Hypocrisy and challenges facing commemorating the dead

November is the month associated, with the commemoration of the dead. It has its origins in the Mexican ‘Día de los Muertos’ (Day of the Dead) which evolved from Aztec traditions combined with Catholic beliefs brought by the Spanish to that land. 

Similarly, other cultures use this time to honour ancestors and remember loved ones, as the season’s natural shifts evoke themes of death, remembrance, and continuity. In our own country, November 2 is set apart by people of the Christian (mainly Catholic) faith to commemorate their dead. 

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), commemorates cadres who died in combat at the hands of state forces in their 1987-1988 failed uprising on November 5. The number includes JVP founder Rohana Wijeweera, who was captured by the military in November 1989 and was reportedly executed. 

He (Wijeyweera),joined tens of thousands of individuals who were extra-judicially executed by the government. Also included in these numbers are those, whose whereabouts still remain unknown, victims of enforced disappearance.

Earlier, in 1971 the JVP engaged in another failed insurrection which lasted a little over a month. It resulted in over 12,000 enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings by the then SLFP Government. During the second JVP uprising between 1987-1989, the numbers of those killed rose to between 60,000 -100,000 and under the then UNP government’s tenure, Commissions of Inquiry recorded over 46,000 disappearances.

On November 19, our government celebrates ‘National War Heroes Day’ which commemorates the deaths of 28,619 fallen military personnel who died battling the LTTE in the Northeastern theatre of that war. 

And, on November 27 (today) many in the Tamil community in the North, celebrate Maaveerar Naal (Great Heroes’ Day) in memory of the deaths of members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). November 26, is the birth date of the late LTTE leader Prabakaran. A school of thought believes, this is the reason behind the choice November 27 as Maaveerar Day.

Rather unfortunately persons commemorating ‘Maaveerar Naal’ in the North have faced many stumbling blocs placed by governing authorities of all political parties.

In a surprising twist, the present NPP/JVP government (which led two failed insurgencies), is drawing parametres for Northern Tamils intending to commemorate of the so-called ‘Maaveerar Naal’ scheduled for November 27.
According to the doctrine put forward by the present Minister of Public Security, the people “in the North are allowed to observe Maaveerar Day to honour their deceased relatives, must refrain from displaying any logos uniforms or images related to the LTTE as it remains a proscribed organisation...”

This despite the fact that the JVP commemorated, in the full glare of publicity the killing of its founder-leader Rohana Wijeweera by the self-same military which ultimately did away with Velupillai Prabakaran the leader of the LTTE. 

Both leaders, while fighting in the name of those whom they termed ‘the oppressed’, brought untold suffering to the masses whom they claimed, they were fighting to liberate.

Yet, both leaders are still revered by certain sections of their different communities, as they are equally damned, by other sectors of those very same communities. What’s sauce for the goose is equally sauce for the gander. Both leaders were responsible for unnecessary killings. What sets them apart is their ethnicity.

It’s time our new set of leaders -who entered parliament with support from all communities- now put into practice what they preach. Their actions should show no discrimination between Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher or Adivasi. One cannot contest the right of a particular group people to commemorate the deaths of their by-gone leaders while another is permitted to do so. 

What is sad however, is none of our present leaders are showing any signs of sympathy with those who suffered at the hands of these now deceased leaders. While over a hundred thousand innocents died because of actions of both the LTTE and the JVP, no one has thought of setting up a day to commemorate the  deaths of these innocents.