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UK was a former\ncolonial invader occupying Sri Lanka from 1815 to 1948 & until 1972 when\nSri Lanka became a republic. Let us not dwell into the atrocities committed\nunder colonial British rule which mind you has yet to be acknowledge,\napologized or compensated. As teacher and preacher of parliamentary democracy,\nSri Lanka held a democratic election on 16th<\/sup> November to elect the\ncountry\u2019s 7th<\/sup> President who became Gotabaya Rajapakse with a\nhistorical vote result. It did not take long for a barrage of anti-Gotabaya\narticles to emerge and seriously questions what is this \u2018democracy\u2019 and \u2018freedom\nof speech\u2019 the West is promoting when an elected President is character\nassassinated as he is without even giving him a chance to assume office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Telegraph\narticle titled former defense chief who led brutal suppression of Tamil Tigers\nwins Sri Lanka\u2019s presidential election\u2019 published on 17 November 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So are we to\npresume that Sri Lanka has faulted in \u2018suppressing\u2019 LTTE who are the Tamil\nTigers that the author Qadijah Irshad is referring to? The West can go bombing\ncountries dropping drones and killing innocent people claiming to be going\nafter terrorists, but Sri Lanka is at fault for eliminating a terrorist\nmovement? Can Telegraph UK please answer \u2013 yes or no. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is the \u2018fear\u2019\nraising among Sri Lanka\u2019s religious & ethnic minorities? Who is claiming\nthis and based on what evidence? Fears were raised when inspite of 97 foreign intel\nwarnings the government in power failed to protect over 350 lives from becoming\nvictim of jihadi suicide terrorism. No such colossal life was lost during the\nreign of the previous government as a result of state negligence and inaction inspite\nof prior warnings. Was it therefore wrong of voters to fear for their lives and\nplace national security as one of their key concerns in voting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We seem to again\nreturn to a fallacious choice of the word \u2018civil war\u2019 \u2013 Sri Lanka did not suffer\na civil war, Sri Lanka suffered terrorism and LTTE were Tamils but LTTE also\nkilled Tamils which is why we continue to say not all Tamils are LTTE but all\nLTTE were Tamils. Please correct this notion. Some of Sri Lanka\u2019s best Tamil\nleaders were wiped off by the LTTE including the most admired Foreign Minister\nMr. Lakshman Kadiragamar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another\ncorrection that needs to be made is that there are no \u2018charges\u2019 against\nPresident Rajapakse but \u2018allegations\u2019 which have no facts or basis but are all\npart of an international campaign by those angry that their pet LTTE terror\nmovement was eliminated. How about coming up with names and facts instead of\nusing a broad brush and simply parroting what everyone who wants to character\nassassinate is presently doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We would like to\nask the author whether it is a crime to regard anyone eliminating a terrorist\nmovement as war heroes? Obviously those living overseas and writing from\noverseas have no idea what we people went through when LTTE was reigning\nterror. We didn\u2019t know whether the next bomb would go off, our parents dreaded\nus leaving homes and we in turn dreaded our parents leaving home not knowing\nwhen and if they would return. Ambulances were heard almost every hour. The\nnewspapers had only obituaries and photos of the dead. Don\u2019t make it out to be\nthat the death of the terrorists is to be mourned and not the dead of innocent\npeople who had done no wrong to these maniacs carrying arms & weapons. How\ndare they see fit to plant bombs and carry out suicide missions to end people\u2019s\nlives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How dare this\nauthor refer to the Buddhist clergy as \u2018extremists\u2019 let us remind the world\nthat before the Westerners arrived there was not a single example of any\ncommunity in conflict under the Sinhala Buddhist kings. If anyone says\notherwise, we would like to challenge them to produce evidence where the\nSinhala Buddhist kings have mistreated the minorities before 1505. All of the\ntroubles we suffer today are outcomes of divide and rule policies implemented\nby colonial invaders so they could keep the people at each others throat while\nthey pilfered and plundered the nation. When the Portuguese and Dutch were\nattacking the Muslims & Tamils it was our Sinhala Buddhist kings who sent\ntroops to defend and protect them. Just don\u2019t kill the majority community with\nyour pen for media publicity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So the author\nseems to be knowing how Parliament of Sri Lanka runs? Well its 19th<\/sup> November\nand still \u2018Mahinda\u2019 is not declared PM. Is this how Parliament works in the UK?\nHow about telling the West\u2019s pet the sitting PM to honor the spirit of the\nmandate and resign without making life difficult for everyone by refusing to do\nso. Is this gentlemanly politics and parliamentary decorum, taught by West, one\nwonders! <\/p>\n\n\n\n The author is\nincorrect because the people of North voted for Sarath Fonseka in 2010 and he\nwas the immediate former army commander while a world campaign promoted notion\nthat the Sri Lankan Army were war criminals. India\u2019s Subramaniam Swamy once\nsaid he was confused how the Sri Lankan Tamils can call the Sri Lankan Army war\ncriminals and at the same time go all out and vote for its army commander. Very\npuzzling in deed. The Tamils also voted for Maithripala Sirisena when he was\nfielded as common candidate in 2015 \u2013 so this is certainly not the first time\nthat the Tamils have voted for a Sinhalese. Take the election result maps of\n2010-2015 and 2019 to see for yourself. What is also puzzling is that Tamils\nvoted for a Sinhalese while not giving even 2% of votes to a pro-LTTE Tamil\ncandidate and relation of Prabakaran! What was the objective behind the vote?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is good to\njerk everyone\u2019s memory here. LTTE was ruling a virtual defacto area of the\nNorth. The LTTE split Tamils into two \u2013 those on their side and those against\nthem. Whoever was against LTTE faced the brunt of LTTE terror \u2013 the others\nobviously had it good. But LTTE did not share any of its $300m annual profits\namongst the Tamil people. Areas that were eventually liberated were without electricity,\nhad no proper roads, schools were abandoned and used as LTTE bunkers, children\nwere kidnapped and turned into child soldiers \u2013 so was this fear not greater\nthan the nameless and data-less scare tactics foreign journalists are carrying\nout? The development that North saw after elimination of LTTE was nothing\nanyone can deny credit to the Rajapakse administration. They had to take loans\nto do this development LTTE was making illegal profits annually but did not\nspend a dollar on the people it claimed to represent. Don\u2019t\u2019 forget 300,000\npeople were saved from LTTE during the final stages of the conflict \u2013 probably it\nis some of these that became the 5% that voted for Gotabaya Rajapakse at the\nPresidential Elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n President\nRajapakse confirmed and reconfirmed again during the oath taking that he is the\nPresident of all \u2013 those who voted for him and those who didn\u2019t vote for him.\nTherefore, before bringing down the gavel before he has even started out on his\njourney as President, give him a chance to prove himself. He proved himself as\nDefense Secretary and steered a development drive in Colombo and outskirts to\nbe even acknowledged internationally \u2013 therefore there is no reason to fear\nthat he doesn\u2019t have a plan as President. Obviously those who know he has a\ngood plan to develop Sri Lanka are concerned because he will completely raise\nthe bar to type of leadership that many are loathsome and jealous about which\nis probably one of the key reasons for their envy and jealousy. They just\ncannot measure up to him and therefore they want to character assassinate him\nas that is the only way they can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Please don\u2019t quote\nthe same bankrupt and creditability-less so-called political activists who have\nno clue about the pulse of the people, no care about the general public and\nsimply enjoy blabbering words in accents in 5 star hotels to the international\narena only. These people are so out-of-place in any segment of society in Sri\nLanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These so called\nactivists have taken millions to promote \u2018peace\u2019 and it is a good time those\nthat fund them began asking them to show what they have done for the money they\nhave been given. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Give the people\nof Sri Lanka room to breathe and solve their own problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By interfering how\nmany countries has the Western political power houses solved internal problems instead\nof making them worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just give the new President some room. We are all watching too. Our concerns are more than your concerns. We also want to have a peaceful nation. We got dominion status in 1948, became a republic in 1972 the same year we faced an insurgency, then we had terrorism for 30 years together with another insurgency. We have not had a period of lull to enjoy any peace dividends. So please allow us room to sort out our matters on our own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hope the UK Telegraph publishes this so their readership can see another view of Sri Lanka<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n