Shivas letter to the Sinhalese can be read on yesterdays news.
Dear Shiva,
Thank you for your moving letter. When I read it, I felt it was written from your heart and I could feel your hurt and sorrow. I am deeply saddened for you, for myself and for all my fellow Sri Lankans that this tragedy is taking place. What binds us together is that we belong to that beautiful island. What effects one affects us all. The horrors of the Spanish civil war, where literally brothers killed brothers, fathers killed sons and where women were raped on both sides lasted but 3 years (even a minute is a minute too long). The horror of the civil war in Sri Lanka is now 25 years and still going on. What a terrible waste.
Only the arms manufacturers have gained from this war. Do you think they care that it’s a Sinhalese mother or a Tamil mother who has lost her beloved son or daughter or husband or father? They are precisely that, somebody’s mother or father, brother or sister, son or daughter, husband or lover who is being killed. When you see the person dead on the ground, his or her nationality is of no consequence. Death struck and didn’t ask for his or her passport.
You wrote about the past, about the killings in 1958. I was a small girl then living in Colombo and I listened in on adult conversation, children become invisible when adults talk together, I didn’t understand everything that was said but I remember everything that was said. They talked of the dreadful killings carried out by both the Sinhalese & the Tamils. They spoke with great sadness and compassion and they all worried about what was happening in the country. My memory of what came through at the time - for which I had no language to describe then, but can now - was their helplessness. They were powerless to do anything apart from protecting the individuals they knew who were at risk. Don’t forget that ordinary people with extraordinary courage did their best to protect Tamils despite risking being beaten or killed by the mobs during all of those terrible times. In times of terror, one must always remember the acts of compassion and selflessness.
When I went on a holiday to Trincomalee as a thirteen year old, I saw that the Sinhalese language on road signs and public notice boards were tarred over just like the Tamil language was tarred over in Colombo. The tarred signs in Colombo and Trincomalee were the only visible evidence left still standing after the carnage that took place 5 years earlier.
Thank you for raising the point about the battle between Prince Dutugamunu and King Elara. Different people understand or interpret history differently. As you know history is never written by the vanquished only by the victor. I remember the story being taught in class and my view even then as a child was: “why did we fight and kill each other when we could live in harmony, surely the choice to live, is the only choice”. Why did the just King Elara have to die? Why did the handsome Prince Dutugamunu feel threatened by the Tamils? Why was King Kavantissa portrayed as a coward? He was obviously an early conscientious objector. To be a conscientious objector, even for kings, takes tremendous courage and conviction, as one stands alone against the system. Looking back as an adult, I believe King Kavantissa was indeed a very intelligent and courageous man to stand up for his beliefs despite the ridicule he faced. History still ridicules King Kavantissa and interestingly King Elara is honoured, even by Prince Dutugamunu. Does King Kavantissa deserve ridicule? I don’t think so. Shiva please remember, alongside Prince Dutugamunu’s story is King Kavantissa’s story. It is up to us to read what we want in the story. The story of these two just & wise kings needs to be given recognition. Their part of the story needs to be told.
The Sri Lankan author Carl Muller wrote in his book titled “Colombo”, about the death squads who came for the youths and lasses of Sri Lanka during the early 1970s. I believe these young people were massacred or disappeared for wanting social justice, for wanting a society that treated people with dignity and equality. In your letter you didn’t mention this tragedy.
On 29 April 2009 I went to see the demonstration organized by the Tiger supporters in Parliament Square, London. The police and riot squad were very visible. The police had the demonstrators completely fenced in with only one narrow passage for entry and exit. The Tiger supporters were unapproachable not simply because they were physically fenced in but also because I could feel their tension and aggression. Even from across the road where I stood, their tension and aggression was palpable. I got the impression the demonstrators were entrenched in their ideologue, and that a dialogue that would differ from theirs would be impossible. I didn’t want to walk amongst them in case of mob reaction.
I walked around the outer perimeter of the square and watched the public reaction. Most of them were tourists. Some of them took photos as they did of the surrounding buildings and monuments. I then overheard one English man comment to another English man: “It’s good to know where the tax payers’ money is going!!!” I thought to myself “nobody cares for us; all they care about is the waste of tax payers’ money”. I know, and you too Shiva, must know, that to some people, a dead Tamil or a dead Sinhalese is just one more dead brown or black skinned person.
A tiny island divided is not the solution. The Sinhalese aren’t your enemy no more than the Tamils are theirs. Poverty and indifference is our enemy, and that is what we need to combat. I also know that Hindu Jaffna Tamils look down on their fellow Tamils who are Christians, on Tamils from Mannar, on Tamils known as Colombo Chettys, on Tamils who work as tea pluckers and Tamils you call Sakkilis etc. etc. I also know that the Tamils follow a rigid caste system where people are labelled as untouchables, how can one say or think that of a fellow human being? All these injustices need to be addressed.
Lastly Shiva, I hope that your pain and sorrow does not eventually make you bitter and want to seek revenge, but that it will help you to stand up for what is good in you. You are not alone Shiva. I know that the majority of the population of that tiny island believe in the innate goodness of all of its peoples, our voices must not be allowed to be drowned in the din. If you get the chance please do read the book “When memory dies” by A Sivanandan?
With kind regards
Rosemary
Colombo says shelling images 'fake'
Sri Lanka's military has accused the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of fabricating images that purported to show the aftermath of a deadly army attack on a hospital in the conflict zone. The photographs, first published on a website, depicted what Tamil separatist sources said was an artillery hit on a makeshift hospital in Mullivaikal on Saturday. The pro-LTTE website alleged that government sources had killed 81 people after two consecutive days of shelling. But Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from Colombo on Sunday, said Sri Lankan military experts "have analysed the pictures and claim they were deliberately posed for propaganda purposes". "Their analysis: 'Not a single scratch mark on the fridge with a body lying at its base, unbroken glass bottles and no pellet marks on the walls, a bottle remains steady on the stretcher, all after the claimed shelling'," he said. "The message, the government says, is clear: The foreign media have been taken for a ride by the Tamil Tigers." 'Exaggerated stories' Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka's military spokesman, said on Saturday that the claims were the latest in a series of "exaggerated stories" by those sympathetic to the LTTE. "There is no shelling taking place; we have never shelled this place and it happened in an area where the LTTE [are in control]," he told Al Jazeera.
The conflicting reports come as LTTE fighters continue to urge the UK and France to pressure the Sri Lankan government into calling a ceasefire. In letters sent on Sunday to David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner, the British and French foreign ministers, Balasingham Nadesan, the political leader of the LTTE, said the group was ready to "engage in the process to bring about a ceasefire". Nadesan said they were ready to "enter into negotiations for an enduring resolution to the conflict". Both ministers visited Sri Lanka last week and urged the military to halt fighting and allow humanitarian aid into the northeastern coastal conflict zone. Civilians trapped The move came amid growing international concern over the plight of civilians trapped in the 5km strip of land controlled by the LTTE. The Sri Lankan government has rejected a call for a truce from the LTTE, demanding the rebels surrender or face defeat.
Yasushi Akashi, an envoy sent by Japan, Sri Lanka's main foreign donor, ended a three-day visit to the country on Saturday. Akashi called for civilians in the war zone to be protected and for the government to give greater assistance to those refugees from the region who are living in state-run camps in the northeast. Many of the refugees fled the area while badly wounded or ill. The LTTE have been fighting a war for a homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamils since 1983. |
LTTE restricted to 4.5 sq km area; 21 rebels killed in clashes
With the beleaguered LTTE confined to a small area of 4.5 sq kms, Sri Lankan Army Chief Sarath Fonseka has said the troops are consolidating their positions despite heavy attacks from remnant rebel cadres in the north, where at least 21 guerrillas were killed in intense clashes.
With the beleaguered LTTE confined to a small area of 4.5 sq kms, Sri Lankan Army Chief Sarath Fonseka has said the troops are consolidating their positions despite heavy attacks from remnant rebel cadres in the north, where at least 21 guerrillas were killed in intense clashes.The security forces are marching forward despite heavy attacks by the LTTE, Fonseka said, adding the Tiger rebels can do nothing as the troops are consolidating their positions in the remaining area.
The troops have also undertaken a block-up built by the LTTE rebels, he said yesterday at a function held at the Singha Regiment Headquarters in Abeypussa, over 50 kms east of Colombo.
He said the two brigades of the Army are now jointly launching the operations against the Tamil Tigers, who are now restricted to an area of 4.5 sq kms.
Meanwhile, an exchange of gunfire took place between the Special Task Force (STF) troops and a group of LTTE fighters, whose hiding place in the Kanchikudiaru jungle in eastern Ampara district was encircled by security forces following a tip-off.
Four LTTE cadres were killed during the incident while some others withdrew to the jungle's deep. Troops subsequently conducted a search operation in the area and recovered a huge cache of military material.
UNOSAT Data on Sri Lanka: Interpretation not substantiated with out ground verifications - Says Remote Sensing expert
Ranjith Premalal De Silva, PhD ( UK )
Professor of Satellite Remote Sensing and GIS
Head, Department of Agricultural Engineering
University of Peradeniya
The image analysis (circulated and provided to Al-Jazeera TV) was done with WorldView-1 & QuickBird satellite imagery (by UNOSAT) which are acquired from 450 - 500 Km from the earth. Most of the analysis was done probably based on object oriented classification algorithm which interprets an image based on size, shape, colour and other attributes of ground features and the rest of the analysis was purely based on visual interpretations by a group who are totally alien to ground situation in CSZ. Therefore, it is not possible to provide conclusive interpretation based on these analyses without a detailed ground assessment being carried out. Conclusions drawn from the interpretations of these images have no scientific validity.
Further, assessment by UNITAR/UNOSAT - 26 April 2009 refers only to the following two areas.
Damages Inside CSZ:
1. Putumattalan: Three permanent buildings have been destroyed between 29 March and 19 April, bringing the total for the northern section of the CSZ to six destroyed since 15 March.
Our comment: The terrorist occupy this area with a large dump of arms and ammunitions, which were earlier distributed over 15000 km2 area held by them. This sort of concentration of arms and ammunition handled by newly recruited terrorists could easily be attributed to the damage shown on the images.
There are potentially large amounts of moderate to severe damages to the remaining permanent buildings in this area
Our comment: this is not verified by images
2. Valayanmadam: one additional permanent building has been destroyed, and further South there is a cluster of likely impact craters within an area previously densely populated with IDP shelters.
Our comment: IDP shelters in the area have been removed and only one permanent building has been shown to be destroyed. This can also be due to terrorist activity
Comments on some of the images shown (with image numbers)
1. Most of the damaged sites shown on image views are outside the CSZ.
2. ID 256 is outside the CSZ. Vadduwakkalu is located outside the CSZ as shown by UNOSAT map (slide2).
3. ID 259 is also outside CSZ. Although it shows a few craters, there is no evidence that Sri Lankan army shelled this area.
4. ID 250 shows a damaged building where only the structure exists on April 19. However, it is noted that large number of temporary IDP shelters are disappeared on April 19 image compared to the March 29 image. Therefore, the statement that 'the damage is due to shelling' is not acceptable. If that is the case, what happened to the IDP shelters ?
5. ID 229 shows some buildings appear to be damaged. But there is no image to make a comparison.
General disagreements on the interpretation of imagery
During the Iraqi war, USA used spy satellites and American reconnaissance spacecraft with ultra violet, optical, infrared and radar sensors (all 4 types) and the image interpretation was assisted by the experts who had ground knowledge and military strategies. In spite of all the gathered knowledge from physical sensors, human knowledge and interpretation skills, Sadam Hussains dummy weapons were targeted and destroyed. This points to the fact that satellite data interpretation would only be useful after ground verifications.
U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons: Report on Iraq Contradicts Bush Administration Claims' carried an article in Washington Post in 2004 October 07. "A controversy has existed over the performance of U.S. (and British) intelligence in collecting and evaluating information about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs. The reliability of sources has been questioned. It has been suggested that some human intelligence may have been purposeful deception by the Iraqi intelligence and security services, while exiles and defectors may have provided other intelligence seeking to influence U.S. policy."(www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB80) (What we see on imagery could even be a ploy by LTTE to show international community how the damages have taken place in CSZ).