In defense of Lt.General Sarath
Fonseka
Dr Sudath Gunasekara (SLAS).
President Senior Citizens Movement, Mahanuwara.
5.10.2008.
Apropos the statement by the so-called Centre for Policy Alternatives
under the signature of Pakyasothi Saravanamuttu and many others of the
ilk sometimes appearing under Sinhala names (e.g. Samath Gammanpila's
comment on Ven. Sobhita's statement to Lankadissent.com of 2nd Oct 2000
in support of General Fonseka's recent statement to some Canadian paper),
I thought it appropriate to put the record straight in fairness to General
Fonseka, the foremost Army Commander Sri Lanka was blessed to have in
recent history.
According to them 'The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) was formed
to strengthen institution-and capacity-building for good governance
and conflict transformation in Sri Lanka. The primary role envisaged
for the Centre in the field of public policy is a pro-active and interventionary
one, aimed at the dissemination and advocacy of policy alternatives
for non-violent conflict resolution and democratic governance.
In other words what they say is that there is no good governance in
Sri Lanka and the government has failed. Therefore you need to have
some other 'agency of non-partisan intellectuals' like Pakyasothi Sarawanamuttu
(preferably non-Sinhalese) to formulate policy alternatives for non-violent
conflict resolution and democratic governance in the field of public
policy. (I presume what they mean by all this jargon is the creation
of an environment conducive for the establishment of the Tamil Eelam
on the Sri Lankan soils)
They also call themselves an organization of non-partisan civil society
members. The entire statement of the CPA, its language, objectives (both
covert and overt) and the tone clearly shows how non-partisan they are
and to what 'Civil Intellectual Society' they belong.
The above comment on the statement attributed to the Major General,
in my opinion is a direct intervention by another NGO with Sri Lankan
government's policy on governance. Good governance is not heir business
either. To talk of policy alternatives we have an opposition in the
Parliament. We don't need to have Tiger funded agencies to tell us as
what we should do, whether they, be INGOO or NGOO.
The main statement supposed to have been made by the Army General against
which these people have got offended and declared war against Sarath
Fonseka is given below.
"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese
but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people…We
being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we
have the right to protect this country…We are also a strong nation
… They can live in this country with us. But they must not try
to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."
(I feel it may have been better if this was worded differently. But
you can't expect him to do it either. Because he is not a politician
who is having his eyes on an electorate for his survival. What he has
said is the absolute truth, although it tastes sour to some)
However, I see no reason as to why any body should get offended for
this statement. Because, it is the truth and nothing but the stark truth,
that any man who knows the true and authentic history of this Island
Nation would have said. Therefore this is not something invented by
General Fonseka for which he could be blamed. He has only stated the
status quo. This is just like his saying that the world is round. It
is not only now but through out history, beginning in the 6th century
BC, with the exception of 1815 to 1948, this country had been ruled
by the Sinhalese. As such no one should get offended or concerned over
what he has said to Steward Bell or any other person for that matter.
What Sarath Fonseka said is there on record and inscribed on stone
dating back to millennia BC. It is only those who try to invent and
fabricate new history to suit their mythical histories in support of
the Tamil Homeland theories in Sri Lanka or the illusive Eelam and who
are blind to the facts of history don't agree with this fact that has
been firmly accepted by historians, archaeologists and epigraphists
the word over, excepting the Eelamists and those pseudo intellectuals
who subsist on their blood pay roll. I would strongly suggest that these
critics read Jaffna Kingdom by Karthigesu Indrapala (obviously not a
Sinhala) who has clearly stated that there is no evidence of any permanent
Tamil settlements inside this country before the 13th century.
Who are these critics who have started to chase after Fonseka's blood?
If you look at their names and credentials you will invariably find
them connected to the Eelam movement in one way or the other. As such
of cause there is nothing surprising about their behavior. The whole
world knows who they are although they try to pretend as educated intellectuals,
representing a moderate group of human activists.
Has any one who picks bone with the Army Commander ever criticized
the Eelam concept? Has any one condemned the brutal killings of Prabhakaran
and his terrorist outfit or the endless misery he has brought to the
entire Tamil community in this country? Have they ever raised a single
finger against atrocities committed against his own people leaving aside
the thousands of Sinhala and Muslim people who have been killed and
chased out from the north and the east over the last three decades?
Have they ever spoken a word against Prabhakaran when he and his savage
outfit started ethnic cleansing in the north and the east? Did they
ever knew that the Eelam of Prabhakaran is meant to only for his worshippers
and not even for other Tamils who don't subscribe to his fascist ideology
that end up in brutal killing of all those who don't agree with him?
What happened to Duraiappa, Amirthalingam,Thiruchelvam, Luxman Kadiragama
and many other Tamil leaders? Have any one of those who support Prabhakaran
including the Tamil Diaspora and the so-called Tamil intellectuals ever
dare to ask why he killed them. Do they at least know that Eelam is
meant only for Prabhakaran, which he wanted to create on the dead bodies
of all who oppose him irrespective of whether the are Sinhalese Tamils,
Muslims or Indians, as he has proved in the case of Rajeev Ghandis assassination?
Have they ever realized that all this suffering to Tamils in Sri Lanka
is the direct result of Tamil extremism, invented by people like Arunachalam
(breaking away from Ceylon National Congress and Establishing Ceylon
Tamil Congress in 1921), hatched by communal minded men like G.G. Ponnambalam
who demanded 50-50 and Chelvanayagam (who established Ilankai Tamil
Arasukachchi in 1947 and passed the Vadukkodei Declaration in 1977 in
which he said that this county had been ruled by Tamils from time immemorial)
and finally consolidated and armed as a fascist killer machine by Pirapaharan
during the past three decades for which not a single Sinhala man or
woman is responsible. But today all these peace mongers blame SWRD for
making Sinhala the Official Language in 1957. Where else on earth one
can make Sinhala the Official Language if we don't do it here in Sri
Lanka? What SWRD did was only the rectification of a historical injustice
done to this nation in 1815 by the British. He also wanted to make Tamil
a regional language but before doing that he was killed.
JR made Tamil also a National language (whereas he should have made
it a Regional Language only as SWRD planned). But none of the protagonists
of the Tamil cause talk about such extraordinary good actions of the
governments. They only shout and write on Sinhala racism-something that
does not exist on earth compared to what the Tamils air out in burning
flames-but never talk of Tamil racism which is obviously the prime cause
of all present day so-called ethnic problems in this country. Why is
that they are blind and deaf over them? They also see nothing wrong
in Ponnambalam's 50- 50 claim. And now repent over what privileges they
have got under the British which was a deliberate conspiracy invented
to divide and rule. Today they want not 50-50 but they want 75% or even
more for the 5% or less percentage of Tamils living in the north and
the east. Nearly 6% of the total Lankan Tamil population lives with
the Sinhalese in the south. But do they have any problem or discrimination?
Aren't even men like Pakyasothi who openly castigate the Army Commander
of the Sri Lankan State live among the Sinhalese and still have the
freedom to write this kind of rubbish, when a Sinhalese University Student
is not allowed to study in Jaffna or Batticaloa by the LTTE?
In my opinion none of those minorities who do not accept the legitimate
claims of the Sinhala people to this country and its civilization and
who have their head and some times both legs in India and only the stomach
here have any right what so ever to live in this country as its legitimate
citizens. They should pack up and go back to the countries they have
their allegiance and love asap.
I quote here what Nehru said about the Indians living in other countries
in his conversations with Tibor Mende in 1955 for their information.
'So far as the policy is concerned, we have laid down very clearly-in
regard to Africa, as well as in regard to other countries-that we do
not want any rights or privileges in a country which, in any way, would
come in the way of the inhabitants of that country. They should consider
themselves as guests. If they are unwelcome they have no business to
be there'
So are these critics, better intellectuals and statesmen than even
Nehru?It is true that we have an ethnic group called Sinhala. But unlike
the term Tamil it is not only a name given to a particular race or an
ethnic group. The term Sinhala has been used at least from the 6th century
BC to denote the people of the Land of the Sinhalese that is Sihaladeepa
or Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka, being only another name given to this Island
meaning the resplendent land. Some people call it Tunhele or Tun Sinhale
both of which are descriptive and mean the same thing. All citizens
of this country were known as Sinhalayo, meaning the people of the Sinhale
as much as the people of India are called Indians; America, Americans;
England, English; France, French; Japan, Japanese etc. The word Sinhala
here is used in a generic sense, meaning the land of the Sinhalese or
the land belonging to the Sinhalese. So in the past we had the Sinhale
Sinhalese, Sinhale Tamils and Sinhale Muslims. The common denominator
being Sinhala, Sinhalese was the nation of this Island. We had one country
and one nation the country. The country is Sinhale or Sri Lanka as it
was known from time immemorial and the nation was and is Sinhala or
Sri Lankan.
Tamils in Sri Lanka is not a nation. They are only a minority ethnic
group like Muslims. Even in India where you get 5o m Tamils there is
no Tamil nation. They are only Indians. So how can one expect to have
a Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka where we have only a minor fraction less
than12 % of the total population? Similarly Muslims are only a group
of people who profess Islam. They also cannot claim to be a nation as
Hakeem and others used to agitate. In fact there is no nation called
Muslims any where in the whole world. They should think like the Catholics
and Christians. But obviously they cannot claim to be a nation any where.
The difference between the minority groups and the majority Sinhala
race is this. It was the Sinhalese who unified the Siv Hele in the 6th
century BC and established the unified Sinhala Kingdom on this Island.
Thereafter it was they who established the Sinhala Buddhist civilization
in the country that lasted in its original form until 1815 and continues
even up to date. The archaeological and epigraphic evidence distributed
through out the length and breadth of the Island from Point Pedro in
the north to Dondra in the Deep South and Chilaw on the western littoral
to Batticaloa in the east and bountiful classical literary evidence
like Mahawamsa and Deepawamsa bear unchallengeable evidence to this
great civilization. They all bear eloquent testimony to none other than
a 2500 year old unique Sinhala Buddhist culture as the bedrock of its
civilization. In fact even up to1972 this country was known as Sinhale
(See the Kandyan Convention of 1815). The Kandyan Convention of 1815
was drawn between the Chieftains of the Sinhale and the Lieutenant General
Robert Brownrigg on behalf of the United Kingdom…in the Island
of Ceylon on the one part and the Adigars, Dissavas and their principle
Chiefs of the Kandyan Provinces on behalf of the inhabitants of the
Kandyan Provinces. The word Ceylon used by the British was only the
anglicized form of the word Sinhale. British also called all inhabitants
of this Island Ceylonese, meaning Sinhalese. It had nothing to do with
ethnicity. The word Kandyan Provinces was also translated as Sinhale
in the Convention, meaning the land of the Sinhala people. The distinctions
between separate ethnic groups began to surface only after the introduction
of communal politics by the British in 1833 in order to maintain their
divide and rule policy.
Furthermore only the Sinhalese regard this Island as their home land.
The majority, if not al, of Tamils all over the country treat India
as their motherland All their heroes are found in India, they worship
them and hate and despise the heroes and patriots of Lanka. They never
accept this country as the country of the Sinhalese. In other words
they only want this country to be a part of India, more particularly
South India. Even the barber who runs his saloon in a country bazaar
has pictures of Ghandi, Nehru, Motilal Nehru and Subash Chandrabosh
etc hung on its walls. This was how they were indoctrinated to think
'Indian' by their leaders from the very beginning.
Similarly most Muslims think, behave, dress and act as Arabs. They
too like the Tamils want to first have a separate chunk of the country
as a Kalisthan and finally make this Island a mini Arab country. Among
the older generation of Muslims we have Mudiyanselage Mubaraks and Vidanelage
Saheeds etc. They got married to local women. But today they want this
country to be transformed in to an Arab state. I think this is exactly
what Army Commander meant in his statement.
Talking about the minority rights can any one mention a single country
in the whole world, where minorities are treated better? Which country
in the whole world, has given parity of status, with that of the national
language of the country, to the language of a mere12% of the country's
population. Which country on earth, other than Sri Lanka, has two official
and national languages? Can Tamils in Canada or even in Norway, ask
those countries to make Tamil an official language. Even in their homeland
with over 50 million Tamils do they have that recognition or do they
ask for a separate State? How can these people talk of discrimination
in a country where a member of a minority community can live and buy
property and work any where they wish to do so and live happily and
freely with equal rights? Why don't these so-called misguided intellectuals
open their clouded eyes and admit this situation and be honest in their
approach to this problem for which they alone are responsible and advice
the lesser beings to learn to live and let live.
Look at the following misguiding statement orchestrated over and over
by their world misinformation publicity machines
'The rebels have been fighting for an independent state in the north
and east since 1983, following decades of marginalization of ethnic
Tamils by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority. More than
70,000 people have been killed in the conflict' (AP). This is an often
quoted statement that appears in the so-called international media,
I have seen over the past 7- 8 years.
According to them they are rebels and not terrorists. They have a birth
right to take to arms to overthrow the democratically elected government.
It is the Sinhala government that has marginalized them for decades
and the Government in Sri Lanka is Sinhala dominated. If you don't have
a Sinhala majority government in this country then where the hell you
can have it? It is with this kind of blatant lies and newly invented
falsehood that they have been successful in getting the sympathy of
people in other countries.
Can any self respecting democratic government in the world allow a
group of minority terrorists to form a separate and independent state
within its legitimate and sovereign territory? Mind you in this case
they claim 1/3 of the country and 2/3 of the coastal strip for a mere
fraction of the population now numbering less than 5% of the total population.
According to Dept of Census (2002) Northern Province has only 320,701
and Eastern Province 399,129 whereas the country has a population of
20 million.
Also these buffoons talk of marginalization of ethnic Tamils by governments
dominated by Sinhalese majority. If Sinhalese can't govern their own
country where on earth can they do that? Who have been marginalized
and by whom? Why can't these people clamour for an Eelam in South India
which in fact is the real homeland of the Tamils. They also lament over
human rights violation by the government by having military barriers
for security purposes. Don't they know that these security barriers
are again a byproduct of their own terrorist activities? Military barriers,
check points, displacements and so-called ethnic problems, aren't they
the direct outcome of tiger atrocities? Aren't these their own creations"
And what is more is that these barriers are there to check every one
and not only Tamils. They erected for the general protection of every
one in society. What about the resulting harassment to millions of Sinhalese
and others who are not responsible at all for this situation but also
are forced to suffer for no fault of theirs?
Also look at the following situation depicted in My Daughter the Terrorist.
'The film introduces Dharshika and Puhalchudar, two 24-year-old women
who have been living, training and fighting side-by-side for the past
seven years. They are part of the Black Tigers, and are prepared to
strap Claymore mines to their chests and blow up themselves and anyone
within 100 feet of them to benefit their cause. "When we have no
bullets left and can't do anything, we have our cyanide capsules,"
Dharshika said, revealing the small glass cylinder filled with cyanide
that both she and Puhalchudar wear around their necks'.
Dharsika is a child soldier who had to undergo this tragedy. It is
reported that over 170 such suicide bombers have died in the process
of attacking vital points and persons. Of these Suicide bombers 30 %
were women. Are these not violations of human rights and discrimination
against Tamil children and Tamil women- the weaker sex? Why don't those
human rights champions open their brilliant minds and eyes to the 7000
odd child soldiers recruited and send to the death front as chicken
thereby completely ruining the future of the Tamils in Sri Lanka by
the LTTE? Why don't they see that ALL THE TAMILS IN THE VANNI ARE BASICALLY
LOCKED UP IN A PRISON WITHOUT WALLS, by the power of the gun by the
LTTE? Is this not violation of human rights?
Why are people, like Pakyasothi dead silent on these issues? The answer
is simple. They are also wedded to the establishment of EElam. All these
atrocities as they see them, are justified in the name of creating their
mythical EElam. All those who engage in such savagery are innocent.
Only the forces of the elected government whose avowed duty is to defend
the mother land and Sinhala soldiers like Fonseka are cruel.
All atrocities the Tigers commit according to Pakyasothi and ilk, are
in conformity with the democratic principles and none of the killings
by Prabha and Co are violations of human rights or democratic principles.
They are all like the murderers of Julius Ceaser hnourable men, committed
to a sacred object of establishing a separate independent state for
Tamils within Sri Lanka by overthrowing the elected government. No body
should stand on Prabhas way of doing that 'sacred duty' by eliminating
all Sinhalese, Muslims and even the Tamils who are against Prabha as
he has already done for the past three decades. Why don't we try these
LTTE agents for aiding and abetting the EELam cause and acting and writing
against the right of the government to govern?
In my opinion Sarath Fonseka was not hard enough. But he has called
a spade a spade. That is all. What these pandits don't understand is
that they themselves will have no place even to live, apart from a place
to write this type of nonsense if people like Sarath Fonseka don't liberate
the motherland from these blood thirsty terrorists.
They also feel that only they can have ideological perspectives and
decide about matters on war which they feel should be left alone for
the politicians. Aren't these men trying to create a conflict between
the politicians and the army desperately at a time the nemesis of Prabhakaran
is imminent?
Also look at his diabolical aspersions."It also suggests that
the present government does not apprehend the chilling dangers of allowing
military men to venture into the arena of political debate. It is because
of the fact that Sri Lanka has succeeded in upholding the principle
of civilian control over the military that we have escaped the unfortunate
experiences of neighbouring countries such as Pakistan".
One can see through the hidden intension of the writer when we go through
these vicious remarks.
For these reasons, I deplore and condemn in the strongest possible terms
the abhorrent and unacceptable comments made by Pakyasothi and others
on General Fonseka and defend him to the hilt as all right thinking
people will definitely do for calling the spade a spade.
Today, I would like to remind to Pakyasothi of the CPA and others of
the ilk that what is needed is not to campaign for Fonsekas removal
or maliciously trying to set the President against him by referring
to the 1972 coup with the intension of creating suspicion in his mind,
but try to save the ordinary and innocent Tamil people from the clutches
of the MONSTER Prabhakaran created by the process set in motion by extreme
communal Tamils like SJVC and other politicians who have driven the
entire Tamil community towards their nemesis only to attain their personal
political goals. The real genocide is the systematic and heartless act
of feeding the Tamil Youth and Tamil children to the battle front by
Prabhakaran, the blood thirsty vampire and it is not an act that could
be attributed to the Sinhala people who have accommodated every one
who came to this Island through out history, including even those who
came to kill them.
I also suggest you people read the article by Sebastian Rasalingam
that appeared in Sri Lanka Guardian on 3rd Oct. from which I quote the
following para.
"WE Tamils founded the first "Racial" political parties,
when it was IN OUR OWN INTEREST, as a minority, to NOT to let the racist
genie to come out of the bottle. The racist Genie was let out of the
bottle in the 1930s by G. G. Ponnambalam, as a means of wresting power
from the turbaned elites like Arunachalam Ramanathan." (October
03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian). Please note that this is not Sinhala
Sarath Fonseka who says so.
Finally I would like to emphasize categorically that people like the
writer who support Prabhakarna the fascist killer and his anti-Sinhala,
anti-Sri Lankan and anti-human genocide machine are the real enemies
of the Tamils. You will hate Fonseka today but tomorrow when he liberate
the innocent Tamils from this KILLER MONSTER and restore peace for every
body in Sri Lanka, thereby providing equal opportunities for the Tamils
in the north as well as the east along with the rest in the country,
I have no doubt you will begin to worship him for speaking the truth
an doing the correct thing at the correct time in the history of this
Island Nation..
The fault with the Army commander and the successive governments is
that they were very much belated in speaking the truth and erred in
doing the correct thing at the correct time. Had they nipped it in the
bud when Pirapaharan started this carnage in 1980s with 10 men, hundreds
of precious lives of both Tamil and Sinhalese leaders and thousands
of young people who could have been an asset to this little Island Nation
and billions of rupees spent on war and rebuilding what the LTTE has
devastated would have been saved for development of the country and
today definitely Sri Lanka would have been a heaven for everybody to
live.
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