Later addressing the 'Defence Seminar 2012', Swamy said Rajapaksa's resolve to end terrorism in Sri Lanka was a boon for India, and "the credit for this victory over terrorism naturally must belong to the political leadership of the President Mr Rajapaksa."

"The people of India recognise this as a contribution to our national security and fit for being honoured by India's highest award in the future."

Swamy said Rajapkasa correctly disregarded international calls for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, chose to bring a 29 years chapter of terrorism to a decisive end by military means.

"By this victory, India was a major beneficiary. Much has improved in Sri Lanka since the formal end of violent strife on that historic date of May 19, 2009 in Sri Lanka, when coming to know of Prabhakaran's death, the rump LTTE surrendered and laid down arms."

He said at present the Tamil families do not fear forced recruitment of their children, and other abuses like extortion of funds from civilians to finance terrorist operations.

"As an Indian and a Tamil, let me say at this point that the overwhelming proportion of the people of Tamil Nadu had rejected the LTTE whenever they were made to make a call.''

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/south/subramanian-swamy-meets-rajapaksa-discusses-tamil-issue-167

amnesty international calls on the US to investigate rajapaksa for his role in perpetrating torture and other war crimes.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:amnesty international calls on the US to investigate rajapaksa for his role in perpetrating torture and other war crimes.

LittleFella posted Re:Sri lanka to stop shelling.. on 3 yrs ago
1. 75000 muslims were chased out of NE provinces by l.t.t.e. 2. All sinhalese have been hounded out of NE provincesn by the l.t.t.e. 2. 120000 civilians were kept hostage by l.t.t.e As long as Tamil diaspora is blind to l.t.t.e, they will never allow SL Tamils to prosper. the l.t.t.e asked for war. let them face the music.

Ponniyin Selvan posted Re:Sri lanka to stop shelling.. on 3 yrs ago
yeah, so bomb the so called ltte from heavily using aerial techniques and using heavy armored shelling. It's all ltte.

LittleFella posted Re:Sri lanka to stop shelling.. on 3 yrs ago
No. The SL forces did not bomb civilian areas. Why don't you ask the question to the l.t.t.e that lived between civilians keeping them as shield ? Anti-terrorist operations, fighting against guerilla forces always has a downside, to both sides. l.t.t.e besides being a guerilla force is a conventional force having navy and air force, bombing civilians, killing leaders, presidents, prime ministers, school-children, breaching dams, destroying tanks/water supplies.

Ponniyin Selvan posted Re:Sri lanka to stop shelling.. on 3 yrs ago
Alrite man, you are free to believe whatever you want..If you think it is just ltte that is responsible, feel free. I watched a NDTV debate in Chennai with an audience member asking a pertinent question the Hindu editor N.Ram, on the lines of "Dude, you support the struggles for ethnic liberation in Kosovo and Palestine, but why are you against Srilankan Tamils". N.Ram did not answer.

LittleFella posted Re:Sri lanka to stop shelling.. on 3 yrs ago
PS, in the Kamal movie Sati Leelavati, Kamal's sis-in-law asks him what wrong she did by asking her husband about his infidelity. Kamal responds 'Pota sattam, sattam panna yedam thaan tavaru' - something like that. If l.t.t.e did not raise so much stakes, if they had accepted the federal option given by Ranil Wickremasinghe, and if they chose dialogue at a certain stage when they were on the top, this kind of situation would not have arisen. Let us not be blind to reality. Under no circumstance will a partition happen. Sri Lanka has a right to weed out terrorism and save the island from violent partition.

http://forums.sulekha.com/forums/coffeehouse/sri-lanka-to-stop-shelling-946812.htm

the LTTE is defunct and pirabakaran dead. it is time to focus on the still living and governing war criminals.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:the LTTE is defunct and pirabakaran dead. it is time to focus on the still living and governing war criminals.

when weeding out terrorism it is inevitable that excesses will occur. as is the case in kashmir for instance. one does not fight like a gentleman when fighting terrorists.

the war is over. NOW it is time to focus on ensuring that the civil rights of tamil sri lankans are respected, victims of war receive proper restitution, and that they are integrated into sri lankan society as equal citizens. time to stop prattling on about the LTTE and pirabakaran.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:the war is over. NOW it is time to focus on ensuring that the civil rights of tamil sri lankans are respected, victims of war receive proper restitution, and that they are integrated into sri lankan society as equal citizens. time to stop prattling on about the LTTE and pirabakaran.

Rajapaksa has made it very clear that he will treat Tamils as equal citizens and go out of his way to integrate them into lankan society.

------

except of shekhar gupta's interview with Rajapaksa:


•SG: Now I know that you get irritated when people tell you this but, will you take catre of the Tamils? Will you treat them as equal citizens?

MR: I…

•SG: Is there equality in your system? Because they now feel defeated in a way…

MR: Yes, now if you listen…if you go through my speech in Parliament I have said there are no minorities hereafter. They are only two…

•SG: ethnicities.

MR: Ethnicities. People who love Sri Lanka and people who are not love Sri Lanka. That is the only criteria that we will divide the country in. I mean, the division of the people. So all people are my people whether they are Tamils, Sinhala or Muslims or Malaya or

•SG: So in your eyes …because

MR: I will treat everybody…everybody equal.

•SG: Because there is a history to this 1983.

MR: We have to forget about the history.

•SG: History.

MR: We must start..start a new life here.

•SG: You in your eyes make no distinction between Tamils and Sinhala.

MR: No. I can’t do that because my own relation are Tamils…some of them are Tamils. My niece is married to a Tamil…who…She is a member of parliament.

•SG: Well, your greatest cricketing hero is a Tamil.

MR: Hmmm

•Sg: Your greatest cricketing hero is a Tamil… Muttiah Muralitharan.

Mr: Muralitharan..so how can I do that? In my own house I cannot do it.

•SG: But, Sinhala chauvinism…sinhala chauvinism was a reality too.

MR: I won’t say that too. I won’t say that. Because this all politicians have started.

•SG: Right

MR: I don’t think normal…if you go to a village and speak to a Tamil, I don’t think he had all this problem. But for politicians yes. For politicians they are the people who wants power.

•SG: Right.

MR: This is the only way that they can come to power.

•SG: By dividing people.

MR: By dividing people.

•SG: You are a politician too?

MR: Yes.

•SG: You have no intention of doing that?

MR: I don’t want to because I want the whole country to vote for me.

•SG: because this election over there you will sweep? Are you holding an early election?

MR: I might.

•SG: You might. I fI read your smile…if I read your smile correctly it means why shouldn’t I?

MR: Why shouldn’t I? Why?

•SG: Yes. Yes. Because you’ve got the country on your side.

MR: The only thing is I can’t have elections for four years, from the time I was elected. So…

•SG: Right.

MR: So in November only I can take a decision.

•SG: Yes. But you would have love to do itn now.

MR: Yes.

•SG: But November…I can say reasonably that we can expect an early election.

MR: either parliamentary or Presidential.

•SG: or Presidential. So in that election will you make permanent peace? You won the war, will you make permanent peace?

MR: certainly.

•SG: And making up to the Tamil people an election plank?

MR: Yes. Quite right. We have already done it.

•SG: You will not run an anti-Tamil campaign?

MR: There can’t be an anti-Tamil campaign because I need Tamil vote. Whether its Tamils or Muslims or…

•SG: But you will also not run a militaristic campaign?

MR: That was against terrorism?

•SG: because…I know these are very ugly days, as you drive onto the city you see wherever these hoardings and posters President Rajapakse with generals and soldiers.

Mr: Yes

•SG: It happens in democracies in war times. You don’t see this militarism playing into your election campaign…later this year?

MR: No, not necessarily.

•SG: I think I can now safely predict that there will be an election later this year or later next year. Yes.

MR: because I don’t want to do that. In need everybody’s vote.

•SG: You’re…

MR: I don’t want to divide the country again.

•SG: So you are not going to run a jingoistic campaign.

MR: No. Never. I’ll never do that. You must remember…in my cabinet…take my cabinet…how many Muslims are there…how many Tamils. I mean, the up-country Tamils, they are called u-county Tamils by us, and some calls them Indian Tamils, and the have leader Thondaman.

•SG: Like Mr Thondaman

MR: They are in my cabinet and from North we have a cabinet minister…from east.




http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-war-is-over-we-should-be-together.-to-indias-tamils-i-will-say-that-their-brothers-and-sisters-will-be-looked-after-by-mahinda-rajapaksa/468899/0

The content of the President's historic speech in Tamil at the UN was an effort to establish that he is a people's leader representing all the peoples of Sri Lanka, including the Tamil minority.

While my mother tongue is Sinhala, let me elaborate a few thoughts in Tamil. Sinhala and Tamil are the two languages of the people of Sri Lanka. Both these have been used through the centuries, are rich in literature, and are widely used in my country, with recognition as Official Languages.

He said in Tamil adding,

With the widening of democracy in our country, the bonds between the Sinhala and Tamil people of Sri Lanka will grow stronger and remain a major force for its future development. We will march towards a richer freedom and lasting unity that await us as a nation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahinda_Rajapaksa

rashmun you are either completely naive or a sadist. i can't make up my mind. if you buy this, you are capable of also drinking narendra modi's koolaid.

and your blase pronouncements of shit happens when we are fighting scumbags also smells very much like what modi and his ilk said during the godra carnage. chew on that.

in my opinion comparing the LTTE to muslims in Gujarat is an inappropriate comparison. A better comparison is comparing them to insurgents/terrorists in north-east and kashmir. to give only one example, there has never been a separatist movement in Gujarat. This example alone makes your comparison invalid.

wherever an army goes there are bound to be excesses. when the indian peace keeping force went to sri lanka many excesses were reported. does this mean that the indian army officers or political leaders of that time should be tried for war crimes?

there have been amnesty reports about excesses or even atrocities of the indian army in kashmir. does this mean that the indian army should withdraw from kashmir and allow it to be separated from India?

do you think excesses or even atrocities were not committed during the american civil war? if you agree with this, then do you also agree that lincoln and his generals should have been tried for war crimes?

Rashmun wrote:there have been amnesty reports about excesses or even atrocities of the indian army in kashmir. does this mean that the indian army should withdraw from kashmir and allow it to be separated from India?

do you think excesses or even atrocities were not committed during the american civil war? if you agree with this, then do you also agree that lincoln and his generals should have been tried for war crimes?

*corrected*

Rashmun wrote:in my opinion comparing the LTTE to muslims in Gujarat is an inappropriate comparison.

i wasn't doing that. i was drawing an analogy between civilian tamils and innocent gujarati muslims who had nothing to do with godhra and between rajapaksa and modi.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:
i wasn't doing that. i was drawing an analogy between civilian tamils and innocent gujarati muslims who had nothing to do with godhra and between rajapaksa and modi.

Although there may be many differences, to me a more apt analogy for Srilankan Tamils and LTTE would be with the Palestinians and PLO (I think the basic model for LTTE was based on PLO in some ways).

Both are freedom- liberation movements..created for the same reasons..but, Arafat for all his faults/weaknesses was a better spokesperson-diplomat than Prabhakaran and had a great deal of underground support from the powerful people/forces in the Arab countries, while Prabhakaran lacked that support, made bad moves..and personally became an extreme militant (not to mention an easy scapegoat- to deny tamilians their human rights) and the rest is history.

It has taken a mighty long time for PLO to gain recognition as a "legitimate" Org- Rep of Palestinians..now with recognition at the world table (with still all the Refugee camps- and no real statehood)..I don't know what the future holds for the Liberation of Srilankan Tamilians and who will take the new leadership roles..only time will tell. The passions - may seem dormant..but, as history has shown time and again..time has a way of changing what is seen as a lost cause-and impossible today.

maria -- there is a reason for the analogy between rajapaksa and modi and civilian tamils and innocent muslim victims of godhra. and that is to bring home the callousness of acceptable collateral damage to rashmun in terms of actors that he can identify with from the indian context. i know he doesn't care for modi and i am telling him that he shouldn't be so worshipful of rajapaksa for the same reason.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:maria -- there is a reason for the analogy between rajapaksa and modi and civilian tamils and innocent muslim victims of godhra. and that is to bring home the callousness of acceptable collateral damage to rashmun in terms of actors that he can identify with from the indian context. i know he doesn't care for modi and i am telling him that he shouldn't be so worshipful of rajapaksa for the same reason.

Rajaprakasa was dealing with internal terrorism and separatists who wanted a piece of their country. Naturally, he had to deal with the situation firmly. Can't compare his situation with Modi's.

The situation is analogous with bhindranwale and the khalistanis and prabhakaran and ltte. kPS Gill, the IPS officer brought the situation under control and completely eliminated the sikh terrorism. yes, there are accusations that he blatantly violated human rights, but the end results is peace in the area and the country. Else, so many lives would've been lost to terrorism and so many innocent youngsters would've been misguided into terrorism.

There's something that Krishna preaches/practices in the Mahabharata. That's called 'apadharma' (you can violate dharma in times of crisis for the good of the mankind). And that's ok. Looks like there is some sort of peace in the area now. It's good for the tamilians in Srilanka too.

kinnera i suppose you'd say it's ok to sustain some collateral damage killing innocent telugus in trying to solve the naxalbari problem in AP.

kinnera i suppose you'd say it's ok to sustain some collateral damage killing innocent telugus in trying to solve the naxal problem in AP.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:maria -- there is a reason for the analogy between rajapaksa and modi and civilian tamils and innocent muslim victims of godhra. and that is to bring home the callousness of acceptable collateral damage to rashmun in terms of actors that he can identify with from the indian context. i know he doesn't care for modi and i am telling him that he shouldn't be so worshipful of rajapaksa for the same reason.

I see.

Max, am sure you and Rashmun are far more familiar with Modi and what happened in Godhra than I am!

I was not trying to dispute what you said..and distract from your discussion..and wanted to say how I see the Srilankan Tamils-LTTE, since I see the titles of threads related to them (mostly negative stuff- with hardly any compassion for the real suffering they have endured/continue to endure). *Rajapaksa..has committed war crimes, and has to be punished for them, imo.

I'm out of this thread now!

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:kinnera i suppose you'd say it's ok to sustain some collateral damage killing innocent telugus in trying to solve the naxalbari problem in AP.

If it can eliminate naxalism forever and save many more innocent ppl's lives in future to naxalism, yes. If the innocent lives saved would be much greater than the innocent lives lost, then yes. If peace can be regained and the quality of life and security of ppl improved, then yes.

please note that rajaprakasha didn't go about killing innocent tamils. LTTE was using them as human shields and the lankan army had no choice.

[quote="kinnera" kinnera

please note that rajaprakasha didn't go about killing innocent tamils. LTTE was using them as human shields and the lankan army had no choice.[/quote]


I am surprised you say this Kinnera..and have to disagree.
While the LTTE has to share the blame..they were no match to all the bombardment..from all the arms dealing..with China and Russia.

The atrocities under his leadership continue..and he is a war criminal, imo.

kinnera wrote:
If it can eliminate naxalism forever and save many more innocent ppl's lives in future to naxalism, yes.

the problem with this is that innocent victims of state action against terrorists or other pesky actors are usually the next generation of terrorists.

such krishna and bhagavad gita-sanctioned solutions only work ideally in the war manuals of chicken hawks.

kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:kinnera i suppose you'd say it's ok to sustain some collateral damage killing innocent telugus in trying to solve the naxalbari problem in AP.

If it can eliminate naxalism forever and save many more innocent ppl's lives in future to naxalism, yes. If the innocent lives saved would be much greater than the innocent lives lost, then yes. If peace can be regained and the quality of life and security of ppl improved, then yes.

please note that rajaprakasha didn't go about killing innocent tamils. LTTE was using them as human shields and the lankan army had no choice.

>>>>Kinnera,

Sri Lanka was well within its rights to shut down LTTE, a known terrorist organization. At the same time, the world needs to recognize why LTTE got its start, even though the group may have ultimately proven to be a major curse for the ethnic tamils. Suppression and double standards meted out to Tamils has been embedded in the system. I have even met Sinhalese who readily agree to this. Mahinda and others before him as well as the government need to be held accountable, if there have been egregious violations of human rights.

Somewhat relatedly, I also think the days of the "victors" writing history are over, with the omnipresent media presence and instantaneous information flow. There is also increased awarenesss to separate out the innocents from the true culprits. In other words, Stalin's revenge-fueled literal and figurative rape of innocent Germans at the end of ww2 including nuns, with impunity, (hopefully) will never happen. The silver lining to this is with more nuanced understanding will come more oppotunities to find middle grounds.

[quote="Kris"]

kinnera wrote:

>>>>Kinnera,

Sri Lanka was well within its rights to shut down LTTE, a known terrorist organization. At the same time, the world needs to recognize why LTTE got its start, even though the group may have ultimately proven to be a major curse for the ethnic tamils. Suppression and double standards meted out to Tamils has been embedded in the system. I have even met Sinhalese who readily agree to this. Mahinda and others before him as well as the government need to be held accountable, if there have been egregious violations of human rights.

i don't know how much of the suppression is true. Probably some of it may be true but most of it be the exaggerated imagination like the hindian oppression/suppresion/imposition/occupation and the need for a separate Tamil nation, secession from india etc, the rhetoric that Kayal repeats here every time.

Anyway, i wish that the srilankan tamils have it good from now on.