(The bureaucrats in the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India performed a never-before-and-never-after-historical feat in the entire world. And the Aryan media in Tamilnadu covered up the crimes of the officials against humanity.
Athimber and Abishtu happen to go through the archives of the year 2000, in the light of the tragedy of landslides in Sri Lanka in which so many Tamils perished, recently.)
Athimber: Did you notice how vehemently the Indian government and our Aryan newspapers had reacted to the outrage in Fiji?
Abishtu: Yes, dear Athimber! It was quite natural. What was wrong with it?
Athi: Nothing wrong my dear boy! But, I simply wonder how nobody, even the powers-that-be in Tamilnadu, notices the way the central bureaucrats of the Ministry of External Affairs apply our policy of selective discrimination. I am not simply amused but amazed.
Abis: What do you say, Athimber?
Athi: Do you know that it was from the year 1860 onwards that the north-Indian labourers migrated from Bihar and other areas to work as indentured labourers in Fiji at the behest of the then British government? Do you also know that the people from the southern Tamilnadu migrated to Sri Lanka to work as indentured labourers from the year 1830 itself. Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, attained independence in 1948 while Fiji became independent in 1970.Both the migrants had been full-fledged citizens of the respective countries until independence. They had the civil and political rights and sent their elected representatives also to the parliament. But, the citizenship rights of the north Indians migrated to Fiji are still vested in them while the citizenship rights of the Tamils migrated to Sri Lanka has been divested by the Sinhalese in the year 1948 itself after the country attained independence.
Abis: How come?!
Athi: Don’t ask for any logical answers. But it happened. And The Hindu had never written editorial on behalf of the Tamils as it does today in favour of the Indian migrants in Fiji. The Hindu writes in its editorial on May 24, 2000 that the “People of Indian origin must be allowed to live with dignity and self-respect and not be reduced to the status of second class citizens.” The Hindi - Fijians of north-Indian origin have not been denied their basic citizenship rights the way the Tamil-Sri Lankans of south- Indian origin have been. The Hindi - Fijians of north-Indian origin have not been denied their supreme voting rights the way the Sri Lankan Tamils of south- Indian origin have been.
The consequential effects of the absence of citizenship rights is the ineligibility to get proper education, ineligibility to apply for government jobs, ineligibility to acquire immovable property, etc., But the Hindi-Fijians of north-Indian origin do not face any such cruelty in Fiji now. Yet, just because the native Fijians threw out a democratically elected government headed by a Hindi-Fijian of north-Indian origin, the Hindu and other newspapers are making a song and dance over the issue. But, nobody cares for the Tamil-Lankans of South Indian origin who have lost even their basic citizenship rights and rendered stateless.
Abis: It is shocking as well as surprising, Athimber! Is it not against all the canons of international law to deny in the year 1948 such rights to the people who had been there in Sri Lanka from 1830 onwards? Why is it that nobody is paying attention to this issue, even the local politicians?
Athi: First, the Aryan newspapers and the north-Indian politicians care two hoots for the Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin, the Plantation Tamils, only because they forget certain philosophies when approaching Tamils problems of any kind. Secondly, the local politicians. They do not have the benefit of being counseled by any think tanks. Their agenda is, therefore, set only by the Aryan newspapers.
Abis: What philosophy has been forgotten by our Aryan newspapers, Athimber?
Athi: Dear boy! In the case of Fiji, the Hindu wrote on July 5, 2000 that the “Solutions should be found within a democratic framework where no one is reduced to the status of second class citizens, where the rights of all Fijians are safeguarded regardless of the accident of their ethnic origin”. That the Tamil-Lankans of south-Indian origin have been reduced the status not of second or third or fourth class citizens but have been rendered stateless is of nobody’s concern. Do you know the international position on the subject? Besides, the Hindu has rightly recognized that the status of ethnic origin is nothing but accident. But, even in our own country the entire Indian population is being subjected to misery only because we do not want to remind ourselves that our birth as Brahmins is also nothing but accident. We never venture to think over what social situation we would have to face if we had, accidentally, been born as Shudras. That is why our Hindu goes the whole hog in contributing to the genocide of the native Tamils in Sri Lanka. Why should that paper bother itself about the Plantation Tamils migrated from Tamilnadu?
Abis: Can anything be done to protect the Tamil-Sri Lankans of south-Indian origin now?
Athi: Sure. First of all, the Government of Tamilnadu must appraise the Centre of the issue and pressure the Centre to treat both the plantation Tamils of Sri Lanka and the plantation Hindi-ites of Fiji on par. At least, all the stateless persons remaining in Sri Lanka as on date must be given full-fledged citizenship rights. The Sinhalese government has no moral or even legal right to link this issue to the Sri Lankan Tamils problem, as there is really no connection between the two. The Centre must confess the historical wrong done to the plantation Tamils and must apologize to the people of Tamilnadu for the ill-disposed Sirimao-Sastri agreement of 1964 and the evil-disposed Sirimao-Indira agreement of 1973 which provided for taking back the people who were given full-fledged citizenship status by the then Ceylonese government upto the year 1948. The ongoing Sri Lankan native Tamils problem can and should never be an excuse. If the Indian Government is either incompetent or unwilling to pressure and convince the Sinhalese government, it must take up the issue of the ‘Stateless Tamils’ to the International Court of Justice where the case can be won very easily by citing so many precedents in the international arena. If the Indian Government is not prepared act either way, it should not at least take any action in favour of the Hindi-Fijians of north-Indian origin except by advising them to come back to India as it has done in respect of the Tamils through the aforesaid 1964 and the 1973 agreements. If the Centre is not ready to do so, it would clearly expose the north-Indian dominated Central Government that they indulge in such discriminatory treatments wantonly and deliberately.
Abis: You are right, Athimber!. But will the Tamilnadu Government take initiate steps in this direction?
Athi: Firstly, the writers and the politicians should stop comparing the Fijian crisis with the Sri Lankan native Tamils problem. The comparable issues are the Fijian crisis and the Plantation Tamils problem only. Otherwise, everyone would remain confused and the situation would help our Thuglak and the Hindu to fish in the confused brains of Tamils. Secondly, the State Government should take up the cause of the Plantation Tamils immediately in the backdrop of the Fijian crisis and highlight the discriminatory treatment meted out by the north Indians to Tamils. If proceeded rightly, they can get the rights of the Plantation Tamils restored. The Sinhalese can also be very easily shown their place. But, we wont allow the people of Tamilnadu to be awakened my boy! Do you know how Dinamani approached the problem? When the notorious Idi Amin drove the Marwari-Indians out of Uganda in 1972, the Dinamani condemned it in the strongest terms. “It is on invitation that the Indians had migrated to Uganda. They had contributed a lot for the development of that country y converting the forests into arable lands, by creating cities and by establishing commercial and industrial ventures. Amin exhibits his gratitude to them only by kicking them out”. ( அழைப்பின்பேரில் உகாண்டாவில் குடியேறி, காடுதிருத்தி, விளை நிலமாக்கி, நாடு நகரம் அமைத்து, தொழில்களை நிறுவி, வர்த்தகத்தில் ஈடுபட்டு அந்த நாட்டின் வளச்சிக்குப் பெரிதும் உழைத்தவர்கள், இந்தியர்கள். அவர்கள்பால் அமீன் காட்டும் நன்றி அவர்களுக்கு கல்தா கொடுப்பதுதான். )(Dinamani – Editorial - 11.8.72) This paper had even called for taking up the case through the United Nations and economic boycott by Britain.
But, when Indira Gandhi signed the agreement with Sri Lanka, later, in April 1973, agreeing to take back 10% more than the number of persons agreed upon earlier, the Dinamani said “it could be a new signal given by her to Sri Lanka” (புதிய சமிக்ஞை) (Dinamani –Editorial- 1.5.1973). You must know that the Plantation Tamils were responsible for “an economic general advance, which could not have taken place without them and in the benefits of which the great majority of the population directly or indirectly share” (Report of the Commission on Immigration into Ceylon, 1938).
You must also know that the Sinhalese members of the State Council even as late as in 1937, protested against a ban on immigration from India. All these things do not matter. A Tamil is a Tamils and can be treated any cruelly, the Dinamani itself had diagnosed. The sum and substance of the case is that if a Tamil is driven out, it is okay. But, if a Marwari is driven out it is an ungrateful action, according to Mr. A.N.Sivaraman of Dinamani. The same distinction is maintained even now.
You know, ‘Dictatorship’ is considered as just another name for ‘State Terrorism’. The terrorist act of Idi Amin had been easily noticed all over the world and Canada and Australia came forward to some deportees from Uganda and rehabilitate them by permitting them to settle in their countries. But in the case of the plantation Tamils, although they had also migrated to Ceylon when both India and Ceylon were under the British rule, no such offer was made by Canada, Australia or any other country just because the terrorist act in this case was done by two prime ministers who claimed to have become so through democratic process.
Abis: How many persons were affected this way, Athimber?
Athi: Uganda expelled 23,000 persons who had had citizenship rights. But, Sri Lanka expelled 5,25,000 persons as per the 1964 agreement. The 1973 agreement provided for the addition of 10%. Besides, Dinamani had pointed out in its editorial dated 25.8.1972 that “it was only Britain which had taken Asians to Kenya and Uganda as people without political rights. Realising this fact, Britain must assume a little more responsibility in this issue.” In its editorial dated 11.8.1972, Dinamani advised the Indian Government to “discuss the issue with Idi Amin and find a just and equitable solution through humanitarian approach.”(“ஜெனரல் அமீனுடன் பேச்சு நடத்தி, தரும நியாய அடிப்படையில், மனிதாபிமானத்துடன் பிரச்சினையைக் கவனித்துத் தீர்வு காண்பதற்கு வழி செய்தாக வேண்டும்” ). But, the same newspaper did not advise the Indian Government on those ‘Tharumam” or “Niyayam” or “Manidhabimaanam” when the Tamils were sought to be deported in April 1973, eight months after the aforesaid editorial was written on Ugandan issue. How about the measuring rod used by Mr. A.N. Sivaraman? You condemn the atrocities against non-Tamils but condone the same atrocity perpetrated against Tamils. It is exactly this, which is called as genetic calumny, you know.
Abis: But these Tamils had gone to Sri Lanka as indentured labourers only at the instance of the then Ceylonese Government run by the British. Had they been told that their descendants would be expelled from that land after 150 years, they would not at all have ventured to go there. Or they would have sent their savings to Tamilnadu and acquired landed property here and would have made arrangements for settling themselves here in the same manner in which the persons who go for employment in gulf-countries do. They would not have become “refugees” in India or “Stateless” in Sri Lanka. It is shocking as well as surprising, Athimber, that no one thinks of these facts!
Athi: Would you like to be in for more shock and surprise? The Sikhs who migrated to Britain in large numbers in the 1940s move the courts there for their right to wear turban in the British schools. In Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Basdeo Pandey is the Prime Minister. He is the descendant of the migrants from north-India. Such migrants constitute 42% of that country’s population. The first indentured Indian immigrant to Trinidad landed there only on May 30, 1845That country attained independence in 1962. They had not been expelled from the country to India. On the other hand they were celebrating the 150th anniversary on May 30, 1995. (Ref: The Hindu, May 28, 1995). But, while addressing a meeting of the plantation Tamils, JR Jayawardane, the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka had said, “You came from India only 150 years ago. But, the Sinhalese came from India much before you” (Indian Express, September 18, 1984) He was thus justifying the stateless state of the plantation Tamils and the mass deportation of those Tamils in violation of all the norms of international law on the subject. What he said was not a confession but a display of arrogance, as he had been emboldened by the support he received from his Indian counterparts in 1964 and 1973. But, what did India itself do when faced with similar situation? On the issue of expulsion of foreigners from Assam, Mrs. Indira Gandhi had, during the discussion in the Lok Sabha , said, “How could the children born in India after 1950 be sent out? They were all Indian citizens. Where will they all go? Which country would take on this obligation? How could those living there for generations be summarily thrown out?” (Indian Express – February 23, 1983). Do you know that even the people who had entered India illegally in the aftermath of the Bangladesh war participated in the 1983 elections and decided the destiny of the State of Assam and the nation? But, those who were invited by the Ceylonese government to work in plantations there 170 years ago are still languishing there as ‘stateless’.
Abis: It appears that the Sinhalese majority has fixed 1830 A.D. as the cut-off date to decide the nationalities and citizenship rights.
Athi: Ha Ha Ha! Maybe. But you know that Mr. Thondaman posed one question, “How long have a people to live and work to be considered part of the indigenous population?” That question went unanswered. How do you feel, Abishtu?
Abis: I am not able to recover from the shock, Athimber! How did it happen like this?
Athi: Dear Abishtu! As long as a man compromises his conscience and self-respect to ensure his survival, he cannot lead a happy and honourable life. Only the one who is ready to die is fit to live. Living is different from surviving. One must take on life, not just exist. Fortune favours the brave. If the Tamils realize this fact, their enemies would vanish into thin air.
Abis: But why should The Hindu and other newspapers do not publicise this truth, Athimber?
Athi: Dear boy! They are ‘our’ newspapers and our people are not running the newspapers for the purpose of redeeming the Tamils. Our millennia-old mentality of subjugation of the others has not vanished even after independence. Our people will continue to control and corrupt the minds of the others only this way. If at all required, let the Tamils publicise the truth through their own newspapers, overcoming the impediments we would put, abusing our position and power in Executive and Judiciary. One thing you must know very clearly, my boy, the collective wisdom of our Brahmin community is to conspire against such renaissance of Tamils and to do whatever is possible to divert the attention of Tamils and groom them in such a manner that they would serve us the way the slaves of Rome did.
Abis: But why such conspiracy by the bureaucrats of our Ministry of External Affairs against Tamils only, Athimber?
Athi: Because,
“தமிழர் என்றொரு இனமுண்டு - எனவே
தனியே அவர்க்கொரு ட்ரீட்மெண்டு.”.
No comments:
Post a Comment