By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA.

The para-gethi, koti-hitherhi (the foreign servile and tiger docile)Ranil Wickremasinghe, who unfortunately happens to be the Prime Minister of our country has said  that no agreement has been reached with any political party in North by  the UNP led-alliance and they have  not signed any covert or overt agreement with any party in the north and their candidate Sajith Premadasa will only devolve power as it is stated in his election manifesto. Accordingly, power will be devolved to the provinces based on the proposals which came out during the terms of late President R. Premadasa, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he has said

Denying secret pacts with TNA, a terrorist political outfit formed in 2001 by amalgamating fringe Tamil political parties together with the so-called Federal Party (the Ilangai Tamil Arasu Katchi – ITAK) to promote the ideals of terrorist Prabhakaran, deny atrocities that were then being carried out by terrorists and justify terrorist action and to project the terrorist LTTE as the sole representatives of Tamils in Sri Lanka.  Wickremasinghe has a surfeit of secret pacts with the terrorist TNA that have come to light only subsequent to the desired event. They included:

American Embassy initiated secret pact signed with TNA for them to back Sarath Fonseka in the 2010 Presidential Elections ( a tongue twister and an  immoral  rhetorician whom Mangala Samaraweera said once as a person suitable only to be the commander of the Salvation Army, who became furious when Lt. General Kamal Gunaratne informed that they have finished off the tiger supremo Prabhakaran, who was accused by Ranil and Joseph Michael Perera in the Parliament as responsible for having a secret military unit and killing of Lasantha Wickrematunga by this unit – refer to Hansard dated 9th January, 2009, voluntarily making a confession in the Courts that our soldiers shot and killed the terrorist leaders who came with white flags to surrender in a vulgar move to brand the soldiers as war criminals, who was severely criticising Sajith Premadasa until recently and now making Hosannas for Sajith after was promised a ministerial portfolio, and who has repeated the ungrateful UNP female thug MP Hirunika  Premachandra’s statement that Rajapaksas will be hanged in Medamulana after the elections);

The Singapore Secret Pat of 2012 signed by Mangala Samaraweera on behalf of UNP with the blessing of Ranil and Chandrika and Sumanhiran for TNA and Rudrakumar for TGTE. After signing this agreement Sumanthiran has said that Mangala came like a beggar to get this agreement signed and ready to oblige to any conditions;

A secret pact with terrorist Seeya Sambandan to get TNA support for the No-Confidence Motion against him in April this year;

So, how can we believe Ranil Wickremasinghe’s statement that they have not signed a secret pact? Ministers P.Harrison, Ravi Karunanayake and Deputy Minister Vijeayakala Maheshwaran who justified the need to revive the terrorist LTTE but Ranil’s government took no action against her, have addressed this meeting.

Many UNP Ministers, especially those who are highly worried about their future political prospects are reported to be campaigning in the North, some with TNA MPs as well because of the fear they hold about Padman Sajith’s impending disaster and attempt to increase Tamil votes for him at least to minimize the damage.  

The shameless political chameleon and ship tycoon Dentist Rajitha is reported to have camped in the North and campaigning with the TNA politicians on behalf of the pad-man promising the sun and the noon.

It is believed that the pad-man has signed a secret pact with TNA to implement their 13 demands which has been totally rejected by Gota as well as the former President Mr, Mahinda Rajapaksa saying no consideration at all can be given to their demands. The also-ran man, the Springman who jumps up and down and to and fro when he speaks at a meeting the JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka has not rejected the demands implying they have no objection for the demands.

The Website TamilNet reported on 14^th October, under the title that the Tamil parties in North-East stipulate ‘acid test’ terms to Sri Lanka’s presidential candidates. It said that he main political parties of Tamils, which claim to uphold the principles of the concept of Tamil nationhood through the Right of Self-Determination and distinct sovereignty of Tamils to their traditional homeland, have come to an understanding of the terms to be placed as the acid-test conditions to the candidates running for the executive presidency of the unitary state of Sri Lanka. While the parties have unitedly formed the main demands towards the presidential candidates, they have failed in two crucial aspects. Firstly, the failure to course-correct the ‘Quisling politics’ of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Secondly, the inability to stipulate the conditions and choices of Tamils if and when the actors in the South fail to meet the acid-test terms, especially before the Presidential elections.

TamilNet said that none of the primary Sinhala candidates would pass the test. Therefore, it is more important to look into the conditions than the terms.

The TamilNet said that those among the demands, which must be immediately addressed, should be resolved within three months since the day the new president assumes office,” reads the concluding paragraph which was drafted in Tamil.

While articulating the terms and the vague conditions, the drafters of the written and signed ‘consensus’ document seems to have forgotten the Tahnil audience and the significance of the lingua franca.

Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) that constitute the current Tamil National Alliance (TNA) took part in the process. All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) which comes under the alliance of Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF), Eelam Peoples’ Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) as well as Thamil Makkal Koottani, the party under the leadership of Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, also constituted the platform in the consensus process.

The process was brought forward through the efforts of the university student community in the North and the East.

It was unclear which immediate issues that should be addressed first by the future SL President. Similarly, the website said that the signed document fails to specify the mid-term and long-term demands.

The lack of clear conditions creates the loophole for meaningless promises and discourses, it added.

For example, a presidential candidate could come up with the vague assurance of setting up a Presidential Commission to look into the demands within the three months and the TNA could ask Tamils to vote for a particular candidate based on the meaningless promise of looking into the ‘consensus’ document of the Tamil parties.

Therefore, the primary fault line of the process was its failure to establish the assurance of non-recurrence on the part of the TNA which could water down the concepts as it did in the recent past taking part and tacitly approving the interim report on ‘reforming’ the SL Constitution, a move that failed to comply with the Tamil demands. This is the Achilles heel of the TNA.

The second concern is the succumbing electoral politics practised by the TNPF. While it was sharp on the Achilles heel issue of the TNA, the TNPF has also contributed to the vague formulations of the conditions.

Five parties, the ITAK, TELO, PLOTE, EPRLF and the TMK have signed the document while the ACTC (TNPF), which contributed to shaping the outcome, refrained to do so due to the specific and justified concern it had.

However, TamilNet said the process itself was a good starter and educative, especially to the new generation of Tamil students in the North and East.

The demands translated from Tamil to English follow

1. New constitutional processes that uphold the unitary system of the rule should be rejected. The Tamil national question of Ilangkai [Ceylon] must be resolved through a federal framework with the realisation that Tamils constitute a nation with distinct sovereignty and that nation is entitled to the Right of Self-Determination under the International Law
2. Comprehensive and independent investigations must be carried out through the International Criminal Court/ Criminal Tribunal on the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the final war
3. The Prevention of Terrorism Act must be repealed
4. Unconditional release of all Tamil Political Prisoners
5. Justice must be accorded through international mechanisms to those who have suffered by the enforced disappearances
6. The state forces stationed in the Northern and Eastern provinces must be evicted from the private and crown lands which were utilised by the Tamil people before the war; those areas must be released, and the resettlement process should be accelerated
7. The ongoing state-sponsored Sinhalicisation, Buddhicisation and Sinhala colonisation in the Northern and Eastern provinces must be stopped forthwith
8. The jurisdiction of Mahaweli Authority, which is functioning as an authority to create Sinhala only colonies in the Northern province under cover of diverting the Mahaweli river towards the North, must be abdicated. Furthermore, all Sinhala colonisation schemes being taken forward in the Eastern Province under the so-called Mahaweli Development Programme must be terminated
9. All the recently introduced Sinhala colonisation schemes under the Moragaskanda Irrigation Programme in Vanni must be stopped forthwith
10. Encroachment of lands and places of worships through government departments including the Archaeology, Forest and Wildlife conservation departments must be immediately stopped. The lands, which were appropriated through Gazette notifications by the above-mentioned departments, must be de-gazetted
11. The legal impediments faced by the Ceylonese living abroad in making direct investments and obtaining lands to develop the war-affected Northern and Eastern provinces and to provide job opportunities to the youth must be removed
12. Preference must be accorded to those who hail from the Northern and Eastern provinces in the public and the private sector employment in the North-East
13. Declare North-East as War-Ravaged Region and create a Joint Mechanism, which should handle the development assistance and place it under the guidance and disposal of the elected representatives of the people in the North-East.

How can a sensible Sri Lankan with at least an iota of patriotism ever think of supporting any of these proposals?  Gota and MR have done the right thing by rejecting the proposals entirely without any form of consideration. This should be the stance of all Sri Lankans devoid of party affiliations, ethnicity, and religiosity.

Fortunately, due to the uncompromising stand taken by the Mahanayaka Theros, other religious leaders and the leaders and the people we were able to prevent the Yamapalana government adopting a federal and secular constitution prepared by the Sumanthiran/Jayampathi duo. We do not say that all the UNPers are foreign servile and spineless people.  Only the leader and his acolytes fall into this category.  But it was sad that they also failed to join the Mahanayake theros, other religious leaders etc, when the constitutional proposal was brought in similar to the solidarity they displayed when Chandrika’s divisive document called package formulated by Neelan Thiruchelvam was brought in.

What Sri Lanka urgently need is to stop this talking about the foreign motivated concept of reconciliation. The Ministry in charge of this subject under the yamapalana government is under a hardcore chauvinist Mano Ganeshan.  He spends millions of rupees of state funds to promote divisions among the people. How can you expect a man who has expressed that he is an ;Indian origin Tamil’ (IOT) and his objective is to get at least14 IOTs elected in the next election, which of course is the clandestine move to create the initial stage to create the dreadful entity called ‘Malai Nadu’.  Myopic J.R.Jayawardene should be held responsible for granting Sri Lanka citizenship to the category called Stateless Tamils who were repatriated to India under the Sirima-Shastri pact and who were made to fall into the ‘Stateless’ category during D.S.Senanayake’s people. 

 The so-called reconciliation is only for the people in the South.  It does not pontificate to people in the North/East and in Non-Sinhalese/Muslims in the upcountry.   In the MTVs Tamilchannel ‘Shakti’ TV there iS a programme titled ‘Minnal’ televised on Saturdays in which the former MP Sri Ranga talks to people in the North asking about their problems and in people from all walks of life narrates about their hardships relating to drinking and irrigation water problems, and all other problems such as education, housing, employment, transport etc.  They also state that their politicians are not bothered about solving these problems and at the same time they get fooled by these politicians at every election espousing hatred towards the Sinhalese community.

The political editor of Sunday Times in his weekly political roundup on 3^rd October has stated under the sub-heading Rajapaksa Era Achievements” has said the following:

There is a tragic irony in this. It was the Rajapaksa administration that developed the asphalt road network beyond Vavuniya to Kankesanthurai, the furthest northern end of this peninsula. It also developed the intricate road network within. In addition, that administration was responsible for introducing a new rail track from Vavuniya to Kankesanthrai. What remained until then was only a non-paved, rugged road with overgrown bushes and large craters. The Tiger guerrillas, during the war, had removed the rails and the sleepers to build bunkers.

With assistance from the Indian government, a more stable track to facilitate speedy travel was built. That these two measures contributed immensely for people in the north and south is to say it mildly. It was the main contributory factor for a new Jaffna. The railway stations in the south pale into insignificance compared to these nearly new stations in the north. For those in the south, it was like laying the paavada or white cloth on the ground for guests to walk. They came in their hundreds from the south to an area denied to them for almost three decades with the ‘north-south’ bridge former President Rajapaksa built. And then, they restored democracy in the north by establishing the provincial council. The SLPP did not exploit that unique achievement that tremendously changed the lifestyles of residents here. The people in the North and East have all that was done to them by the Rajapaksa regime in the post-war era through the ‘Uthuru Wasanthaya’ (Northern Spring) and Neganahira Udanaya (East Revival) to develop the infrastructure and provide relief to the people. 

When I was working in the Information Department we held a media conference in which the main speaker was the then Chief Minister of the Eastern Province Pillaiyan and when a question was asked from him why the Tamil people in the East have not politically paid gratitude for the unprecedented development work carried out by the government his response was that he too was shocked about that and the ungrateful response of the Tamil people in the East. 

When the provincial election campaign in the north was ongoing the late Mr A.H.M.Azwar made a visit to the North and when it was asked him about the political situation there his response was that until Tamil racism that had been implanted in the minds of the Tamil people by the Tamil leaders for their political expediency, the Tamils will remain docile to racist politics and it would take generations to make them understand the reality.

Ranil Wickremasinghe has insisted that then proposed constitution process will be revived. He is interested in only keeping the people of this country divided on a racial basis and not united as the people of one country and one nation.  There is no difference between him and Chelvanayagam or between him and megalomania Prabhakaran.  This is perennial cancer wrecking our country and all those who fall into Ranil’s category should be rooted out if this country is to progress as a peaceful and harmonious nation. 

It is time for all Sri Lankans to join together devoid of political party affiliations, ethnicity and religiosity to sternly resist constitution process or the new 13 entreaties.  It is clearly evident now that the terrorists despite vanquishing of them militarily in May 2009, have not given up their objective of achieving separation through other means as it had been done in Yugoslavia and East Timor.

Therefore, it is not prudent for us to think about party politics at the moment and our prime and sole objective should be to put a permanent end to any form of clamour for separation as it was done by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in India, Chairman Mao Tse-Tungi in China, President Vladimir Putin in Russia and in many other Latin American countries. If these separatist elements want to live in Sri Lanka let them live as Sri Lankans and otherwise leave this country and join their diaspora cousins. Let the 20 odd tyrant countries of the west, including America, Canada, Britain etc., out of nearly 200 countries in the world calling themselves as international community enforce any measures against us.  Our people’s solidarity and determination cannot be shattered by them as we have already displayed it through defeating the world’s ruthless terrorist outfit named so by these so-called tyrant countries itself.

The maximum punishment these tyrant nations could impose on us is subjecting us to certain sanctions.  Our people have the experience of successfully facing such sanctions. They imposed on us such sanctions when Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike nationalised the oil distribution trade and the sterling estates.  They could not prevent even a drop of oil reaching our shores as President Gamal Abdul Nasser of United Arab Republic (present Egypt)although it was a non-oil-producing country diverted many oil shipments to Sri Lanka.

Sanctions imposed by these tyrant nations have failed to cause any hardships to Cuba, have failed to retard developments in Iran, have failed to restrict progress in Qatar and have failed to suspend the nuclear testing programmes in North Korea. Sanctions will become a futile exercise in the face of people’s solidarity.

We need a Fidel Castro, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin whom we find in Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the one who is only concerned about the future generations of our country.