Yesterday (29/07/20) in the House of Lords, Lord Naseby spoke in the debate on Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020: “My Lords, I have no problem at all with the financial aspects of this SI. I think there is a big challenge with individuals and human rights; I remember Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Assad, all of whose communities we interfered in at huge human cost to those communities. I want to focus, though, sadly, on the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers—LTTE—which we proscribed in 2001. It was succeeded by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam—TGTE—itself proscribed in Sri Lanka. It is staffed and organised by former LTTE people and yesterday it started a legal action in the courts here in the UK to lift the proscription on the Tamil Tigers.
The TGTE espouses an ideology which is almost identical to that of the LTTE; it has never denounced violence or the terrorism of the LTTE; it disseminates propaganda worldwide, targeting young people, mainly Tamils, with commemorative events, waving LTTE flags and the black tiger, et cetera. Worst of all, I think, it has never shown any remorse over child soldiers. UNICEF stated on 31 July 2005 that 5,081 underaged soldiers were recruited, 40% girls and 60% boys, and at the end of the war, 594 was the small number that were left. Still, in this country, we have Mrs Balasingham, who was the arch recruiter and trainer of the child soldiers, residing comfortably in the United Kingdom. That is a challenge we need to face.
********* ***********
from BBC documentary in 1991 entitled “Suidcde Killers”
ALSO NOTE
- http://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2013/01/20/fea03.asp
- https://thuppahis.com/2014/06/23/the-induction-oath-of-tamil-tiger-fighters-at-their-passing-out-ceremony/
- https://ltteagents.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/ununhrc-what-about-the-war-crimes-of-aunty-adele-balasingham/
An EMAIL COMMENT from DAYA WICKRAMATUNGA, 31 July 2020: ” In the civilized society nothing can be gained through terrorism. That we need to understand. We have had very intelligent people like Amirthalingam who thought something could be achieved through terrorism and he is the one who promoted terrorism. Ultimately the very terrorists killed him. These are facts.
At the same time, people like Lord Naseby who speak against the LTTE, must speak on the importance of equal rights and privileges for all people in SL, in order to build a united country. Our Constitution should include that amendment. The 13th amendment that prescribed equal powers to the provinces, with equal status to the Sinhalese and Tamil languages, was aimed at that. It went to show that the ‘Sinhala Only’ policy of SWRD was wrong. To get to the point, while terrorism has no place in the modern society, Lord Naseby should also make it known the need for equal rights and privileges for all Communities in SL in order to build a united SL first and foremost. That’s important. All the problems we face, from the time of Independence in 1948, are centered on that.
Daya Wickrematunga is said quoted to say
Our Constitution should include that amendment. The 13th amendment that prescribed equal powers to the provinces, with equal status to the Sinhalese and Tamil languages, was aimed at that. It went to show that the ‘Sinhala Only’ policy of SWRD was wrong
In the USA, the Hispanic population is close to 20% and enjoys majority status in some states like New Mexico or California (while in SL, the Tamil population is close to 12-15%), but Spanish is not a national language in the US, and the Star – Spangled Banner is not sung in Spanish.
In France, the population of Arab-speaking people is similarly high, but Arabic is not an official language of France and the Marseillaise is not sung in Arabic.
I would say that Spanish in the US, and Arabic in France should be given recognition as official languages – but no one even dares to talk about it.
How to restore the “rights” of minorities? the solution is NOT via the constitution, or via carving out ethnic enclaves. Once we recognize Spanish in the US, what about Yiddish in New York, or Chinese in the West coast? What about aboriginal languages? An injustice will be done to some minority.
The answer is in technology. Let the constitution say that the majority language, e.g., French in France, is the official language. But we can make all languages equal in practice via technology since everyone’s cell phones can translate from any language to the cell-phone owner’s language (be it Mongolian) and render it in voice or in text. Then, even the tiniest language can exist and every one’s practical needs and enshrined rights can be met, without everyone having to learn a multitude of languages. For details, see:
https://dh-web.org/place.names/posts/triling.pdf
The 13th amendment has not helped. It has created more problems & more distrust than ever before; and the language divide exists as it did. Also, by giving a special status to Tamil, not enjoyed by Sinhala in the North and East, some (see Island, July 28, Tiranagama’s articles) have claimed that a serious inequality has been created. Tiranagama claims that Tamil has more rights than the majority language has, right through out the country. I have not studied the problem, but legal experts should.
Pingback: Language of Governmentality: An Incisive Comparison | Thuppahi's Blog
Pingback: Lord Naeby on Global Britain and Its Sri Lanka Relations | Thuppahi's Blog