{"id":118110,"date":"2021-09-13T16:46:10","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T23:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=118110"},"modified":"2021-09-13T16:46:27","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T23:46:27","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-pt-19-b1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/13\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-pt-19-b1\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 19 B1"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was formed in October\n2001. TNA consists of four parties:  \nIllankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi, (ITAK), Tamil Eelam Liberation\nOrganisation (TELO), Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE),\nand Eelam Peoples\u2019 Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF). These are separatist\nparties and the last three TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF were active terrorist\ngroups.    The leaders of the TNA are R.\nSampanthan and M. Sumanthiran, one Hindu, other Christian and both graduates of\nthe Ceylon Law College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TNA won\n22 seats in Parliament, in 2004, with the help of the LTTE. At the 2015 Parliamentary election<\/a> the TNA with\na mere 4.62% of the votes   obtained 16\nseats in Parliament. With just 16 members, TNA was given the Opposition\nLeader\u2019s position, at the expense of the UPFA which had 95 seats. TNA leader,\nR. Sampanthan became Leader of the Opposition<\/a>. TNA voted for\nthe 2016   Yahapalana budget. This was\nthe first time an opposition leader has voted for an annual budget of any\ngovernment in Sri Lanka, said analysts.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TNA is\nfirmly committed to Eelam, and has found various ways of demanding Eelam. Some\nutterances contradict each other. Some statements are plain stupid. The 2015\nmanifesto of the TNA said that the Tamils are a distinct people. They wish to\nlive in Sri Lanka in peaceful coexistence, with dignity, self respect, freedom,\nas equal citizens, without fear of majoritarian hegemony.\u201d  The Tamils have their historical habitat, their\ncollective rights as a people and nation and the right to self determination.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA said only\na federal-based solution in the form of a merged Northern and Eastern province\nwhere Tamil speaking people live in majority numbers could ensure a lasting\npeace in an undivided country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA wanted\nself government in the Tamil speaking north east within a united and undivided\nSri Lanka. TNA said it is committed to a united\ncountry which was a heterogeneous, not homogenous society where people of\ndifferent cultures contribute to the Sri Lanka nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA Leader R.\nSampanthan said that the Tamil people only aspired for an equal and united\nnation. Having a history of their own, Tamil people never demanded separation\nor for that matter, even a federal arrangement. Tamils only demanded an equal\nand just rule in an undivided country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019 Sampanthan said that “Eighty five per cent of the\nTamil people, on our call, voted against Gotabaya Rajapaksa .He could not\ncapture their vote”. You will only capture their vote with the support of\npeople who understand the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people, their\ncivilization, their traditions, their language, their culture, their dignity\nand their self-respect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other people in this country who have their own\ncivilization and traditions and who have lived in this country at least as long\nas anybody else. I refer in particular to the indigenous Sri Lankan Tamil\npeople who have historically inhabited the North and the East, Sampanthan\nconcluded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA has its\nown interpretation of political concepts, with some howlers thrown in. There is\nnothing called state sovereignty. Sovereignty is enjoyed by people, said\nSumanthiran. Sovereignty of a country is for all people. If the majority only\nenjoys sovereignty, then you are leaving the other people out. You are forcing\nthem to claim their own sovereignty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This country\nconsists of different people who each have different rights under the\ninternational law. You cannot hide behind the concept of sovereignty and\nviolate international law and claim that these are domestic matters, continued\nSumanthiran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the\nEuropeans arrived and conquered this island, was there one state here? Was\nthere one kingdom on this island then? No. There were three kingdoms on this\nisland. All of them fell to Western powers at different times.  It was\nonly in 1833, consequent to Colebrook-Cameron report, that it was made one\ncountry, concluded Sumanthiran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA stood\nsteadfastly with the LTTE  and worked\nclosely with the LTTE throughout the Eelam Wars. The strategy of the LTTE and\nTNA are identical and remains the same today, said Rohan Gunaratne in 2013. TNA\nspoke for the LTTE in Parliament as can be seen from the Hansard reports, said\ncritic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Ceasefire Agreement was signed, in 2002 TNA allowed the\nLTTE to be recognized as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people. TNA\nleaders announced the LTTE\u2019s decision to boycott the 2005 presidential\nelection. They made that announcement at a media briefing, in Kilinochchi,\nfollowing a meeting with the LTTE, about one week before the election. TNA, on\nbehalf of the LTTE, ordered Tamils not to exercise their franchise at the 2005\nPresidential election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\natrocities committed by the LTTE against Tamil civilians and children were well\nknown to the TNA leadership.  But the TNA\nregarded such atrocities as necessary to achieve Eelam, said critics. TNA fully\nendorsed the LTTE strategy of holding civilians as hostages, for use as a human\nshield. TNA had wanted army leader Sarath Fonseka removed from the Eelam war\nfront. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA stayed\nwith LTTE to the end   and emerged\nunscathed when the government won the war. The\ngovernment did not initiate action against the TNA for its active involvement\nwith the LTTE No inquiry was conducted into the TNA-LTTE link.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 After the LTTE was defeated the government\nshould have proscribed the TNA, charged and prosecuting its leaders and\nsupporters with links to LTTE, said Rohan Gunaratne. The Rajapaksa government must\nexplain its failure to inquire into the TNA, said Shamindra Ferdinando. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020 TNA\ndenied that it had any connection to LTTE and the party could not be banned on\nthat count. TNA cannot hoodwink those who are aware of its past deals with the\nTigers, replied critics and recited a list of its pro-LTTE activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA took a\nstrong anti-government line while Eelam War IV was going on. R. Sampanthan\ncharged that the government starved the civilians holed up in Nandikadal in\n2009. He  said that the government only\nsent enough food for  the  resident population of that area, which was\n60,000 to 70,000, knowing that there were many more. When the number was as\nlarge as 350,000 why did you send food only for 60,000 or 70, 000, Sampanthan\nasked. He was suggesting that Tamil civilian population had been starved. He\nwas hoping to create a Human Rights issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment flatly denied that they had starved the Tamil civilians in\nNandikadal. The government said that Commissioner General of Essential Services\nhad continued to provide supplies in terms of the amounts agreed upon with the\nUN. A substantial amount of food and other essential supplies had been shipped\nto Puthumathalan, from February 10, 2009, to May 9, 2009, in accordance with a\njoint plan implemented by Sri Lanka and the international community. The\ncivilians themselves never said they starved. Doctors who checked the several\nthousands who had escaped reported no malnutrition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the 2019 General election TNA only got 10\nseats but TNA unquestionably remains the predominant political party that\nrepresents Tamil national interests throughout the Northern and Eastern\nprovinces, said Global Tamil Forum in London. Locals do not agree. EPDP, the\nSLFP, the SLMC, the TMVP and the SLPP have eaten into its vote base in the\nNorth and the East. The TNA is losing its appeal to the public if the erosion\nof its vote bank is anything to go by, they said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A range of voter concerns came to\nthe fore at a pocket meeting in August 2020; where a union of hairdressers in\nJaffna met M.A. Sumanthiran, near Valvettithurai. The Federation of Hairdressers\u2019\nunions wished to see the TNA win the elections, but there were reservations. In\nthe nearly 30 minute-long meeting, union members quizzed the TNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seated with a\ngroup from Thondaimanaru town, a young man asked the TNA contestants why the TNA\ncould not lay roads in the area, despite repeated appeals. The TNA\u2019s\noveremphasis\u201d on the ethnic question, while ignoring people\u2019s economic\nproblems,\u201d has led to a reduction in its popularity, said Murugesu Chandrakumara,\nformer EPDP MP now contesting independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\nsaid that the TNA members leave for Colombo following the election and they\nonly return to the village when an election is impending. They never understand\nthe real sufferings of the people. Children of the TNA members never attend\nordinary schools in their area. A very few of their children even attend\nColombo schools with most them attending schools abroad. They said that the TNA\nhad never spent money that the government allocates for the development in\ntheir respective areas. They also accused the TNA of deceiving the people in\nthis manner for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sampanthan belongs\nto that group of leaders who do not even think of succession planning, said\nanalysts.  He has not named a successor. He\nhas not laid out a succession plan for TNA leadership after his tenure. By not\naddressing this vital issue he is facilitating endless infighting and conflicts\namongst the current constituent parties. This has the potential to dismantle\nthe TNA, when he is gone and some say that history will not be kind to him. A\npost-Sampanthan era for the TNA will be one fraught with the danger of\ndisintegration, said analysts. ( continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was formed in October 2001. TNA consists of four parties:   Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi, (ITAK), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), and Eelam Peoples\u2019 Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF). These are separatist parties and the last three TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF were active […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}