Save the country from TNA’s treachery –Part – VI
Posted on December 9th, 2018

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Before proceeding to write about TNAs treachery and Tamil politics I think it is imperative to write about the great contemporary Sri Lankan patriot Tamara Kuumanayakam who was born into a Tamil family in Colombo and went to Geneva for higher studies and got highly qualified on international affairs and who should be a role model for patriotic Sri Lankans.  The Westernophile butterfly clan of the UNP, the anti Sri Lankan TNA, JEPPOS the anti Sri Lankan elements in other political parties, the dollar voracious NGO vultures, the despicable hooligans  accidentally born in Sri Lanka and after becoming qualified in various disciplines at Sri Lanka’s tax payers’ expense and  working to discredit and destabilize Sri Lanka after becoming resident in western countries should be ashamed of in the face of this great patriotic lady the Sri Lankan diplomat Tamara Kumanayakam who after working of Sri Lanka  at the UN in Geneva and as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Cuba and some other countries.  I think that the future patriotic government to be formed in Sri Lanka should mysteriously think about appointing her as the country’s Foreign Minister for the great service being done by her in defending Sri Lanka at various meetings.

In a recent interview with an English language weekly she has stressed that the present crisis in Sri Lanka cannot be solved by the present Parliament and it could only be solved  by elected determinedly by discarding foreign servile anti national politicos.  She has explained that the present crisis has its roots with the open economy introduced by J.R.Jayawardene depriving the employment and income avenues of the local people and wide opening doors for the foreigners to exploit the people, the national assets and the national resources.  She states the 3 subsequent governments under Ranil Wickeremasinghe and Chandrika aggravated this situation facilitating the neo-liberal elements to take root in the country.

Tamara further states the open economy greatly affected onion and chillies cultivators in the north, farmers and potatoes cultivator, fishermen, and small industries throughout the country due to flooding the markets with cheap foreign goods and points out that before this measure was taken two third of our fish exports were provided from the fishermen in the North. It is recommended to read her interview to the Sunday Observer which was reproduced by Lankaweb.com website on 6th December under the title Parliament can’t resolve present crisis – Tamara Kunanayakam

Let us now see further matters relating to TNA’S Treachery and Tamil politics.   In the Articles of Association  related to the formation  of the TNA, the LTTE outlined the rules relating to the composition of the constituent parties in the next election and how the MPs from the National List and for the Bonus seats should be  decided.

It said the  constituent parties should refrain from attacking or criticising each other publicly. Special care should be taken during the election campaign about not engaging in propaganda or counter-propaganda against a fellow TNA constituent and intra-TNA disputes and problems. When such issues occurred the TNA constituents should discuss the matter among themselves in a peaceful way and arrive at an amicable solution through a majority vote. If that was not possible the services of an outside facilitator panel should be enlisted to help resolve the issue.

A six-member Colombo based panel was also nominated for this purpose. Under this arrangement TNA was born as a loose formation without a party constitution or structure under the           LTTE.  . The newly formed alliance had its baptism of fire when Parliamentary elections was held on December 5th, 2001. The TNA in its manifesto urged a negotiated settlement of the ethnic conflict and emphasised that the LTTE would represent the Tamil people at such talks.

When the election campaign got underway the LTTE did not openly support the TNA. The reason was that the LTTE believed that an armed struggle was the only way to liberate the Tamil people and ruled out the parliamentary path.

The LTTE had for years criticised representative democracy and accused many elected Tamil representatives of being traitors. The tigers had to assassinate several prominent Tamil MP’s in the past. Now for the first time the LTTE was indirectly supporting a Tamil political grouping at an election. This to its hierarchy was a tremendous come down. That was one reason the leadership based in the Wanni allowed its eastern political commissar Karikalan to do the spadework. The Wanni leadership came in only at the penultimate stages to merely assure the TNA constituents that they did not oppose the move.
This reluctance to identify themselves with parliamentary democracy in anyway was the reason for the LTTE to outsource” the task of forging a Tamil alliance to a core group consisting mainly of journalists and academics in Batticaloa district.
It is relevant to note that several of these Batticaloa journalists and academics who played a part in forming the TNA were killed later by para-military forces aligned to the intelligence apparatus of the state. Some were killed during the fratricidal warfare between the mainstream LTTE and the breakaway faction led by the Karuna-Pillaiyan combine.

A few journalists involved later contested on behalf of the TNA and became MP’s. But many journalists and academic participants of the TNA forming exercise were compelled to flee the country and seek refuge abroad in later years.

has the 2001 election campaign was conducted without overt LTTE participation. The tigers also refused to let TNA candidates conduct election propaganda meetings in areas controlled by it. But the LTTE did not block Tamil voters in regions controlled by it from voting. They could vote in cluster booths set up in border” areas.

However the armed forces were unhappy about this situation. They did not permit voters from LTTE controlled areas to crossover” and vote.
The greatest benefit for the TNA candidates was that they could campaign without fear of violence from the LTTE. But this time the danger was from the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in the north.

Douglas Devananda identified the TNA as a big political threat to his dream of becoming the sole alternative to the LTTE’s sole representative.TNA candidates were attacked when they engaged in election propaganda in EPDP strongholds.

When the 2001 election results were announced the TNA contesting under the sun symbol of the TULF had done well.

In Jaffna the TNA got six of the nine seats. Anandasangaree, Senathirajah, Raviraj (TULF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Vinayagamoorthy (ACTC) and MK Sivajilingam (TELO) were elected on behalf of the TNA. The EPDP got two seats and Maheswaran of the UNP also won. In the Wanni the TNA got five of the six seats. Selvam Adaikkalanathan, Vinotharahalingam, Sivasakthi Anandan, Sathasivam Kanagaratnam and Sivanathan Kishore were elected.

The sixth went to Rishard Bathiyutheen of the Muslim Congress. In Trincomalee the TNA received the greatest number of votes and got the bonus seat. Both Sambandan and Thurairatnasingham were elected. In Amparai district the TNA sitting MP Chandranehru lost but a newcomer K. Pathmanathan was elected on the TNA ticket. In Batticaloa the TNA got four of the five seats . T.Kanagasabhai, Thangeswari Kadirgamar,T. Jeyanandamoorthy and Kingsley Rajanayagam were elected. Veteran Batticaloa politician Joseph Parajasingham who had been an MP since 1990 had lost.

Meanwhile the TNA was entitled to two national list seats. Joseph Pararjasingham was appointed to one and MK Kanakendran alias Eelaventhan ”on the other .Eelaventhan though originally from the FP and TULF was now a maverick sycophant of the LTTE. There were now twenty elected and two appointed MP’s. Of these twenty-two, eleven were from the original four constituent parties of the TNA. They were Sambandan,Thurairatnasingham, Senathirajah, Raviraj,Pararajasingham (TULF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam (ACTC)SElvam Adaikkalanathan, Vonoharahalingam. Sivajilingam (TELO) and Sivasakthi Anandan, Suresh Premachandran (EPRLF).

There were eleven with non-party affiliation .They were Selva, Gajendran, Padmini Sithamparanathan, Sinnaiah Sivanesan, Sathasivam Kanagaratnam, Sivanathan Kishore, T.Kanagasabhai, Thangeswari Kadirgamar, Jeyanandamoorthy, Ariyanendran , K. Pathmanathan and MK Eelaventhan.
So the TNA parliamentarians were divided equally as those with and without party affiliation. In lighter vein both sides were evenly matched to play Cricket, Soccer or Hockey. G.G. Ponnambalam’s fifty-fifty” formula had at last been implemented.

The TNA electoral triumph of 2004 lost its sheen when the E.U. released its report condemning the election as not being free or fair in the North and East. This did not mean that all those who won on the TNA did so due to fraudulent means. Several of those elected did so in their own right but their majorities were enhanced through dubious means. But there were some who won entirely due to vote rigging.
The tiger factor helped the TNA to sweep the polls in 2004 and get 22 seats. It was however a Faustian bargain. The TNA was seen and depicted as a voice of the tigers rather than the Tamils. They had zero credibility in the eyes of the world and rest of Sri Lankaa.

The LTTE also reduced the TNA to political servitude and ensured that such bondage was well publicised. The TNA was summoned frequently to Kilinochchi where the tiger political commissar Suppiah Paramu Thamilselvan would issue orders and instructions.
At LTTE oriented functions some of these MP’s would wear LTTE badges and sing paeans of praise to Prabakharan and the tigers.

In Parliament the TNA was a pathetic lot. Apart from Sambandan few MP’s made any worthwhile contribution. Many of the TNA members acted abrasively and provocatively in the house. Notorious among them were M.K. Sivajilingam and Selvarajah Gajendran.

The cumulative effect of all this was an erosion of credibility and respect. Likewise, the TNA was looked upon with contempt and scorn by members of the diplomatic community. Though the motions of meetings” were followed there was practically no meeting of minds. This was particularly so with India. Though TNA delegations made customary pilgrimages to New Delhi scant regard was paid.

The TNA was a tiger adjunct and nothing more. The result of all this was that the TNA despite having 22 seats in a house of 225 was unable to accomplish anything worthwhile either in Sri Lanka or abroad.

Many including myself hoped that the TNA would make a clean break from the past after the LTTE was decimated in 2009.That however has not happened. In perhaps the greatest disappointment of all former Supreme court Judge CV Wigneswaran started singing the Pulippaattu” (Tiger song)after being nominated as TNA chief ministerial candidate for the Northern provincial council Sadly this sorry tale of the TNA toeing the tiger line continues even after the fall of the tigers.

The TNA is unable to break away from its pro-tiger past and is generally adopting  the extremist line propagated by LTTE and pro-LTTE elements in the global Tamil Diaspora.  The perception that the TNA is aligned to the LTTE is one that seems to gaining ground  mainly due to the party’s woeful conduct  in the post – May 2009 phase.

One way of shedding this image is for the TNA to  assert itself independently by boldly  exposing the human rights violations of the LTTE before the UN panel probing the  seven    year period between 2002 – 2009. Since the TNA –LTTE Nexus prevailed throughout the   seven yer period under review the TNA should have no difficulty in doing this. The question    at this critical juncture is Will the TNA do so”?

In  English

Mahinda Rajapaksa                                       Ranil Wickremasinghe

What he is asking for                                                  What he is asking for

A General Election                                                     the  post of Prime Minister

For what it is?                                                           For what it is?

People’s Wish                                                            To fulfil  the promises made to  Western counties

Who else stands for an Election                                 Who else stands in support of   Ranil

Maha Sanga, , Professional loving the country,        Foreign Ambassadors, Tiger diaspora,

The General public                                                     TNA, NGOS, JVP

Who is wrong from these tow

Give a General Election to the Public –Mahinda      Give the PM post to me – Ranil

WHO IS THE POWER HUNGRY ONE

(To be continued)

One Response to “Save the country from TNA’s treachery –Part – VI”

  1. Christie Says:

    We are a colony of India.

    We Sinhalese are divided.

    Indian Colonists block vote decide our fate.

    Sinhalese unite and stand up to India.

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