Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Drexel U. professor forced to flee Sri Lanka because of threats
By Aditi Dubey
The Triangle (Drexel U.)
11/18/2006

(U-WIRE) PHILADELPHIA — Ratnajeevan Hoole, auxiliary professor of electrical and computer engineering, has fled his native country, Sri Lanka, following weeks of death threats against him by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

LTTE is one of the prime militant groups in Sri Lanka. Since the 1970s, LTTE has been waging a secessionist campaign against the Sri Lankan government in order to secure a separate state for the Tamil majority regions in the north and east of Sri Lanka. LTTE is headed by its founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Hoole is a Tamil who was born and raised in Jaffna, the capital and largest city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, and also one of the regions that LTTE is after. He was educated at the University of Jaffna and was recommended by his supervisor to complete his higher education in the United States. Currently, he is teaching power systems, statistical analysis of engineering systems and differential equations at Drexel University.

Hoole was in the United States for three years, 1984-86, to pursue his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He was also an assistant professor at the University during this period. Hoole returned to Sri Lanka once he received his doctorate and had been serving as a professor at the University of Jaffna up to now.

On March 9, Hoole was appointed the vice chancellor of the university; that, he said, was when the trouble began.

"As long as I was the professor, they never really cared about what I thought," Hoole said. "When I was offered the position of the vice chancellor at the University of Jaffna, then the problems started."

"The council of the university selects three people for this position, and I was one of the three."

LTTE wanted Hoole to resign. According to Hoole, Tamil Web sites carried stories with headlines such as "Army Spy Appointed VC" when his appointment was announced to the public.

"I am a Tamil, and Tamils have severe problems in Sri Lanka," Hoole said. "We are badly discriminated against; we're being butchered."

"There was always militancy against the Tamils; LTTE only accelerated it."

Hoole blames religious discrimination in Sri Lanka for this situation. According to him, LTTE believes that they are the sole representatives of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka. He also feels that the fact that he is a Christian, rather than a Hindu, works against him.

"I never selectively worked against any LTTE, but they don't like people like me," Hoole said. "I say, no, you must have elections and let the people choose."

"Out of the 25 members on the council, 23 were Hindus, and they voted for me, but the LTTE still had a problem."

When he refused to resign, the LTTE made death threats to him and his family via phone.

"I didn't want to resign because I was rightfully appointed to this position and then the calls started at home, telling my wife if she did not tell me to resign, she would become a widow," Hoole said. "My daughter, my 14-year-old daughter, got calls where LTTE told her that they will chop me up if I didn't resign."

"I had to live in house arrest. I hardly went outside or did any work, but I still didn't want to resign."

Following weeks of such threats, Hoole fled the country with his family.

"I applied here, and Nihat Bilgutay, who was the head of ECE here at Drexel at the time, helped me," Hoole said. "I am very grateful to him. He quickly found me a job and fixed up this appointment for me that I am on right now."

According to Hoole, Amnesty International has recently issued an urgent action appeal on his behalf. In addition, Scholars at Risk is currently helping him out financially.

I used to be the highest-paid Sri Lankan, and my salary was $500 a month, which is nothing here," Hoole said. "So you can imagine how hard it is for me to live here."

Despite that, Hoole is not complaining. He is currently searching for a permanent job, since his position at the University is only of a visiting professor. According to him, it is good that he is allowed to work, and religious discrimination usually doesn't happen here.

"Even now, I still haven't resigned," Hoole said. "I am still the vice chancellor, and the government is not going to appoint someone else till I do."

Some of Hoole's colleagues in Sri Lanka have been abducted by the LTTE in the past because they refused to comply with their demands. His brother, Rajan, has also been vilified by the LTTE for his protest against the ongoing violence in Sri Lanka.

"My brother openly said that the LTTE was bad for the Tamils," Hoole said. "He was also a lecturer at the University of Jaffna, and he published the details of atrocities of both the government and the LTTE in the newsletter of their organization, called University Teachers for Human Rights."

Rajan Hoole, who was a professor at Jaffna in the 1980s, founded UTHR and was forced to flee the university after he openly criticized the Tamil Tigers, as well as the Sinhalese majority, for committing human-rights abuses. Hoole has denied being a member of his brother's group.

"When LTTE first wanted him, he went underground in Sri Lanka itself and continued to publish," Hoole said. "He is wanted by the LTTE and he is hiding in India right now."

"At one time, the LTTE was also looking for me for helping to publish those papers that my brother wrote."

Hoole has not applied for political asylum in the United States because the University has sponsored him for residence rights, but he wants to go back to Sri Lanka and live among his community.

"I would go back if I think I can do something useful there," Hoole said. "I just want to live among my people."

"What I will do is live here while I am working, and when it is time for me to retire, I will go back."

Even after all these threats to his life, Hoole agreed to talk to The Triangle. He feels that the awareness of his situation will help make things better.

"I think a greater understanding of what is going on is always helpful," Hoole said.

According to him, one of the key things that people don't understand is that if there is conflict in a community and an outsider comes to settle it, the people will never like it.

"Americans may not like this, but I think racial affinity is a part of life and we have to live with it," Hoole said. "Americans want it to go away. It can never go away."

Hoole believes that the only way the current situation in Sri Lanka can be resolved is if a third party exerts external pressure on LTTE and the Sri Lankan government to come to a settlement.

"The sooner we have peace, the better, because the universities are devastated," Hoole said. "Tamils used to be known for their education, and now they are all fleeing the country."

Hoole has stayed strong through all this.

"It is very strange; I didn't feel any emotion at that time," Hoole said. "My family was really upset, but I basically kept working and I think that is what kept me going."

"My daughter stopped going to school. She thought that by hanging around me, she could protect me."

The entire family is currently in Pennsylvania and they plan to stay put.

"We all came together," Hoole said. "My children don't want to go back. They don't want me to go back to Sri Lanka, but my heart is there."

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