Friday 23 December 2011

Should the new Leader of the UNP continue on his own trodden path, or be a Sri Lankan democrat, leaving stooging to West. ?


 Ranil Wickramasinghe is the unchallenged leader of the UNP and by virtue  the unchallenged leader of the Opposition in the Parliament .

After  the victory over his opponent, Karu Jayasuria -a politician of unreliable political honesty, Sajith Premadasa, who talks but has not enough guts to take the leadership of the party, and the rest of the ambitious elements  who have no definite  idea  as to  the direction in which the UNP should move, except  Rosy Senanayke   who has more leader ship qualities  than the other rebel Party members put together, the President Mahinda  Rajapakse quite correctly reminded Ranil Wikraminghe, that “….  special responsibility, of uniting everyone and building a strong opposition, has been bestowed upon Ranil Wickramasinghe with winning the election for leadership.”

The President added, “ … Mr. Wickramasinghe, who was re-elected as UNP leader after beating Karu Jayasuriya in yesterday’s election, should now proceed to build a strong opposition and give the government a ‘neck-to-neck’ battle…”

Those are the words of a democratic leader.

So far Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe  has not shown himself to be a democratic leader of the Opposition despite his being the Vice Chairman of the International Democratic Union.  A democratic opposition to a Government of the ruling party should  oppose the Government politically  without attacking the President or the members of his Government at a  personal level.

Ranil Wickramasinghe since the election of Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse as the President of Sri Lanka, carried out a series of manifestations,  making many a funerals and weddings whenever possible an occasion for a manifestation  to attack the President and his family. His sworn efforts were for the fall of the government and dissolution of the Parliament, other matters  of development, defeat of terrorism, and financial stability were not of  interest to him.

At least now, with his newly won confidence of the Working Committee of the UNP,  he should change tactics to be a  respectable political  Leader of the Opposition  criticizing the government’s failures or wrong decisions, and at the same time  rallying round the government to defend “ the Government and the country” on national issues.  That type of an opposition can keep away the anti Sri Lanka forces to allow the country to progress without any foreign  Government interfering into its affairs.

Ranil Wickramasinghe had  openly sought the European Governments to interfere into the internal affairs of our country.  This is not a good political stand, and shows his lack of political foresight. A strong country independent of foreign interference is important for its development by the UPFA government today,  or a UNP Government tomorrow. 

What we want from the Western Governments is their assistance for our development,  and transfer of technology, but not to be critical of the projects of the Government or the use of its  Armed Forces for the protection of the country and its people the way it wants as an Independent Sovereign State.

If the Political  Parties of Sri Lanka are patriotic oriented, they should unite with the government if there is a threat to the Country’s Sovereignty, no matter  what their political differences.  The political differences should be debated within the country, without taking them  to different foreign governments to find solutions. 

Through out the military operations  against the terrorists by the Armed Forces of the Government, UNP had been very critical  of the Armed Forces.  The UNP’s short sighted  efforts then to oppose military operations against the Terrorists, have resulted in the Western Governments’ criticism of the President and the Government of Sri Lanka, and its Armed Forces for violation of human rights, and war crimes.

No Opposition Political Party in Sri Lanka could  feel happy about the  threats of these Western governments, Humanitarian activists, and trouble makers in various International Agencies  to take the President and the Armed Forces to a tribunal accused for war crimes. 

The Government and the Opposition should  stand together to oppose any  threat by Foreign Governments to intervene into the internal affairs of  Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has fought a war against a ruthless terrorism, and that war was not the war of the President Mahinda Rajapakse or the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, but it was  a war of the people, by the people , for  peace , end of suffering, and to eliminate terrorism and to unite the people.

The UNP and the other political parties  taking the internal problems of our country abroad show their disloyalty to the people.   The people are sovereign , and if UNP is hoping to form an alternative government in Sri Lanka it has to appeal to the people of Sri Lanka and not to the Western countries.

The Darusman Report of Ban Ki Moon, interference and ridiculous accusations of violation of human rights by the Human Rights Watch , Amnesty International , complaints of the International Crisis Group, Canadian Prime Minister’s demand for an International Investigation, Hillary Clinton’s accusation of  violation of human rights and her collaboration with Jayalalitha to accuse Sri Lanka for ethnic violence, Navi Pillai’s disgusting link with the UK Channel 4, are all the result of the disunity of the Political Parties in Sri Lanka, and UNP’s failure to stand by the government in a National Crisis, notwithstanding its political opposition to the Government, or  signing the traitorous CFA behind the back of the people of the Country, without even informing the then President of the People of Sri Lanka.

Ranil Wickramasinghe who speaks of respect for democracy,  ridicules it by himself being undemocratic.  Where according to the Constitution accepted by the people, a government has been formed by the representatives of the people  elected at a duly carried out elections or a President has been elected by the vote of the people, that decision of the people has to be respected in a democracy, by every one including those candidates who had lost because they had failed to obtain  a majority of the  votes.

It is then the bounden duty of the opposition parties to stand by the decision of the people and allow the country to be governed by those who have been elected during the constitutionally specified period of time .  The opposition has the right to oppose the government, not systematical  at every turn of the government with the intention of making it unpopular so that it will be forced to resign, but to oppose any project of the government the opposition rightfully considers is not in the  interest of the people.

To make the government unpopular with the people, and force it to resign before the end of its term of office  is not democratic.  This is what UNP had been doing , and which JVP does as its “duty”. 

Now that Ranil Wickramasinghe has been given a new lease of life as the leader of UNP, he should change his political tactics to become the Leader of a Democratic Parliamentary Opposition.  So that he could confidently present himself as an alternative Presidential candidate to the present President Mahinda Rajapaksa,  or any one else when the times comes for the next Presidential elections.

He must also be able to  control  his party members to be responsible and honourable in their pronouncements, and statements to the press.  Jayalath Jayawardhana who seems to have a separate agenda of his own, which he promotes exploiting his membership in the UNP  is oozing with Catholic  hypocrisy, Mangala Samaraweere   has joined the UNP not through political conviction but to take revenge from the President Mahinda Rajapakse for having been sacked by the President from his cabinet, Tissa Attanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekara, Lakshman Kiriella , Gayantha Karunatilleke and other  hollow wind bags trying to fool the gallery pretending to be taking their role of Parliamentarians seriously, should be asked to follow a correct democratic conduct avoiding political rhetoric  without each one of them having their own definition of Democracy-which they think is  freedom to talk.

We have to show the West and all International reactionary forces, and individuals working against Sri Lanka that,  we the  people from all Communities in Sri Lanka, whether we be politically with the UNP,TULF, JVP, TNA, LSSP, CP or SLFP are  collectively with the Government and the President of Sri Lanka  in matters concerning the Nation, and that we will not want any one to interfere into the affairs of Sri Lanka, dictating terms to us as to how we should carryout the affairs of our country. Will UNP, TNA and JVP be able to promote that type of patriotism ?

We should show these interfering Governments, Agencies and individuals  that we have trust and confidence  in our intellectuals and elders when appointed to committees such as the  LLRC to do a good job of work unbiased, and with objectivity.  It is we, as the people of Sri Lanka to accept what ever conclusions they come to and what ever proposals they  make, or reject them. It is not any one from outside  who have to decide for us the people of Sri Lanka.


The people of Sri Lanka has a good memory, they know what UNP had been when they were in power.  They remember how Ravi Karunanayaka sold the CWE or others privatized Profit Making Government Establishments.  They have not forgotten who signed the  CFA and who opposed the Military Operations against the terrorists.  Therefore UNP should think twice before it runs down the Government.

UNP, JVP or the TNA cannot fool the people criticizing the government  like Imitiaz Bakeer Markar  a former UNP Minister  when he said:

« …..There is no proper administration. Waste and corruption is the order of the day. When students raise an issue on their education, the government responds undemocratically. The same response is given when people raise issues on their day to day life. When trade unions make demands, the government responds with fire power. The whole world knows about the government’s attitude. To change this state of affairs, it is important to have a strong opposition. The opposition was non functional during last two decades and the UNP has studied this situation. »

Those are perhaps words for the UNP vote base  which is down to 28 percent today according to Imitiaz Bakeer Markar himself.  But the majority of the people can see for themselves the tremendous development projects taking shape before their eyes, the express roadways, bridges and flyovers, buildings and cleaning up of cities  and towns, bumper harvests of paddy and vegetables, fish markets, power plants, etc.

Is this the sign of a Government making profit for themselves and letting the country and people suffer, is this the sign of waste and corruption ?  There should be a certain amount of sacrifice that has to be made somewhere by someone to make the future of the country brighter, like a mother risking her life making untold sacrifices to give birth to a child that would assure the future happiness of a family.

Of course corruption cannot be ruled out, and it has to be attended to, but can the government do all that all at once ? Haven’t those in places where corruption is reported  a duty to reform themselves for the sake of the people of the country?

When I was young I heard it being said that we always put the blame on our parents when some thing goes wrong, but do we question ourselves how much the parents sacrificed for our well being, and what we have given  them, and what sacrifices we have made for them in return?  Those who criticise the President of Sri Lanka and his Government should  know  what  sacrifices they had made and what risks they have taken, and   ask them selves what sacrifices they have made to the country and the people .

Mr. Imtiaz Bakeer Markar says , « But if the frustration of the masses against the government could be manifested through effecting the necessary changes in the UNP, they would gather to oppose the government »

Mr. Markar, who are dissatisfied with the Government ? 

Those who are dissatisfied with the Government are the so called intelligentsia, the University Professors, Teachers,  the University Students,  Doctors, Magistrates, Trade Unions, and the Politicians.  Because they want more, their wants are unsatiable.

Shouldn’t they too make some sacrifice for the betterment of the country  and its people?

But, Mr. Markar,  the poor people,  the  ordinary villagers that make up the majority of the population of Sri Lanka are with the President Mahinda Rajapakse and his Government.

This Government of the President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse has done so much within the past five years  for this country, both the President  Mahinda Rajapakse and  the Secretary of Defence have made sacrifices risking their own lives. Can the UNP  give the name of one  from their Party who have made that much of sacrifice and taken risks for the love of the country ?

They  President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Defence Secretary were determined to rid terrorism from the country and give the people a respite of peace and happiness. They are undoubtedly sincere and honest in their political undertakings, if not they could not have despite a terrible “war” against the terrorists carried out all those magnificent development projects to change the face of Sri Lanka from an under developed poor country to one which is forging ahead in a considerable speed towards development and progress in all fields.

They seem to be indefatigable in their effort to take Sri Lanka forward. They have gone beyond our expectations , in economic, social and infrastructure developments.

That gives confidence , and courage for us to go through even a rising cost of living as both the Defence Secretary and the President are way ahead in their political thinking and undoubtedly doing the right thing.
Cannot  Mr.Ranil Wickramasinghe understand this and rethink his political strategy if he has the ambition to become the President of Sri Lanka at the next Presidential election ? 

He can change his political strategy, first by learning  to  felicitate the government  for whatever commendable actions it has taken   which are evident to the ordinary people, so that he would be in agreement with this vast majority of the ordinary people, and win them over to his side as an honest political leader who know when to criticise the government and when to appreciate the government. At the same time he should point out waste and wrong political decisions and economic undertakings  of the government, informing the people of his own remedies as a  true democratic Leader of the Opposition.

Monday 19 December 2011

Appealing to Foreign Countries to intervene in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka




Having failed to win the hearts of their kinsmen in the South the JVP is now trying to win the hearts of the Tamils in the North. We would wish  them better luck there . But success of a political come back with the aid of the Tamils voters in the North is a lost cause from the beginning.

Firstly the Tamils in the North having already gone through difficult times under a more ruthless terrorists will not want to fall into the hands of  another group of small time terrorists, who are known to have killed  with utter  brutality their own people in a failed bid for  a rebellion of an imagined « proletariat »

Somawansa Amarasinghe, strutting like a cock in a hen house, hasn’t  even the personality for  political leadership  of any sorts though groomed to be one by  the JVP, which is already a party without a direction despite Amarasinghe.  Like Sarath Fonseka’s  request for release from prison from Barrack Obama, JVP seems to  plead for political recognition from Jaffna Tamils.  Both Sarath Fonseka and JVP don’t seem to understand  that their redemption one from imprisonment and the other for a respectable political come back, lies not with Barrack Obama for the former or  Jaffna Tamils or the EU  for the latter , but from the President of Sri Lanka.

To day it is necessary that any  Political Party, Civil  Society Groups, Trade Unions or Individuals  with any self respect  should go  even a very little distance towards  reconciliation of Communities without allowing them to distance from one another. In that effort there should be serious consideration of the lager interest of the country to the complete absence of any personal interests.

The Tamil people of Sri Lanka are difficult to please, and are suspicious of the  Sinhala  people with however much  sincerity they offer their hands of friendship to them. That is an ethnic characteristic the foreign ”know- alls” will never be able to understand. 

(  There are however  Tamils who had lived in the West observing the foreigners with whom they lived with intelligence , and who have understood that Sinhala are not the monsters they had been made to believe, but Sri Lankans like themselves, and their development , peace and happiness in Sri Lanka is  in working along side the Sinhala. I salute Thurai and Manohar)

The Tamils  however understand that the JVP who have betrayed their own people cannot be trusted to have  any genuine interest in the welfare of he Tamil people.  They know that their sudden interest in the Tamils of the north is for their own  benefit , having lost their political bases in the south.

JVP is now a  group of disoriented politicians, who seem to have lost their intelligent appreciation of situations into which they step.  In a country just out of a thirty years of an     unimaginable suffering, all Political Parties, groups  or individuals should act cautiously without putting into danger the on going reconciliation moves of the government. Handunetti and Ramalingam of JVP had no right to give  statements to the press in Jaffna condemning the Government of Sri Lanka which has made considerable effort to give a tremendous face lift to the towns and the  country side of north and east while ameliorating the standard of living of the people.  

It is just over two year since terrorism has  been eliminated and the government is beginning to  get the Tamil people to understand its intention to unite the communities and bring the Tamil people into Sri Lanka’s  main stream politics.  As we are dealing with a people who were psychologically disturbed by a long unending fear of terrorism of thirty years, they have to be handled with care.

JVP completely indifferent to such sentiments  goes to Jaffna and acts like bulls in a glass shop , completely destabilizing the people and putting them into a quandary developing a greater distrust of the government,forcing them to  rally round not JVP,  but round  the TNA as what ever they had stood for during terrorism, they  are after all their own people.  This is what the JVP  consciously or unconsciously doing to the Tamil people in the north,  forcing them away from the Government and the other communities in  Sri Lanka to be with the TNA as a last resort.

If any Political Party does not support the political leadership of the President Mahinda Rajapaka and his Government they may oppose him politically within the country without attacking the President  personally.  
A Sovereign State  should not subordinate itself  to foreign interference into its internal affairs. If any political Party, group or individual  despite this golden rule invites the foreign intervention in support of their narrow political interests the Government of Sri Lanka should warn them that such action besides being detrimental to the Sovereign State of Sri Lank, is treason.

The government should take  preventive measures  under the Terrorism Act to stop these manoeuvres .  If there is no appropriate  laws to Arrest them for Treason under the Constitution or the Terrorism Act , new laws should be passed to stop these miscreants from damaging the interest of the Country.

Pubudu Jayakody of the  breakaway faction of the  JVP has recently declared his  party’s intention to appeal to the UE  for the release of abducted members of his party.  Sarath Foneka  is  appealing to President Barrack Obama, to intervene on his behalf to demand the Government of Sri lank to set aside the decision of a Sri Lanka tribunal and  get  him released from prison.  Sampanthnan and his TNA Cronies are going all over the world, to USA, Canada, Netherland  and India requesting them to settle the ethnic problem by devolving political, land and police powers to the North an East.  UNP wants to appeal to the International Democratic Union  requiring its intervention for good governance in Sri Lanka.

All these people of different political parties  are selling the Sovereignty of Sri Lanka, inviting the Foreign Countries to intervene in the internal affairs  of the country.  In the mean time 75 NGOs have signed an appeal  demanding Independent Rule in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is divided and the Political Parties like the JVP, TNA, UNP, and others  instead of Joining hands with the government on National issues are appealing  to the Foreign Governments to intervene in the internal matters of the  Country. 

The worst is the JVPers in this respect who may not have  even read the 800 odd pages of the  report of the LLRC, say  that the report of the LLRC is a wastage of time.  In the light of the demands of the Western Countries to set up an Independent  Committee of Investigation , this is the worst betrayal. 

These politicians display their complete  disinterest in  Sri Lanka.  They  are after their own  personal benefits,  and dreaming to capture political power by hook or by crook. Whether they may later  invite  the NATO intervention is yet to be seen.   

JVP had recently spoken of  the Egyptian  people demonstrating in Thahir Sqaure against their Government, with out understanding that their mass demonstrations  and those of Tunisia  against their governments have turned  out to be changing pillows to cure  a headache.   

Have they got back democracy  ?

Wednesday 14 December 2011

We should not give in to TNA - the Slaves of Terrorism.


Every means for a reconciliations of the Communities in Sri Lanka with a view to build a true Sri Lankan Nation should be investigate, leaving no stones unturned.  But  discussions for reconciliation should be with parties, groups or individuals who love Sri Lanka, patriots of it and would like to see it not broken up into different areas and territories to please Parties, groups or individuals  who have no such love to Sri Lanka.

The persons who go to make up TNA are not Sri Lankans who accept Sri Lanka as their motherland, but they are promoting the  dream of a maniac  who died swearing to divide Sri Lanka and create a homeland for the Tamils. The TNA  hold allegiance more to Tamil Nadu  than to Sri Lanka. TNA does not accept  Sri Lanka as their motherland.  Because, any one who claims that honour will not even dream of a separate homeland for  one particular Community in Sri Lanka.

TNA as a group of separatist Tamils claims impossible rights, such as devolution of police and land power and the merger of East and North of Sri Lanka into one Province. None of the Citizens of Sri Lanka from any Community  will agree to such a proposal.  When the maniac Prabhakaran was  fighting to divide Sri Lanka  the TNA was party to Prabhakaran, having been formed and brainwashed by him. 

Then too, TNA claimed on the bidding of Prabhakaran a separate Homeland for the Tamils in the North and East, while the Sinhala youth were giving their lives to stop the Maniac Prabhakaran from dividing Sri Lanka.

Now that the Government of Sri Lanka with the sacrifice of large numbers of  patriotic Sinhala Buddhist youth  has eliminated terrorists and with them their idea of  a Homeland for Tamils, and what makes TNA think that  they would be given North and East for them on a platter to eventually make a Tamil Homeland of it to please  only the TNA Goons and the TamilNadu Tamils. 

Tamil Nadu has an expansionist agenda and they will secretly work for it forcing the hand of the Indian Central Government to assist them. TamilNadu is making  TNA  their “cat’s paw”.  We see this already  happening with Jayalalitha-Hillary Clinton get together, and the constant complains about the Sri Lanka Navy shooting  at the Tamil Fishermen and  reclaiming  Katchativu  as belonging to India.

It is time to put TNA in their place, but the TNA appears to have collected  enough “gas”  with their constant consultation with India,  visit to Canada, Australia and America to pop them selves as a powerful force, to destabilize Sri Lanka if  the Government does not give into them.
It is a pity that President Barrack Obama’s America is trying to interfere into small Sri Lanka which is not in any way a threat to America’s political stability or its leadership in world politics.  This undue interference of America into Sri Lanka is what may give new hope to “sleeping terrorists”  who America and its European allies are prepared to accept as “rebels” not being a threat them.

We have to step down on TNA which is a small time “terrorist group ” with their unacceptable demands, which could anchor   foreign vultures to  vindicate their rights to divide Sri Lanka.  UK is not a big  force unable to do any thing on their own. They would not have even won the Second world war without America stepping to help them. UK has small ”bugs” like the Channel 4 to  do the dirty work to draw attention  of the “big fish” to take over the dastardly attempts to  destabilize and destroy developing nations.  

That was what  Blair did by preparing false documents  to get America to go to war with Iraq.  Yet again that is what UK did along with France getting a vote passed in the UN Security council to  protect air space, and  got NATO to bomb, murder, and assassinate Colonel Gaddafi and destroy Libya. 

But America with its privilege of being the richest nation being compromised, attempts nevertheless, to maintain its power with  their highly developed technology, fleet of  frigates and destroyers, and the  armed forces (America’s solution for unemployment), when they can still help the struggle of  developing Nations to come out of poverty and build  independent respectable Nations.

It is a pity that we have an American Ambassador Patricia Butenis who could not have  taken a decision on her own,  without being subservient  to Robert Orris Blake , to have requested Barrack Obama to visit Sri Lanka to have a first hand opinion of this country, or demand Hillary  Clinton who broke accepted diplomatic priviledges to meet Jayalalitha in TamilNadu,  to visit to Sri Lanka as well to make  American  Foreign Policy  seem more world friendly.

It is the lack of this democratic outlook of  Western Nations that  make it difficult for the developing Nations to reconcile  communities and  build peace and security.  They have become  war mongering Nations intervening to settle disputes making rebels out of disidents, instead of creating stability through dialogue and encouraging the UN to be independent to take its own decisions to settle dispute in other countries. 

Today the  setting up of UNO has become meaningless as the Western Nations use the UN to promote their own agendas, interposing the NATO or the American Naval force to subjugate Nations.  They did that in Libya, they are threatening to do so in Syria and in Iran.

TNA MPs  think that their being elected by the votes of the Tamils in the North and East  have given them respectability to reclaim “the rights” that sank into Nadikadal along with the maniac terrorist Prabhakaran.  But the Tamil votes at the local government elections  have not washed them of the blood stains of  terrorism.  Therefore they have no right to make any claim on behalf of the Tamil people, specially because  the “claims” of the terrorist Prabhakaran  are not the “ rights”  of the Tamil people.

What the Tamil people want today is to live in peace, with respect and dignity, which they lost to   terrorism.  Therefore the claims of the TNA has no popular support in Sri Lanka.  This fact has to be taken into consideration by  the Ambassador Patricia Butenis  to write cables, different from those  cables detrimental to the Government of Sri Lanka she had been sending to the State department ( as they came out in Wikileaks ) , to describe to  the President of America through the USA State Department the true face of TNA, and  request the State Department not to intervene on behalf of them as Sri Lanka is  not treating any Community differently from others.

The Ambassador  Patricia Butenis, owes it to Sri Lanka to emphasise to the American State Department that American intervention in any way by statements or through the interference by Senators or House Representatives will only be detrimental to the tremendous efforts the Government of Sri Lanka is making to reconcile the Communities for every one to live normal lives in peace.



Thursday 24 November 2011

A reply to Sampanthan who went to Toronto to say, “ ….we cannot trust The Government of Sri Lanka «



(In Toronto while Sampanthan set aflame  hatred  of expatriate Tamils against  Government, Vasudeva Nanayakkara pleaded  for peace and reconciliation .)


Did you see Sampanthan and his cronies since their visit to USA and Canada ? They  are dressed up like Englishmen, in coats and ties.

Sampanthan went to Toronto in Canada, and on the 30 October,2011 made a long speech to a gathering of expatriate Tamils at the Sri Iyappan Temple Auditorium. It was a speech to the expatriate Tamils in Canada to inflame their anger and hatred against  the Government of Sri Lanka and the Majority he does not mention by name.

What was strange reading that speech (appearing in Transcurrent) is that he has mentioned the word “Sinhalese”  only once in his speech, referring to “them” as the Majority. In that one occasion he says, “We consider Sinhalese as our brothers and sisters. Many are ready for a just solution. A just, implementable and lasting solution should be found. But, I would like to make it clear that if such a solution was not put forwarded, we will not accept any other mirage of a solution »

In contrast to  the speech of Samapanthan   to the Expatriate Tamils in Canada was a public Meeting hosted by the Canadian Sri Lankan Community mainly expatriate Sinhala and attended by Mr.Sam Rajendran of the Canadian Tamil Cultural Association,  at which  the Minister  of National Languages and Social Integration Vasudeva Nanayakkara, pleaded for peace and reconciliation  to heal the wounds of past conflicts.
However, in Canada Sampanthan mixed up the histories.  Sri Lanka is a country with a longer history  and a richer culture than  Canada.  Even the name Canada came to be used some where in 1545. 

The name Canada is derived from  Kanata the name of a small Indian village, which  Jacque Cartier borrowed and  vulgarised   to Canada, using  it as the name  of the areas  occupied by the French and later when the French ceded their conquests to the English, the whole of the area occupied by the French and the English was called Canada.

The British expelled the French settlers as and when they occupied the  respective areas. However, some of the pioneer French settlers remained,  most of them in Quebec and others in Manitoba, Ontario etc.  Canada became Independent only in 1982. 

The land they call “Canada “ was occupied by the aborigine Indians who were massacred by the invading British and the French, and now not even mentioned making the Canadians of today made to be the owners of the land . 

Sampanthan’s  mixing up was in trying to draw parallels to Sri Lanka saying « In Canada, two major ethnic groups, who speak different languages have been living in different parts of the country. These are people who speak English and French languages. They have self- rule in their respective areas where they live. »

[ Sampanthan forgets the aborigines. If things had been left for invaders to decide Sinhala would also have suffered the same fate of the Canadian aborigines]

The  Canadian Languages act of  1974 extended as a Charter did not give self rule, though the later Quebec Act gave the French in the Province of Quebec the right to preserve their language, the Religion and the French System of Civil law.   But no self rule has been given to any of the Canadian states.

This man Sampanthan still speaks with his master terrorist Prabhakaran’s voice.  He is not a patriotic Sri Lankan despite his having got the votes of the poor Tamil people duping them, playing into their sentimental attachment to their  birth right of being Tamil. 

In Sri Lanka, the Tamils came in as marauders, plunderers, and invaders.  Elara came at a time Sri Lanka was politically unstable and militarily weak, and settled down  to build a kingdom.  None of them came with any love to Sri Lanka. Thereafter  it was the English colonialist who brought in Tamils from Madras to work in the coffee plantations and thereafter the  tea plantations.  There were no Tamil settlements in ancient Sri Lanka .

Despite the way they intruded in to Sri Lanka the Sinhala people had accepted and adopted those Tamils that settled down in Sri Lanka as the people of the country.

Therefore, they cannot claim parity with the Sinhala as of right.  It is up to the Sinhala, the Muslim and other communities to accept them as a  Community among others..

If Sampanthan pretends to  be a Sri Lankan,  he would not go to Canada to say «  we cannot trust the Sri Lanka Government. » .  He is more a patriot of TamilNadu, roped in by  Prabhakaran to spy for him.
Sadly Sampanthan and his clique of TNA MPs are today posing as the  representatives of the poor Tamil people in the North and East of Sri Lanka , having fooled  them to  place their trust in him and his cohorts.  If he has a problem with the Government of Sri Lanka it is with the people of Sri Lanka he has to start a dialogue  to  get the government to settle differences, not by going to USA, Canada or Delhi.

I would not like to reply to Sampanthan as I did to Anandasangaree who is  at least free from blood stains of  terrorism.  But Sampanthan has the blood stains of terrorism all over him.  That is why he was received by the expatriate terrorist front organisations in Canada. For them he is acceptable with the blood smell of terrorism coming from him, and his poison imbibed  language reminding  them of the terrorism they aided and abetted in Sri Lanka.

Sampanthan  says, « ..We have been struggling for this right for a long period of time. No one can deny this. However, so far, the Sri Lankan government has not come forward or agreed to grant these rights to us. »  The point is these terrorist proxi Sambanthan  thinks Sri Lanka is Canada  and the Tamils and Sinhala  have conquered Sri Lanka like the French and the English conquered Canada.  Therefore, they should share the language rights .

Sampanthan and the TNA MPs have to wake up to reality and think of other ways to solve the “ethnic problem” they have created in their minds, it is not so easy as it had been in Canada. 

As far as the ordinary Tamil people are concerned, they have been given all  the rights and priviledges the people of other Communities have been given. They can now even correspond with the government in their language and receive replies in their language. The children can go to any school or University.   They can apply for government jobs, for service in the Police Force,  the Armed Forces or the Navy.  They have the political right to vote for any one they want, or refuse to vote if they so wish.

But Sampanthan and his TNA goons are not satisfied with  that.  They want a separate provinces for Tamils.  They want police and land powers given to the Provincial Councils in the North and East. 

But they are neglecting  the people who had voted for them to represent them in the Parliament. Some of these people in distant villages in Baticaloa still have no modern facilities.  They have no one to appeal to get better living conditions. But Sampanthan and the TNA have no time to dabble in small matters concerning the ordinary people.  They are more interested in political power for themselves, and work for that end  by discrediting the Government of Sri Lanka in foreign countries.

 Sampanthan had spoken in Toronto, about  the  Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam agreement of 1957, and the  1965 Dudley-Chelvanayakam agreement, and argued that these agreements were signed especially to protect and to preserve the northeastern parts, as the Tamils’ traditional land. 

Sampanthan and TNA are still living in the past.  These Pacts and Agreements are  now the past history, those things have no more value since Sri Lanka came through the worst period of  30 years of suffering under the most vicious terrorism, where not only the Tamils but the Sinhala, Muslim and the rest of the Communities equally went through untold fear and suffering. 
Now we have to look at Sri Lanka and its different Communities in a new light, and the future of Sri Lanka should be moulded differently  from what it had been in the past, so that future will not once again end up being what it had been during the past thirty years.

This new phase of development is the renaissance of Sri Lanka.  After  terrorism the people of different Communities cannot claim special rights and priviledges, as none of the Communities could now live isolated from one another. 

There should be a renunciation of special priviledges in the interest of the country as a whole with out differentiating the people communally.  There should instead be a willingness for a  communal integration to form a multicultural Nation, where all rights, priviledges, wealth and amenities are shared  by all as a Nation , but not as  separate Communities.

Sampanthan says, « … They agreed that Tamils in the Northeast have been living as a majority in these areas for a long period of time and this fact must be respected. However, the present leaders of the country think other wise. They think that there is only one solution to overcome this issue. That is that Tamil’s identity should not be accepted…. »  

He had chosen these words  to inflame anger and hatred against the Government and the Sinhala people in the minds of the expatriate  Tamils in Canada, who unfortunately knows nothing of the suffering the Tamil civilians underwent , and the heroic part played by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces to rescue them from  the hardship they were made to suffer by the terrorists.

Sampanthan of course  would not  praise the humanitarian services rendered  to the Tamil civilians by the Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces during the military operations against terrorism, but he was instead using  “ poison coated ” words to disparage  the Armed Forces,  to get the sympathy of his Toronto Tamil listeners for himself  and his TNA as the legitimate heirs of the Sri Lanka terrorism.
He was trying to promote himself  and the TNA as the saviours of the Tamil people and become the  natural  heirs to the generous largess of the expatriate Tamil Community in Canada, USA and UK  extended to the terrorists. So that he and his TNA cronies could  continue  their « war » against the Government and the Sinhala and to set up a Tamil Homeland  which the expatriate Tamils love to have, with their questionable  yearning to Sri Lanka.

Having thus prepared the ground Sampanthan now  appeals to the expatriate Tamils, “ We firmly believe that our people, specially the Diaspora Tamils will offer their support to our efforts. Your large gathering here shows one thing, that although you are living abroad, you haven’t forgotten your land of origin and your villages. You haven’t forgotten your brethren. You should never forget them. You should come back. You should help the people living there at the right time. You should try to uplift them.”
Sampanthan has now  a new theory which he puts to the expatriate Tamils to win them on to his side and keep their  hatred focused on the Sri Lanka Government and the Sinhala people. He says that there are  one million Tamils living in foreign countries, and  the thinking of the government of Sri Lanka  is that,  if it denies the Tamil people a peaceful coexistence  the rest of the Tamil people will also leave the country thus removing the ethnic problem. 

What a naive way of putting things to bring in the expatriate Tamils who he has taken for fools  to  accept his loony theory ?

He had said, « Now, almost one million Tamils are living out side of Sri Lanka. They live in India, Europe, North America, Australia and various other countries. Same way, they think, if the rest of the Tamils in Sri Lanka can be sent out or if the peaceful co-existence in Sri Lanka can be denied, then their demands will disappear. That’s why Sri Lankan government is accelerating its efforts to change the demography in Tamil’s traditional lands. »

Sampanthan Defended the LTTE terrorism when he said , “….We talk broadly about the recently ended war in May 19, 2009. In fact, the violence against the Tamils started in the year of 1956. It continued in the years of 1958, 1961, 1977, 1981 and 1983. After that only the war was (waged) continuously. There was no organization called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam when the violence against the Tamils started. It was only formed at the latter part of the 1970’s or early 1980s. …. ». 

The blame for the  riots in Sri Lanka  could not be put only to the Sinhala because they happened to be of the majority.   The riots started  from incidents involving the  death of Sinhala people or Police Officers in the North, which resulted in a backlash in the South.

The organisation of the LTTE terrorism on the other hand did not result from the riots, but it was a calculated move taking advantage of the riots for the Indian RAW to unleash a group of Tamil youth from Jaffna trained in guerilla warfare to start a campaign of terror. That is the truth, and this group of terrorist youth became a Frankenstein monster which even India could not control , and resulted in the assassination of a promising Young Indian Political leader the late Rajiv Gandhi.

Sampanthan then tells a lie, without even a word of appreciation to  the Government and the Sri Lanka Government Armed forces for the rescue operations , settling the IDPs in camps and  demining the Tamil villages  which  the terrorists had made inaccessible by burying millions of personal mines, and finally settling the people, providing them with necessities for an initial home setup.  Sampanthan says  despite these commendable accomplishments of the Government  and the Armed Forces., that, “ …After the war, they are not allowing the Tamils to resettle in their own lands…. »

Sampanthan laying bare his separatist ideology  tells the expatriate Tamil gathering in Toronto,  « .. We are a people with a separate language, culture and heritage. We could claim that we have been living in Sri Lanka even before the arrival of others. We are not saying that Northeast belongs to us. However, we have concerns in preserving and protecting the language based heritage in that land. We are saying that the Sri Lankan government should not alter that situation. »

Yes they may have now and then  come to Sri Lanka as marauders, raiders, or treasure hunters.  But ancient Tamils settlements had never been found in Sri Lanka.  And this language based heritage has not been affected by the new moves of the Government of Sri Lanka which has allowed use of language without discrimination.

He says , that , « ….The majority community is being settled in the Tamils’ lands through direct and indirect way. Military camps are being built. Military’s strength is being increased in the North-east areas. Lands are being given to the majority community under the guise of development. Religious and cultural centers are being destroyed… »

Sampanthan goes on to say, “…The government not only refuses to give the political rights, but also denies help to our people. They did not do much for these people. They did not build houses the people needed, neither they created any job opportunities for them. They did not allow our people to live in peace. ” 
It was the terrorists that did not allow the Tamil people in the North and East of Sri Lanka  to live in peace,  destroyed their houses, and buried personal mines in their villages. But the Government  after eliminating the terrorists, have looked after  the Tamils in the North and East  sometimes  even better than those  Communities in  the South.

The Government  has resettled  nearly 95 percent of the IDPs.  And if the Sinhala people are allowed to settle in the North and East it will be a guarantee against  a possible  regrouping of « sleeping  » terrorists for another  period of terrorism in the North and East of Sri Lanka, with its repercussions in the South.

If the previous governments had been more perspicacious they should have encouraged more Sinhala , Muslim and other Communities to settle down in the North and East of Sri Lanka which would have avoided the thirty years of terrorism.  It is time that is done at least now  so that there will be a  mixture of the Communities  in every part of the country as it is now in the South.

While Sampanthan was meeting the  US Officials,
« ….. During our visit, we met many at the U.S. State Department. We met the members of congress, senators and people in Charge of Human Rights. We have explained these facts to them clearly. If our rights are not protected, definitely the Tamil ethnicity will be wiped out. There is no doubt about that… »,  and inflaming the  hatred of Tamil Expatriates in Canada against the Government and the Sinhala people, there was another public meeting held in  Toronto hosted by the Canadian Sri Lankan Community, which had invited the Minister of National Languages and Social Integration  Mr.Vasudeva Nanayakkara.

The President  of the Canadian Sri Lankan Community  explained the humanitarian work that is being carried out by the  Canadian Sri Lanka Community for the welfare, and well being of the Tamil people of the North and East.

This Canadian Sri Lankan Community had sent  Canadian $ 70,000 worth of medical supplies in 2009 for the use of the IDPs in the  Refugee Camps.  They had sent  mosquito nets to  the people in the villages around Omanthai, provided School Books to Children in newly Constructed schools in the East. 

In 2008 they had organised a « Brotherhood Train » which left Matara Railway Station  to Vavunia with  12 carriages with merchandise for the use of the  IDPs in the refugee Camps.  The train had stopped at all stations allowing the Sinhala people in the areas to make contributions. The Sinhala people rich and poor contributed, some even by giving a measure of rice.  When the train reached  Colombo all the 12 carriages had been  full of merchandise contributed by the people.  They added more carriages in Colombo and finally when they reached Vavunia they had 40 million Rupees worth of merchandise to be distributed among the Tamil IDPs in the  Camps.

They also organised a marathon walk from Dondra in the South  to Point Pedro in the North to collect funds to construct a Children’s cancer Ward in Jaffna. They had collected 1500 Million Rupees .

In that meeting the Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara explained how many of the difficulties the Tamil people  had encountered previously with the Government administration  is being eliminated ;  first  by training all government officers  to have proficiency in both the Sinhala and Tamil languages in addition to English.  Sri Lanka is also  looking forward to making Sri Lanka tri-lingual and has declared  1912 as the tri-lingual year. 

In addition he said that records  in the Tamil Speaking areas will be kept in Tamil and that they will establish  bilingual areas where the records will be kept both in Sinhala and Tamil.  There is in fact a bilingual area even in the Galle District.

The Minister  says his Ministry has  established 700 Cultural Centres where  there would be language teaching  classes and  organization of awareness programs to make people of different communities understand different cultures and religions and learn to respect  each other without discriminating  a Community for customs,  cultures or religious beliefs which are different from theirs. 

The Canadian government is providing aid to establish these Centres, and more Centres will be established later on.  The Government is even prepared to make constitutional changes to facilitate reconciliation of the communities.  He said the reconciliation is an ongoing process, and every thing will be done with a view to unite people.  But every change should take its own pace   without  precipitating into  action which may later have negative effect.

The terrorism in Sri Lanka lasted 30 years .  The wounds inflicted as a result on the whole of the people  are immense . The healing process will be long. Terrorism was eliminated only two years ago and we cannot expect to have normal conditions restored  within a short period of  time.  We have to go step by step in the reconciliation process and eventually  we will be able to enjoy  peace, and the happiness of being a Nation. The process could be short only if every one of us understand the situation  and get together to make things work faster, by stopping to  promote our  selfish personal or individual Communal interests.
It is time to ask the Tamil diaspora what action they have  taken to unite the Communities in Sri Lanka and develop Sri Lanka to make it a country of which we can all be  proud.

TNA are merely a group of Parliamentarians  who are still in the darkness of the passage out of the womb of terrorism. They  still  have to learn  what is a democratic political system. What they are doing now in the name of politics is only distancing Communities from each other. 

Sampanthan and the TNA have to be made to understand there mistakes, which in itself is a difficult task because of  their limited understanding of a viable political system.  They have to learn the way to interact with people, with different cultures and speaking different languages, as they have still not been weaned from their terrorist beginning.



Tuesday 22 November 2011

Replying to Anandasangaree’s, the desperate plea of a patriot for a permanent solution


 
Writing to the President of Sri Lanka Anandasangaree says, « Although both of us entered Parliament together in 1970, I am more senior to you in age and in politics. Hence I have a moral duty to tell you frankly what I feel about every one of your actions and decision. »

Although the writer  did not enter Parliament with Anandasangaree, he knows that Anandasangaree was a member of the LSSP . And as  the writer is of the same age as Anandasangaree he thinks he also has  a moral duty to tell Anandasangaree that he is the worst Tamil racist and a  hypocrite.  

His membership in the LSSP had been bogus and hypocritical, because if he was a sincere member of the LSSP he cannot today speak in the language of  a separatist Tamil racist.  He was awarded the 2006 UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence, which he did not deserve.

He  calls himself a patriot, and  the writer challenges his patriotism. A patriot is one who loves his country and his compatriots whatever their  race, colour or religion.  A patriot does not seek to divide the people, a patriot loves the unitary status of his country, and does not seek to divide it territorially or communally. But Anandasangaree divides people as Sinhala and Tamils, he does not work for the unity of the people, he wants federalism which is a sort of  divisionism.  Therefore he is not a patriot.

If Anandasangaree wants to be a real patriot , he should give up his call for a Federal Constitution or an Indian model. He should not treat the Tamil Community as a different entity.  He should instead be a bridge to bring in the Tamil Community into the mainstream of the Sri Lankan people without allowing them to tear away from the fabric of Nationhood.

Sri Lanka could progress faster if all communities  get together to give a hand .  It is the Tamils who stand on the way  of progress with their pseudo “ethnic problem” and show to the world outside a division within. It is the Tamil diaspora which has brought Sri Lanka to disrepute, accusing the President and the Armed Forces for military crimes when they know very well that the elimination of terrorism was a necessity for any progress and that the military operations were against the terrorists and not against the Tamil people. 

If the civilians were to have died it may have been inevitable and it was a sacrifice to end thirty years of suffering, and find at last peace and security for every one.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand symbols of human sacrifice for the greater unity and peace of the world, at least that is what the West believes.

Now that the terrorism is over the expatriate Tamils should if they want to be real patriots contribute to the work in progress in Sri Lanka, and join hands with all Communities to develop the country to make the people happy, peaceful and prosperous.

Anandasangaree should help Sri Lanka not by demanding Federalism, but by getting the Tamils to fall in line with the rest of the communities to create Communal Unity.

His statements are pungent with hypocrisy, as when he says, “ I am one who is not communal and had been always saying that I wish to have a Sinhalese family as my neighbour on one side and a Muslim family on the other. I have still not changed my views in this matter.” Is that to show that he is not communal, and is that the way to bring the Communities together ? He thinks he could fool people with that kind of trash.

Anandasangaree as an elderly Tamil politician, living in safety amoung the Sinhala people in the South, had a greater role to play for the reconciliation of the two main Communities of Sri Lanka the Tamils and the Sinhala, if he did not try to play the Tamil Nadu game of separating the Tamils from the Sinhala.   He also  raises the GG Ponnambalam’s  out dated demand for 50-50, but in a different way.

The permanent solution  to the so called ethnic problem in Sri Lanka is there before every ones eyes , but the Tamils including the UNESCO prize winning Anandasangaree do not want even to look at it.  The Solution is,  that the Tamils should try to forget their Tamilness and accept to be patriotic Sri Lankans à part entière  and unite with the other communities to form a larger Nation of Sri Lankans, where there would be no Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims but just Sri Lankans.  That is what the President Mahinda Rajapakse meant once when he said that there are no minorities and majorities.

The fear of the Tamils is that the they  will be assimilated into the Majority, otherwise there is no reason for the Tamils to ask,  to be treated separately with a special devolution of power.  The whole of the  ethnic problem stems from this failure of the Tamils to give up their fear of loosing their Tamilness.  

It is typical of the Tamils, this is what DBS Jeyaraj says on his article on  Nedumaran’s book on Prabhakaran which he says would be  Nedumaran’s magnum opus the “ hagiography “ of Prabhakaran.  DBS Jeyaraj says 

“……… I am very proud of being a Tamil. My pride is based on the notion so well articulated by Namakkal Ramaligampillai one time poet laureate of Tamil Nadu.” Is he a Sri Lankan or of TamilNadu ?  If he is a real  Sri Lankan he should have at least said I am proud to be a Sri Lankan Tamil.

This stems from an inferiority complex  of the Tamils. They do not want to accept being Sri Lankans .  The black African Community in America understood that accepting to be Americans is the way out of their isolation, and became a part of the larger people of America, and that is how today a black African is the 44th President of USA. 

They had the intelligence to understand that they had to accept being Americans, but the Tamils in Sri Lanka and the prize winning Champion of tolerance  and non-violence are unable to comprehend that simple essential unity of people of all communities to build a Nation out of them.

Sampanthan and his TNA cohorts were slaves of Prabhakaran and did what ever the Thalaivar asked of them, spying for the terrorists in the Parliament.  They were therefore free from the wrath of the uncertain moods of the Thalaivar the terrorist leader.

Anandasangaree was not selected by Prabhakaran to spy for them , therefore he feared  Prabhakaran, who would have eliminated him if it became necessary.  Therefore he played a double game living with the Sinhala people in the south, but echoing Prabhakaran’s call for a homeland by harping on a Federal Constitution.  

Anandasangaree  wanted to be different from Sampanthan the proxi of Praphakaran,  therefore he did not ask for a separate Homeland for the Tamils, but he thought it was better to go step by step before he could arrive at  making the North and East the Tamil Homeland, therefore he opted for Federalism. 

Anandasangaree  is an old political fox, who thinks he could get what he wants , by pretending to be  friendly ( tolerant and non-violent) with the “Sinhala modayas” and moving along with their ideas until the time is right to “jump the queue” to  bag in  what he wanted a Tamil Homeland, or  North and East as a separate Province under a  Federal Constitution. 

Therefore Anandasangaree mooted the Federal theory, and when he found that the Sinhala people would not accept it, he  changed it to an  Indian Model.  He knows how to wriggle his way out of a situation, to get back to his demand to which he sticks stubbornly, when the time is ripe.

It was the Tamils  who created the so called  “ethnic problem” to enable them to get a Tamil Homeland established in the North and East.

There is in fact no  “ethnic problem” at all.  But it was created artificially, to divide the country to have a separate Tamil Homeland.  That is why all this Anti Mahavamsa theory of Narapalasingham, and the rewriting of the Tamil history insisting on the presence of Tamil settlements in the North and East prior to the advent of the Sinhala.

Anandasangaree says, “  I am yearning to see the dawn of peace in its true form in this beautiful Island of ours, in which from time immemorial the Tamils and the Sinhalese had lived in peace and harmony along with Muslims and many other ethnic groups, before the country gained its independence.” 

He does not mean a word of what he says. He is vehemently opposed to any large numbers of Sinhala people taking permanent residence in the North and East.  He will call it colonizing, which in fact what the Tamils have done in the South.

Anandasangaree says, “ What was going on in this country since independence in 1948 is not fully known to the present generation. They hardly know what a peaceful country Ceylon was in the good old days. I am one who had lived throughout this period and had witnessed and experienced all good and bad events that took place in our country. ” 

In the good old days the south of Sri Lanka was a paradise for the Tamils from the North .  The British colonialists following the divide and rule policy  pampered the Tamils giving them important places in their administration pushing the Sinhala to the background. 

The Jaffna Tamils came to South and opened shops and boutiques.  Only the Tamil men came to the South leaving  their families home,  not wanting to socialize with the Sinhala.  The well to do vellalas came and settled down in Colombo sending their children to best of schools to  make them Doctors or Engineers.

The North and the East was left for the Tamils to live as they want,  the majority of the Sinhala people were not interested, either in settling down or even to know about the  Northern Provinces .  That is why Anandasangaree is  nostalgic for the old times.  If things would have been the same today North and East would have been their uncontested Homeland.  Anadasangaree knows very well that neither North or East voted for any candidate of the  LSSP the political party which stood for all communities.  There was I think just one LSSP Member  from the North in the House of Representative. Not seeing a future being a member of the LSSP  Anandasangaree changed camps.

In a way the terrorism brought some thing good in its wake, the Sinhala people of the South  became aware that the North and East are after all  part of the whole of Sri Lanka and that they have an interest in those parts of the country as well.

That is what irks Anandasangaree, North and East becoming close to the South and the possibility of more Sinhala people settling down there. Hence his demand for an Indian Model so that the North and East could be  kept a Tamil enclave as it was in the good old days.

If Anandasangaree wants a real reconciliation of the Communities and  make Sri Lanka a peaceful place as it was , the time is ripe now.  The Sinhala people are ready to make any sacrifice just to bring the Communities together.  But do the Tamils want it, and would the Tamils in the North and East forget their Tamilness to create a United  Nation of all Communities,  stepping out of their narrow Communalism ? 

This Communal integration forgetting the Tamilness does not mean that  the cultural and  religious values of each Community is to be devalued, but there is all the more reason that the  parity of status of  different Communities should  be maintained in forming a  multicultural Nation.

The Sinhala people have been inviting students from North and East to the South to stay with Sinhala people to understand more of each other.  Do they profit from the occasion ?  Has Anandasangaree gone to meet these young people  who came from the North and East and spoken to them  of the necessity to unite to  forget their minority complex and become part of the larger community of  Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people ? 

No ! the UNESCO award winning tolerant and non-violent Anandasangaree would not do a thing like that.   He knows that if the Sinhala people in the South were to bring the whole population of Tamils from the North and East and entertain them for even for one whole year, they will go back and become once again Tamils with their racial hatred to the Sinhala people.

Federalism or Indian Model means nothing to the ordinary Tamil people,  even if every one of them  in the North and East makes their daily  morning Salaams or Namasthe to Tamil Nadu, what they want is to live peacefully, with daily amenities and  plan a future for their children. 

The Federalism and the Indian Model is the dream of the high class Tamils who want to dominate the poor low caste Tamils with ruling power in their hands  with a Parliament of their own, with their own Police and land rights.

Only means for Sri Lanka to forge ahead with peace and prosperity is by being an undivided people united to coordinate with one another for an ambitious program of development as a country of a united community of people.

Anandasangaree says,

« The turning point was the passage of the Citizenship Acts and the situation got aggravated with the passage of the Act making Sinhala as the only official language of the state in 1956. » 

That is all nonsense, because it was necessary to make  a difference in an independent Sri Lanka, where the colonialists ruled the country the  way they want  by  denying the Sinhala people their rightful place, burning their villages , killing their people  when they rebelled  against these savage invaders who had continually harassed them, insulted and denigrated the culture and the religion of the Sinhala people.  That necessity was understood only by  SWRD Bandaranaike. He did what was necessary, to give back to the people what had been denied to them for  nearly 500 years.

The Tamil people did not take part in those rebellions, whether it was against the Portuguese, the Dutch or the British,  though they claim they have a long history as settlers in Sri Lanka.  How many Tamils fought along side the Sinhala Soldiers against terrorism ? In the long history of Sri Lanka the Tamils have not played any  role to defend the country  except of course few exceptions like, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Jeyraj Fernandopulle and few other Muslims and Malays.

Anandasangaree should be happy because he is there today,  free to speak out his mind because he had been with the Sinhala people in the South whose children had fought the terrorists to rid him of the fear of  assassination by a wayward terrorist.

His theme of complaint through out the long article revolves round the ethnic problem and the  advice to implement an Indian Model.  But this ethnic problem he  speaks of does not exist any more, even if did in some ways existed before.

Now with the  implementation of the Mahinda Chintanaya, even the language problem has been settled and the Tamils share all rights equally  with  all other Communities. And the Tamils like Anandasangaree, Sampanthan etc. raise a Tamil ethnic problem knowing well that no such thing really exists now, but yet  to make an issue of it merely to bring disrepute to Sri Lanka and allow interference by the foreign countries into our internal affairs, and hoping for some politically beneficial fallouts for themselves.

Anandasangaree  insists, «  A unitary system will not be acceptable to the minorities, the Tamils in particular. It will never serve as a permanent solution, since it can be meddled with, by some others when you and I are no more. I had been repeatedly saying that only the Indian Model will be acceptable to the minorities as the only alternative to a "Federal Model" if the term "Federal" is allergic to some. Otherwise it would be the best and the most acceptable one. »

What is special about the Tamils that a unitary system will not suit them.  If it suits every one else it is democratic that the Tamils accept what is accepted by everyone else.  It is people like Anandasangaree who should  make them understand  that simple  reality and bring the communities together without holding onto a separatists ideology.

Everything is not hunky dory in India despite Anandasangaree’s eulogy of India as a Model. India which is a leading nation today claiming leadership in the South, with its own atomic bomb, preparing to send Indian men into Space, is unable to provide equality of opportunities  to all  the citizens of the country.  The low caste untouchables have still to find their place in the Indian Society. 

There is ethnic problems in Assam, Sikh and Hindu conflict in Punjab. India still has Hindu Muslim conflicts.  It has  very racist Tamil politicians in TamilNadu.  Tamil Nadu has taken away the power of the Central Government of India which is being made to dance to the tune of the Nedumarans, Jayalalithas, Vaikos, Karunanidhis or  the We Tamil Movement of Seeman.  Is that the glorious Indian Model Anandasangaree dreams of for Sri Lanka ?

Anandasangaree goes on with his eulogy of India , «  ..A majority Hindu country has a great Muslim Scientist as Head of the State and treat him with due honour. ….Another highly respected leader is the Prime Minister of India from an ethnic group that forms only 2% of its population and the leader of the ruling Party who is a very highly respected lady is one, not born in India. This great neighbour of ours has found unity in diversity; why can’t we have powers devolved to our regions on the Indian pattern? “

But this has been made possible  by India having no divisive political parties  except in TamilNadu.  Sri Lanka could easily have the same possibilities if the Tamils come down from their  sacrosanct Tamilness and accept to be citizens of Sri Lanka  without having racist political parties for Tamils, such as the :

Anandasangaree should demand that these Political parties with the Tamil Label be banned and all citizens of Sri Lanka, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim  and others should join the two main political parties as in America, UK or France.  Then the country will select as President  the  leader of the political party  that has won the elections. It may be a Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay or Burgher.  For that to happen we need not be a country with a Federal Constitution, or a Constitution with that of India as a Model, but we should be a United Nation, without any Community demanding to be different from the rest of the Communities .

The rest of the letter need no reply as it is the repetition of the same ethnic problem, the Federalism against a Unitary system, and if allergic to Federalism requesting to opt  for the Indian Model.

Mr. Anandasangaree, you will soon be  eighty years of age. The future is short for you, but the past had been long. When the end is near we become more and more nostalgic about the past  and  forget the present and try to project the past into the future as a model for the present generation to emulate.  But the present generation has more wonderful things to do than you had been doing  through out that long past.  Therefore, do not try to make the past a model for  the future generations.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse who you knew as a young man has matured. He has shown to every right thinking man and woman  that of the many Heads of State of Sri Lanka we have had from the Prime Ministers to Presidents, President Mahinda Rajapakse stands out as the man who did the most to this country of ours within the short time he was given the reins of leadership. 

He had driven away the terrorists that were menacing the very existence of Sri Lanka as a Unitary State.  He has reconstructed North and East as no body had ever been able to do before.  He had brought the once poverty stricken South to an important centre of political and commercial activity.  He had built  roads and railways  as none had ever dreamt of doing before.  He has developed our country into a  middle income State.

But all those who criticize him despite all that  he has done for this country, has done nothing.   It is only Mahinda Rajapakse who has shown to every one of these critics what, a President with a vision , determination and effort could do, within the shortest possible time to turn a dream into a reality.

Therefore, Mr.Anandasangaree, Mahinda Rajapakse is not a “podiyen” who dropped from the last rain, and he knows what he is doing  and it is up to you to wish him well and  allow him to do what he wants to do in his own way.  From what he has done so far there is no reason to think that he will disappoint any one of us in the future.

All progressive work in Sri Lanka to develop  it economically, culturally, and socially  had been mostly the indifatigable effort of the Sinhala people .  While Sampanthan and the TNA, Anandasangaree, Kumar David, Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, DBS Jeyaraj et al make a hue and   cry about an ethnic problem and collect international awards, the Sinhala people are at work in the North-East South and West of Sri Lanka for the betterment of the people and development of the country.