From: nn1@Jazz.CC.MsState.Edu (N. Narenthiran)
Subject: Re: Time for thought..
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 13:48:17 GMT

rs6x+@andrew.cmu.edu (Ranjith Ravindiran Suresh) writes:

>I have a question for all Sri Lankans(must be born there) who use this
>net. Some of you might have read old and recent writings. Take
>some time by yourself before anwering. If you can, then you know the 
>solution for the current tragedy. It's not an easy question. And
>certainly, it's not meant to be.
>Q: How can a young Tamil sympathize with LTTE while at the same time
>wish for the unity of land and its people?
> I would like to add, at this stage of
>'siutuation,' not too many Tamils have a notion of 'unity.' Only a
>minority. few.
>Please post the answers on the net.
>Thanks.
>Suresh

  I never tried to answer to anything here because of the (what i consider)
idiotic and malacious replies and because anybody who does not say that
pirabakaran should be killed is immediately labeled a tiger by these great
men.  but i couldn't miss this.  so here goes.... ( this is not at the same
time though)

Personally, i would like the war to end because,
1. this has been going on for too long.
2. innocent people are getting killed for no reason.
3. i think that the whole discrimination etc were created only by politicians
   on both sides ( eg:- mrs Amirthalingam wanting to bath in sinhalese blood
   and the sinhala only law and the university admiission system etc by the
   Sinhala politicians).  Even though ** nowdays all the accusations about
   discrimination are true **, i am not sure whether if it was that much at the
   time the war was started.
4. Both sides are already at a stage where neither is ready to let go of
   anything, and thus it's increasingly becoming harder to think of any
   talks.  (eg:- tigers are not ready to accept provincial council and the
   Sinahala politicians started all the protests over Thonadamans proposal, or
   any proposal of any concessions for that matter.)
4. because children in my part had school for about 2 - 2.5 years in the last
   five years and the parents have been living in a stage where they cannot
   protect their children, property, or their own lives for about 10 years.
5. now, that i am in America, I can look at the country and say that the war
   should be stopped without the pressure of having to support Eelam because
   i am being shot at by helicopters, bombed by the planes, and shelled by
   the army camps.  also, now i can compare our country to virtually every
   other country in the world and say that with our >85% literacy rate ;-) and
   with our culture, etc surely we are ready to compromise and live as brothers
   and sisters.
6. Because, the tigers seem to be becoming ruthless as anybody with arms
   seem to get to be.
7. when i think of the anuradapura massacare, the supposed killing of muslems
   in the east etc.


But, I support the tigers whenever i think of the following.
1. my people are living without electricity (2 yerars), transport (>5-6 years)
   shortages - food, and anything you can think of.  no battery, paper,
   telephone (>10 years), postal services, sweets,... for all the people in
   the north because those might be used by tigers? (come on you must be kidding)
   the sweets and things are just extras of no importance, but the childrens
   studies are of major importance, as far as i am concerned.  how many of you
   had to go to school everyday, after checking that there is no shelling,
   bombing etc, and having to go to a side whenever a helicopter comes and
   starts shooting at any moving target?  for all that,  i was living in one of
   the best places - since Jaffna never really suffered too much by army being
   permanently in there compared to other parts.
2. when i think of all my friends and people who got killed by the army
   compared to that when i was there (till 90) the tigers killed only people
   in the other groups (even that was done as operations finished in two or three
   days), although after '90 i have heard about the muslems in the east and so on.
   ( also, non of the tamils can completely declare that killing amirthalingam
   was wrong etc because they were harming the tamils.  so although we thought
   that the tigers should not have killed them we had nothing to say when they
   pointed this out.  by the way howmany of you know that Amirthalingam was
   defeated in his own stronghold in the elections (conducted by ipkf and the
   other anti-ltte forces with people being foreced to vote) and that after
   that he still grabbed the extra seat in the parliment?  and that he was
   lying (yes, a strong word) about the jaffna people and what was happening there
3.   personally, when i think that in addition to being shot at from the air,
   when one of the tamil groups the government projects as tamil representatives
   were in jaffna with ipkf protection, one day they stopped my brother in the
   road.  the person told my brother "I know you are dr....'s son so i am
   going to shoot you.  close your eyes".  my brother just had to do that.  But,
   fortunaltely there might have been an ipkf officer there who stopped the thing
   because after hearing the gun being cocked, my brother waited for a few minutes
   and then opened his eyes and was told to run off after scolded for opening
   his eyes. - all for absolutely no reason.  how can i shout that these people
   are correct and that ltte was wrong  to shoot padmanaba - (unless if i
   think of padamanaba as another human - but, still i have nothing to argue for)
   the same things happened in vadamarachi by the army when they were there
   ( i have no personal accounts though since as i said i was in main jaffna)

   i have a long list of discrtiminations that i felt and my people are feeling
now, - but unfortunalately it's time for my class.  so for all the great
people i was talking about - don't count the number of points and say i have
only 3 reasons to support tigers.  the claim about most rational people not
 wanting to talk here are true because of you great people.

   just one extra mention,
       all the property my father had except for our house (all earned by my
 grandfather - not by being born into a family with propertyies) have been
 taken by tigers and their supporters.  but, this does not seem anything big
 compared to the fear for life we had from the army.  this is the same case
 for all tamils in north.  although they don't want tigers, tigers are the best
 they have got and the best that anybody living there can think of. 
 sort of a no option thing.

have a nice day.
sorry to bother you all with this long posting.
naren.