SBS க்கு அவர் வழங்கிய செவ்வி : போர் நிறுத்தக் காலத்தில் கிளிநொச்சியில் மருத்துவ மாணவர்களுக்கு பயிற்சியளிக்க தான் சென்றிருந்ததாகவும் 2-3 வாரங்களின் பின்னர் அம்மாணவர்கள் விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் மருத்துவப்பிரிவினர் என்று தெரிய வந்ததாகவும் இருந்தாலும் தன் பணியை தான் செய்து முடித்துவிட்டுத்தான் அவுஸ்ரேலியா திரும்பியிருக்கிறார். எல்லாரும் கேட்க வேண்டிய செவ்வி.

சர்வதேச சமூகங்கள் கட்டாயம் கேட்டக வேண்டிய ஒரு செவ்வி. கேட்டக விகவும் ஆறுதலாக இருக்கிறது...நம்மை புரிந்து கொண்ட சில வெள்ளை உள்ளங்களில் இந்த வைத்தியரும் ஒருவர்...இணைப்புக்கு நன்றி

தரவிறக்கம் செய்ய சில நிமிடங்கள் எடுத்ததால் நீண்ட பேட்டியாகவிருக்குமோ என்றிருந்தேன் ஆனால் பேட்டி ஒரு கோவைக்குள் பல தடவை பதியப்பட்டுள்ளது ஆனாலும்

மனதை தொடும் பேட்டி,மனிதாபிமானத்திற்கு இன மத மொழி பேதமில்லை என்பதை உணர்த்தும் ஒரு ஜீவன் அந்த மருத்துவ நிபுணர்.தன் அபிப்பிராயங்களை துணிவாக

சொல்லும் விதத்தில் மிக உயர்ந்து நிற்கிறார்.எம் தமிழின மக்களுக்கு தன் பணி அவசியம் என்று உணர்ந்த பின் அதனால் தனக்கு ஏற்பட கூடிய ஆபத்துகளை அறிந்தும்

அவர் செய்த பணி மகத்தானது.எம் தமிழ் மக்களில் சகலதுறைகளிலும் விற்பன்னர்கள் இருந்தும் விடுதலையில் தம் பங்கை செலுத்தாமையே எம் போராட்டம் இந்த நிலைக்கு

இட்டு செல்லப்பட்டிருக்கிறது

அனைவரும் கேட்க வேண்டிய பேட்டி

இவ்வாறான மனிதர்களை அறியும் போது மனிதம் எத்தனை மகத்தானது என்பது புலப்படும்

அடேல் பாலசிங்கத்தின் பின்னர் மற்றொரு ஆஸ்திரேலியர் எம்மை வியக்க வைக்கிறார்

தரவிறக்காமல் நேரடியாக யாழிலை இருந்து கேக்க...

இவரை போல முழு சர்வதேச உலகமும் எம்மை உணரும் காலம் வெகு தொலைவில் இல்லை...அதற்கான முழு முயற்சிகளையும் நாம் இடைவிடாது செய்யவேண்டும்

உள்ளே போய் பார்க்கிறவனுக்குத்தான் உண்மை விளங்குது..! வெளியே உள்ளவனுக்கு ஒண்டுமே விளங்கேல்ல..! தமிழனின் ஊடக பலம் அந்த மாதிரி..!

An Australian doctor reflects on the LTTE

Fri, Feb 13 2009

After the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Australian paediatrician John Whitehall went to Sri Lanka to volunteer his personal expertise.

He ended up working with the separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in what was then its so-called administrative capital, Kilinochchi.

The LTTE is listed by many countries as a terrorist group, and its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, is wanted by Interpol on terrorism charges.

But John Whitehall, now an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at James Cook University in Queensland, questions the “terrorist” tag.

Amid what the Sri Lankan military says is the final stage of an operation to eliminate the LTTE, Dr Whitehall outlined his views to Lindsey Arkley.

http://www20.sbs.com.au/podcasting/index.p...83&id=26296

முன்பும் பல அவுஸ்திரெலியா ஊடகங்களுக்கு இந்த வைத்தியர் கிளிநொச்சி அனுபவங்களைச் சொல்லி இருந்தார்.

Western media ignores Sri Lankan State terror - Australian doctor

ABC Conversation Hour

August 2007

Audio (ram)

Queensland Pediatrician and Director of Townsville Hospital's Neonatal Unit, Dr John Whitehall, talking with Richard Fidler of ABC radio in the program "Conversation hour" early this week, said that in Tamil eelam there "is tremendous commitment from a population of only three million people [for separation]. You can't get 17000 people to take up arms and fight to death unless their hearts are in their cause," and added that "What I have come to be aware [is] you can't understand the situation in Colombo if you only focus on the terror which is coming from one side, and you don't mention the state terror, the terror inflicted by Colombo state."

ABC: Dr. John Whitehall, you spent some time were in Sri Lanka. Sri lanka is still considered a pathetic paradise; a paradise in crisis. What was your introduction to that country?

Dr. Whitehall: We were looking to go for holidays for six months and looking for a place to take post graduate students to some place where there is malaria. I teach a course called Tropical Pediatrics at James Cook university and I thought it will be a good experience for Australians to watch a malaria infected child and learn from the experience.

We were looking for such a place and we decided to go to Sri Lanka because a young lady doctor trained here had asked us to visit the country. So we decided to go there and shortly after our visit, Tsunami struck the island. So I told her in order to do some thing to face the situation, we should form an ad hoc committee and then we decided to meet at the University of Colombo and ask about the needs of the affected people.

We went public to raise funds and with the extraordinary phenomenon of generosity of Australian people just flowed out. It was really moving .We got so much money that by Jan.01 2005; we had bought a truck load of high quality antibiotics. We then formed a number of teams of medical students to work in various parts of the island and I accompanied these teams. So much money came from North Queensland alone that we were able to buy five really good quality ventilators for children, an oxygen enricher and a number of surgical instruments and other things.

Then we decided to visit certain selected hospitals to install these equipments. As part of our trip we did not go to North East, the traditional historic lands of Tamils but we were able to travel up to Kilinochchi, the administrative centre of North East Tamil land and then to Jaffna. We installed these equipments in the hospitals in those two places. I was quite appalled by the state of this big hospital in Jaffna. There were mosquitoes breeding every where.

Then I went to see around the area and was initially struck by the similarity with Vietnam when we moved from the Sri Lankan side into Tamil side. I was able to see a number of isolated forts made out of coconut forts surrounded by barbed wires. When we came to the border it was a long military field with mines fields. When we crossed the border and when we really hit north, I could not see any Tigers but that of course was a military illusion. Though Sri Lanka in general was a poor country, yet I found that the towns in Tamil are were strikingly worse off than the Sinhala areas.

Meanwhile, I was about to work in the Eastern part of the island with a British charity group, when they received a request from another organization if a pediatrician could come to Kilinochchi to teach pediatrics to a group of medical students who had missed a semester about the diseases of children. I did not really care where I worked and I was quite happy to go there.

When I arrived there I met a group of students in their mid thirties and there were 32 of them, I walked into a room with corrugated roof and with the monsoon rain falling on the roof and some times we had to shout to each others to be heard. I tried to work out something to teach them what they did not know.

After a week went by I wanted to see how they examine patients. So I asked a man to volunteer to remove his shirt and asked a lady how to show me the technique to examine the patient's chest. It was at this time I saw from the corner of my eye a great hole in the back of the man's chest. And while the lady was stretching her arm to use the stethoscope, I saw a stitches on her arm and I asked her what happened. So they all started to laugh. They responded saying that they were all shot. I asked them who among them had not been shot. Except less than a third of them, all others raised their hands saying that they all had received battle injury. In fact they asked me if I didn't notice that three of them had lost their legs, and they wiggled their fake feet at me.

After a week or so, I began to realize there was something different about this group. I gradually found out they were the medical wing of the Tamil Tigers.

ABC: You are referring to the Tamil tigers, the organization waging war of independence against the central government of Sri Lanka?

Dr. Whitehall: Yes. This was one of the groups formed in response to what they say of the systematic political and practical racism by the government in Colombo after gaining independence in 1948 and has been demonstrated by a number of nasty riots and killings.

This group was formed in the eighties when there were numerous National Liberation groups in various countries around the world. Several groups were formed in Sri Lanka and one of them is Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which we know as Tigers.

These students had been selected in this extraordinary medical experiment because until 1992, the casualties were taken across to India in fishing boats or they were taken to the hospital in Jaffna. They then saw that they may lose these facilities since the war was continuing. They then decided to form their own Medical wing and started teaching a parallel course similar to that of the proper curriculum of Medical college of University of Jaffna. In the mean time, when the war broke out they were all seconded to field hospitals or to address public health issues like cholera epidemic or to handle natural disaster such as Tsunami.

Because of the cease fire in 2002, these students were trying to catch up what they missed in theoretical study. It was my fortune that I just happened to be there when they were looking around for a pediatrician to teach them pediatrics. So I stayed there for three months and not the originally planned two week period.

ABC: The Central government of Sri Lanka has been staging gruesome and brutal attacks on the Tamil people of the North. At the same time, the Tamil Tigers organization is known as a terrorist group in nearly thirty countries, involved in suicide bombings and also engaged in recruitment of child soldiers. Did you know about these at that time?

Dr. Whitehall: Yes, I know they are being described as a terrorist organization. I know more about them. I know the accusation about child soldiers. However, I did not see any evidence of child soldiers. But I saw a list of those dead and found that many of them were less than 16 years old .I imagined them to be like Viet Cong, to come out from the bush and take control.

That was a mistake because they run a de facto state. They run Law courts, Health department, Transport, Taxation. They run a very visible de facto state, with head quarters at Kilinochchi. They don't run away .They say they have as much right for this territory as much Sinhalese have rights for their part of the island, because past records say so.

ABC: So you were in Kilinochchi. So it was slowly apparent to you that you were in the capitol of Tamil area felt you were in the capitol of the de facto state.

Dr. Whitehall: I went out and saw myself how they were running their Health department, social welfare and orphanages. I saw how they run a school for Blind and Deaf. I was very happy about this. so they do run a de facto state. You may argue that they are running it undemocratically, and it may probably be true and needs some improvement.

I don't think it is right to say that they are they are imposing their will on the people, as is said by Colombo. There have been more than 17,000 deaths of soldiers in their military wing. I have been to many of these cemeteries. That is tremendous commitment from a population of only three million people. You can't get 17000 people to take up arms and fight to death unless their hearts are in their cause.

They have a Heroes day and the grief was almost unbearable. The afternoon sun setting like a great ball of burning gold was disappearing under the palm fronds now silhouetted. There were two or three thousand graves and the dead were of the ages of my children. Their families were packed around the graves. They say they have not died but their spirit lives on for Tamil Eelam - the home land for Tamil people. They bring flowers and food and put them on the grave. Then as the sun goes down, they light candles that flicker around in the dark.

There was silence except for hushed crying. There is no catharsis. We have Salvation Army bands or hymns to bring our ceremonies to an end. They stayed till dark and then quietly walked away realizing that it was not over and there were more sacrifices to be made. I don't think I understood the commitment of the Tamil people for this sense of freedom until that evening.

It was hard to bear.

ABC: In any civil war both sides engage in despicable acts. Don't you think you felt caught into the politics of this conflict in some degree?

Dr. Whitehall: I have already mentioned in several articles that Tigers have well exceeded the bounds of conventional warfare and the Geneva Convention... They have blown things up inflicted terror. What I have come to be aware [is] you can't understand the situation in Colombo if you only focus on the terror which is coming from one side, and you don't mention the state terror, the terror inflicted by Colombo state.

It doesn't come out in the media here- bombing of a school where 61 girls died. Killing of people, forced refugee status etc. Human rights groups have said that at least 5,000 Tamils have disappeared in the last six months and many of them have later turned up dead with torture marks.

The Chilean dictator Pinochet, whom we all revile, might have only 300 victims to his credit in those years. Using the same kinds of torture, the same kind of white vans to pick people terror is being inflicted upon Tamils. While we revile Pinochet, we don t even seem talk about the terror inflicted by Colombo

ABC: Would it not be wise if they(Tigers) change tactics ditch the terror tactic and gather much international support?

Dr. Whitehall: If you look at who has been inflicting terror on whom, it has been Colombo that has been bombing Tamil areas using fancy Jets. It is true Tigers have taken the war to Sinhala territory on two occasions. If they are pushed for survival they may take down the island with them . We should get involved it is our duty to prevent Sri Lanka from sinking. In order for that to happen, we should argue for some kind of federal sharing of power.

ABC: What about the heading in an Israeli and newspaper about you which said Doctor supports Separatists implying that you were supporting the Tigers

Dr. Whitehall: I do not support separatism but I support Federalism, Federal state within a unified state .I have responded to the article by means of an electronic letter. I pinpointed that complex political issues will be reduced to misleading slogans. I said that I do not support the Tigers because they have exceeded the limits of Geneva Convention of orthodox warfare but you should not see them only people doing that.

That article also stated my actions will put me on the side of the anti-terrorism law.

Meanwhile, after I returned to Australia. One day two gentlemen were at my door step .They took out their badges, identified themselves as member of the counter terrorism group. They talked with me, read me my rights. I was a bit nervous because 'recklessly supporting a terrorist group' has not been defined. I thought, this could turn out to be one of those defining moments in my career.

They left saying, 'You may or may not hear from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and I still haven't heard from them.

ABC: Is there any chance that any money collected for Tsunami relief reached the Tigers ?

Dr. Whitehall: None of the Tsunami relief money went to the Tigers, not even one dollar and I can attest to it.

John's experiences abroad do help him appreciate home. "With increasing intensity when I return to Australia these days I think. we just don't know how fortunate we are. It's chaos out there - ruthless, merciless in most parts of the world. We're really, really fortunate to live in this country."

There are other forces of terror at work, state terror, persecution and human rights abuses against the Tamils that has been going on for decades and which we never hear about, and which governments, like that in Australia, seem to ignore."

http://blackjuly.info/whitehallTranscript.html

Edited February 16, 200916 yr by கந்தப்பு

இந்த வைத்தியருக்கு நன்றியைத் தெரிவியுங்கள். மின்னஞ்சல் என்னிடம் இல்லை. தேடிப் பார்க்கிறேன். இருந்தால் இணைத்து விடுகிறேன்.

இதே போல நவநீதம் பிள்ளைக்கு அமெரிக்காவில் இருந்து கரன் பாக்கர் அவர்கள் கடிதம் எழுதியிருக்கிறார். கரன் பாக்கருக்கு நன்றி சொல்ல அவரின் மின்னஞ்சல் - ied@igc.org

Northern Sri Lanka: Red Alert for Genocide:: International Community Should Act Very Strongly and Immediately –Karen Parker

Posted on February 5th, 2009 | Sri Lanka News, Statements

Karen Parker, Chief delegate of International Educational Development (Roster) and President of US Association of Humanitarian Lawyers, in a letter sent to Navanetham Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has drawn attention to the "Statute and Elements of the International Criminal Court", which provides that

restricting food and medicines for the civilian population is part of the crime of extermination.

Describing the prevailing situation in northern Sri Lanka as "red alert for genocide" and "Obviously it is too late to prevent genocide and mass atrocities", Karen Parker, has emphasized that all the tools of the international community are essential to alleviate some of the suffering. "The only way to save the Tamil people and ensure that their full rights are afforded and not trampled by Sinhala control, as they have been since independence, will be if the international community acts very strongly and immediately," she said.

Full text of the letter sent by Karen Parker to Madame Navanetham Pillay is as follows:

HUMANITARIAN LAW PROJECT

International Educational Development

United Nations Office

154 Fifth Avenue

San Francisco, California 94118

Phone and fax: 415.668.2752

3 February 2009

Madame Navanetham Pillay

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Madame:

International Educational Development (IED), a non-governmental organization on the Roster (Secretary-General's list), joins our sister organization the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers (AHL) to thank you for your statement of 29 January 2008 regarding the dire situation of Tamil civilians in the north of Sri Lanka. As you know from previous contacts and communications, we are two of a very few NGOs that specialize in humanitarian law, and together for 26 years have been seeking to bring the long conflict in Sri Lanka between the Sinhala forces and Tamil people and their forces to a peaceful and equitable conclusion. At the present time, the situation has deteriorated from being serious to being beyond catastrophic for the Tamils. We hope your statement will be followed by concerted international action to prevent their annihilation.

As you know, since our previous submissions to you about the situation, several hospitals and civilian "safe" zones have been the target of military actions by the Sri Lankan forces. Those Tamils who have been "freed" are in fact being held in detention camps where they are decidedly not free to come and go. In addition, a number of Tamil fishing villages and farm communities have been ethnically cleansed and their inhabitants now also in detention camps. Food and medicine are non-existent or in very short supply in all areas, and the government authorities are preventing adequate resupply.

Under these circumstances, we cannot expect Tamil civilians to turn themselves over to the Sinhala army. We draw your attention to the Statute and Elements of the International Criminal Court, which provides that restricting food and medicines for the civilian population is part of the crime of extermination. Clearly the situation has invoked for a over two years a duty (R2P) of the international community to act to prevent genocide and to ensure that victims of armed conflict receive the aid to which they are entitled without regard for nationality, ethnicity or any other discriminatory basis.

Our organizations join many others that consider the situation one of "red alert" for genocide and have done so for some time. Officials in some governments, such as Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister, have also condemned this as genocide. In this regard we have sent numerous communications to Special Advisor Deng, whose mandate includes the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities and we still await any comments from him. Obviously it is too late to prevent genocide and mass atrocities, but all the tools of the international community are essential to alleviate some of the suffering. Due to a number of factors, including (1) the geopolitical interests of the United States in the Tamil areas for military bases; (2) the resulting labeling of the conflict as terrorism — to the detriment of the Geneva Conventions and all other treaty-based and customary rules of humanitarian law; and (3) the shrill condemnation by Sinhala politicians against any international actors displaying even the slightest sympathy for the Tamil people, many are intimidated from speaking out.

Anti-terrorism laws in some countries are a huge barrier to civil society, which is normally willing to act according to the Martens clause "dictates of the public conscience." Aid organizations have been ordered out or fled in fear for their lives. Journalists have been assassinated in alarming numbers. Now the authorities are threatening governments and UN officials in ways unimaginable to civilized people.

We note you made reference to reports of child soldiers. We continue to be distressed that certain groups continue to invoke the situation of child soldiers when there has never been any indication of more than a handful of members of the LTTE under age 15, and no indication if any of these actually participated in combat. As you know, the international age for combatants is 15, not 18. While the LTTE or any other combat force may voluntarily adopt a lower age, there is no legal compulsion to do so. Attached, please see a written statement we recently submitted to the Human Rights Council, following a number of oral statements and reports, on this point. This undue emphasis on a possible few soldiers (the situation is nothing at all like the situation with the Lord's Resistance Army or the conflict in Liberia) has been used, in our view, to demonize the LTTE for political ends and has keep the plight of hundreds of thousands of children in dire need of food, shelter, medical care and protection from military actions by the government forces from being addressed.

As you know from letters we have written to other mandate holders and forwarded to you, the Sinhala authorities continue to refuse to resolve the "Tamil question" except by military means, which, of course, will not justly resolve it. We note here that the Sinhala authorities continue to stress publicly that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala State and the Sinhalese will govern. The international community must insist that there is a plan acceptable to all the people of Sri Lanka, negotiated upon after a cease fire.

In our view, there will be no just resolution without outside mediation. The only way to save the Tamil people and ensure that their full rights are afforded and not trampled by Sinhala control, as they have been since independence, will be if the international community acts very strongly and immediately. We can only hope that your statement will be a catalyst for the type of action that is needed, and that you will follow it up with demands that the Sri Lanka government allow you or a representative to visit the affected areas with no restrictions. This is no time to allow the Sri Lankan authorities to refuse the just demands of mandate holders in accordance with international law.

In this regard, we also urge all, including you, actively to seek out representatives of the Tamil people in the very large Diaspora and to meet with those who seek an audience. They are in the Diaspora because they fled oppressive Sinhala regimes, and are in constant communication with their relatives still on the island. Their views are most important, and must form part of any just solution. Again, thank you for your action regarding Sri Lanka. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you in your work.

Most sincerely yours,

Karen Parker, JD

Chief delegate, International Educational Development (Roster)

President, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers

தயாவிற்கு நன்றி. கந்தப்புவிற்கு நன்றி எல்லோரும் ஒன்றுபட்டு அவச்ரமாக உலகத்திற்கு தேவையான சாட்சிகள் ஆதரங்களை தேவையான இடங்களுக்கு அனுப்பி எம் தாயகமக்களின் மிக அவசரமான உயிர்காக்கும் நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈடுபடுங்கள்...

ஒவ்வொரு நடவடிக்கையும் தாமதிக்காமல் எடுக்கவும்.. எமது ஏற்கனவே தாமதித்தினால் பல ஆயிரம் மக்களை இழந்துள்ளோம்..