By Charles.S.Perera

TNA has been elected to the Local Government Councils in the North and East. But what ever the reason for the Tamils in these provinces to have given their precious votes to TNA, TNA cannot continue any more with their separatist politics. They cannot above all attempt to bring together the Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils. TamilNadu Tamils are different from the Tamils in the North and East and their problems too are different. Therefore the TNA should engage in affairs nearer home and do all they could to bring the Sri Lanka Tamils and the Sinhala people together.

TNA after its victory should have awakened to the fact that being the representative of the people who elected them they should now be a bridge between the South and North of Sri Lanka to bring the two communities together. It is their duty to tell the Tamil people that it is time that they change their racism against the Sinhala majority, and force them into a non racist existence as people of Sri Lanka- the mother land of all born in Sri Lanka or accept Sri Lanka as their home, working for its welfare, not against it as the expatriate pro-terrorist Tamils abroad.

The Tamils in the North and East should change from detached isolation into active participation for a meaningful reconciliation with the rest of the Communities in Sri Lanka..

It is only in achieving such a noble attitudinal change among the Tamils, that TNA will receive any respect as representatives of the Local Government Councils for which they have been elected. Their visit to India immediately after their victory on a lecture tour make them suspect not as patriotic Sri Lankan politicians but as a group of racist Tamils with an agenda of their own to break away North and East if possible with the help of India.

There is a very shady organization in India , the IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Parliamentarian Forum on Human Rights for Global Development organised by a controversial Tamil politician from Tamilnadu-E.M.Sudarsana Nachiyappan. It is organizing a Conference called Agony and Solace, to which the Sri Lankan Tamil Politicians have been invited ( though EPDP Leader Douglas Devananda has been left out).

The Conference is said to aim at evolving a unified political stance by the Lankan Tamil parties on problems facing Sri Lankan Tamils, and to formulate a framework for resolving the problems &obtain a consensus from participating Lankan Tamil parties.

TNA has been invited to attend this conference, and if TNA are patriotic Sri Lankans working for the Unity of Sri Lanka and the welfare of the Tamil people they should not be a party to this ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-fishyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ oarganisation sponsored by Tamil Nadu Parliamentarians. That is not what is expected of them as members of Parliament of Sri Lanka or elected members of the Local Government Councils in the North and the East, even if they were elected by a dominant Tamil vote.

The fact that they had an overwhelming support from the Tamil people in the North and East does not mean to say they should not be watched carefully by the Government Forces as aliens as long as they do not declare their allegiance to a unitary Sri Lanka, and show by action that they would not become party to any disruptive Tamil Organisation in India or Tamil Nadu.

If there is going to be another terrorism in Sri Lanka it will again be the Buddhist Sinhala youth who will have to give their lives to save Sri Lanka as the Tamils still have not realised it is important to give a secondary place to their racist sentiments of Tamilness, and become full fledged patriot Sri Lankans willing to work with all communities for the common good of the country and all its people. And even to give their lives to protect Sri Lanka as a unitary state.

The TNA leader R.Sampanthan in an adjournment motion moved in parliament on 7 July, 2011 had in his introduction to the motion said that, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« Whereas Sri Lanka from shortly after it attained Independence in 1947 has been in the crucible of ethnic violence which occurred in 1956, in 1958, in 1961, in1977, in 1980 and in 1983- wherein the Tamil people numerically in a Minority were the victims. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚»

This is a sad start for an aged senior Tamil man elected to represent the people who voted for him and his Party in a Local Government Elections in the North and the east for the first time after 30 years of terrorism. It is sad because we are now in a different time and a different period. We have far advanced from those events in 1956, 58, 61,77, 80, 83, traversed a still worse period of terrorism from 1983 to 2009 during which period the victims were not only the Tamils numerically in a Minority, but also the Sinhala people numerically in a Majority and the other Communities numerically in a minority.

Sampanthan, even though he and his party won the elections in North and East , has no right to speak now for the Tamil people separated from the rest of the population, but to a Tamil people which is a part of a multi-ethnic greater Sri Lanka free from terrorism seeking unity of communities and a peaceful existence

Sampanthan further says in his adjournment motion, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦..Whereas the principal cause for such violence has been the consistent demand of the Tamil People for just and equal treatment as Citizens of Sri Lanka and the fundamental right to live in security and dignity fulfilling their legitimate political, social, economic and cultural aspirations .ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚»

It was not the ordinary Tamil people who consistently demand for, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ just and equal treatment as Citizens of Sri Lanka and the fundamental right to live in security and dignity fulfilling their legitimate political, social, economic and cultural aspirations ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚» . It is the rigmarole incessantly parroted by G.G.Ponnambalam, Chelvanayagam, Amirthalingam, Anandasangaree and the rest of the English Educated Tamils to take political power into their own hands to rule the Tamil people in a feudal environment.

Those were mere words , political slogans ,used by the Tamil politicians to brain wash the ordinary mass of the Tamils to accept false accusations against the majority Community to create dissension, as the Tamil people as a whole were not treated by any Government since Independence in 1948 , differently from the rest of the people of the Sinhala, Muslim or Burgher Communities in Sri Lanka.

But on the other hand it was the majority Sinhala community who had been deprived of a place in the Colonial Administration, which had accepted the Tamil minority for special privileges under them.

But the Sinhala people have come out unscathed from that ordeal under the British Colonial Government, and of course recovered the privileges denied to them. And now the terrorists proxy TNA cannot accuse the Sinhala for their rightful place in Sri Lankan politics, which has been acquired democratically and with popular support.

The Sinhala majority, who the Tamils and the TNA seek to accuse, are fair by all without any discrimination even though the ungrateful Tamils of the North and East voted for the TNA candidates.

If Sri Lanka were to find itself in a difficult situation as that of the 30 year terrorism, it will again be the Sinhala Buddhists who will come to its rescue not the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ungratefulƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Tamils who voted for the TNA. And having forgotten that it was the Sinhala Soldiers that came to their rescue when they were being held as a human shield by the terrorists, they now complain of the presence of the Soldiers in their provinces unacceptable.

Sampanthan has to tell the Tamils who voted for him and his TNA that the Sinhala soldiers being in their midst is normal and they should accept the situation whether they like it or not.

It is an often repeated theme by the Tamil politicians, that the Tamil people should be given just and equal treatment as Sri Lankan Citizens. But successive Sri Lankan Governments since Independence have treated the Tamil people just as equally as the Sinhala, Muslim, Burgher and others. But it is the Tamil politicians who use the formula as a ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« raison dƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ ƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚ªtre ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚»

Sampanthan too keeps repeating it in his adjournment motion, to make it look like a new invention by the TNA. Strangely Sampanthan of TNA ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the children of PrabhakaranƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s terrorismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ says in defence of terrorism :

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« ..the continuous violence unleashed against the Tamil people, and the failure to politically accommodate the legitimate political and other aspirations of the Tamil people, and the repeal of the Constitution under which the country attained independence and the enactment of a new Constitution without the consensus of the Tamil people, led to the demand of the right to self-determination and Tamil youth taking to an armed struggle which lasted for almost three decadesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚»

Sampanthan should know that terrorism was the brainchild of India, and it was the terrorists that unleashed violence against the Tamil people in the North and East, and it was the terrorists that denied legitimate political and other aspirations of the Tamil people for thirty long years.

It is now that the Government of Sri Lanka recovering after a ruthless terrorism is making an effort to reconcile the Communities and develop the country as a nation uniting all Communities, and the Government needs the support of the TNA for this mammoth effort of reconciliation and uniting the Communities.

If Sampanthan wants to help the Tamil people it is not by treating them as a different group of people in Sri Lanka and keeping them in detached isolation, but by bringing them into the main political stream as part of the Sri Lankan people, without their complex of being minority Tamils.

In that respect TNA has a great lot of work to do to clear the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-mental complexƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ of the Tamil people, to admit they are firstly Sri Lankans, and accept the Sinhala people and the Sinhala Soldiers sincerely as compatriots.

Sampanthan says further in his Adjournment motion that, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦It is the objective of this Motion to invite the attention of this House, the Government and the Country to the imperative need to address the core issues of the conflict and to evolve an acceptable political solution, that will bring about genuine reconciliation and harmony amongst the different communities and peoples who inhabit Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚»

What are these core issues to evolve an acceptable political solution ? All Provisional Councils in Sri Lanka have the same rights and privileges, and what more do the TNA asks as a political solution ?

It appears to be a move to further their ulterior motives for perpetrating separatism. It is important to give the people facilities for day to day living , and provide them with transport, medical facilities etc.

The political rights they already have , but what they havenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t got is the ability to understand the necessity to be united with other communities as one and the willingness to be Sri Lankans without remaining just Tamils in the North and East. That is the work of the TNA to help the Tamil people to become full fledged Sri Lankans setting aside their narrow communalism.

The Tamil women speaking to Al Jazeera, complains of rape and fear of the Soldiers without identifying any instance of a rape. It is a shame that they bring upon themselves, and an insult to the Soldiers who had been their saviours and stationed amidst them to avoid another eruption of evil from extra nationalist Tamils.

A way to safeguard the Soldiers from such ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« false scandalous accusations ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚» would be to set aside an area for the armed forces with living quarters for their families, as it is in Cyprus , Major General James Gordon CBE, Commander British Forces Cyprus, explained:

“I am delighted to hand over the keys to the first of 269 excellent quarters to our personnel here at RAF Akrotiri. It is the outcome of many years of effort and much hard work. It is part of the ongoing programme to update, improve and modernise the accommodation for our personnel ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚»

or in Ramstein in Germany which , ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ fosters a family-friendly installation for more than 53,000 Americans living in the Kaiserslautern Military Community. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦.. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚»

Sampanthan further states, that, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ since the letting of violence in 1956 and its continuance thereafter, large number of Sri Lankan Tamils have fled from Sri Lanka and become migrants or sought refuge in other countries, all over the worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦And Whereas it is necessary to arrest this trend, and enable the Sri Lankan Tamil people to continue to live in Sri Lanka, the country to which they belong, as indeed they are legitimately entitled toƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦..And Whereas this is achievable only if there is an acceptable political solution that ensures their security, restores their dignity and enables them by having access to powers of governance to fulfill their legitimate political social economic and cultural aspirations. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚»

This situation is self inflicted by the expatriate Tamils in working against the government of Sri Lanka spending millions of Dollars for anti Sri Lanka publicity by engaging UK Channel 4 , paying to the American political parties posing as Tamils for Obama, and engaging media, , paying for Human rights Watch, Amnesty International, and engaging influential Senators and politicians to write or speak against Sri Lanka.

What Sampanthan and his TNA could do in this situation is to demand the expatriate Tamil Community to stop negative publicity against Sri Lanka the country, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚« to which they belong, as indeed they are legitimately entitled to. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚», and contribute those large sums of money wasted on anti Sri Lanka publicity gimmicks, for the well being of the Tamil Community in Sri Lanka to make their return to Sri Lanka a welcome situation.