Tigers were more human than we think
A patriot and a terrorist are not much different. Both have motives. Both have ideologies. Both fight an oppressor, sometimes through violent means. And both are willing to lay down their lives for the cause they fight for. However, what differentiates a patriot and a terrorist is the heart. More precisely, the presence of one. That is why calling Velupillai Prabhakaran a terrorist is absurd.
Chapter 1: History of Tamils in Lanka
Mahavamsa, one of the oldest historical chronicles of Srilanka and Buddhism in Srilanka, mentions that when Prince Vijaya(the first Sinhalese king) of Bengal arrived in Lanka in 543 B.C., he had to fight the natives Nagas and Yakkas to establish his reign over the Island. Mahavamsa repeatedly refers the Nagas and the Yakkas as demons and dwellers of the underworld. Historians have used this as an evidence to propagate their theories that Nagas and Yakkas were mythological creatures and were not human beings. However, there are others who argue that they are Tamils.
Ramayana, another epic from India, portrays the people from the same region(of Nagas and Yakkas) and possibly, the same times as demons again.
Based on these evidences, it is easy to dismiss the existence of Tamils in Lanka before the times of Christ. However, one has to read history from the context of the times when these texts were written and those were the times modern day languages were taking shape and religions were fighting for their place. Mahavamsa is a Pali Buddhist work and Ramayana is a Sanskrit Vaishanavite work and we know early Tamils were largely Shaivites. Taking religion and language into perspective, there is enough literary evidence to suggest that there were human settlements in Srilanka long before the times of Christ, probably Shaivites who spoke Tamil.
Also, there are other archaeological evidences like Brahmi stone inscriptions and cave writings, and Pali Chronicles where "Damela", "Damila", "Damida", "Demel" are mentioned as a group of people living in the Island. Jataka tales, another Buddhist work from the early centuries after Christ, mentions that Tamils reign over certain part of the Island.
It would be difficult to ascertain if these Tamils were natives or immigrants, but it is certain that even before the times of Christ, Tamils were a thriving population in the Island. Also, from Mahavamsa, it can be understood that Sinhalese are not natives but were immigrants from Bengal and perhaps Orissa. It is again difficult to ascertain who reached the island first, the Tamils of the Sinhalese, but proximity favours the theory that the former reached it first.
Chapter 2: History of ethnic conflicts
Though the reasons for the conflicts between the two communities might not have been ethnic, there has always been many since times immemorial. Kings from different dynasties were always confronting each other for a long time. Feuds and alliances were innumerous over these years.
Historic times:
From archaeological evidences and literary sources, it can be seen that Chola Kings like Ellalan, Rajendra Cholan and his successors and at least a dozen Pandya kings have ruled the kingdom of Anuradhapura from time to time. Also, we know that Pandyas and Sinhalese kings forged an alliance to take on the mighty Cholas and both succeeded and failed for over 1200 years.
After the time of monarchs, both the ethnic groups seems to have reconciled with each other for some time. The areas were they were huge settlements of Tamils were ruled by Tamils. The Tamils had equal rights. Then, the colonial powers invaded the country. Divide and rule policies were fully implemented.
In modern times:
First signs of trouble were seen as early as 1920. Mahavamsa, which was translated by Portuguese, gained prominence during this time and caused an insurgence in Sinhalese nationalism. The Sinhalese began claiming that they were the natives of the island and began suppressing the minority Tamils (some of whom have lived there for long and some who have been moved there from Tamil Nadu in 1840/1850s to work in Tea plantations). Riots targeting the Tamils were organised. Though they were sporadic in the initial years, they gained momentum in 1930/1940s. Also, there was a shift in power balance through 1920s to 1940s which saw the emergence of Sinhalese-dominated Colombo.
In 1948, when Srilanka attained freedom, the Srilankan parliament passed the "Ceylon citizenship act", which deliberately made it impossible for Tamils to secure citizenship. It was not until 2003 all the Tamils were granted citizenship. In the 55 years in between, lakhs and lakhs(the real numbers vary between 7Lakh to 10Lakh) of Tamils were deported to India who still live here in utter poverty. All their properties in Srilanka were confiscated.
In 1956, the Srilankan parliament passed the "Sinhala only act" which replaced English with Sinhala as the only official language. In the 50s, Tamils held a large percentages of government jobs and they saw this as a discrimination against them because this made it impossible for them to secure any jobs. Tamil speaking government employees were forced to resign.
In protest, Tamil Federal party formed a SATHYAGRAHA campaign. The Sinhalese nationalists were agitated by this and formed gangs to attack Tamil minorities. This culminated in Gal Oya riots (1956) in which Tamil speaking government employees were beaten up and killed. Over 150 Tamils lost their lives and scores were injured. To reconcile with the Tamils, the Srilankan government signed Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact in 1957. This pact agreed on certain level of autonomy for Tamil speaking region. Sinhalese nationalists and Buddhist monks opposed the pact and the pact was torn up in 1958. This led to another bout of riots. This one was widespread and saw the killing of thousands of Tamils. In 1959, Bandaranaike, the chief minister who drew the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam, was assassinated by a Buddhist monk.
In the early 1960s, the demand for a separate Tamil country began to be raised.
Chapter 3: Demand for Tamil Eelam
Through the 60s, as Sinhalese nationalism spread, cries for Tamil Eelam got louder. It was then Anton Balasingham began drawing out a plan for securing freedom from the oppressive Sinhalese government.
During this period, a lot of political parties came together to form a Tamil United Front (TUF) which later became Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) when Tamil federal party joined them. Between 1948 and 1972, all these various parties staged many non-violent protests to demand their rights and all of these protests were crushed brutally with the help of military. Such hard policies of military repression by successive Srilankan governments led to the formation of many militant organisations including Tamil New Tigers and 25 years of peaceful protest by Tamils came to an end.
Chapter 4: Black July
In 1983, when LTTE killed 13 Srilankan soldiers, an agitated Sinhalese mob went about killing innocent Tamil civilians systemically. Over a period of five days, 3000 Tamils were killed mercilessly. Women were brutally raped and mutilated. Men were disgraced. It was after this incident, LTTE became more appealing to angered youth and a large number of men and women started joining the organisation. Soon the LTTE was launching more brutal attacks the Srilankan army.
In Fact, Black July marks the ascent of LTTE. Also, Tamils in India became more sympathetic towards the organisation only after this incident and pressed the central Government to help the innocent civilians who were suffering at the hands of the Sinhalese.
Chapter 5: LTTE
The Sinhalese suppression continued through in the 70s. Under the view of Educational reforms, discriminatory laws were passed which made it difficult for Tamil students to enter universities. In 1970, an ban on Tamil media came into effect. A new Republican constitution was passed in 1972, which attempted to legalise Sinhalese Chauvinism.
During this time, the Tamil New Tigers, an organisation founded by Prabhakaran, began attacks on pro-government Tamil ministers and MLAs.
In the 1977 general elections, the Tamil speaking region voted for the separationist TULF and this agitated the Sinhalese nationalist who saw it as a direct attack on the sovereignty of the country. A state sponsored riot ensued in the same year which left a lot of Tamils dead and the few who survived angered. This led to the prominence of militant organisations, LTTE being one of the them, in the next few years, but it was only LTTE that provided any meaningful resistance to the Srilankan governments oppressive hardline policies through violent means.
Though, to the outsiders, it might seem as an organisation with its own political/personal agenda, the LTTE was essentially a freedom movement of the people of Tamil Eelam. It was not a mere terrorist organisation that went about killing people, but one that fought for the rights of Tamils, through violent and non-violent means. It even had an administrative wing which governed over the Tamil speaking regions over the course of the civil war. This is precisely why many countries were not in favour of ruling LTTE a terrorist organisation. However, Srilanka managed to convince US, UK and EU, through geopolitical pressure, to list them as a terrorist organisation and went about defaming them like any victor always does.
For a long time, India did not support the oppressive policies of Srilanka. In fact, it was aligned with LTTE between 1983 and 1987. During this time, India supplied arms to LTTE and other such militant organisations. in 1987, Srilanka invited India for negotiations and and an Indo-Srilanka accord was signed. Under the terms of the agreement, India was to disarm the militant organisations while sending a part of its military to maintain peace (Indian peace keeping force) and Srilanka was to devolve power to the provinces. This did not go as per planned. Though LTTE were neutral to the IPKF initially, when allegations of human right violations by the IPKF started making headlines, LTTE started making its move against IPKF. For the next three years, the IPKF and the LTTE were locked in an ugly battle. This culminated in the killing of Rajiv Gandhi who sent IPKF to Srilanka. The ethnic war continued for at least a decade after IPKF left the country.
In 2001, LTTE dropped its demand for a separate country and demanded more regional autonomy. Talks were held for the next four years without any results.
Then, in 2005, Rajapakse came to power. From his first year in office, Rajapakse was convinced that the only way the ethnic conflict could be resolved permanently was by eliminating the LTTE. He launched various operations under Gen. Fonseka to dismantle the LTTE. The LTTE reverted with an assassination attempt on Gen. Fonseka which went wrong. Rajapakse used it to his advantage and launched full blown attacks on the LTTE and the Tamils. The war culminated with the killing of Prabhakaran.
Chapter 6: The genocide
No one less than one million people killed over 30 years and a quarter of that in the last few months of fighting. Military campaigns in no fire zone. Rockets on Hospitals and schools. Thousands of women brutally raped, tortured and killed. Children executed. The doing of the great Srilankan military. I will let the pictures talk.
I have left out many more gruesome images from this article. You can see them here, if you have the heart.
https://www.change.org/p/srilanka-if-this-isn-t-genocide-war-crime-then-what-on-earth-is
Chapter 7: Patriot vs. Terrorist
A patriot demands sacrifice from his fellow beings for the greater good. A terrorist kills for the fun of it. Terrorists behead men, they rape women, and they kill children. Patriots don't. They kill in combat only. That is why Velupillai Prabhakaran is a patriot more than a terrorist. He is no saint, but he was more human than many of us.
Chapter 1: History of Tamils in Lanka
Mahavamsa, one of the oldest historical chronicles of Srilanka and Buddhism in Srilanka, mentions that when Prince Vijaya(the first Sinhalese king) of Bengal arrived in Lanka in 543 B.C., he had to fight the natives Nagas and Yakkas to establish his reign over the Island. Mahavamsa repeatedly refers the Nagas and the Yakkas as demons and dwellers of the underworld. Historians have used this as an evidence to propagate their theories that Nagas and Yakkas were mythological creatures and were not human beings. However, there are others who argue that they are Tamils.
Ramayana, another epic from India, portrays the people from the same region(of Nagas and Yakkas) and possibly, the same times as demons again.
Based on these evidences, it is easy to dismiss the existence of Tamils in Lanka before the times of Christ. However, one has to read history from the context of the times when these texts were written and those were the times modern day languages were taking shape and religions were fighting for their place. Mahavamsa is a Pali Buddhist work and Ramayana is a Sanskrit Vaishanavite work and we know early Tamils were largely Shaivites. Taking religion and language into perspective, there is enough literary evidence to suggest that there were human settlements in Srilanka long before the times of Christ, probably Shaivites who spoke Tamil.
Also, there are other archaeological evidences like Brahmi stone inscriptions and cave writings, and Pali Chronicles where "Damela", "Damila", "Damida", "Demel" are mentioned as a group of people living in the Island. Jataka tales, another Buddhist work from the early centuries after Christ, mentions that Tamils reign over certain part of the Island.
It would be difficult to ascertain if these Tamils were natives or immigrants, but it is certain that even before the times of Christ, Tamils were a thriving population in the Island. Also, from Mahavamsa, it can be understood that Sinhalese are not natives but were immigrants from Bengal and perhaps Orissa. It is again difficult to ascertain who reached the island first, the Tamils of the Sinhalese, but proximity favours the theory that the former reached it first.
Chapter 2: History of ethnic conflicts
Though the reasons for the conflicts between the two communities might not have been ethnic, there has always been many since times immemorial. Kings from different dynasties were always confronting each other for a long time. Feuds and alliances were innumerous over these years.
Historic times:
From archaeological evidences and literary sources, it can be seen that Chola Kings like Ellalan, Rajendra Cholan and his successors and at least a dozen Pandya kings have ruled the kingdom of Anuradhapura from time to time. Also, we know that Pandyas and Sinhalese kings forged an alliance to take on the mighty Cholas and both succeeded and failed for over 1200 years.
After the time of monarchs, both the ethnic groups seems to have reconciled with each other for some time. The areas were they were huge settlements of Tamils were ruled by Tamils. The Tamils had equal rights. Then, the colonial powers invaded the country. Divide and rule policies were fully implemented.
In modern times:
First signs of trouble were seen as early as 1920. Mahavamsa, which was translated by Portuguese, gained prominence during this time and caused an insurgence in Sinhalese nationalism. The Sinhalese began claiming that they were the natives of the island and began suppressing the minority Tamils (some of whom have lived there for long and some who have been moved there from Tamil Nadu in 1840/1850s to work in Tea plantations). Riots targeting the Tamils were organised. Though they were sporadic in the initial years, they gained momentum in 1930/1940s. Also, there was a shift in power balance through 1920s to 1940s which saw the emergence of Sinhalese-dominated Colombo.
In 1948, when Srilanka attained freedom, the Srilankan parliament passed the "Ceylon citizenship act", which deliberately made it impossible for Tamils to secure citizenship. It was not until 2003 all the Tamils were granted citizenship. In the 55 years in between, lakhs and lakhs(the real numbers vary between 7Lakh to 10Lakh) of Tamils were deported to India who still live here in utter poverty. All their properties in Srilanka were confiscated.
In 1956, the Srilankan parliament passed the "Sinhala only act" which replaced English with Sinhala as the only official language. In the 50s, Tamils held a large percentages of government jobs and they saw this as a discrimination against them because this made it impossible for them to secure any jobs. Tamil speaking government employees were forced to resign.
In protest, Tamil Federal party formed a SATHYAGRAHA campaign. The Sinhalese nationalists were agitated by this and formed gangs to attack Tamil minorities. This culminated in Gal Oya riots (1956) in which Tamil speaking government employees were beaten up and killed. Over 150 Tamils lost their lives and scores were injured. To reconcile with the Tamils, the Srilankan government signed Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact in 1957. This pact agreed on certain level of autonomy for Tamil speaking region. Sinhalese nationalists and Buddhist monks opposed the pact and the pact was torn up in 1958. This led to another bout of riots. This one was widespread and saw the killing of thousands of Tamils. In 1959, Bandaranaike, the chief minister who drew the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam, was assassinated by a Buddhist monk.
In the early 1960s, the demand for a separate Tamil country began to be raised.
Chapter 3: Demand for Tamil Eelam
Through the 60s, as Sinhalese nationalism spread, cries for Tamil Eelam got louder. It was then Anton Balasingham began drawing out a plan for securing freedom from the oppressive Sinhalese government.
During this period, a lot of political parties came together to form a Tamil United Front (TUF) which later became Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) when Tamil federal party joined them. Between 1948 and 1972, all these various parties staged many non-violent protests to demand their rights and all of these protests were crushed brutally with the help of military. Such hard policies of military repression by successive Srilankan governments led to the formation of many militant organisations including Tamil New Tigers and 25 years of peaceful protest by Tamils came to an end.
 |
| A Tamil stripped by Sinhalese mob |
In 1983, when LTTE killed 13 Srilankan soldiers, an agitated Sinhalese mob went about killing innocent Tamil civilians systemically. Over a period of five days, 3000 Tamils were killed mercilessly. Women were brutally raped and mutilated. Men were disgraced. It was after this incident, LTTE became more appealing to angered youth and a large number of men and women started joining the organisation. Soon the LTTE was launching more brutal attacks the Srilankan army.
In Fact, Black July marks the ascent of LTTE. Also, Tamils in India became more sympathetic towards the organisation only after this incident and pressed the central Government to help the innocent civilians who were suffering at the hands of the Sinhalese.
Chapter 5: LTTE
The Sinhalese suppression continued through in the 70s. Under the view of Educational reforms, discriminatory laws were passed which made it difficult for Tamil students to enter universities. In 1970, an ban on Tamil media came into effect. A new Republican constitution was passed in 1972, which attempted to legalise Sinhalese Chauvinism.
During this time, the Tamil New Tigers, an organisation founded by Prabhakaran, began attacks on pro-government Tamil ministers and MLAs.
In the 1977 general elections, the Tamil speaking region voted for the separationist TULF and this agitated the Sinhalese nationalist who saw it as a direct attack on the sovereignty of the country. A state sponsored riot ensued in the same year which left a lot of Tamils dead and the few who survived angered. This led to the prominence of militant organisations, LTTE being one of the them, in the next few years, but it was only LTTE that provided any meaningful resistance to the Srilankan governments oppressive hardline policies through violent means.
Though, to the outsiders, it might seem as an organisation with its own political/personal agenda, the LTTE was essentially a freedom movement of the people of Tamil Eelam. It was not a mere terrorist organisation that went about killing people, but one that fought for the rights of Tamils, through violent and non-violent means. It even had an administrative wing which governed over the Tamil speaking regions over the course of the civil war. This is precisely why many countries were not in favour of ruling LTTE a terrorist organisation. However, Srilanka managed to convince US, UK and EU, through geopolitical pressure, to list them as a terrorist organisation and went about defaming them like any victor always does.
For a long time, India did not support the oppressive policies of Srilanka. In fact, it was aligned with LTTE between 1983 and 1987. During this time, India supplied arms to LTTE and other such militant organisations. in 1987, Srilanka invited India for negotiations and and an Indo-Srilanka accord was signed. Under the terms of the agreement, India was to disarm the militant organisations while sending a part of its military to maintain peace (Indian peace keeping force) and Srilanka was to devolve power to the provinces. This did not go as per planned. Though LTTE were neutral to the IPKF initially, when allegations of human right violations by the IPKF started making headlines, LTTE started making its move against IPKF. For the next three years, the IPKF and the LTTE were locked in an ugly battle. This culminated in the killing of Rajiv Gandhi who sent IPKF to Srilanka. The ethnic war continued for at least a decade after IPKF left the country.
In 2001, LTTE dropped its demand for a separate country and demanded more regional autonomy. Talks were held for the next four years without any results.
Then, in 2005, Rajapakse came to power. From his first year in office, Rajapakse was convinced that the only way the ethnic conflict could be resolved permanently was by eliminating the LTTE. He launched various operations under Gen. Fonseka to dismantle the LTTE. The LTTE reverted with an assassination attempt on Gen. Fonseka which went wrong. Rajapakse used it to his advantage and launched full blown attacks on the LTTE and the Tamils. The war culminated with the killing of Prabhakaran.
Chapter 6: The genocide
No one less than one million people killed over 30 years and a quarter of that in the last few months of fighting. Military campaigns in no fire zone. Rockets on Hospitals and schools. Thousands of women brutally raped, tortured and killed. Children executed. The doing of the great Srilankan military. I will let the pictures talk.
 |
| Mass execution of Tigers by the Srilankan army, not in combat |
 |
| Prabarkaran's son captured and executed by the Srilankan army. |
 |
| Isaipriya, propagandist of the LTTE, captured, raped, tortured, and murdered by Srilankan army. She was not killed in shelling. |
I have left out many more gruesome images from this article. You can see them here, if you have the heart.
https://www.change.org/p/srilanka-if-this-isn-t-genocide-war-crime-then-what-on-earth-is
Chapter 7: Patriot vs. Terrorist
A patriot demands sacrifice from his fellow beings for the greater good. A terrorist kills for the fun of it. Terrorists behead men, they rape women, and they kill children. Patriots don't. They kill in combat only. That is why Velupillai Prabhakaran is a patriot more than a terrorist. He is no saint, but he was more human than many of us.
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