Gamini Gunawardane Courtesy The Island

Reading through the long speech made by Mr. R. Sampanthan, leader of the TNA at the recent party convention held in Batticaloa, which is really a policy statement, one gets the impression that there is hardly anything ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”newƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in it in essence. It is only a veiled re-statement of the infamous Vadukkoddai resolution and the Thimpu principles. They will pursue the same goal, viz., the Eelam project, described in different terms. Only difference is that in their strategy they will obtain the involvement of the so called International Community now manipulated by the well entrenched Tamil expatriate community in those countries. It also shows that they have not learnt any lessons after the armed conflict of 30 years that ended in a catastrophe for everybody.

States he: ” However, if the world begins to perceive us to be extremist, or two rigid, or if they believe that we have a hidden agenda to reignite violence, we will soon be ostracized from the diplomatic exercise in progress. We must show great care in our words and actions.” So this is the lesson they have learnt from the 30-year exercise! One would not fail to observe the tight rope walking he is engaged in. This is the new journey they have embarked on.

Elsewhere he states: “However, until then we must be patient. Our patience however, will not be everlasting. Our patience too has its limits. Once we have reached that limit, we will move on to the stage of our effort. We will not hesitate to gather our people together and with the support of progressive forces in our country, and the international community, even engage in a non-violent struggle. We will decide on specific deadlines and when the time comes for such action, we will act.”

We now know in hind sight, that the distance from such activity to violence is very little.

Thus, their long term strategy is transparent. They will come to the Parliamentary Select Committee deliberations and present the same demands of de facto Eelam and when that meets with a negative results they will eventually re-ignite the violence and request the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”International CommunityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to intervene, to effect a division of the country as done in Sudan. This appears to be the game plan. The ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”reconciliationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that they have in mind is the presentation of the demands stated in their policy statement; thereafter demand the acceptance of the same or nothing less.

Despite their flowery words, they do not seem to be too much concerned in dragging the innocent Tamil people into this morass of suffering once again and put the blame on the government, in pursuit of their communal political objective. It is also significant that these leaders do not seem to have any consideration for other people living in this country other than the people who may be made party too their project, viz., “Thus, bringing together Tamil speaking peoples of Hindu, Muslim, Christian communities to join in our journey to freedom must be our priority.”

Significantly, the Sinhala people of this country who constitute the majority of the people do not figure in their equation! There is no talk of winning over the Sinhala people to their point of view. Thus, it is clear that these particular Tamil politicians want to continue to keep the Sinhala and Tamil communities apart for a longer period in order to keep their leadership as the only alternative available to them instead of them joining the main stream politics of this country. This is why they are hostile to the various reconciliation projects launched by the government to reach out to the common Tamil man direct. Thus, they do not want a reconciliation between the two communities which if happens, will send them out of business.