Burning Memories - Jaffna Library

This is a cultural genocide - Documentary The Jaffna Public Library began as the private collection of the scholar K.M. Chellapha, who began lending books from his home in 1933. In 1934, a committee set up a formal library, with Chellapha as secretary. Initially, 844 books, 30 newspapers and periodicals were kept in a single room, but soon the collection was shifted into a building on Jaffna’s main street and was opened to subscribers. The library was so popular that a cross-section of prominent members of the community began raising funds to build a permanent, modern building to house the library. The architect of the Indo-Saracenic style building was Mr. Narasimhan from Madras, India, and well-known Indian librarian S.R. Ranganathan served as an advisor to ensure that the library was built to international standards. In due course the first major wing of the library was opened in 1959 by then Jaffna mayor Alfred Duraiappah.

The collection became well known internationally and was popular with Sinhalese and Tamil scholars. Researchers from across the globe used the library for their research purposes. It was the major repository of literary source materials of the Tamil people and Tamil language. By 1981, it had over 97,000 books and rare, old manuscripts and papers. Some books were irreplaceable like the “Yalpanam Vaipavamalai”; a history of Jaffna, the library possessed the only existing copy. The library also held miniature editions of the Ramayana, anthologies of long vanished Tamil newspapers, and microfilms of important documents. It also held works on herbal medicine, historical scrolls, and the manuscripts of prominent thinkers, authors, and playwrights. It was a place of historic and symbolic importance to the local minority Sri Lankan Tamil people .The library was the pride of people of Jaffna.

On the night of Sunday May 31, 1981 police and paramilitaries who were supposed to be on electioneering duty went on rampage and destroyed the head office of TULF party, the office and press of ‘Eelanaadu’, a Tamil newspaper was burnt to the ground. Statues of Tamil cultural and religious figures were destroyed or defaced. Hundreds of shops and a Hindu temple were also completely demolished. Four people died during the pogrom that went on for three days. According to many eye witnesses’ policeman and government sponsored thugs set fire to the Jaffna Public Library thus destroying it completely. Over 97,000 volumes of books along with several culturally important and irreplaceable palm leaf manuscripts were burnt, including scrolls of historical significance. Several high ranking security officers and two cabinet ministers were present in the town of Jaffna, when uniformed security men and plainclothes mob carried out organized acts of violence. In the summer of 82, a year after the library’s initial destruction, the community sponsored the “Jaffna Public Library Week” and worked together to collect thousands of books. The Municipal Council of Jaffna did not want to repair the building. A decision was made to allow it to remain as a memorial to the ethnic vandalism it experienced, and construct the second stage of the master plan. The construction work on this building was nearing completion in 1983 when violence against Tamil intensified in July of the same year. The Second stage was opened on fourth of June, 1984. On the night of May 9 th, 1985 Sinhalese soldiers entered the lending room and set off bombs that shredded thousands of books. The library was further damaged by bullets, shells, and bombs during the course of the war. The library was finally forsaken. Its scarred walls blackened with the smoke of burnt books, haunted the city. In an effort to win back the trust and confidence of the Tamil people, the government under international pressure for a negotiated end to the war, began renovating the library in 1998. The media minister publicly lamented the destruction of the library as an “evil act,” the product of hatred and misguided politics on the part of the previous government. One million dollars was spent and Twenty Five Thousand books in the Tamil and English languages were collected. By 2001 a replacement building was finally built. The opening was to serve as a step for healing the wounds of two decades of warfare, but political conflict over its opening highlighted the mistrust that lingered. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voqiwn7eCEU Kilder: http://www.tamilsydney.com/content/view/1289/37/ http://burningmemories.org/

சிங்களப் பயங்கர வாதிகளால் எம் அறிவுச் சொத்து அழிக்கப்பட்டு இருபத்திஐந்து ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பு, நாகரிக உலகமே வெட்கித் தலைகுனியும் படியான கோரச் செயல் ஒன்றை அன்றைய சிங்கள அரசு தமிழ் மக்களுக்கு செய்தது. 1981ம் ஆண்டு யூன் மாதம் முதலாம் திகதி இரவு ஒன்பது மணியளவில் தென்கிழக்காசியாவின் மிகச் சிறந்த நூல் நிலையங்களில் ஒன்றாகக் கருதப் பட்ட யாழ்ப்பாண நூல் நிலையம் தீக்கிரையாக்கப் பட்டது. Video in Tamil 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jihsdulTJ_o&eur

Kilde: http://www.nerudal.com/nerudal.7345.html

Hidden massacre

Tamil civilian massacre in Sri Lanka 20 000 civilians were killed in Srilankas final push against the tamil tigers. This was a war without witness and this is called "a hidden massacre" Channel 4 News brings you this shocking information (Se video) Kilde: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=24693604001

Sri Lanka - en skandale for FN

By Hans Rustadon Mai 30, 2009 Den sri lankesiske hærens gjenerobring av Jaffnahalvøya har i ettertid utviklet seg til en skandale for FN. Generalsekretær Ban Ki Moon ble fortalt under sin rundtur på Sr Lanka for over en uke siden at antall drepte sivile trolig lå på 20.000. Likevel sa han ingenting. Det var FNs egne folk som kom med disse opplysningene. The top aide to the United Nations Secretary-General was told more than a week ago that at least 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the Sri Lankan Government’s final offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels this month, The Times can reveal. UN officials told Vijar Nambiar, Ban Ki Moon’s chief of staff, that their figures indicated a likely final death toll of more than 20,000, during a briefing in preparation for Mr Ban’s visit to the region on May 23. Two staff present at the meeting confirmed the exchange to The Times but Mr Ban never mentioned the death toll during his tour of the battleground, which he described as the “most appalling scene” he had witnessed in his long international career. The casualty figure, revealed by The Times yesterday, triggered an international furore, with the Sri Lankan authorities denying the report and human rights groups demanding an investigation into possible war crimes. FN-tjenestemenn lekket tallet 20.000 til the Times og forklarte detaljert om hvordan de hadde kommet frem til det. I begynnelsen av mai kom tallet 7.000 drepte frem. Også det ble lekket av FN-ansatte som var misfornøyd med hemmeligholdet. The figure of 7,000 deaths until the end of April, which was based on individually documented deaths and not estimates, was leaked by UN sources in Sri Lanka this month after internal anger over the secrecy surrounding them. UN satellite images documenting the bombing of medical facilities were also leaked from New York. The UN Humanitarian Co-ordination Office said yesterday that the figures cited by The Times were based on “well-informed estimates” given in private briefings to member states to underscore its concern — including Britain and the United States. Human Rights Council Men det som gjør skandalen enda større er at Human Rights Council nektet å følge oppfordringer fra mange organisasjoner om å nedsette en uavhengig granskningskommisjon. Storbritannias tidligere FN-ambassadør David Hannay, skriver i the Times: The decision by the United Nations' Human Rights Council to resist setting up an inquiry into the conduct of both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan military in the recent hostilities is shocking and indefensible. Its rejection too of the advice of the UN's own High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, that such an inquiry was needed, is even more aberrant. And the resolution that the council did adopt, which implies that no human rights abuses occurred at the hands of the Sri Lankan Government, flies in the face of all the evidence that is emerging, not least from investigations by The Times. Seldom has the dictum that truth is the first casualty of war been demonstrated more clearly. Krisen er ikke over: fortsatt nektes Internasjonale Røde Kors adgang til de 250.000 sivile som er plassert i leire. At Human Rights Council nekter å nedsette en kommisjon, er i realiteten en neglisjering av tamilenes lidelser. Rådet har vist samme likegyldighet overfor lidelsene i Burma, Darfur og Zimbabwe. Men palestinerne i Gaza har fått stor oppmerksomhet. Der ble det drept 1.300 i januar. En uavhengig kommisjon er nedsatt under ledelse av Richard Goldstone. Han måtte insistere på at ikke bare Israels, men også Hamas' handlinger skulle granskes, før det ble godtatt. USA og Norge tiltrer som medlemmer av Rådet 18. juni. I 2011 skal man vurdere måten Rådet fungerer på. kilder: http://www.document.no/2009/05/sri_lanka_-_en_skandale_for_fn.html http://www.document.no/2009/05/sri_lanka_-_en_skandale_for_fn.html http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6390626.ece

Short History of TAMILS under Terror STATE SRI LANKA

This is a short documentary, telling you about the history of Sri Lanka and Tamils. How the Tamils lost their rights to live, how they attacked by the sinhala majority and why started the war. Video - Documentary Kilde: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTydrPgOMfo&NR=1

The hidden massacre

The hidden massacre: Sri Lanka’s final offensive against Tamil Tigers More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final throes of the Sri Lankan civil war, most as a result of government shelling, an investigation by The Times has revealed. The number of casualties is three times the official figure. The Sri Lankan authorities have insisted that their forces stopped using heavy weapons on April 27 and observed the no-fire zone where 100,000 Tamil men, women and children were sheltering. They have blamed all civilian casualties on Tamil Tiger rebels concealed among the civilians. Aerial photographs, official documents, witness accounts and expert testimony tell a different story. With the world’s media and aid organisations kept well away from the fighting, the army launched a fierce barrage that began at the end of April and lasted about three weeks. The offensive ended Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war with the Tamil Tigers, but innocent civilians paid the price. Confidential United Nations documents acquired by The Times record nearly 7,000 civilian deaths in the no-fire zone up to the end of April. UN sources said that the toll then surged, with an average of 1,000 civilians killed each day until May 19, the day after Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers, was killed. That figure concurs with the estimate made to The Times by Father Amalraj, a Roman Catholic priest who fled the no-fire zone on May 16 and is now interned with 200,000 other survivors in Manik Farm refugee camp. It would take the final toll above 20,000. “Higher,” a UN source told The Times. “Keep going.” Some of the victims can be seen in the photograph above, which shows the destruction of the flimsy refugee camp. In the bottom right-hand corner, sand mounds show makeshift burial grounds. Other pictures show a more orderly military cemetery, believed to be for hundreds of rebel fighters. One photograph shows rebel gun emplacements next to the refugee camp. Independent defence experts who analysed dozens of aerial photographs taken by The Times said that the arrangement of the army and rebel firing positions and the narrowness of the no-fire zone made it unlikely that Tiger mortar fire or artillery caused a significant number of deaths. “It looks more likely that the firing position has been located by the Sri Lankan Army and it has then been targeted with air-burst and ground-impact mortars,” said Charles Heyman, editor of the magazine Armed Forces of the UK. On Wednesday, Sri Lanka was cleared of any wrongdoing by the UN Human Rights Council after winning the backing of countries including China, Egypt, India and Cuba. A spokesman for the Sri Lankan High Commission in London said: “We reject all these allegations. Civilians have not been killed by government shelling at all. If civilians have been killed, then that is because of the actions of the LTTE [rebels] who were shooting and killing people when they tried to escape.: kilde-http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6383449.ece

Anerkjenn tamilenes rett til selvbestemmelse

-Basert på FN-kilder skriver New York Times at over 20 000 sivile kan ha blitt drept i de siste ukene da regjeringshæren på Sri Lanka nedkjempa LTTEs militære styrker. Sri Lankas regjering følger nå opp dette med overgrep som krever nye lidelser og daglige dødsfall blant den tamilske sivilbefolkningen, mener Rødts leder Torstein Dahle. -Rundt 300 000 tamiler er i realiteten holdt i fangeleire, hvor den lankesiske hæren driver klappjakt på angivelige medlemmer og sympatisører av LTTE. Avvisningen av å slippe til internasjonale observatører og hjelpeorganisasjoner gjør at regjeringssoldatene kan drive sine systematiske og grusomme overgrep mot uskyldige tamiler. Det forsterker også den umiddelbare nøden til de hundretusener som er i fangeleirene og de krigsherjede områdene. -Foruten å kreve internasjonal tilgang til leirene og krigsområdene, er det avgjørende for den videre prosessen *at tamilenes rett til selvbestemmelse blir slått fast av det internasjonale samfunnet.* -Her kan den norske regjeringen gå i spissen og dermed få satt dette på dagsorden. Det finnes ingen varig løsning på konflikten på øya uten at dette prinsippet blir anerkjent og lagt til grunn for de politiske forhandlingene som må komme, avslutter Rødts leder. Torstein Dahle har også i dag sendt et brev til statsminister Jens Stoltenberg hvor han understreker det som er nevnt til slutt her: At Norge må gå i spissen for en kampanje for at tamilenes rett til selvbestemmelse blir anerkjent. For ytterligere kommentarer Torstein Dahleleder i rødt Kilde: http://roedt.no/nyheter/2009/05/anerkjenn-tamilenes-rett-til-selvbestemmelse/

UN chief knew this

UN chief knew Tamil civilian toll had reached 20,000 Witness to disaster UN response shameful Home-made bunkers revealed The top aide to the United Nations Secretary-General was told more than a week ago that at least 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the Sri Lankan Government’s final offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels this month, The Times can reveal. UN officials told Vijar Nambiar, Ban Ki Moon’s chief of staff, that their figures indicated a likely final death toll of more than 20,000, during a briefing in preparation for Mr Ban’s visit to the region on May 23. Two staff present at the meeting confirmed the exchange to The Times but Mr Ban never mentioned the death toll during his tour of the battleground, which he described as the “most appalling scene” he had witnessed in his long international career. The casualty figure, revealed by The Times yesterday, triggered an international furore, with the Sri Lankan authorities denying the report and human rights groups demanding an investigation into possible war crimes. Lakshman Hulugalle, a Defence Ministry spokesman, said: “These figures are way out . . . What we think is that these images are also fake. We totally deny the allegation that 20,000 people were killed.” But, internationally, calls have been growing for an independent war crimes investigations on both sides and for access by humanitarian groups to the war zone and the 270,000 Tamil civilians who are still being detained. Amnesty International called on the UN to release the estimated figures to help to push for a war crimes inquiry. “The Timess investigation underscores the need for investigation and the UN should do everything it can to determine the truth about the ‘bloodbath’ that occurred in northeast Sri Lanka,” Sam Zarifi, the Asia-Pacific director of Amnesty International, said. “The Human Rights Council’s decision not to call for specific measures to protect Sri Lankans made a mockery of the council, but it does not mean the end of the international community’s responsibility to respond to this continuing crisis,” Mr Zarifi said. The International Committee of the Red Cross made a rare public plea yesterday for access to the no-fire zone and internment camps in the region. “We haven’t been able to access the areas where most of these people would have fled from since the ending of the most recent fighting,” Florian Westphal, the Red Cross spokesman, told a briefing in Geneva. The figure of 20,000 casualties was given to The Times by UN sources, who explained in detail how they arrived at that calculation. Before this month’s bombardment made the recording of each individual death impossible, the figures had been collated from deaths reported by priests and doctors and added to a count of the bodies brought to medical points. Of the total, the bodies collected accounted for only a fifth of all reported deaths. After the bombing intensified this month, the only numbers available were by a count of the bodies. The 20,000 figure is an extrapolation based on the actual body count. The 20,000 figure has also been obtained by Le Monde, the French daily newspaper, which quoted UN sources as saying that the figure had not been made public to avoid a diplomatic storm. The figure of 7,000 deaths until the end of April, which was based on individually documented deaths and not estimates, was leaked by UN sources in Sri Lanka this month after internal anger over the secrecy surrounding them. UN satellite images documenting the bombing of medical facilities were also leaked from New York. The UN Humanitarian Co-ordination Office said yesterday that the figures cited by The Times were based on “well-informed estimates” given in private briefings to member states to underscore its concern — including Britain and the United States. “You have seen the figures that are mentioned. Obviously, what we have are well-informed estimates and not precise, verifiable numbers,” said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the humanitarian co-ordination office. “The point is the UN has not been shy about the scale of human suffering and civilian casualties. It has been ringing the alarm bells for a long time.” Kilde: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6382706.ece