Honouring Eelam martyrs : When Mauritius could do it, Tamil Nadu falls short

by Karthiyayini on November 25, 2013 

Chennai, Nov 25 (TruthDive): Tamil Nadu has failed miserably and fallen short in honouring the martyrs of Eelam war  while Mauritius could do so with all honours.

A monument has been erected by the Beau Bassin Rose Hill Municipal Council on 18th May 2012 to mark the third anniversary of the Mullivaikkal genocide in the Council premises to mourn the Tamil soldiers who died in the bloodied Sri Lankan civil war.

Complying to the demands of the Mauritius Tamil Temple Federation (MTTF), the Mayor of Beau Bassin Rose Hill, Louis Andre Toussaint, has erected a pillar in memory of the Eelam martyrs.

The epitaph in the memorial reads: ‘THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO THOSE 146,679 TAMILS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES INNOCENTLY AND 40,000 REPORTED LOST IN DEFENCE OF THEIR BELOVED MOTHERLAND IN SRI LANKA’ (Courtesy: The Weekend Leader).

Mauritius is a country that has a high regard and respect for human rights and hence there was absolutely no second thought in accepting the proposal put forth by the MTTF, opined the Mayor.

Mauritius, a land comprising of 10% of ethnic Tamil-Mauritians could recognize  the losses Tamils suffered under the brutal Mahinda Rajapkse regime in a ‘war waged without witnesses’.

In a fitting reply to a country accused of war crimes and human rights abuses, Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Chandra Ramgoolam boycotted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM ) held recently in Sri Lanka and had also decided not to host the  next Commonwealth summit in 2015 in his country, saying there was “total lack of accountability” about human rights abuses during the Sri Lankan ethnic strife.

On the contrary,though Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to stay away from the Commonwealth meet held in Sri Lanka, largely pressured by political parties in Tamil Nadu, the External affairs Minister Salman Khurshid attended CHOGM in Sri Lanka, observing that India has a very important relationship with Sri Lanka and that he did not see it as a ‘switch-on-switch-off’ affair.

What did Tamil Nadu do in the same context? Ulaga Thamizhar Peramaippu spearheaded by Pazha Nedumaran commissioned a memorial for the dead Tamils in Sri Lankan war in the first week of this November near Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu named, ‘Mullivaikkal Ninaivu Muttram’,to leave traces of a bloody war in the pages of history, that killed hundreds of thousands of Tamils. The memorial presents a heart-rending picture of  sculptures of wailing mothers, dead bodies and broken limbs, depicting the untold misery and pain suffered by Tamils in the war.

A portion of the compound wall of the Mullivaikkal Memorial was demolished by the police and the Department of Highways, post its inaugural, citing encroachment. The 24,000-square feet area was also fenced off with wire mesh, declaring that the area belonged to the department of Highways.

Pazha Nedumaran was arrested by the Thanjavur police for protesting against the demolition along with other protesters and later released on bail.

Mauritius with just about 10% of Tamil population could boldly do to honour the Eelam martyrs. Tamil Nadu has yet again proved its deficiency in addressing the cause of Eelam Tamils.

As always, the hue and cry raised by the political parties of Tamil Nadu in support of Eelam Tamils remains a  meaningless farce and for their own political benefit.