Asada M Erpini

A report in the media on 13 November states, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian has criticized the role played by India in relation to the issues faced by the Sri Lankan TamilsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. It goes on to mention that the TNA MP has said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-India should either support or stay away from matters related to the Tamils in Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There is at least one salient fact referred to in the TNA MPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s statement that should be drummed into the heads of the concerned Indian authorities and rammed down the throats of the TNA lawmakers ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” in the same manner that Rajiv Gandhi did when it came to forcing a hapless President of Sri Lanka to accept a 13^th Amendment to the Sri Lanka Constitution in 1987. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-no either orƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ situation: India should not poke its fingers in the affairs of Sri Lanka, plainly because ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-matters related to the Tamils in Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ come within the purview of the President of Sri Lanka and are not the bloody ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a great many innocents were forced to shed blood and forego their precious lives because of IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s training and arming of the LTTE – business of India or any other nosy Parker.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ One can only feel sorry for the TNA lawmaker when he laments, referring to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-thousands of Tamils in the North and East who have shed blood to win their rightsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. The Tamils in the North and the East shed their blood not to win their rights, but to carve out a mono-ethnic Eelam, spanning a third of the land mass and extending over two thirds of the coastal belt from the island nation of sovereign Sri Lanka for a small fraction of Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s population, which today is less than four per cent. In fact, the Tamils in Sri Lanka have many rights, privileges and facilities that even their blood brothers in Tamil Nadu (country of Tamils) do not enjoy. The Tamils of the North have even a discriminatory, apartheid-type thesavalamai law that prevents other ethnic groups and even the large majority of the Tamils from buying property in Jaffna through the legal provisions that operate in the rest of the country. While the misguided Tamils of the North and the East were taking on the armed forces of Sri Lanka head on, the sensible and smart Tamils moved to Colombo and Kandy and managed to succeed as business entrepreneurs and professionals in many fields, owning or living in luxurious condominiums and apartment complexes that only a minute fraction of the Sri Lankan population could even dream about.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is worth directing the eyes of the TNA parliamentarian to another news item of the same date. According to that, an ex-LTTE combatant named Rangunathan is reported to have said that he and many of his colleagues were taken for a ride by the LTTE in its thirst to achieve what was called a homeland for Tamils. It is not only the LTTE leaders, who operated in the North of Sri Lanka, that took a generation of Tamils up the garden path: the Tamil National Alliance, the mouthpiece of the LTTE, is equally culpable in this crime of deceiving young Tamils and promoting them to joining the LTTE fighting cadres, while they themselves ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Tamil peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s representativesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ – enjoyed salaries and many enviable perks provided by the Sri Lankan taxpayer, and lived in the safe environs in Colombo, far away from the battlefields in which Rangunathan and his comrades had to survive. The writer can wish ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Good luck!ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ to Rangunathan, who does not want to remain a frog in the well and has now created the opportunity to smell the roses (of Sri Lanka).

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Tamil National Alliance should take the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”issues of TamilsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, whatever they are – ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ imaginary, concocted or real ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” to the proper forum or the authority for exploring possible solutions. And, the Sri Lanka parliament, its Parliamentary Select Committee, and, when appropriate, the President of Sri Lanka is that. Let India worry about the citizens of India, unless, of course, the TNA lawmakers, with the misguided Tamils who voted them to power, desire to cross the 30 Kilometres of shallow waters that separate Sri Lanka from India and move to Tamil Nadu (and India) for good.