The Group OF Tamil Dissidents In Their Attempt To Discredit The Government Move Towards Integration, Through Pleas To India Are Misguided!
Posted on October 10th, 2011
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial
October 9th 2011
And who is bickering over the official move to integrate Sri Lanka ethnically and racially as though it is unacceptable for reasons brought on by their own connivances and their own perceptions of what’s good for Sri Lanka ? None other than three groups of Tamil dissidents who are pro-active Tamil Tiger fronts themselves under the guise of political platforms they affiliate themselves with and truly needs to be put into perspective. If one evaluated the credentials of the three Tamil politicians who have complained to India that the Government of Sri Lanka was settling Sinhalese in Sri Lanka’s dominantly Tamil north without resolving the festering “ethnic problem”as well as their related rhetoric it becomes plainly visible where they seem to be coming from.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ They are in reality, crying for segregation which of course is steeped in a veil of the covert need for secession visible not only to the discerning eye but also many ordinary observers who have always maintained that groups such as the ones raising this lament are not only fronts for secession but are hard core Tamil Tiger sympathisers where two of the the groups openly link the term Ealam to their organizations and the other whose objectives need no rocket science to interpret as an LTTE sympathiser also. They raise many questions about the credibility of their pleas to India over the issues related which probably would have been more effective had they been made to the State of Tamil Nadu instead and assured of a quickfire response albeit ineffectively, given all the loose ends involved!
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Their primary complaint that the Government of Sri Lanka was settling in various ethnicities , predominantly Sinhalese in the North of the country without what they call “resolving festering ethnivc problems” which one would assume was greatly resolved when the Tamil Tigers were eradicated from the country. It also needs to be put into perspective that it seems like a veritably feasible move on the part of the GOSL which probably was the panacea needed towards resolving the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka long before internal armed insurrection began so many decades ago as the integration of all races within the land needs to be viewed the best offer towards racial tensions and the desired harmony where in times gone by all ethnicities co-existed to a greater part, peacefully for many generations until the evils of partisan divide and rule Britain perhaps triggered off racial tensions which were eventually picked up as a cause for unrest and civil disobedience by certain leaders who used it as a means towards their own ambitions which too came a cropper at the hands of the present administration and the rest is history.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Perhaps in retrospect it needs to be hailed and recognized as a very appropriate move on the part of the present Administration to attempt reconciliation and healing through integration of ethnicities and the resettlement of various racial groups in the North and perhaps the East also, while ignoring the bickerings of the likes of the TULF, PLOTE and the EPRLF which seem voices in the wilderness of despair over what appears to be the best conceived solution towards Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem which has indeed simmered to a much lesser intensity than it was prior to the LTTE led insurgency and a fact of life in Sri Lanka today. The despair of these three groups perhaps hinged on the frustration of their failed attempts towards acheiving Ealam, fails to recognize the pragmatic wisdom of the Rajapaksha vision towards an ethnically united Sri Lanka.
Therefore it can only be interpreted that,” the submission made to Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai by messers V Anadasangaree, D Siddharthan and T Sritharan at the India House as part of his interactions with political players in Sri Lanka ” to quote media sources reporting on the issue, seems unacceptable and a wasted effort seemingly intended to do more harm than good through inciting unrest over a move that needs to be intensified and carried out with precision towards the ultimate goal of restoring peace and harmony in Sri Lanka after decades of needless ethnic strife which in all probabilities could have been prevented. There also needs to be a provison for Tamils to resettle in Sinhalese occupied areas without reservation or pre-conditions which seems an important tenet towards racial harmony in the same intensity or as close as possible to it going back to times when Sinhalese and Tamils lived side by side and there were no inciters of racial hatred or self centered politicos and certain religious leaders who once ursurped a melting pot of many cultures and ethnicities that at the time was a very resplendent place to mar the concept and spilled out in a conflict which nearly destroyed the Nation !
It seems laughable that these groups now agitating against the GOSL have accused the Government of Mahinda Rajapaksha of ” trying to pit one ethnic group against another following the end of the military conflict in May 2009, and to change the demographic pattern of the (northeast)” in what appears to be a very dimunitive and myopic interpretation where their response seems to reflect through their choice of words a description of their own objectives rather than that of the Administration where once again they seem to be following in the footsteps of their mentors who created the concept of pitting one ethnic group against another rather than the GOSL where ‘the demographic pattern of the East’ seems to have nothing to do with whats good for the country as a whole unless of course they were refering to the unattainable secession they would in all probabillities love to acheive and has no place in Sri Lanka today.
References to the Tamils being highly perturbed that the armed forces were busy building army villages, mini army camps and war memorials in the middle of Tamil settlements seems metaphorically enhanced and juxtaposed towards the reality of levelling former LTTE enclaves, pulling down their memorials and commemorations to terrorists and wiping out traces of their mendacious activities to prevent a resurgence of LTTE sympathies where many Tamils have openly welcomed the Government’s attempt to address their grievances, denounded the LTTE and today are returning from many overseas domiciles to reclaim their existences once lost through the LTTE initiated ethnic strife and reign of terror. In the overall scheme of things they sound as disgruntled as the proverbial foxes to whom the unattainable grapes seemed sour where they should to the contrary acclaim the efforts of the Government and throw in their fullest support behind every attempt to re-strucrure a fractured nation which needs integration and understanding much more than the segregation they are trying to promote in support of a visible minority where the majority have always been gracious and ready to accept them as part of the whole !.
They also need to rest assured that, neither their pleas to India whose focus on how Sri Lanka needs to be responded to on related issues which seem pretty much etched in stone based on India’s latest responses, nor their pre-meditated plans to disrupt what appears to be a very appropriate move towards ethnic healing in Sri Lanka on the part of the Administration will prevail. This rationale is made on the basis that they are irrational and cannot be accommodated in the present climate of Sri Lanka which has been acclaimed by the world as a very healthy one towards re-building despite their apathetic portrayals of Sri Lanka, apparently part of a concerted conspiracy involving ‘others’ which are not only incongruous and distorted but also malicious if one read between the lines!
October 11th, 2011 at 1:09 am
LTTE supporters financed to destroy North and East. Now they want GOSL to rebuild it immediately. Am I missing something? Or do these baboons think rest of Sri Lankans are idiots.
October 11th, 2011 at 7:09 am
Their political entitlements in Sri Lanka if they have any, should have been stripped on the grounds of their links to Eelam and the LTTE in the first place.That the GOSL seems tolerant is perplexing where hopefully there will be no price to pay in consequence. Whatever is done by the GOSL to address Tamil grievances will never be acknowledged by these types and the call to integrate all ethnicities and spread their resettlement equitably around the country becomes an important issue where the North and East has a felt need for a strong Sinhalese presence while of course certain factions of the majority Sinhalese still need educating about co-existing with their Tamil and other minority compatriots in tolerance, compassion and the all important interaction. Incentives towards which the Government needs to provide.
These Three Stooges with links to the LTTE and the LTTE supporters financed to destroy North and East Aravind refers to ( obviously not Larry, Moe and Curly Joe! who show more class) provide ladders for rabble rousers like Jayalalitha and Vaiko in India to name just two in a large group of Babblers ( remembering our local noisy Demalichcha birds of the same name) no pun intended but how canny the name is ! who have started their cacophonies again, this time agitating to Manmohan Singh the PM who should turn a deaf ear to their raucous calls and shoo them away to put it mildly where a boot may be more appropriate!
October 11th, 2011 at 9:22 am
Few comments,
Everywhere in the world, whenever there is ethnic seggragation minorities, there are issues. Therfore, ethnic segregation should be avoided. All the development and infrastructure plans should be aimed at avoiding ethnic segragation.
No concessions should be given based on ethnicity to any group of people. Always, there should be equality and equal opportunities.
People of Sri Lanka should be given the opportunity to settle any part of the country. Incentives should be given for Sinhalese and others to settle in the North and East too, in order to promote ethnic balance and harmony.
As an example, Colombo has eaqual representation from all the three major ethnic groups, and it is a peaceful city. Same should happen elsewhere, especially in the North too. Remember, Sri Lanka is for everyone. Any citizen of Sri Lanka should have the right and security to live anywhere in the island without fear or reprisal.
Note to the Editor: Your article is of high value. However, you are adapting a very long sentence structure, and it dialutes the value of your wrting. Please consider writing shorter sentences.
October 11th, 2011 at 9:59 am
Only making settlements in N & E, by Sinhalese and Muslims will erase the minds of Tamils about eealam or any other separation.
Otherwise, definitely we will lose. Winning the war is not enough.
Terror minds will emerge again if we don’t implement any precautionary strategies.
October 11th, 2011 at 10:31 am
Agreed Lankalover,
The editorial writer will have to shorten the sentence formats by request so that all readers, not only those who assimilate lengthy description and conceptual thought without an effort can read and understand. It needs to be a point well taken and hopefully will be applied in the future. However it needs to be emphasized wth all due respect that political analysis and problematic issues as complex as those related to the Sri Lanka ethnic conflict or anywhere else on the planet are sometimes probably hard to present in a compressed form. Reason being it often tends to lose the fullest implication and objective and needs the detailed lengthy description which is the reason for the long sentence perhaps. This however can be broken into a series of sentences arriving at the same point and conclusion.
October 11th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
Lanka lover and Sunil Mahattaya, if you have reading problems I suggest you take READING CLASSES. This editorial is for people who will absorb what is written in plain English about the current TNA situation. Bottom line is that the foot hold Tamil Nadu Tamils had on Northern and Eastern Province is chopped of by HE MR. Destiny of the republic is in the right hands and Ananda Sangarays and Linghams do not have a say because the majority in Northern Province is Sri Lanka Moors and not Tamils. Jaffna Tamils are begining to realize that they are Sri Lanka Tamils that do not have any thing to do with Tamil Nadu Tamils. How did HE MR do it? He used and enhanced the Great Constitution that JR and his cabinet put to gather. It takes time for a young republic to over come external challenges, now that the internal challenges have been overcome.
October 12th, 2011 at 2:25 am
Lankaweb Editorial!
Agree with you & readers who commented. Govt. without any mallice have spent large sums of money, personnel capital in rehabilitation of North & East. Still they the tamils live in those 2 provinces have not endorsed or thanked the govt. for defetaing LTTE and helped the poor to lead normal lives like in Colombo & in the South.
If the Sri lanka supreme court allowed Tamils live in Colombo or any parts of sri lanka, sure why are the tamills now grumbling when few Sinhalese start their lives in the North & East.
They can’t have it both ways. If they leave Colombo & hill country where there is Tamil dominance, then we might even leave these provinces alone.
But this is not the way to integrate minorities & Sinhalese its what Govt. has allowed to happen in other words anyone can live and work in any part of sri lanka without hindrance.
Tamils have to realize that THEY MUST learn to live with the majority peacefully. Even if we forgive these remnants who for 30 years fought & bankcrupt the country are allowed to live in peace and harmony they still demand & grumble.
Do NOT ever think to revive or declare certain areas as their own whether it is Muslims , Burghers or diminishing Tamils.
I am all for reconciliation and I feel most Sri Lankans do.. WAR is not the way to solve our problems. Retired General Fonseka said it best. after winning the war that tamils MUST learn to live with the majority & DO NOT DEMAND undue favours, RIGHTS which other minorities do not request.
Hope someday all peoples including Sinhalese will unite & build the country we all could be proud of.
Gamunu Alahakkone. P.Eng Canada~ retired engineer
October 12th, 2011 at 6:20 am
GOSL should build number of big roads connecting North with the South. Also, a very high frequent regular train service also be initiated linking North and South. This will naturally break the barriers, and make the ethnic integration faster.
Again, I am reminding, if GOSL gave into the racist LTTE-TNA, it will prolong the misery of Sri Lanka, and will pave the way to an Eelam (and a destroyed Sri Lanka).
There should not be any favors, any policies, or any implementations that are racially/ethnically oriented. All the measures, actions, and implementations MUST be “Equal Opportunities Oriented”!
October 13th, 2011 at 9:29 am
The point here being The Insurgency, not War Is Over. Thanks Be To The Administration.
Resettlement towards an integrated mix of ethnicities is imperative and if the GOSL is moving towards it let there be no impediments towards it! If the Tamils or anyone else do not like this let them move on to some location where they could have their way. Sri Lanka is not segregated it is united except in the eyes of the LTTE sympathisers who would love to see disruption and chaos whch this time will hopefully not happen!Lets cut the rhetoric and make actions speak louder than words!