|
The silent horror of
the war in Sri Lanka
Tuesday, May 05, 2009,
Arundhati Roy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Success Stories |
|
 Mumbai Muslim girl takes Urdu route
to IAS:
Sarah Rizvi has done her bit to issue a blow to the stereotype of
the Muslim woman, moderately educated and socially subjugated,
ensconced...Read
Full |
 From Amroha To The Moon:THE
ENTRANCE to Chaugori Mohalla, a small Muslim locality in Uttar
Pradesh’s Amroha town, abou...Read
Full |
|
 Madrasa
student cracks UPSC:
At a time when eyebrows are being raised on the kind of education
being imparted in Madrasas across the country, a Maulana from the
Darul-Uloom....Read
Full |
|
 The
Success Mantra :
Honesty top in the
list:
In the first ever one-o-one interview
after the results, Qaiser spoke in length exclusively with ummid.com
about his success mantra.....Read
Full
|
|
 A
Trip to Globe on Handcart:
There are few in
this world who are recognized by the good deeds. Bhavarlalji Jain, of
course, is one among
the coveted few....Read
Full
|
|
 A Towering Entrepreneur:
Exporting to other
countries requires a very special and quality product line. But if
Rajnikant Kothari has
succeeded in...Read
Full |
A Marketing Legend:Sometimes
back in 1997, people, all over the country, were struggling to get the
auto rickshaws unless they pay the heavy...Read
Full |
|
|
|
More on Ummid |
|
 Contribution
of Madrasas: In such a scenario Madarsas have played a
much-needed role in educating the country's minority group Muslim
youth. No government programmes or schemes have succeeded as much as
Madarsas and Maktabs in making people literate. Thus religious...Read
Full |
|
Getting Ready for The Modern World:
"A
Muslim holding the Qur’an in one hand ceases to be a Muslim if he
holds a bomb in the other”, said Prof. Akhtarul Wasey quoting from
Maulana Abulkalam Azad’s famous speech. Prof. Wasey, who is HOD...Read
Full |
|
AMU opens door for Madrasa
Graduates:
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has
expedited its efforts to provide an opportunity for graduates of
religious Madrasas to get admission in the university for further
studies. In this connection...
Read Full |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Even More... |
|
 'Give
the Indian Muslims ten years of
peace':
True, the
Government initiatives, schemes and policies take time and if they are
related to Muslims...Read
Full |
|
 ‘Advising
Restraint, work for the Revival of the Community’:
We should advise the Indian
Muslims for observing total restraint so that the Anti-Muslim...Read
Full
|
|
 Will
Indo-Pak peace bring peace to
beleaguered Indian
Muslims? While
the secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan has...Read
Full |
|
|
|
|
The horror that is unfolding in Sri
Lanka becomes possible because of the silence that surrounds it.
There is almost no reporting in the mainstream Indian media — or
indeed in the international press — about what is happening there.
Why this should be so is a matter of serious concern.
From the little information that is filtering through it looks as
though the Sri Lankan government is using the propaganda of the ‘war
on terror’ as a fig leaf to dismantle any semblance of democracy in
the country, and commit unspeakable crimes against the Tamil people.
Working on the principle that every Tamil is a terrorist unless he
or she can prove otherwise, civilian areas, hospitals and shelters
are being bombed and turned into a war zone. Reliable estimates put
the number of civilians trapped at over 200,000. The Sri Lankan Army
is advancing, armed with tanks and aircraft.
Meanwhile, there are official reports that several ‘‘welfare
villages’’ have been established to house displaced Tamils in
Vavuniya and Mannar districts. According to a report in The Daily
Telegraph (Feb 14, 2009), these villages ‘‘will be compulsory
holding centres for all civilians fleeing the fighting’’. Is this a
euphemism for concentration camps? The former foreign minister of
Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraveera, told The Daily Telegraph:
‘‘A few months ago the government started registering all Tamils in
Colombo on the grounds that they could be a security threat, but
this could be exploited for other purposes like the Nazis in the
1930s. They’re basically going to label the whole civilian Tamil
population as potential terrorists.’’
Given its stated objective of ‘‘wiping out’’ the LTTE, this
malevolent collapse of civilians and ‘‘terrorists’’ does seem to
signal that the government of Sri Lanka is on the verge of
committing what could end up being genocide. According to a UN
estimate several thousand people have already been killed. Thousands
more are critically wounded. The few eyewitness reports that have
come out are descriptions of a nightmare from hell.
What we are
witnessing, or should we say, what is happening in Sri Lanka and is
being so effectively hidden from public scrutiny, is a brazen,
openly racist war. The impunity with which the Sri Lankan government
is being able to commit these crimes actually unveils the deeply
ingrained racist prejudice, which is precisely what led to the
marginalization and alienation of the Tamils of Sri Lanka in the
first place. That racism has a long history, of social ostracisation,
economic blockades, pogroms and torture. The brutal nature of the
decades-long civil war, which started as a peaceful, non-violent
protest, has its roots in this.
Why the silence? In another interview Mangala Samaraveera says, ‘‘A
free media is virtually non-existent in Sri Lanka today.’’
Samaraveera goes on to talk about death squads and ‘white van
abductions’, which have made society ‘‘freeze with fear’’. Voices of
dissent, including those of several journalists, have been abducted
and assassinated. The International Federation of Journalists
accuses the government of Sri Lanka of using a combination of
anti-terrorism laws, disappearances and assassinations to silence
journalists.
There are disturbing but unconfirmed reports that the Indian
government is lending material and logistical support to the Sri
Lankan government in these crimes against humanity. If this is true,
it is outrageous. What of the governments of other countries?
Pakistan? China? What are they doing to help, or harm the situation?
In Tamil Nadu the war in Sri Lanka has fuelled passions that have
led to more than 10 people immolating themselves. The public anger
and anguish, much of it genuine, some of it obviously cynical
political manipulation, has become an election issue.
It is extraordinary that this concern has not travelled to the rest
of India. Why is there silence here? There are no ‘white van
abductions’ — at least not on this issue. Given the scale of what is
happening in Sri Lanka, the silence is inexcusable. More so because
of the Indian government’s long history of irresponsible dabbling in
the conflict, first taking one side and then the other. Several of
us including myself, who should have spoken out much earlier, have
not done so, simply because of a lack of information about the war.
So while the killing continues, while tens of thousands of people
are being barricaded into concentration camps, while more than
200,000 face starvation, and a genocide waits to happen, there is
dead silence from this great country.
It’s a colossal humanitarian tragedy. The world must step in. Now.
Before it’s too late.
(The Times of India) |
|
Ummid.com is part of
Awaz
Multimedia & Publications
providing World News, News Analysis and Feature
Articles on Education, Health. Politics, Technology,
Sports, Entertainment, Industry etc.
The articles or the views displayed on this website are for public
information and in no way describe the editorial views. The users are
entitled to use this site subject to the terms and condition mentioned. |
Why Do
So Few Speak Up for Gaza?:
Comment on this article
