Martyr Sivakumaran remembered today
Thirty one years ago, in 1974, Sivakumaran inspired his fellow students by taking his life to avoid capture by the Sri Lankan military. Tamileelam Students Uprising Day on June 6th commemorates his sacrifice. A special event is held today at Sivakumaran’s birthplace in Urumiprai, Jaffna to remember him. The day will start with a ceremony at his memorial statue at the Urumpirai junction and will be followed by a meeting at the Urumpirai Hindu College grounds.
 In that year of 1974 during the World Tamil Research Conference in Jaffna, nine Tamils were shot and killed by the police without provocation. The police hunted Sivakumaran on suspicion that he is planning to take action against the police for this atrocity. On June 5th that year he has just sat down for his lunch at his home. A few of his friends arrived at the entrance to his house. He immediately told his mother that he would go out with his friends and will come and eat later and left. He never came home alive. On hearing that he is in the Jaffna hospital his mother hurried there fearing the worst. The Jaffna hospital ground was crowded with hundreds of students. A policeman tried to stop Sivakumaran’s mother entering the hospital. Enraged mother yelled back, “Who are you to stop me to see dying son in hospital?” At the hospital Sivakumaran only a few seconds away from his last breath was tied to the bed with chains on his arms and legs. He eyes filled with tears when he saw his mother. He said to his mother, “I fought for the liberation of the Tamil people mother. But today I was deceived by one of us. The Tamil race will never improve.” Tamil nation grieved for his loss. His sacrifice paved the way for the nation to today stand up with its own military and political structure. The participation of the Tamileelam student community in the liberation struggle for Tamileelam set alight by that spark of Sivakumaran’s sacrifice has many more inspiring chapters. The student power is immeasurable for they are young, full of energy, and have the determination. There are many examples in history of the success of struggles taken up by the students. “There is no contradiction between the choice to fight for the liberation of our nation and the right to seek education. Both are essential for the functioning of our society”, says the Tamil national leader. Tamil National leader is unshaken in the belief that the future of the nation, the student community, must be saved from drowning in the evils of cultural deterioration, and must be enlightened about the language and the nation that are the foundations for a healthy culture. Students hated the military harassments they were facing. That is why they threw away their pens and turned into LTTE cadres and picked up the guns. Many of them at present are doing excellent service as doctors, technocrats, engineers, lawyers, literary experts, and military leaders. Their achievements are living proof of the importance given to education by the Tamil national leader.
Sinhala people must use the present ceasefire conditions as the last option to find a lasting solution to the Tamil national question. Sinhala leaders must come forward to give a solution that will pave the way for the Tamil students to continue their education without hindrance and harassment by the military. If this opportunity is missed it will take the Tamil student community to an even higher level of determination and awareness. That will surely take the liberation struggle to its final goal.
05 June 2005
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Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
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