{"id":106604,"date":"2020-09-14T15:37:39","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T22:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=106604"},"modified":"2020-09-14T15:37:39","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T22:37:39","slug":"the-baseless-diabolical-claim-of-tamil-genocide-in-sri-lanka-its-genesis-and-the-way-to-eliminate-it-a-new-zealand-perspective-webinar-16-8-20-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/14\/the-baseless-diabolical-claim-of-tamil-genocide-in-sri-lanka-its-genesis-and-the-way-to-eliminate-it-a-new-zealand-perspective-webinar-16-8-20-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Baseless & Diabolical Claim Of Tamil Genocide In Sri Lanka It\u2019s Genesis and The Way to Eliminate It-A New Zealand Perspective-Webinar 16.8.20"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM<\/em> FRCP(UK)FRACP( Aust\/NZ)<\/em> Wellington New Zealand<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The about 10% Tamil minority<\/strong> in Sri Lanka were the privileged\nminority<\/strong> of one hundred and fifty years of \nDivide and Rule\u201d British Colonial administration, while the about 75%\nSinhalese majority were the oppressed and disadvantaged majority, as they posed  the greatest threat to the colonial\nadministration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus at independence, nearly 90%of Engineers  and Surveyors and 60% of doctors, and a vast\nmajority of the civilian administration were from the 10% Tamil minority. The\nfirst Sri Lankan to act as head of state in post independence Sri Lanka was a\nTamil, Justice  C Nagalingam , i1954 as\nacting Governor General. The first army commander in post independent Sri Lanka\nwas a Tamil, Brigadier Anton Muthucumaru . The longest serving attorney general\nin SL was a Tamil, Siva Pasupathy. Till the time of the LTTE uprising in July\n1983, that forced, many Tamils to flee SL as refugees to the west, lest their\nchildren would be forcefully conscripted into the LTTE ranks, the level of\nTamil representation in all walks of Sri Lanka life was  way more than the 10-12% Sri Lankan Tamils\nrepresented of the islands population. \nThis is hardly the picture of Tamil discrimination they had by now\nstarted orchestrating in the west and to the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When the British left  Sri Lanka\nin 1948, attempts were made to redress the disadvantages of the Sinhalese especially\nin education. This led to the inevitable loss of the privileged status of\nTamils and the over representation of Tamils in all walks of Sri Lankan life,\nespecially in the much sort after positions. This was seen as and deliberately\npresented by some Tamils as discrimination to both fellow Tamils<\/strong> and the\nwestern world<\/strong>, ready to   believe any\nclaim of  \u2018\u2019discrimination of a\nminority<\/strong>\u201d . This led to the call in 1976  by some Tamils the TULF<\/strong> n Vadukuddai\nNorthern SL, for  a separate state<\/strong>\nof Elam<\/strong> consisting of 2\/3rds of the coast line  and 1\/3 of the land  of Sri Lanka , for this now 12% minority. This\nreally reflected the privileged mind set<\/strong>, they still had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They tried to draw support for this avaricious objective by claiming Elam\nto represent the Traditional Homeland of Tamils\u201d . This picture of  A Collection of Buddhist Shrines Dating Back\nTo 3rd<\/sup> Century BC , still evident in the heart of Jaffna peninsula and\nother Buddhist archeological  monuments scattered\nthrough out Sri lanka   is witness to the\nfact that all of Sri Lanka was homeland to it\u2019s Buddhist Sinhalese civilisation\nfor 2500 years, as the Mahavamsa records. Tamis , Arabs & Malays were able\nto settle in various parts of SL , due to the kind & welcoming disposition\ninherent to Buddhism, acknowledged many times recently by no less a person than\nCardinal Malcolm Ranjith<\/strong>, head of the Roman catholic Church In SL<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1983 this  separatist Elam movement\nbecame a brutal terrorist war against the rest of Sri Lanka, waged by the LTTE,\n( Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam)., at one stage labelled the world\u2019s most\nbrutal by the<\/strong> FBI US, no less. They drew support in finance and propaganda\nfor their bloody campaign from an Internationally based Tiger Diaspora, that\nhad by then become well established in the west , especially in the UK, Canada\nand USA, cleverly exploiting their claim of \nMinority Discrimination<\/strong>\u201d, to hoodwink their unsuspecting host\ncountries. Their hosts were ready believe these claims , without any evidence\nbeing supplied to support these claims, accepting it as the inevitable for a\nminority in a third world country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The making of Sinhala, the mother tongue of the 75% majority in 1956, as\nthe state language was one major complaint of the 12% Tamil minority. In most\ncountries, much lesser percentage of the majority community would have been\nadequate to justify this. Not so for this minority used to 150 years of\ncolonial privileges. The provisions of the Reasonable use of Tamil act that\nenshrined the right of every Tamil child to receive a free state education in\nthe Tamil medium upto end of tertiary education, no different from a Sinhalese\nchild, the right of every Tamil citizen to address the government for their\nwants in Tamil and receive a response in the same language, the provision for\nthe courts in the Tamil majority districts to conduct their affairs in Tamil,\nand the right for any Tamil to compete for entry into the public service\nwithout any knowledge of Sinhalese provided they gained competence upto some\nlevel a few years later, did not satisfy the avaricious appetite of this once privileged\ngroup. Additionally this requirement to gain competence in Sinhalese , after\njoining  however was not a requirement in\nprofessional fields like in medicine  .   Now Both Sinhalese & Tamil are state\nlanguages on par with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After three  decades, the brutal terrorism\nof the Tigers<\/strong> came to an end on 19th<\/sup> of May, 2009<\/strong>, when all\nof the LTTE Terrorists were laid to rest on the banks of Nandikadal Lagoon in\nMullaitivu. This victory was  thanks to\nthe transformation of what was once ceremonial security forces to a truly\nprofessional service, conforming to the highest standards, as was widely\nacknowledged . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, the internationally based Tiger Diaspora<\/strong>, that supported\n  the Tigers with finance and\npropaganda  throughout,  were left entirely unscathed  as was their Billion dollar war chest<\/strong>\namassed through Distortion <\/strong>(misinformation to justify tiger terror so\nenable collections in the west), Extortion , ( <\/strong>forcibly compelling\nTamils whom the diaspora helped to achieve refugee status in the west to\ncontribute large portions of their social service handouts and forcibly\ntaxing\u201d  by then well established Tamil\nbusinesses in the west) and Drug  & Human Trafficking (Tiger Diaspora <\/strong>groups\nhave been exposed  of being guilty of this\nmany times).  With this burgeoning war\nchest no longer required for arms purchases, they had plenty of resources to\nprocure cash trapped TV stations like Channel 4 \nUK to produce infamous films like Sri Lanka Killing Fields\u201d<\/strong>, to\ndiscredit SL and their war achievements. A New York times critic described this\nas a collection of video strips, un authored and unlocated  held together by a partial commentary that\nled the viewer to attribute all the ills shown, to be acts of the SL Security\nforces. Much of these strips have since been shown to be Tamil Tigers, clad in\nthe uniforms of captured soldiers committing atrocities on these victims  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This new phase of discrediting the war efforts after  the annihilation of the Tiger fighters in SL\nin May 2009, was clearly a well planned move that was executed   within days of the fall of the Tigers in Sri\nLanka, by this well  resourced , powerful\nand devious  Tiger Diaspora, to discredit\n the Security Forces, by claiming that\ntheir victory had been achieved at the expense of gross human rights violations\nalleging an  unacceptable  loss of Tamil civilian lives of any  thing between 40,000 -100,000  in the last few weeks of the war. They claimed\nthis to be the result of indiscriminate & even directed fire at fleeing\ncivilians. Though all the evidence was that nothing was further from the truth,\n& that the civilian toll was of the order of 7000,  , they persisted in orchestrating these Tiger\nDiaspora allegations  internationally\nwith Joseph Goebbelian zeal, as they had done with all their false propaganda\nthrough the earlier three decades, till these were believed in the west .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assessment of the UN representative based in Colombo at the end of\nthe war Sir John Holmes was that the Tamil civilian casualties were about 7000\nat most. This  number was confirmed a few\nmonths later by a census carried out by the Tamil  University Teachers, as the probable number\nTamil civilian casualties. Wiki leakes \nleaked information   also revealed\nthat defence attaches in both the UK and US embassies at that time had\nconfirmed these numbers in their dispatches to their various countries and had\nalso mentioned that but for the care taken by the SL security forces to\nminimise Tamil civilian casualties, the war would have been over well before\nand with less SL security forces casualties. Besides, it made no sense for the\nSL forces to attack civilians and then a few weeks later for these same\ncivilians, nearly 300,000 of them to flee straight into the arms of the security\nforces to escape from the Tigers who had held them as hostages to use as human\nshields against the advancing SL forces. These were all confirmed by these\ncivilians once in the safe haven of the camps arranged by the SL forces. Even\nmore these civilians were resettled in their homes within a few months after\nthe war , once the SL forces had risked their lives to demine these areas ,\nheavily mined by the retreating Tigers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these were confirmed by documents tabled in the British House of\nLords in 2017 by Lord Naseby , who after a long battle accessed some of these\noriginal dispatches from  the UK  H\/Commission in Colombo. Additionally the\nParanagama Presidential Commission tasked with investigating allegations of missing\nersons, cleared  SL forces of been\ncomplicit of systematic or direct killing of civilians .  Additionally these findings were endorsed by\na panel of several internationally well known panel of legal experts on war\ncrimes, headed by Sir Desmond de Silva QC from UK <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Tigers derived their story of\n40,000 casulaties or more initially \nfrom  Gordon Weiss claiming from\nunnamed sources who later retracted it under questioning . He was  an UN employee based in Colombo in May 2009,\nwho was after boosting sales of his book. The major boost for the claim came\nfrom the Darusman commission Report. This commission  having only interviewed the Tigers and Not SL\nsources, suggested this number as a credible allegation\u201d but refused to reveal\nthe source of this information for thirty years. So much for it\u2019s\ncredibility <\/strong>  This commission was\nappointed by the then UNSG to report to him on accountability provisions in SL,\nwithout the authority of the UN or UNSC and against the specific wishes of two\nof its members, Russia and China and hence not a UN report. <\/strong>However ,\nthis did not deter the Tiger Diaspora from orchestrating this as a  UN<\/strong> report <\/strong>to add muscle to\ntheir allegation. This label  UN\nReport\u201d<\/strong>has since stuck<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It did not take long for them to go a notch higher making these   evidence  of Tamil Genocide<\/strong> , even more appealing\nto the unsuspecting liberal western minds.  This allegation of Tamil Genocide has been\ncraftily orchestrated since , even luring unsuspecting and misinformed  western  liberal parliamentarians to make this call, on\ntheir behalf,. This we saw most recently in May\u201920 with the Mayor  Columbine from Canada and NSW state\nparliamentarian Mr Hugh McDermott  from\nAustralia, to coincide with the 11th<\/sup> anniversary of the fall of the\nTigers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this is to be countered the first requirement<\/strong> would be  making this information on the truths behind\nthe Tamil Genocide Claim , widely known in the west,  especially, Canada, UK and US , amongst it\u2019s\nmedia  and politicians , state and\nfederal.  These would  then need to be orchestrated repeatedly, at\nevery opportunity and creating opportunities, just like the Tiger Diaspora has\ndone with misinformation.. These message would need to be repeated using modern\nmedia of email and others . Messages  should\nbe short  where the bold titles conveys\nthe main message, and repeated frequently. Eye balling the title is what most\nwould do and that should convey the main message  The aim would be to achieve  a default position in the minds of these\nrecipients  and institutions  that Tamil Genocide has no factual basis\u201d\n<\/strong>and that it was post independence loss of privileges enjoyed  under British colonial rule, was what was presented\nas discrimination\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next requirement <\/strong>is to highlight the motivation  among \na large section of the Diaspora, to continue to paint a negative\npicture  of Sri Lanka<\/strong> and a risk to\ntheir safety in SL if they were sent back to SL, even if there is none , as\ntheir continuing to enjoy western privileges \nas refugees<\/strong> , depends on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand these should be coupled with information on life of\nTamils in Sri Lanka now , showing the freedoms and opportunities they enjoy\nback in SL. A truly tri lingual Sri. Lanka would help the cause immensely. The\nCovid crisis has exposed the potential for TV & E teaching  & learning  and could be utilised to achieve this and so\nwin –  win for all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third requirement <\/strong>  should be to focus  spot light  on  \nThe Tiger Diaspora, the funders of terror in Sri Lanka  for over thirty years that saw the loss of\nover 300,000 lives , , <\/strong>now sitting snug in the comfort of their western\nhomes. The call should be for a commission of inquiry, initially perhaps a\nPresidential Inquiry in Sri Lanka with a view to ultimately having them brought\nbefore courts, even international courts. This should provide something to keep\nthem occupied, and away from orchestrating unsubstantiated calls of Tamil\nGenocide. There should also be an investigation to see if legal avenues could\nbe used to curb the ongoing baseless allegations of Genocide, as a violation of\nthe basic human rights of the accused , not to be subjected such ongoing\nbaseless accusations <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This three pronged approach should be coordinated and driven from Sri\nLanka, utilising expatriates on the ground for advice , ideas and  to execution . The expatriates should use\ntheir clout with the vote<\/strong> to get the message across to their rulers , as\nthe Tiger Diaspora has done so effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost certainly, these should be driven by a dedicated  devision in the Foreign Ministry in the\nGovernment in SL<\/strong> , prepared for the long hall of a few decades. That was\nhow long the battle with the sword  took\nto win and this battle with the pen would be more devious and could be even\nmore prolonged . It is certainly more challenging than the battles on the field\n,&  against a very wily opponent<\/strong>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There should be a realisation in Colombo that, left unchecked or\ncountered half-heartedly, the Tiger Diaspora has the capacity to undermine the\nSL administration\u2019s  best developmental\nefforts, for a long time to come, using mislead western governments, and UN\nagencies, to aid them in this ,as we have seen since 2009.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 However, these efforts,<\/strong>\nshould not detract  from ongoing efforts\nat Integration<\/strong> rather than segregation<\/strong> as the answer to SL\u2019\nethnic issues. Being truly trilingual<\/strong> and encouraging a fusion culture,\nperhaps fusion dances of the two cultures Barata Natyam and Kandyan Dancing ,  as we have in NZ who always sing the National\nanthem in two languages  English &\nMaori  are some thoughts.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank You<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM FRCP(UK)FRACP( Aust\/NZ) Wellington New Zealand The about 10% Tamil minority in Sri Lanka were the privileged minority of one hundred and fifty years of  Divide and Rule\u201d British Colonial administration, while the about 75% Sinhalese majority were the oppressed and disadvantaged majority, as they posed  the greatest threat to the colonial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}