In pictures: The peninsula, the cultural heart of Tamil life, seems to be stuck a generation behind the rest of the nation
From The New York Times Multimedia: pictures by Lynsey Addario
Far from Colombo's shimmering seaside skyscrapers, the hollowed-out city of Jaffna seems stuck a generation behind the rest of the country.
Jaffna is a city of ruins. Some are physical, like the overgrown jumbles of mold-streaked concrete where graceful buildings used to stand. But perhaps the biggest ruin of the Tamil Tiger insurgency against the Sri Lankan government is the very thing the Tigers wanted most: any hope of self-rule.
A family, displaced numerous times during the war, lives in the shell of a house outside of Jaffna.
After 26 years of war that ended with a decisive government assault last May, Sri Lanka's Tamil minority seems no closer to winning a measure of autonomy in a Sinhalese-dominated nation, and Tamil nationalism, the cri de coeur of the Tamil Tiger insurgency, seems all but dead.
Outside the office of Douglas Devananda
Destroyed tombstones of Tamil fighters in Jaffna.
The city's ghostly vistas are a stark contrast to the camps just south of here where at least 100,000 people live in squalid detention camps, awaiting the government's permission to go home.
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5 Comments
A huge task lies ahead for the Tamils. It is unlikely that they can expect much from the government. It is time that the leaders and diaspora united to make the investment in the North neccesary to uplift the lives of the people.
Tamils in Jaffna are determined people. Of course, the current situation is very difficult for them. In the history of theirs, none of the Sri Lankan government helped them in any devastation they faced but made it worse. Even today it is continuing. I certainly know, there will be a brave leader among them who could able to take up this responsibility and start to rebuild that nation. It is hard to identify now, but naturally, slowly, and steadily he/she will emerge. Every community has its good and bad time. Time will change and our hopes will become true and our prayers will be answered. That day is not far away.
Jaffna needs to regain it's former glory, and for that the expatriate Tamils need to put in some effort, instead of solely depending on the government. Those of them who have spent the last 25-30 years in foreign lands could either go back or put in the funds needed to redevelop the area. The beneficiaries will be their own kith and kin, and they owe it to the people they left behind, the ones who funded the education which enabled them to seek their fortune in foreign lands.
The independence of a nation is the fundamental right enshrined in the UN charter. The rights of self determination and self rule of nations exist under this right.
The nation of Tamil Eelam(TE), is entitled to these legitimate rights based on Vaddukoddai Resolution(VR) of 1976 and the democratic mandate given by the people of TE in 1977.
These events happened after the people of TE refused to participate in the first republic constitution of Sri Lanka(SL) in 1972. And the Sinhalese went ahead and unilaterally declared the constitution as applicable to the entire island, though the people of TE vehemently opposed and totally rejected it.
The political truth is that the "citizenry" of TE, including those in exile, already have their right to self determination and self rule in view of their post 1972 political actions and democratic expressions till 1977.
Therefore, self determination is not a matter for Mahinda Rajapakse to "give" but to allow to happen peacefully. If not done, the UN and the International Community will be obligated to step in and allow it to happen in due course.
But on the 4th day of this month, the Dominion day of Ceylon - not "independence day"- president Rajapakse said that he will not "give" self determination and self rule to the people of TE, as if it is a matter under his control and authority.
Rajapakse, as usual, was fooling the Sinhala masses by broadcating this untruth from the "Most sacred "Buddhist" temple" in SL; a place from where even the genocide of Tamils was "blessed" and soldiers were instigated by "Buddhist" priests to commit war crimes.
In "Buddhism" in SL it is most sacred to repress Tamils, kill them and deny their legitimate rights !!
FW De Klerk, the last president of apartheid South Africa, winner of Nobel Prize for Peace, allowed self determination to South africans 20 years ago, lifted the ban on dissident political parties and announced the release of all political prisoners.
Ceeleberating the 20th anniversary on 2 Feb this year, De Klerk said "we would no doubt have been able to maintain control for many years but under grim and unacceptable circumstances".
Speaking about the consequences De Klerk said " our young men would have spent their time in military service; many more white South Africans would have left the country; and there would have been pervasive white poverty and unemployment among those who remained."
"Worse still the prospect for a satisfactory negotiated settlement would have diminshed..." said De Klerk.
Whatever De Klerk feared as ugly consequences for South Africa, has happened with precision in SL during the past 34 years.
When will a great leader emerge in SL, who can speak the truth and decide with wisdom, pragmatism and bravery to make SL and TE coexist peacefully in the island?
TO:SRILANKAN
IF YOU BUILD AGAIN THE SINHALESE WILL DEMOLISH TO GROUND ZERO AGAIN.REMEBER 57,61,77,81 AND 83, BURNING OF JAFFNA LIBRARY!THE SINHALESE WILL NEVER LET THE TAMILS TO LEAD A NORMAL LIFE! THIS IS THE FACT!