Child Soldiers

The leading news in BBC website has been a UN report on Sri Lanka (1 hrs+).
"
But Allan Rock, a special adviser to the UN representative for children and armed conflict, said government forces had forcibly rounded up young Tamil children to fight with Col Karuna's group.
"We encountered both direct and indirect evidence of... complicity and participation," he said of the government security services"

Who is Allen Rock?Is he this guy?
Allan Rock, PC, BA , LL.B (born August 30, 1947) is a lawyer and former Canadian politician and diplomat. He was Canada's ambassador to the United Nations (2004-2006) and had previously served in the Cabinet of Jean Chrétien, most notably as Justice Minister (1993-1997) and Health Minister (1997-2002).
"In his role as Minister of Justice, Rock was heavily involved in bringing about the Canadian gun registry. This program was plagued by massive cost overruns, and is rumoured to be one of the reasons for the failure of Rock's abortive leadership bid. However Rock's tenure as a federal cabinet minister was in general characterized by controversy ranging from the handling of compensation for victims of tainted blood donations to actions of his department in the Airbus affair (which ended in a public apology and $2,000,000 settlement to Brian Mulroney)."

Looks like Tigers are getting a "little help from their friends " in Canadian Liberal Party.

"Mr Rock said the fact that Sri Lankan troops were complicit in the recruitment of child soldiers meant that Tamil Tiger rebels would continue to do so, as it corroded the rule of law."
(Whoaha that's why they have been recruiting child solders all along! )

Sri Lankan Attitude

Kumar Sangakkara is writing a column at CricInfo. He is off to a great start touching the very essence of Sri Lankan experience, 'Attitude'. The column is about the recent success of the team and the attitude change that caused it.
I quote ...
"One of the huge conundrums with Sri Lanka's cricket has traditionally been the absence of the question "why?" We are generally spoon-fed from an early age. The senior players are expected to know best and you can easily get caught-up in a herd. Nobody thinks of how things can be changed. An intelligent, questioning attitude is quietly repressed. But to stay ahead you must diversify. What we need is a system from grassroots to the national team that is continuously evolving to make you better. We need to free minds. "
If you grow up in Sri Lanka and went to a Sri Lankan school and university ,you will have a first hand experience of the what Kumar mentions above .An "Intelligent Questioning Attitude " as Kumar mentions is not encouraged at all .It is usually the opposite that happens, the suppression of creativity and inquiry .
Teachers usually (there are exceptions) don't like inquiry since they sometime don't know what they are talking about. The rest of the students do not like the guy who is asking all the questions since they consider him to be a show off and a distraction from their note taking .So teachers stick to giving notes they themselves were given by their teachers .Student obediently take notes down ,memorize ,pass exams and become teachers themselves .The vicious circle continues.

There are some areas you wouldn't expect this to happen ,for instance Science and Engineering education . Hence the following anecdote I got from a really curious guy who has a very sharp mind in his field, working for an IT company .He happened to be in a design meeting with some Europeans and Sri Lankans .Both groups of members had the same background in academics and in technical experiance.A third party came to conduct a class on one of the hottest technologies at the time.He said he sat there in amazement of the quality and quantity of the questions the europeans asked.He wondered why we don't ask questions.Is it our culture?Is it our religion or is it simply that we are destined to be lazy ass third world consumers?

I have sat through my share of class room time and listening to Buddhist sermons(Bana) expousing the virtue of obeying your elders and teachers.Those sermons are good but is it good enough to come at the expense of suppressing free thought ,creativity and inquiry?

Take for instance the Guttila Jatakaya.(Recommended reading for O/Ls and you get some question in the exam ,too).Guttila ,the good guy teacher has been wronged by his student Moosila ,simply because he has surpassed him in his subject!For any other teacher that would be a compliment!Not for Guttila.Vettawe Thero ,the 15 th. Century teacher monk who wrote the set of poems based on the story was involved in a bitter power struggle with his own pupil ,Thotagamuwe Rahula Thero.So he gave an extra twist to the poems ,too. That is simply a single story out of many .Then in every sermon and class room session it is respect to elders and teachers that is emphasized over and over again ,not that much creativity and inquiry.

To be fair to Bikkhus ,I have sat through several Bana session where they emphasised the following section from Kalama Sutta.Probably it is time we stress it more and cultivate creativity and inquiry from pre-school level.
From Kalama Sutta

Do not believe in anything (simply) because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything (simply) because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conductive to the good and benefit of one and all then accept it and live up to it.
Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya Vol. 1, 188-193 P.T.S. Ed.)
P.S.
Nice clip of Kumar

How the Tamil Ealam is run

The most common myth about LTTE run de-facto state is how it is run and funded.Most assume that Sri Lanka has cut off the LTTE controlled area and it is all out war against each other like two separate countries.
commentor context wanted me to provide the proof that government infrastructure is functioning inside Tiger controlled areas and the civil servants report both to LTTE and GOSL .In fact it is the GOSL government money that is running the essential services in those areas and it is Sri Lankan tax payer who will be paying the loans taken for rebuilding going on in the LTTE controlled area.

How the Sri Lankan Government is run.
--------------------------------------
This is a primer for the non-Sri Lankans.
GOSL consists of three branches .The executive (President and the cabinet),Legislative parliament and judiciary .Then there are 8 Provincial councils out of which the most importent one the merged North and East council is not functioning .
The Civil administration falls under the government ministries headed by a minister.For instance all the funds for education is channeled through Ministry of Education (duh!).They share the money with provincial council education departments as well as spending on the central government institution(some schools,teacher salaries,technical collages, universities etc..)

Civil administration is handled via Government Agents called GAs or Divisional secretariat (Ministry of home affairs) agents for each districts(24 districts) which has an elaborate bureaucracy.

What Areas are the under LTTE control?
---------------------------------------
2002 ceasefire agreement depends on the fact that there are LTTE controlled areas.(from LTTE )
Please check the map in Wikipedia
Districts in LTTE control are Killinochchi and Mullaithiv.
Then they control a big part of Vavuniya and Mannar as well as some small areas in Trincomalle,Batticolo and Ampara

How the LTTE administration is run.
-----------------------------------
LTTE is running a their own administration in the areas under their control.It includes police,courts,education and other civil functions.Of course the government doesn't pay salaries to LTTE judges and policeman but what about the others?
Let's take a simple example of paying a salary to a teacher in Kilinochchi.Government money ends up in the hand of the teacher via education director/principal appointed by the Govevrnment.Education director might report to both LTTE representative(LTTE education head) and his boss in Colombo.Same goes for other functioning things such as hospitals,social welfare (food stamps for the poor and displaced).

This article is from The Hindu . They are quoting SCOPP.It is a government agency but I wanted it to be the first quote since it shows enormity of the issue.Their deputy director who happnens to be a Tamil was killed recently.(check DBS Jeyaraj )

Then check the others.......................

Instead the visiting NDTV team was taken on a guided tour that only exposed the charade of a separate country, with Tamil Eelam district court, the Eelam police station and finally the Bank of Tamil Eelam.
On the surface, the bank seemed normal with customers busy taking loans and withdrawing cash, except that the bank used Sri Lankan currency and had only one other branch in the LTTE-held town of Mulativu.
From NDTV

UTHR(J) is an human rights organization which is critical of Government,LTTE and other paramilitaries. Here are several quotes.
quote1
Take some of its ramifications. At a regular meeting of principals in one district, a matter came up under any other business. It was reported that several principals had already received letters from the LTTE to collect 8% of the salaries paid to the staff to be handed over to them. The question put to the chairman was what should they do. The chairman who had a family to think about was being asked to decide for everyone. After a pause the chairman blurted out, “This situation may not last for more than a few months. Don’t add to your troubles needlessly.” Everywhere, the principals decided to surrender.

quote2 (This when LTTE controlled Jaffna 1990-95)
In fact, the LTTE has already vastly expanded its control. In Jaffna it virtually controls the Sri Lankan Police, administrators, local councils and educational officers. It controls schools and through the education department in Batticaloa has distributed portraits of Prabhakaran to be hung up in schools in lieu of the Head of State. The LTTE already has an army, navy, police, courts, administrative structures and prisons.

quote3
The distortions regarding VeerasingamÂ’s case in the LTTE media should alert us to something deeper. According to local sources Veerasingam had approached the Vavuniya Kacheri trying to defer a transfer order to an LTTE controlled area and had been severely warned by them. From our sources the murder has much to do with the LTTEÂ’s programme to appropriate the government administration. There being government controlled areas and LTTE controlled areas in the North, the LTTE by using its virtual control of the District Administrations or Kacheris could dictate transfers and get the lower level officials moved around, monitored and ensure they work the way they want them to work.

quote4
Controlling village headmen (GSs) is also to control the people. The government’s social welfare measures, ration cards, identity cards and voters’ lists are all routed through the headman. From the 1990s the LTTE has used the headmen under its control to police the people, force them to attend demonstrations, perform compulsory military service as auxiliaries, impose punitive cuts of rations, fiddle government aid and report on those coming in and going out. Veerasingam had no political connections. The LTTE evidently would not allow him to set a precedent to headmen who disliked taking instructions from them. The Sri Lanka government may pay them, but whoever wished to live must understand that there is only one ‘who must be obeyed’. The stakes are too high.

This is from Sangam (US tamil association pro LTTE) quoting Sunday Leader which is pro UNP and pro LTTE newpaper in south )SundayLeader from 2003
It mentions how the government agancies were run in 2003.Also note the 900 million A9 road rehabilitation project which is ADB funded.The money is a loan which needs to be payed back by the government (not LTTE).

This how the health infrastruture work work under LTTE
India donated money to Sri Lankan government which is running Killinochhi hospital.It's the government who pays the salaries and bears the cost .

This about the same hospital


Here is how LTTE opened the hospital with pomp and pagentry.
Check the news from LTTE's Tamil net to get the idea of the infrastructure.
Dr. K Nandakumar said the decision to build a hospital in Kilinochchi was made by a previous Kilinochchi district health services officer, Dr. Sathiamoorthy and the Government Agent (GA) Mr. Rasanayagam with a proposal for funding from ADB.

He requested the GA to make arrangements for medical specialists to make regular visits to the facility. Without the needed doctors patients have to suffer the inconvenience of travelling to the Jaffna General Hospital or to the Vavuniya Hospital. Ambulances are forced to make five to six trips a day, he said.

So who funded whole project ?

Who is paying back the money?
Please check the screen shot on the top or read the whole document.


LTTE administration is running the Sri Lankan government administration by the gun.Government has to bear costs ,pay salaries and pay back loans .LTTE gets to cut the ribbons.
I'm not trying paint a rosy picture here .Areas under LTTE is the least developed in sri lanka and has been neglected for decades.What I'm trying to say is all the money LTTE collects goes to buying arms while government has to prop up the LTTE administration with their money.

This is worth way more than thousand words!

The link.