Over 1000 days have passed. Mothers, fathers, children, the elderly majority, if not all Tamils wait hopefully for the return of their loved ones. The Sri Lankan government has put no effort so far to find the answers. Instead, the government simply announced that all 20 000 missing persons are dead. The announcement was made by the current president who was a defense minister during the massacre of 2009 and believed to be behind numerous white van abductions.
There is no surprise then that this president made this heartbreaking statement while busy introducing new legislation that grants immunity to those who carried out such abuses. Even the known war criminals are constantly promoted by the current regime.
Gotabaya Rajapakse states that the issuing of death certificates will bring closure to families’ problems. The only closure families of the disappeared will get is when he answers questions to his war crimes.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had reported how government forces carried out unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and gender-based violence against Tamils. Yet Mr. Gotabaya Rajapakse states that the 20,000 lives were taken by the LTTE. The question in everybody’s mind is how can the LTTE have killed the 20,000 or more Tamils they themselves have surrendered to the security forces of Sri Lanka. Besides, a number of disappearances also have taken place after the so-called end of the war.
Killing fields of Sri Lanka -a two-part documentary that was aired on Channel 4 showed to the world the atrocities committed by the Rajapakse brothers and their security forces. The repeated artillery shelling on the no-fire zone speaks volumes of this genocidal government.
A protest was held on the 29th of January 2020 outside the UK prime minister’s residence. Main Tamil diaspora organisations such as BTF and TGTE were supposed to have organised this protest together. Unfortunately, they narrowed their demand with the false trust in the so-called “international community”. They still hope to get some results through institutions such as the United Nations, the European Union etc. But the same enthusiasm about these forces are diminishing among the Tamil speaking population in general. Hence the reason for the poor turn out despite the enormous anger that exists.
No one expects justice from the Sri Lankan government who are the perpetrators of the abductions and killings. Similarly, none of the capitalist institutions can be trusted to deliver justice, as their sole aim so far had been to establish their own interest in Sri Lanka rather than delivering justice. Ten years have passed since the heinous crimes committed in Sri Lanka and it is very well documented. But so far no justice is on the horizon. Tamil Solidarity argues for uniting with those who struggle and build a mass alternative power to combat these oppressive forces. We invite all the Tamil workers and youth to join us in this work.
ketheswaran
