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Prabha appeals to the Tamils
 Prabhakaran’s
call to the 80 million-strong Tamil community living worldwide to
rise in support of the Tamil Eelam struggle, the two bomb blasts
that followed his Heroes’ Day’s appeal and the arrest
of thousands of Tamils in Colombo and outside, appear to have given
a new direction to the already embroiled ethnic conflict.
The
Tiger chief’s call for the involvement of the entire Tamil
race is at the tail end of the 3000-word speech where he charged
the Sinhala state of genocide of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka in
the guise of ‘war against terrorism.’ He accused the Sinhala
state of imposing on the Tamil people a ‘human tragedy’
of unprecedented scale.
“No state or organization had taken up the cause of or voiced
support for the Tamil people who are subjected to 60 years of unparalleled
oppression, death, destruction and mass displacement. The world
had ignored them because the 80 million Tamils living in different
countries of this globe have no state of their own,” Prabhakaran
said.
“I call on the 80-million Tamils to rise together and commit
themselves to attain our goal of Tamil Eelam on this blessed day,
the day on which we honour the valour of our heroes,” Prabhakaran
exhorted.
He said the Tamil state can only be built in northeastern Sri Lanka
because, the conditions precedent for the establishment of a separate
Tamil state exist there. “We are a people who boast ancient,
distinct and distinguished characteristics. We possess our separate
identities and have lived maintaining distinct national infrastructure.
We lost our independence only when we were conquered by foreigners
through war,” Prabhakaran said.
He added they waged a peaceful political struggle to regain their
freedom and when the Sinhala state refused to yield to their demands,
they took up arms.
He said they had lost faith in foreign mediation. India which tried
its hand first, imposed on the Tamils a solution beneficial to its
interests without consulting the Sri Lankan Tamils involved in the
conflict. The Sinhala state failed to implement even that half –baked
solution.
Then, the international community tried to work out a solution on
the basis of a Ceasefire Agreement. The Sinhala state did not honour
its undertaking and the international community found itself helpless.
Now, the Sinhala state, having dumped the Ceasefire Agreement, has
waged an all out battle to defeat the Tamils.
Prabhakaran said he understood the difficulties of the international
community. They have their own self-interest in the emerging Asia.
He said the confidence the Tamil people had placed on the international
community has eroded. Yet, he did not rule out any role for the
international community. The role he expects it to play is the one
it played in East Timor, Montenegro and currently in Kosovo.
He assigns the main role in the struggle for the attainment of the
State of Tamil Eelam to the Tamils themselves. He tells them that
the Tigers have the capacity to fight the Sinhala state. “The
Sinhala nation always underestimates us… We are always focused
on our strategy,” he says and adds, “We have strategically
withdrawn from the east while launching defensive attacks.”
They have made the Sinhala military spread its feet wide and it
would soon be forced to face the serious consequences.
“Thousands of our fighters are standing ready to fight with
determination for our just goal of freedom and we will overcome
the hurdles before us and liberate our motherland,” Prabhakaran
announces and concludes his speech thus, “On this day when
we remember our Heroes who sacrificed themselves for this sacred
goal, let each one of us carry our dream in our hearts and struggle
until it is achieved.”
From the Tamil race he expects material and moral help, he said.
The section dealing with Prabhakaran’s appeal to the 80-million
Tamils and his argument about the need for a Tamil state had been
summarised thus in the official translation of his speech: ‘On
this day, when we remember our Heroes, I ask the entire Tamil speaking
world to rise up for the liberation of Tamil Eelam. I wish to express
my love and gratitude to you for your past participation in the
building of our nation, bringing together your abundant intellectual,
material, monetary and many other resources in the service of our
nation and ask that you stand with us in the coming years of our
freedom struggle.’
That had not conveyed the true message of Prabhakaran’s speech.
The two bomb blasts and the subsequent mass arrests of the Tamil
people have begun to inflame the feelings of the Tamil people.
(The writer is a senior journalist.)
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