If we take Engineering as an example, before standardisation there were 250 tamils and 227 Sinhalese; after standardisation admission fell from 40.8% to 16.3%
Also, before Standardisation: Tamils in Medicine 250, Sinhalese 229. Tamils in Engineering 250 vs. Sinhalese 227. Physics, Tamils 204 vs. Sinhalese 183.

This law still stand in Sri Lanka.

The Tamils also feel they are being squeezed out of the admittedly privileged position they used to hold in the public service, which has long been the biggest – indeed their only major – industry. At independence, about 30% of government service admissions were Tamils, but today the percentage is down to around 6. Out of 100 people selected in the 1973 Administrative Service Examination only four were Tamils and two Muslims; the rest were Sinhalese. http://media.nowpublic.net/images//db/d/dbdbafc9ba69cc2e972c55ba270041b7.jpg

Some other examples of Tamil Discrimination:
1948 –Citizenship Act – The Disenfranchisement of Tamils From India which declared 1 million Tamils of Indian origin non-citizens (even if they were born in Sri Lanka).
1956 – Sinhala Only Act
1970 – Ethnic (ratio-representation) standardization. where marks obtained by candidates from university admission are weighted by giving advantages to Sinhalese
1972 – New amendments in constitution without Tamils participation eg, Buddhism made state religion, Name change of island, declaration of Sri Lanka as a republic.
1977 , 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974 and 1983: Not using the terrorism act or state of emergency and protection innocent citizens of the country when there were state-sponsored anti-Tamil violence.
Also, Tamils can be stopped on the streets and asked for identity and taken for “questioning” and imprissioned for being suspected Tamil Tigers; YET Sinhalese are not treated the same for being SUSPECTED JVP members.
Furthermore, Article 9 (chapter II) of the current Sri Lankan constitution promulgated in 1978 says “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana..”

Isn’t this promoting one religion over others? Creating discrimination and racial-superiority?
Sri Lanka is “united” – should this really be in the constitution?
Sri Lanka is not united at all. I am sure you would of heard of the news of the Tamil political prisoners (one of which was a British Citizen) that were attacked and some killed by Sinhalese Prisoners. How about the Tamil mentally-disabled boy that was beaten to death by Sinhalese police in South Sri Lanka (heavily populated by Sinhalese) while everyone else watched. Sri Lanka is not united. Tamils are afraid – Look at the boats of people leaving it.
Interesting Article from a person in Sri Lanka: http://www.groundviews.org/2009/10/13/even-post-war-discrimination-runs-deep-in-sri-lanka/
9. I am Tamil and I KNOW what TAMILS want – also, ever heard of the Vaddukoddai Resolution.

The International Criminal Courts has a map of the world. On this map, they highlighted Sri Lanka
Under ‘countries that have committed Genocide and War Crimes’
The only reason they are not prosecuting Sri Lanka is because UN Security Council hasn’t asked them to. As you all are aware, the UN security, much like the rest of the world is run on politics rather than policy.
http://www.innercitypress.com/iccsri1myanzim090909.html

The genocide of Tamils is parallel to what the Nazis did to the Jews.
Now, when there is a genocide going on, the community under attack has every right to protect itself. The Tamils in Sri Lanka needed protection because they were under existential treat.
If you look at Rwanda where there was no resistance and the Jews who had no organised form of resistance – So you can see there is an absolute NEED for resistance.

6. “Fact Finding Mission” – Are you serious? Taking your allies who helped you commit war crimes is bias

7. “Oppression” – Very basic examples below.
1. the act of subjugating by cruelty, force, etc. or the state of being subjugated in this way  Detaining Tamils in camps, 1983 riots
2. the condition of being afflicted or tormented  torture and rape of Tamils
3. the condition of having something lying heavily on one’s mind, etc.  Mentally-Scared

8. History of Discrimination:
The Sinhala Government have always used its overwhelming parliamentary strength to deprive Tamils of their economic position, and destroy their separate national identity (which they continue to this day).
One example, being the 1972 Republican Constitution which made ‘Sinhala only’ the basis of administration without giving status to Tamil.
The Language issue which was to dominate communal strife made its appearance well before independence. The British governments’ reliance on English as the languages of administration had fostered the dominance of a small class of English-Speaking civil servants and professionals. In this the Tamils had preponderance disproportionate to their numbers, because the Tamil areas in the north were less developed in agriculture and industry, forcing young men to seek their careers in the public services or the professions in the south and also because the prominence of missionary activity in Jaffna had created an excellent education base in English.
In 1964, almost a decade after ‘Sinhala only’ had become official policy,
Prime Minister Mrs Bandaranaike gave this retrospective rationale “ We have tried to eliminate the wide gap which existed between the government and the governed, between the elite and the masses. By giving the due and rightful place to the Sinhala language as the official language of the country, we have made it possible for those voiceless millions who spoke only that language, to play an effective part in the affairs of the country”

How the Sinhala-only policy affected people in practice shown by The Kodiswaran Court case. The Bandaranaike government had directed that unless a Tamil public servant passed a proficiency test in Sinhala in stages over three years, his annual increment would be suspend and he would eventually be dismissed.

However, nothing arouses deeper despair among Tamils than the feeling that they are being systematically squeezed out of higher education. They complain particularly of the adoption of a system of ‘standardisation’ in which marks obtained by candidates from university admission are weighted by giving advantages to certain linguistics groups and/or certain districts. The problem is complicated for the Tamil because of their relatively high level of education in English which was traditionally given them a disproportionately high share in university education.

4. The international world should get an unbiased side of the story. It is clear that Govt is all about propaganda. “United Sri Lanka” yet 300,000 Tamils are not “united” with the rest of Sri Lanka.
5. Genocide Proved. If Sri Lanka does not have a Genocide to hide – I suggest they let international monitors in to investigate – what are they scared of? What are they hiding?
The term “Genocide” I a specific term referring to violent crimes committed against groups with intent to destroy the existence of the group. The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide establishes “Genocide” as an international crime, which signatory nations “undertake to
prevent and punish”. Articles II and III of the Convention provide the international legal definition of the
crime of genocide. Article II describes the two elements of the crime:

i)The mental element, expressed in the words “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such”, and
(ii) The physical element, which includes five types of action:
a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Tamils Against Genocide: http://www.tamilsagainstgenocide.org/ExecutiveSummary.html
http://www.sangam.org/2009/02/TAG_Indictment_Submission.php?uid=3296

Ethnic Tamils Genocide in eight stages
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kM76jdZ11s (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USD78z9AbkM (part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM70ESU4Le4 (part 3)

The Sri Lankan Government also used Electricity, Food, Medicine fuel and other essential items as weapons against Tamils. This continues to be true today, even after Sri Lanka has been “liberated” as the Sri Lankan Government states.
Ex/ 1987, the Sri Lankan Govt blockaded the north of the Tamil homeland, driving 850,000 people into starvation and using them as human shields. Under pressure from 60 million from Tamil Nadu, the Indian air force infiltrated SL airspace and defied its sovereignty to air drop food supplies to Jaffna.
ARE THESE THE ACTS OF A GOVERNMENT THAT WANTS PEACE?
BTW – Have you noticed that some western media, politicians etc have started using “Tamil Tiger REBELS”
To add, Australia and New Zealand have not banned LTTE.

2. “Terrorist Propaganda” If you look through my links. You will see that most are from unbiased media; but I guess that most Sri Lankan wouldn’t understand the meaning of unbiased as media is blocked from entering Sri Lanka unless allowed by the Sri Lankan government, media that speak against the government are suppressed no matter if they are Tamil or Sinhalese i.e Lasantha ( )and Tissanyagam (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6815885.ece)
Media Suppression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMmjNP5P7V4
Regarding C4 News. The video sent to them were by ‘Journalist for Democracy’ who are a London based group which has exiled SL journalist, most of which are Sinhalese. Also, I don’t think C4 apologised as they released this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dga43RyWEis
Too add, The video footage was reviewed by an independent international observer in the United States who deemed them as true. Therefore, the accusations that these

In the eyes of the Sri Lankan Government, anyone who is against seems to be “Terrorist” or a “Terrorist Sympathiser” – using brainwashed propaganda. It seems that Human Rights Watch, ICRC members, Amnesty International and even UNICEF (the recent deportee http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/08/sri.lanka.unicef.expulsion/index.html).
Also, Sri Lankans calling Politicians such as Hillary Clinton, David Milliband and even our Keith Locke a terrorist is beyond ridiculous. These people have called for a ceasefire! http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=2225872&blogId=488842023
Furthermore, if the Sri Lankan government cannot tell the difference between a 5 year old orphan and an Tiger – then there is a serious problem! Transparency IS required.
3. The “resettlement” – Moving IDPs from one camp to another is not proper “resettlement”. These people want to go back to their homes or even live with family members , however – the Sri Lankan Government still refuses to let them leave.
“ Human Rights Watch said that the government’s screening of camp residents for LTTE supporters has been non-transparent and protracted and that even people who have apparently been screened and cleared have not been released. In September, the Sri Lankan foreign minister announced that 162,000 camp residents had been screened. According to the UN, however, the government had released fewer than 15,000 as of September 28.
On several occasions the government has falsely claimed that it has allowed thousands detained in Manik Farm to return home. On September 24, for example, it announced that 40,000 people had returned to their districts. In reality, many of the people that the government claims to have released have been transferred from Manik Farm to other detention camps, while others are still held at a “way station,” a temporary holding facility, in Vavuniya. According to the UN, more than 1,500 people who were transferred from Manik Farm to the way station on September 13 and were due to be released, are still held there, surviving in rapidly deteriorating conditions. “
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/09/sri-lanka-tensions-mount-camp-conditions-deteriorate
It should also be noted that during the war ICRC and The Tamil Tigers were giving the Sri Lankan Government civilian numbers of around 300,000 people BUT the Sri Lankan Government were giving numbers much lower – With all their “intelligence” they were unable to figure out how many civilians were in the warzone and blocked their ears to ICRC estimates.

Sittingnut ,
Firstly, your comments are off the topics – My comments were about WHY Refugees are leaving but instead of refuting that, you are talking about what I said. Next time, I suggest you try and stick to the topic. Also, I suggest you back your arguments with links.
So let me try and answer you questions with examples (It still covers why the refugees are leaving SL) –
1) “Terrorist” – As, I’ve said above the Sri Lankan government has long tried to portray the Sri Lankan ethnic civil war as a government campaign to suppress Tiger terrorism. In fact, state terrorism by the Sri Lankan government preceded the rise of the Tigers by at least three decades.
What is unknown by the western worlds are the horrific number of state-sponsored riots against Tamils. The first of these riots happened after a Sinhala-only bill was passed in 1956 after the Tamils did a Gandhi-style non-violent protest against the bill. The peaceful protest was broken up by Sinhala mobs and violence against Tamils spread to other parts of the island. Hundreds of Tamils were driven out of their homes, attacked and their houses burned.

The most deadly, bloody riots took place in 1983 , Homes and businesses were burned down, woman were raped and families murdered. A Hindu priest was dragged out of the temple and burned alive.
http://www.sangam.org/FB_PHOTOHISTORY/ONE.htm

Ex/ 35 Tamil political prisoners held in Colombo high security prisons were massacred by Sinhala prisoners – 2 days later, 18 more faced the same fate.

What is shocking that some attacks were even orchestrated by Buddhist monks, who planned and directed the mobs to attack Tamils. State police in stood by and watched as mobs attack the Tamils and in some cases, encouraged them and joined in. Westerner News papers screamed GENOCIDE, however, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister refused to declare it as a state emergency. Tamils could not count on the Government or Governmental officials to protect them.

The ‘Unspeakable Truth’ states that “Senor cabinet ministers armed with electoral lists directed mobs to Tamil homes and businesses. The Sinhala rioters did not even try to hide their faces in certain acts.

Ex/ Tamil Youth stripped naked and later burnt to death by hate filled Sinhala thugs who danced around him. The thugs were never brought to justice:
http://www.groundviews.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/1983-borella-rioters-kick-boxer.jpg

My concluding point is this – sittingnut your line of argument is that people should have to be able to substantiate their concern before they make it public/before any action can be taken on it.

But the Sri Lankan government is acting against hundreds of thousands of people, not based on any evidence but merely to screen them. This is a form of collective punishment – guilt by ethnicity. And that is racist. This is why the people interned are political prisoners and have refugee status. There is no due process in being interned for months/years without evidence/cause.

It is because this is so unjust that speculation about the motives of the government and its real motive has room to grow.

I note your use of the word “us” when questioning any criticism of the Sri Lankan government.

“back up what you said earlier in full . bc you are making serious charge against us .”

Yes you can question my calling the vetting of the civilians a vetting of people with associations with Tamil “political groups”, rather than just “LTTE”. But the concept of incarcerating civilians – the young and the old speaks to no real focus on the LTTE at all, but the whole idea of Tamil self-determination in its widest political sense.

You are of course aware that UN officials have been banned from the country for expressing their concerns about conditions and 3 Sri Lankan doctors arrested for the information given to news media banned from the area. Hardly the actions of a government focused on the LTTE.

A question for you

Has the Sri Lankan government ever said that it had no intention of holding in the camps relatives of people with LTTE. It is keeping young and old people in the camps who cannot possibly be LTTE. Why would it hold such people in the camps for screening if there was no intent to keep these people/relatives in the camps?

Such relatives would be political prisoners – they are guilty of no terrorism themselves.

Has the Sri Lankan government denied that Tamils advocating self determination for Tamils and in other Tamil groups (not LTTE) would be kept in the camps rather than released? If not these people would also be political prisoners. And so would their realtives if they were kept in the camps with them.

It truly would have been miraculous (we can but hope) if the majority had been released as sittingnut claimed. For it would have contradicted accounts from the Sri Lankan government about their own policy.

****************************************************
1.
Thousands of Tamil civilians forced from their homes by the conflict in Sri Lanka could be interned in refugee camps for up to two years before they are permitted to return home, authorities in Colombo said.

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2.

A senior government official, Lakshman Hulugala, said more than 230,000 civilians were being held in camps, a figure the UN believes could rise.
He said screening so many people to identify rebels and resettling the northern area would be a lengthy process. “Not all the people will be held for two years,” he said.

******************************************************

EARLIER
Earlier this year when the Sri Lankan authorities revealed plans for “welfare villages” that would hold the refugees for three years, there was an outcry from aid groups. The Government backtracked and vowed 80 per cent would be resettled within 12 months. The new revelation will trigger fresh concern.

INTERNATIONAL COMMENT
“It’s absolutely controversial,” said a senior official with a Western aid organisation. “What the international community is saying is the Government needs to do proper screening to separate those who might be LTTE. What is not acceptable is for the whole population to be incarcerated.”

- INDEPENDENT

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573755

Sittingnut

You claim that most people had been re-settled.

Nov 17 2.45am
“but lets refute what he/she says without taking so much words
there are no 300,000 ppl in camps.
most ppl in camps have been resettled . so to repeat what someone said in july about 300000 is not relevant .”

The BBC reported in October, that there were still 250,000 people in the main camp. I posted it earlier and as you were debating with me about a point I raised from that report – you must have read it.

That indicates as the report notes most people were still there and had been for months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8293982.stm

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It has been likened to a huge new city in the jungle.

Since my earlier visit in April, the camp has swollen to cover some 10 zones, the number of camp-dwellers has ballooned to a quarter of a million, while over 20,000 have been resettled or more informally released, the government says.

A government intensely sensitive to outside criticism or suggestions, and wary of any outsider’s intentions in wanting to visit the camps, was now giving the BBC admittance, alongside the UK’s Development Minister, Mike Foster. That in itself seemed like notable progress.

And yet, just five minutes of conversation with the camp-dwellers was deeply distressing.

“I don’t know how to live like this,” she said, simply. “Please send us to a good place, or to our homes.” There seemed to be a widespread assumption that as outsiders we could somehow send them home. It was a cry of despair.

“There is no water to drink. There is no water to bathe. We are going to die here.” Everyone criticised the food provisions. Dal, rice, flour and sugar did not amount to proper meals, they said.

All the more reason to let people out, at least to stay with host families, he said.

But the authorities are sticking to their message that these refugees, young and old, have to be screened for possible links to the defeated Tamil Tigers. Tens of thousands have yet to be vetted.

And, despite the trenches, they fear the approaching monsoon will bring water pouring into the tents.

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