I agree with you I.S., if these aid organisations really wanted to aid to get to the people - they would have worked cohesively with the government even if they hate them as much as they say they do. The problem is, it is so black and white when it comes to groups like the TRO etc and actually in the UK it is alot easier to convince people/celebs/action groups here that there are 'people' being damned by their own. Which is absolutely not the case because I myself am against what is happening to the innocents in the north - it is such a tough issue, the first trait of war.
The main issue here is that TRO, White Pigeon, Tamil Health Org and so on will all say that the aid won't get to the right people if it goes through the govt, this barrage of talk will be accompanied by words and phrases such as 'ethnic cleansing', 'hatred' and 'genocide'. The fact is, there are people helping other people, devoid of colour, race and ethnicity and this is what these groups don't talk about - because then its not so easy to raise a shout as loud as they have.
The PR, the launch party and the ship sailing with such fanfare is a mockery of whats happening to the innocent Sri Lankans up north. We can only hope and possibly campaign for the ship not to meet any Naval catastrophe because that will only be detrimental to all concerned.
LMB.
Friday, 24 April 2009
A Ceylon Moor voice
I.S. - We have people in the North East and totally agree with you.
If the Tamil people in the UK and elsewhere care so much for their brethren, then they must ask the LTTE, the very organization that is proclaiming to fight for the Tamils (they also claim they are the sole representatives of the Tamils), then why are they sacrificing the innocent Tamils who have suffered so much in the last two years being dragged by the LTTE from the West – Mannar all the way to the East? Let them go as all the International bodies are saying.
It is because the LTTE wants to save their skin when they are cornered as they are now.
Even the Indians who tried this trick in 1987 dropping food parcel and then sent the IPKF to be chased out by the LTTE have now offered to work with the Sri Lankan Government. No vessel can enter the sovereign waters without the state approval.
Why have these people not offered to send some ships to evacuate the innocent Tamils held hostage by the LTTE, then the food problem will be over.
Let us not allow ourselves to be deceived by those inciting disharmony amongst Sri Lankans.
ZM.
An English Voice
(In response to a very graphic, gory picture sent by AE to all in conversation to provoke, it was of a baby who was killed in cross-fire).
What did that achieve? What will having an extravagant party with models and celebrities to launch a boat that probably wont make it to its destination, just to make a point, really achieve? Maybe they are both meant to disgust.... but don't really help at all.
Nor will comparing people with Israelis or Palestinians, nor members of ETA, the IRA, the Bush Administration or any other. Let's face it, all these things have in common is bloodshed... and who wants that?
I'm not sure the calls of genocide etc are doing that much good either. But what do I know? We live in a society (and world) of Blame Culture; you did this, he did that, wasn't my fault etc. In the words of Bob Marley "while you're pointing fingers, someone else is judging you". Maybe if 'we' stopped point scoring and started looking beyond personal / political interests things would improve, but then look at the banks! If the planet were a bank, we would have saved it already!
LB.
What did that achieve? What will having an extravagant party with models and celebrities to launch a boat that probably wont make it to its destination, just to make a point, really achieve? Maybe they are both meant to disgust.... but don't really help at all.
Nor will comparing people with Israelis or Palestinians, nor members of ETA, the IRA, the Bush Administration or any other. Let's face it, all these things have in common is bloodshed... and who wants that?
I'm not sure the calls of genocide etc are doing that much good either. But what do I know? We live in a society (and world) of Blame Culture; you did this, he did that, wasn't my fault etc. In the words of Bob Marley "while you're pointing fingers, someone else is judging you". Maybe if 'we' stopped point scoring and started looking beyond personal / political interests things would improve, but then look at the banks! If the planet were a bank, we would have saved it already!
LB.
A Tamil Voice
I am Tamil and I submit that the LTTE have, in recent years, systematically persecuted their own people to propagate war and preserve their own power. There is conclusive evidence (ICRC, World Concern, UN) that the LTTE is forcibly recruiting anyone that can hold a gun. They only release those that are of no use to them. Eg. Amputees.
Much as this champagne and supermodels approach to relief work entertains me, pls don't put AE in my path, there will only be more blood shed.
As far as ACT (Action & Care Trust, different to the ACT Now that AE speaks of) is concerned, we have a very successful working relationship with GOSL, who have extended us full access to the receiving hospitals to personally ensure our aid gets to the injured. That's the power of co-operation.
RP.
Much as this champagne and supermodels approach to relief work entertains me, pls don't put AE in my path, there will only be more blood shed.
As far as ACT (Action & Care Trust, different to the ACT Now that AE speaks of) is concerned, we have a very successful working relationship with GOSL, who have extended us full access to the receiving hospitals to personally ensure our aid gets to the injured. That's the power of co-operation.
RP.
A Ceylon Moor voice
It is a gory picture indeed! What a tragedy, however she was killed by who ever.
I remember seeing a similar picture of a 8month pregnant Tamil woman suicide bomber sent to Colombo by the LTTE to blow up the Army commander, you know where? Army Head Quarters, that killed 11 innocent soldiers with her and her baby. Fortunately the Army Commander survived to deal with the LTTE as it is happening today.
I have seen more than 300 such killings by the LTTE;
On the 2nd March 1991 at 8.38AM when the LTTE blew up the then defense Minister to bits, right in front of my office at 68 Havelock Road, Colombo 5 killing over 50 people on the road injuring my staff and destroying my office.
Then on the 31st Jan 1996, a truck laden with 400kgs of explosives blew up the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in the premier business centre of the Country, the Janadipathy Mawatha, which killed more than 200 innocent people and destroyed every building in sight including my Head Office, killing my tenants and injuring my staff. I saw the bodies and spent 18 hours assisting the injured and dealing with the dead that day pulling concrete rubble.
Hundreds of Tamils, young and the old, the dumb and the brain washed Suicide bombers that LTTE sent to Colombo to kill anyone who they felt they should, ended up in worse condition than the gory picture you attached. Hundreds of Sinhala farmers on the border villages are being butchered every week by the LTTE agents. Just last week on Prophet Mohamed’s Birthday celebration in deep south, the LTTE suicide bomber killed 40 people right in front of a mosque. Surely, there are bounds that even a devil doesn’t cross. We have seen it all and been close to half dozen LTTE suicide bombs, so please don’t tell me or remind me about Gaza, which all of the international community looks the other way.
I want you to remember the thousands of Muslims driven out of Jaffna by the LTTE in the 80’s who are still living in squalid conditions in Puttalam camps. Then more than 20,000 Muslims chased out of Mannar by the LTTE in ethnic cleansing. They too are people who suffering like the Tamils and other minorities, we need to work to empower them.
Let’s face it, LTTE has reached the end of the road. Let us work to save the innocent Tamils, the young, the old, men, women and children who are trapped or held hostage by the LTTE to be used as shields and suffering untold hardship in Mullaitivu and elsewhere. Let’s empower all the elected Tamil politicians of all hues to talk with the powers to find a solution to the disparity and the concerns of the peace loving Tamil population, most of whom are living in the south of Sri Lanka amongst the Sinhalese as well as those in the North and the East.
I have, from 1997 worked for reconciliation through Rotary and then through my foundation - Grassroots - and will continue to work to establish equality. I have been to the then uncleared areas in 1999 and tried so hard to bring reconciliation. Let us all join hands to make all Sri Lankans equal.
ZM.
TRO Half Tamil Voice
Dear all,
before i start, i just wanted to say "we" bare you no ill will and, as i've told Leah many, many times, if those who have governed Sri Lanka since independence were persons such as yourselves there would not be any war... i have met you all and you are all lovely, intelligent, honest, caring, loving persons, who if that beautiful island is to ever see peace (as one state or two states) MUST raise your voice - not just in the humanitarian sector but in the human rights and political spheres (Neela aunty will you please run for office and take over the UNP - ranil is not much of a leader - you on the other hand have the carisma, intelligence and managerial skills for the job).
I'm really interested in this "debate" and wish i had more time to respond and engage in detail with all of you (that is the only way to an enduring peace isn't it), but... as you might expect we are rather busy... and so i leave you with this:
I skimmed through the contributions from all of you and one thing that struck me was Leah's statement that (and i'm paraphrasing here so forgive me) "we" were against the good Sri Lankan's (Sinhala, Muslim, Bugher, & Tamil) helping, sending aid, or otherwise assisting the IDPs in Govt controlled areas - i wish to CATEGORICALLY state that "we" do not have ANY problem with the great efforts you all are engaged in. "We" encourage them and infact in my meetings in Geneva with Ms. Pillay (11 March) and others while at the UN Human Rights Council (http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=7294 ) i stressed that it was important that civil society in the "south", international NGOs, the UN and other humanitarian actors be empowered and allowed free and unfettered access to these concentration camps so that these people, who have experienced so much horror, will have the humanitarian assistance that they are entitled to and that they be allowed to return to their homes and rebuild their lives as soon as possible.
At the meeting with Ms. Pillay (which the Sinhala journalist Ravi leaked to the media) there were persons from the 3 communities (sorry no Burghers, but then i didn't call the meeting and so it wasn't my fault) representing a variety of Sri Lanka based NGOs and what was really lovely was that we were all saying the same thing vis a vis the humanitarian and human rights abusesbeing committed by the GoSL.
but... (there had to be a "but" didn't there)
A couple questions / thoughts / points:
1) why isn't the GoSL helping these people - at my meetings with the UN, ICRC etc in Geneva they stated that there was plenty of humanitarian aid in Colombo & the South but the GoSL didn't seem interested in putting it to use & in the case of the 'safe zone' continued to refuse permission for the ICRC to transport adequate amounts. Why isn't SL Civil Society make more noise about this?
2) This ship and the event yesterday are focused on assisting the people in the 'safe zone' because no one else (other than ICRC) seem able or willing to assist them. And so we have taken the task - so please do lobby for the GoSL not to sink us (i'll be on it).
3) Leah also asked (in a private email or in this 'discussion') why "we" weren't assisting the IDPs in GoSL controlled areas. The fact of the matter is that we are. Over the past 1 month the Tamil Diaspora (this is only the orgs that i know of NOT the individuals who have also contributed which would result in a much larger figure) have sent over US$600,000 to organizations working in the concentration camps. (sorry can't tell you the names - indi will post them on his blog and then they'd be chucked outta the country)
4) Over the past 3 years ANY funds sent from a diaspora organization with "Tamil" in the name have been frozen (added to the war budget?) by the GoSL - (i can provide evidence) this has included funds that were sent from organizations with names like "The xxx Tamil Hindu Society" to Sinhala & Muslim NGOs working in the East and in the GoSL controlled North. So you see, while it might not appear to be the case, "we" are trying to help people in all parts of the county. After the tsunami TRO built wells, houses, toilets, and preschools for tsunami affected MUSLIM & SINHALA villages in the East and a Sinhala village near Matara (can't tell you the name - don't want them to burned out of their homes) and we had numerous post-CFA projects in the upcountry. There weren't any headlines about those projects in the Colombo papers.
5) Where were you guys over the past couple of years? Were you sending humanitarian assistance to the LTTE administered Vanni? I hope you were and it was not just now that your consciences were pricked.
6) Why was Sri Lanka "Civil Society" so quiet when the UN & iNGOs were ordered out of the Vanni in Sept 2008 or the media stopped from travelling there in Jan 2007? The LTTE has always welcomed them... If you're going to speak up for the suffering of the people in the concentration camps then what about other instances of suffering and/or the conditions that create them? Any why don't these people have the freedom of movement to go where they please? I have some relatives in one of the concentration camps who were sent there after being evacuated by the ICRC to a hospital treated and discharged - they wanted to go to our relatives house in the "south" or to Jaffna but weren't allowed to. Why?
7) i notice that some of the individuals involved in this org "ACT" (not ACT NOW www.act-now.info - hehehe) were also involved with "Rebuild Sri Lanka" which in the end turned out to be just a land grab in Arugam Bay... i hope their new focus isn't on creating a 5 Star resort in Mullaitivu or the Chundikulam Bird Reserve (which by the way is beautiful, or was... when i was last there - multibarrel rockets tend to disturb bird migratory systems)
anyway, i hadn't intended to go on for so long and "somebody" will be very angry with me for "wasting" all this time... BUT...
i just wanted to reiterate (via cut & past): "we" bare you no ill will and, as i've told Leah many, many times, if those who have governed Sri Lanka since independence were persons such as yourselves there would not be any war... i have met you all (except maybe one or two i was in one of my many "fogs" hahaha) and you are all lovely, intelligent, honest, caring, loving persons, who if that beautiful island is to ever see peace (as one state or two states) MUST raise your voice - not just in the humanitarian sector but in the human rights and political spheres (*name deleted* aunty will you please run for office and take over the UNP - ranil is not much of a leader - you on the other hand have the charisma, intelligence and managerial skills for the job).
respectfully,
AE
before i start, i just wanted to say "we" bare you no ill will and, as i've told Leah many, many times, if those who have governed Sri Lanka since independence were persons such as yourselves there would not be any war... i have met you all and you are all lovely, intelligent, honest, caring, loving persons, who if that beautiful island is to ever see peace (as one state or two states) MUST raise your voice - not just in the humanitarian sector but in the human rights and political spheres (Neela aunty will you please run for office and take over the UNP - ranil is not much of a leader - you on the other hand have the carisma, intelligence and managerial skills for the job).
I'm really interested in this "debate" and wish i had more time to respond and engage in detail with all of you (that is the only way to an enduring peace isn't it), but... as you might expect we are rather busy... and so i leave you with this:
I skimmed through the contributions from all of you and one thing that struck me was Leah's statement that (and i'm paraphrasing here so forgive me) "we" were against the good Sri Lankan's (Sinhala, Muslim, Bugher, & Tamil) helping, sending aid, or otherwise assisting the IDPs in Govt controlled areas - i wish to CATEGORICALLY state that "we" do not have ANY problem with the great efforts you all are engaged in. "We" encourage them and infact in my meetings in Geneva with Ms. Pillay (11 March) and others while at the UN Human Rights Council (http://www.lankaenews.com/
At the meeting with Ms. Pillay (which the Sinhala journalist Ravi leaked to the media) there were persons from the 3 communities (sorry no Burghers, but then i didn't call the meeting and so it wasn't my fault) representing a variety of Sri Lanka based NGOs and what was really lovely was that we were all saying the same thing vis a vis the humanitarian and human rights abusesbeing committed by the GoSL.
but... (there had to be a "but" didn't there)
A couple questions / thoughts / points:
1) why isn't the GoSL helping these people - at my meetings with the UN, ICRC etc in Geneva they stated that there was plenty of humanitarian aid in Colombo & the South but the GoSL didn't seem interested in putting it to use & in the case of the 'safe zone' continued to refuse permission for the ICRC to transport adequate amounts. Why isn't SL Civil Society make more noise about this?
2) This ship and the event yesterday are focused on assisting the people in the 'safe zone' because no one else (other than ICRC) seem able or willing to assist them. And so we have taken the task - so please do lobby for the GoSL not to sink us (i'll be on it).
3) Leah also asked (in a private email or in this 'discussion') why "we" weren't assisting the IDPs in GoSL controlled areas. The fact of the matter is that we are. Over the past 1 month the Tamil Diaspora (this is only the orgs that i know of NOT the individuals who have also contributed which would result in a much larger figure) have sent over US$600,000 to organizations working in the concentration camps. (sorry can't tell you the names - indi will post them on his blog and then they'd be chucked outta the country)
4) Over the past 3 years ANY funds sent from a diaspora organization with "Tamil" in the name have been frozen (added to the war budget?) by the GoSL - (i can provide evidence) this has included funds that were sent from organizations with names like "The xxx Tamil Hindu Society" to Sinhala & Muslim NGOs working in the East and in the GoSL controlled North. So you see, while it might not appear to be the case, "we" are trying to help people in all parts of the county. After the tsunami TRO built wells, houses, toilets, and preschools for tsunami affected MUSLIM & SINHALA villages in the East and a Sinhala village near Matara (can't tell you the name - don't want them to burned out of their homes) and we had numerous post-CFA projects in the upcountry. There weren't any headlines about those projects in the Colombo papers.
5) Where were you guys over the past couple of years? Were you sending humanitarian assistance to the LTTE administered Vanni? I hope you were and it was not just now that your consciences were pricked.
6) Why was Sri Lanka "Civil Society" so quiet when the UN & iNGOs were ordered out of the Vanni in Sept 2008 or the media stopped from travelling there in Jan 2007? The LTTE has always welcomed them... If you're going to speak up for the suffering of the people in the concentration camps then what about other instances of suffering and/or the conditions that create them? Any why don't these people have the freedom of movement to go where they please? I have some relatives in one of the concentration camps who were sent there after being evacuated by the ICRC to a hospital treated and discharged - they wanted to go to our relatives house in the "south" or to Jaffna but weren't allowed to. Why?
7) i notice that some of the individuals involved in this org "ACT" (not ACT NOW www.act-now.info - hehehe) were also involved with "Rebuild Sri Lanka" which in the end turned out to be just a land grab in Arugam Bay... i hope their new focus isn't on creating a 5 Star resort in Mullaitivu or the Chundikulam Bird Reserve (which by the way is beautiful, or was... when i was last there - multibarrel rockets tend to disturb bird migratory systems)
anyway, i hadn't intended to go on for so long and "somebody" will be very angry with me for "wasting" all this time... BUT...
i just wanted to reiterate (via cut & past): "we" bare you no ill will and, as i've told Leah many, many times, if those who have governed Sri Lanka since independence were persons such as yourselves there would not be any war... i have met you all (except maybe one or two i was in one of my many "fogs" hahaha) and you are all lovely, intelligent, honest, caring, loving persons, who if that beautiful island is to ever see peace (as one state or two states) MUST raise your voice - not just in the humanitarian sector but in the human rights and political spheres (*name deleted* aunty will you please run for office and take over the UNP - ranil is not much of a leader - you on the other hand have the charisma, intelligence and managerial skills for the job).
respectfully,
AE
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Temporary safety
Tamil's fleeing the LTTE's clutches... the truth will come out slowly but surely - the real Tamil people who have been living the war, unlike many (NOT ALL) people who have been living abroad and away from the carnage. As I have said, I do not support the Govt of Sri Lanka but I do support the fact that these Tamil refugees who deserve a much better life, one equal to mine, will more likely get it on the Govt side, as long as they do not sit with the LTTE who are forcing them to suffer too. Because, hey guess what? This could be the beginning of a new chapter... one that only we, the Sri Lankan people, can make.
BBC talks to Tamils fleeing the LTTE hold - how do you dispute this? How do the Tamil's protesting hoist the LTTE flag on Parliament Square in Westminster in protest when the LTTE are clearly killing their own?????? Let us start our own united movement to ensure the rights of the Tamil people without violent, hypocritical intent.
Read this article by a moderate Tamilian:
Are you Tamil? Time for some soul-searching
BBC talks to Tamils fleeing the LTTE hold - how do you dispute this? How do the Tamil's protesting hoist the LTTE flag on Parliament Square in Westminster in protest when the LTTE are clearly killing their own?????? Let us start our own united movement to ensure the rights of the Tamil people without violent, hypocritical intent.
Read this article by a moderate Tamilian:
Are you Tamil? Time for some soul-searching
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