Anjalika Silva

Moderate Tamils living in the country are enjoying peace.  Muslims have a home in the East. Diaspora ruling from outside Sri Lanka to push a US Resolution to combine the North and East is not desired by the moderate Tamil People living in Sri Lanka. Muslims faced ethnic cleansing in these areas. 

Who in their right mind wants another armed conflict? Not for Sri Lanka.  US can promote a homeland for those who seek one in Tamil Nadu with 60 million of their ethnic group and not in Sri Lanka with less than 2 million who don’t want a separation– Anjalika Silva USA

US Bipartisan Resolution 413 pandering to terror proxies is going to harm the very Tamil Civilians who want to get away from pro LTTE, separatist, terror proxy domination that they suffered for decades alongside other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka.  No one group was immune from the same issues that were experienced by people.  It was twisted to show that issues prevailed only by race directed at one ethnic group.  This is furthest from the truth.

Human Rights were violated by the LTTE, and the suffering of moderate and helpless low caste Tamils is untold, unheard so far, they crave to have a voice. Muslims were ethnically cleansed.  All these people endured suffering unknown to the US legislators who have no understanding of the conflict and more likely they do not care if they get funded for campaigns without questioning the sources of funding.

 The people who deserve to be heard are silenced when they are citizens of Sri Lanka who deserve to have a choice between the suffering inflicted by LTTE domination or enjoy the peace that was hard fought. The men and women in uniform came from all walks of life and ethnicities.  It was not a homogeneous uniformed force that saved people and the country.  They were represented by all ethnic groups although referred to as a Sinhala dominated military. Obviously in numbers they exceeded the other ethnic groups and similarly those that laid down lives for the peace we see today were 95% from the majority ethnic group the Sinhala soldiers and others from minority ethnic groups. 

However, the loudest voices come from those who lived by eliminating any dissent that included innocent Tamil people from other armed Tamil independence organization that were committing acts of terror.  The LTTE destroyed members of those groups. The acts of violence were unfathomable and Sri Lanka needs to keep its national security intact although the resolution mentions a need  to eliminate the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)  which is preposterous to say the least after a 30 brutal struggle against a US proscribed organization.  Where is common sense?

The LTTE diaspora hides the fact that in the conflict, the LTTE eliminated all other armed groups in cold blooded murder against fellow Tamils while calling themselves the sole representatives.  All these years, now 12 after the end of the war they have been kept behind a smoke screen and silenced so that they don’t reveal the suffering and killing among themselves for outright domination and brutality of the LTTE, against their own people.  Life must be restored for these people too just as the loss of life among families of the forces and suicide bombing victims struggle to survive.  Human Rights are for all people.  The military has been taken to task for alleged” Human Rights abuses with unknown sources, sealed for 20 years from verification.  However, LTTE violations  with documented proof and witnesses, named individuals that disappeared in their hands go unchallenged.  They killed indiscriminately and violated the following conditions of basic human rights.

Right to Security from Harm

While there are many accepted human rights, they tend to fall into a few specific categories. One of them is the right to security from harm, which really just means you have a right to not live in fear that someone will hurt you. This can mean that you are protected from threats from other people, which is why we arrest murderers, but also from governments.

Perhaps the most blunt example of this is Article 5 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ”No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” There is also an article in there forbidding slavery. So, get the point here? It’s not just physical harm that you have the right to be free of; it’s also harm to your psyche or status as a human. No matter what, you should always expect to be treated with the basic respect and dignity owed to a human being.

Refraining from a vote for this Resolution is the right thing to do for the Human Rights of the Tamil people who live in Sri Lanka and are entitled to a right to not live in further fear of the LTTE brutality they suffered.

After 30 years of conflict and 12 years of peace, they seek a voice to speak for themselves and not to be spoken for in the international media that reveals a convenient agenda supporting narrative that is not for the benefit of Tamil Civilians in Sri Lanka that include children forcibly conscripted, tortured and ill-treated if they cried to go home.  Out of those who came under the homeland proposes, already 60% have left to live in the South of the country.  They find Sri Lanka to be their home and enjoy their acceptance in the south of the country.  Contradicting the myth of Sinhala brutality, these civilians have found out firsthand, for themselves, how the truth applies to them.

Here’s what this Resolution 413 will do to Sri Lanka’s peaceful coexistence.  Listen to those living in the country and not those who have duped western nations for lucrative economic migration and carry foreign citizenship and dual citizenship in the country they claim as a land of Genocide to rationalize separating a homeland.  This agenda is paper thin and transparent as it has come up after 12 years of peace without any uprising.  This Resolution will create an uprising and the responsibility will lie in the hands of Law makers, elected US representatives who will violate the Patriot Act to incite dissention in another democracy if they render their support to Resolution 413 that is against humanity.  The people who will be affected have a mind to think and make choices not to be dictated by resolutions. 

Listen to the Tamil Civilians who are not in the equation but are the most important component of the population that will be affected by remote controlled uninformed resolutions. 

The US administration should not encourage their representatives to make rash, uneducated, uninformed moves that destroy democracy whether in Sri Lanka or elsewhere.  The US is already under the threat of losing its democracy and voting rights.  It is struggling with mass shootings and domestic terrorism. Police brutality, immigrant attacks are internal conflicts.  Why is it that elected officials think it is okay to go against the Patriot Act and cause disruption in another country?

This is an act of treason by the pro terror diaspora that violates the laws of the United States as citizens first for inciting a rift in another country while holding US Citizenship and in some cases the citizenship of Sri Lanka as dual citizens through an arrangement between the two countries. The diaspora that moves freely between USA and Sri Lanka, many of whom are US citizens holding dual citizenship with Sri Lanka, need to be taken to task for breaking the law in the United States of America under the Patriot Act. 

The proof of disproportionate allocation of land that can lead to disruption of peace in Sri Lanka appears below.

2012 Census		Square miles
	LAND – Northern PROVINCE	3,430
	LAND -E EASTERN PROVINCE	3,859
	TOTAL If annexed (Square Miles)	7,289
	Total size of Sri Lanka (Square Miles)	25,332
Land	Proposed homeland 7,289 square miles as % of country	28.77%
					Total N&E
Population	Sinhala – East	368,738	Sinhala – North	31,985	400,723
	Tamil- East	614,184	Tamil North	995,975	1,610,159
	Moors – East	574,327	Moors – North	32,796	607,123
	Other – East	6261	Other – North	559	6,820
Total Population			% of the population
21,000,000	Total % of Tamils in N& E	1,610,159	7.67%
21,000,000	Total % of Non Tamils in N&E	1,014,666	4.83%

Conclusion based on 2012 Census Data: 

Out of a population of 21Million people in the country of 25,332 square miles, annexing the North and East provides a share of 28.77% of the entire country for a population of 7.67% Tamils and 4.83% of non-Tamils in the North and East.

Taking the entire population of the country, if this area is taken out of the 25,332 square miles in separating a homeland, 70% of the Sinhala population and 7.2 % of the Moor population will be left with 18,043 square miles which is 71% of the country for a combined 77% of the Sinhala and Moor population.

Whereas 12% of the Entire Tamil population will have 28.77% of the entire country.

77% of the non-Tamil population (Sinhala 70% plus 7% Moor) will have 71% of the country.

As Sri Lankan American citizens of the USA, all we can say is that we did not elect members to the US Congress to undermine the home country we came from and a country that has earned its dignity by defeating terrorism by a proscribed group the LTTE. Their supporters within the diaspora, most with dual citizenship are pushing an agenda although their doctrine came from a proscribed organization not only in the USA but in 31 other countries. They are heard, encouraged, supported and spoken for by US elected representatives who have earned the contempt of a majority of Sri Lankan Americans with voting power.

The Tamil Tiger Terrorists with the dubious distinction of calling themselves the sole representatives of the Tamil people, killed more Tamil people in their desire to eliminate rival groups and those that resisted their operation.  They are labeled as the most brutal by the US FBI and deadlier than Al Qaeda, and Hamas and it is pitiful that there are elected officials in the USA supporting a Resolution with a group that has blood on their hands. That blood has not dried even twelve years after the end of the war as they are at liberty to open old wounds with US elected officials.  Is it ignorance or lack of caring for another democracy?  We like some answers. 

To the elected representatives, we will make a note and remember the choices you make that are not those respected by us for admission to positions of office.