Why is the West and Amnesty International blind and mute to the tragic and largescale genocide in Srilanka ?

Question

Human rights violations, by whoever and wherever commited, should be the concern of each and every civilised person. And yet the silence in respect of the war resulting in death and maiming of thousands of civilians in Srilanka is deafening ... Highways have been closed by the military thereby depriving lakhs of innocent people food and indispensable and lifesaving medicine.Women, children, sick and aged have particularly been the targets.Millions have fled the country of their birth and seek shelter in other countries as refugees.

And not all of them are treated with the sympathy or respect they deserve.

The West responded to the cries of Jews and Israel was created for them. Plebiscite was conducted in East Timor by the United Nations and the army of Indonesia retreated to its barracks. Yer, strangely, despite the harrowing and indescribeably horrible tragedies of Srilanka continuing unabated, internatioonal organisations tend to look the other way around.... Why ?

Answer 1

SriLanka is one country that does not figure very highly in the community of nations, maybe it is not important enough. This might be the reason why every country has left it alone to settle it own issues of genocide and human rights abuses. Nations are like individuals and like individual relations only if an individual is worthy enough of attention he will get it otherwise an individual will be ignored. This is a very materialistic view but then this is a ground rality however bitter it may be to swallow. Most of the third world countries of the South Asia like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Srilanka have never been important for the West. The best way would have been that these countries should have co-operated more with each other. The sad part is that India and Pakistan have always been at loggerheads, Bangladesh, Nepal and Srilanka are not figured too highly on India's list, and as a result although India is now being recognized and being included in the favored circle of nations of the West but SriLanka continues to lag behind and has to deal with its issues all alone.

Answer 2

Just a guess but MANY people in this area have lost there jobs to your country and I'll have to guess but I think that they are ok with whatever fate comes your way.  I figure that we all have issues and if I call my congressman for something it'll be for our own problems at home.

Answer 3

When India, the closest neighbour of Srilanka, watching silently the massacre of people of Indian origin,how can one expect other countries to raise their voice vehemently against the state-sponsored mass killings.India is a giant country and a nuclear power(also, world's largest democracy).India should have acted more effectively long ago.The  original blunder was committed by the Rajiv Govt. by sending IPKF , which , in fact, allowed the Army of Srilanka to restructure and strengthen its forces to eliminate the LTTE.The subsequent withdrawal of Indian Troops hardly made any effective change.Indian withdrawal should have been with a Tag to allow some sort of autonomy within Srilanka(like a State in India) and equal right to the people of Indian origin.

Later Congress Govts kept blaming the LTTE for killing Rajiv Gandhi and even today, the Congress Party which is an anti national Party  has been maintaining a stand to rejoice at the killings of the Tamils in Srilanka(silently, offcourse).

Why is it that the people of Tamilnadu are not vocal on this issue? I find this quite strange.Let the Tamils of India  create tremendous pressure on the Govt of India to act to ensure safety and equality of Tamils in Srilanka.Tamils are historically great freedom loving people.When brothers do not feel for brothers , how is it expected that Indian Govt will do anything to protect the Tamils in a country, which is not so important strategically for the BIG BROTHER (USA) and the Allies.

USA +their allies  intervene in the affairs of any country if there is something to get in return.

It's mainly India, that failed to act so far in a proper manner .The Amnesty International hardly realises the implications.

I strongly believe , the Tamils should create an unrest within India to defend the brothers and sisters in that country of barbarians.Let the Tamils form their own cadres in Tamilnadu to fight for Creating the Greater Tamil Elam.

When India remains so passive on this massacre and the Tamilnadu State Political Parties doing exactly the same, you can't expect other international bodies to take active interest in this matter.

Late Annadurai had created DMK with his famous slogan".................................... which I don't want to mention here, how come , today, both the DMK  and  the AIDMK party members seek votes from the people of Tamilandu by disregarding his original purpose of forming such a platform?Had Anna been alive now, I am sure, he would have gone all out flat for rescuing the Tamils in Jaffna and full scale war against the countries denying equal right/justice to the Tamils in any part of the world(including , India).

I remember vividly when lakhs of Tamils in Madras City gathered in an Annual Meet of the DMK, soon after Bangladesh Liberation, with huge paintings of images of Shekh Mujibur Rehman and Anna Durai .......and , large number of fastoons displaying the slogan " ANNA IS MUJIB OF TAMILNADU".

He  was the GREATEST leader of the common Tamils and the rest who have been using his name to get political mileage are shame to the people of Tamilnadu.

Answer 4

It would appear that there is very little silence on this issue. You just aren't finding what you want to hear.

Sri Lanka's international aid donors, led by the U.S., European Union, Japan and Norway, have made progress toward a peace settlement a condition for providing $4.5 billion in aid.

The Tamil Tigers, widely outlawed as a terrorist group and blamed for a spree of bombings and suicide attacks, accused the government of duplicity in offering peace talks while launching repeated military offensives and air raids amid a declared plan to wipe out their military strike capability.

Terrorist , rebel or freedom fighter by any other name is still a killer and sooner or later needs to compromise or die.

Answer 5

No one is blind to these terrible atrocities.  We can't police the whole world all at once.  Genocide has been going on for centuries and will continue.  We do what we can and when.  All we can do is try and keep trying at great cost of money and human life.  I think it has been proven we cannot effectively fight terrorists....  wars have rules but terrorists have their own rules based on their own wacko beliefs. Trust me, this news makes everyone heartsick too...but you cannot say we are "blind and mute."   Not fair and you are pointing your finger at the wrong side.

The outbreak of anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka did change the course of the nation’s history. Extensively organised anti-Tamil riots took place in Colombo and South of Sri Lanka. The riots lasted for several days and left over 3,000 Tamils dead and millions of dollars worth of their property were destroyed. Rather than stopping the genocide the Sri Lankan politicians, police, armed forces as well as the Buddhist clergy actively took part in many of the murders and rapes. Sinhalese community systematically attacked Tamils and destroy Tamil property, and the riots create a movement of refugees within the island. Thousands of Tamils fled to Tamil Nadu, Europe and North America.

The government headed by President Jayawardene refused to condemn the riots and did not even release a statement until after four days of mayhem. In 2004 President Chandrika Kumaratunga made a token apology to the nation. The “apology” was accompanied by nominal compensation to some of the victims. Just 72.3 million rupees [$US702,000] was promised. To this day no one knew whether this was paid or not for the injuries and destruction Tamils suffered. Leaving aside the cost in lives, the loss of property alone in 1983 has been estimated to run into billions of rupees.

This web library is dedicated to the innocent Tamils massacred by the Sri Lankan Sinhalese community. Should you wish to share your experiences please drop me am email. I am trying to build this as a library to publish or link relevant materials, articles, evidence, statements and photographs. Your comments, suggestions and contributions are most welcome.

Genocide (Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide New York, 9 December 1948)

The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines the term as: Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Sri Lanka 12 Oct 1950 (Accession)

The Legal Definition of Genocide

The international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

Article II describes two elements of the crime of genocide:

1)the mental element, meaning the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”, and

2)the physical element which includes five acts described in sections a, b, c, d and e. A crime must include both elements to be called “genocide.”

Article III described five punishable forms of the crime of genocide: genocide; conspiracy, incitement, attempt and complicity.

Great question!  Star.

Answer 6

Hi.

When we help, they tell us to mind our own buisness.

When we dont help, we get sued in US courts for not helping.

I don't know the answer. I'm an American and have witness people telling us to stop helping that when we help we make things worse. You can imagine that that doesn't really motivates us to keep on helping.

I don't know the answer.