End to nurturing discord between Sinhala and Tamil

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Veteran Historian and Archaeologist, Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera yesterday said in an interview with the Daily News, the victory over LTTE terrorism achieved by security forces under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is a victory of all sovereign states in the Asian region against the rise of a terrorist empire in the Indian ocean.

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera said, it was evident from the nature of various military hardware and other items such as the half constructed iron framed undersea metal tunnel, which were seized by the security troops from LTTE possession during their military operations, that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was having bigger designs besides establishing his much envisaged “Eelam” or a separate state in the island.

The kind of military hardware recovered from LTTE stands to prove that Sri Lanka was not the only target he had in mind. He appears to have planned well to prepare for his next target by physically linking the Northern periphery of Sri Lanka with India to have a terror regime of his own , explained Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera.

He said , of the various rebellions which have taken place in the country throughout its long history from the time of the first recorded rebellion , which was led by a young Brahman named Tissa against king Valagambha in the 103 BC, and thereafter the insurgency of Welaikkaara during the period of Ist Wijayabahu in the Polonnaruwa Era, the biggest and the most ruthless insurgency to have inflicted the country with violence, fear and intimidation, was LTTE.

There was JVP insurgency in 1971 and again in 1989. They were not based on separatism or to divide the country by any means.

However, Sri Lanka has had many liberation struggles, and mush less insurgencies throughout its history. The liberation struggles had taken place against foreign invaders , Portuguese, the Dutch and the British..

Prabhakaran and his cadres have killed over 100,000 victims over the past three decades from the time Prabhakaran shot dead Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappa in 1975.

He and his terrorist outfit have killed the country’s national leaders, Tamil democratic leaders, dignitaries, Buddhist monks, great statesmen including the seventh Prime Minister in India Rajiv Gandhi, former President of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa among the others.

They massacred hundreds of Muslim nationals while they were praying in their mosques, killed Army commanders,security personnel, ministers, MPs, Holy men of Hindu clergy, members of the Christian clergy Christian and Hindu clergy, intellectuals, innocent farmers, mothers and children and destroyed public property by detonating bombs everywhere in the country.

He introduced a culture of human bombs(suicide bombers) to intimidate the public, and even killed his own people who dared to to disagree with him or disobey him.

If we were to give meaning to this great victory, we must must not give vent to manifestation of terrorism in the country, most importantly.

We must not forget that those elements which worked against the spirit of unity in the country to nurture discord and separatism between the Tamil public, and Sinhala public were still present in this soil, though they may have been silenced by the the current defeat of the LTTE.

Still, they are lurking behind every corner that they might get a piece of action to continue their lucrative practice of dollar mining by causing division among the public.Steps should be taken to settle the displaced public in suitable environments, and they should be looked after very well.

The victory has been achieved with great many sacrifices by our three armed forces and their dedication backed up by reason and the leadership of their Commanders, the defense Secretary and the President.

We must ensure that they are remembered. We can do this by naming those areas where they died in the line of duty with their names. There are many temples and tanks in these areas which are in dilapidatedas conditions.

Steps should be taken to reconstruct them in their memory as a tribute to valiant deeds done by sacrifices made by them to protect the motherland.