Vaiko urges British Parliament to restore Eezham Tamil sovereignty

[Thursday November 27 2008 05:27:59 AM GMT] Vaiko, the general secretary of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetta Kazhakam (MDMK) from Tamil Nadu, while addressing British parliamentarians of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Tamils on Wednesday in the British Parliament, said that the British Parliament has a moral responsibility to rectify the historic injustice caused on to the Eezham Tamils during the colonial rule It was the British who statutorily put the Tamil and the Sinhala territories together in 1833, made Ceylon a unitary entity and refused to consider federalism in their constitutional reforms. When they left in 1948, they passed on the power to the Sinhala majoritarian rulers, he said. Sir Ivor Jennings, an International authority on constitutional Law and who was a party to the Soulbury constitution under which Ceylon became independent, regretted later for the injustice of the constitution when he saw the plight of the Tamils in the independent Ceylon, Mr. Vaiko, who goes by one name, told the cross party parliamentarians.

Extending gratitude for the opportunity to address the parliamentarians of the cross party forum, Mr. Vaiko, who has been invited to the United Kingdom by the APPG, gave a historical walk-through on the background of the Tamil struggle for freedom in the island of Sri Lanka. Giving a detailed account of the major oppressive policies such as disenfranchisement, standardisation, colonisation, Sinhala only policy and the role of Buddhist extremism in determining the affairs in the island, Vaiko explained how Tamils fought for their rights through a non-violent struggle. Vaiko described how Bandaranaike - Chelvanayakam pact and all the other pacts, reached between the Tamil and Sinhala leaders, were abrogated by the same Sinhala leaders who were party to the agreements. He also narrated how the non-violent struggle was crushed and state-sponsored violence and genocidal pogroms against Tamils.

Referring to a speech made by the then Prime Minister of India, late Madam Indira Gandhi, in the Indian Parliament on 16 August 1983, after Black July anti-Tamil pogrom, he said that Ms. Gandhi clearly termed what was going on in Sri Lanka against Tamils as a genocide. She also declared that the conflict in Sri Lanka was no longer an Internal affair of that island, but a matter of universal concern. 100,000 Tamils, including 22,000 young men and women, have sacrificed their lives for Tamil sovereignty, he said adding that all those who were concerned on the resolution of the conflict should pay attention to the historical ground realities. An independent Tamil Eelam is the only viable solution, he said. As in the case with Montenegro, East Timor and Kosovo, the Eezham Tamil people have long back overwhelmingly mandated their sovereignty and self-determination in the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of 1976 and its endorsement in the 1977 elections, he explained. How could Tamils live together when the Sinhala leaders themselves reiterate their racial policy saying that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala state and there could be no question of Tamil homeland, he asked.

On the current developments, he observed that a tremendous upsurge was sweeping through Tamil Nadu state with 65 million Tamils, who are agitated against the genocidal war that has been thrust upon the Tamils by the Colombo government. The upsurge has transcended the borders of Tamil Nadu as evidenced by the recent protest by students in New Delhi, he said. Thousands of students from 17 different states of India made it a demand in their protest in front of the Indian Parliament in New Delhi that there should be no military support and that the war should end. When the Jews were subjected to discrimination and genocide, the United Kingdom contributed to the creation of the Israel, Vaiko said. Having a peace loving and resourceful Tamil diaspora, which struggles for the freedom of its homeland, the UK has a moral obligation to see that Tamil Eelam is established, he said adding that it was also time for the International Community to force the Sri Lankan state, as the party which abrogated the Norwegian facilitated Ceasefire Agreement, to unilaterally declare a ceasefire. It was also time for the International Community to consider de-proscription of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), he said. Reflecting on the address by Mr. Vaiko, Stephen Pound, the Labour member of Parliament for the Ealing North constituency, said it was one of the best speeches that deserved a record in the British parliament as a passionate, emotional and historical record. Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East and Virendra Sharma, MP for Ealing, Southall, also appreciated the address by Vaiko as an informative account on the history of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

Dialogue among civilizations

The importance of the UN meeting on dialogue under the heading Culture for Peace cannot be overstated.

The importance of the UN meeting in New York on dialogue between cultures and civilizations under the heading Culture for Peace cannot be overstated. Dialogue goes to the heart of international relations. The world is no longer made up of different cultures living in their own separate spaces — if it ever was. Thanks to technology, we live in an interdependent global village, mixing in with each other to an extent that was unimaginable even 50 years ago.

Muslims, for example, now constitute the second largest faith community in several European countries while in the U.S., the father of the next president was a Muslim; but equally there are several hundred thousand Christian expats working here in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Gulf. Whatever our faith or culture, we live and work side by side with each other. If we cannot do that without respect for each other, then there is no hope for humanity. There can be no peace in the world.

The issue is all the more vital because of the way in which religion is being attacked, abused and twisted the world over, invariably for political purposes. It is seen on the attacks on religion in the secularized West, ostensibly in the name of freedom of speech. It is seen in the fanatical and hate-filled variants of mainstream faiths — of Islam as well as of Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism — that have sprung up across the world and which have done so much to damage peace and understanding.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has taken a lead in promoting international dialogue between faiths and cultures, with the first historic interfaith dialogue conference in Makkah in June and then the meeting in Madrid in July. But he is far from being alone in understanding the need for dialogue. The presence of so many international leaders at the UN meeting is testimony to that.

There is a poignant but powerful irony in the fact that today’s meeting at the UN should come a day after ceremonies were held in many countries across the world to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, the war that was supposed to end all wars, and two days after the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the attack on Jewish shops and homes in Nazi Germany that has come to symbolize Hitler’s demonic effort to wipe out Judaism and the Jews. The remembrance of those events gives future generations the chance to avoid repeating them. Dialogue provides another means to ensure that humanity does not go insane again and launch new wars out of fear and hatred for the beliefs and traditions of the “other”. Would there have been a world war or massacres in Rwanda or Srebrenica if there had been dialogue beforehand? We can never know but it is worth considering.

Over the centuries, the world has seen where ignorance and bigotry lead. The Crusades, the Inquisition, forced conversions, massacres, suppression of indigenous cultures in the name of colonialism and imperialism, 9/11 — and that is just the tip of a blood-soaked iceberg. We saw it again in India just weeks ago with the politically instigated anti-Christian riots and killings, and earlier anti-Muslim riots. There is a long and painful history of mass slaughter in the name of this religion or that, this civilization or that.

In a world where we have the capacity to kill on an industrial scale and hate can be spread at the click of a mouse, the ignorance and fear has to end. It has to be replaced by respect. Otherwise we are all the losers.

The 20th century was a bloody and murderous one. We must try and ensure that the 21st is a century of peace. Dialogue is the first step.

Source: Arab News

Haji's Qatar Photographs - 3

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Origin of Religion - Important Dates in History:

c. 2000 BC: Time of Abraham, the patriarch of Israel.

c. 1200 BC: Time of Moses, the Hebrew leader of the Exodus.

c. 1100 - 500 BC: Hindus compile their holy texts, the Vedas.

c. 563 - 483 BC: Time of Buddha, founder of Buddhism.

c. 551 - 479 BC: Time of Confucius, founder of Confucianism.

c. 200 BC: The Hindu book, Bhagavad Gita, is written.

c. 2 to 4 BC - 32 AD: Time of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and founder of Christianity.

c. 32 AD: The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

c. 40 - 90 AD: The New Testament is written by the followers of Jesus Christ.

c. 570 - 632 AD: Time of Muhammad, who records the Qur'an as the basis of Islam.