NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLES MOVEMENTS National Office : 6/6 Jangpura B, New Delhi – 110 014 . Phone : 011 2437 4535 | 9818905316 E-mail: napmindia@gmail | Web : napm-india.org Rights of People to life and livelihood are supreme. Tamils in Srilanka have been deprived of these. New Delhi, August 13 : The Tamil question in Sri Lanka, after the military offensive in 2009 seems to have vanished from the general discourse everywhere. After the war a UN panel found that as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months of the civil war, most as a result of indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lankan military. The panel called on the UNSG to conduct an independent international investigation into the alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed by both sides. The Sri Lankan government rejected the entire report, calling it fundamentally flawed in many respects, and as being based on patently biased and unverified material and produced another report titled Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. Sri Lankan state has given such an impression that the question has been solved, 3,50,000 displaced Tamils in the final stages of war have been rehabilitated and brought in mainstream. However, the reality is very different. The rights violations of Tamils continue to occur, they remain the second grade citizens in their own country. In Tamilnadu many of the civil society groups continue to take up these issues and pressurise upon the TN government and Indian government intervene. In March 2013, the United Nations passed a resolution urging Sri Lanka to investigate alleged abuses during the final phase of war with Tamil rebels. India voted against Sri Lanka, under pressure from parties from south India. However, the strategic interests prevent any such action from the government and situation of Tamils remains extremely unsatisfactory and even unliveable. To create broader awareness of the human rights violation in the Sri Lanka, a public meeting was held by NAPM, supported by socialist organizations, women’s organization and with participation of activists from Tamil Nadu at Indian Social Institute, and attended by nearly 100 people. An exhibition of posters of the war was opened and background explained too by Medha Patkar, Satya Sivaraman, Gabriele Dietrich and others. The first session started with the welcome address which connected the development trends of neo-liberal globalization with the tendency toward” War on Terror” and the rise of militarization and religion based identity politics in Sri Lanka. A film of BBC Channel 4 was shown which gave a good picture of the horrendous human rights violations in Sri Lanka, during the war. Satya Sivaraman explained how this violent trend connected to expansion of military into development policies and urban planning, giving employment to many young people and thus gaining support. Medha Patkar spoke on the need for broader democratic participation and a development process in which livelihoods are focused and gap between rich and poor must be narrowed. She expressed the hope that alliance building among people affected by price rise of food, shelter, petrol and diesel can help to overcome the ethnic polarization. Whatever the issue, rights of people and their sovereignty are most important in any country, Sri Lanka is no exception. Tamils are citizens of Sri Lanka and it is shameful that they are treated as second grade citizens after hundreds of years. The issues which were discussed at the meeting and need further attention are the following : 1. The human rights violations/genocide in Sri Lanka need to be recognized by the international community and people settled in refugee camps must be set free and enabled to build new lives. 2. The situation of women needs special attention. According to surveys, 90,000 war widows seem to live in the country. Many of them are also maimed and have been raped or continuously violated. Justice must be done to them. 3. To build new life, people need land, water, shelter, means of livelihood, security and participation in decision making process. The military control must be ended. 4. Devolution of power is needed as war has concentrated power in certain communities in Sri Lanka. A referendum is urgently needed on how to empower the Tamil people and to let them live in freedom, enjoying full political rights. Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution on the referendum on 27/03/2013 but the Central Government kept quiet. 5. The militarized State has projected itself as the Guardian of the Dhamma of Buddha. Attacks are ongoing on people of other religions, like Muslims, Hindus and Christians. Alliance needs to be built to create freedom of religion and solidarity among violated people of different communities. Neo liberal globalization feeds into communalism and is being used by Capital for its own gains. 6. Campaigns need to be held to shift the annual gathering of Heads of Nations of Commonwealth Countries in Sri Lanka planned for November 2013 to another country. If it takes place in Colombo, India should boycott it. 7. Rajapakshe needs to be brought to book for war crimes/genocide with the help of UN and International Criminal Court in The Hague. 8. The illegalities and excesses in the name of ongoing war on terror must be exposed, as it destroys democracy and leads to invasion of people’s territories. 9. Alliance needs to be built among the working classes, transcending ethnicity and identity politics towards radical transformation. In the concluding session, Dr. Sunilam and Sri Vijay Pratap, prepared a detailed plan for taking forward the campaign was discussed and the following decisions were taken. A national coordination committee was formed for the follow up. At present the Chair is with D. Gabriele, in close cooperation with Arul Doss. Vijay Pratap of Socialist Front is Co-Chair and Dr. Sunilam, Secretary. It was felt that together with NAPM the socialist perspective is very important. Dr Ezhilan will also be involved in the planning process. More members will be added, as meetings are held in other parts of the country. 1. It was felt that a tour of a small group from TN is necessary, equipped with some visual materials like posters and a short film to visit different states with the help of the NAPM convenor team there. Socialist groups will also help. 2. This should be done before the Commonwealth Conference in SL in November. 3. It was felt that 17th to 30th October may be a good slot, allowing for preparation and avoiding clashes with festivals. 4. The following places were envisaged: Chennai, Pondicherry, Cochin, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Ranchi, Jaipur and Delhi. 5. A signature campaign before the CHOGM conference. 6. Lobbying with political parties and parliamentarians to raise support and broadbase the issue. 7. Work towards a national conference after the tour, where many stakeholders and representatives of parties, civil society, trade unions and others participate.. 8. An international process with the help of friends should be explored too. 9. To coordinate with the release of the BBC channel 4 film in end of October. Satya Shivaraman will be in touch. 10. Put pressure on SL consulates and Embassy in India and submit to them the signatures collected from across the country. Arul Doss, NAPM TN Youth Organiser & Madhuresh Kumar, NAPM National Organiser for details write to napmindia@gmail call : 9841233098 | 9818905316
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 20:15:06 +0000
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