THE LESSONS OF HISTORY

2013 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the darkest periods in our history –the days when the state unleashed armed mobs against a section of its own citizenry in a bid to wipe out what it felt was the last source of opposition to its policies.

In July 1983, in reaction to the killing of 13 soldiers in the north, the government of JR Jayewardene unleashed government-sponsored mobs to attack Tamil civilians living in all parts of the country.

 Mobs of government supporters armed with address lists of Tamil families, fanned out all over the country, pillaging and laying waste to Tamil homes and businesses. Hundreds of innocent Tamil civillians were killed and hundreds of thousands were made refugees in their own country.
The police and armed forces stood by idly while mayhem was being wrought.

 At the maximum security section of the Welikada prison, in Colombo, Tamil prisoners were brutally massacred in cold blood while the authorities stood by passively.
 It took the president of the country three long days and the arrival of the Indian Foreign Minister, to order his armed forces to crack down on the mobs. Referring to the ongoing massacres he attempted to justify the killings saying the actions of the Tamils had earned them the justified wrath of the people.
Government had once again used state- terrorism as a means to instill fear.  




BACKGROUND
 In the immediate aftermath of its overwhelming electoral victory (5/6th majority) in 1977 the newly elected government under prime minister JR Jayewardene commenced physically assaulting supporters of the opposition, using state media to  vilify its membership and deprived his chief political opponent  Sirimavo Bandaranaike, of her civic rights, thus immobilising the main political opposition to the government.

With the main political party all but vanquished, government set about crushing all opposition to it and dismantling welfare state measures–free education, health care, subsidized food etc.-- which the country had enjoyed since Independence .

The first to feel the jackboot of the state were student unions protesting a White Paper on education –an attempt to set up private medical college-- which students saw as a threat to the free education system. Students were vilified by the state media, attacked by government thugs and many student leaders incarcerated.
Soon the once powerful student unions were crushed.

By 1979 the rising cost of living caused Up-Country Tamil workers to protests. Again the government used mobs to attack workers, resulting in the killing of a large numbers of workers and forcing thousands to flee to the North and East.

With the cost of living increasing, in 1981 the public sector trade unions took to the streets, demanding a pay hike. In response the government declared emergency rule, declared the strike illegal and dismissed all striking employees (around 150,000 workers), thereby totally breaking the back of the trade union movement.
When the Judiciary began taking an independent stand against frivolous charges brought against members of the opposition and assaults carried out by the police, Government organised bands of hooligans to protest outside the houses of individual members of the judiciary, lock senior Judges out of their Chambers and set up a tribunal to try the Chief Justice on charges of impeachment.

With the Chief Justice impeached and Judges intimated government had successfully dismantled the last resort of the people to appeal against injustice.
Another soon fell foul of government --an independent multi-religious group--‘Pavidihanda’ or the Voice of the Clergy protested Jayewardene’s proposed extension of the life of parliament.

 Once again government used its tried and tested technique of breaking opposition to it –harassing the leadership of the movement, vilifying them through the government controlled media and using the police to harass the leadership of the movement.

 By 1982, government had successfully crushed opposition in the south of the country, leaving the Tamils in the north and east, a few of whom had taken up arms, its only opposition.

Highlighting a few acts of murder and intimidation in the north especially the Jaffna district, the President claimed the country was facing a terrorist threat and sent in an army commander with James Bond-like powers to Jaffna, ‘to wipe out terrorism’ in the district.
A number of young men were picked up, tortured and killed, others were imprisoned, ordinary civilians walking on the streets were beaten up –a reign of terror descended on Jaffna.

The President anticipated his intimidatory tactics would break the opposition.

However the plan backfired, government intimidation only helped the growth of Tamil nationalism and strengthened the hands of those who believed the armed struggle was an extension of the political struggle by other means.

At a time when the rest of the country was bowing its head to the state juggernaut what made Tamil reaction so different?





THE RISE OF TAMIL NATIONALISM
 We spoke to the leader of the former PLOTE (People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam), D. Sidthadthan.

“Even before independence Tamil leaders like G.G. Ponambalam believed a unitary state was the best model suited for the country. They called for 50 -50 representation as they felt in this way the minorities would not be steam-rolled by the majority and could even rise to positions of leadership.

 “He (Ponnambalam) believed that federalism would confine Tamils to the north and east.

Unfortunately the first act of the first independent government of the country was to disenfranchise a section of the Tamils.

“At this point Mr. G.G. Ponambalam supported the India/Pakistani Citizenship Act which deprived the up-country Tamils of their citizenship, Mr. Chelvanayakam broke away from the Tamil Congress and formed the Federal Party.

“Most Tamils however were not supportive of the federal concept and Mr. Chelvanayakam lost his seat at the 1952 election.”

“The causes which drove Tamils away from the concept of a unitary state to a call for a federalism and finally for a separatism grew gradually.

 “Starting with the disenfranchisement of the up-country Tamils, and their (up-country Tamil) numbers used to enhance the numerical superiority of Sinhalese MPs in Parliament, Tamil suspicion of the Sinhalese grew as government colonised Tamil areas exclusively with Sinhala people.

“They saw it as a means to change the demographic composition of these areas.

 “With the Sinhala Only Act of 1956, Tamils lost opportunities of joining the state service (the state sector being the largest and most prestigious employer at the time). Even those already in employment were deprived of promotion etc unless they reached prescribed standards.

 “The Standardisation of Education in 1971 which reduced opportunities of Tamil students entering universities dragged students into the political field and led to the formation of groups like the ‘Manavar Peravai’. The armed struggle developed out of the clashes which developed between students and the police.

“The attempted rigging of the 1981 DDC elections, the burning of the Jaffna public library, the indiscriminate attacks on civilian protests and demonstrations led to a build-up of nationalism and  ultimately to the call for the setting up of a separate state”.




NEW ISSUES
 Today, the old grievances do not matter. The real issue and danger today is once again the rise of Tamil nationalism. Once again the community feels it is being pushed with its back against the wall.

Though the Tigers have long since been crushed, large numbers of people --young and old-- still remain in detention with no charges being brought against them.
 The problem of the persons displaced by the war has not been settled.

During the war and even after the defeat of the LTTE, the problem is the issue of dignity and pride of the community.

Overtly you cannot see this, but in reality the north is like an occupied territory.

Except in the Jaffna town, for anything and everything permission has to be received from the military commander of the area.

This is especially true for people living in the Wanni. Even for a simple matter of a birthday party to be held in your own house permission has to be obtained from a military commander.

In Killinochchi to organise a function the names of those who will attend have to be listed. Not only private functions, even in the most basic schools like a kindergarten or nursery schools if a sports meet is held permission has to be obtained from the military.

 In addition the military representatives have to be invited. You cannot hold the function without inviting them as well.

 All over the north Buddhist vihares are coming up. But there are no Sinhalese people in these areas. People see it as a forbearer to the colonisation of these areas with exclusively Sinhalese people.

The forcible resettlement of Sinhalese people in the north especially in the Mullaitivu area, in areas north of Weli Oya is ongoing.

Paddy lands owned by Tamil people are being cultivated by persons being brought in by politicians and/or the army.

Even army settlements are being set up. Very quietly army personnel and their families are being housed in Chinese built schemes.

 Their names will soon be entered into Grama Niladhari lists. Next they will be enrolled into voters lists, this has not happened yet, but it is the obvious next step.




DEVOLUTION
 These actions are leading to a continued buildup of mistrust between the government and the people.

There have been no concrete proposals to devolve power.

There has been talk of the Indian model based on Gram  Raj. Tamils will not oppose this if the Gram Raj comes under the Northern Provincial Council.

But it appears government wants to dissolve the system of Provincial Councils and have the ‘Gram Raj’ under the central government.

However ‘Gram Raj’ where power comes from a grass-root level is a good concept and acceptable to the people, it is said.




HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF
 Unfortunately today history seems to be repeating itself. The state aided colonisation of Tamil lands with Sinhalese people that is now blatantly taking place is
one of the main causes of unrest.

Minor incidents of student unrest are being blown out of proportion and resulting in police and the armed forces clashing with students and numbers of student leaders being arrested.

 While over 100,000 Tamil civilians lost their lives in the separatist cause, no solution have been offered or attempts made to reconcile a defeated people.The political opposition to government elsewhere in the country is in disarray, political opponents are being harassed and moves are afoot once again to dismantle to interfere with the judiciary.

Are we as a nation unable to learn the lessons of history?

We as a country have gone through two brutal uprisings since 1983... Are we paving the way for similar dark era?