It looks like the conflict in northern Sri Lanka is nearing its endpoint, judging from various news reports this week. There have been pressures on the Sri Lankan government to call a cease-fire, to allow humanitarian efforts to move forward, but the government has rejected that call.
Reuters has a helpful FAQ on the basics of the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka:
HOW MANY ARE TRAPPED?
That is a subject of great debate and confusion. The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it is less than 50,000, while the United Nations has said up to that number are in danger. Sri Lanka’s government estimates between 10,000 and 20,000. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) say it is 160,000. Diplomats say the number is immaterial with so many in harm’s way, and a host of nations have pushed for a humanitarian truce. The civilians are in a tiny strip of northern coast with the ocean to the east and a lagoon to the west, measuring no more than 5 square km (2 sq miles), according to the military.
HOW MANY HAVE BEEN KILLED AND WOUNDED?
A U.N. working document, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, said 6,432 civilians had been killed and 13,946 wounded in fighting since the end of January. A U.N. spokesman declined to comment on it. The government has consistently called casualty figures inflated to serve LTTE propaganda purposes, and the government and the rebels blame each other for killing civilians. Getting accurate information is nearly impossible, since very few people inside the war zone can be said to be free of rebel influence and few independent observers have been permitted in.
HOW MANY HAVE ESCAPED?
Early this week, the military said it had registered more than 113,000 since an exodus began a week earlier when troops punched through an earthen barrier the Tigers erected to block entry and exit. The government says more than 200,000 have left since the beginning of the year. Doctors treating the wounded pouring out said they suffered from horrific injuries from shelling and gunfire. (link)
From my point of view, the situation of the 200,000 displaced people who have escaped the “no fire zone” is probably the most urgent issue, and it is also clearly something that the international community can be directly involved in.
The UNHCR seems to be the relief agency that is mentioned most often in the articles I’ve been reading; if you’re concerned about the situation of these displaced civilians, as I am, you might want to donate something here. A few more links:
A Reuters reporter gets a first-hand look at the war zone.
Rotary Club of Colombo Regency has a “Relief for Sri Lanka” blog
The Economist‘s update on the conflict; it mostly agrees with Reuters and the New York Times
The U.S. has been planning to send relief money to the Sri Lankan government. The amount is a large sum — $1.9 billion — but the money has apparently been delayed, in order to pressure the government to do a better job looking after the displaced people.
There are also relief efforts in India, some of which are getting held up by various bureaucratic issues.
There have been big protests in Toronto, Canada, and London, England, held by members of the Tamil diaspora.
Amardeep – great, as always. Thanks for the useful links too. I hope the situation itself is an eye opener for Sri Lanka, India and the Tamil diaspora, and politicians in India must desist from making this an issue for personal gains, especially in Tamil Nadu. Moral support to a large extent, and financial support for the Tamil cause is understandable, but LTTE is way off in its destructive means to achieve something and it’s probably for the greater good for Sri Lanka as a whole that it is being wiped out. I wish Tamil Politicians in India viewed this more rationally and keep aside their personal views of LTTE and Prabhakaran and show real concern for the refugees who are at the receiving end of both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army.
Thanks for covering this, it is apalling that the LTTE has taken human shields and the sri lankan state is now behaving in an equally outrageous manner. I applaud the end of the LTTE but this is a time to slow down and carefully let the innocent civilians go. Yes, I understand its difficult but this is just appalling…
Thanks for covering this, it is apalling that the LTTE has taken human shields and the sri lankan state is now behaving in an equally outrageous manner. I applaud the end of the LTTE but this is a time to slow down and carefully let the innocent civilians go.
As I understand it, those 10,000-50,000 civilians who remain trapped with the LTTE in the no-fire zone are being held there by the LTTE. The government has been trying to help them get out.
The government has to decide whether to let the human shield tactic work (and desist its campaign), or continue the campaign while making every effort to protect innocent life. They have taken at least one precaution lately, by announcing they’re going to stop using heavy weapons. It might already be too late: at least 7000 civilians are already dead (an unknown number of them kkilled by the LTTE itself).
If I were in Rajapakse’s position, I must admit I am not sure what I would do. I cannot condone what is happening, but I can at least understand the government’s desire to end this as swiftly as possible. One could argue that the civilian deaths that are now occurring are actually the LTTE’s responsibility…
Amardeep,
the Tigers are more than simply complicit and have a far larger share of responsibility for current civilian deaths than the GOSL. I would ask you to read this (which originally appeared as a TOI column), however, and note that this is the attitude of most of the SL blogosphere (as aggregated by Kottu.org) and thus the attitudes of whatever middle-class exists in SL.
most think that these civilian deaths, “perhaps, have to happen.” Most do concede that it is ‘bad on a human level’ to continue to shell an area still holding civilians without any special powers of flight or the might to resist their captors (the LTTE). Most do not even begin to grasp the cognitive disconnect between the two positions.
d/a,
the Sri Lankan crisis is older and more complex than what the international media has been portraying it as. I do not encourage any form of terror, and especially the way LTTE’s notorious suicide bombings and recruitment of child soldiers. It is also true that LTTE was not receptive of any criticism or confrontation even from moderate and politically democratic Tamil community leaders. But, if we separate blogging and journalism from history, we will understand that the armed conflict in SL was the last resort some had to resort to after years of brutal discrimination. It is yet again one more disaster of harried end of the Empire. The reason why Tamil diaspora of Sri Lankan origin are in almost every corner of the world is the same as the way the Jews were in during the Fascist and Soviet reigns.
It will be interesting and in fact immensely critical if the media continues to focus on the post-LTTE SL, despite the recession, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Swine Flu, the pirates and the similar crises around the world. It will also be interesting how the US and India react/respond to overt and covert military support from China and its muted diplomatic response to the humanitarian crisis. GOSL had generated enough colums space branding LTTE as terrorist and themselve as saviors of democracy. Let us wait till that happens and then, we shall court martial LTTE!
The Tamil Tigers are using the civilians as their last bargaining chip. This is not surprising, because this is an organisation that uses pregnant Tamil women as suicide bombers and has no qualms about abducting Tamil children and sending them to the frontlines in the name of “Tamil freedom.” Trying to urge the Sri Lankan government to declare a ceasefire at this moment, after they have been battled the LTTE for the past 25 years with more than 75 000+ dead is really not going to work. Imagine if the US had cornered the last of Al Qaeda or India itself cornered the last of the Kashmiri insurgents. The call by the US for a ceasefire because of “humanitarian concern” is quite hypocritical considering they have bombed Iraq and Afghanistan to smitheerens and killed more than 600 000 civilians (conservative estimate) in Iraq alone. There is no doubt that the rights of the civilians in Sri Lanka must be protected and the Sri Lankan government must do everything in its power to ensure their welfare, but not at the expense of letting the LTTE go and resulting in the war dragging on for another 25 years and another 75 000+ more lives lost. Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman need to be extradited to India for ordering the assasination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Island of blood
While some information is available, it’s still impossible to know what’s going on in the combat zones. The government has booted out almost all humanitarian agencies and has kept independent journalists away from the war zone. With both parties engrossed in their mathematics of disaster, it is up to India, with its historical engagement in the conflict, to take decisive steps to ensure the safety of war victims. It should work with other governments that oppose the LTTE. It should also encourage those members of the Tamil diaspora who have backed the Tigers to speak up for the safety of Tamil civilians.
huh? the new cite ate my link – here it is again
island of blood
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=ViewsSectionPage&id=501d1e98-5a0e-4aa6-957b-1062473c39f7&Headline=Island+of+blood
Sri Lanka urges civilians to flee war zone
Sri Lanka’s government urged civilians in the northern war zone to flee the fighting Friday, promising to ensure their safety amid accusations that civilians were killed after the military pounded the area with artillery shells
In a brief leaflet dropped by aircraft on the area, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appealed to the civilians to flee across the front lines, according to the government.
“Your suffering is prolonged by this action of the LTTE who are holding you as a human shield for their own safety and security,” the leaflet said. “I appeal to every one of you to come over to the cleared areas.”
The president promised to ensure the safety of all civilians.
If the LTTE is genuinely interested in the welfare of the Tamil people – as it so often claims – then it should immediately release all the Tamil civilians it is holding hostage, and face the Sri Lankan Army bravely and not like cowards. At the very least it should negotiate a surrender. Why is it that Prabhakaran is fleeing for his life, hiding among civilians, and finding it so difficult to face the Sri Lankan security forces when he has sent so many Tamil men, women and children to their deaths?
What is going on in the last zone of LTTE control is inevitably nasty, and yes–I think the LTTE is most to blame for it. Given that the LTTE is about to be crushed, though, the world community absolutely needs to keep a strict eye on the treatment of Tamil civilians–it is absolutely scary that they are being put into “camps”–GoSL has legitimate security concerns, but this cannot be cashed out in terms of Tamil civilian mistreatment. GoSL needs to take steps to make sure Tamil civilians are treated fairly–it’s a good sign that the IMF is conditioning their loan on such.
It is undoubted that the two main parties to the conflict are responsible for grave violations of human rights. The real test would be the post war scenario with the onus completely on the GoSL to prove to the Tamil community that it is indeed respectful of it, by seriously committing to a political settlement. In reality its test has already begun with focus on the GoSL’s ‘efforts’ in terms of the civilian population coming out of the battle zone. Whereas the majority of Tamil diaspora still continue its relentless support of the LTTE by giving their last shot at Utopian, Tamil Eelam. To understand about their mindset and driving factors of the Tamil diaspora please have a look at the following article by Nirmala Rajasingam.
http://sahasamvada-forum.blogspot.com/2009/04/tamil-diaspora-solidarities-and.html
I am taken back by the comments along the lines that deliberate dis- regard for Civilian life is okay as long as terrorists are killed in the process. Personal hatred towards LTTE, as deserving as it may be, should not be a carte blanche to allow the Sri Lankan government to continue one of the most brutal campaigns in recent times. I know several people who have lost their relatives in the “safe zone�. I met a lady who lost 22 family members to the government bombing just in the last 2 months. A sample of what happened yesterday is here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8030605.stm
I have distant cousins who are supposedly “rescued� by the government but are now languishing in detention camps with no communication to the outside world. They don’t even know that people on the outside know that they are in those camps.
The biggest difference in this conflict ,compared to any other, is the government ability to tightly control the message of the conflict and frame it as a rescue mission (compare this to the media coverage of Gaza and the pressure on Israel to ceasefire). I can only see how much of that message is sticking based on the comments. I don’t know of any rescue mission that deliberately puts the life of every “hostage� at risk. And when the numbers of the “hostages� are hundreds of thousands, everyone should be concerned. And to believe that peace will dawn on the deaths of thousands of innocents is “as naïve as to expect brunettes on Foxnews�.
Mods, take note of Sameer the troll. Thank you.
Thanks for posting on this. Where have people been the last couple of weeks? This was front page news on all major Canadian newspapers, TV networks and the BBC a week ago. I can’t comment on US newspapers but I suspect that this may have been given some prominent coverage there as well. How come it took this long for it to be featured here on SM? It’s not like SM doesn’t feature news from the subcontinent? I do note that any developments regarding M.I.A (herself a Sri Lankan Tamil) receives prompt mention. That’s messed up.
Sri Lankan Tamils have nothing now. A few years ago they had a seat at the negotiating table with an offer from a moderate, progressive Sinhalese politician for internal self-determination in areas of Tamil-speaking peoples, based on a federal structure within a united Sri Lanka. There was much goodwill from the international community with a number of countries ready to pitch in significant amounts of money to help rebuild the country.
The LTTE then scuttled the peace process and organized the Tamil boycott of elections to ensure the victory of the Sinhala nationalist politician by the narrowest of margins. Now they find themselves no longer considered a conventional force. I am sure that whatever is left of Sinhalese moderates are now without a voice given that the nationalists have essentially solved the problem without having lost much.
Something often mentioned is the lack of access to any sites by journalists and aid groups. What does the government have to hide? The refugee camps are lacking in water, food, health-care and sanitation. And that’s the news that has managed to get out. What is happening to the civilians that managed to get out of the no-fire zone? What care will be available to civilians still stuck, wounded, without food when the GOSL “wins” the war? This is a public health disaster in the making, even if the LTTE is defeated today. One that I hold the GOSL personally responsible for by kicking out all aid. Do the Sinhala majority really care about the Tamil civilians and their fate?
The bitter or the sour truth and as well the needed reality check for all the Tamils is “ No one gives a dam* ” – None of the fellow non Tamil Indians and at least 1/3rd of the fellow Tamils (elitists such as Cho, Hindu Ram & their ilk) why in hell singhalese are going to care..? These peace loving Buddhists are swimming in gleeful ignorance.
Its high time TAMILS assert themselves
1st thing to do:
choose the right leaders to rule in our state in the step mother(ly) country – India.
I tend to agree with the assessment that really nobody gives a damn including many in Tamil Nadu. It’s interesting considering the contribution of the Lankan Tamil diaspora to the Tamil Nadu economy through the consumption of their cultural goods (movies, music, tv shows etc).
Also Buddhism in Sri Lanka is hardly “peace-loving.” The Buddhist clergy is an integral part of the Sinhala nationalist movement. That is not to deny the existence of moderate Buddhist monks but the Buddhist clergy has traditionally been hardline regarding the aspirations of the predominantly Hindu Tamil minority. In any case, moderate Sinhala voices are almost irrelevant now that the the LTTE has been defeated in a conventional war without the Sinhalese having had to make any concessions.
IMHO, the Congress lead government of India has yet again messed up royally on their Sri Lankan policy. It now has an emotionally charged Tamil Nadu population that is ready to rout Congress from Tamil Nadu because of its unwavering support to the Sri Lankan government. China has now taken over Japan as the number one donor to Sri lanka. China is also the number one supplier of weapons to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has always been much more loyal to China than to India. Western countries are more actively involved in Srilanka than India (mainly to blunt the Chinese influence) with British and French foreign ministers visiting Sri lanka and pressing for a ceasefire. It is surprising that India has never looked at Tamils as its natural allies (if you can separate LTTE and Tamils) in Sri Lanka but has spent considerable energy courting the Sri lanka state but in vain for over 60 years. When push comes to shove, who does India count as its ally in the region? If India believes Tamils separating from Sri Lanka will reignite separatist tendencies in TamilNadu, wouldn’t letting the Tamils die in thousands and not trying to stop it will also create the same conditions?
mA vadu
We are well aware of LTTEs true nature. Remember Rajiv Gandh!. Tamils in TN are also aware of his genocidal Pol Potist policies, they are in touch with happenings on the ground and do not have the shameful attitude of the diaspora which is still waving tiger flags and saluting the “great leader”.
All that being said, this is an enormous tragedy, the indians can and should draw some red lines. A few naval vessels moving towards Jaffna would be a good start. Denial of funding to sri lankan govt should also be discussed and implemented rapidly.
I sincerely hope that the LTTE are crushed in this ‘final’ push. The Tamil diaspora are whipping up unnecessary media hype over the ‘situation’ in Sri Lanka. Please let the Lankan government finish their jobs and lets be done with the folks who pioneered the use of suicide bombing…
Of course, one does not forget the time when Rajiv Gandhi was blown up by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, a female LTTE suicide bomber.
CdnMedStudent—-Thanks for posting on this. Where have people been the last couple of weeks? This was front page news on all major Canadian newspapers, TV networks and the BBC a week ago. I can’t comment on US newspapers but I suspect that this may have been given some prominent coverage there as well. How come it took this long for it to be featured here on SM? It’s not like SM doesn’t feature news from the subcontinent? I do note that any developments regarding M.I.A (herself a Sri Lankan Tamil) receives prompt mention. That’s messed up.—-
I totally agree! Where were you people all this time? Lost a lot of respect for SM.
I think we can agree that how often MIA’s vapid ass is mentioned here and that the civil war was mentioned just now is ridiculous. I think that instead of talking about her terrorist chic bullshit, everytime a writer here wants to post about her, they think twice and instead post a link to lasantha wickrematunga’s posthumous last editorial.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090111/editorial-.htm (read it again yall)
Also, in my uneducated, non Lankan opinion, any of the government apologists, here and around the world (that rapper who dissed mia for one) can go fuck themselves. The LTTE is a vicious organization and plenty of lankan tamil expats i know here in the states feared them back home, but view them as a neccessary evil that prevent the country from devolving into complete Sinhalese apartheid.
Those advocating Indian military intervention in the area should see some of the corpses left around from last time.
Well, now that the Sinhala Buddhist clergy has been drawn into the discussion (NOTE: I am not a Sinhala or a Buddhist), I request all of you to also consider the role of the Christian Church in this conflict, especially American Baptist and Roman Catholic.
I am quite amused that in the post and in the comments so far, there has been no mention of the divisive role played by the Christian clergy in bringing the situation to this stage.
Ok..lets keep the Church aside.How come no one’s even mentioning the role of China in this conflict? Isn’t it true that China wants a naval base in Sri Lanka (Trincomalee), and has been doing all it can to help cleanse that part of SL?
Some links, please:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6207487.ece
http://www.dailypioneer.com/173668/Triumph-and-tragedy-in-Sri-Lanka.html
http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=540
Disclaimer for the third link:The site is a pro-Hindutva site and therefore, there could be some exaggeration.But most of the ‘facts’ are true, especially the role currently being played by Father Jagat Gasper-Raj.
Yes as guessed above china is involved. This war is different to all other wars in Sri Lanka between the forces and the LTTE. It is in my opinion the start of a new phase in many similar activities in the subcontinent, which is a huge concern.
This article gives some idea of china’s involvement: Chinese Billions in Sri Lanka fund battle against Tamil tigers
The Trincomalee harbour which is a natural harbour is in the East of Sri Lanka in the Tamil areas so the Chinese are helping Sri Lanka build a harbour in the south in the sinhalese areas which would probably enable them to gain a foothold in the Indian ocean and more control of an important trade route.
But this war is aided by: China Iran Israel India Pakistan
basically anyone who puts their hand up. Libya is also going to provide some generous funding to Sri Lanka. The US did start off helping but then made a decision to let India handle such matters. Particularly the threat of china dominating the region. The Indian central government has made a hash of things as seen from the article above and now the US is acting independently.
A small country like sri lanka with hardly any external border threats has an army bigger than that of Israel or Britain.
I predict greater unrest in the subcontinent and Sri Lanka is a litmus test for these powers. Wars are now waged, in my opinion mainly to benefit weapons manufacturers and the corporate sector rather than the interests of the people. The Australian government for instance is aiming to increase their defence spending despite the global financial crisis citing the rise of India and China as being a potential threat. What is of concern is the person on the chair that provided these recommendations to the Australian government works for a Weapons manufacturer (Thales). Meanwhile Australia is also reducing their emissions target because they claim that they need to help businesses ride these difficult times.
I am a Sri Lankan Tamil and this is the first time I heard about American Baptists having anything to do with this!!! 🙂 As for the Catholics…the president of Sri Lanka’s wife is a practicing catholic and they both made a much publicised visit to the Vatican. At the same time, the director of Caritas, a catholic aid agency and one of the few NGOs operating in the war zone, got injured after a church was bombed by SLA forces in this area and had to have one leg amputated.
As someone pointed out apart from the ethnic issue, you have the problem of state sanctioned violence, corruption, break down of law and a restriction of media freedom with Amnesty internatitonal calling Sri Lanka the most dangerous place for journalists. Many have been killed even in the South (sinhalese areas) and one of them was sinhalese journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga. Journalists from BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera etc. are not allowed in the war zone.
This interview on Al Jazeera is a classic worth watching: Both sides of the Sri Lankan conflict
The powers that be are also watching to see if Sri Lanka could get away with waging a war in this manner:
Because as a journalist from Tehleka stated:
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne090509on_the.asp
The two major concerns are 1. the daily carnage in the war zone with 50 000 civilians trapped for over 3 months without barely any food or water in an 8 square kilometre area which the Sri Lankan government designated as a “safe” zone and caught in the cross fire between both the government and the LTTE. According to Brad Williams from human rights watch, in a statement released after a satellite picture from the UN showing signs of heavy artillery being used in the “safe zone” was leaked to the Media, call this the most dangerous place on earth. This report on al Jazeera refers to these images with the Sri Lankan government being forced to admit they bombed the safe zones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqC8Bcoym5Q
Yesterday a British Channel 4 cameraman managed to sneak into the camps and interview people in there and and captured exclusive footage from inside the camps: Channel 4 grim scenes in Sri Lankan camps
Finally this is a press statement by concerned South Asian citizens to provide a perspective for those in the South asian region.
And I think it is worth leaving with this speech made by the widow of murdered journalist Lasantha Wickramasinghe in a speech read at an ceremony where he was awarded the World Press Freedom Prize in 2009.
Just to provide a few quotes:
Amardeep, thank you for highlighting this. These sorts of posts are invaluable for a people in a country that is deprived of a free media.
Amardeep, as a fellow outsider to the situation, I would respectfully request that you learn more about the pre and post independence history of Sri Lanka as well as the current military situation before you make statements that are as sympathetic to the GoSL as the above (to the point of repeating of government propaganda), particularly at a point when the GoSL has banned reporters from entering the war zone, shelled hospitals, and engaged in tactics that are horrendous as well as keep people from finding that out. Your estimates of the numbers in the zone are also late, which means that they’re lower than the numbers we were hearing a few weeks ago.
A far better analysis would indict both LTTE and the GoSL for their tactics over time, but understand that miltarily, at this point there is an enormously disproportionate balance of power and thereore the GoSL has far more control over the situation than the LTTE. This is not really a matter of opinion – this is simply a fact, as is the idea that what has happened over the past few months, if not longer, probably has to be described as a form of ethnic cleansing, regardless of what you think of the LTTE. A detailed analysis shows this – or perhaps I’m wrong, but you do need to engage in a detailed analysis and show that.