The Sinhalese populace do not know the true face of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Over the last three decades Sinhalese media did not or was not free to report any of the barbaric acts committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces against the Tamil people. The Sinhalese media, willingly or unwillingly has been geared towards exaggerating the atrocities carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) totally ignoring the carnages committed by the state armed forces. This is one of the main reason for the current impasse in Sri Lanka (SL). The Sinhalese, controlled media, should bear responsibility for creating the irreversible ethnic divide in Sri Lanka.

The current ethnic issue which the SL government says a terrorist problem is nothing but yet another phase of systematic eradication of the Tamils from SL. It is the chauvinistic Sinhalese who started the hatred towards the Tamils with the introduction of the “Sinhala Only” as back as 1956. Since then, the Tamils are being systematically eliminated. The proof for this is the 1958, 1960, 1977 and 1983 anti Tamil riots where thousands of Tamil lives together with their properties were destroyed. However, the 1983 anti Tamil riots turned out to be disastrous to the SL government with very serious repercussions. The criticisms from the international community and the open support of the Indian government for the Tamil National resurgence put SL government into a dilemma.

Outraged by the rise of Tamil National resurgence, every Sri Lankan government that seized power in the post 1983 era, initiated their own tactics towards suppressing the Tamil resurgence with different slogans such as “War for Peace”, “War against Terror”, “Humanitarian Operation” etc. Practically, every SL government has clandestinely carried out mass murders of the North & East Tamil populace, yet pretending to care for the Southern Tamil populace, deceiving the Sinhalese populace and the international community. Unable to tolerate the atrocities committed against the Tamil people, every time the LTTE retaliated, the SL governments cleverly took advantages of it, attributing the LTTE acts as terrorism, thus covering up their own.

In contrast to the past SL governments, the present government tried their violence on the Southern Tamils as well. In the beginning, they attempted various cruel acts on the Southern Tamils, such as evacuating them within 24 hours, keeping them in detention camps, abductions, killings etc. With unconstrained witnesses, these acts attracted heavy criticisms not only from India and other interested international parties, but from the Sinhalese populace themselves. Failing to intimidate the Southern Tamils, the present government is committing all possible atrocities on the North & East Tamil populace  distressing the Southern Tamils as well.

Presently, the Tamil populace in the North & East is virtually under a military type rule, where, almost everyday passes with at least five to ten Tamils being abducted and killed. Especially, the situation in the Vanni is even more frightening. Having ordered all witnesses to quit, the SL government is precisely committing genocide. Details of lives lost or properties destroyed do not appear in any of the southern or international media, hence, keeping the Sinhalese populace and the international community in the dark. Those who have the muscle to report this carnage of the SL armed forces are branded terrorists and eliminated. The international community too is unable to raise their firm voice due to the lack of witnesses.

Hence, under these circumstances the Tamils are left helpless. Having witnessed the mass massacre by the SL armed forces and the silent approval of the Sinhalese populace and the international community, they are under no circumstances prepared to trust anyone, leaving them with the only option to divide and conquer. Therefore, the successive SL governments more than separating the LTTE from the Tamils have facilitated the LTTE to draw more and more support towards their call for separation. At this present situation for every ordinary Tamil citizen the existence of the LTTE has become inevitable and justifiable.

By Thamilmaravan

The writer is a Tamil scholar who has lived, mingled and dined with the majority Sinhalese since childhood and has experienced the atrocities of both the SL armed forces and the LTTE.