Announce Mahinda Rajapaksa as war criminal

See the horrific pictures!  Question the Sinhalese brutality! Arrest Rajapaksa for war crimes!

Rajapaksa is the fascist-tyrant who harnessed the forces of Sinhalese nationalism, hatred and fear to implement his vision of an ethnically separated Sri Lanka.  Arresting and convicting Rajapaksa for his genocide will give millions of the affected Tamil people hope that the man responsible for killing their people and destroying their livelihoods will one day be brought to justice for the true extent of his crimes.

War Criminal Rajapaksa down down!

Present position:

Even with the TNA’s victory in the recent polls, Tamils currently do not have a strong national advocate as there is no space in the north for political organization since its civil society is relatively dead in the massive security presence. TNA’s victory in the local polls may not help when the ground reality is not conducive to livelihood revival and development. Progressive demilitarisation is a pre-requisite for internal pacification and legitimisation of the state in post-civil war Lanka which is not done in the North and the East. The Tamils still remain disenfranchised to alarming degrees due to internal displacement and subjection to military rule. In these circumstances, the invocation of sovereignty by Rajapaksa makes no sense to the war-torn people. There is little hope that the Sri Lankan government will put forth a durable political solution that will address the underlying grievances of the Tamil community. President Rajapaksa’s poor track record of reaching out to Tamils underscores the fears felt by many Tamils that they have no voice and continue to be marginalized by the Sinhalese-dominated government. Rajapaksa’s concept of majoritarian control over a pluralist country may deprive post-war Sri Lanka of the peace and normalcy that it desperately needs.

It is sad that Sri Lankan government still relies on its military might to govern the nation even after eliminating the LTTE threat to its security and loses its legitimacy among the Tamils. Moreover the government uses development of infrastructure as a substitute for a political solution thereby justifying the continuation of militarisation in the name of state security. The rehabilitation and development measures of post-war Eastern and Northern Sri Lanka have so far failed miserably to create any hope of a political way out.

The most reasonable and sustainable way to establish democracy and to instil hopes is to implement a political solution that makes the Tamils feel that they are not treated as second class citizens because of their ethnicity. The government should have the will to deliver a political solution and to reform the state by creating the obligatory representative processes for devolution and power sharing in a spirit of fostering hopes among the Tamils through reconciliation and peace building.