SriLankan foreign Minister in India: Yes Sir, no sir, three bags full, Sir.
Posted on May 19th, 2011

By Mario Perera, Kadawata

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was downright humiliating to watch the performance of Minister G.L.Peiris before the Indian rulers. There he was seated upright before Manmohan like an Abitthiya before the Mahanayake, with his head held with its habitual slant, taking in every word seemingly from the source itself of wisdom. Then he met two others who reiterated the same litany, no doubt in sugar coated diplomatic wrappings but nevertheless bitter in themselves. What was said concerned the implementation of the 13th amendment, the lifting of the state of emergency and the power sharing on quasi-federal lines. This comes directly in the wake of the saber rattling of Jayalalitha, whom many Chennai taxi drivers still refer to with disdain as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”the keep of MGRƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢.

The reactions of GLP made many a heart yearn for the days of Luxman Kadirgaman, whose personality and presence elicited a certain awe and much respect from his peers. GLP is of another brand. We associate academic and professional titles as lofty as those he possesses with character. With GLP we are obliged to disassociate the two. The man has changed sides like chameleons change colour. He has like the most ordinary of lawyers argued in the political forum for the defense and for the prosecution, for proponents and opponents of the same charges and claims, always with the same slanted head and facial expressions so characteristic of the man and which are normally designed to elicit faith and hope, but which now beat those yardsticks by miles. We remember him addressing the so called theoretician of the most dastardly terrorist group known to modern history as the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Honorable BalasinghamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. We remember him arguing and expounding the Ranil W ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Peace TreatyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ with ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Mr.PrabhakaranƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, and the benefits of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”power sharingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. And now ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”O Tempora O MoresƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ he has changed team and track, and not for the first time at that using the same words, the same posture, the same rhetoric, but for different causes.

Yet this time there is a difference. Trying to push the 13th amendment and power devolution as in a quasi-federal structure down the throats of the nation is akin to slitting his and his bossƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s throats. This time the people will NOT take it. NO. Unlike the power wielders clinging to their luxury seats the people have not forgotten the thirty year war, its causes and its effects. This time the back-tracking on promises have to do not with economic well being or adversity, but with life and death associated with the integrity or dismemberment of the Motherland. There is no back-tracking this time because it has to do with BETRAYAL of the nation: betrayal of the blood of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”RanawiruwoƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ remembered practically at every passing hour, and posthumously feted at every conceivably occasion religious or civil. It will amount to political suicide of a type worse than even what befell RW after his Peace Treaty, without the chance of a resurrection. The implementation of the 13th amendment with all its disgraceful connotations (parippu drop, rifle butt whack on Gandhi and the IPKF rape of Jaffna among others) and quasi-federal privileges for those who fought tooth and nail for Ealam, will arouse profound wounds and shatter the trust and hope of the nation in its presently much hallowed leader. Did not the Maha Raja (MR) unequivocally declare that he has eliminated the specter of terrorism for ever? Did he not say ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”first the Motherland, which was his second and third choice as well? Did he not worship on his return the soil of Mother Lanka, now freed from the Tamil terrorists? Did he not speak of Sri Lanka the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”MawbimaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ as the traditional homeland of all? Did he not classify the nation into two categories: those who love the motherland and those who donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t?

Anyone with an iota of the history of Tamil terror will know that this insidious movement did not begun with the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Language ActƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, anti-Tamil riots by hooligans as tit for tat, or the like. It was a cold blooded plan for a separate state entertained since the thirties. The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi justly plainly meant ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Tamil EalamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. To avoid detection it was subsequently clothed in the garb of federalism. But the end-goal was one visible even to the blind; it was Ealam. Then the pretentious clothing was shed and the ill-famous Vadukoddai Resolution was passed with brazen audacity. It meant ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”WarƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ on the State of Sri Lanka. Can this nation be complacent as regards another such build up again?

Now after thirty years of a war well won the same scenario is propping up camouflaged as sugar coated pills. Vast Tamil forces are at play at this very moment amassing funds and displaying voting strength, bending the UN and the White powers to their will. The Indian government cares two hoots for Sri Lanka, as history will witness. It has its own power preoccupations. What is up before our Government, really before MR is the test of the supreme love for the motherland he preaches, the latest being at the Buddha Jayanthi Celebrations holding the dead heroes of the nation as his witnesses. Now is test time. MR said he would gladly go the electric chair but will not betray the nation. Now the nation is telling him ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”show us your intent: prove your love for LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The TNA has made its standpoint clear as the midday sun. Sambandan was in total agreement with the Darusman report and unashamedly demanded the war crimes probe. We hear and read the same overtones that characterized the Chelvanayagam and the Amirthalingam rhetoric. One of them recently declared in that very same vein that if elections are held they, the TNA will win 24 out of 26 seats. They take it as a proof that the Tamil people are behind them in their demands. Their demand, the ultimate one, is nothing else than separatism. What they are flouting is their mono-ethnic strength in the North and East. From mono-ethnicity to the demand for nationhood is less than a step. They are but two faces of the same coin.

Finally it all broils down to this. Firstly, if the motherland comes first, second and even third on the list of priorities and if terrorism is never to be resurrected, the North and East must become totally multi-ethnic and multi-religious with major Sinhalese settlements in those regions. Such an endeavour needs vision and courage. It needs a ruler with character and not with the slanted head stance of the Abitthiya before the Mahanayake world powers. Once that is achieved the 13th amendment and the cry for federalism or similar will appear as empty as old Mother HubbardƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s cupboard. That this consideration goes to the root of the question is seen from the fact that the TNA never loses an opportunity to alert its sympathizers of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sinhalese coloniesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in the North. The future of Sri Lanka as a unitary state has to do with this fundamental ground reality and not with its enshrinement in the constitution.

Should the Government fail this decisive test, they will be booted out because the nation will not suffer the betrayal of the Motherland. But who will succeed it? Not the UNP smeared with its Peace Treaty stink. Not the JVP with its anti-government dabbling in the North. My guess is the JHU. When one peruses the events of the countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s very long history, the ultimate saviours of the Motherland have always been the Sangha. This is evident also from the targets the Diaspora turns its big guns on to vilify the Sinhalese race: the Mahavamsa and the Sangha. Our countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s history is more closely knit with the Sangha than with any other force within its realm. The nationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ultimate cry for deliverance should rulers with mundane objectives fail, must inevitably be to the Sangha.

8 Responses to “SriLankan foreign Minister in India: Yes Sir, no sir, three bags full, Sir.”

  1. Leela Says:

    India is playing yet another political game. Way back in the eighties, India propped up a rag tag bandit outfit to make it the most terrible terrorist organisation. Few years afterwards though, India rammed a constitutional amendment down JRJ’s throat ostensibly to save Sri Lanka from the very terrorists it nurtured. But terrorists knew the Indian game and didn’t take kindly to it.

    To teach India a lesson, LTTE had blasted India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the man who they accused to have double crossed them to pieces. But India didn’t touch the man who planned and executed that killing. Instead it laid its hands on third rate punks for that horrid murder.

    The real killer Piripaharan continued to rule vast swaths of real estate just twenty miles across the waters for twenty more years. He raised child brigades, suicide brigades, makkal padai to carry on thousands of more killings. But no HRW, AI or any other organisation made any complains or asked UN SG for an inquiry on HR violations. Needless to say, there was no Drusman report for India to ponder. And India had not touched a hair of the master terrorist.

    If India is a power it professes to be, it should have avenged the killing of their Prime Minister. If India is a power to reckon, it should have send its black cats to kill Piripaharan twenty years back the same way the US navy SEALs had killed Bin Laden last month. Leave out sending a team to shoot Piripaharan in the head and dumping him in the sea; at least, India should have helped Sri Lanka forces to rid its most wanted man. Alas! Sri Lanka had to rely on Chinese help to rid Piripaharan and co.

    Today LTTE and Piripaharan is no more, but LTTE rump is very much alive in the guise of all kinds of forums and forms. Backers of LTTE rump have not moved one bit away from LTTE ideal – Eelam. Only, they follow different road maps to reach their goal. Some wanted to start with 13A and others wanted to start at various stepped up points from 13A to self determination. Their start positions depend on how impatient they are to reach their goal – Eelam.

    Settlement with least bidders (13A) will not take Sri Lanka anywhere. Only those that demand more devolution will become more vocal and follow Balasingham’s theory. They’ll take whatever is offered and ask for more later. If we are to satisfy the so-called IC, we have to satisfy the most vociferous Tamils. They want self determination.

    This is the legacy of Thanthai Chelva’s Waddukkodi resolution. We have to defeat this separatist mentality by any means. 13A in full is definitely not the way.

    To say it all in short; followers of Thanthai Chelva would stop at nothing but Eelam. India may sit on the fence and dangle its feet as one writer said about its attitude on Drusman report; but Hindians better know that Eelam or anything near Eelam in Sri Lanka will have a domino effect in India. And if that happens, India will not be able to stop Tamil Nadu separation. And Tamil Nadu will carry many others with it. Hindians better know that political instability in Sri Lanka is a bigger threat to the unity of India than all potential military threats to it by China.

    Does the professor has the charisma, the nerve and the backbone to put the message across to Indians?
    Leela

  2. Samson Says:

    The good well mannered professor has no backbone. But you can’t blame this gentleman. He does what he’s told to do.

  3. Ratanapala Says:

    Mario is right. It is the Sinhala Buddhist nation that won the war against Tamil Ealamist terrorism. It is the nation that has been prepared by the likes of Ven Madihe Pannaseeha Mahanayake Thero and Soma Hamuduruwo that finally put paid to the Tamils Racists. JHU are those who inherited that legacy. Rajapakses came at the last moment to take the applause. There is no denying that they played a part. However for them now to pander to the Indians again will be tantamount to treason of the highest order. Thousands of our Ranawiruwoes and ordinary people paid with their lives and limbs to bring about the current status quo. Sri Lanka is not anybody’s inheritance but that of a nation 2500 years old with a proud history. Sri Lanka’s unity and territorial integrity should not be left to be bargained and quartered so that the present leaders can stay in power for a few more years.

    The present leaders must continue to show to the nation that they are the real heros that led the final battle against the Tamil racists and won. We have won the battles, but the Ealam War is not yet over! The job is only half finished. We must not leave any stone unturned till we eradicate the menace of Fascist Eelamists trying to divide our land.

    Any division of the land on what ever basis will leave Sri Lanka on a permanent war footing across a non defensible and ever changing Ealam border.

    GL P can be a good interpreter for a Foreign Minister with a backbone in case he is not able to speak well in English! This man has no position on any issue. He is just – His Masters Voice! It is a shame to see this man bending and paying homage to the Indians and in doing so he is shaming the entire nation.

  4. radha Says:

    GLP was an academic thrust into the position of a politician. He may be good at thinking things in the background and advising on policy issues, I mean bookwork. Unfortunately he is not a good spokesman and often tongue tied at international meetings, as we saw his poor performance in those meetings with the terrorists over the many years when he represented SLK Government. Of course some might say that he dragged on the talks by not saying anything. I also doubt if GLP, as a politician, is in touch with the public opinion and aspirations of people of SLK. Was he ever elected by people?

  5. hela puwath Says:

    Why not Kohona?

  6. Dham Says:

    Why not Mario Perera ?

  7. M.S.MUdali Says:

    GLP, a learned man and know to whom he has to listen. I am sure he never listen to the anti-Indian salvos from Lankaweb or Mario perera, Kadawata(nice malayala name)!

  8. Dham Says:

    Mudali,
    You too can take this post.

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