Sri Lanka has gone down the dangerous path of ethnic fratricide

By Brian Senewiratne   24 Nov 2011

Posted 24-Nov-2011 Vol 2 Issue 47 There had been no civil war in Sri Lanka but only virulent pogroms against the Tamil people, says Brian Senewiratne, the Sinhalese doctor in Australia, in this second part of a series for TWL. You can read the first part here. The Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, when I met him in Cape Town, remarked, “Isn’t it wonderful that a Sinhalese should be campaigning for the Tamils for all these years?” I said that I did not think it ‘wonderful’ because this was not a Tamil problem or a Sinhalese problem but a humanitarian problem that must arouse the concerns of every one who opposes the violation of basic human rights set out in the UN Human Rights Convention. The war wounds are yet to heal with hundreds of orphans, widows, and destitute left at the mercy of a racist regime (Photos courtesy: http://www.warwithoutwitness.com) This is what it means to share the world with others who, like us, are going to be on this planet for but a short time. The principle that has guided my actions all these years is “Do unto others as we would have them do unto us”. This simple truth transcends nations and peoples – that isn’t brown or black or white, that isn’t Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Islam, that isn’t Sinhalese or Tamil. It is not new, but has beat in the hearts of billions of people since the dawn of civilization. The world is heading down a hugely dangerous path of injustice and a failure “to do unto others as they would have done unto themselves”. Colombo cut off food and medical supplies to Tamil areas during final months of war for which it has to be held accountable

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