Playing any form of Cricket against Sri Lanka is Immoral

Press Release: Canterbury Tamil Society, Community House, 141 Hereford Street, Christchurch.

Black Caps are scheduled to tour Sri Lanka (SL) in August. Members of Canterbury Tamil Society (CTS) are ardent fans of Black Caps but we feel that playing any form of cricket against SL is immoral.

A CLARIFICATION

Our press release is based on publications in international media. It may appear one-sided but international free media have not written supportively about the treatment meted out collectively to the Tamils by GoSL before, during and after the conflict.

PREAMBLE

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is dominated by majority Sinhalese. Since independence in 1948, successive governments failed to listen or address the grievances of the minority Tamils. A near civil war situation evolved and recently GoSL victoriously claimed the “rescue” of 300,000 Tamil civilians. This was at the expense of 20,000 civilian deaths in the final assault, 30,000 disabled for life, 50,000 incurring medium to serious injuries and the creation of thousands orphaned, widowed or widowered.

Even though CTS members were fully aware of the fundamental GoSL ethnocentric philosophy, we were surprised, disappointed and dismayed when the so-called “rescued” civilians were interned in camps. For several weeks before the so-called “rescue”, the civilians had endured indiscriminate GoSL bombing and heavy artillery. For the “rescued” civilians it was “From the fry pan into the fire”. The camps are “Mothers of Hell”. The New York Times of 15 July in its Editorial stated

“Sri Lanka’s government is continuing to hold hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians in what it calls “welfare villages” but what increasingly look like military internment camps”.

Similar assessments have been made by international human rights organisations, free media and several governments.

Many international observers have rated Sri Lanka as an irresponsible member of the international community. We present views from two eminent world citizens

• Prof Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at MIT, said Thursday 23 July during a United Nations forum on Responsibility to Protect (R2P), that what happened in Sri Lanka was a major Rwanda-like atrocity, in a different scale, where the West didn't care”

• Peace Nobel Laureate, Professor Elie Wiesel, in a message posted on his website on 1 July said: "Wherever minorities are being persecuted we must raise our voices to protest. According to reliable sources, the Tamil people are being disenfranchised and victimized by the Sri Lanka authorities. This injustice must stop. The Tamil people must be allowed to live in peace and flourish in their homeland."

• Peace Nobel Laureates Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Jose Ramos-Horta have pointed out the excessive force used by GoSL in before, during and after the civil war.

• Peace Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kye will make a statement if and when released by rulers of Myanmar which is a trusted ally of SL.
Several governments have raised concerns about the humanitarian situation in the SL camps. We reproduce below a unanimous resolution passed by the New Zealand Parliament on 2 June 09

"That this House note its deep concern at the dire humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka and call upon the Sri Lankan Government to accede to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s call for UN agencies to be given “immediate unhindered access” into the internally displaced persons camps in order to bring aid to those who desperately need it, and ask the Sri Lankan Government to allow media access to the camps."

SAFETY OF OUR PLAYERS IN SL

SL is not as “safe” as SL Cricket Council might have been led to believe. On 22 July 09 around 7 am, the leader of opposition of the Galle Municipal Council went out to buy the morning paper from the corner dairy. “Unknown” gunmen on motor bike shot him dead. Stray bullets come cheap in Galle where the first test (if it takes place at all) will be played. Assassinations are very common in SL and the assassins are rarely apprehended – you know why? The same week 5 bodies were found in a northern SL army controlled High Security Zone beach. In the High Security Zones the civilian to military ratio is 1:10.

WHAT IS OUR SUGGESTION?

We plead that New Zealand truncates sporting ties with Sri Lanka until SL agrees to internationally supervised relief and resettlement of Tamils. The silent suffering of Tamils in SL is no longer an internal problem but is part of universal problem of human rights. It is high time for the international community to intervene.

ARE WE ALONE IN THIS SUGGESTION?

Boycott of cricket links with Sri Lanka was suggested by several international media. We provide two examples

• In a lead article Times UK on 10 July 09 said “Other world bodies — the Commonwealth, the United Nations and even world cricketing organizations — should boycott Colombo until reconciliation begins. A nation cannot run concentration camps and expect the world to look away”.

• In a lengthy article Telegraph UK on 12 July 09 said “International legal systems have so far failed to bring the Sri Lankan War Criminals to justice. It is time for the average Joe… to say No to “Sri Lankan Cricket”… until the last person is set free from the death camps of Sri Lanka..”

WHY DO WE SUGGEST SPORTING BOYCOTT OF SRI LANKA?

The conflict is over – now the international community must make sure Tamils urgently get the desperately needed help. Several governments have called for the closure of the internment camps. Literally hundreds of articles have appeared recently covering the suppression of human rights, media freedom in SL. Cancellation of the Black Caps Tour will certainly contribute to the generation of international pressure on GoSL to release the internees in the camp so that they may return to their villages and rebuild their lives.

Guardian UK on 20 July 09 in a lead article on the internment camps in SL said
“The time has come for the international community to use all levers, including deferral of the GSP+ trade scheme and IMF loan, or through imposing economic sanctions and an arms embargo. There are precedents in the cases of Belarus and Zimbabwe where political motivations were clearly behind the economic rationale given.”

FURTHER REASONS

It is clear that GoSL is evolving into an ethnocentric military dictatorship. Several correspondents have compared the present GoSL with the Nazi regime. Further reasons why the Black Caps Tour must be cancelled are

1. Cricket is a gentleman’s game. Nazis were not considered gentlemen because of the concentration camps.

2. Nazis used the 1936 Olympics as a propaganda tool. GoSL will use the Black Caps tour (if this takes place) as an endorsement for the now famous SL barbed-wire fenced camps.

3. Touring teams will be taken to the camps, shown “managed” cricket played by camp children. If they appear to be well dressed and fed it will be because they were brought from outside the camp. Photographs and video footage will be used as propaganda material.

4. Strict observance of human rights is expected from civilized countries.

5. Human rights consideration was the reason for cancellation of sporting ties with Zimbabwe and Fiji. Sporting boycott contributed to the dismantling of apartheid in former South Africa.

6. Under the pretext of ‘security’, the well known “white” van abduction
of Tamils by SL paramilitary will increase. If the tour goes ahead, Kiwi Tamils (not Kiwi Sinhalese) will not be spared if they travel to SL to see the matches. This is discrimination of New Zealanders based on race.

7. Tamils living in homes near SL match venues will be forcibly removed for security reasons.

8. Tamil cricket lovers from northern SL will not be able to get the necessary travel permits to travel south to watch the game.

9. If the tour takes place, there may be a few New Zealand flags and cheer groups at the game venue. Such groups will be stage managed by GoSL for TV footages.

10. If the tour takes place, learned astrologers who predict Black Caps win will be arrested.

SUMMARY

We are prepared to forgo the pleasure of seeing Black Caps win and we seek your support to stop the Black Caps tour thus contributing to the alleviation of the raw agony of Tamils.

ENDS

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