Lanka’s Tamil community unmoved by Thiruchelvam’s killing

Two days after Thiruchelvam’s killing, a Tamil site on the Internet reproduced an article from the pro-LTTE Hotsprings magazine entitled The Bankruptcy of `Moderate’ Tamil Politicians. It was a report of a meeting in the Sri Lankan capital addressed by a few members of parliament.

“One of the audience pointed out that the slender attendance of public at this conference showed that the Tamil people are not concerned about moderate politicians and it is obvious that the moderate politicians could not contribute anything of value to bring peace,” the report stated.

Tamil news sites which faithfully reproduce every word of what Indian journalists write about Sri Lanka, failed to put out a single report from Indian newspapers as all of them had come down with a heavy hand on the LTTE. Instead, a BBC analysis on the killing was carried, highlighting a line that said Thiruchelvam was not a man of the masses.

The day after the cremation, Thiruchelvam’s killing was the topic of conversation at a gathering of Tamils at a book launch at Wellawatte, a Tamil-dominated suburb of the capital.

According to those present at the function, many justified the killing on the grounds that Thiruchlevam was close to the government and had not protested when the Sri Lankan army took control of Jaffna.

“The general feeling was that while alive, Thiruchelvam made no positive contribution to the Tamil cause, and his death made no difference to the community,” a lawyer present at the function reported.

Tamil newspapers in Sri Lanka carried weak and general editorials about the killing, afraid to blame the LTTE openly.

The daily Virakesari, without mentioning the LTTE, wrote that “All should realise that assassinations are no solution to our problems and politicians should realise the urgency of solving pressing problems”. The daily Thinnakural wrote that Thiruchlevam was a “victim of the present day politics of Sri Lanka that gave no room for independent thinking”.

But in an attempt to sound even-handed, the editorial ended up confusedly saying that “both the government and the LTTE should realise that assassinations and war will not bring peace to this troubled land”.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar made a strong appeal to the Tamils living here and abroad to stop supporting the LTTE. “Those members of the Tamil community, here and abroad, who believe that Tamils must fight aggressively to achieve their political independence, and secretly, if not overtly, applaud the callous, heartless behaviour of those who employ every diabolical means of advancing their cause, including the murder of their own people, should pause to consider whether their cause can truly be advanced by eliminating those men and women who carry aloft the banner of the community’s history, culture and achievement,” he said at a press conference here.

But it is doubtful whether the message will sink in, as many in the Tamil community, especially those living abroad, still subscribe to romantic notions about the LTTE as the only group of “boys” that is fighting for the “liberation” of their community.