The protests of the students have
taken a different turn from what was imagined by the students. However, for
those who have lived through the protests in Tamil Nadu it was pretty much
predictive. Some students are yet to give up the protests while many have given
up due to the closure of the colleges and hostels. After waiting and watching,
the Government of Tamil Nadu has acted. It is an attempt to calm the students
who are agitated and think that such terrible things are happening in Sri Lanka
right now as they happened in till May 2009.
The emotional outbursts of the
students should be respected and handled with care both by the state and the
educational institutions. For the students it is a way to say, “we care about
the Tamils in Sri Lanka”. They want to be part of the pressure group that can
get the government of India and the UNHRC to act on Sri Lanka. The only
confusion is what to ask them. Some say oppose the US sponsored resolution not
minding to know what it contains, India should have its own resolution, a
separate Tamil Eelam should established based on a referendum, an international
independent judicial inquiry into the war crimes/crimes against
humanity/genocide, announce an economic embargo on Sri Lanka, all this is
motivated to punish those who have and are committing the atrocities against
the innocent Tamils.
The demands sound very legitimate
at the first look but the practicality is very questionable. Firstly, opposing
the US resolution and throwing it out of the window without giving it a fair
chance would mean that the only option in front of us have to be left out. The
time factor and India’s current positioning does not permit it to draft and
come up with its own resolution. Such a process should have been thought out
well ahead of time. Also, this is a time when the previous US sponsored
resolution is coming up for review. So, it is only right to say that what was
stated last year should be reviewed and not have something entirely new as a
knee jerk reaction just because we think India needs to do more immediately.
A referendum on Tamil Eelam is a
popular demand. It appeals as the only solution for the population that has
been suffering injustices for the past 60 years. Thanthai Chelva placed the
proposal in the 1977 Vaddukottai declaration in 1977. This came after years of
struggle where the Federal party in one voice said that there is not other
option but a separate nation. Though not much has changed till date in Sri
Lanka in terms of political solution to the Tamil Question, the demographics
have changed considerably. This is because of the new delimitation of the
constituencies, migration of people from the Tamil People to the developed
world in fear or in search of greener pastures. With an estimated 20,00,000 tamils
living abroad the 7 districts that are primarily Tamil areas in the North and
East have been depopulated. A large number of Tamils now also live in Colombo.
These people are either unwilling to return to their homelands or are not able
to return for political reasons. In this context a referendum will be self
defeating on one hand and also become a cause for further Sinhalization of the areas.
A Tamil Eelam will be defenseless without people to live in it, although, those
patriotic Tamils who live in the developed world will promise to come back and
live in it, their children and their grand children who have been raised in the
developed world will find it impossible to acclimatize themselves to the Eelam
situation.
The option of an economic
embargo, is bright and looks good. The wrong doer should be punished, the
country as such has failed to protect its citizens and hence it is only
legitimate that stringent economic action should be taken against them. This is
meant to be like the one that was in South Africa, or that was imposed on India
just after the Pokhran Nuclear tests. Well the context in Sri Lanka is
definitely different. Though it is claimed to be a middle income country, the
majority of the people who are just trying to rebuild their lives after the war
live in the Tamil areas. An economic embargo would mean a repeat of what
happened inside the Vanni during the times of the LTTE when the government did
not permit transport of even essential items to the Tamil areas controlled by
the LTTE. Though the innovation of the LTTE kept people alive to survive the
terrible times. Such an embargo from the international community would bring
undue sufferings to the already ailing community in terms of price rise and
demand for essential commodities. The few jobs that are available to the Tamils
will also be lost. Further leading to a depletion of the population owing to
its penury.
Does this mean that the Tamils
just need to accept the situation and live at the mercy of the current regime?
Definitely not! There are many more options that will preserve the Tamil
identity, territory of the Tamils and preserve the heritage. The two-pronged
approach of working with political and developmental goals in mind is
essential. Both these should be worked on simultaneously. The Tamils who were
displaced by war are just limping back to normal life; there is a need to
concentrate on the rebuilding their lives though proper development programs.
This will encourage Tamils to get back to their home soil, occupy their land
and not allow it to be empty without protection. For this, the diaspora can
step in a big way. Hypothetically there were about 300,000 people who were
displaced because of war that means about 75,000 families. The diaspora, which
is much stronger than that in numbers, could hand hold at least one family to
restart their lives. On the other hand encouraging investments in the north and
east that would provide jobs and help the youth to see some scope for their
continued existence in their home lands, provision of amenities such as
schools, colleges, hospitals and an array of things will surely pep up their
self concept. All this may still sound a
bit too lame and not valorous as fighting a war but things do not stop here.
The second prong is to take the
political debates forward. With the absence of any consensus among the
political parties about a political solution the bargaining capacity of the
Tamils for self-determination and is reduced to fighting elections and holding
on to posts. The real need is to come up with a package of demands and to stand
united on one side at least when it comes to the principles. Moving the agenda
on the rights dimension is dependent on clearly starting with a common minimum
approach. As stated earlier it could be the 13th/13+ Amendment or
any other starter that was agreed by all earlier. Once a critical mass is built
the issues of identity, protection and governance will ensue.
Right now the whole insistence on
exuberant demands such as separate nation, especially with the noise of the
international community is used and will be used by the radical Sinhala forces
to further ferment the opinion of the poor and ignorant Sinhala South to hold
on to their position of the whole world is against us and we have only Sri
Lanka to live and hence let us keep it to ourselves.
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