4,000 civilians "surrender" to armed forces

Today the Sri Lankan army released a press statement that was titled "4000 civilians surrendered to Sri Lanka army during the day". How can they dare to say that the Tamil civilians "surrendered" to them? If the Sri Lankan army considers the Tamils to be their own civilians who were held hostage by the LTTE, then how can these civilians ever surrender to the Sri Lankan army? The use of the word surrender in their press release reveals the mindset of the Sinhalese. The Tamil civilians are viewed as an enemy being conquered by the Sri Lankan army. Those Tamils comming out of the LTTE held areas must "surrender" to the Sri Lankan armed forces. After surrendering they are held in detention camps for years on end without any freedom, often being subjected to torture, or even death. The Sri Lankan army has given an ultimatum to the Tamil civilians: either surrender to the army or face death through aerial bombardment.

Later in the day they updated the headline to read "4000 civilians reached the Sri Lanka army during the day", but it is too late. Their racism has already been exposed by what they initially wrote from their heart. Even after updating the headline, they still foolishly left the following line in the report: "Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said that the civilians who fled the rebel held areas have surrendered to the security forces at Visuamadu in Mullaitivu."

For weeks the Sri Lankan army has claimed that the LTTE has been holding these civilians as a human shield, but it is obvious that these civilians voluntarily ran from the invading forces, not wishing to "surrender" their liberties to an unjest and discriminatory government. Only when they were bombed into complete submission by the Sri Lankan army were they left with no other choice but to give in to the invaders or face certain death. Their fate will be like thousands of other Tamil civilians who have "surrendered" to the Sri Lankan army in the past. They will be locked away in concentration camps to be systematically brutalized by the Sinhalese invaders.

General Fonseka has publicly said in the past that Sri Lanka belongs only to the Sinhalese, and now the army has furthered this position by declaring that Tamil civilians must "surrender" to the armed forces. We thank the Sri Lankan military for clearly stating their position in regards to the Tamil civilians. Only enemies are required to surrender to an army, and this is exactly what is being required of the Tamil population in the North of Sri Lanka.