Simhala encroachment in the Tamil areas, Tamil Tragedy in and breach of ethnic demography wherever the were a vast majority, state-sponsored Contradictory Strategy by —I colonisation in the district to break ethnic homogeneity, discriminatory V R Krishna Iyer demarcation of new rural councils, and like measures steadily accelerated and intimi- dated the Tamil minority with the dismantl- The Sri Lankan Constitution does not vest in the Indian prime ing of their integrity. The confidence of the minister the power to direct the Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka to community in state justice collapsed. The accept the India-Srj Lanka accord and surrender arms or die: This Tamils apprehended imminent extermination from their historic homeland. Nightmarish is the concern of the government of Sri Lanka vis-a-vis its citizens. violence, which was simmering below the By what magic of law can the become the Lankan surface, was let loose after 1983 and people civil authority and be bound by any accountability in that country? could not know whether they would survive for the morrow. Scenes of woe, the like of which only the Indian partition tragedy had A DYNAMIC re-thinking of India's Sri the northern and the eastern sector. Electoral witnessed, became common. Electoral rolls Lanka policy is overdue because the rapid engineering, in this climate of communal were used by racist street-roughs to identify How of forces affects political logic and par- hostility, preponderantly projected the the Tamils, even in the city of . You ties which are committed to humanist dialec- Simhalas into state power, and over the go to this house, this is a Tamil house; that tic must respond to new social realities. decades, the Sri Lanka rulers, whoever shop, it is a Tamil shop. Therefore, kill the When the story of the bleeding peace- formed the government, were abetted by the people there, destroy their belongings and, keeping in Sri Lanka by 's hard-core hoodlums and Buddhist monks to if it is a Simhala shop or house, leave it. government comes to be written the world crush the Tamil ethnics. This meaningful There arc some crises of communal terror will be shocked by the savage sins some minority had occupied high positions, key when a prison may be a sanctuary for the jawans have committed against Tamil human places, strategic roles and had contributed victims. But here the Tamils inside the rights. To wish away army crime, because to the enrichment and building up of the Welikade prison were dragged out, killed and our jawans have committed it, is not national economy With the divisive politics the blood of the prisoners was offered to the patriotism, as some bigoted chauvinists gripping Sri Lanka, Tamils were gradually Buddha statue within the prison premises. claim, but unconscionable nationalism, as flushed out, crushed down. It was not mere Civilised law says that when a man is killed Gandhiji would have declared. All of us are discrimination; discrimination is a very mild there will at least be a post-mortem. But a vicariously guilty, if the charges of torture word to describe such a situation. In matters law was made by which the basic minimum and massacre and sex and theft, now coming of employment, discrimination. In matters of even a post-mortem on a person killed to light, were even fractionally true. Lanka's of education, discrimination. In matters of was said to be not necessary. And detentions Tamils expect much from India as their police and army posts, discrimination, until galore and no court's writ could run. To saviour. India too is concerned for justice at last it rcached a stage when armed make a long story short, there was state ter- to the Tamils, Some perverse moronism has violence was openly practised to inflict blood rorism, not merely the fear of the Sinhalese stultified our massive effort. We must with and death on masses of Tamil civilians to sector going berserk. State terrorism prac- nationalist impatience examine the whole jettison them from the island, with no court tised at that time was so terrible that the development. That criticism is constructive to give justice, no right to share power in the president shamelessly declared: "I am duty. executive or legislative branches. The Tamil waging war". Imagine a president of a coun- people whose almost sole surrogates in try saying that he is waging war against a I parliament were the TULF members were dc substantial minority in that country itself. facto disfranchised by a constitutional True, the LTTE, in raging reprisal and Death Sentence by Colombo device. The Supreme Court became helpless on struggling for Tamil survival, hit back and because the judges were rendered toothless innocent Simhalas perished. Brute force by the Emergency and remained robed as First, the history of the brutal suppression begets brute force and increases exponential- boneless wonders in the face of constilu- and escalating alienation of the Tamils of ly. To kill, by reckless bombs, Simhala tionalised authoritarianism. Human rights the island by the Simhala regimes since in- civilians is savagery. Even so, for the state agencies found the administration grossly dependence culminating in the pogrom of to starve and shoot and bomb out an ethnic guilty. Indeed, the heartless approach to 1983 and after by the Buddhist version of minority with genocidal intent during times Jaffna Tamils reached the boiling point of the Ku Klux Klan and the military of of peace is a crime against humanity. betrayal when in 1986 the Indian government Jayewardene, alas, now taken over more bit- The venerably gerontic president, rightly felt so enraged that it took upon itself terly, violently and professionally by the Jayewardene, was an extremist in violence, the responsibility of unusual measures of Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in the yet a 'Buddhist' and 'Gandhian'. He could humanitarian intervention without the name of implementing the Indo-Sri Lanka bomb and starve his own citizens and call assent of the island government. The refugee Accord (ISLA) and tracking down the Tamil them for conferences. Tamils knew his clever deluge and Jaffna under siege are testimony Tigers. treachery, never trusted him and dreaded his of the oceanic violations by the Colombo Ceylon attained independence and killer ploys. throne. became a republic in 1948. 72 per cent of Unless we have a live historical memory, the population are Simhalas, but the Amnesty International, Law Asia, the we oftentimes forget the present issues which Tamils—a separate ethnic entity with a long International Commission of Jurists, in- are projected by the past. Terrorism is a false history—are a significant presence, having dependen' media and other well known label for the struggle of a people in despair made substantial developmental contribu- human rights organisations and champions facing genocide by state massacre and com- tion to the island. There are other tiny yet all over the world expressed shock at the munal terrorism. It was in this macabre distinctive groups. The island is multi-ethnic, state-engineered macabre happenings. Pro- background that the Tamils, with Indian multi-lingual and culturally plural. The gressive forces inside Sri Lanka, including government's empathy, fought back. There Simhalas had a brutal bracket, from the some left elements, and the church, protested was an outcry then that this was terrorism. beginning, hell-bent on the liquidation of the in vain. India's Tamil Nadu was in convulsive But at the same time, when the Sri Lankan Tamils, the dominant demographic factor in anger. army gunned down people all round, it was

Economic and Political Weekly July 9, 1988 1417 called an innocent army operation. In- east is sought to be sabotaged by the referen- period, the north and east, it is stated in the evitably, like a wounded tiger at bay, the dum trap, some prospect of ceasefire, accord, would form one administrative unit, Tamil militants struck back. Once we ap- national reconciliation and ethnic justice having one elected provincial council with preciate the gory, grim and ghastly scenes through Indian guarantees was a note of one government, one chief minister and one which had been spreading over the decades, hope. It must be assumed that prime board of ministers. Thus the immediate step from 1948 onwards, we will realise the dialec- minister Rajiv Gandhi's original intentions was to initiate these processes. After the new- tical forces at work. Tamils wanted a historic were to secure effective devolution and born NEP worked for some time, a referen home and home rule within the republic, if enduring linking of north and east, sans dum was provided for the east to express it? possible, without the republic, if necessary. which the solemn agreement would be ^ wish to opt out of the NEP. There are many Indira Gandhi, moved by the suppressive mareecha instrument. For those with dialec- traps here to defeat the joinder. That apart, strategies of the JRJ regime, sent her emis- tical vigilance and political sense tha ISLA what is of critical importance is the im- saries to negotiate a national reconciliation project is counterfeit. Even so, giving a mediate formation of the NEP as 'one with justice to the ethnic Tamils of the north charitable meaning to the instrument, we administrative unit'. Assuming the accord to and the east. When she fell victim Co a still find gaping gaps which make the pact be inviolable, as obsessively and obdurately dastardly assassin Rajiv Gandhi emerged as a defeat for the Tamils. Sad that some leftists asserted by our prime minister, this con- prime minister and brought to bear a fresh blink at realities and support the accord, dition remains a dead letter. Blaming the approach to the Sri Lanka issues. He too LTTE is poor alibi. Again, the elections to Most,favourably read, the anatomy of the sent his representatives to Colombo, some the north and the east assured within three accord consists of a luminous preamble, a of whom were misfits but others able hands. months from the end of July 1987 (the date string of resolutions, an annexure to the But president Jayewardene, a consummate of the agreement) and "in any event before agreement and an integral exchange of letters artist of contradictions, of double-think, 31st December 1987" is a broken word. The of even date between the high signatories. double-speak and new-speak, outwitted "interim period", when the NEP experiment The political essence of the Tamil position, neophyte prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. He would be worked out and communities abandoning the demand for 'eelam', is that discussed proposal but simultaneously could make their choice in the light of that in the setting of Lankan pluralism, ethnic, waged war. The tomfoolery was so baffling experience, has never materialised. linguistic and religious, two fundamental and the siege on Jaffna so heartless that demands must be granted with grace. Firstly, The next part of ISLA relates to norma- Rajiv Gandhi, in rare a mood of humanity, "that the northern and the eastern provinces lisation processes relaxing the repressive rushed mercy ships of food and medicine to have been areas of historical habitation of regime. Constitutional terrorism flourished the north, and on the Lankan navy turning Sri Lankan Tamil speaking peoples, who under the umbrella of the Emergency. To ex them back, the IAF blitzed into the island have at all times hitherto lived together in tinguish this suppressive situation, a condi- to drop compassionate supplies to the star- this territory with the other ethnic groups". tion precedent was prescribed that the ving Tamils, This action transformed the The second basic is the Tamil right to "live "Emergency will be lifted in the Eastern and situation and after some hectic activity there in equality, safety and harmony, and pro- Northern Provinces by August 15, 1987", all suddenly emerged, on July 29, 1986, the sper and fulfil their aspirationsThese arms with the militant groups were to be sur India Sri Lanka Accord (ISLA) which was aspirations are a Tamil homeland and home rendered to designated authorities and the hailed at first blush as a benign beginning rule within the republic. Strong political Sri Lankan Army was to be confined to the of ethnic justice. The gestation and the mid- structures, with Indian guarantees, are the barracks. The deadly Emergency is dis- wifery of this agreement are a riddle wrap- desideratum, having regard to the dreadful gracefully extant and Rajiv Gandhi is silent. ped in a mystery; the cumulative meaning discriminations, privations, and tortures of Preventive detention and indiscriminate pro- of the ambivalent clauses of this hasty docu- the past. Tamil mistrust of Colombo is secutions had benumbed and killed all liber- ment is an arcane enigma; whom it benefits natural. Clear and concrete clauses fleshing ties. Therefore, as a step towards restoration in the short and the long runs is as yet dif- out the formula of inviolable autonomy and of normalcy, the agreement mandated the ficult to decode. The India-Lanka Accord fusion of the historic home of north and president to grant "General Amnesty to must be tested by measuring its clauses, their east, guaranteed by India and agreed to by political and other prisoners now held in viability and credibility with the triple the broad Simhala community—not merely custody under the Prevention of Terrorism imperatives of Tamil justice within the Jayewardene—is the sensible solution, Act and other Emergency Laws .. .as well republic. With hindsight, we may apprehend Remember JRJ is a lame duck president and as to those persons accused, charged and that the accord is grinding to a halt unless cannot constitutionally contest beyond his convicted under these laws". What a tragic courageous self-criticism and policy changes second term expiring within months, and the truth that many still wallow in jails even bail us out of the requiem situation. parliament itself is running out its term. today. There is a further clause that all And, what is worse, even his own prime residual matters—and they could be most II minister as also the leading opposition, the critical, such as the constitutional amend- SLFP, are open critics of vital aspects of the ments and legislative enactments to give full India-Lanka Accord and IPKF accord. Alas, our prime minister's dialectical effect to the provisions of the accord—would Imbroglio literacy about Sri Lanka's historic realities be "resolved between India and Sri Lanka and political prognosis does not measure up within a period of six weeks of signing this Since the Sri Lanka soldiery and the to the grave challenges and constitutional agreement" (i e, middle of August 1987). Simhala skinheads together menaced the problems. Audaciously, this clause was by-passed when Tamil future, the IPKF landing in Jaffna was the fraudulent amendment bills were moved The agreement half-heartedly proceeds to welcomed as a propitious presence. Not- and passed in the Lankan parliament with implement the historical habitation thesis by withstanding the fatal processual weaknesses none in the South Block to protest. of failure to consult Sri Lanka's Tamil groups promising a North-East Province (NEP). or Simhala opppsition or even the prime But the provision is precariously subject to Now we move on to the military mantle minister of the land or, for that matter, a condition precedent of referendum for the of India in the island—the peace-keeping India's opposition parties; despite the east. We, in India, know the snares and snags outfit. When the government of Sri Lanka poverty of devolution of provincial powers, of plebiscite in Kashmir. Sinister manipula- requests the government of India "to afford the tricky triarchy whereby president and tions, false alarms may undo the link-up and military assistance to implement these governor could, and would, cipherise the frustrate this life-and-death demand for proposals", the latter will co-operate "as and clected council and make a mockery of Tamil territorial integrity. when requested" (clause 8). One is entitled ministers; although the fusion of north and Be that as it may, during an interim to know what particular military assistance

1418 Economic and Political Weekly July 9, 1988 has Sri Lanka demanded and what specific surrendered is a very limited operation, if registered, no magisterial enquiry, no 'proposals' of the covenant are sought to be words mean anything. Similarly, protecting answerability to Lankan legal authority? It implemented by the Indian forces. Is it to the communities living in the north and the is a shame for Lanka's parliament and enforce surrender of arms by militant east, by no stretch of imagination, extends people if the law is dead and police and* groups, as stated in clause 8? "The law to killing Tamil civilians or suspected administrative authority is usurped by alien enforcment and maintenance of security in militants. Strangely enough the IPKF, forces invited by the president but acting the northern and eastern provinces", stipu- obviously with South Block clearance, has under their own command. taken upon itself the power to chase, lates clause 9, will be through "the same The Sri Lankan constitution does not vest liquidate and subjugate the LTTE— organisations and mechanisms" of Sri in the Indian prime minister the power to Operation Pawan. For this purpose, they Lanka's government as are used for the rest direct the Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka to make house-to-house searches, clamp down of the island. Reading clauses 8 and 9 accept the accord and surrender arms or die curfew, take into custody suspects, kill many, together, the Indian army has no peace- This is the concern of the government of Sri including humble civilians. Under what legal keeping or law and order business. There is Lanka vis-a-vis its citizens. India's writ is authority, and that in a foreign country? An no other indication anywhere in the agree- ultra vires unless there is validating legisla- accord is not law and approval of that ment about the use of the Indian military tion justifying one hundred thousand Indian instrument by parliament is not equal to for an offensive against any group, and soldiers hunting for Tamil militants. Their legislation. My brief study of the constitu- certainly none to hound and hunt and shoot killings are mass murders unless legitimated tion of Sri Lanka (as of 1978) with particular and kill the Tigers wherever they are. This by clear statutory empowerment which sets reference to Article 155 (Public Security) and is a self-imposed bleeding blunder or sabre- limitations on the exercise of such police Fundamental Rights (Chapter III) persuades rattling mission beyond the accord orbit. The powers. By what magic of law can the Indian me that the IPKF action is indefensible if IPKF's terrible peace-keeping violence, military become the Lankan civil authority that republic's constitution means anything spreading death, blood and tears, has no and be bound by any accountability in that beyond words. My hurried enquiry with a warrant in Sri Lankan law nor in the accord. country? Even president JRJ must rely upon couple of well-informed Sri Lankan lawyers It is outrageously ultra vires. In truth what some specific constitutional provision and also is to be the same effect. If "amid the is expected of India, according to clause subsidiary legislation if he is to deprive the clash of arms, the laws are not silent... in 2.15 (c) (and the annexure), is to offer Tamils of Jaffna and the east of their funda- war and in peace", the IPKF is guilty of military assistance and to co-operate with mental rights. This lawlessness par excellence horrendous violations. Even in an Emer- the Sri Lankan government by giving such is a matter of grave importance which gency, presidential regulations have to be assistance, The principal role is thus of Sri deserves to be examined by constitutional made to suspend the provisions of any law. Lanka and the co-operative or assistance role lawyers and human rights watchdogs world- A proclamation and communication thereof is that of India. Once these limitations are wide. From the angle of the Indian people, to parliament are protections implanted by understood, the deadly distortions in the the IPKF operation has exceeded reasonable Article 154 of the constitution, so that rights frenzied operations indulged in by the IPKF bounds and has been responsible for bit- of citizens, Tamil or Simhala, shall not be will become indefensible. Another co- terness, butchery and loss of property, if the trampled over by executive fiat or by sten- operative venture indicated in 2.15 (e) also reports from the island are believed. By gun writ. Inevitably, the question shoots up implies functional limitations. Sri Lanka and getting away with it now you cannot escape whether any proclamation and regulation, India, says the sub-clause, "will co-operate the verdict of history later. We are treated authorising foreign forces to shoot down in ensuring the physical security and safety to disinformation and misinformation, Lankan citizens, or even to arrest them or of all communities" inhabiting the northern making the LTTE the Ravana of the island make house searches has been promulgated. and eastern provinces. The north is virtually and the IPKF the self-appointed Rama. Tamil and therefore India is expected to None, said the lawyers I consulted over the defend, not offend, to save, not slaughter, phone. It is significant that Article 11 for- (To be concluded) the Tamils there. What is being done, or has bids torture, cruel inhuman or degrading been done during these months, excels the treatment of any person and Article 13 Simhala genocidal chapter, if the reports insists that no person shall be arrested except related to me by those who had come fresh according to legal procedure. Other protec- from Jaffna are true—a rabid reversal of tions, as in the Indian constitution, are also physical security and safety of the Tamils. fundamental rights in Sri Lanka, including Even in the eastern province, a substantial freedom of residence and movement, of number, speaking demographically, is Tamil, association and assembly, including the right with a mentionable minority of Simhalas not to be arrested except according to legally and Muslims. The IPKF has done nothing established procedure, to be informed of the to defend the Simhalas and the Muslims. grounds of arrest, to be produced before the Tamil suspects and even innocents are nearest competent court and afforded a fair anathema to them. Several hundreds or more trial. To anticipate my charge against the of civilians have died under shocking con- IPKF, these basic rights have been crushed ditions and the IPKF suffers from some kind by the jawans as a body above the law, even of trigger-happy occupation-army syndrome the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Why do I speak so harshly? Because 1 In this background, foreign army invasion apprehend that the India of Gandhi and of the Citizens' Bill of Rights is brash un- Nehru is involved abroad in lawless violence constitutionality If we believe in the rule of of diabolic dimensions. Let us scan the situa- law, Indian soldiers have no business to get tion under the accord and Sri Lankan into Sri Lanka territory, search, Seize, arrest, jurisprudence. and shoot. They may assist Sri Lanka's civil authorities or afford defence (only) when The functional relevance of the IPKF Tamils are attacked. Is there—it would be under the accord is (a) co-operate and assist extraordinary if there were—any legislative the Sri Lankan government, (b) to defend sanction empowering foreign soldiers by the Tamils against aggressive Simhalas, and name or designation to search, seize, arrest, (c) take into custody arms surrendered by roam the streets with sten guns and fire upon Tamil militants. To take into custody arms anyone they fancy, with no inquest, no case

1419 Economic and Political Weekly July 9, 1988 tual transfer of legislative powers is quan- Tamil Tragedy in Sri Lanka and titatively and qualitatively chimerical. And proclamation of Emergency is a Contradictory Strategy by India—II perpetual damocles' sword! Taking the ISLA as a fait accompli the Tigers who V R Krishna Iyer represent the large majority (Rajiv Gandhi says LTTE represents none but, says General Pande, hot from Jaffna, 90 per Jaffna has been conquered, maybe. But the spirit of the people ;ent of is pro-LTTE!) are there will resist, long after their defeat We are now disowned agreeable for a solemn cease-fire, but not by the Simhalese and detested by the Tamils, thanks to our a total surrender of arms. Why? JRJ is tragedy of strategy and hurry to win international glory. Let on his way out, his second and final term running out. His successor and the us look to the future and take measures of statesmanship. majority in the next parliament are What are they? anybody's guess. The provincial elections, even when the leading opposition boycotts Ill LTTE to the TULF showed that all of the polls, give him a negligible majority. What certainty is there that the ISLA Political Audit of The Accord them were disgruntled and, about the XIII Amendment, thoroughly disenchanted. would not be rejected, in the light of open AN implementation audit of the Accord They looked to India as saviour and now UNP opposition to the North-East and a performance audit of the IPKF are feel betrayed by their own trustee. The joinder? In that event, how will the important at this stage since president LTTE respects India's role. In a recent Tamils, already wounded and weakened in Jayewardene has broken the Accord and, .speech by Tilakar of the Central Commit- their militant might, resist the next sup- if so, why does Rajiv Gandhi keep mum? tee of the LTTE at a London Conference, pressive wave? And, more awesome to Nearly a year after the signing of the he voiced the view of the Tigers: contemplate, the IPKF would be ordered ISLA, its imperatives remain in suspended The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord secures India's to quit by JRJ or his rivals before the animation. The lifting of the Emergency geo-political interests and strategic objectives. general and presidential elections, whether (Article 2.9), the general amnesty (Article The LTTE is sincerely pleased that the India likes it or not. The K C Pant palaver 2.11), the disbanding of the Home Guards government of India was able to put an end, is a face-saving device for phasing the (an armed auxiliary force of non-Tamil through the Agreement, to the dangerous return. It is hum'liating to think that after civilians established by a directive of the activities of the international subversive losing some thousands of jawans (the elements who operated in Sri Lanka as agents president and functioning under the number 640 or so is an incredible under- of imperialism. As a revolutionary movement estimate) and spending well over Rs 1,500 responsibility of the ministry of internal committed to anti-irnperialist policy we crore or so and despatching around a hun- security) and the withdrawal of all - recognise India's security concerns in the dred thousand military men, India should military groups from the Northern and region and support her cardinal foreign be asked to quit, politely of course, with Eastern provinces (Annexure to Agree- policy of making the Indian ocean as a zone none of the major clauses in the ISLA yet ment, Article 3) are pledges betrayed. of peace free from interference of extra- fulfilled by Colombo! But Simhala voice Similar is the fate of the interim ad- territorial powers. In this context, we wish will rise against large foreign forces on ministrative unit of North and East, of to point out that it was the LTTE fighters their soil and India is not their favourite. polls in three months (at least before who put up a heroic and relentless fight For sheer survival, both UNP and SLFP Dtcember). Residual matters, left over by against foreign mercenaries. Our liberation will order India out. And if the IPKF is the pre-Accord negotiations, were to be movement is nor opposed to India's interests. off, the Tamils are back to square one and resolved between India and Sri Lanka We have no objection whatsoever to India's strategic aspirations to establish her status must fight with their fists since all within six months of the agreement. as the regional superpower in South Asia. We weapons are to be surrendered, according Tragic but true, India was not even con- always functioned and will continue to func- to Rajiv Gandhi. Please note, the most sulted, notwithstanding a Joint Commit- tion as a friendly force to India. We would virulent, violent JVP is back in the open, tee overseeing the implementation. Nay, have extended our unconditional support to with ban lifted and weapons not sur- worse. The 13th Constitutional Amend- the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord if the Agreement rendered. Why is the LTTE denied what ment and concomitant legislation are a were only confined to Indo-Sri Lanka rela- the more dangerous JVP de facto enjoys? caricature of the requirements in the tions aimed to secure India's geo-political Accord, thus making the very conscience interests. But the Accord interferes in the What most distresses the human rights of the Agreement a casualty. Tamil issue, betrays the Tamil interests. It is sensitives is the savagery of some of the Is the LTTE right in vacillating about here the contradiction of interests between Indian soldiery. Maybe they were expec- the Accord? It must accept the Accord if, the LTTE and India emerges. ting a meek Tiger surrender but were sur- at least in fair measure, the basic claims The 13th Amendment to the constitu- prised at the stiff resistance of the LTTE. tion confers on the president abundant of (a) an unconditional fusion of the But the LTTE had political reasons not power to impose emergency. Even during North and the East (home land) and (b) a to give up arms and would not take orders non-emergency periods, the president can from India's chief executive. Their accoun- viable provincial autonomy (home rule), govern through the governor who will be tability is to their people. Under what law are accomplished. If the ISLA is a fraud the agent of the centre. Thus constitutional on these demands for which years of puppetry, with strings pulled from the should they surrender? Even if provoked struggle have claimed thousands of mar presidential palace, sabotages provincial by the sophisticated fire power and the tyrs, and the Bandaranayake- autonomy, Even otherwise, the governor superior guerilla wits of the Tigers, how Chelvanayagam Pact of 1957 had laid the ha(; 'discretionary powers' emasculating could a disciplined army run amok with foundation, will any Tamil militant, save the executive and legislative authority of their guns and do worse? Many cases of some Judas, agree to the Accord except the elected surrogates of the people. This rape by jawans have been reported. In under coercion? My brief discussion vith triarchy is worse than the British dyarchy some instances, jawans have been caught various shades'of Tamil militants from the in India. Apart from these factors, the ac- red-handed and taken to court. Shock and

1463 Economic and Political Weekly July 16, 1988 shame gush from our patriotic bosoms The more horrifying scenario makes .. .then they insisted us to have the funeral when we listen to the inhumanity of IPKF painful reading: without delay. Out of fear we had the activity condemned by many at a recent When I heard that Dr Sivapathasundaram, funeral at 1.30 pm on the very day, without London meeting as crimes against consultant paediatrician, had come to the having magisterial inquest and post-mortem humanity. A P Venkateswaran, among hospital I tried to come out of the room. [Affidavit (1 to 8)]. others, was there and both of us turned Dr Sivapathasundaram and two nurses were There are hundreds of such instances. pale at the tales of woe. IPKF today is an walking with raised hands and shouting. "We A doctor (Jaffna Tamil narrated how one acronym for Innocent People Killing are doctor and nurses, we are surrendering". day a hospital was a scene of indis- Force. The Tamils, of course, whispered They were shot at point blank range. I also criminate massacre. The IPKF, suspecting this in private for fear. A recent paper I learnt that my good friend and colleague, Tigers in hiding, rushed into a hospital. received says: Dr Ganesh, had been shot dead the previous Three doctors and nurses were in atten- The worst crime committed by the Indian evening when he came out of the doctors' dance and over 50 patients. They pleaded troops was the rape of Tamil women. Hun- lounge. Later on we were called and asked there were no militants but the soldiers to remove the dead bodies. Dr Parimelalahan dreds of Tamil women were raped brutally opend fire, killed all the patients and some and most of them were done to death after was also among the dead. We were given medicos. One doctor who escaped told me sexual violence. This brutality deeply three hours to dispose of the bodies. the story in London. More pathetic is the wounded the sentiments of the people and Dr Sivapathasundaram lives within a mile the hate for the Indian army became wide- and we begged of the Indian officers to hand tragedy of many women and young men spread. {Tamil Voice International, March 15, over the body to his wife, but they refused. being recklessly shot at point blank range, 1988, p 12.) We tried to get the identitv of those killed with no post-mortem nor inquest. Surpris- Likewise is another excerpt: by searching their pockets and cutting away ingly, some Indian officers were gentle Among the most brutal massacres commit- pieces-of clothing, h was humanly impossi- and consolatory but the savage terror and ted by the IPKF was the mass killing at the ble as there was so much of mutilation, mean treachery of our army will take Jaffna General Hospital. The Indian troops disfigurement, blood and smell. Tamils generations to forget or forgive. Of stormed into the hospital and killed in cold The official count of the dead is less than Operation Pawan, as an Indian I can only blood over a hundred and injured scores of the number actually killed. According to borrow the words of Burke:4 An event has people. Four doctors were senselessly official number, among the dead were three happened upon which it is difficult to slaughtered and several nurses raped and doctors, one matron, two nurses, eleven at- speak, and impossible to be silent". tendants, one driver In all there were 62 murdered. In this ruthless military campaign, Indians, collectively, are answerable 1,400 innocent Tamil civilians were killed and bodies inside the hospital compound, and morally to history. Did not Gandhiji say: several thousands injured. Colossal damage another 25 outside the hospital gate and "All humanity is one undivided and was done to Tamil property. along Stanley Road. All the bodies within the hospital compound were burned inside the indivisible family, and each of us is premises (Ibid, April 1, 1988, p 16). responsible for the misdeeds of all others. Even today, after three-and-a half months of Torture and electrical shocks, burning I cannot detach myself from the wickedest the declaration of war, dusk-to-dawn curfew of genitals and hanging upside down were soul!' devices employed on the arrestees. Looting continues. (Ibid, p 12.) We must—our parliament must- and destroying of houses were also com- News black-out notwithstanding, here demand of our prime minister to appoint is what Rev Fr M E Pius, director, Jaffna mon. I was given in London many af- a national commission of three Supreme Diocesan Human Development Centre, fidavits by simple folk narrating their Court Judges to.inquire and report com- states: terrible travails of killings and so on. I will prehensively on the legality, morality and IPKF moves into houses and institutions at refer only to portions from one of them— criminality of the operations of our any time under the pretext of search for the Nirmala Kumari, age 28, Valvettiturai: LTTE. Many people have been beaten . the members of the Indian Peace Keep- forces and publish it. That is courageous beyond recognition after tip-offs due to past ing Force (IPKF) assumed control over our patriotism. The political balance-sheet of rivalry, enmity or jealousy between indivi- Valvehiturai area on 6.11,1987 without the Accord can then be struck by our per- duals, families or movements. Many parents resistance and continued to be in peaceful forman«e auditors. If the president spend sleepless nights to prevent the raping possession... (i e» prime minister) declines, a People's of their children—a fear not without firm My husband Mr Mylhanam Aathinarayana- Commission of Human Rights activists pillai (31 years) was a fisherman by foundation. Due to the war situation, more and retired judges must set sail. Disinfor- occupation... than 90 per cent of the people in the Jaffna mation and misinformation by Colombo Peninsula are without any source of income On that day (i e, 24.11.1987) the IPKF had and Delhi have incarcerated all informa? (Ibid, April 1, 1988, p 5). a house to house search in our area. At about 12.00 noon five of them entered our house. tion. Are the Tamil Tigers truly or wholly If you have the heart, read another One of them shouted at us to come out of responsible for IPKF's blood-stained short extract: the house. Then, I was in the kitchen which record? True, the LTTE did exceed in their On 29th the curfew was lifted for four hours. is located in the front compound of our methods and used terrorist tactics against We visited the hospital on 29th and 30th. house. My husband was having a sound sleep informers, spies, rivals and the aggressive Only on the 29th did we learn about the inside... and over-powering IPKF. They had a brutal killings of nearly 100 people including My eldest son Sivachandran (5 years) also cause, a cause which would not die even doctors and patients, nurses, attendants, etc. went with the army men and put his father if the last Tamil Tiger was killed. They I had the chance to speak to some doctors up, While he was getting up one of them who were savage in reprisals because the IPKF and patients and here is an account given is presumably a gurkha soldier fired a shot by a doctor 'On 21st, at about 4 pm some into my husband's mouth from a very close allowed one of their leaders to die of Sikh soldiers walked into the hospital range and killed him then and there. Gandhian fasting, handed over for torture shooting at random. I was trying to get into .. we all started raising hue and cry. All their several leaders who committed the doctors' lounge, but was thrown to the other IPKF men scolded the particular of- cyanide suicide to save themselves, the ground by the people who were running all ficer in some unknown language—probably jawans indulged in orgies of violence, even over for safety 1 remained there for quite a in Hindi. He left the house with his head sex, on civilian brothers and sisters under long time, as long as the shooting lasted. stooping down guise of searching for terrorists and When everything was quiet I tried to crawl .. .after almost 10 minutes about 10other demanded surrender of arms with no back to my room: and as I did so I realised IPKF men visited the scene. The ofticer-in- evidence.that Colombo would implement that 1 was crawing over some dead bodies. charge repeated by tendering apology by tell- the Accord. The Tigers have abundant Iremenbere d in the room till morning'. ing 'very sorry*, 'very sorry'.

1464 Economic and Political Weekly July 16, 1988 extenuation» though not exculpation. In the protocol. There is a broad accoun- wants India to play a dynamic part. It can, any case, that is no alibi for the IPKF tur- tability to the international community on it must. But that needs statesmanship. ning blood-thirsty. its human rights performance. In Sri Where is that endangered species? Not Jaffna has been conquered, maybe. But Lanka, Articles 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10 of the Prabhakaran, but the cause he represents, the spirit of the people there will resist, Universal Declaration and Articles 6, 9 is the end. And after all, for a real long after their defeat. We are now and 10 of the ICPCR have suffered solution, Prabhakaran may well be the disowned by the Simhalas and detested by asphyxiation at the hands of the IPKF instrument. the Tamils; thanks to our tragedy of and JRJ. My casual conversations with strategy and hurry to win international Tigers persuade me that the LTTE still (Concluded} glory! Let us look to the future and take measures of statesmanship. What are they? High Background Radiation Research Let there be cease-fire right now. To kill is easy; to breathe life impossible. But no Scientific Objectivity or Politics of Profit? surrender of all weapons because no one knows what tomorrow (will it be like Padmanabhan V T yesterday?) holds for the Tamils struggling against Simhala chauvinists. I feel that the Some stretches of Quilon and Kanyakumari districts with high LTTE will fully accept a gentleman's background radiation are ideally suited for conducting agreement on ccase-fire. Another impor- epidemiological studies on resident populations which would yield tant understanding with the LTTE is that they cannot, shall not, exterminate by valuable information on the effects of radiation. Why have such violence the other militant groups. systematic studies been neglected? Political monopoly? No. LTTE hegemony? Yes, if you earn it by convincing the peo- "IT will also be interesting to collect later, another group of specialists debated ple. Today, the reality is that the LTTE is reliable epidemiological data on cancer on the theoretical and practical aspects of overwhelmingly supported by the Tamils, morbidity/mortality from the 200,000-plus the proposed study.3 After this nothing as even TULF leaders agree. I told the population living in monazite areas of has been heard from the WHO. During LTTE activists at the London conference Kerala and Tamil Nadu coastal regions. the latter half of the sixties, BARC con- that a united front, with a socialist slant, This could assist researchers in ascertain- ducted a dosimetric and demographic of all Tamil militant groups under the ing if the hormesis effect persists or dis- survey in the Kerala portion of HBGR. powerful leadership of the LTTE must appears in the average dose levels ap- The coastal villages in Alleppey district spearhead the movement. India must proaching 5 mSv yr, as experienced by this with near normal background radiation insist, not in secret whispers but peremp- population", this is how Nambi and were also included in the study area. This torily, that a North-East administration Soman conclude their article which 'pro- resulted in the dilution of results.4 be immediately announced with LTTE as ves' the hormesis hypothesis that cancer In 1975, N Kochupillai and colleagues leader of a united front. Each group will risk is reduced with increase of radiation.1 of All India Institute of Medical Sciences choose its ministers, not Jayewardene. The question why Nambi, Sundaram and (AIIMS) conducted a study in Chavara- Then come a few crucial issues which may 1 lis fellow scientists did not conduct Neendakara (N 12918) and Purakkad summon the creative courage of both systematic study in the high background (control area, N 59380). The results, sides to reopen and review the Agreement radiation region (HBGR) is more political reported in Nature are summarised here: to assure ethnic and political justice to the than scientific. (1) Abortion rate per 1000 pregnancies was island minorities. The vague and jejune The beach sands of Neendakara- 109 and 64.5 (p > 0.05); (2) A higher rate aspects vis-a-vis devolution and North- Chavara-Ponmana-Allappadu panchayats of chromosome aberration in normal East fusion, from th£ angle of a viable in Quilon district of Kerala and Chinavilai- population (pCO.OI); (3) Higher in- Tamil homeland-cum-home rule within Midalam panchayats in Kanyakumari cidence of severe mental retardation and s the sovereign republic, abandoning the district of Tamil Nadu have the world's Down's syndrome (p <.05). eelam demand, require serious and richest monazite deposit. Gamma activity Kochupillai argued that the incidence substantive attention. The IPKF need upto 5000 m/r yr has been recorded in this of Down's syndrome (a disorder caused not—some say, must not—withdraw, lest region. People, a majority of them fisher- due to trisomy of G 21 chromosome) was history should repeat itself. Even pro-Tiger folk, have been living in this belt for 10 times higher than that of Eastern coun Tamils do not want the IPKF to leave now, generations. The region offers an excellent tries of England, 7 times higher than that but they must stop the danse macabre. opportunity to conduct an epidemio- of Germany and four times higher than K C Pant notwithstanding, the IPKF may logical study because of the availability of that of Denmark. K Sundaram of BARC be directed by JRJ to quit, to soothe a control population sharing similar argued against comparing the incidence Simhala militants, since elections are in ethnic-socio-economic background. The of Down's syndrome in population at the offing. Even Indians, considering the non-availability of a comparable control Neendakara with other published values casualties and colossal funding, with only population makes a systematic study im- because of:h (a) the higher mortality rate negative returns, may ask South Block to possible in other HBGRs in Brazil and in age below 1 (200 per 1000) and in age call them back. Already, the Indian army, France. 1-20 (60 per 1000); (b) Higher proportion bowing to the pressure of Simhala allergy, Radiation researchers had focused their of women in age group 40-49 (20 per cent is forced to get out, by stages though, and attention on the Kerala-TN belt as early in Neendakara which is twicc that of none will shed a tear for them. a^ ihe fifties. In 1957, an expert commit- developed countries); (c) ASFR in age World opinion also may tell on India's tee o; WHO examined the feasibility of group 40-49 is five times higher than dubious role. India has acceded to the a study and recommended that a systema- developed countries. International Convention on Political and tic monitoring of the inhabitants be done Sundaram estimated the total births in Civil Rights (ICPCR), though not ratified for a minimum of 20 years.2 Two years the study population as 11,500 bv assum-

1465 1465 Economic and Political Weekly July 16, 1988