History, MOUs, CFAs and all
Shenali Waduge
If ever the nation of Sri Lanka stood united wherein all factions of
society whatever their opposing views came together to say NO – that was
when India forced Sri Lanka’s then President J R Jayewardena to sign the
Indo-Lanka Accord on July 29, 1987 threatening to invade Sri Lanka if it
did not do so. The SLFP, key members of the UNP, the nationalists, the
JVP and even Prabhakaran opposed it so much so that the signing of the
Accord was done under emergency with curfew and a gag on media and
eventually led to the deaths of 70,000 JVP youth who rose against it.
When Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says that Sri Lanka should not sign anything
to please India and that the threat to national security is a concern –
the entire nation must pay heed. Unlike most he is a man who has
delivered and a man who commands our respect because he has earned it by
his actions and deeds. Sambathan may say he does not want to talk to
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa because he is not the government but this same
Sambanthan had no qualms about taking orders from the terrorist leader
Prabhakaran and even went so far as to quote from Prabhakaran’s Mahavir
Speech in Parliament which was opposed by JHU Ratana Thera. If our
memories are not short we may well come up with numerous other instances
of LTTE-TNA links that beckons Sambathan to respond to what makes
Gotabhaya repulsive and Prabhakaran not! As a politician living off
taxpayers money we demand him to answer. In our eyes we continue to
equate the TNA with the LTTE and they have done or said nothing to
change our opinion.
Defence and Urban Development Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa |
The 13th Amendment was signed under duress, the concerns of the
Supreme Court were ignored, and there was no people’s mandate. The first
Provincial Council election in the merged North-East held in 1988 voted
the EPRLF into power in which Varatharaja Perumal became the Chief
Minister and Dayan Jayatillake was its ONLY Sinhala (Christian) member.
It did not take two years for Perumal to declare an unilateral
declaration of independence going so far as to even print letterheads to
the effect. Then President Premadasa had to dissolve the Provincial
Council and Perumal fled to India.
Solutions for WHOM?
The 13th Amendment was said to be a solution to the “ethnic problem”
– that it provided no solution reveals the lack of any “ethnic” problem
as well as the fact that it was never meant to solve anything for anyone
in Sri Lanka.
Politicians have put the interests of the nation aside for political
and personal gain and failed to do what is right by the wishes of the
people vis a vis the 13th Amendment.
Where is this “ethnic” problem?
If there was a historical problem can we have evidence of such prior
to arrival of the colonials? Even Elara the Tamil King followed the
doctrines of the Dasa Raja Dharma and punished his own son for harming a
cattle! Genetically the Sri Lankan Tamils are the same as the Tamil Nadu
Tamils and have NO similarities with the Sinhalese.
Yet the Tamils who lived through history NEVER demanded a separate
area to live separately from the Sinhalese! Let it also be known that
the local Tamils teamed up with the Sinhalese kings during invasions by
Tamils from Tamil Nadu.
R Sambathan |
The civilization that developed from the Sinhalese is indigenous as
shown in the new archaeological findings whereas the DNA of the Tamils
is clearly matching with those Tamil invaders from Tamil Nadu which
nullifies claims of any Tamil Homeland.
There was no animosity between the Sinhalese and the Tamils and much
of the hype that revolves around two-three incidents were mostly planted
and created and nothing that proportionately permits people to
generalize. Again we say that the 1983 riots had no involvement of the
Sinhalese public except organized goons of the UNP Government possibly
with the involvement of foreign interlopers turning a situation from bad
to worse for it met their agenda. It is time the Tamils come out and
said how many Sinhalese saved them and kept and fed them in their homes.
When we say we do not trust the TNA parliamentarians there are valid
reasons to say so. It was the TNA that claimed the LTTE was the sole
representative of the Tamil people. The Tamil people did not come out
and deny this? Always, the fear of the LTTE was used to maintain their
silence. Now that the LTTE is no more why do the Tamils remain silent
and why do they continue to vote for the TNA if the TNA was always
voicing what the LTTE wanted and aligned itself with the LTTE.
There is enough of evidence in TNA manifestos to prove that they are
working towards the separation of the country. When they specifically
demand land and police powers are we so childish to think that they may
not do what Varatharaja Perumal did in 1990 by declaring the North as
independent. Our worries are far greater than 1990 because we are well
aware that the TNA, the Tamil Diaspora and other institutions funded
from abroad.
Let's think about those who played a key role as architects of
various federal solution packages.
We now have foreign mission heads directly dealing with the
provincial councils and striking MOUs – these are all dangerous
scenarios. Whilst, President Premadasa packed off British envoy
Gladstone, our foreign ministry is too diplomatic even to call for an
explanation! If this be the case we can well imagine what other MOUs may
come to our knowledge after the damage has been done and all we will end
up doing is nothing.
Drafting packages
These ground realities are what moves us to be alert at all times –
the very people presently bringing packages called “solutions” were
instrumental in drafting packages that were craftily linked to dividing
and separating Sri Lanka.
We do not accept the “reconciliation” gimmick. There can be no time
bar scenario. Reconciliation must cover every crime that took place and
not a period suitable to the West. Ideally it has to start from 1505
when the country was invaded.
Parliament |
We do not accept the traditional homeland theme because there is no
archeological or historical evidence to prove so. Moreover when more
than 1/3 of the Tamil population as a whole live outside of the area
being demarcated as exclusively Tamils it also ignores that these areas
were populated by Sinhalese and Muslims too and moreover, there cannot
be a federal system based on ethnicity when more Tamils live outside
that enclave and have no desire to go and live up North.
We would also like to ask of Tamils who now complain about the
quality of the facilities and the slow progress of the roads etc whether
they would have made the same complaints to the LTTE and how far they
enjoyed any luxury during the 30 years they lived under the LTTE.
Therefore, let the Tamil people not forget that the North was left in
such a decrepit condition not by the Sri Lankan government or the
Sinhalese but because the LTTE did not do anything to develop the North
or areas they controlled and destroyed whatever state infrastructure was
in place – transformers and even railway tracks. Therefore, the Tamils
need to show far more appreciation than they do currently which only a
handful do.
How many LTTE members went so far as to build homes with their own
hands as the Sri Lankan military personnel are now doing? The Sri Lanka
military deserve far more accolades than they are getting for the
tireless work they do.
Be that as it may the point in question is that whatever the TNA
says, whatever links the TNA has had with the LTTE or continues to have
with the LTTE representatives in the Tamil Diaspora – the Tamils would
not vote for the government even if elections were held in the North.
The Defense Secretary leads the calls for the repeal of the 13th
Amendment – it is based on solid evidence of the likely outcome and the
nationalists of Sri Lanka who have all the while been alert to
destabilizing operations taking place have made known their reservations
clearly and objectively to the government.
The power of the Sangha should never be underestimated or ridiculed.
Whatever said and done they have always played a key role in protecting
the nation.
Sir John Kotelawala retired from politics after his embarrassing
defeat when he undermined the power of the nationalists in 1956, J R
Jayewardena never expected 70,000 Sinhalese youth to give up their lives
for a cause, Chandrika Bandaranaike professed to do everything in her
power to pass the regional councils but that fell flat on her face, the
CFA was drafted to slowly carve out the West’s Eelam but that too
crumbled into oblivion….. the dreams are kept alive through the 13th
Amendment which is not India’s baby anymore because India’s future lies
in the hands of a foreigner. |