Cruelty in Sri Lanka

Last thursday, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) brutally killed a family of 4 in the Sri Lankan town of Vankalai. The news item can be read in detail at TamilNet ( warning: there are some very graphic pictures from the massacre site here). Thanks to Selvaraj and Gilli for writing about this (both of them are Tamil blogs). There is no justification for this heinous act and this family could have done nothing to deserve this. This kind of incident makes me feel guilty for the innumerable pleasures and comforts I have in my life, but this is not about me.

There has been a struggle going on between Tamils and Sri Lankan government for a long time now. And there are the Tamil militants/terrorists/freedom fighters that are called LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). But now the SLA (which is part of the democratically elected Sri Lankan government) is on a rampage and killing innocent folks. For a native perspective on this, check this blog.

There are a lot of questions that come to mind about this.

1. What kind of democratic government would resort to such killings? Why haven't the citizens of Sri Lanka done something about this? I saw an excellent movie called Judgment at Nuremberg recently in which quite a few Germans claim ignorance at all the atrocities committed by the Nazis. This makes me wonder if it is like that. Finally, one guy has the nerve to tell all those Germans not to pretend that way. Powerful stuff.

2. Why isn't India doing something about it? After all, India is the closest country geographically to Sri Lanka and the people being killed are Tamils, who are originally from India. Is this the kind of protection the largest democratic country provides its natives? Makes me very proud to be an Indian! And then, where are the international human rights watchdogs?

3. Why is the media not covering this in more detail? The mainstream media in India is not even bothering with this, and I am not sure what they are afraid of. The Indian blog world (other than a few Tamil blogs) is not paying attention to this either as they are busy with Rakhi Sawant and Mika's party kissing (which is interesting, by the way). I have to admit that I came across this only because I am Tamil and visit some of these blogs but still this is much more than a regional issue.

The international media and agencies know how things can get worse when nothing is done about such violent acts, as we just witnessed it in Darfur in Sudan. These kind of abonimable acts need to be curtailed as early as possible as they have the tendency to take way too many innocent lives. And nobody has the right to take somebody else's life.

Other than write about it, I don't know what else to do. So now I go back to my comfortable world while innocent people like Mary Medaline, Moorthy Martin, Ann Nilxon and Ann Luxica die. But they will be in my thoughts for a while.