Compiled by Crikey interns Chris Kohler and Elly Keating:
The 25 year war in north Sri Lanka between the rebel L.T.T.E (or Tamil Tigers) and their government is reaching a crescendo. With a spike in the number of asylum seekers reaching our shores, many from Sri Lanka, we’ve collected comments on both the Sri Lankan war and the asylum seekers it produces. Bear in mind that journalists are not allowed in the warzone so figures released are either from the Tamils or the Government and cannot be verified.
A mass slaughter of civilians will take place… and everyone knows it. The Sri Lankan government has issued a deadline of noon tomorrow for the Tamil Tigers to surrender. With the embattled rebels unlikely to put down their guns before then, only forceful and immediate international action to halt the fighting can prevent the possible deaths of tens of thousands of civilians trapped between the warring parties. — Robert Templer, Asia program director at the International Crisis Group
Victims of an underreported war. When a war goes underreported, the agony of its civilian victims goes almost unrecognized. The plight of the Tamils of Sri Lanka provides a poignant illustration, which the civilized world can no longer ignore. The 25-year-old conflict has been too much with us, and it has come to be regarded as an internal disturbance, in which outsiders cannot show much interest without appearing to be interfering. — J. Sri Raman, Truthout
Two Sri Lankas struggle to tell their tales. International reporters are still barred by Sri Lanka’s government from the war zone, so The Times, like the BBC and other news organizations, is forced to rely on the conflicting statements of spokesmen from the country’s ministry of defence and for the rebel force, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on what is happening there. — Robert Mackey, New York Times News Blog
Of diasporas and “that” international community. The question is, how would the existence of a terrorist organization that has forced both the community it was meant to be representing and all other communities through the most inhuman of treatments, been responsible for the death of a large section of the community’s intellectuals and destabilized a developing economy for three decades, serve the world at large? Whose interests would be met by keeping the LTTE alive? It is certainly not that of Sri Lanka and most definitely not the Tamil community. — Shakuntala Perera, Daily Mirror
Tamils try to pressure Ottawa. As the Sri Lankan military makes what it says is its final push to destroy the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who have fought a vicious war for a separate homeland against Colombo, many politicians find the issue of Tamil protesters in Ottawa a touchy subject. The Tamil Canadians’ cause has international ramifications, being part of a campaign mounted by the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, many of whom reside in Canada, against the ongoing “genocide” in their native country. — George Abraham, international affairs analyst, in Ottawa, Al Jazeera
“Civilians are dying, and the hospital is paralysed”. Cluster bombs and artillery shelling have killed many civilians at a makeshift hospital within the last strip of Sri Lanka’s coastline still controlled by the Tamil Tigers, a doctor said today. Thangamutha Sathiyamorthy is a doctor working at the hospital in Puttumatalan. He described to the Guardian the appalling conditions inside the no-fire zone, with cluster bomb attacks killing and injuring many civilians, including a doctor. Speaking by radio telephone from a temporary hospital at Mullaivaikal, he said the bodies still lay where they were killed inside their bunkers. — The Guardian
Refugee crisis worsens. Northern Sri Lanka has been engulfed by a refugee crisis as tens of thousands of civilians flee fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lankan troops. The Sri Lankan military says more than 81,000 refugees have crossed from the small area controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels to government-controlled territory over the last three days. The mass exodus began when the Sri Lankan military broke through a key rebel bunker on Monday. — The Age
Sri Lankan refuges head to Australia. The ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka is seeing a very considerable number of displaced peoples and that fact does add to the risk that some of them will seek to leave Sri Lanka by boat heading in Australia’s direction. — Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith, The Brisbane Times
Ending the war with dignity for all. There is a tragedy in any kind of end that involves the deaths of so many, even if they largely be LTTE cadres and Tamil civilians who were forced to stay with them. The point is that the need of the future is reconciliation, which alone will sustain a political solution. In an ethnic conflict, there cannot be unilaterally imposed solutions. The way forward therefore lies in the willingness of all parties to change their positions- in the LTTE agreeing to lay down arms and facilitating the movement of civilians to government welfare centres until they can be resettled in their home areas as soon as possible and in the international community and the Tamil diaspora urging the LTTE to permit the civilians to move out of the safety zone. — Jehan Perera in the Daily Mirror Sri Lanka
Are Tamil Tigers targeting Sonia Gandhi? In perhaps the clearest sign yet that the relentless military assault by Sri Lankan government troops is hurting the Tamil Tiger separatists where it hurts, the media controlled by the rebels is blaming India in general and ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi in particular for the debacle. — Mayank Chhaya, South Asia Daily
Let not this silence on Sri Lanka by India and UN Security Council persist. Most unfortunately the rest of the world remains silent, unconcerned and uninvolved except for odd statements and pious intentions. UN Security Council, the only International Institution that is capable of making a difference, do not even have Sri Lanka on their “agenda for discussions” despite their senior officials making heart-rending statements. It is alleged that India has a hand in the conspiracy for blocking this agenda! — M.G. Devasahayam, transCurrents
How I was barred from reporting Tamil Tiger Conflict. Despite multiple applications, I’ve been denied a journalist’s visa for Sri Lanka since August. For almost two years, the Sri Lankan Government has prevented most independent reporters from getting anywhere near the military campaign against the Tamil Tigers. So I was trying to enter as a tourist to write about the 150,000 civilians that the UN estimates are trapped in a no-fire zone with the remnants of the Tigers. The only other countries that I can think of where foreign journalists have to pose as tourists are Zimbabwe, Turkmenistan and North Korea. — Jeremy Page, Times Online
Media freedom low priority for Sri Lankan army. For the foreign correspondent, everything in Sri Lanka begins and ends with the armed forces: where one can travel; what one can film; even to whom one can speak. And dealing with the military is like travelling through the looking glass, although a blunter analogy would be with George Orwell’s 1984. They lie brazenly and the lies aren’t even credible. — Amos Roberts, The Australian
Innocence crushed by two guilty forces. This conflict has long been inaccurately described as a war between minority Tamils and majority Sinhalese. But while ethnic tensions play a role, this has become more truly a war of the armed against the unarmed. This has never been more apparent than now, as the unarmed civilians suffer fire from both sides. — Ash Kandasamy, Times Online
Australian Government and it’s policy on Sri Lankan Crisis raises questions!
Australian Government and its Labour leadership must be ashamed of not being able to see the human tragedy that was unfolding in Sri Lanka. Regarless of our political conviction falling on either side of Sri Lankan war, anyone who genuinely values the importance of humanity could see how innocent civilians being killed, maimed and detained forever in the recent Sri Lankan war. Yet the Australian governement under the Prime Minister Rudd’s leadership and its labour members could not see the morality in supporting the Senator Brown’s motion in the Australian parliament. Many Australians of Sri Lankan origin would have expected more of the leader who proudly declares his affinity to Christian values. Is it a case of Australian Goverment trying to take side with the Chineese Government who had been fueling the war by military aid to Sri lanka and partnering with Russia in preventing the matter to be discussed in the UN Security Council. I am sure Australians of Sri Lankan origin, who care to see humanity prevail in our world, would remember this when they vote to select their local goverment, state government and federal government representatives.
President Obama and Prime minister Brown had the guts to call on the government to halt the war over the last mere 4 sq km of land in order to protect 100, 000 civilians. That is leadership. Foreign Minister Steven Smith’s position on this topic is deplorable. To this date, our Prime Minister could not get a position established in the interest of humanity, rather referring that to British and French foreign ministers to do the shuttle diplomacy.
UN has walked out of Tamils; UN chief is too busy to visit Sri Lanka to apply any real pressure to protect civilians and has failed to do anything constructively when their ground team was ordered to leave the territory before war brokeout; it was a war without any witness; UN security council was unable to bring itself to properly discuss the humanitarian crisis; and International Committee of Red Cross was crying out loudly saying it was a humanitarian catastrophe – yet our foreign minister was calling on UN to do somthing and did not see the urgency to send a simple gesture by voting in favour of the motion at least.
If the evidence slowly emerging is any indicator of war crimes of big proportions, many organisations including our foreing minitry simply did not have the guts to act decisively to protecting the innocent people already killed and maimed. As the history repeats itself, Sri Lanka has become another Dafour and UN has once again proved itself in capable of serving its purpose and its duty as the protector of those who have no protection from their own governments like those who were caught in Wanni, Sri Lanka. Moreover, would these agencies also take the responsibility for inaction and the dire consequences of that.
Will the UN Chief assume his responsibility and order a war crime investigation in to Sri Lankan war? or will he consider resigning from his position for his in ability to commit time to deal with this tragedy?
Will the current Australian Goverment will commit some more Millions of dollars in emergency aid to say it has done more?
Will it assume the moral responsibility in going against China and Russia in pressuring a UN probe into the alleged war crimes in Srilanka?
Only time can tell us the answers, a disappointed Australian of Sri Lankan origin.
Shut up Nirmalathas! LTTE is crushed now.
If you are a decent tamil, think about the suicide bombers (the brainwashed idiots) who represents Tamils and brought disgrace. Is that moral?
Memo to Crikey censors, I will not be silenced!
If you accept that Crikey is respected because it allows a fair, unbiased exchange of views, you will not censor debate on this important issue.
While the Tamil Tigers did not represent all Tamils, they were the only force which resisted the chauvanistic Sinhala agenda which is the true evil behind Sri Lanka’s abysmal human rights record…..an evil which makes all Sri Lankans bereft of their rights to live peacefully.
Until the balance is restored, Sri Lanka will continue to have the terrorist organisations which it deserves.
While I agree few Tamils are against the issue, most can be labeled as supporters of the inhumane activity carried out by the LTTE. and I can see that you are one of the henchman behind them.