LTTE intensified its recruitment drive. There was full-day propaganda blaring through loudspeakers, street dramas and interruption of schools, playing on despondency and hopelessness. The Vanni would become anything but the pride and glory of the Tamil people, the LTTE said when it evacuated wholesale the citizens of Jaffna into the Vanni in November 1995. It used to be the boast of LTTE propaganda that areas under its control were virtually free of crime and discontent. Now in the Vanni the tragic, inhuman reality behind fascist

TAMILTIMES 13
rhetoric was being laid bare and the LTTE could not care less. The LTTE had some success in Vidaththalthivu where in the prevailing confusion amidst evacuation and uncertainty, some joined its ranks out of frustration and desperation. But recruitment was not so successful in the Adampan/ Parappankandal area because the people were not so despondent and the LTTE had evacuated everything of theirs some weeks ahead in anticipation of the Army moving in.
In a School having classes up to the O Level (Year I) in Mulankavil, a teacher took his whole class of about 20 and joined the LTTE. The children were quickly removed away from the area so as to put off distraught parents.
During April the LTTE moved towards militarisation of the civilian population. All shopkeepers, teachers and students were compelled to take compulsory training. The first few days involved physical exercises. In the Mannar mainland area the training was staggered. After Mulankavil and Puthukkudiyiruppu, the training of shop keepers in the Adampan/Parappankandal area began towards the end of April. Training in this area was disrupted by the LTTE pulling out its structures.
The purpose of those who received the first stage of their training in the Mannar area appears to be that of posting them as sentries to inform the LTTE of fresh military advances. This would help the LTTE to direct its artillery. Rumours had been afloat that the compulsory training will be implemented at all levels to include village headmen and AGAs. These new orders were received with widespread resentment. For shopkeepers who absented themselves, it meant closure of their shops as punishment. The LTTE verbally told those who resisted that they do not deserve to live in Tamil Eelam and should move out of the Vanni.
A fisheries society in Vidaththalthivu was told by the LTTE that they must all come for training. One member objected on grounds of personal conviction. The LTTE replied that he must then leave Tamil Eelam. The member said that the LTTE must then give him a letter saying that he was forced to leave, if not, when he returns, he may like the expelled Muslims find it difficult to prove his claims. The situation then becoming unsettled due to Army movements, the LTTE left them alone for the present.
These moves to forcibly induct civilians made them apprehensive of coming under Army control. That the LTTE is anxious is clear. In his May Day speech in Mallavi, Karikalan, a senior leader, said that their Leader Prabhakaran would surely find a strategy to push the Army all the way south to Vavuniya. In Koddadichcholai in the East, a woman leader said that they are proud to observe May Day despite all the difficulties.
Signs of disillusionment within the LTTE have also been evident for some time. When LTTE cadre in the Vanni visit their homes during a break riding a motor cycle or driving a pick-up, it poses an attraction for the children to join up. But the older intimate friends in the village of the visiting cadre are often told, "Don't come into this organisation. What you see from outside is not the reality inside. We too are waiting for a chance to leave'.
Because of attempts to induct school children into the LTTEs military machine, parents are reluctant to send their children to school and school attendance had dropped to an estimated 20%. Except for trying to move the refugees and their equipment out, the LTTE's attentions in what was left to them of the Mannar District were half hearted, as the Army had started reconnaissance moves and were expected to bring the entire district under their control. Their more systematic and far-reaching attentions were in North Vanni - the Killinochchi and Mullaitivu
aCaS.

Page 14
14 TAM TIMES
LorenSZ Court On LorenSZ Road, Bamba located in close proximity to leading s Ladies College, Ramanathan Hindu Coll College, Holy Family Convent, Visaka International College etc; also Temples, plexes such as Majestic City, Unity Pl Duplication Road, Havelock Road etc.
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For further particulars please contact in C Street, Colombo 11. Tel: 00941 472238,
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15 JUNE 1999
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-
:
WAJIRA ROA
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s
lapitiya, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka is ideally chools such as Hindu College, Hindu ege, St. Peter's College, Muslim Ladies
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olombo Mr. C.S.S. Haran, 152/8 Prince OO941 472239. Fax: OO941 472347.
tons Court House, Barons Court Road, 24.

Page 15
15 JUNE 1999
North Vani: Towards Total Militarisation
Although the Army was pushed back about 3 miles north from Killinochchi town last September, it took control of the Oddusuddan sector in December and is now within 14 miles of Mullaitivu town. This also entailed enormous displacement northward. For many it meant loss of livelihood and great difficulty in getting rations. Farmers who fled from their homes and fields in the area around Oddusuddan got into very desperate straits. One family for example sowed on rented land in Murippu and the crops were destroyed by floods. Closer to the Army controlled area, there is occasional shelling by the Army, such as in Tharmapurarri, where several displaced schools are also situated. Those travelling out of the eastern sector have to pass through Vattakachchi, which is subject to shelling to Murikandy and then to Uyilankulam near Mannar. They are advised not to travel alone in case of shell injury.
A traveller met a seven year old girl pushing a bicycle and her father walking behind. He had no strength having starved the previous day. For these once prosperous people, even a cup of plain tea has become a luxury. Although education is in disarray, some schools have done unexpectedly well due to displaced teachers from Jaffna, with one student in Mullaitivu scoring 4. As at the A Levels.
Amidst this anarchy and hardship which would only increase with time, the LTTE has launched an ambitious programme of militarisation. We describe below the first stage.
Schools
Anbu, the LTTE leader in charge of schools, has ordered that all school children from year 9 (13 years) and above must as the first step undergo 3 weeks of physical training for 1 hour a day during school hours. This training is conducted by LTTE cadre or by young teachers who have been given a month's training by the LTTE.
This will be followed by the second step which comprises 2 weeks of weapons training. First they would be given three types of guns - M 16, AK47 & G 3 - along-with grenades, and would be taught how to dismantle and reassemble them, and as to how many bullets each gun could fire and their killing range. Next they would be trained how to take up positions, and move under cover from one position to another.
The same training procedure has to be followed by the teachers parallely, but after school hours. The lady teachers have been ordered to stitch T-shirts and slacks for purposes of trainling.
Having heard rumours about compulsory training, most parents kept their children away from school when schools reopened in April. But children were continued to be sent to tutories which are doing roaring business. The LTTE then approached staff of tutories and told them that should school absenteeism continue at this rate, the tutories would be closed. The tutory staff then told the students that they should not come there unless they are attending school. This put the parents and their children in a quandary. But the LTTE's next move made it impossible to avoid training by staying away from school.
The People's Militia & Compulsory Training
Having begun with schools the LTTE drew up a scheme for a universal people's militia. The LTTE summoned a meeting of village headmen (GSs), a part of the government administration, who were to be the linchpins of the People's Militia. Each GS normally has about 150-300 families under him. The GSs were told that they would be rsponsible for compliance with the regulations, were given forms for each family, and were

TAMILTIMES 15
asked to return with he completed forms. Each head of the family has to fill in details about members, their age, sources and amount fincome, cases of serious illness and so on. The people from 15 upwards were to be placed in 3 categories: 1 - 15 to 35 years, 2-35 to 45 years, and 3 - 45 years and above.
The lst and 2nd categories will be compulsorily trained in the village camps being organised. Those in the 3rd must go for training unless they can establish that they are seriously ill. Even if they are granted exemption, they must be present in the grounds while the others are training.
The people will be allowed to collect their relief rations sent by the Government only upon the GS certifying that the person underwent training. Thus those 15 and above who stay away from school will get caught to the Militia. There is again a discrepancy between those training in schools and those meant to be trained in the Militia. The former would also include 1314 year olds. Local observers suggest that this group would be used as reserves. Orders have already been issued and Militia training is expected to commence during the course of May.
The Co-operatives
The co-operative shops are the bodies distributing government rations. As an allied move, the LTTE called up meetings of co-op administrators in different areas under its control. They were told that the co-ops would from now on function directly under LTTE overview. Rations, they added, should be given only to those coming with certification from the GS. At one meeting a co-op administrator complained that because the LTTE diverts part of the rations coming in for their own use, the co-ops run out of food to give those coming later in the line who are entitled. The LTTE spokesman responded that it is the fault of the co-ops. He added, "If you tell us the number you serve, we will leave that amount and take the rest'.
In the Mullaitivu area, co-op administrators protested that if they carried out the orders given by the LTTE, they would get into trouble with their superiors outside the Vanni. The LTTE spokesman replied, "If you will not work as we want, you can handover everything to us and go'.
The Leader
According to the new rules introduced by the LTTE, no one from the organisation is allowed to leave the LTTE even after the completion of the mandatory 7 years. When this rule was introduced some months ago, those attaining the age of 35 were permitted to get married, after which they would remain in the organisation but perform non-combat duties. Those who had left the organisation but were in the Vanni were ordered to report back and deserters too were rounded up. The number so brought back is said to be about 2000. There is said to be no shortage of weapons. A section of those reinducted have been addressed by the Leader, Mr. V. Prabhakaran.
About the first week of May the Leader addressed a secret conference of all area leaders of the Propaganda Wing. He was hard on them for their low effectiveness. This he said had resulted in an appallingly low level of recruitment. To shame them, he delivered an emotional eulogy on the achievements of the Military Wing, with references to Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, the SL Army's aborted northward advance on A9 and the achievements of its suicide cadre. He gave them a time frame in which to take steps to boost recruitment. The Leader further ordered them to conduct daily pocket meetings in every village. The lack of variety in propaganda material too came up for discussion. While the LTTE controlled Jaffna, in addition to the Eelanatham daily, the Viduthalaippuligal (Liberation Tigers) came out monthly. At present the Eelanatham continues to be

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16 TAM TIMES
published daily, but the second is irregular. The Leader asked them to regularise Viduthalaippuligal, and to put out additional leaflets.
Some of the measures mentioned above are being implemented and for the others orders have been given. Delays and modifications may be occasioned by constraints and public resentment. These are high handed and even fascist measures to impose on a helpless, starving, sickly, frightened and an almost hysterical population, brought to this point by their liberators by methodically blocking all saner alternatives. Whatever the personal merits of the Leader, his charisma and endurance, his manner of struggle, as we have always said, is a mockery of liberation, and renders the Tamils objects of contempt. A heavier responsibility rests with those sections of the Tamil elite who flattered his vanity, without whose services this tragedy could not have been prolonged for so long.
Take one example: The Leader has moved far towards using the food sent by the Sri Lankan Government for the displaced as wages for military Service in warring against the same government, on the grounds that it is a genocidal government. He knows that human rights concern from around the world, and rightly so, would never allow the government, whatever its inclinations, to completely stop the food supply and starve the people. It is moreover a concern he never allowed his own people.
Most Tamils have doubts about his cause, those directly affected such as the victims of the Jaffna Exodus are often angry, and one day the survivors of the Vanni ordeal too will be angry. Yet the Tamils' historical experience of the Sri Lankan state and the regular humiliations they face, constantly reinforce a gut feeling of sympathy for his cause. It is of course most often the self-indulgent feeling of those at a safe distance from his organisation. To understand this and move some way towards eradicating such gut feeling, we also need to confront and come to terms with attitudes and practices of the State and of the Southern elite, that contribute to it.
Civilians and the Security Regime
Earlier we referred to Tamils coming out of the Vanni who are confined to refugee camps in subhuman conditions. There are now about 14,000 such refugees in Vavuniya. This measure has no legal sanction. It is hard to make a list of such unlawful measures. Being unlawful, they are often individual and arbitrary innovations increasingly going out of control. To take a commonsort of example, an old man had come out of the Vanni and was in Vavuniya trying to get a pass to travel to Trincomalee and join his daughter. Instead of going to a refugee camp where the procedure to come out is arduous, he submitted his application and boarded himself at the Hindu Youth Council for Rs. 30 a day. 52 days later a Tamil police officer passing by saw him and inquired. The old man who had practically exhausted his money was living on bread and plain tea, asked the police officer to buy some for him.
After further inquiries, the officer checked and found that the old man's application had not even been faxed to the Trincomalee police to check on his daughter, and took steps to dispatch him there. In such matters Tamil civilians have no rights and the Police are not bound by any obligation to perform their self-imposed duty expeditiously. In the meantime, after 52 days, the old man had begun to starve.
In another instance a displaced elderly man on a wheelchair with an ailment wanted to go from Vavuniya to Colombo to consult a specialist. The Police wanted a letter from the DMO, Vavuniya, Stating that consultation for the ailment was unobtainable in Vavuniya. It was in clear breach of a person's right

15 JUNE 1999
to travel within his own country and to consult a doctor of his choice. Moreover this case and that above relate to persons who are clearly neither terrorists nor suicide bombers.
Getting permission to travel out of the North has been made a tedious process. In Mannar town which serves a large area, it means hanging about for several whole days at the pass office to see the police officer, even paying a bribe through an agent, and much paper work. Those who plan systems do not even know if they work, and make the public suffer instead. For example, for a person coming from the LTTE area to travel abroad or to Colombo, someone in the cleared (Army controlled) area has to stand guarantee. Someone in Mannar town for example has to surrender the local Army identity card and is given a temporary pass to remain in Mannar - not valid for travelling out of town. The person going abroad upon completing arrangements in Colombo has to send the guarantee by fax, copies of the visa and ticket. These are then produced to the Police who in turn ask the Colombo Airport by fax if the traveller has left. A lady who stood guarantee for an old lady going to India submitted the fax and went and hung around at the pass office to get back her Army identity card (which again has no legal recognition). At length she learnt that the Colombo Airport never responds to such queries from the local police.
The illegality of the whole range of practices, including compulsory registration in Colombo - in practice for Tamils only - and the need to carry the registration form around are underpinned by one singular fact: When an Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General were asked about registration and the need to carry the form in Colombo, the responded that these were not necessary. But it goes on. There is a particularly interesting absurdity. Sections of the security forces run rackets to smuggle persons from the North into Colombo in their vehicles for about Rs. 20,000 per head. There have been cases of smuggled persons being apprehended by the Police in Colombo and then let off, because there are no legal grounds for prosecution. The most the Police can do is to detain the person on grounds of suspicion under the PTA and have the detention order extended from time to time by Magistrates, knowing well that there is no use. The bulk of the Tamil detainees belong to this category. Being made to work in this moronic regime has a strong corrupting influence on security officials.
The system drives the policeman to ask not what law this person is in breach of, but rather how much he can pay? These practices have spawned host of shady lawyers and agents, claiming to be able to bribe police officials and even magistrates. It brings about the degradation of the whole system of law, and of the State itself.
With the Government bereft of any political strategy to integrate the Tamils into the national fabric, these security regulations become more and more oppressive and arbitrary with every bomb that goes off in Colombo. They may be bearable for a few months. But continued indefinitely with no end in sight they become in effect a system of apartheid under the name of security, but without a legal framework.
Countering an Impending Tragedy
A very perilous situation now confronts us in the Vanni that could carry the tide of events in several unexpected directions. Like every fascist movement the LTTE will run the course of destroying itself. It is also characteristic of them that in their final inferno they try to take large numbers of their own people down with them.
Thanks to the Government's procrastination, the UNP's opportunism and the volatility of the Southern political scene,

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15 JUNE 1999
a political solution to the ethnic problem once more looks distant. This created desperately in the ordinary Tamil mind, that if the LTTE is finished, they would be cheated once again. In many unseen ways the failure to have a political solution in place generates the dynamism to prolong the conflict. Had the Government's "Peace Package" been a fact of life today, we would have faced a far less daunting situation in the Vanni. There would have been hope for the people, and hence more resistance to the LTTE's impositions. Indeed there is resistance even today.
It is imperative that we face up to, in advance, the limitations of the Sri Lankan Forces. When operations were started in Jaffna during 1995, without any provocation from below the Air Force bombed a refugee concentration in Navaly killing 12O civilians in July and again in Nagar Kovil killing about 40 civilians in September. In the Vanni today, the LTTE, unlike in Jaffna in 1995, is doing everything possible to blur the distinction between combatants and non-combatants. A couple of aerial attacks like the ones above in Jaffna, and total mobilisation is bound to be seen as legitimate, with the people feeling that they were with their backs to the wall.
The experience in 1995 (as recorded in our Special Report No. 6, The Jaffna Exodus) could give us ideas for the protection of civilians. There is a compelling case for enabling International NGOs to go into the LTTE controlled areas and organise safety zones for the civilians. If the Government Forces are enjoined to conduct themselves with restraint, it may well turn out that large numbers of LTTE cadre, many of whom are fighting for the lack of an alternative, would surrender when the opportunity arises.
Most of the displaced persons in the Vanni would have come out into the Government controlled area by now, if not for Government restrictions. Those who come out have been confined to camps in sub-human conditions, while there is land in Vavuniya for them to live independently in temporary abodes. This is part of the mindset of a state machinery that has lent complicity to displacing Tamils and Muslims in Trincomalee urban limits, settling Sinhalese in their place and regularising the new occupation see for example Special Report No. 8). The present plight of Tamil refugees also has much to do with state ideology rather than with legitimate security concerns.
Urgency demands that the immediate concern should be directed towards the civilians in the conflict zone. Inernational agencies should be enabled to go into the area with such quantities of food and medicine as are deemed adequate. This will not save the LTTE which is in the process of destroying itself. But it would do much to protect the people and keep them away from the LTTE.
The political solution too can no longer be delayed. From the time of the B-C pact of 1957 it has been our experience that delay and defensive pleading eroded credibility and caused governments to renege on their commitments. The country itself has continued to remain an intellectual and economic backwater, dominated by paranoid and increasingly security conscious ruling interests, thus unable to realise its potential. Indeed a mental framework dependent on interests which cannot countenance the truth, leads inevitably to intellectual degradation. The 1980s and particularly the Southern insurgency, amply revealed that the Tamil militancy was to a considerable extent a pretext for the repressive laws and military machine these ruling interests called into existence. The country needs a new vision, not a repackaging of discredited notions. What the President has been saying in public, goes a considerable way in that direction.
A demand for federal status for, broadly speaking, the North

TAMILTIMES 17
East, with far-reaching provisions for autonomy, would be irresistible in the modern world. There should be a concerted attempt by all concerned to bring this about. This alone would help the Tamils to find their feet and for the State to dismantle this system of creeping apartheid that is increasingly enveloping the lives of Tamils. Eventually there should be a demilitarised North East, with no more than a token presence of the national army.
As for the Tamil diaspora, it is these issues, and especially the protection of civilians in imminent danger, towards which they should direct their considerable lobbying powers. The Tigers and the destructive power they wielded were indeed for the most part the creation of an ideologically driven state that was pushing the Tamil people to live at the end of their nerves. It was for them a regime of violence with impunity - both mob violence and state violence. Lands they had farmed for several decades, and their own homes, often enough ceased to belong to them, having been snatched away overnight by gazette notifications hatched in secret.
But propping up the Tigers in their present form would only further the decimation of the Tamil community. And it can be done only at the expense of children of families in the Vanni, who are groping for survival amidst starvation, fear and disease. A struggle that ultimately leaves Tamil children and teenage girls holding empty plates, queuing outside Sri Lankan Army camps at mealtimes, is no liberation struggle.
The nature of the Tigers and where they would carry the Tamil people have been well understood for many years. But thanks to the opportunism of many, this has been obfuscated and the suffering of the Tamil people prolonged. The following was written by Dr. Rajani Thiranagama, the 10th anniversary of whose murder falls this year, in the context of the Indian Army's advance into Jaffna in October 1987:
"They continued to lure the army, just to run away, letting the people face the result. It was cruellest of all when they told the people that another 500 to 1000 must die for them to have a viable international publicity campaign. This was not an isolated instance or statement of a group without contact with the leadership. It was pronounced at many places and in many forms. When the people were starving, wandering around like dogs for rice, the Tigers issued leaflets asking the people to boycott Indian distributed food. When the children were dying with diseases, they threatened those who cared for them, ordering them not to issue Indian drugs. Did they offer alternatives, so that we could eat Tiger food and give our children Tiger drugs?..." (The Broken Palmyra p 359).
* The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) was
formed in 1988 at the University of Jaffna as part of a national organisation, University Teachers for Human Rights. Its public activities as a constituent part of university life came to a standstill following the murder of Dr Rajani Thiranagama, a key founding member, on 21 September 1989. During the course of 1990 the others who identified openly with the UTHR(J) were forced to leave Jaffna. It continues to function as an organisation upholding the founding spirit of the UTHR(J) with its original aims: To challenge the external and internal terror engulfing the Tamil community as whole through making the perpetrators accountable, and to create space for humanising the social and political spheres relating to the life of our community. The UTHR(J) is not at present functioning in the University of Jaffna in the manner it did in its early life for reasons well understood.

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18 TAIL TIMES
An Appeal for Assistanc
All Ceylon Hi
All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) is a fec Sri Lanka. To alleviate the suffering of the ACHC has decided to maintain the followin
1. VICTORY HOME, KILLINOCHCH) young women and girls who have either ongoing strife in the Vanni district. The person per year and that of the home is R based welfare organisation has offered t 2. YOGAR SWAMIGAL THIRUVADI ] who have lost their kith and kin during ti their old age were left destitute and were after. The maintenance cost is Rs. 22,5( the home is Rs. 100,000 ($1,400) per mc 3. INIYA VAALVU ILLAM, MULLAIT their vision due to the ongoing strife in til another 30 children who are on the waiti ($430) per person per year and that of th 4. HOSTELATRATMALANA HINDU 40 children who haven't got the financia have either lost either parents or the brea accommodate 100 children. The mainten per year and that of the home is Rs. 140,
ACHC is now functioning as a NGO and has ing three homes other than “Victory Home”, 365,000 (S5,200). The Council has found lo existing 40 students in the hostel at Ratmala
ACHC appeals to Sri Lankan expatriates to : them on an ongoing basis. Sponsors are req existing 40 students and to meet the Council other 20 students.
Please send your remittances in favour of in your covering letter as to which of the abo bution be utilised.
President : Hony, Genel V.Kailasapillai Kandiah N
Head Office: No. 91/5, Sir Chittampalam A Tel: +941 434990;
If you require further inf Gopal Sangarapillai on (+44) 01 18
 
 

15 JUNE 1999
е for Displaced Persons
du Congress
leration of several Hindu Organisations in people in the North and East of the country, g homes for the destitute people:
, which has about 30 mentally affected lost their husbands or parents due to the maintenance cost is Rs. 30,000 ($430) per s. 75,000 (S1,070) per month. A Swiss O finance the cost of maintaining this home. NILAYAM, which has 54 elderly persons ne ongoing ethnic strife. These persons, in taken into this home and are being looked )0 ($320) per person per year and that of pnth. IVU has about 17 children who have lost he Vanni district and there are already ng list. The maintenance cost is Rs. 30,000 e home is Rs. 125,000 (Sl,800) per month. COLLEGE, COLOMBO has at present l means to pursue their education as they dwinner of the family is being expanded to Lance cost is Rs. 16,800 (S240) per person 000 (S2,000) per month.
s undertaken the responsibility of maintain
Killinochchi at a monthly cost of Rs. cal sponsors for seven months for the na Hindu College.
assist the deserving students by sponsoring uired for the remaining five months for the 's modest intention to accommodate an
“All Ceylon Hindu Congress” and indicate ove mentioned projects should your contri
al Secretary : Hony. Treasurer: eelakandan M.Kandasamy
Gardiner Mawatha, Colombo 2, Sri Lanka Fax: --94 1344720
ormation, please contact
935 3059; email gopal(Qlineone.net

Page 19
15 JUNE 1999
Pakistan on the of a New Millenn
(The text of the speech by Najam Sethi - Editor, The Friday Ti the India International Centre in New Delhi on 30 April 1999 in trouble with Pakistan's Navaz Sharif's regime and led to h
I am honoured to be here among such a distinguished gathering of Indian policy makers, scholars, senior journalists, analysts andkeen Pakistan watchers. I will keep my lecture short so that we can spend time on questions and answers and benefit from an informal dialogue at the end of the lecture. I assume that most people here today are broadly familiar with political developments in Pakistan.
At the start, I should like to inform you that the gist of this lecture has been made at various Pakistani forums already. Indeed, the part relating to Pakistan was published almost word for word in my newspaper as an editorial some months ago. So it should not come as a surprise to my Pakistanicompatriots here and at home. I do not practice double-standards, as will be evident in due course. I am deeply and passionately concerned about what is going on in my country and I am not afraid of speaking the truth at any forum in my quest for posing the problem. r
Pakistan's socio-political environment is in the throes of a severe multidimensional crisis. I refer to six major crises which confront Pakistan on the eve of the new millenium:
(l) the crisis of identity
and ideology; (2) the crisis of law, constitution
and political system; (3) the crisis of economy; (4) the crisis of foreign policy; (5) the crisis of civil society; and (6) the crisis of national security.
These crises haven't suddenly emerged out of the blue. I have been talking and writing about the inexorable germination and development of these crises for many years. Now they are all upon Pakistan simultaneously, with greater or lesser intensity.
l. The crisis of identity and ideology refers to the fact that after fifty years, Pakistanis are still unable to collectively agree upon who we are as a nation, where we belong, what we be
lieve in and where terms of our identity are we Pakistani Punjabis, Sindhis, Mohajirs or vice ve - in the sense of our anchors - do we bel or do we belong to
In terms of ideo lims in a moderate Muslims in an orthc In other words, are like Saudi Arabia C orthodox Islamic sta posed to be like Joi Algeria etc. which liberal Muslim stat( these fits the bill, version and vision ( low? The Quran anc people. Well, if the Allama Iqbal both h pretations of hov Sunnah were to be life of a modern stat problem has been c myriad interpretatio tations ofan Islami And the problem The Jamaat i Islami, the Jamiat i Ulema less other Islamic sects all have their Islamic axes to gri agreement, no cons Indeed, there is so lence and confusion issue that it has beg considerably. It has of an identity and it 2. The crisis of li political system ref (a) There is not Pakistan but two-th dition which we inh and the Islamic tradi foisted in recent til nis are trained and former but some Pa the latter. The two in an environment and hypocrisy. Incr

TAMILTIMES 19
Eve ium
mes, Pakistan - at which landed him |is arrest)
we want to go. In and our demands, s first and then Baloch, Pathan or rsa? Do we belong future bearings and ong to South Asia the Middle-East? logy, are we MusMuslim state or dox Islamic state? we supposed to be Ir Iran - which are tes - orare we sup'dan, Egypt, Syria, are supposed to be es? And if none of what then? Whose pf Islam do we fol| Sunnah, say some Quaid i Azam and ad their own interv the Quran and applied in the real e like Pakistan, the ompounded by the ns of their interpreC State.
doesn't end there. the Sipahi Sahaba, i Islam and countparties and Islamic so-called exclusive nd. So there is no ensus on this issue. much tension, vioassociated with this un to hurt Pakistan assumed the form leological crisis. w, constitution and ers to the fact that
one set of laws in
e Anglo-Saxontraerited from the past tion which we have mes. Most Pakistaexperienced in the kistanis hanker for traditions co-exist of fear, corruption asingly, they seem
to be at serious odds with each other, as for example on the question of how to treat interest rates in a modern capitalist economy, what status to grant to universal human and fundamental rights, how to treat women and minorities; etc.
(b) The crisis is also reflected in the nature and extent to which the constitution has been mangled by democrats and dictators, lawyers and judges, all alike. The reference here is to several highly controversial constitutional amendments, past and pending; but it is also to highly contentious, even suspect, decisions by the courts acting as handmaidens to the executive; and to the motivations and actions of certain judges in pursuit of personal ambition, pecuniary gains or political advancement. Indeed, many lawmakers do not obey the law and some of our judges are perceived in contemptuous terms by the public.
(c) The crisis is manifest, above all, in the rapid public disenchantment with the political system of so-called democracy. Democracy is supposed to be about the supremacy of the law and constitution, about the necessity of checks and balances between the different organs of the state, about the ongoing accountability of public office holders, and so on. But it has degenerated into a system based exclusively on elections which return deaf and dumb public representatives to rubber stamp parliaments. So we have the form of democracy but not its essence or content. We have the rituals of democracy but not its soul. I don't know what this system is, but it is certainly not democracy.
3. The crisis of economy refers to the fact that -
(a) Pakistan is well and truly bankrupt - indeed if the international community had not bailed out Pakistan recently, the country would have succumbed to financial default.
(b) Worse, we appear to have no means left by which to lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps without a massive convulsion in state and Society. This is manifest in our total dependence on foreign assistance. Indeed, the crisis of economy is so severe that it has begun to impinge on our sovereignty as an independent state and is eroding our traditional construction of national security. The economic crisis is reflected in a crisis of growth, a crisis of distribution, a crisis of production and a crisis of finance. It is threat

Page 20
20 TAMILTIMES
ening massive and violent dislocations in state and Society.
4. The crisis of foreign policy is now coming home to roost. We are not only friendless in the region in which we live, we are being blackballed and blackmailed by the international community to which we are indebted up to our ears. If foreign policy is supposed to be rooted in and geared to domestic objectives and concerns, we have reversed the order of things. Our foreign policy seems to have a life of its own. It dictates our domestic policies rather than the other way round. This is why there is no long term consistency or strength in it. One day, we say that Kashmir is the "core issue without whose prior settlement none of the other contentious issues with India can be resolved'. The next day, we say that progress on the other issues can be made without a settlement of the Kashmir issue. One day we say that Kashmir is a multilateral issue, the next day we emphasise the urgency of bilateral dialogue with India. One day, we are quick to recognise the Taliban government in Kabul and exhort the other nations of the world to follow suit; the next day we give our blessings to the
idea of a broad-ba multi-religious "cc ment in Kabul. One toric and strategic f we stand accused b tionable actions. On is billed as the prom day, it is arrayed ag terms. One day, the Godfather. The nex American.
The worst has no fifty years we worri on our eastern bord day we are anxious front with Iran and
5. The crisis of c onstrated in many w. low turnouts for ele ing deterioration of rising sectarianism. gionalism. In the b utilities and amenit of the administrati lence and armed criminalisation anc people. In a risingg orders, Suicides, ( kidnappings and out rise of criminal and kabza groups, extr
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sed, multi-ethnic, nsensus” governday Iran is our his'iend, the next day y Iran o funmene day, Central Asia ised land. The next gainst us in hostile Jnited States is our t day it is the ugly
w come to pass. For ed about the threat ers with India. Toabout our western Afghanistan.
ivil society is demays. In increasingly ctions. In continulaw and order. In ethnicity and rereakdown of civil ies. In the erosion ve system. In vioconflict. In mass | alienation of the raph of mental disdrug abuse, rape, right terrorism. The i religious mafias, a-judicial killings
etc. testify to the breakdown of social connections and civil compacts between the Pakistani state and the Pakistani people.
6. These crises have all culminated into a severe crisis of national security. Pakistan’s political system, its political leadership, its structure of law and constitution, its administrative framework, its economic stagnation, its ideological hypocrisy and its friendless foreign policy are no longer tenable. They have all contributed to a comprehensive erosion of National Security. If the tide is not reversed quickly, it will engulf Pakistan in its wake. Indeed, the argument that Pakistan is a "failing state' made by some people is based on perceptions of this multi-dimensional crisis.
So, if Pakistanis know what the hell is going on, and if Pakistanis know where the hell they are going, the question remains: how the hell do Pakistanis get out of this hell? This question has two parts. First, what sort of agendas are required to be implemented to get out of this hell? Second, who will implement such agendas?
The answer to the first question is simple enough. Or at least it is simple
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Page 21
15 JUNE 1999
enough for me. I ask my fellow Pakistanis to look at each of the crises referred to above and then I demand that the factors which have led to the crisis should be swiftly addressed. Let us take each of the crises and remark on how to resolve the crisis:
(a) Crisis of ideology: In my view, there is only one modern day ideology over whose application there can be no bitter or divisive controversy and which will be acceptable to all Pakistanis, irrespective of caste, creed, gender, region, ethnicity, sect, etc. And that is the ideology of economic growth, the ideology of full employment, the ideology of distributive justice and social welfare. I say Pakistan should make this ideology the ideology of the state and thereby bury all false consciousness and false ideologies.
(b) Crisis of Law, Constitution and Political System: I say Pakistan must revamp the political system and revise the Constitution so that the political system and the constitution are made to serve the people below instead of the corrupt elites above.
(c) Crisis of Economy: I say that the Pakistani state should honour its international contracts; enforce its domestic loan repayments; tax the rich; dispossess the corrupt; live within its means; vitalise its human resources; export the value of its scientific talents; establish and enforce a genuine privatepublic partnership in which the private sector produces efficiently and the public sector regulates effectively.
(d) Crisis of civil society: I say enforce the rule of law; disarm society; disband militias; decentralise decisionmaking and power; establish accountability; protect minorities and women; create social nets for the disadvantaged, poor and destitute; provide decentralised and quick justice.
(e) Crisis of Foreign Policy: I say make friends not monsters or enemies; bury cold-war hatchets; renounce postcold-war jihads; negotiate terms of trade not territorial ambitions; redefine strategic depth to mean emphasis on internal will rather than external space; (f) Crisis of National Security: I say redefine security to mean not only military defence but also economic vitality, social cohesion and international respect; and I say Pakistan should determine its minimal optimal defence deterrent but shun an arms race.
The answer to the second question - namely, who will pursue and implement this agenda - is difficult only for
one reason: I cannot or institution in Pak personifies Nationa three virtues or ele quired to get Pakis These are: vision, rity. The vision to course; the courag ruthlessly; and the that it doesn't get of course, is that se stitution will throw in time to come. M doesn't happen soo too late later.
I would now lil one factor that imp kistan's past, presi which should conc are assembled here kistan”s relationshi crucial sense, India ing factor vis a vis stani state has cor largely in respons propagated, real ai to its national secu mentality and outl state is therefore t besieged state. Tha of national security tional military term kistani state's think Indeed, that is why nates government p Pakistan's foreign mestic policy rathe round. That is why is hostage to Pakis ceptions of “natio than being an integ why Pakistan is 1 rather than a natio far-reaching impli of development o stable democratic Pakistan. Indeed, it has directly spa stitutions espousin talism and jihad. A which are underr between the state stan, thereby adv political discourse Pakistan's ob hurts Pakistan dee this obsession can by India. Indeed, be the root cause rity. Apart from there is the fact of to Pakistan by Inc the dismembern which India playe

TAMILTIMES 21
see even one leader stan who or which Power and has the ents which are rein out of this mess. 'ourage and integchart a particular e to implement it integrity to ensure lerailed. My hope, meone or some inup such leadership y fear is that if this n enough, it may be
e to turn briefly to nges greatly on Pa:nt and future, one ern all of you who today. That is Pap with India. In one remains a determinPakistan. The Pakine to be fashioned e to perceived and ld imagined threats ity from India. The }ok of the Pakistani hat ofa historically is why conceptions , defined in convens, dominate the Pa(ing on many issues. state outlook domiolicies. That is why policy runs its dor than the other way Pakistan's economy tan's cold War connal security” rather ral part of it. That is more a state-nation -state. This has had cations for the lack f a sustainable and political culture in and more critically, wned extra-state ing Islamic fundamenind it is these forces ining the compact and people of Pakirsely impacting on in the country. session with India bly. But the roots of ot be shrugged away ndia may be said to f Pakistan's insecure-partition history, great injustice done a over Kashmir and ent of Pakistan in a critical and lead
ing role. For precisely this reason, one of the fallouts of this obsession is the decade long low-intensity-conflict in Kashmir.
Another is the tit-for-tat nuclear and missile tests by Pakistan and its refusal to sign a no-first-strike agreement with India which in turn means that Pakistan cannot get a no-war pact from India. In this way, if Pakistan’s past is umbilically linked to that of India, its future cannot but be shaped by India's future, as well as have an impact on it. If the rise of fundamentalist Islam threatens Pakistan's body-politic, India cannot expect to escape its negative fallout. If a nuclear arsenal is assembled in Pakistan, India's security cannot be vouchsafed by all the nuclear weapons at its disposal. If Pakistan fails as a nation-state and becomes a rogue regime marked by social anarchy and upheaval, India's army will not be able to contain its disruptive and destabilising impact.
If Pakistan is drawn into an arms race with India, the logic of the situation will fuel the sources of conflict between the two countries rather than provide security to either country. Of course, this does not mean that India should constantly look over its shoulder while seeking to determine its own national security policies. But it does mean that India cannot ever be a great power or great nation if its own backyard is seething with resentment and turmoil. Indeed, as long as India's quest for great powerdom is based on its strategy of military outreach, it is bound to be thwarted in its ambitions by tit-for-tat Pakistan. Therefore India will be recognised as a great power in the new millenium not on the basis of its numerical military superiority in the region but by the extent to which the countries of South Asia, including Pakistan, are economically inter-dependent on each other and take their lead independent of super powers. A prerequisite for this is that India should make enduring peace with Pakistan on principled and honourable terms and resolve the Kashmir dispute, thereby helping the forces of civil society in Pakistan to fashion a new state which is subservient to the Pakistani nation instead of the other way round.
By way of concluding, I should just like to remind everyone one lesson of modern history: vibrant and stable democracies are less likely to go to war than authoritarian states which live and survive on the basis or threat of war. O

Page 22
22 TAMILTIMES
Dying in the Snow-cla Mountains in a Senseles
T N Gopalan
t 15,000 feet, death is steely, silent. In Batalik, you can't breathe normally. There is less oxygen there. The air is rarified. The lungs scream for oxygen. At 15,000-ft, you are not normal. You cannot be. The human body is attuned to a certain altitude.
And that's where our soldiers are. Fighting the enemy. Facing the bullets. Dying alone in the snow. Falling to death from the high ridges. No one hears their scream. It's such a lonely death. A tiny piece of metal is all what it takes to die.
They are India's infantry men. The finest in the world. No other soldier has ever fought at these heights. At 15,000 feet, they can't move with ease. In Batalik, there are no tracks. Climb. Climb. Crawl. A soldier carries a week's ration, ammunition, a 5.56mm assault rifle or a mortar or a rocket launcher. He carries over 20 kgs on his back as he pulls himself up on this rugged, cruel terrain..... the enemy is up there, Somewhere hidden. He can see you, can track you down like a rat, can pick you out so effortlessly...and yet these men move, slowly but with determination to fight for the nation. To die for the nation.
That was a poetic tribute to the soldiers dying like moth at the Kargil hill sector along the Indo-Pak border in May-June. The highly patriotic journalist who came out with such a poignant report would not of course, like the rest of his ilk, call for an end to the senseless war.
It is sad, cruel, tragic, what have you, that innocent Indian blood should be spilt like this. But then blood, more and more blood, should continue to flow in the snow till the last infiltrator is driven out of the sacred Indian soil. In order that the rest of the country could hold its head high, the poor soldiers must continue dying. No one even by mistake calls for peace. Such is their callous logic.
And military experts find no early end to the fighting. Such is the terrain, such are the logistics, such is the posi
tioning of the rival art months before the infi cleared out.
Meantime a foolis hints at its nuclear m Minister Nawaz Shar sibilities of a full-sc war if India does not a ward to defuse the t Line of Control (LO( that an equally chau power on this side of if only as a care-tak little spark could inde conflagration.
Normally the Pal tors do try to cross ov region at the onset of snow melts and gun usually a short engag in and others die. T silence yet again. But The highly motiva many or most of the naries, have dug t heights of 16,000-18 dian Side of the LOC stretch north of Karg And in the first w began pounding the linking Srinagar anc The Indian army h caught napping. The gressive no-nonsens a recalcitrant neigh embarrassed and did to hide its face.
Indian sources cl stan army has been tr; Arab militants along varieties like the La Badar and Harkat-u the Kargil adventure now. There are as camps in the Gilgita Pak-Occupied Kashi Besides Pakistan on the Indian side of tected through a num tercepted radio mess militants suggest th military frequency Sl connaissance phot

5 JUNE 1999
mies, it couldtake ltrators are finally
sh Pakistan darkly uscle, and Prime if talks of the posale conventional agree to come forension along the c). Given the fact vinist party is in the border, even er government, a edignite a mighty
k-backed infiltraver into the Indian Summer when the s boom, but it is gement. Some get hen it is all eerie tno, not this time. ted Mujahideen, m trained mercehemselves in at ,000 ft. on the Inalong an 80-km il.
seek of May, they strategic highway Leh in Ladakh. ad indeed been BJP for all its ag: attitude towards pour was terribly not know where
aim that the Pakiaining Afghan and with home-grown shkar-e-Toiba, Al l-Mujahideen for or quite sometime many as 50 such rea in the so-called nir (POK) alone.
army's presence the LOC was deber ways - the inages between the Ley were using a )ectrum, aerial reographs showed
there were active helipads on both Pakistani and Indian sides of the LOC, radars had been repositioned, infiltrators provided with snow-mobile scooters, enhanced artillery support, weapons, medical supplies and so on. Also the militants have been equipped with medium machine guns, heavy mortars, SAM7 and Stinger missiles to bring down combat aircraft.
The Kargil sector extends to about 150 km with Drass at one end and Batalik at the other and the intrusions are said to cover over 100 km Pakistan's game plan is four-fold, it is argued - to forcibly alter the status of the Line of Control, cut off the strategic Leh-Srinagar national highway, create a new route for infiltration into the valley and get international intervention.
After some initial hesitation, the Indian army started reacting brutally, raining bombs of all kinds on the infiltrators. The Indian Air Force had played a major role in the 1947 Kashmir war and again in 1965 and on both occasions the IAF's bombing campaign had blunted the Pakistan attack.
But in the 90s it stayed out of the decade-long anti-insurgency operations in Kashmir since its use would have been akin to that of a sledge-hammer to kill a fly, to quote a noted commentator. Yet again, after a lull, Kashmir has become an international flash-point and the Indian government is faced with a serious loss of face.
Kargil has been changing hands right since Independence. In 1947 the Pathan tribesmen and Pakistani troops entered Kargil only to be evicted after a bitter battle spread over a year. In 1965 again the Pakistanis were cleared from the Kargil hilltops, but the region was returned to Pakistan under the Tashkent accord. However six years later during the Bangladeshi war, the hills were recaptured and the Pakistanis pushed back deeper.
Kargil is a Shia Muslim area and the residents have not encouraged the Kashmiri militancy, led as it is by the Sunnis. Pak's attempts to push infiltrators through this sector have generally failed with heavy losses in men and equipment, it has been claimed. Now the Pakistan army is staking it out in Kargil by relentless shelling causing extensive damage to civilians and their properties.
When an alarmed Indian army launched its Operation Flush Out on May 14, the initial plan was to use in

Page 23
15 JUNE 1999
fantry brigades and surround the militant posts, thereby starving them out. But the operation became time-consuming and costly in terms of manpower.
Interestingly Indians here suffer the same positional disadvantage that the Pakistanis suffer in Siachen, occupying as they do posts which are sitting ducks for the Pakistan troops perched on the heights.
Indian troops have suffered casualties, heavier than normal, apart from the two combat aircraft (MIG21 and 27) and MI 17 helicopter downed, a Canberra reconnaissance aircraft has also been hit, not to speak of the loss of scores of soldiers, the toll increasing by the day.
The number of infiltrators pinning down the mighty Indian army has been variously estimated to be 50 to 500 to a couple of thousands. The extent of their casualties is not known, though the Pakbased fundamentalist outfits, typically, make light of their losses, boasting hundreds are lining up before their training centres every day for the Jihad.
Evidently the Lahore declaration is dead as a dodo. The BJP had originally thought of projecting the famous Vajpayee bus-ride of February this year as a signal achievement, but they have abandoned their plans post-haste for obvious reasons. They had been trumpeting the wisdom of their twin-track approach, combining a tough, no-nonsense attitude as seen in the Pokhran-II tests with a readiness to negotiate with Pakistan, of course from a position of strength. If the Pokhran-II only provoked Pakistan into conducting its own nuclear tests, not to speak of the missile tests which followed, even the Lahore meeting has not mellowed Pak's approach. If reports are to be believed, Sharif should have given the nod to Kargil operations even before the ink was dry on the Lahore declaration.
While Sharif is pursuing his agenda of absolute power in the name of Islamisation of the society, the economy continues to be in the doldrums. No one knows what will happen in the next elections even though Benazir Bhutto stands convicted. In the circumstances the Shariff regime would naturally seek to whip up a national hysteria over Kashmir - such has been the time-tested tactic of the rulers in general, of the third world in particular. The atmosphere in India is also getting vi
tiated. No one is p think for a momen of holding on to K Given the per kistani elite and th the Islamic fundar never be any letoperations, whet themselves suppor other hand a migh unlikely to give up that easily.
The best case si ance of the existin both the countries. of Kashmir betwe haps a modicum ( region while the could be even a 1 And it is this terr should give the in nity sleepless nigh Pakistan seems to to involve the we tangle. Such is th both sides of the motely moderate v as anti-national. Minister of India G attracted a terrible his statements - o the Pakistan army out the knowledge the ISI and another prospect of safe p. ers in order to brir flict.
On the face of might not have ha the Kargil opera crime, though it Fernandes should ate ISI, known for Kashmir insurgen derstand. Again e. to the militants is
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TAMILTIMES 23
repared to stop and the enormous costs ashmir.
'erseness of the Pae skewed psyche of hentalists, there will up in the militancy her the Kashmiris t them or not. On the ty state like India is its hold on Kashmir
cenario is the acceptg Line of Control by permanent division en the two and perf autonomy for the worst case scenario nuclear catastrophe. ifying prospect that ternational commuits and on which the be banking in order stern powers in the he sabre-rattling on border that any reoice is shouted down The poor Defence eorge Fernandes has flak for a couple of nce saying possibly had been acting with2 of Sharif and even time holding out the assage to the intrudng an end to the con
it saying that Sharif i prior knowledge of ions is no heinous still beats one why have tried to exonerits direct role in the cy, is difficult to unnsuring safe passage not a bad idea either,
if that way the costly war could be brought to an end. But almost the entire nation came down like a tonne of bricks on Fernandes and he who usually braves it out had to run for cover. He has since stopped making any comment on the confrontation altogether except for declaring that the war would continue until all the militants are flushed out.
Interestingly though Pakistan denies any role in the intrusion, it offered to send its Foreign Minister for talks with India to "defuse the tensions.” However
India threw cold water on the initiative, dragging its feet on the date for the talks and later stressing that any talks would be restricted only to Kargil and not cover the Kashmir question in its entirety. Prime Minister Vajpayee vowed to fight it out till the insurgency is crushed and the last inch of the Indian soil is retrieved. Still the BJP is seriously embarrassed, its image terribly dented. It is worried whether Kargil could mar its poll performance. The Congress has happily latched onto the jingoistic bandwagon and does not miss a single opportunity to haul the government over the coals over its omissions and commissions.
The atmosphere is getting vitiated progressively, and even ifall the infiltrators are either eliminated or driven out, it will become incumbent hereafter for the Indian army to hold on to the treacherous terrain whatever the costs. A second Siachen at that, as commentators have pointed out. To hope that sanity would dawn on the two governments now or in the near future could be far-fetched. Instead one should only wish that no nuclear calamity befalls the world consequent on the continuing tensions. O
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Page 24
24 TAMIL TIMES
The Shrinking India
Ramesh Gopalakrishnan
Well, dinosaurs died out probably because they fought among each other.
If the Indian left parties are on their way out of political discourse, it is because of their mutual bickerings as well as their tactics of collaboration with all and sundry, at various points of time which they usually regret after a few years. History has a way of catching up with self-deception and mutual betrayals and this may well be the last time, the Indian left parties can have this luxury.
Imagine, leftists have been running coalition governments in Kerala and West Bengal for decades, and hence, should have managed to become key components in the coalitions which are to be made at the centre of power at New Delhi. However, this is not the case now. Whenever the left co-habited with another party, the latter seems to have benefited from the exercise. Now, the left theoreticians are slowly losing out, in this exercise, to their Sangh Parivar counterparts who have successfully managed to weld together a really motley coalition of intermediate and subaltern forces in Indian polity - the most of them opposed to the ideology of the Sangh Parivar itself. As was in Germany and Italy, the fascists in Indian polity have made most use of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony of the public sphere. The Sangh Parivar is slated to come out on top in the forthcoming elections with the help of those opposed to it.
The Indian left is at a point of no return, given the present scenario: rise of Hindu chauvinism as an officially accepted ideology, the spectre of Hindu national security state, xenophobia in various subtle forms, occasional cohabitation ofregional-levelforces, parties representing intermediate castegroupings and the Dalits with Hindu chauvinism, vigilante violence in public sphere, absence of powerful democratic movements except those calling for protection and empowerment of sectional interests, lack of enthusiasm for trade union activity in both organised and unorganised sectors, and most
of all, the non-flov from the middle cla of the oppressed an etc.,
Look at the pat year-old veteran Harkishan Singh S front of the huge wi lic doors of Veda Garden residence of secretary J Jayalalit known that Surjeet and Jayalalitha is it The Marxist veter: written a three-part the thesis that moder be seen in the emerg Panth 300 years ag heb where Guru C called for five Sikhs ready for martyrdon rifice the usurpers a rulers. Now, Surjeet the anti-thesis of th, lamb waiting to be s no qualms in loiteri feudal queen that Ja herself. All for a fe because the DMK d ties? No, the reasons this.
It's the degener thought, of action, o lutionary anecdotes, cency, of sacrifice, question of shamel display of that sham lic display being thi tween what Sparta Surjeet's morning 1 iron gates.
The iron curtair has given to the des gates of Poes Garde ing metallic security The oldest comr country, the CPI, far Nadu CPI Stati Nallakkannu, a vete tle against feudalis Delta belt, goes gr Maanila Congress d the richest of landlc find out what shall the communalist B. His solution: join th

15 JUNE 1999
n Left
of idealist youth ses to take the side perform sacrifices
hetic scene of 82
CPI(M) leader urjeet standing in ill-designed metalWilayam, 36, Poes AIADMK general ha. Of course, it is eads a spartan life is very anti-thesis. in last month had
article advancing n democracy could ence of the Khalsa ) at Anandpur Saobind Singh had to assemble, to get h, to fight and sacld the criminalised has come up with at gesture. He is a laughtered, having ng in front of the yalalitha fashions w parliament seats itched the left parare far deeper than
tion of theory, of fgestures, of revoof memory, of de)f life itself. It's a 2ssness, of public slessness, the pubonly leveller ben Gandhism and everie before the
of Soviet Union gner wrought iron n and its gun-tot
apparatus. munist party in the es no better. Tamil secretary R an of many a batn in the Cauvery velling to Tamil in G K Moopanar, 'ds in the state, to e done to counter P-DMK alliance 2 AIADMK-Con
gress front!
The communists, by their strategic and tactical alliances, both on and off the electoral arena, have helped and are helping various contankerous political forces: these include the two Hindi belt chieftains Mulayam Singh and Laloo Prasad, who have thought it better to evolve apolitics of deception and buff. onery, than to carry forward the mantle of their socialist predecessors Narendra Deva, Rammanohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narain and Karpoori Thakur. The press conferences before the TV cameras by these two leaders present a pitiable sight, even as the two wallow in their own power games, completely obsessed by themselves. Needless to say, they have given short shrift to everything stated by the socialist stalwarts. Sitting on velvet-cushioned sofas inside halls where secret manuouvres take place, they issue diktats which are lapped up by the communists. Mulayam Singh, the darling of the leftists, for instance, made a secret trip two weeks ago to Mumbai to meet Bal Thackeray, the chief of that obsessively-neurotic formation called the Shiv Sena. The ideologies do not matter, as one can see, but political deals do, secret or otherwise. Not to speak of other socialistdisciples Chandra Shekhar, who wants to jump into the seat of the Congress prime minister, or George Fernandes, who is stretching himself hard to keep BJP in power.
The idiom of action has been defined no longer in the angry or despondent gestures in the streets, but in the palace coups planned by these leaders. Surjeet had visioned such a palace coup when he tried hard to instal Mrs Sonia Gandhi in the Delhi throne last month. Gone were his decades-long wellmeant critiques of the Congress regimes at Delhi and various states; in its place, can be found the "political meetings", which are occasions for barter, intrigue and self-congratulation. Surjeet revelled in these meetings, and out of such revelry came the fact that Marxist veteran and West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu’s name had indeed been cleared by the CPI(M) politburo for prime ministership during the April political crisis in Delhi.
No, Basu is an enigma, but of the pragmatic kind. He cannot renounce power in West Bengal, if he cannotarrive at the seat of power in Delhi: for
(continued on next page)

Page 25
15 JUNE 1999
(Continued from page 24) him, a Bengali should get his turn. His 22 year-long uninterrupted rule in West Bengal is not enough for him. In an era where Mandela can step down unchallenged, Castro cannot renounce unchallenged and Basu hangs on to power unchallenged, once again indicating that power is an obsession. Gandhi and Jayaprakash never took office, but the Soviet leaders never demitted the same in contrast to Mandela, who quits, and quits successfully. The Soviet leaders are sent out or they wallow in power till death and herein lies Basu's power quest.
The CPI and CPI(M) can be differentiated only from the BJP, these days. Even then, there are areas of agreement: war-mongering is dangerous business and communists are expected to be out of place there. However, the communists can always lend their voices to the Congress; they don't want India to sign, for instance, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, as it discriminates, they say, between nuclear haves and nuclear have-nots.
The communists cannot perceive why a nuclear have, Soviet Union, became a general have-not, that is Russia. With their consent goes down the drain thousands of crores of undisclosed funds for national security, which would be always imperilled by the real and fictional spectre of Pakistan, whether cricket matches are won or lost. Basu appreciates cricket, asks Pakistan to play in the Eden Gardens, but the bomb: "No, we can't be touchy about it, let's leave it to the Politburo'. The left parties are spatially shrinking: Bombay, the bastion of trade unions, has given way to mafiadom; Delhi, the seat of power, has a new criminal topography; Green Bangalore's public sector units have given way to a new hi-tech silicon desert, closely followed by hot Hyderabad, Madras, or Chennai, continues to be obsessed by Dravidian billboards; the fields of Naxalbari have gone quiet; Telengana is tired of the mindless violence between the police and the People's War Group; and Kerala actually has a court ban on bandhs, once fashioned by the left parties in the state.
And what of the Naxalites and the fractious lot? Their thesis of India being almost a criminal-comprador state has come true, with the arrival of hitech imported goods, but the left extremists are nowhere in the picture.
ormally there i about "framii criminal case. . cian, well, it does go osity, but even ther traordinary in the In What if the polit someone like Jayala still greater interest. already at least in th have been framed ag supremo, doing so should not be of any But when on Jun tion, after a long, ar. aged to get a special rges against her and ates, including her cc in the TANSI land sc camp was clearly u) apprehensively asses out from the court's
Under Indian charges could be loos pressing of charges, end of all preliminal way for the comme proper.
Now in the case trial has commenced the special courts Karunanidhi governn deal with the cases a horts and thus expec CSS.
But it was in the her lawyers fought way, filing innumer petitions, numbering
They are, perhaps, b
the landlord armies Pradesh or plan Telangana. Bottledu they are the asympt dian politics: never II ing extinction at the
Times, indeed, a left. And its "third fr end up as an exercis
1ng.
 

TAMILTIMES 25
laitha on Trial orruption Cases
T N Gopalan
s nothing exciting ng charges” in a f against a politinerate some curiit is nothing exdian context. ician concerned is litha'? Certainly of All the same when ree cases charges inst the AIADMK in one more case
great moment. e 10, the prosecuduous battle mancourt frame chafive of her associnfidante Sasikala, am, the AIADMK pset and began to s the possible fallaction. law, framing of ely translated into and it marks the ties and clears the 2ncement of trial
of Jayalalitha, the in three cases in set up by the ment exclusively to gainst her and colite the trial proc
TANS case that every inch of the able interlocutory more than a hun
attling it out with n Bihar and Uttar ting mines in p and fragmented, otic curves of Ino win and sufferend of infinity.
e gloomy for the }nt"thesis canjust e in finger count
dred, seeking to stall the framing of charges. When they have allowed charges to be framed without much of a fuss in three other cases, why this special attention to the TANS1 case alone?
The case relates to the sale of land and buildings belonging to the stateowned Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) at well-belowmarket prices to the Jaya Publications in which Jayalalitha and Sasikala were partners in May 1992 when the former was the Chief Minister of the state. According to the prosecution, the sale of land measuring 3.02 acres with buildings on it, forced down the throat of the TANSI, caused a loss of over US $80,000 to the state exchequer. Since the case relies essentially on documentary evidence with only a few witnesses to be examined, the trial, once commenced, could be completed in a matter of a few weeks.
If found guilty Jayalalitha could be disqualified from contesting elections for six years thereafter. Any such verdict before the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls could seriously dent her image and damage the AIADMK's prospects. And hence the relentless attempts of her lawyers to stall the trial as long as possible.
Others accused in the case are former minister Mohammed Asif, two IAS officials, and another government official in the Registration department. They have also been accused of colluding together to defraud the government on the registration of the transaction through stamp duty evasion by grossly undervaluing the properties sold.
All of them barring Asif were present in the court when Special Judge Anbazhagan framed the charges. There was a good crowd of Jayalalitha loyalists to lustily cheer their leader and her comrade-in-arms as they arrived at the court premises. Both friends remained calm during the brief proceedings in the COurt room.

Page 26
26 AMILTIMES
Asif was presumably down with some heart-ailment and was undergoing “treatment' in a private hospital. As per a high court directive, the judge called on the former minister at the hospital in the afternoon and framed the charges there. The relevant provisions require that the judge formally demand to know whether the accused accepts the charges before framing them. Invariably the accused deny they are guilty, but their response is immaterial for the purpose of framing charges. But because of the requirement of the formal query and response, the accused are to be present in court at the time of the framing of charges.
Jayalalitha's counsels made full use of the provision requiring the presence of the accused to stall the framing after the obstacles they had sought to erect in the way of the framing were all cleared painstakingly by the prosecution.
Asif got himself admitted to a hospital, and the lawyers pleaded that he was in no position to comprehend the questions that would be posed to him
by the court and re At one stage they court premises in a plete with the oxyg government doctors said that he was fit hend and respond ar him to be brought his counsel jibed "w fintoo?"The spectr case (Rajan Pillai, a fell from grace, w medical attention v fore the trial began Delhi. That was a c The incident kicke bate on the alleged police and prison all him perhaps, the jud stitution of a panel the actual health co When the panel court endorsed the vious doctors on Jaya’s lawyers still Court directed that in the hospital forfi As many as a hu
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spond accordingly. brought him to the n ambulence, comen mask. When the who examined him enough to compreld the Judge wanted into the court hall, why not order a cofeofthe Rajan Pillai un industrialist who vas denied urgent while in prison beand he died in New ouple of years ago. d off a furious decallousness of the uthorities) haunting ge ordered the conof doctors to assess ndition of Asif.
constituted by the finding of the preAsif”s health and objected, the High the Judge visit him aming the charges. ndred interlocutory
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petitions were filed in the case at various stages on various counts delaying the framing of charges.
The interlocutory petitions sought adjournment or dismissal of the case petition on every conceivable pretext. For sheer inventiveness or ingeniousness, it would be difficult to beat Jayalalitha's team of lawyers.
Sasikala demanded translation of all the documents into Tamil, fought all the way to the Supreme Court and succeeded. When everybody else implicated in the 48 cases in the Special Courts demanded an equal treatment, the government had to employ an army of translators at a total cost of Rs.45 lakhs. And then there was a petition saying that the reservation norms had not been followed in the appointment of the translators. That was dismissed. Yet again Sasikala said that she was suffering from an eye injury she had sustained some years earlier and so demanded more time to peruse the Tamil documents furnished to her.
And finally when special judge P.Anbazhagan ordered the framing of
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Page 27
15 JUNE 1999
charges in February last, on the very day the charges were to be framed, Mohammed Asif managed to obtain a stay from the High Court arguing that Anbazhagan was biased against the accused.
Then the special judge sought to rescue himself from the cases. The drama did did not stop there. High Court judge S.S.Subramani who had granted the ex-parte stay went on to make some caustic remarks against Anbazhagan saying that he had called on him and tried to influence him. As the controversy deepened, Justice Subramani was shifted to another bench, and Asif's petition was posted before Justice R.Shanmugam. The latterjudge dismissed the petition saying the allegations against special judge Anbazhagan were unfounded and directed that he proceed with the cases before him from May 10 and frame the charges.
It took the prosecution exactly a month since then to overcome the Asif. heart-ailment drama and move towards the framing of charges.
The TANSI saga is not complete though. It actually relates to the sale of three different properties owned by the TANSI and its subsidiaries to three different firms, Jaya Publications, Sasi Enterprises and RR Industries.
Trial is already on in the last mentioned case, and it does not apparently involve any of Jaya’s cronies, though some officials close to her do figure in it. And the framing remains to be executed only in the Sasi Enterprises case in which also Jayalalitha and Sasikala are accused. Some interlocutory petitions are pending in that case still.
What will happen now is anybody's guess. On the day the charges were framed in the TANSI case, the prosecution told the media that they hoped the trial could be completed within two months, but adding by way of a rider, “provided the defence co-operates'.
But then why should they? Their interest after all lies in prolonging the agony as much as they can. It may not take very long for the 56 witnesses listed, most of them government officials, to be examined or to sift through the documentary evidence furnished. But who knows what aces Jaya's team will have up its sleeves. Their leader Jyothi once told this correspondent that they would not leave any stone
unturned to delay they do succeed in too, perhaps no ver coming before th slated for Septemb
In all 48 cases der the Prevention against Jaya and h spect of offences a between June 1991 The Special Col by the governmen April 1997. Ever Sabha elections w surprise winner, S Vajpayee a momer mand for the Karunanidhi gove ously aimed at Sc courts. When the feet, she pressed f tion. Through her n who was a Law M Centre transfer th against her and het lar courts. Besides, sel argued that the by the state gover stitutional.
But when she BJP's apple-cart, saulted and defende and the Supreme their constitutional Jayalalitha her
CaScS:
o Amassing wi ate to the known so Co-accused in the c sister-in-law Ilav foster-son Sudhak involved Rs.66.65 the special court.
o Colur TV sca Rs. 10.6 crore relat of color TVs for cused are Sasika T.M.Selvaganapat IAS officials. Tria o Pleasant Stay to the relaxation enable constructio) in a Kodaikanal h legislation was pa bly for the purpos o TANSI land: many as the stro Jayalalitha.
o Coal case: F coal. Estimated lo Rs. 6.50 crores; c

TAMILTIMES 27
the proceedings. If prolonging the trial dict would be forth: Lok Sabha polls
er. have been filed unof Corruption Act er associates in rellegedly committed
and May 1996. rts were constituted of Tamil Nadu in since the last Lok hen she emerged a he would not give ut of peace - her delismissal of the :rnment was obviuttling the special 3.JP developed cold or the next best opminion Thambidurai finister she got the e corruption cases associates to reguthe Centre's counspecial courts set up nment Were unCOn
foolishly upset the the Centre somer2d the special courts, Court itself upheld
validity. self figures in six
ealth disproportionurces of her income. aseare Sasikala, her rasi and disowned aran. Total amount
crores. Trial on in
m: Amount involved ing to the purchase ocal bodies. Co-aca, former minister hy plus some senior l is on. Hotels case: Relates of building rules to of additional floors ill resort. A special ssed in the Assem2. Trial is on. cam: Considered by ngest case against
Relates to import of is to the government harge-sheeted, but
charges still to be framed.
o Then there is also the famous Income-Tax immunity case, relating to the remittance of US dollars 300,000 in December 1991. She would not reveal the identity of the person who had made such a huge payment. She could be prosecuted under the PCA as she was a public servant at the time of the payment and hence could not claim immunity but which she had done. For all the excitement it aroused, even the Central Bureau of Investigation could not make much headway in the case. This and a couple of other cases are still at the First Information Report (FIR) stage. No progress thus far.
Not to speak of the Foreign Exchange violation and Customs Act cases against Sasikala and her nephews Dhinakaran and Bhaskaran. The Enforcement Directorate has slapped a fine of Rs.31 crore against Dhinakaran for transfer of money to shell companies.
The list might be mind-boggling. But Jayalalitha herself seems to remain unfazed in the secure knowledge that she still commands the support of the vast masses of Tamil Nadu and, any way, very few politicians in this country have been convicted for corruption. Karunanidhi's own escape from the long arms of the law even after severe indictment by a Commission of Inquiry is an example worthy of emulation for her. That is what she is angling for when making and unmaking alliances.
Surely the Jaya camp is worried that a "guilty” verdict could be returned before the Lok Sabha polls in the TANSI, though the other cases could dragon some more time to come. However even an adverse verdict may not have any major impact on the electorate by itself.
After all the elections are not for the state Aseembly and she does not intend to be in the fray for the Lok Sabha. And so any guilty verdict and resulting disqualification could be nothing more than some set back to her image. But by the time the Assembly elections come, much water will have flown down the Cauvery and, who knows, she might get the Special Court verdict set aside in a superior court.
Also at the moment the Tamil voters may have concerns other than corruption and that is what she should be banking on. O

Page 28
28 TAM TIMES
BOOK REVIEW "
ANEMINIENTEDUCATIONISTRE
Corridors of Peace, The immortal Profession - its U
By N Sabaratnam
Review by Path masany Arumugam, M
The late Mr N Sabaratnam started as a very popular teacher, became a model Principal who steered the destinies of one of the outstanding schools in Jaffna, namely Jaffna Hindu College, and at the same time who was recognised not only in Sri Lanka but also in countries like England and India. Having been a trade unionist and an eminent educationisthe had come into contact with Professors of Education, Ministers of Education, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and many other outstanding educationists and thinkers like Tagore. As a boy he had seen and listened to Mahatma Gandhi. He mentions that Gandhiji's visit to Jaffna was the No 1 Landmark in his entire life. Swami Vivekananda's thoughts too have influenced him.
Corridors of Peace
In this section he emphasises the oneness of man'. He quotes a Sangam Tamil poet who has said Everyman is my kinsman. He therefore points out that this concept should be instilled in the minds of the up and coming generations of children even when they are at school. He places this responsibility on the shoulders of the teachers, for the seeds of peace must be sown in the congenial climate of the nation's schools. About schools he says, “We must so build our common schools, so that they may keep the doors and windows of not merely the buildings, but also of the hearts and minds of children open to the legacy of what is good in the ancient and the recent past, but also to all modern trends and developments of the East and the West.” In addition he stresses the fact that English should be taught at Schools, particularly because it is rich in literature, humanities, and scientific and technical knowledge.
He further states, "We need instant modernisation..... a revolution in education. Teachers should discard the classical punditry of the mother tongue. Colloquialism enshrined in the poems of Bharathi, and simple lucid prose
commonly found ir in the mother tong attempt at nation-b into account the ci human race is to li mony, then the atti ommended by the nitely be cultivatec
Ups and Downs
In this section the reader to all th tended as a studen classes to the Inter recounts his experi principal and trade
While tracing history, he elabora ing principals and riod, and how the pupils. Just to mer pal Sivapathasun College was a stric Arnold of Rugby ir Menon, a teache) source of inspirati ately fond of Shake committed to the II struggle. Principal Jaffna Hindu Col Logic were like att He encouraged tl Venkatraman tol though reading m was more interes pupil a ready man This principal had wisdom was the r tive to the lopside knowledge pro Rev Bicknell of Ja Mr Sabaratnam ol tects that influenc He was a man o quiet compassion Handy Perinp become Principa College was a tea when Mr Sabara there. About H Gandhiji's visit t one landmark in
 

15 JUNE 1999
DS and Downs
.Ed.
standard magazines ue are model. Any uilding should take ommon man. If our ve in peace and harudinal changes recauthor should defi
in schools.”
he writer first takes e schools he had att, from the primary Arts class. He then ences as a teacher, a
unionist. mis own educational tes on the outstandteachers of that pesy influenced their tion a few - Princidaram of Victoria it disciplinarian like England. Narayana of English was a an. He was passionspeare, and was also ndian Independence Venkatraman was at lege. His classes in 2nding a conference. le art of argument. his students that, akes a full man, he ed in making each through conference. also pointed out that, luch needed correcdness that increased moted. Principal ffna College was for e of the three archi'd his life in general. kind humility and
nayagam who later
of Kokuvil Hindu her at Jaffna College nam was a student andy he says, "If
Jaffna was number y entire life, its im
pact grew gradually from Victoria to Vannarponnai and reached greater heights at Vaddukoddai where Handy Perinpanayagam was expounding his gospel of Poorna Swaraj for Ceylon to the general public, while teaching Latin in the classroom. He also says that Handy Perinpanayagam was his pole star. His informal chats outside the classroom were eloquent commentaries on Roman civilisation and culture and allied disciplines.
During this period the Education Department showed a fresh interest in the teaching of English and the administering of intelligence tests. Two men who figured prominently in these activities were H S Perera who became the first Ceylonese Director of Education and K S Aruhandhi who became Acting Director of Education.
When writing about the teaching profession Mr Sabaratnam relates it with reference to his own career and deals with the ups downs experienced by him and others in the profession.
He started his teaching career as a tuition master in Latin and English for students who were appearing for the London Matriculation Examination. His popularity as a teacher of these subjects got him a job in the only private tutory that was running a London Matric class in those days. He never broke the code of ethics class in those days. He never broke the code of ethics of the teaching profession by charging a fee from his own students at schools when he helped them out of classes.
He points out that learning English or Science or Technology is not enough. Students must have culture. They should therefore learn Shakespeare, Thiruvalluvar, Tolstoy or Dickens or even Plato. He quotes Prof Whitehead who said, "There can be no successful democratic society untilgeneral education conveys a philosophic outlook'
Mr Sabaratnam says that he became a teacher by chance. His sister and Principal Muthucumarasamy of Skanda Varodaya College happened to travel together from Malaysia. She had then appealed to the Principal to give her brother a job. He got him interviewed by the Manager of the school, Kandiah Upathiyar. As both, Principal and Manager were satisfied, he was given a teaching job at this school. He had to teach Latin and attend to the extra-mu(continued on next page)

Page 29
15 JUNE 1999
The Persistent C
of Nationalis
Fernando Savater (Spanish writer and member of the International Parliame
have never been to Kosovo, and everything I know about this territory; and the rest of the former Yugoslavia, I have learnt from articles and books. My experience of nonsense spouted by outsiders about the Basque conflict based on things they've heard makes me wary of criticising Nato's armed response to Milosevic's aggression.
Although I don't condemn out of hand punitive intervention against the sinister Serbian dictator, a couple of worrying reservations occur to me. The first is practical.
Conventional war functions when it seeks to achieve strictly military objectives: to break the siege of Sarajevo or reconquer invaded Kuwait. But it is too
(Continued from page 28) ral activities at school. He had also to be a resident master, reorganise the boarding and supervise night-studies. The author goes on to recount the trade union activities of his period and in which he was involved. He had visited many countries and attended conferences there. When doing so it was possible for him to see for himself and appreciate the many architectural masterpieces and the cultures about which he had studied in his English and Latin classes.
Mr Sabaratnam had been a well recognised and respected trade unionist, an outstanding Principal, a teacher who was very much sought after, and an eminent educationist. He has not distorted facts and has based all his comments on strong ideals with a philosophic base. I would like to conclude with one of his quotations from Swami Vivekananda, "True education is the training of individuals to will rightly and efficiently." (This book was officially be launched on 5 June at Saraswathy Hall, Colombo 6, Sri Lanka)
crude an instrument phisticated political ing effective democ ethnic harmony. In intervention can even tive, blocking with mechanisms of civi should institutionali
Obviously the Kosovars are fleeing Nato bombardments created by Nato atta genocide of the Ser Kosovo and tomorro Macedonia.
My second obje democratic legitima vention. The present authorisation (diffic Russia’s right of vet jihad or Western-sty a human rights viola sibility of just wars, humanitarian) Wars secular and less cap legal basis for what or permitted. I thin global policeman. subjected to judge laws, not a strongm rules.
My two objection they do not offer a the tragic path being either, that diplomat continued indefinite ing exhausted negotia Milosevic had alreac tary force, without th prattling grumpily a dry. So I don't feel lutely Nato's defens approve it as enthu around me. Is there signed silence?
One of the fierc
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TAMIL TIMES 29
nt of Writers)
to achieve more soaims, such as installracy or establishing these cases military n be counter-producblood and fire the il participation that se such processes. deported Albanian 2 Milosevic and not , but the confusion cks has favoured the bian army, today in w in Montenegro or
ection refers to the tion of armed interinstance, lacking UN ult to achieve, given o), seems more like /le holy war against tor. I accept the posbut not of holy (or . I would like a more ricious international should be punished k there should be a
But a policeman s and international an who invents the
is are fragile because viable alternative to trod. I don't believe, ic efforts could have ly, merrily substitutators with fresh ones; |y started using miliat stopping him from way to all and sunable to reject absoive offensive, nor to siastically as some nothing else but re
e l'essons of this fin
de siecle is that nothing worsens a person more than convincing them that they belong to a people. There's no need to add "oppressed"; all people are, by definition.
Leaders who decide to convince ordinary; decent folk that they belong to this anthropophagous and transcendental thing, a people, enforce this affiliation; they emphasise to the point of monstrous caricature ambiguous ethnic features (to maximise the excellence of the group's suffering) and stress their human identification against that of their neighbours ("don't you see that they put you down or exploit you?").
Some time ago I heard Albanian Kosovars saying it was impossible to live with Serbs, since they were not Slavs, and now many refugees declare - more understandably - that they will not return to Kosovo until the last Serb has gone, or that the land is theirs because they have occupied it since before the times of Christ.
The magic word, the abracadabra, is "self-determination', but this is understood according to the ironic definition of Enzensberger: the right claimed by part of the inhabitants of a territory to determine who will live in all of it, and how. Feeling part of a people is to achieve the exquisite dignity of being insoluble among the rest or incompatible with two or three chosen adversaries (always the nearest neighbours). - Michael Ignatieffexpresses it well in his recent book Warrior's Honour, subtitled “Ethnic war and modern consciousness', which should be studied in schools: "Nationalism of ordinary people is a secondary consciousness of political disintegration, a response to the destruction of order and of the coexistence of ethnic groups that it made possible. Nationalism creates communities of fear, groups convinced that they can he secure only if they stick together.”
This culture produces Milosevic and company. And to think that there are still confused people who demand a Europe of peoples to confront a Europe of states To demand a Europe of peoples means giving a green light to the Europe of crimes. (This article is from a series produced by the International Parliament of Writers.)
EL ONLY)) ))--SRI LANKA
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Dr Aiyadurai Karunanandan, Retired Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Peradeniya and later Lecturer and Audio Visual Education Specialist, Jaffna University passed away on 23rd March 1999 at the age of 79. He lea VeS behind his Wife Thayalınayaki (Kunchu); daughter Mrs Nalayini Gunanayagam (USA), son Balakumar (Canada); daughter-in-law Chitra; grandchildren Meenadchi, Lakshmi, Kamadchi, Kesavand Madhaven. Dr. Karunanandan was the eldest son of K.Aiyadurai, Proctor S.C. and
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

15 JUNE1999
Nagapooshany Aiyadurai of Neeraviady, Jaffna, brother of Mrs Pathma Jayaseelan (UK), late Mrs. Leelawathy (Ponnar) Balasingham, Justice Sivanandan (Colombo), Mrs
Fondly remembered by husband Ragu, son Sri, daughterin-law Saku and grandson Vishva. - 173 Mammoth Hall Trail, Scarborough, Ontario N1B iP8.
Thilaga Wijeyaratnam (Colombo), late Sivayogavalli (Sivam), brother-in-law of K. Jayaseelan, Mrs Pushpawathy
Sivanandan, Mrs Puvaneswary (Pulendra) Sathianathan, Mr.S. Para
meswary (Chandra) Parameshwaran and Thillairajah (Bas). The members of the family thank all those who attended the funeral, sent messages of sympathy and assisted during the period of bereaVenent.
IN MEMORAM
in ever loving memory of Mr Sayambunather Vyramuttu
Rattinam on the Second anniversary of his passing away on 9th July 1997.
Sadly missed and fondly remembered by his beloved wife Sellam, loving children Pathmanathan, Ramanathan and Loganathan, daughtersin-law Vasuki, Vijeyaladchumy and Thanalechmi; grandchildren Vijayaluxmi, Thevakumar, Senthooran, Bhavan, Kugan, Asha vidthya and Sathian and great grand daughter Krishni. 3 The Orchard, Wickford, ESSex SS 12 OHEB. Tel: 01268 766.624.
Mrs Kanagamb hai Ragunathan passed away on 10th June 1993.
IN MEMORAM Eighth Death Anniversary
In Ever L೦ಗ್ಧ9 Метоту Ο Balasubramaniam Sivaganamanthan On the Eighth Anniversary of his passing away on 22nd June t391.
Remembered with love and affection by his step mother Mrs. Rajaletchumy Balasubramaniam, wife Kamala, brothers Dr. Sivaloganathan, Thirunavukkarasu, Radhakrishnan and Srithran, sisters Mrs. Gowri Pathmanathan, Mrs. Bhagawathy Mohanadas, Mrs. Mangayarkkarasi Jetheendran and Mrs. Jayanthi Kumaranayagam. - 22 Oakwood Drive, St. Albans, Herts. Tel: 01727853331.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS Jul 3 Feast of St Thomas, South London Tamil Welfare Group (SLTWG) Drop in. Tel: O181542 3285. Jul 4 Feast of St Elizabeth. Jul 9 Karthigai; Eekathasi. Ju 109.00a.n. Tamil School Sports Association presents Tamil Summer Sports Festival 99 of Cricket (Adult Open, Over 40, Under 16), Children's Events, Netball and Football
(Under 10) at Warren Farm Sports Centre, Windmill Lane, Southall, Middx. Tel: 0181 698 2938 Pirathosam, 6.30 p.m. Prize Day of London Tamil Centre at Wembley High School Hall, East Lane, Wembley. All Welcome. Jul 11 Feast Of St Benedict, Jul 12 Amavasai. Jul 13 Feast of St Henry Jul 16 Sathurthi, Feast of Our Lady of Carmel.
In Memory of a Dear Friend
Thangaranee Nadarajah
Dear Thangaranee, as I pen this letter to you far away at my desk in our Bethesda home in Maryland, U.S.A.. I know for sure that, wherever you are, you can feel all these thoughts that arise in my mind. Though you are in a disembodied state right now, yet your real Self, your own essence, your Spirit in its mystical way will be able to hear us, feel us and see us as we mourn over your departure from our midst. Life always flows along, seemingly smooth with little ripples now and then, until the Sad demise of SOmeOne dear and near to you shakes you to the very Core of your being. It is then that we think seriously about the ephemeral nature of life and we try to go beyond its superficialities to understand its true meaning, its real purpose and realize the value of a friend who is no longer with us.
As I reflect on my association and friendship with you over the years, my mind goes back to thirty eight years ago when I joined the teaching staff of St. Clare's College in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Always the newness of a different environment can be a little daunting to a newcomer but with your natural warmth and understanding, you made ne feel Confortable and Welcome. As head of the Tamil section at St. Clare's, you did an excellent job, reaching out to staff and students alike in a pleasant and effective manner. Your contribution to the teaching of Tamil language and literature, your imparting of knowledge to the young and receptive minds, your personal interest in the lives of the youngsters whom you taught, your excellent interaction with the parents of our students, your invaluable help in the administration and the extracurricular activities of St. Clares, your constant cheeerfulness in the midst of all challenges - all these made you a priceless part of the institution.
It was my privilege to know you not only as a teacher but also as a wife and a mother who performed her wifely and motherly duties in the most exemplary manner. You were blessed with a scholarly husband whose contribution to the Tamil literary world - whether it be in writing books of research and poems or in delivering learned lectures on Tamil heritage and
allied topics or in pr tional conferences - V as admirable. True to there is aways a wo greatness, you made for your husband to heights. The loving maternal love that y on your two children,
have made then to t sons that they are toC
You not only rejoice scholarly glory but you merit were a great 7 your common bond scholarship broughty ing matrimonial partne most generously sha edge of yours with yo rapt audience and wi of your books and a only a scholar of you you dearly loved but y strong in the usage both in speech and in
These memories of you reveal to me the personality. Your int Whom you met, your all in times of need, y( to help our youngster ners in life, your reac you have known in ti your deep sympathy loss or misfortune, th heart that pulsates to Others - all these na wonderful lady that y be in reaching out to or to your friends anc strangers, you showe and commitment. S saints proclaim, is S indeed Were ConSta path of sacredness a
In our annual trips during the last few ye I had the great fortu enjoying our friendsh time that I saw you shocked and sadd appearance ravaged disease. But when yo happy to see that you Self remained intact onslaught of this illi

TAMITIMES 31
Jul 17 SLTWG Trip to Walsinghar ChrCh. Tel: 0f8f 542 3285.
Jul 18 Shashti. Jul 23 Feast of St Bridget. Jul 24 Shree Ghanapathy Temple Annual Festival commences - Kodi Ethan; Eekathasi; SLTWG Women's Front meets Tel 0181 542 3285. Jul 25 Pirathosam, Feast of St
Ju 27 Full Moon.
Jul 29 Feast of St Martha.
Jul 31 6.30 p.m. London Tamil Centre Dance Drama "Kalki's Sivakamiyen Sabatham’ presented by Smt. Uma Chandradeva at Logan Hall, Bedford Way, London WC1. Tel: 0181 904 5939/ 907 6638: Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, SLTWG Trip to Isle of Wight
James.
Tel 01815423285.
esiding over internawas recognized by all | the common adage man behind a man 'S everything possible attain these great nurturing and the bu a/Mvays shoWered Vatsala and Mahilna, e the wonderful perlay. 2d in your husband's 1 yourself in your own Tamil Scholar in fact in the pursuit of this ou together in a lovarship. You freely and red this deep knowlur students, with your th the eager readers rticles. You Were not ir own language that sou were also equally of English language
Writing. my yesteryears with charming side of your erest in the people spontaneous help to our deep commitment s to find suitable parthing out to everyone he past and present, With those in Some e warmth of your big every throb of pain in de you the great and "Ou Were. Whether it your own kith and kin facquaintances or to d the Sanne COincern ervice to man, the ervice to God. You ntly walking on this nd love. to Toronto, Canada, ars, my husband and ine of renewing and ip with you. The first I in Canada, I Was ened to see your by the onset of heart u spoke to us, I was r pleasant and loving , unaffected by the ness. Inspite of the
Weakness that Was all apparent, you continued to defy the bodily limitations and still steadily walked on this path of selfless service to others. You, dear friend, were an exemplary model of one who had realized the truth of life. I can only echo the words of a great poet by saying, "Death be not proud, inspite of you Thangaranee lives with us forever. Dear Thangaranee, as 1 wind up this letter, I know that the contents of this letter have reached you in some inexplicable mystical way. Knowing that you already have reached a stage beyond pain and pleasure, that you are enjoying the bliss of the Kingdom of our Lord, we need to learn to submerge our sorrow and wish you eternal joy in your Heavenly Home.
Kanagambigai Ranganathan,
Bethesda, M.D., U.S.A., April 18, 1999.
Handy Perinpanayagam Birth Centenary Celebrations
The birth centenary of Mr Handy Perinpanayagam, Emeritus Principal of Kokuvil Hindu College was celebrated by the Old Students' Association (UK) on 28th March 99 at Acton Town Hall, London W3. Mr Perinpanayagam was a well known and popular educationalist of his time, His contribution to education in general and Kokuvil Hindu College in particular is legendary. He was an independent thinker and earned by his versatility, a well deserved place among Sri Lanka's intellectuals. He was a well-read man with Cultivated tastes and was a dear friend to many. Boundless humanity underlined all his actions. Of all the roles he assumed in a very eventful career, writer, speaker, thinker, leader, builder it is a long list - he was most delightful as a conversationalist. The verdict of history would be that he was a unique person, whose ideas were far ahead of his times, He was certainly a man who was worthy of being honoured and remembered.
The celebrations Commenced with the singing of the College song, the lighting of the traditional oil lamp by the Chief Guest, Dr R. Thaya-Paran and the unveiling of the Portrait of Mr Handy Perinpanayagam by Mrs Saraswathy Packiarajah, who served
Continued on page 32

Page 32
32 TAMILTIMES
Continued from page 31
as a music teacher during his Principalship. This was followed by the welcome speech by the President of the association, Mr S. Kanagasundaram and tributes by Mr S. Sivanayagan, the keynote speaker who had a long standing association With Handy Master, the Guest Speaker Dr Raj Chandran and the Chief Guest Dr R. Thaya-Paran both of whom had been students of Handy Master. Mr Muhundan Parameswaran, a grandson of Handy Master conveyed the thanks of the family.
A Cultural show which followed Conmenced with a Vocal music recital by Smt Renuka Shriananda supported by Selvi
Bairavi Ganesh Waran on Violin, Sri Kandiah AnanthanadeSan Of Miruthangam, Selvi Gaithri
Manickavasagar on Thambura and Selvan Ramana Thillainathan on Thabla, which was highly appreciated by the audience. The next item was a Bharatha Natyam recital by the Mudralaya group consisting of Mr Unnikrishnan's Students Which received a rapturous reception from the audience. The last item was a recital of light songs by the popular 'Chitralya'group, which was well received. The day's events were compered by Mr Sri Rangan of Sunrise Radio, The proceedings ended with a vote of thanks by the Secretary of the O.S.A.
Dr. Ernest A. Champion
Dr. Ernest Ariasingham Champion, age 71, departed this life in his home on April 29th 1999. A native of Sri Lanka, Dr. Champion served for over 25 years at Bowling Green State University, U.S.A, most recently as Professor and Assistant Chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department. He also pioneered the Cultural Diversity program at BGSU, which has been replicated at other institutions of higher learning throughout the U.S.
After a brief Stint as an editor for the newspaper, The Times of Ceylon, Dr Champion began a distinguished career in academia that spanned five decades and four continents. In 1948 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), he joined the faculty of St. John's College, a boys' school founded in part by his great-grandfather, Rev George Champion. Soon thereafter,
he embarked on a h College, founded in Episcopal Missiona States of America. TI ever be remembered coaching the school's field teams. His grea Cricket led him to Cricket Umpires As thrives today.
in 1966, Dr. Champ tion at the United Milton Margai Teache Leone, West Africa. spent the next four y from where they t around the World.
In 1970, Dr. Cham and fond association Bowling Green and became his adoptive Ph.D. in English at Went On tO Serve On ti istration until his re 1977, he lured the C American writer, Jam to BGSU as Writer-i Department of Ethnic a friendship between ed util Bald WinS impression of this lit their Collaboration Writer, Chinua Acheb, in a book published
1995 titled "Mr. Bald has published and around the World on S erature and racial equ His loving memory the hearts of those Wh in his light are his Seevamalar, of Perry Rosha McCoy, a Medical College ( Perrysburg, and sor Chief Executive of E-7 Software company, C surviving are his siste Agnes, son-in-law, RC ter-in-law, Nan Chann dren, Hunter, Rajiv, B Maya. His brothers S, ed him in death.
South East L. Senior Citize
ASSOC The Second Annual G held on 74. 70 98 arC bearers were elected President: Mr C. President: Mrs J. Secretary: Mrs M. Secretary: Mrs T. Treasurer: Mrs M. Th, Treasurer: Mrs Committee: Messers Gnaтapragasат, Selvaratnam, P. Tf Markandu.
The membership is c
 
 

15 JUNE 1999
ong tenure at Jaffna Sri Lanka by the ries of the United here, he Will also forfor great success in Cricket and track and f love for the sport of form the All-Ceylon sociation, which still
ion accepted a posiNations-sponsored ers' College in Sierra
He and his family 9ars in Sierra Leone, raveled extensively
pion began his long with BGSU, when NorthWestern Ohio hOne. He earned a BGSU in 1974, and he faculty and adminCent retirement. In listinguished Africanes Baldwin, to Come n-residence With the Studies. Thus began the two men that lastdeath. The lasting erary adventure and With the acClained e, was memorialized by Dr. Champion in win, I Presume'. He spoken extensively subjects related to littality. Will forever reside in no survive him. Living peloved wife, Peace 'sburg, daughter, Dr. Dediatrician at the of Ohio, also of | Rohan Champion, Tine, Inc., an internet )f Otta Wa Hills. Also irs Daisy, Joyce, and onald McCoy, daughpion, and grandchilpn, Dan, Dinesh, and am and Dan preced
ondon Tamil ens" Welfare iation General Meeting was f the following officefor the ensuing year. Velaiyutham, Vice Shanmuganathan, Tharmalingam, Asst BallaSubrannaniam, anabalaSooriar, Asst P - Sivalingam. S. Ponnudurai, R.J. Mesdames K. huraiappah and T.
pen to those over 55
and they meet every Monday and Thursday at St Laurance Church Hall, 37 Bromley Road, Catford. The Executive Committee meet monthly at Voluntary Action, 120 Rushey Green, Lewisham.
The activities of the association are (a) Language classes for Tamil Senior Citizens, Refugees and Asylum Seekers over 30 years of age (b) Information, advice, translation, interpretation, supportive welfare role viz help to members when sick, home visits to assess needs, arrange District Nursing Staff to promote health and fitness of members, (c) Organise guest speakers, conduct traditional lunches, cultural events, fund raising programmes and celebrate important Hindu and Christian festivals.
Clr Mrs S.T. Phoenix, the Lewisham Deputy Mayoress was the Chief Guest at the Tannii New Year celebrations of the association held on 1.5.99 at the Bellingham Community Centre Hall which was filled to capacity. The proceedings commenced with the traditional lighting of the oil lamp and the singing of the association's song in Tamil by its members. The President Mr C. Velaiyutham presented the first copy of the association's well produCed SOuvenir to the Chief GueSt.
The highlights of the evening were the two highly commended dramas in which the senior citizens took part, Bharatha Natyam, Veena Violin and favourite songs recitals which were acclaimed by the audience, The eventful evening was brought to a close with the vote of thanks by the secretary Mrs M. Tharmalingam.
Music Recital by Bhusany Kalyanaraman
We Witnessed an excellent Carnatic music ConCert at the LOrd Mountbatten Hall Of the Bharata Vidya Bhavan on 1st May 1999. The singer was Smt Bhusany Kalyanaraman. While I was absorbed in the music, I forgot for a moment that I was in London and was taken back to Chenna, The Kachcheri opened with a Kaanad: varnam and was followed by Gowlai Hindolam Aboghi, Poorvikalyani and so on. Thodi and Kambogi were rendered more elaborately. The rendering of the ragas brought out her eloquence. The alapana were founded on established pantha. She
Continued on page 33

Page 33
15 JUNE 1999
Continued from page 32 developed the raga, sthayi by sthayi, and richly decorated them with pleasing gamakas and balanced brigas. It was pleasing to listen to the creative aspects (manotharma), the alapana, the niraval and the swaraprastara built around the songs in Thodi and Kambogi. Throughout the kachcheri Bhusany has made it amply clear who her guru was the carnatic music stalwart the late Thanjavur Kalyanaraman. Another admirable feature about her rendering Of the ragas was that she brought out some of the traditional style.
Towards the second part of the concert, when she sang the short famous songs like Kaatinile, Kuraiyonrum illai, 1 was pleasantly reminded of a very famous senior musician. The recital concluded With an elegant Thilana which is a composition of her guru and late husband Thanjavur Kalyanaraman.
On the violin Dr. Luxmy Jeyan provided a pleasing accompaniment to the singer. The mirudangam TaeStrO Karaikikudi Krishnamoorthy made the kachcheri very lively and he did not fail to compliment with a short speech. Bangalore Prakash on the ghatam added elegant rhythm.
Shankara Asian Arts deserves to be COrnplimented for bringing such excellent artistes and presenting high quality music and Bharata Natya programmes in London within a short period of less than an year of their existence. We should extend Our COoperation to the Director of Shankara Asian Arts to enable her to continue this excellent service of promoting Asian Arts in UK.
N.B.
Mrs. T. Sivapakiam NavaratnamAn Appreciation by T. Selvaratnam F.C.I.T. (Retired Chief Administration Officer, Malayan Railways) It was customary in the early years of this century for the young Ceylon Tamils who had migrated to the then British Malaya for employment to return to Ceylon to seek a bride from their homeland. Sivapakiam Ramalingam was one such bride who married Mr. A. Navaratnam, a Hospital Assistant in the Malayan Medical Service, ቪገ 1926.
The Sad neWS that I received about Mr.S. Navaratnam's death (known to all of us as Mumma), sent me into a deep rumination of thoughts about the beginning of my connections with the family. I feel that I have been suddenly robbed of something near and dear that I have Cherished for about 60 years. It is hard to accept that the light that has lit the life of many souls is now out. The reality is a hard fact but a painful truth.
It was by sheer accident that I got to know the Navaratnam family. One day in the late 1930s, when I was cycling along Shaw Road, Kuala Lumpur, l stopped to watch what was then to me an amazing sight. The walled enclosure on my right
housed the Pudu Ga portion of the wall bet slowly rising upwards
to drive in. I was alwa sion that entry into
through a heavy door tion and l stood watch dumbfounded for a ve
A gentleman, who dressed in a White Su gaol, crossed the rC towards the large tim right opposite the fron He saw me leaning ag possibly appearing a tion, which was more followed and I was house. A mutual resp. into an informal an between myself and t lly which included Ananthavalli, Jey Sugunatheva (Sugun (Thamby). Mr. Navare nated me as Jeyam' (which did not survive Went on to do a Math became a leading ACC er professional Sug art frOn ne Which let he was also an excell senting Ceylon in Thomas Cup tournam
Pappa and Mumma ple and Mumma's w soft spoken kind wo They are still warm a and heart. The many from the virtuous gold are memories linge, mind.
Mumma was a greal erance and endearmé tality to their many v. worthy quality many envy. She was a perse hardworking enough learn lndian Carna favourite instrument, many public performa ties including a regu Veena programme ( These Cultural talents dren With Anantha Vall and in violin, Jeyam and Suguna on the fit the Second World Wé Cultural activities were
The Navaratnam hC plined orderly set-up ture and learning, a ideal living. I mustadt pily attracted to the W unconsciously, adopt later introduce thern that of my family. 1 a and thankful to Pappa tinue to Wonder how time to be a dutiful Wi dren and yet partake activities. Their Virt qualities made an ia

of and a huge front Veen fWO fOWerS WaS to allow a large truck ys under the impresthe gaol was only within this front poring this feature quite ry young man.
o looked a Tamil, it emerged from the ad, and was going ber house that was it portion of the gaol. Iainst my bicycle and ittle lost. A Conversalike an interrogation, then invited to the lect soon developed d strong friendship he Navaratmann fanmithe four childen, atheva (Jeyam), a) and Vimalatheva atnam (Pappy) nomis mathematics tutor for longl) but he later ematics degree and ountant and computuna stanted learning d to architecture and ent sportsman reprebadminton in the erit.
were admirable peoarm hospitality, and ras were endearing. nd fresh in my mind meals that I enjoyed en hands Of Mumma ring in my grateful
lady of patience, tol2nt. Her warm hospiisitors was a praisehousewives Would on of versatile talents O find the tine O tic music with her he Veena. She gave inces in the late thirlar half-hour Mveekly over Radio Malaya. s spread to the chilispecialising in vocal on the Miruthangam, ute. With the Onset of ar, however, all these
disrupted. me was a well disciestablished for Culgood example for an mit that I Was So hapay of life there that l, 9d some of then to into my own life and im therefore grateful and Munna. Conv Mumma found the fe, bring up four chilin all these cultural uous concepts and 'eal home Worthy of
AMIL TIMES 33
emulation by many.
Soon after the end of the last War, Jeyam left in early 1946 for Ceylon to continue his studies as there were no universities in Malaya. Pappa retired from the Malayan Medical Service in 1948 and With Munna and the remaining three children returned to their motherland, Ceylon. At an Investiture held at Clueen's House, Colombo in 1949, Pappa was awarded the British Government decoration of the Imperial Service Medal (.S.M.) formeritorious services while at the Malayan Medical Service. They built a house in Wellawatte, Colombo, and had all the Chidren educated and well placed in life, though due to circumstances beyond their Control and the desire to see greener pastures they are in different countries today. After the death of Pappa in 1976, Mumma braved the political turmoil by moving between Colombo and Jaffna but she finally left for Canada in 1989 to join Ananthavalli and family.
She died peacefully in Yellowknife, Canada on 17th December 1998 and was Crennated in Edmonton on 22nd December. Now | sit back in deep thought, with tears, in recollecting the past and lamenting over the passing away of the second of the two adorable people in my life. While they have gone, I take solace in the fact that they have pased down the line their virtuous qualities to posterity.
Mumma, God bless her Soul, will reach the highest position in heaven - I cannot believe otherwise.
Second international ,
Saiva Conference
The SeCOnd International Saiva COnference convened by The Federation of Saiva (Hindu) Temples, UK will be held on Saturday, 7th August 1999 at the Sri Kanaga Durga Amman Temple, 5 Chapel Road, Ealing, London W139AB and on Sunday, 8th August at Highgate Hill Murugan Temple, 200A Archway Road, Highgate, London N65BA from 10am. to 9 pm. on both days. The theme of the conference this time shall be "to invigorate and fortify the rich heritage of the young generation of Saiva Tannis in the next nillenni
y
I.
The participants are expected to be (1) Thavathiru Santhalinga Ramasamy Adigal, Tamil Nadu, (2) Thavathiru Sivananthi Adigal, London (3) Swami Premanantha, South Africa (4) Prof. Dr. V. Ratnasabapathy, Tamil Nadu (5) Prof. Dr. Arunai Paalaraavaayan, Tamil Nadu, (6) Mrs Suba K. Germany (6) Senchotselvar Aaru Thirumurugan, Sri Lanka (7) Thamilaruvi T. Sivakumaran, Sri Lanka (8) Sithantharatnam K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lanka (9) Thiru S. Krishnan, Singapore (9) Thiru PS. Patkunarajah, France (10) Thevara Bhooshanan Samy landapani, London The Conference Will Conclude On both days with Music, Dance and Drama recitals by young and mature artistes.

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34 TAM TIMES
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e-mail: balaGDskyWings.co.uk šā
, Fax: 0181-672 0951
TOOTING BROADWAY

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Personal effects Household goods
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LAKSIRISEWA, 66 NEW NUGE ROAD FELIYAGODA V Te: 575576 أفر
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Tel: O181– 740 8.379, 0181-749.0595
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FAX: O181-748 4912 E-III ail:appleaira apple airbtinternet.co.in
14. Allied Way, of Warple Way, Act
MAN AGENT for COLOMBO
TEL: 0181-5630364
Web Site: www.hot internet.com bl-applicair-appliela ir
EULLGARIAN E 298 + TAXI KUWAT 385 + TAX GULF E396 H TAX EMRATES E 41D + TAX
QAAR E3O+ TAX ARLANIKA F 375 + TAX BA ONREGUEST JORDANIAN E350+ TAX
MAN AGENTS FOR BALKAN, GATAR & BA
TO 738 OB
338 A KING STREET LONDON W6 ORR
Travel Insurance plus Hotel Reservations
 
 
 
 

MAYNACENTRÒN
AIR LANKA
Faires Clso avoice on GULF AIR, EMIRATES
QATAR ARMAYS ROYAL JORDANIAN, KUWAIT AIRWAYS
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or All Type of Insurance
ARM Associates
Home Contents & Building Insurance Specialist
32 Abbots Lane, Kenley, Surrey el: 0181763 2221 Fax: 0181-7632220
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P. SRINIVASAN I
ife Insurance & Pensions Specialist
For a Free comparison quote on Term Assurance, please contact:
ஜ்ே O81-763. 2221 BHR
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for Investment Business only.
http://www.p-sгіпїvasап-arпn.co.uk