Eating is an agricultural act - Wendell Berry

Saturday, January 03, 2009

tigers - brink of extinction

the story of the indian tiger is a sad one.
left to the mercy of fierce poachers, inept indian govt and shrinking habitat.
slowly but surely, the tigers of sri lanka also face a similar fate.

fighting for a separate tamizh eezham over 2 decades has been bloody and gruesome.
led by the LTTE - the liberation tigers of tamizh eezham (tigers henceforth) - this struggle has been classified illegal, terrorism (check no. 23), freedom movement, etc.

in 2008, the sri lankan army has upped their offensive against the LTTE and with never before seen success. the latest news is that Killinochchi, a tiger stronghold, has fallen.

india has been dealing with this neighbourhood since 20 years. rajiv gandhi sent the IPKF to usher in peace in the emerald isle. with disastrous consequences for him.
the tamizh eezham movement has a very strong support base in tamilnadu and is a very emotive issue in the local politcal milieu.
even to the extent that there is an increasing support towards separatism in tamilandu.

this is not surprising, since at the time of independance, the dravidian movement was a vociferous proponent of a separate tamil state.

either during my youth or in my current 'aware state', i have hardly felt an iota of sympathy or support for the eezham cause or the LTTE.
it is quite contrarian to my regular stand on other similar issues.
could be my tam-bram upbringing, could be LTTE's almost patented assasination strategy or ....
need to figure this one out.

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