what next?

250,000 civilians remain trapped in the battle grounds of Vanni, caught between the annihilatory mentality of the GoSL to militarily destroy the Tigers at any cost and the LTTE’s cowardly act of last resort in using them as a human shield. The clock is ticking; there is no progress except in terms of mounting civilian casualties. The civil society in Colombo issue statements and criticise the lack of pro-active humanitarian measures, the diaspora organisations similarly cry out but are snuffed out by the diaspora Tamils who turn up in hundreds to criticise the GoSL, using these trapped civilians as pawns to push once more for ‘Tamil Eelam’ while Tamil Nadu becomes the epicentre of pro-LTTE support reaching the stage of ‘self immolation theatrics’.

The protests around the world by the Tamil diaspora especially in Canada, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom saw throngs of people joining in to shout out slogans against the GoSL. In Switzerland, the organisors got onto the streets, stopping people and asking them to join the groups in protest saying ‘it is only if you come for the protests that these poor civilians can be saved’. Tamil satellite channels such as Deepam and Thendral continuously covered the protests in UK and Switzerland on Saturday 31, February while the Indian satellite channels such as Kalaignar/Ayngaran TV, Sun TV and KTV had audio cut off. Buses were organised and all shops owned or run by Tamils were asked to shut down in view of the protests. This is to be repeated once again on the 61st Anniversary of Independence in Sri Lanka which has been declared as ‘Black Day’. The visuals from these protests starkly highlight the fact that there is hardly anyone truly concerned for the lives of those civilians trapped in Vanni and have yet again transformed the tragedy of human suffering into a performance, shouting out slogans such as ‘We want Tamil Eezham’ and ‘Pirapaharan-our leader’, perhaps a final shot at ‘Tamil Eezham’, the penultimate desire of long-distance nationalism. The protests internationally have to a great extent turned the world’s attention from attrocities in Gaza back to Sri Lanka. On February 1, in Jaffna, a large group of civilians, many of them relatives of those trapped in the Vanni, staged a massive historical protest, against the brutality of the LTTE. The courage of these people to come forward, risking their lives to free their loved ones trapped in a senseless and inhumane civil war brings out the utter desperation of the situation.Whilst the LTTE keep insisting that the civilians remain in the battle zone due to fear of death by the hands of GoSL’s army there are reports of civilians moving sporadically into government held areas.

The Tamil diaspora must not lose sight of the real issue at hand and raise their voices to free the trapped civilians from the clutches of the LTTE and demand that the LTTE stop firing at the Sri Lankan army from areas that they are being held. There must also be another temporary ceasefire from the side of the GoSL while representatives from the international community, donor agencies or civil society organisations make use of this to attempt at freeing these civilians. Furthermore, the ‘safe zones’ must be protected by the UN and Red Cross to ensure that it in reality it remains safe. Statements made by GoSL’s ministers such as Gotabhaya Rajapakse and Anura Yapa which add fuel to supporters of the LTTE in the Tamil diaspora and stir racist sentiments amidst the masses must be condemned and stopped.

‘Pushing the corpses away, and when I cannot any further, I walk on them to move forward... humanity crushed and lost!’ - Sakkarawarthi