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.
