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Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom

Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom. The International Frame - Some Aspects. A Presentation by www.tamilnation.org 3 September 2007. Struggle for Tamil Eelam is a National Question…. … and it is therefore an Inter – National Question.

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Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom

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  1. Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom The International Frame- Some Aspects

  2. A Presentation by www.tamilnation.org 3 September 2007

  3. Struggle for Tamil Eelam is a National Question… … and it is thereforean Inter – National Question

  4. The Struggle of Tamil Eelam for freedom is lawful & just • "Throughout the ages the Sinhalese and Tamils in the country lived as distinct sovereign people till they were brought under foreign domination.. We have for the last 25 years made every effort to secure our political rights on the basis of equality with the Sinhalese in a united Ceylon. It is a regrettable fact that successive Sinhalese governments have used the(ir) power …to deny us our fundamental rights and reduce us to the position of a subject people…I wish to announce to my people and to the country that I consider the verdict at this election as a mandate that the Tamil Eelam nation should exercise the sovereignty already vested in the Tamil people and become free." - Statement by Gandhian  Tamil Leader S.J.V.Chelvanayagam Q.C. M.P. 7 February 1975

  5. The Struggle of Tamil Eelam for freedom is lawful & just • …because democracy means the rule of the people, by the people, for the people and therefore, no one people may rule another; and • …because the struggle of the people of Tamil Eelam is about securing freedom from alien Sinhala rule…

  6. Sinhala rule is alien rule … • … because the Sinhala people speak a different language to that of the Tamil people;  because they trace their history to origins different from that of the Tamil people; and because their cultural heritage is different to that of the Tamil people. 

  7. …it is alien Sinhala rule • … because thepolitical consciousness of the Sinhala people and the way they  exercise their vote, is clearly determined by their separate language, by their separate history and by their separate cultural heritage - in short by their own separate Sinhala national identity

  8. …it is alien Sinhala rule • … because no Tamil has ever been elected to an electorate which had a majority of Sinhala voters and no Sinhalese has ever been elected to an electorate which had a  majority of Tamil voters; and • …because a Sinhala Buddhist ethno nation masquerading as a civic ' multi ethnic Sri Lankan nation', will always have a Sinhala Buddhist as the executive head of government.

  9. it is alien Sinhala rule … • …because the record proves and proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the practise of democracy within the confines of a single state has resulted  in genocidal rule by a permanent Sinhala majority…

  10. the charge is genocide – the struggle is for freedom … • “…Communal riots in which Tamils are killed, maimed, robbed and rendered homeless are no longer isolated episodes; they are beginning to become a pernicious habit."Paul Sieghart , International Commission of Jurists and British Section, Justice, March 1984 [see 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974,1977, 1983]

  11. “Secession/partition of the two communities is the best outcome overall” … • "...The problem in nationally divided societies is that the different groups have different political identities, and, in cases where the identities are mutually exclusive (not nested), these groups see themselves as forming distinct political communities. .. if the minority group seeks to be self-governing, or to secede from the larger state, increased representation at the centre will not be satisfactory. The problem in this case is that the group does not identify with the centre, or want to be part of that political community...One conclusion that can be drawn is that… secession/partition of the two communities, where that option is available, is the best outcome overall. .." Normative Justifications for Liberal Nationalism - Margaret Moore,2001

  12. Inviolability of borders against outside invasion must be separated from right to statehood of a people within a state's borders… • “… the principle of territorial integrity protects a state only against invasion of its borders and not against internal rebellion... Lord Robert Cecil once justly observed that the main cause of recurrence of wars was precisely the permanent freezing of state frontiers. In a recent New York Times article, human rights activist Yelena Bonner (widow of Andrei Sakharov) writes that "the inviolability of a country's borders against invasion from the outside must be clearly separated from the right to statehood of any people within a state's borders." Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran in The Tamils' Quest for Statehood

  13. Restrictions on self-determination threaten democracy… • “... Restrictions on self-determination threaten not only democracy itself but the state which seeks its legitimation in democracy...Let us accept the fact that states have lifecycles similar to those of human beings who created them. … hardly any Member State of the United Nations has existed within its present borders for longer than five generations. The attempt to freeze human evolution has in the past been a futile undertaking…" Self Determination & the Future of Democracy  - Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, 2001

  14. Legal scholars and non-governmental organizations have been vocal in their support for the right to self determination of the people of Tamil Eelam… • "We request that the delegates to the 49th Session of the Commission on Human Rights.. accord open recognition to the existence of the Tamil homeland in the North and East of the Island; and recognise that the Tamil population in the North and East of the island constitute a 'people' with the right to self determination'‘ Joint Statement by 15 NGOs consisting of the International Organisation for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, International Educational Development, Centre Europe Ties Monde, International Indian Treaty Council, Fedefam, Association paur la Liberte Religiose, Codehuca, World Christian Community, Pax Christie International, International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, Movement contra le Racisme, International Association of Educadores for World Peace, International Association against Torture, World Confederation of Labour, and International Movement for Fraternal Union among Races and Peoples. at United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Geneva 8 February 1993

  15. …in sum, the Struggle of Tamil Eelam for freedom is lawful & just • …because it is about the democratic right of the people of Tamil Eelam to govern themselves in their homeland… and • because it is about reversion of sovereignty - a sovereignty that the Tamil people enjoyed before the British unified the administration of the island of Sri Lanka in 1833.

  16. but… the world is not rotating on the axis of law & justice… • “The world is not rotating on the axis of justice…It is economic and trade interests that determine the order of the present world, not the moral law of justice nor the rights of people… International relations and diplomacy between countries are determined by such interests..”– Velupillai Pirabakaran, Leader of Tamil Eelam, November 1993

  17. …and inter-state relations are not governed by the logic of morality • "Inter-state relations are not governed by the logic of  morality. They were and they remain an amoral phenomenon.." Jyotindra Nath Dixit Indian Foreign Secretary in 1991/94 and National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister of India 2004/05, speaking in Switzerland, February 1998 •   "We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow." British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston (1784-1865) - 150 years ago

  18. …inter-state relations are governed by realpolitik… • '‘…When governments pretend not to notice suffering, to whom can peoples.. turn for help? The United Nations? Alas, the deeper you delve, the redder the faces. The cynicism of realpolitik extends even to the UN Commission on Human Rights... When Amnesty attended the Commission in Geneva last month to urge action on Indonesia and East Timor, we met only embarrassment. The governments to which we spoke repeated what they have been promising us for thirty years: they will pursue a policy of 'quiet diplomacy''' Amnesty in a full page advertisement in the London based Guardian on 12 March 1994 quoted in Cynicism of Real Politick, Nadesan Satyendra, March 1994

  19. …the cynicism of real politik which led US to declare in May 2000… • “…As I have said in both India and Pakistan, the U.S. does not envision or support the establishment of another independent state on this island, nor do we believe other members of the international community would support it.” US Under Secretary of State, Thomas R. Pickering Press Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 29 May 2000

  20. …a cynicism which led the Massachusetts House of Representatives to resolve in June 1981… • “..Resolved, that the Massachusetts House of Representatives hereby urges the President and the Congress of the United States to support the Struggle for Freedom by the Tamil Nation for the Restoration and Reconstitution of the separate sovereign state of Tamil Eelam and to recognise publicly the right of self determination by the Tamil people of Tamil Eelam" House of Representatives Resolution, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA, 18 June 1981

  21. …a cynicism which led India to train Tamil militants in the 1980s… • "...Most Tamil separatists from Sri Lanka had accepted the Indian offer (to provide arms and training) at its face value, thinking that New Delhi was reaching out to them out of genuine concern for their condition. However, an extraordinary revelation began to unfold as the training started. Many guerrillas realized that the training was just a subterfuge for a larger strategic game that India was attempting to play, a game in which the Tamil rebels may end up being just expendable pawns…” Narayan Swamy, M.R. - Inside an Elusive Mind - Prabhakaran  Published by Literate World, Inc, USA, 2003

  22. … a cynicism which seeks cover as ‘disinterested’ good Samaritans… • The ‘international community’ are not “disinterested” good Samaritans concerned primarily with securing justice for the Tamil people and bringing peace to a troubled island.… The actions of the Trilaterals (US, EU, Japan) on the one hand and India & China on the other hand, are directed to stabilise Sri Lanka in such a way so as to advance each of their own (conflicting) strategic interests in relation to the uneasy balance of power that prevails in the Indian Ocean Region.

  23. “The dynamics of the region .. call for a balance of power approach rather than a straight alliance. ..” Adam Wolfe, Yevgeny Bendersky, Dr. Federico Bordonaro - India's Project Seabird and Indian Ocean's Balance of Power, PINR, 20 July 2005 …the prevailing uneasy Balance of Power in the Indian Ocean Region…

  24. … the uneasy balance of power in the Indian Ocean regionhas impacted on the Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom… • Here, two frames may be usefully looked at… • One… the Strategic Significance of the Indian Ocean Region, and • Two… the Strategic Significance of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean Region Let us examine each in turn…

  25. The Indian Ocean is nearly 6,000 miles wide at the southern tips of Africa and Australia and its area is 2.8 million  square miles, about 5.5 times the size of the US.  The Indian peninsula projects 1240 miles into the Indian Ocean. 50% of the Indian Ocean basin lies within a 1,000 mile radius of India. 47 countries  have the Indian Ocean on their shores. One… the Strategic Significance of the Indian Ocean Region

  26. … a Strategic Significance which Germany recognised in World War II " ...Next to nothing has been written about the U-boat war in the Indian Ocean… The battle began in August 1943, when a German submarine arrived in the Malaysian harbour of Georgetown. In total, nearly fourty U-boats were assigned to penetrate the Indian Ocean, serving alongside troops of the occupying Imperial Japanese forces..." Lawrence Paterson - Hitler's Grey Wolves: U-Boats in the Indian Ocean

  27. …German U Boats Operating in the Indian Ocean in World War II

  28. Today… the Indian Ocean remains a Critical Waterway The Indian Ocean is a critical waterway for global trade and commerce… thro’ which passes half of the world’s containerized cargo, one third of its bulk cargo and two third of its oil shipment. Its waters carry heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia, and contain an estimated 40% of the world's offshore oil production...

  29. The Sea Lanes of the Indian Ocean

  30. … in the 21st Century the destiny of the world will be decided in these waters… “…Whoever controls the Indian Ocean dominates Asia. This ocean is the key to the seven seas in the twenty-first century, the destiny of the world will be decided in these waters." US Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan quoted by Cdr. P K Ghosh in Maritime Security Challenges in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, 18 January 2004

  31. Critical Choke Points of the Indian Ocean • “… The Ocean features four critically important access waterways facilitating international maritime trade - the Suez Canal in Egypt, Bab-el-Mandeb (bordering Djibouti and Yemen), Straits of Hormuz (bordering Iran and Oman), and Straits of Malacca (bordering Indonesia and Malaysia). These “chokepoints” or narrow channels are critical to world oil trade as huge amounts of oil pass through them. The role of the Indian Ocean in Facilitating Global Maritime Trade, Nazery Khalid, June 2005

  32. Oil-tanker traffic through the narrow strait, which already carries most of North Asia's oil imports, is projected to grow from 10 million barrels a day in 2002 to 20 million barrels a day in 2020 - much of that oil will be destined for the fast-growing market of China. “ 80% of Japan’s oil supplies and 60% of China’s oil supplies are shipped through the Straits of Malacca. US$ 70 billion worth of oil passes through the straits each year.” India, the Indian Ocean and Geo-politics Posted on 06.12.06 by Jaffna in the Indian National Interest 80% of Japan’s & 60% of China’s Oilshipped through Malacca Straits

  33. In recent years, in addition to the US, whose navy has long had a presence in the Indian Ocean and has been stealthily sailing the waters of the Bay of Bengal, China has also shown a considerable interest in utilizing the Andaman Sea as an outlet to the Indian Ocean in the near future. India bids to rule the waves, Ramtanu Maitra, 19 October 2005, Asia Times US, India & China: Strategic Interest in Malacca Straits & Andaman Sea…

  34. China & India scrambling for advantage in the Indian Ocean Region • “… Let this be clear: the two major powers of the region, China and India, are scrambling for advantage around the Indian Ocean's rim. China is building military and naval links with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The cooperation between China and African countries is now getting more and more visible, particularly after the China-Africa summit in Beijing in November 2006... Reports available indicate that both India and the United States are studying intensely this rise in Chinese activity. Atul Dev on The Indian Ocean: Current Security Environment, 25 May 2007

  35. Indian Ocean Strategic Landscape is being transformed… • "…the emergence of new powers like China and India is expected to transform the regional strategic landscape in a fashion that could be as dramatic as the rise of Germany in the 19th century and the United States in the 20th century" Barry Desker, Director IDSS, Singapore  in Maritime Balance of Power in the Asia-Pacific - Report of a Conference Organised by the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Singapore, 8th – 9th March 2005

  36. Indian Ocean Region has become Strategic Heartland of 21st Century… • "…The Indian ocean region has become the strategic heartland of the 21st century, dislodging Europe and North East Asia which adorned this position in the 20th century.. the developments in the Indian Ocean region are contributing to the advent of a less Western centric and a more multi-polar world..." Donald L. Berlin, Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, Hawaii , 13 December 2006

  37. Setting the Stage for a New Cold War • "..China, which has been a net oil importer since 1993, is the world's number two oil consumer after the U.S. and has accounted for 40 percent of the world's crude oil demand growth since 2000…China is stepping up efforts to secure sea lanes and transport routes that are vital for oil shipments .."Setting the Stage for a New Cold War: China's Quest for Energy Security - PINR, 25 February 2005 

  38. US Strategic Interests in the Indian Ocean Region… • “US strategic interests in Sri Lanka are intertwined with its military objectives in South Asia and Asia … Central to the US strategic objective in Asia is the desire to “preclude the rise of a regional or continental hegemon.” The US believes that no nation in Asia poses such a threat to it at the moment. But it believes that China, India and Iran have the potential to develop into continental hegemons either on their own or as partners of regional coalitions including Russia that could threaten US interests in Asia and, in the long run, in the world.” US Strategic Interests in Sri Lanka  - Dharmaretnam Sivaram, 30 July 2005

  39. “ The (US) base improvements will allow its new class of SSGN nuclear submarines to operate from Diego Garcia.. the SSGNs.. carry up to 154 Tactical Tomahawks, robot kamikaze jets which can be remotely piloted to strike locations a thousand miles inland..."US Navy builds Stingray-esque base in Indian Ocean - Frogmen, mini-subs to operate from nuke motherships - Lewis Page, 7 April 2007 Indian Ocean – US & Diego Garcia

  40. Indian Ocean – US & Diego Garcia

  41. US – India: a Strategic Partnership or… • At the last meeting of the Indo-US Defence Joint Working Group held in New Delhi (on 10 April 2007), China's 'growing naval expansion in the Indian Ocean' was noted with concern. The meeting also noted: ''China is rapidly increasing military and maritime links with countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar… The 200 years of the Anglo-Saxon presence in the region has now been replaced by the US-China presence to further and protect their interests. Isn’t it time for the ‘owners’ of the Indian Ocean to get together to protect their own interests?  " Atul Dev in the Mauritius Times, 25 May 2007

  42. or… an evolving entente… or… • "...Last April, at a two-day workshop at the Indian Defense Studies Analysis (IDSA), a New Delhi-based think tank, discussions took place on emerging U.S.-Indian strategic relations. One Indian analyst pointed out that although Indians are eager to obtain U.S. technology… Indians worry that at a crucial time they might not be supplied with replacement parts if the relationship goes bad again.... A senior Indian military official delivering a luncheon address to the conference cautioned that Indo-U.S. relations .. can be better described as an "evolving entente," and argued that given its size, location, and ambitions, India will always march to the beat of its own drummer..."Geostrategic Import of the Coming Bay of Bengal Naval Exercise -  Ramtanu Maitra, Executive Intelligence Review, 27 July 2007

  43. or… will India always try to march to the beat of its own drummer • "...In the current international landscape, there is only one country which has a truly global agenda and also a global reach, which is the United States. However, there is also a cluster of major powers with strong regional profiles but increasingly global impact. These include the E.U., Russia, China, Japan, India, Brazil and South Africa. While U.S. pre-eminence is unlikely to be reversed in the foreseeable future, the relative importance of the other major powers is likely to increase. We are already in a world of what I would call "asymmetric multipolarity" with the asymmetry progressively diminishing over a period of time. India has an instinctive preference for multipolarity… this is a trend which is positive from India’s standpoint as an emerging power…” Shyam Saran, Special Envoy to Indian Prime Minister, Indian Foreign Secretary 2004 – 2006, Address at the Institute for South Asian Studies, Singapore, 30 August 2007

  44. “India is reportedly planning to set up a high-tech monitoring station in northern Madagascar … It would be the first such facility New Delhi has opened in another country..  India will pay US$2.5 million to lease the station, because it apprehends threats to its strategic naval assets and its political, economic and military interests in Africa..” Delhi all ears in the Indian Ocean - Sudha Ramachandran in Asia Times, 3 March 2006 India in Madagascar

  45. "Four months after the U.S. ordered its troops into Afghanistan to remove the Taliban regime, China and Pakistan joined hands to break ground in building a Deep Sea Port in Gwador on the Arabian Sea… Gwadar is nautically bounded by the Persian Gulf in the west and the Gulf of Oman in the southwest “China's Naval Outpost on the Indian Ocean, Tarique Niazi, The Jamestown Foundation, 28 February 2005 China in Gawdor, Pakistan

  46. Japan’s Indian Ocean Deployment • "By most standards, Japan is now the world’s number two naval power....the primary reason for dispatching the Kongo-class Aegis ships (to the Indian Ocean) ...was... undoubtedly...to do with the prodigious area-wide surveillance and tracking capacities of the Aegis air defense system operated by the Kongo-class ships . These would have enabled the MSDF ships to cooperate with both US and UK navy and air units operating not only in the Indian Ocean, but possibly over Afghanistan itself..." Japan’s Indian Ocean Naval Deployment: Blue water militarization in a “normal country” - Richard Tanter in Japan Focus, 21 March 2006

  47. Stirling in Australia – de facto US Base in the Indian Ocean “… In late 2002 the Australian government agreed to allow the US military to use the HMAS Stirling naval base in Cockburn Sound on the west coast of Australia to trial its new “sea-swap” program. The plan is aimed at boosting US naval firepower in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. Critics charge that the Australian Federal and State Governments are working to make Cockburn Sound a defacto base for the US navy.” Stirling Naval Base at Global Security

  48. China calls for exclusion of outside powers from the Indian Ocean… • At the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Indian Ocean, 451st Meeting (PM) on 26 July 2005 the representative of China "called for common efforts for countries inside and outside the region to maintain peace and stability in the region and to establish the Zone of Peace at an early date.  To that end, the major Powers outside the region should eliminate their military presence in the Indian Ocean region."  Declaration of the Indian Ocean  as a Zone of Peace

  49. China’s Geo Political Strategy:“String of Pearls” • “The geopolitical strategy dubbed the “String of Pearls” is arising as foreign oil becomes a center of gravity critical to China’s energy needs. China’s rising maritime power is encountering American maritime power along the sea lines of communication (SLOCs) that connect China to vital energy resources in the Middle East and Africa.” String of Pearls:Meeting the Challenge of China’s Rising Power Across the Asian Littoral - Lt.Col. Christopher J. Pehrson, July, 2006

  50. China’s String of Pearls • “Each “pearl” in the “String of Pearls” is a nexus of Chinese geopolitical influence or military presence. Hainan Island, with recently upgraded military facilities, is a “pearl.” An upgraded airstrip on Woody Island, located in the Paracel archipelago 300 nautical miles east of Vietnam, is a “pearl.” A container shipping facility in Chittagong, Bangladesh, is a “pearl.” Construction of a deep water port in Sittwe, Myanmar, is a “pearl,” as is the construction of a navy base in Gwadar, Pakistan. … China is building strategic relationships and developing a capability to establish a forward presence along the sea lines of communication (SLOCs) that connect China to the Middle East” String of Pearls:Meeting the Challenge of China’s Rising Power Across the Asian Littoral - Lt.Col. Christopher J. Pehrson, July, 2006

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