Imagine living in a society almost completely cut off from the rest of the world. Not only is this society isolated, discrimination and prejudice is nothing but way of life which you experience daily. Well, so how does all this seem to you? It is however, a sad fact that in today's "democratic" society, such is the reflection in parts of our global mirror. Little, if not no attention are given to the minorities - be it based on religions, races or any other forms of classifications. Minorities are not part of the shared identity of the people in societies and the government rarely felt that these minorities could make a difference.
More often than not, minorities have no stake and shared identity in society. It is a common tendency of modern countries to assume a "national" identity and culture. Far too often, this tendency leads to a disregard for, or underestimation of, the multiethnic, multicultural, or multireligious diversities that exist within the boundaries of a nation.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Manual Tea plucking in Sri Lanka.Eventually, the minorities present are left out completely from which is ironically known as the "common identity". One very good example in Sri Lanka would be the Indian Tamils not being granted with citizenship rights. After Sri Lanka achieved independence from the British in 1948, it granted citizenship only to those who were either born in Sri Lanka or those whose fathers and grandfathers were also born there. As a result many Indian Tamils who were brought from India to Sri Lanka by the British to work on the Tea plantations found themselves stateless. Basic rights such as voting were denied from them even though they contribute to the country's economy. Up till today, as many as 100,000 Indian Tamils remained stateless. In situation like this, how would one expect to embrace the...
Review: Essey against the real facts
First of all as a Tamil person born and living in Sri Lanka, I would like to point out that in the current Sri Lankan context, the word "minority" is no longer encouraged to be used as the government is very conscious and sensitive to uplift the living standards of all the people in Sri Lanka. Therefore currently all the people in Sri Lanka are considered as "Citizens of Sri Lanka" irrespective whether they are Tamil, Muslim, Burger or Sinhalese.
Secondly it is clear that by reading this article, I came across situations where the author states "… Basic rights such as voting were denied from them even though they contribute to the country's economy. Up till today, as many as 100,000 Indian Tamils remained stateless . .". I would like to point out that in all the presidential elections the Tamil Sri Lankans across the country as well as Muslim Sri Lankans were given the opportunity to vote. All the Tamil Sri Lankans except in the Northern & East were able to freely cast their votes in the Presidential Elections. However, statistics show that in Jaffna in the rebel-dominated north the ballot turnout in the town was very thin.
"In one polling station in Jaffna town where 2,083 people are registered to vote, only one ballot was cast nearly three hours after voting began." (Ref: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4439050.stm)
"Only 10% had turned out by noon in Vanni, which is part-controlled by the Tamil Tigers. The turnout in Jaffna is expected to be only 1.5%." (Ref: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4439050.stm)
In fact it is the LTTE the Terrorist Organization that has been trying to put an end to the basic rights of the Tamil Sri Lankans by threatening them.
"However, most members of the Tamil minority in areas controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels boycotted the poll." (Ref: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4439050.stm)
Thirdly, the LTTE as I mentioned before is nothing but a terrorist organization who are ruthlessly killing Sri Lankans (all Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese people) in order to fulfill their need for power. The reason behind LTTE is not to free Tamil Sri Lankans from discrimination, but the gain power in a non civilized ruthless way, since there is no such problem to Tamil Sri Lankans other than the problems like
* LTTE killing Tamil people, keeping Tamil, Sinhalese people as hostages. (Ref: http://www.defence.lk/ltte/)
* LTTE abducting their children from school (age between 14 onwards ) to join their killings. Most of the children in the battle field have surrendered or left the LTTE for their freedom. (Ref: http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070516_04, http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070127_03, http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20061220_03 )
* LTTE forcing the Tamils all over the world to give them money to buy them weapons
*International prostitution network run by LTTE. (Ref: http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070514_06)
For video clips on more of the above visit http://defence.lk/main_res.asp?fname=videos
Deve lopment programs in the North by Sri Lankan Government have been launched in areas that were fought and won by SL army. (Ref: http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070517_01) However still there are some areas where people are suffocated by these terrorists and the SL army has to give their lives for the freedom of Tamils held there.
0 out of 0 people found this comment useful.