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Why don’t UN-West-UNHRC-TNA care about Tamils killed by LTTE?

06 Oct 2022

BY Shenali D. Waduge   We are somewhat puzzled when it comes to commemorating those killed in Sri Lanka’s civil war. Perhaps the Western diplomats – the United Nations (UN) and UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) – may care to answer and put our doubts at rest. We are more than a little curious to know why the UN/UNHRC and Western diplomats’ attention is always directed in favour of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE); what about the Tamils killed by the LTTE? Don’t their lives matter?  We notice the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Jaffna University academics and students, and a number of Tamil organisations overseas annually hold commemorations for those killed in the war. These commemorations, we are told, are for “civilians”, but there is something amiss. The commemorations are decorated only in LTTE colours (red and yellow), they have only LTTE flags, the LTTE flower, LTTE emblems and symbols, and are held exactly on the same dates that LTTE annual events were held when Prabhakaran was alive. This is an interesting coincidence.  Maaveerar Naal (Great Heroes Day) has been commemorated by Sri Lankan Tamils since 27 November 1989. If this is a civilian commemoration, why is it fixed with a date aligned to LTTE Heroes Week, which ends on 26 November, which is Prabhakaran’s birthday? When Western diplomats and the UN are well aware of this, why do they insist that the Government allow the event? Why do Sri Lanka’s magistrates courts allow such, knowing the LTTE is still banned?  Have you ever heard a single diplomat or UN Secretary General, or UNHRC/UN High Commissioner for Human Rights make reference to any Tamil killed by the LTTE? Why do they attend only LTTE events? Would they ever accept an invitation to attend a commemoration for Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) Leader Sri Sabaratnam, Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) Leader K. Pathmanabha, or senior People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) member S. Shanmuganathan, or even LTTE Deputy Leader Gopalswamy Mahendraraja (alias Mahaththaya), killed by Prabhakaran, alongside many of his loyalists, for betraying him? The UN and its agencies, and Western diplomats, are eternally making reference to Tamils, but why don’t they make reference to:
  • Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah, the first Tamil killed by the LTTE in 1975;
  • Tamil policemen who were serving in the North;
  • Tamil militant leaders slain by the LTTE;
  • Tamil militant combatants slain by the LTTE;
  • Then-Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was assassinated by the LTTE during a ceasefire; and
  • Jaffna Mayor Sarojini Yogeswaran?  
Can western diplomats/UN/UNSG/UNHRC answer why:
  • The LTTE forbids Tamils to commemorate other Tamils killed by the LTTE;
  • The LTTE forbids families of other Tamil militant leaders and members to mourn publicly; and
  • The LTTE forbids an annual commemoration for other militant groups?
Can Western diplomats and UN agencies deny that Maaveerar Naal is only to commemorate the LTTE dead and not to commemorate Tamil civilians, non-LTTE politicians, non-LTTE academics, non-LTTE public servants, and non-LTTE clergy?  No one killed by the LTTE is being commemorated – why not? Why is there no commemoration for these Tamils? If the western diplomats and UN agencies demand that Sri Lanka allow commemoration of the LTTE dead – it is high time a similar event is organised annually to commemorate Tamils killed by LTTE. Can someone come up with an appropriate name for this annual event, please?    These are just a handful of faces that have been eliminated by LTTE. Don’t they have families too? Can’t these families mourn their dead? Aren’t these civilians, or as per Western diplomats and UN agencies, are only the LTTE “civilians”? Have the Western diplomats and UN agencies raised the question as to why non-LTTE members cannot mourn their dead? Leaving aside the non-Tamils killed by LTTE, the West should at least allow non-LTTE Tamils to mourn their dead, but it looks as if Western diplomats and the UN only want the LTTE casualties and their families to be mourned and no one else, whether non-LTTE Tamils or non-Tamils. This is a fine hell-of-a-do. Can someone come up with an annual name to commemorate non-LTTE Tamils killed by the LTTE? If the LTTE is allowed to mourn their dead, so should non-LTTE Tamils killed by the LTTE. Have you noticed that TNA MPs appear mum about commemorating non-LTTE Tamils? Lets see how many TNA MPs would attend if Alfred Duraiappah’s family organised a commemoration for him, or Sri Sabaratnam’s family organised a commemoration for him, or Pathmanabha’s family organise a commemoration for him, or even Mahaththaya’s family organised a commemoration for him. 


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