Editorial:
DK agitation on serious issues
 |
More than thousand members of Dravidar Kazhagam besides volunteers of other organisations like Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi were arrested on 23rd September when they attempted to march from a place near Periyar Thidal in E.V.K.Sampath Salai, north of Egmore Railway Station to Chennai Central Railway Station to stop the trains, agitating against the ineffective nature of the measures of the Government of India on three vital issues, namely, first, protecting the life, liberty and property of the Eelam Tamils from the brutal attacks of the parochial and chauvinist Sri Lankan Navy, Air force and army, second, safeguarding the lives and fishing rights of the Tamil Nadu fishermen from the repeated senseless and arrogant attacks and killings by the Sri Lankan Navy, and third, to curb the inhuman violence against the minority religious communities in various states of India.
Tamils in Sri Lanka, though a minority, form a distinct nationality, having their own history from very ancient times, a classical vibrant language, developed culture, tradition and a homeland known as Eelam in the north and eastern part of the island country. Ever since Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) became free from the British rule in 1948, the Tamils of the country, both the Eelam Tamils as well as those of Indian origin, were subjected to discriminatory treatment by the Sinhala majority unitary form of government. Tamils have been demanding a federal form of government, that would give equal status to the two nationalities, Sinhalese and Tamils, as well as autonomy for their own provincial governments to safeguard their special and regional interests, leaving the matters of common concern to the federal government. They fought for equal status and equal rights by peaceful means and constitutional methods. But the Tamil leaders and cadres and even common people who stood for justice and fair-play were suppressed and oppressed, brutally beaten and imprisoned. Even the Tamil law-makers, members of Parliament, elected as representatives of the country’s citizens had been repeatedly and brutally attacked and threatened on various occasions. When the Tamils remained determined to win their legitimate rights, the Sinhalese unleashed naked violence, and undertook planned colonisation of traditional homeland of the Tamils with the backing of the Sinhala majority government. The police and the army allowed the lumpen elements and thugs among the Sinhalese to loot, to beat, to rob, burn, kill and rape the Tamils. So the youth among them had to take up arms to defend their people, their land, their honour and their rights. They have come to know by repeated experience that the Sinhala Government would not hesitate to go back on its own assurance and to violate the agreement that it has signed. The Tamils in that country have clearly understood that they had no other way to protect themselves except by fighting against the armed might of the heartless Sinhala regime that does not respect democracy and decency.
The Government of India is giving training to the Sinhala army and supplying strategic military equipments. Recently, when two engineers have been injured in the LTTE air attack, the world has come to know that India has been supporting a government continuously carrying on genocidal attack by sending technically qualified Indians as well to help the army and the air-force, killing their own citizens.
We do not understand the callous, clearly biased, attitude of Indian bureaucracy. Does it think asking for equal rights is a sin? Does it not know Sri Lankan President, Rajapakse’s call to the Liberation Tigers to lay down the arms as a condition for peace talks is a cunning move to establish easily the inhuman Sinhala majoritarian rule over the Tamils of the Island? Don’t they know the immortal words of the famous American actor Marlon Brando when he declined on March 23, 1975, to accept Oscar Award for the Best Actor for his role in GODFATHER? Let us quote a few lines of his speech: “For 200 years, we (Americans) have said the Indian people who are fighting for their land, their life, their families and their right to be free: ‘Lay down your arms, my friends, and then we will remain together. Only if you lay down your arms, can we talk of peace and come to an agreement which will be good for you’. When they laid down their arms, we murdered them/ We lied to them We cheated them out of their lands. We starved them into signing fraudulent agreements that we called treaties which we never kept. We turned them into beggars . . . We were not lawful nor were we just in what we did?” It is in this perspective we want the Indian administration and the international community to understand the situation in Sri Lanka and act urgently to bring about just peace in that country.
The island government repeatedly assures India that it would cease attacking and shooting down the fishermen from the coastal area of Tamil Nadu. But as late as 27th September night, a fisherman from Ramwswaram was shot dead by its navy. The president of the Tamil Nadu and Puduchery fishermen’s federation said the assurance given by the Sri Lankan Government to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the recent SAARC summit that its navy would not resort to firing at the fishermen had been thrown to the winds, just like earlier assurances had been.
The third vital issue on which the DK agitated was against the repeated violence and dangerous threats to which the Hindutva elements subject the religious minorities in India. The attack on the Christians of Orissa that erupted in Kandhamal district has not abated. The Bajrang Dal, V.H.P., R.S.S., and other Sangh Parivar elements are killing and attacking the minority people, destroying prayer halls, ruining churches and burning their houses.
We urge the Indian government to compel Sri Lanka to find a genuine federal solution to the nationality question of the island, and to strengthen real secular forces in India.
