[R-G] The silent horror of the war in Sri Lank

[Anthony Fenton]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-silent-horror-of-the-war-in-Sri-Lanka/articleshow/4331986.cms

The silent horror of the war in Sri Lanka
30 Mar 2009, 0027 hrs IST,

by Arundhati Roy

The horror that is unfolding in Sri Lanka becomes possible because of  
the silence that surrounds it. There is almost no reporting in the
mainstream Indian media — or indeed in the international press — about  
what is happening there. Why this should be so is a matter of serious  
concern.

 From the little information that is filtering through it looks as  
though the Sri Lankan government is using the propaganda of the ‘war  
on terror’ as a fig leaf to dismantle any semblance of democracy in  
the country, and commit unspeakable crimes against the Tamil people.  
Working on the principle that every Tamil is a terrorist unless he or  
she can prove otherwise, civilian areas, hospitals and shelters are  
being bombed and turned into a war zone. Reliable estimates put the  
number of civilians trapped at over 200,000. The Sri Lankan Army is  
advancing, armed with tanks and aircraft.

Meanwhile, there are official reports that several ‘‘welfare  
villages’’ have been established to house displaced
Tamils in Vavuniya and Mannar districts. According to a report in The  
Daily Telegraph (Feb 14, 2009), these villages ‘‘will be compulsory  
holding centres for all civilians fleeing the fighting’’. Is this a  
euphemism for concentration camps? The former foreign minister of Sri  
Lanka, Mangala Samaraveera, told The Daily Telegraph:
‘‘A few months ago the government started registering all Tamils in  
Colombo on the grounds that they could be a security threat, but this  
could be exploited for other purposes like the Nazis in the 1930s.  
They’re basically going to label the whole civilian Tamil population  
as potential terrorists.’’

Given its stated objective of ‘‘wiping out’’ the LTTE, this malevolent  
collapse of civilians and ‘‘terrorists’’ does seem to signal that the  
government of Sri Lanka is on the verge of committing what could end  
up being genocide. According to a UN estimate several thousand people  
have already been killed. Thousands more are critically wounded. The  
few eyewitness reports that have come out are descriptions of a  
nightmare from hell. What we are witnessing, or should we say, what is  
happening in Sri Lanka and is being so effectively hidden from public  
scrutiny, is a brazen, openly racist war. The impunity with which the  
Sri Lankan government is being able to commit these crimes actually  
unveils the deeply ingrained racist prejudice, which is precisely what  
led to the marginalization and alienation of the Tamils of Sri Lanka  
in the first place. That racism has a long history, of social  
ostracisation, economic blockades, pogroms and torture. The brutal  
nature of the decades-long civil war, which started as a peaceful, non- 
violent protest, has its roots in this.

Why the silence? In another interview Mangala Samaraveera says, ‘‘A  
free media is virtually non-existent in Sri Lanka today.’’

Samaraveera goes on to talk about death squads and ‘white van  
abductions’, which have made society ‘‘freeze with fear’’. Voices of  
dissent, including those of several journalists, have been abducted  
and assassinated. The International Federation of Journalists accuses  
the government of Sri Lanka of using a combination of anti-terrorism  
laws, disappearances and assassinations to silence journalists.

There are disturbing but unconfirmed reports that the Indian  
government is lending material and logistical support to the Sri  
Lankan government in these crimes against humanity. If this is true,  
it is outrageous. What of the governments of other countries?  
Pakistan? China? What are they doing to help, or harm the situation?

In Tamil Nadu the war in Sri Lanka has fuelled passions that have led  
to more than 10 people immolating themselves. The public anger and  
anguish, much of it genuine, some of it obviously cynical political  
manipulation, has become an election issue.

It is extraordinary that this concern has not travelled to the rest of  
India. Why is there silence here? There are no ‘white van abductions’  
— at least not on this issue. Given the scale of what is happening in  
Sri Lanka, the silence is inexcusable. More so because of the Indian  
government’s long history of irresponsible dabbling in the conflict,  
first taking one side and then the other. Several of us including  
myself, who should have spoken out much earlier, have not done so,  
simply because of a lack of information about the war. So while the  
killing continues, while tens of thousands of people are being  
barricaded into concentration camps, while more than 200,000 face  
starvation, and a genocide waits to happen, there is dead silence from  
this great country.
It’s a colossal humanitarian tragedy. The world must step in. Now.  
Before it’s too late.