JVP TELLS BRITAIN TO STOP TREATING SRI LANKA AS THEIR COLONY

By Walter Jayawardhana

Indicating that Britain has stirred up a hornet’s nest among Sri Lankans, a vociferous protest demonstration consequently for the second day was held in front of the storied British High Commission building in Colombo , this time by the country’s second largest opposition party, the Marxist Janata Vimukti Peramuna to protest against what they described as Britain’s unwelcome interference in Sri lanka’s internal affairs.

When the British diplomatic staff refused to come out of the building to accept the memorandum of the demonstrators and sent only a security guard to accept it, defiant parliamentarians Wimal Weerawansa and Anura Kumara Dissanayaka pasted the memorandum on the embassy wall.
On the previous day Wimal Weerawansa on the floor of the parliament aimed harsh criticism against the British High Commissioner Dominik John Chilcott for interfering in an alleged dispute between the country’s Secretary of Defense and one of the High Commission’s favorite newspaper editors in Colombo. Weerawansa said in parliament if there is any threat on editors there were other democratic institutions in the country which could take up those issues and those disputes were non of Chilcott’s business as a diplomat representing another country.

The JVP political bureau openly accused the British government of allowing the Chief ideologue and negotiator , the late Anton Balasingham and his wife the head of the women’s military units of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to launch the separatist activities from London.

Wimal Weerawansa said the sun set on the British empire over 50 years ago and it must stop thinking that Sri Lanka was still a colony of theirs.

He said all the parliamentarians and all members of the provincial councils belonging to the JVP were demonstrating in front of the British High Commission in Colombo to protest and condemn against the pro-separatist British parliamentary committee and the support given to them by the British government.

"Please take this as a firm warning,” said Wimal Weerawansa, “ from a country with a 2500 years heritage. Britain will be only welcome if she abides by her rules. The sun set on the British Empire over 50 years ago and with the rise of Asia the sun is setting on Western dominance. We will ally with rising Asia against any machinations on the country"

"The British have provided the guidance for the present terrorist campaign to divide Sri Lanka and the British parliament supported killing of 800,000 innocent Iraqis. A Parliamentary group from the British Parliament is to visit us to give a report on how we the natives are governing ourselves 60 years after Independence. But Britain will be only welcome if she abides by her rules" said the Political Bureau of the People's Liberation Front (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna – the JVP), Sri Lanka's Marxist party, in a press statement issued after the demonstration.
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The JVP said that it was from the British capital that to British citizens Anton and Adele Balasingham respectively the theoretician of the LTTE, and head and trainer of the LTTE women's wing operated. It was from the heart of the British capital that plans were created to attack and dismember Sri Lanka. Well knowing the agenda of the LTTE, the British were a partner to these crimes.

"We wish to firmly address the issue of current British attempts at re-colonization of Sri Lanka, especially through its colonial tricks of divide - and - rule policies. A Parliamentary group from the British Parliament is to visit us to give a report on how we the natives are governing ourselves 60 years after Independence. In the tradition of classic divide and rule policies which gave us our national problems in the first place, the British Parliament has also formed an exclusive "Sri Lanka Tamil group". The ethnic travails of Sri Lanka were first created by the British by giving ethnic representations through these declared divide-and-rule policies.

But at the time of granting Independence even the British shied away from this divisive monster they had created.

The Soulbury Commission was then to declare of the "50-50" proposals by Tamil chauvinist leaders that it was a means of making artificially, a majority from a minority and rejected outright that unreasonable demand.

"Although at the tail end of their empire, the British had rejected such ridiculous claims, The British have provided the theoretical background and guidance for the present terrorist campaign to divide Sri Lanka. It was from the British capital that to British citizens Anton and Adele Balasingham respectively the theoretician of the LTTE, and head and trainer of the LTTE women's wing operated. It was from the heart of the British capital that plans were created to attack and dismember Sri Lanka. Well knowing the agenda of the LTTE, the British were a partner to these crimes.

"While there were street protests all over Britain and the overwhelming majority of the British people opposed the British invasion of Iraq, the British Parliament (led by Labour and supported by the Conservatives) voted for it. As a result nearly 800,000 innocent Iraqis have been killed through this act of transparent genocide. During the Vietnam War similarly, the British Parliament (both Labour and Conservatives) supported the anti-people massacres which killed millions of innocent Vietnamese.

"We of the JVP strongly oppose this attempt by the British Parliament to reassert their lost power over Sri Lanka and engage in a recolonisation project. The spirit of defiance of the British in the 1818 and 1848 revolts still inspire us of the JVP. We intend to have a series of strong debates in our own Parliament, not only on the proposed visit, but also on British colonial actions elsewhere including in Iraq.

We will oppose the visit of the parliamentarians and take appropriate direct action against it, including where necessary, street demonstrations. At the time of the proposed visit, we will have public hearings on the extensive damage done during the British Occupation and we will present a Bill for adequate compensation. We will also demand the immediate arrest of Adele Balasingham for sponsoring LTTE activities from London. The British Parliament should be arraigned as a knowing accomplice for these crimes.

"Please take this as a firm warning from a country with a 2500 years heritage. Britain will be only welcome if she abides by her rules. The sun set on the British Empire over 50 years ago and with the rise of Asia the sun is setting on Western dominance. We will ally with rising Asia against any machinations on the country.