www.tamilarangam.net TAMIL > Information jkpo;j; Njrpa Mtzr; Rtbfs; www.tamilarangam.netFebruar^ TheloatPeopl^ The Eelam Boat People INDIA TODAY photography - Boat Refugee - Text on Inside back cover jkpo;j; Njrpa Mtzr; Rtbfs; www.tamilarangam.net 15VBHB For Private Circulation •III ISSUE No. : 7 llflllHlBH Vol. 1 A/os. 10 & 11 1 ,i i.,.,J 1 1 1 I •i IT* u Avfors^f* -fnoc MInformation 1 orn Marcn i yoo Published on behalf of the Tamil Information Centre, 3rd Floor, 24-28 Clapham High Street, London SW47UR, United Kingdom Editor: S. Sivanayagam Unity for What ? If there is one word that has been over-worked in That was in fact an invitation to unity ! If the fly the Tamil Eelam liberation vocabulaiy- that word is declined the invitation, did it mean that he was opposed ^^ UNITY. But tragically enough, it is lack of unity that to the idea of unity ? Yet, many Tamils in Madras >^pH*P has brought about the degradation and downfall of would have blamed the fly for not accepting the the Tamil man, and it is the same lack of unity that invitation (and ending up inside the spider) because had been retarding the Tamil liberation struggle until after all the spider was so conciliatory! now. How was it that if the word has been so over- worked, that if the thought had been ever-present in Not only is unity not a mere word, it is not a pious everybody's mind, that if making unity moves had wish ; or an expression of hope or a manthram. Any been a constant pre-occupation and pastime to many unity move should not only have a genuine motive, people in Madras, that all these ended up in nothing but it should be framed for a clear-cut, purposeful over the last one and a half years ? The reasons are objective based on agreed means of achieving that many, but one deserves to be pinpointed straightway. objective. What purpose does it serve if you try to The Tamils have yet to understand the difference bring together a man who is hell-bent in going to ^ between WORDS and DEEDS, between PRO- Antarctica in April, another who has made plans to NOUNCEMENTS and PERFORMANCE. The politi- climb Mount Everest in May and a third man who cians, by the very nature of their calling are wholesale says he wont be parted from his family until 1988 ! dealers in WORDS. So are the media men. Most people abandon all original thinking in the face of this powerful tandem. Unity for WHAT ? That is the question to be answered, and answered honestly. TAMIL INFOR- •- The trouble about unity is that it is just not a word. MATION welcomes with both arms the latest move to There are words in every language which are soothing. bring unity among Eelam liberation forces, because of all the attempts made over the last one and a half ^Jf In the English language there are words such as •yPEACE, HARMONY, GOODWILL and UNITY. Very years, this is the only move that has LOGIC behind it: ' *** soothing words. People use these words liberally; so Let all the militant groups and other open forces that do governments and politicians, because these are had been ACTIVE in the liberation process GET words to which no son of a mother can take objection. TOGETHER. There is not only logic but credibility in Can you find a single man, outside mental asylums it. And that unity is here now ! The Liberation Tigers perhaps, who would openly stand up and say that he of Tamil Eelam, which had been the one group that was opposed to peace or harmony or goodwill or had consistently kept the State terrorist forces at bay unity ? So why is this big, wide world suffering from and helped to preserve the self-respect of all Tamils, this very affliction — the absence of peace, harmony the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation that had goodwill and unity ? The answer is simple. Firstly, recently shown marvellous striking capacity and shown people do not always say what they mean, nor mean itself capable of taking on the Sri Lanka army in open what they say. Secondly, what one man "X" means combat, the EROS and EPRLF which despite differing by unity might not be the same as what "Y" means by theoretical perceptions on the over-all Eelam liberation it. Or take motives; for example the case of the Spider struggle exhibited great magnanimity and sense of and the Fly in that old verse — purpose in linking up with TELO in a common front, "Will you walk into my parlour ?" are well on the way to getting together for united Said a spider to a fly ; action. May this unity go from strength to strength "Tis the prettiest little parlour and may this mean the dawn of liberation for the That ever you did spy". oppressed people of Tamil Eelam! jkpo;j; Njrpa Mtzr; Rtbfs; DECCAN is&HEwww.tamilarangam.netR ALD BANGALORE, MONDAY, MARCH 25, \W5 CITY the Jaffna based Saturday Review and a Sinhala moderate who had been campaigning against a military Tamil militant groups unite solution, to Madras last December to talk to the militants. The groups MADRAS, March 24. - The Liber- caused a serious setback to the unity told him that the Government should ation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, one of moves then underway between the first prove its bona fides by pulling the oldest and the. most powerful two groups. out the army from Tamil areas, with- among the guerilla groups fighting Even now, the Tigers acknowledge drawing the draconian Prevention of for a separate State for Sri Lankan that the PLOTE is an important group Terrorism Act and the emergency Tamils, has decided to join the Eelam which cannot be left out of any front. regulations and releasing all political National Liberation Front after pro- At the same time, they say Uma prisoners. The talks could then be tracted negotiations. Maheswaran has lost his credibility preceded by mutual cease-fire. The decision, coinciding as it does with the other groups by "hobnobbing Nothing came out of the mission with Foreign Secretary Romesh with the TULF" which had failed to because India, caught in the turmoil Bhandari's three-day visit to Colombo fulfil the overwhelming mandate it of elections so soon after the assassi- from today, is intended not only to had secured in 1977 for a Tamil nation of Mrs. Gandhi, was not in a broadbase the front and give it the Eelam. By isolating the PLOTE for a position to exert enough pressure necessary military teeth but also to while, Uma Maheswaran can be made on Sri Lankan to seek a negotiated signal to the Sri Lankan Government to agree to sever links with TULF, settlement. This transisition period that it cannot seek a lasting political give a commitment that he will not in India also saw increasing Lankan settlement behind the back of the accept any settlement short of self- army attacks on Tamil civilians, decl- militants. determination for the people of aration of the 320-km long coast from The Tigers' decision to join the front "Eelam" and deploy his forces in the mannar in the west along the Jaffna is a shot in the arm for the ENLF struggle. The group pressure will also peninsula to Mullaithivu in the east which was formed about a year ago make the PLOTE discipline its trigger as prohibited zone, stepped up naval by the Eelam Research Organisation happy "commanders" who often surveillance to choke guerilla move- (EROS), its splinter the Eelam harass boys of the other groups. ment across the Palk Strait, attacks People's Revolutionary Liberation The immediate reason for the on Rameswaram fishermen and the Organisation (ERPLF), and the Tamil Tigers' decision to join the front and influx of another 15,000 refugees to Eelam Liberation Organisation strengthen it is the realisation that India. (TELO). The EROS and the ERPLF time is running out for militants and Now that there is a stable Govern- comprise mostly left-wing political that they must consolidate their ment both at the Centre and in Tamil activists engaged in mobilising the forces. As Dr. A.S. Balasingham, nadu from where these groups people and have only small armies political adviser of Prabhakaran put operate, it is felt that President Jaye- of their own. Only the TELO can it, "protracted guerilla warfare in the wardene may be amenable to match the LTTE in military structure. face of accelerating State terrorism" suggestions for reopening the fa Since the formation of the front, is leading to terrible loss of innocent Indicative of the softening of the EROS leader Balakumaran and civilian lives. Over 60,000 have come Lankan attitude is the decision to EPRLF chief Padmanabha had been to India as refugees." release 200 Tamil youths from army wooing the LTTE of Prabhakaran and By forging a united front, the mili- camps. There are also reports that the other equally well-organised tant organisations hope to get official Mr. Bhandari's visit might pave the group, the People's Liberation Orga- recognition from India sooner or later. way for a summit meeting between nisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) of This they are optimistic of securing Mr. Jayewardene and MR. %$$* Uma Maheswaran, but the moves to once they are able to convince India Gandhi. One report says that Mr rope these two into the front failed that their is not just a separatist Jayewardene might stop over in Delhi to bear fruit for so long because of movement on the lines of the ones on his way back after visiting the rivalry between Uma Mahes- in Punjab or Nagaland but a struggle Pakistan.