During the height of the LTTE , which lasted for nearly twenty-nine years, an assembly of five thousand Sinhala expatriates gathered at the Hyde Park Corner in Central London, in May 1991, and walked across London streets up to Trafalgar Square. Even the ‘Lord Nelson’ who stood on the Trafalgar Square’s towering column could have caught his eagle eye when the Sinhalese gathered at his feet! It was an occasion that went down in history for the Sri Lankan Community in the UK.
The parade itself raised two issues; for the first time, it displayed the solidarity and unity of a community with enthusiasm and vigour,
During the height of the LTTE , which lasted for nearly twenty nine years, an assembly of five thousand Sinhala expatriates gathered at the Hyde Park Corner in Central London, in May 1991, and walked across London streets up to Trafalgar Square. Even the ‘Lord Nelson’ who stood on the Trafalgar Square’s towering column could have caught his eagle eye when the Sinhalese gathered at his feet! It was an occasion that went down in history for the Sri Lankan Community in the UK.
The parade itself raised two issues; for the first time, it displayed the solidarity and unity of a community with enthusiasm and vigour,secondly, it indicated the frustrations of a community against terrorism, which destroyed the very fabric of the Sri Lankan society at home due the the fact LTTE was demanding a separate state for Tamils in a sovereign country (Sri Lanka). The struggle became so aggressive and ended up in a guerrilla war.
The public procession itself exhibited the fraternity of the Sinhala people in the UK. It ended up at 10 Downing Street (British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official residence),while the crowds kept shouting across the streets to proscribe the LTTE (The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and requested the UK government to emulate other nations such as the USA, Canada, Australia, India & Malaysia.
Multi-racial and multi-religious country.
One needs to be crystal clear in one’s mind that Sri Lanka was a multi-racial and multi-religious country where its citizens (Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Christian and Burgher) were living in harmony for centuries. It is only a tiny minority of terrorists of the LTTE that became growing cancer suddenly.
Terrorism is a ruthless serpent. When it raises its ugly head, it is not bothered by its race, creed, caste, or religion. Consequently, even the Tamil people lived in fear of this terrorist outfit, which started extortion and coercion from Sri Lankan Tamils and spread to other parts of the world. The LTTE’s support in the UK demanded a minimum of £10,000/- (ten-thousand-pound sterling) from London Tamil business houses. Equally, the LTTE helped the Tamil refugees, who arrived in England from Sri Lanka, establish their businesses (corner shops and wine stores) in London with the help of LTTE’s extorted money. Those who benefitted had to contribute to the LTTE heavily with interest.
The LTTE (Tamil Tigers) used intimidation and threats to pressure Tamil families in the North and East of Sri Lanka to release the youth (sons and daughters) for the LTTE military service. When families refused, their children were abducted from homes forcibly at night or while children walked to school, mobilised LTTE gangs seized the young to be recruited to the LTTE army to make them cannon fodder. Parents who resisted faced retribution from the Tamil Tigers; their punishment included violence or detention in shocking conditions.
Following is a true story on the internet of a girl recruited by the LTTE at the age of sixteen: Her story goes as follows:
” My parents refused to give me to the LTTE. About fifteen of them came to my house, both men and women, in uniform with rifles andguns in holsters. I was fast asleep. They came on the following morning and dragged me out of the house by force. My father shouted at them saying: “What is going on!” Some LTTE soldiers took my father away towards to the woods and beat him up. They pushed my mother onto the ground when she tried to stop them.”
Recruitment of Child Soldiers.
The LTTE went down in history for mobilising under-aged children against all UNICEF regulations: According to the UNICEF’s Security Council Regulations (“mobilisation of under-aged children by armed forces and armed groups is against the International Law. Such grave violations were supposed to be monitored and reported to the Security Council.” Yet, Adele Ann Wilby Balasingham, an Australian (a former bar attendant at Brixton, London) got married to the late Anton Balasingham, the theoretician of the LTTE in London, and became the leader of the women’s wing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. She was solely responsible for the recruitment of ‘child soldiers’ to the terrorist outfit. Amazingly, neither the Sri Lankan Government nor the United Nations has taken action against this terrorist woman and left her live free in a luxurious mansion in the South East of London
In Slumber.
For far too long, the Sri Lankan diplomats at the High Commission in the UK and the responsible officials in previous Sri Lankan Governments were in slumber. They simply allowed the terrorists to spread false propaganda to foul the minds of impartial folk with distorted facts.
For instance, when Reuters News Agency reported an explosion by the LTTE, no Sri Lankan diplomat appeared on TV on behalf of the Government. It was the President of The Sinhala Association in London, who bravely took upon the task on his shoulders. It was due to diplomats not allowed by Foreign Ministry to give their own opinion or diapproval before they could obtain permission from the Foreign Ministry in Colombo! So, by the time the Foreign Ministry advised them, the stable door was closed, and the horse had bolted.
Who was responsible for the LTTE’s dissemination of false propaganda over many years continuously? Critics point the finger at the Sri Lankan diplomats in the UK and all those Government Officials at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry. They also maintain that they shouldtake the blame come upon themselves for acting as armchair advisers without engaging in productivity. This sheer apathy was identified as a ‘Sinhala weakness’ among the terrorists and aided them to turn their false propaganda into factual incidents, calling the Sinhala people as ‘ Sinhalaya Modaya Kevun Kanna Yodaya’. So, what took place was the Sinhala expatriates’ enthusiasm in London, in the absence of any support from the Sri Lanka Government , depleted if not for the youth of the second generation of Sri Lankan expatriates. Together with the old guards, the young organised protests that lasted for eighty consecutive days opposite No.10, Downing Street.
Irish example.
Irish suffered horrors of bloodshed and violence out of terrorism for far too long. Similarly, thousands of Sri Lankan expatriates (young old and even in wheelchairs) gathered and marched across London in to convey a single message to Britain – to proscribe the LTTE – calling people in Sri Lanka needed peace. Finally, they achieved that and the LTTE was proscribed.
The Present of Sri Lanka needs to make the international community broad-based and support Sri Lanka with the help of a new and dynamic team of Sri Lankan foreign diplomats. The new Diplomats basic approach should be to face the Western Press with facts and figures at their fingertips. The only way to achieve it is by releasing videotapes, as evidence, to show to what extent the ruthless LTTE killed the Sinhalese, Muslims (even bashing infants against trees) grabbing out of their mothers, including Tamil politicians who opposed their mindset. To achieve such high standards, all foreign diplomats need proper training and understanding of the Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Government’s stance, which has promised all Sri Lankans to have a protected and a safe country.
During President R. Premadasa’s era, such guidance to the diplomats at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London became very much a sensible idea. However, it lasted only for a short period. Foreign Ministry (as per President’ Premadasa’s instructions) liaised with the Sri Lanka High Commissioner and arranged to conduct training courses for diplomats on how to confront BBC or other British journalists and to react in front of the TV cameras. To achieve such high standards, the Sri Lanka government employed a prominent advertising company (Sathie and Sathie ) by converting the vast basement area of the building at 13 Hyde Park Gardens as the venue for such training.
The Tamil Diaspora, living in the comfort of the western atmosphere is still attempting to disrupt a democratically elected Sri Lanka Government’s sovereignty since the defeat of the LTTE in 2009. They keep pressurising Sri Lanka, year on year, on human rights violations at the UN General Assembly, claiming that the Sri Lanka army committed genocide. Therefore, it has become paramount to educate those international countries, who voted against Sri Lanka, to convince that soldiers did not commit genocide; instead, the soldiers rescued innocent Tamil folk whom the LTTE used as human shields at gunpoint. It will become a new responsibility for new diplomats to challenge such arguments by distributing the videotapes of the final battle at Nandikadal lake.
The Sri Lankan forces crushed the LTTE to smithereens on 17 May 2009, but politics still play a significant role in Tamil areas, particularly with the help of some of the Tamil politicians who were supportive to the LTTE. These wolves in sheep clothing are still trying to manipulate the innocent Tamil folk for their political gains.
Equally, the elite Tamil diaspora in Western countries, who are been influenced by such political elements in the North and East of Sri Lanka keep on harping about Tamil suffering in the North and the East. Therefore, it becomes foreign diplomats and the foreign officeofficial’s duty to change the minds of Tamils who live in the luxury ( West ) and who have not visited Sri Lanka for the past 22 years! Unless and until Tamil politicians identify and finish their double game, Tamil people in those areas will not be allowed to lead unaffectedlives, however much the Sri Lanka Government develops the North and the East! Unless and until those Tamil politicians end the double game, confusion and disharmony will never vanish and old wounds will never fade away
Therefore, every Tamil person needs to realise the falsehood of some Tamil politicians for their self-esteem. Once they begin to realise the suffering of others is akin to their own only, their lives will become glad, and it will become Unity is Divine!
tilakfernando@gmail.com
The writer lived in London for over three decades.
, it indicated the frustrations of a community against terrorism, which destroyed the very fabric of the Sri Lankan society at home due the the fact LTTE was demanding a separate state for Tamils in a sovereign country (Sri Lanka). The struggle became so aggressive and ended up in a guerrilla war.
The public procession itself exhibited the fraternity of the Sinhala people in the UK. It ended up at 10 Downing Street (British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official residence),while the crowds kept shouting across the streets to proscribe the LTTE (The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and requested the UK government to emulate other nations such as the USA, Canada, Australia, India & Malaysia.
Multi-racial and multi-religious country.
One needs to be crystal clear in one’s mind that Sri Lanka was a multi-racial and multi-religious country where its citizens (Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Christian and Burgher) were living in harmony for centuries. It is only a tiny minority of terrorists of the LTTE that became growing cancer suddenly.
Terrorism is a ruthless serpent. When it raises its ugly head, it is not bothered by its race, creed, caste, or religion. Consequently, even the Tamil people lived in fear of this terrorist outfit, which started extortion and coercion from Sri Lankan Tamils and spread to other parts of the world. The LTTE’s support in the UK demanded a minimum of £10,000/- (ten-thousand-pound sterling) from London Tamil business houses. Equally, the LTTE helped the Tamil refugees, who arrived in England from Sri Lanka, establish their businesses (corner shops and wine stores) in London with the help of LTTE’s extorted money. Those who benefitted had to contribute to the LTTE heavily with interest.
The LTTE (Tamil Tigers) used intimidation and threats to pressure Tamil families in the North and East of Sri Lanka to release the youth (sons and daughters) for the LTTE military service. When families refused, their children were abducted from homes forcibly at night or while children walked to school, mobilised LTTE gangs seized the young to be recruited to the LTTE army to make them cannon fodder. Parents who resisted faced retribution from the Tamil Tigers; their punishment included violence or detention in shocking conditions.
Following is a true story on the internet of a girl recruited by the LTTE at the age of sixteen: Her story goes as follows:
” My parents refused to give me to the LTTE. About fifteen of them came to my house, both men and women, in uniform with rifles andguns in holsters. I was fast asleep. They came on the following morning and dragged me out of the house by force. My father shouted at them saying: “What is going on!” Some LTTE soldiers took my father away towards to the woods and beat him up. They pushed my mother onto the ground when she tried to stop them.”
Recruitment of Child Soldiers.
The LTTE went down in history for mobilising under-aged children against all UNICEF regulations: According to the UNICEF’s Security Council Regulations (“mobilisation of under-aged children by armed forces and armed groups is against the International Law. Such grave violations were supposed to be monitored and reported to the Security Council.” Yet, Adele Ann Wilby Balasingham, an Australian (a former bar attendant at Brixton, London) got married to the late Anton Balasingham, the theoretician of the LTTE in London, and became the leader of the women’s wing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. She was solely responsible for the recruitment of ‘child soldiers’ to the terrorist outfit. Amazingly, neither the Sri Lankan Government nor the United Nations has taken action against this terrorist woman and left her live free in a luxurious mansion in the South East of London
In Slumber.
For far too long, the Sri Lankan diplomats at the High Commission in the UK and the responsible officials in previous Sri Lankan Governments were in slumber. They simply allowed the terrorists to spread false propaganda to foul the minds of impartial folk with distorted facts.
For instance, when Reuters News Agency reported an explosion by the LTTE, no Sri Lankan diplomat appeared on TV on behalf of the Government. It was the President of The Sinhala Association in London, who bravely took upon the task on his shoulders. It was due to diplomats not allowed by Foreign Ministry to give their own opinion or diapproval before they could obtain permission from the Foreign Ministry in Colombo! So, by the time the Foreign Ministry advised them, the stable door was closed, and the horse had bolted.
Who was responsible for the LTTE’s dissemination of false propaganda over many years continuously? Critics point the finger at the Sri Lankan diplomats in the UK and all those Government Officials at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry. They also maintain that they shouldtake the blame come upon themselves for acting as armchair advisers without engaging in productivity. This sheer apathy was identified as a ‘Sinhala weakness’ among the terrorists and aided them to turn their false propaganda into factual incidents, calling the Sinhala people as ‘ Sinhalaya Modaya Kevun Kanna Yodaya’. So, what took place was the Sinhala expatriates’ enthusiasm in London, in the absence of any support from the Sri Lanka Government , depleted if not for the youth of the second generation of Sri Lankan expatriates. Together with the old guards, the young organised protests that lasted for eighty consecutive days opposite No.10, Downing Street.
Irish example.
Irish suffered horrors of bloodshed and violence out of terrorism for far too long. Similarly, thousands of Sri Lankan expatriates (young old and even in wheelchairs) gathered and marched across London in to convey a single message to Britain – to proscribe the LTTE – calling people in Sri Lanka needed peace. Finally, they achieved that and the LTTE was proscribed.
The Present of Sri Lanka needs to make the international community broad-based and support Sri Lanka with the help of a new and dynamic team of Sri Lankan foreign diplomats. The new Diplomats basic approach should be to face the Western Press with facts and figures at their fingertips. The only way to achieve it is by releasing videotapes, as evidence, to show to what extent the ruthless LTTE killed the Sinhalese, Muslims (even bashing infants against trees) grabbing out of their mothers, including Tamil politicians who opposed their mindset. To achieve such high standards, all foreign diplomats need proper training and understanding of the Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Government’s stance, which has promised all Sri Lankans to have a protected and a safe country.
During President R. Premadasa’s era, such guidance to the diplomats at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London became very much a sensible idea. However, it lasted only for a short period. Foreign Ministry (as per President’ Premadasa’s instructions) liaised with the Sri Lanka High Commissioner and arranged to conduct training courses for diplomats on how to confront BBC or other British journalists and to react in front of the TV cameras. To achieve such high standards, the Sri Lanka government employed a prominent advertising company (Sathie and Sathie ) by converting the vast basement area of the building at 13 Hyde Park Gardens as the venue for such training.
The Tamil Diaspora, living in the comfort of the western atmosphere is still attempting to disrupt a democratically elected Sri Lanka Government’s sovereignty since the defeat of the LTTE in 2009. They keep pressurising Sri Lanka, year on year, on human rights violations at the UN General Assembly, claiming that the Sri Lanka army committed genocide. Therefore, it has become paramount to educate those international countries, who voted against Sri Lanka, to convince that soldiers did not commit genocide; instead, the soldiers rescued innocent Tamil folk whom the LTTE used as human shields at gunpoint. It will become a new responsibility for new diplomats to challenge such arguments by distributing the videotapes of the final battle at Nandikadal lake.
The Sri Lankan forces crushed the LTTE to smithereens on 17 May 2009, but politics still play a significant role in Tamil areas, particularly with the help of some of the Tamil politicians who were supportive to the LTTE. These wolves in sheep clothing are still trying to manipulate the innocent Tamil folk for their political gains.
Equally, the elite Tamil diaspora in Western countries, who are been influenced by such political elements in the North and East of Sri Lanka keep on harping about Tamil suffering in the North and the East. Therefore, it becomes foreign diplomats and the foreign officeofficial’s duty to change the minds of Tamils who live in the luxury ( West ) and who have not visited Sri Lanka for the past 22 years! Unless and until Tamil politicians identify and finish their double game, Tamil people in those areas will not be allowed to lead unaffectedlives, however much the Sri Lanka Government develops the North and the East! Unless and until those Tamil politicians end the double game, confusion and disharmony will never vanish and old wounds will never fade away
Therefore, every Tamil person needs to realise the falsehood of some Tamil politicians for their self-esteem. Once they begin to realise the suffering of others is akin to their own only, their lives will become glad, and it will become Unity is Divine!
tilakfernando@gmail.com
The writer lived in London for over three decades.
picture credit:Ceylon Today
