Sri Lanka Phobia an anxiety disorder from which David Cameron, Hugo Swire, David Milliband , Stephen Harper and others suffer.

Western Leaders with Sri Lanka Phobia

The symptom of Sri Lanka phobia which is common among the politicians in the West, is caused through  personal political ambitions. It comes from the presence of a large number of expatriates Tamils living in these Western countries. It makes the patients have a distorted view of human rights. They become blind to their own actions of violation of human rights, and war crimes.

Suffering from this phobia they commit  war crimes, torture, rape, impose  sanctions and trade embargoes that kill children  as in Iraq, they kill men, and women not in their own countries but in foreign countries. They incite  rebels of diverse mentalities against the governments in place in their own countries, by encouraging them giving them arms and ammunition , and sending military instructors.  They make criminals of governments,  and  make freedom fighters of criminals and terrorists. 

They turn to Sri Lanka to diffuse their guilt, and dump their sins on Sri Lanka for their redemption.  They cannot think of Sri Lanka without their  conscious clear of their own crimes. Then they begin to accuse Sri Lanka  inventing crimes it had not committed.

We have seen it happening in Bengazi in Libya, in Syria and now in Ukraine.  They use Napalm and various other gases, and drone attacks to disarm people who fight against them and kill innocent civilians without any human concern, because they are not their people but coloured strangers in foreign countries, just fodder for their cannons of strategic craze.

We see the symptoms Sri Lanka phobia- the anxiety disorder in the patients in their various actions.  For instance the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was held in Sri Lanka in November, 2013.  The Queen Elizabeth the Head of the Commonwealth was represented by Charles the Prince of Wales.  

Prince Charles and President Mahinda Rajapakse

CHOGM is the making of the United Kingdom in order to maintain  its relations with the British Colonies,  after they were given independence. Therefore it is an event of a greater importance to Great Britain. 

Sri Lanka as a member Nation of the Commonwealth is of significant  importance to the Commonwealth. Because it eliminated terrorism that lasted thirty years and despite the great loss of men,  material and a drained economy, had within less than five years  made a formidable financial, social and infrastructure development, raising the  living standard of the people to a remarkable level, and  showed its ability to organise and present the 23rd CHOGM in great splendour. 

Opening Ceremony 23rtd CHOGM

Sri Lanka one of the poorer members of  the Commonwealth should have been respected for the initiative it had taken, and treated as a model of development of an  independent British Colony, a pride to the Commonwealth of Nations.  David Cameron as the Prime Minister of  the lead Nation of the Commonwealth, should have been pleased to participate in the CHOGM. 

But unfortunately for David Cameron his psychiatric problem- the Sri Lanka phobia surfaced.  He instead of paying homage to a once British colony for its upholding of democratic principles introduced by the British, sought  to downgrade  Sri Lanka’s achievements, its exceptional progress and development, by making  use of his invitation to participate at the CHOGM to go to the North of Sri Lanka to investigate  whether Sri Lanka had violated human rights in the course of the elimination of terrorism, terrorism which know no human rights, and collateral damages in its elimination  an unavoidable loss, the cause of which is terrorism itself.

Abusing the Invitation to attend CHOGM Cameran goes north to find ways to accuse Sri Lanka the host country that invited him.

No mentally sound  politician from a developed Nation, among the Commonwealth of Nations , should have behaved  as David Cameron did in such a lowly  fashion without least respect to  the host nation.  There are times to do certain things and there are time when best not to do things.  David Cameron did not know to do the right thing at the right time.  He will stand out as the most un-British English politician of the recent past, at least in the memory of Sri Lanka. For British as Colonial rulers have committed most heinous crimes in Sri Lanka

David Cameron  was no doubt under pressure from the Tamil expatriates in UK who were holding the “ carrot of their votes”, for his next election victory. But for a right thinking British politician –a Prime Minster at that it was  not the right thing to do.  This inability to understand between what was right to do,  and what was not is symptomatic of a psychological deficiency.

Stephen Harper the Prime Minister of Canada falls into the same category or rather to a worse.  Canada is one of the developed Nations-development is now considered from a nations ability to devastate developing sovereign  Nations by bombardment, imposing trade sanctions, or withdraw from paying contributions to the Commonwealth of Nations.  

Harper and Cameron

Canada has turned out to be one of these developed Nations among some others in the Commonwealth, participating in bombardments along with NATO Forces devastating countries like Libya, Afghanistan , Iraq etc. Stephen Harper’s mental deficiency is far greater than even that of David Cameron.

David Cameron  attended the CHOGM abusing the invitation to insult Sri Lanka the host Nation, by visiting the North of Sri Lanka meeting all and sundry anti- Sri Lanka Government groups, and individuals including the Udayam Press- well know for its deformed news reporting.  Not so the Canadian Stephen Harper, he preferred to get information on Sri Lanka from the expatriate pro-terrorist Tamil Community in Canada expecting in return their votes for the trust he places on them. 

Stephen Harper’s boycott was the result of his principle  consideration  of assuring his political victory at the next Canadian election, which for him is more important than participating in the CHOGM in Sri Lanka.  His boycott of CHOGM in Sri Lanka was in no way a loss to the prestigious occasion, but he demonstrated his rank disrespect  not only to the people of Sri Lanka, but to all Commonwealth Nations who were present at the ceremony. 

For Stephen Harper to consider that his boycott would be a lesson to Sri Lanka to  refrain from violating human rights is not the  mindset of an intelligent man.  He is also dangerously ill  from Sri Lanka phobia which all the Western political leaders are now suffering from.  This phobia seems to be permanent until the political ambitions is lost.  Stephen Harper has violated the human rights of the aborigine Indians in all respect, leaving no room for them to rise ever again as a significant Community in Canada.  Could that be the contribution of a great political leader to its Nation? 

Then the other Sri Lanka phobic patient Hugo Swire the British Minister of State  Foreign and Commonwealth  Office is  a politician like Siobhain McDonagh the Labour MP , who jump to criticise the other Member States of the Commonwealth without the least knowledge of the atrocious history of British Colonial rules from which the former colonies like Sri Lanka still suffer. 

Swire says he is concerned, “ Let us take values first the Commonwealth Charter, agreed in 2012, is historic: the first ever declaration  of our common values in a single document.  But, frankly, implementation is patchy.?  We have real concern in Sri Lanka, the Commonwealth’s Chair in office, where there has been very little progress in investigating  the terrible atrocities in the civil war that ended five years ago.”   

Hugo Swire

Swire and the British Labour and Conservative Politicians should stop looking at  Sri Lanka through the wrong side of the telescope.  There is every reason for them to be happy that it is Sri Lanka that  upholds Commonwealth values when Britain and Canada are regressing from  being the upholders of those values.  Swire’s rhetoric of Commonwealth values do not match to  what Britain is doing abroad following in the footsteps of America. 

The Commonwealth  values apart,  is Great Britain a safe place to those who are different from the white British ?

Even the streets of Great Britain are not safe to  those British whose skin colour is different. It is not uncommon  that a coloured man  in Britain would be accosted, humiliated  or even murdered. 

 

Late Thavisha Lakindu Peiris

It was the case of  Sri Lankan Thavisha Lakindu Peiris, who came to Britain to complete his university education and try to build a better life. Instead, he was stabbed to death in a senseless and brutal attack, in Sheffield.  “ The 25-year-old, described by his family as a ‘gentle boy’, was found slumped over the wheel of his car after the vicious attack on Sunday night. A small amount of cash was found on him and police have yet to discover a motive for the crime.”

Then again, “Nilanthan became the 50th young person to be murdered on London's streets since the start of 2007 after he was stabbed in the neck, police said. Nilanthan Moorthy and some of his friends were gathered outside a party when a man in the back of a minicab, who was having an exchange of words with the driver, turned his attention on the group. The white man in his 30s started shouting 'You f****** Indians, you f****** P***s' before being driven away, his friends claimed.

Late Nilanthan Moorthy

But he came back and stabbed Nilanthan in the neck at 1am in Croydon, South London, The Sun reported. Nilanthan later died in hospital at 4.30am on Sunday morning.”

“More than 70 youngsters died at the hands of gangs in Britain in 2008. In London, 26

were stabbed to death. More than 170 gangs, with members as young as ten have been

identified by police in London alone. Many are loose affiliations of friends from the same

area intent on controlling a 'turf' or territory, often defined by a post code. the penalty

for straying into the wrong area is to be robbed, beaten or stabbed. Many teenagers

now routinely carry a knife out of fear, in order to defend themselves if attacked.

Experts blame the breakdown of family life for the rise of gang culture. the gang has

replaced the family unit and provides youngsters with a structure and a sense of

belonging which generates the 'post code pride' which leads to murder. ”

( http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/socsci/topbib/gang/knifecrime.pdf)

While Hugo Swire is occupying action against Sri Lanka, unknown to him there are many things happening in UK itself, which are far from the Commonwealth Values he speaks of with pride.  In reality it is with UK that Hugo Swire should be concerned  about and not Sri Lanka.

He should put into action his thoughts about the Commonwealth, “The Commonwealth remains an extraordinary organisation. It creates friendships and partnerships in places that would otherwise not exist.”

Swire is contaminated  with the Sri Lanka phobia which seems to be taking  an epidemic proportion.  Swire too seems to depend on  expatriate Tamil votes for a Conservative Party’s return to office  at the next elections to  remain in Parliament, and therefore continues to pander to the expatriate Tamils in UK.  He has recently met with some NGOs to discuss follow up action after the UNHRC Resolution against Sri Lanka

Swire meets NGOs

 The British were once spoken of as  a fair, just, polite, well mannered, people. But they have lost that credence making it only a myth with the emergence of politicians  like Cameron, Milliband, Swire etc. They are acutely affected by Sri Lanka phobia.

Milliband

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, too has caught the phobia and  said, “ As host of the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and current Chair in Office, Sri Lanka has a duty to take meaningful action on human rights, political reconciliation and accountability. However, Sri Lanka has failed to realize progress on any of these issues. ” 

John Baird Canadian Foreign Minister

But Sri Lanka is doing nothing other than help the communities and develop the country to make every one from all communities benefit from the progress he is striving hard to make.

These Phobic Western politicians cannot stand that the President of Sri Lanka is doing so well;  in reality much better than them, having eliminated terrorism, he is developing the country  bringing  it to the level of a medium income country, and organising a lavish ceremonial opening of the 23^rd CHOGM. They wanted to overshadow the event with their accusations and show of concerns of the violation of human rights. 

CHOGM 23 a Festive Occasion

President of Sri Lanka has a more ambitious programme for the Commonwealth for which he had selected the theme, “ Growth with equity: Inclusive Development.”  

President Mahinda Rajapakse holds the Chair for two years.

While Britain the lead Nation and Canada accuse and propose sanctions and punishments to a fellow Commonwealth Nation, the President of Sri Lanka holding the Chair of the CHOGM for the next two years said in his opening speech, “We believe that this theme has broad relevance to the larger Commonwealth, and highlights the importance of equity in economic development, particularly in view of the existing disparities in the  distribution of wealth, and economic benefits. Inclusive development promotes progress and contributes towards achieving Millennium Development Goals.”

It is not surprising that  the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had said, “Canada believes that if the Commonwealth is to remain relevant, it must stand in defence of the basic principles of freedom, democracy and respect for human dignity, which are the very foundations upon which the Commonwealth was built,", has now announced withdrawal of funding to the Commonwealth of Nations.  Where are his principles ?  He does not know what he is doing, his phobia is taking  a more serious turn.

When the leaders are ill their followers too fall ill. It is a show of  affinity. These second grade politicians have a problem of thinking for themselves, therefore they depend on others to tell them what they should do.  Recently a well known Sri Lanka Cricketer  Muttiah Muralitharan who has set up a Community Development Project in Sri Lanka called the Foundation of Goodness, had invited  a group of Labour and Tory MP’s to visit Sri Lanka for an all cost covered tour of Sri Lanka.

Cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan conducts a Bowling training session

But their Sri Lanka phobia is such that they refused the invitation, perhaps for the fear of having to change  the distorted image of Sri Lanka that had been drilled into their minds by the expatriate Tamils in UK. 

Sharon Hodgson

This is what Sharon Hodgson a Labour Party MP who was one of those invited said, “I have a long-standing interest in seeking justice for those who have been the victim of war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, and was a co-signatory to a letter in 2010 calling for an independent, international inquiry into them.

“I was, therefore, delighted when the UN resolved to do just that last month. However, when comments from the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister earlier this week were brought to my attention, indicating that the Government would refuse to co-operate with such an inquiry, I took advice from colleagues and decided to withdraw from the delegation.”  That was because a Senior Labour front bencher had told her that the “visit would be toocontroversial in light of the UN Inquiry.” 

Are these intelligent British Politicians ?  They are of course Christians and therefore  follow to the letter what Christ told Thomas, “ Blessed are those who believe without seeing.”

The worst affected from the phobia is of course America, because they want a scapegoat to hide behind to shed  their skin of sin infected with worst crimes that they have committed in the centres of conflict they had created in the world, starting from America, to Chile, Vietnam to Japan, Europe  to Africa, Iran to Syria, and now in  Ukraine. 

conspiring duo

But still America thinks it has  a high standard of moral sense and goes round accusing all and sundry for Violation of Human rights and war crimes when they are the worst perpetrators in the world today of  violation of human rights and war crimes.  America has become a State of terrorism. Neither China nor Russia has shown an intention for world power, but America nudges and provokes China and Russia. America and its European allies have taken to vilify Russia, supporting  the extreme rightist Ukranian groups in Ukraine.

Discussing to Isolate Russia

USA resolution against Sri Lanka is incomprehensible as it is USA that should be called for accountability, not Sri Lanka.

In 1960s USA  requested great Britain to allow them to use an Island in the Indian Ocean for an American Army base.  UK promptly offered the Island Diego Garcia.  As America wanted the inhabitants of the Island, and in the Islands around removed, The Government of Great Britain removed more than 2000 inhabitants of the Islands who had been living there for over 200 years, and allowed the USA to set up their Army Base. The Natives of Diego Garcia the Chagossians  were dumped in the slums of Mauritius.

Following is the rest of the Story:

A chagossian in Diago Garcia before they were removed to Mauritius

“ Before the Americans came, more than 2,000 people lived on the islands in the Indian Ocean, many with roots back to the late 18th century. There were thriving villages, a school, a hospital, a church, a railway and an undisturbed way of life. The islands were, and still are, a British crown colony. In the 1960s, the government of Harold Wilson struck a secret deal with the United States to hand over the main island of Diego Garcia. The Americans demanded that the surrounding islands be "swept" and "sanitized". Unknown to Parliament and to the US Congress and in breach of the United Nations Charter, the British Government plotted with Washington to expel the entire population.

After demonstrating on the streets of Mauritius in 1982, the exiled islanders were given the derisory compensation of less than £3,000 per person by the British government. In the film, former inhabitants Rita Bancoult and Charlesia Alexis tell of how, in accepting the money, they were tricked into signing away their right to return home: "It was entirely improper, unethical, dictatorial to have the Chagossian put their thumbprint on an English legal, drafted document, where the Chagossian, who doesn’t read, know or speak any English, let alone any legal English, is made to renounce basically all his rights as a human being.” (http://johnpilger.com/videos/stealing-a-nation)

Where is Navi Pillai the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ? Is this most inhuman crime against  a whole people- the Chagossians, not a crime against humanity for which both UK and USA is responsible ?   Isn’t it a colossal violation of human rights of a people for which Barack Obama and David Cameron should be taken before an International Tribunal ?

There is also unconfirmed information floating in the internet that the Malasian Aircraft flight Number MH370 has probably been hijacked by the CIA and flown to Diego Garcia.

Malaysian Aircraft Flight number MH370

“ One person who has been all over this "missing" aircraft from the very beginning has been "Jim Stone" who writes the fabulous website: Jim Stone Freelance Journalist, at www.jimstonefreelance.com.   And now, Jim Stone may have broken the entire "missing" Malaysian flight MH370 controversy right out of the water... For according to his latest post at his site, which I have the link to right here, it seems that at least one of the passengers survived the flight to Diego Garcia and was able to fire off one message from his captivity on that island. …..”

(http://northerntruthseeker.blogspot.fr/2014/03/did-malaysian-flight-mh370-land-at.html )

Navi Pillai’s psychological problem comes from elsewhere. It is another aspect of the Sri Lanka phobia. She is a Tamil and having suffered under apartheid, she  would have been delighted that a Tamil Terrorist Leader had sprung in Sri Lanka, to challenge a “Sinhala” Government, which in her mind she would have compared to apartheid Regime of South Africa. 

Navi Pillai

Hence it is revenge  for the elimination of her Tamil heroes that Navi Pillai is preparing an International probe into the Sri Lanka’s military operations against terrorism to bring Sri Lanka before a International tribunal.  Sri Lanka needs no such investigation as  Sri Lanka carried out a normal military function to rid itself of terrorism, which any country in such a situation would have done.

Moreover if the Tamil politicians and the Civilians had helped Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces initially,  the terrorism could have been nipped in the bud without prolonging it for thirty long years.  But, if  even after that disaster, the Tamil politicians and the Tamil civilians refuse to cooperate with the government and its Armed Forces, there would be another terrorism  leaving another generations to suffer, until another President like Mahinda Rajapakse is born again.

G.G.Ponnambalam and Chelvanayagam

Let us also hope that there would not be another, G.G.Ponnambalams, Chelvanayagams or Perumals with separatist ideology to push Sri Lanka into an unsurmountable precipice  of disaster, and be bothered by interfering phobic Western politicians.

Mahinda Rajapakse and Executive Presidency.

The expatriate pro terrorist Tamils call Mahinda Rajapakse a dictator.  These Tamils who have no sense of patriotism, keen more on dividing the country of their birth (or that of their parents), lack a proper sense of the use of  definitions.  They call the military operations against the Tamil terrorists in Sri Lanka  a genocide. 

They pay millions of Dollars to UK Channel 4 to produce fake  films to prove  Sri Lanka carried out a genocide warfare against Tamils, tortured and brutally shot Tamils at point blank range, in other words they try to make out  Mahinda Rajapakse was a terrorist and Prabhakaran a man of peace.  USA , the West and Navi Pillai buy the story lock stock and barrel and passed a resolution against Sri Lanka  at the UNHRC in Geneva for violation of human rights and accountability.

These expatriate Tamils in foreign countries  say, that  the Sri Lanka Armed Forces that rescued 300,000 Tamils kept by the terrorists as a human shield to save their own lives,  committed war crimes in the course of the  elimination of terrorism. When Sri Lanka where they were born is  their motherland to which they have a claim of belonging , they want to separate it to have their own Tamil Homeland. David Cameron now bent on making Ukraine another Syria, lets himself  be led by the  nose by these expatriate Tamils to destabilise, and help  divide Sri Lanka merely to please the Tamils living in UK in order to win over their votes to assure his next election victory.

In the meantime local anti President pandits concoct more stories to make the President fall from popularity so that they could replace him  on the Presidential Chair. Maduluwave Sobhita thero is one such old fox eyeing at  being  the common candidate of the opposition parties at  the next Presidential election. He wants to have the Executive Presidency abolished.

The Executive Presidency is not the making of the President Mahinda Rajapakse.  It was  a UNP President who created it and made use of it even to introduce the  13 Amendment into the Constitution.   Abuses of the executive powers  had been seen during the period of  JR Jayawardhana and R.Premadasa, both of them from the UNP.  But the subsequent Presidents had not misused executive powers.   Even the President Chandrika Bandaranaike did not misuse the executive powers even though she used it in three occasions. 

About the Executive Presidency it has been written, “ Hence, the major objective of Constitution of 1978 has been to create stable, strong and independent executive. It was expected that such a strong presidency would guide to development as he can work independently of legislature which has to be responsive to the political strife’s of society. However, many have questioned the achievements of objectives based on experience (Warnapala 1993). It has argued that it has contributed to root a constitutional dictatorship and political instability rather than development of the country. ……..His argument was that such a high powered post is suited for developing country like Sri Lanka more than any form of government. His main argument is based on inability of a nominal head of a state to intervene into political disputes which lead to political instability which impede development (Wijemanne 1996)  ”.

 (http://www.hss.ruh.ac.lk/ejournal/publications/executive_presidency.pdf)

President Mahinda Rajpakse falls into a special category as he was the President who took over the office with the determination to eliminate terrorism, and succeeded in doing so.  He had to take many decisions without going through Parliamentary and Administrative procedures, and for that the executive powers were useful.  But he never used those executive  powers of his office  for the detriment of the Country, or cause hardship to the people who elected him. 

The considerable work that has been accomplished under President Mahinda Rajapakse  has now,  after all perils and obstructions the people had  to lead  normal lives have been removed  and the country is seeing an unprecedented social, economic, industrial, agricultural and infrastructure development, become the time for criticism and unqualified accusations levelled at the President and his government. 

A hue and cry is  being raised about  corruption of   the present government, as if it has been invented by it. Those critics feign that  the previous governments were free of corruption.  Yet it is not unknown that the previous governments had even sold  enterprises , factories,  Trade and business establishments far below their value to private  individuals and companies, and corruption was rampant.

The cry of corruption against  the present government is far  greater in proportion to the evident development that had taken place and stand as witness to the Government’s considerable contribution for the development of the country and ushering  in prosperity for the people.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse knows, as much as the majority of the people of Sri Lanka that the change of Presidency of Sri Lanka now would hinder the present pace of development and the country may go backwards, instead of going  forward.

Under President Mahinda Rajapakse  Sri Lanka has established a  greater number of  diplomatic relations with other countries than the previous governments, which  relied mostly on relations with the Western Countries.  Sri Lanka in making new diplomatic relations, without completely cutting itself away from the West, is thus forging  a neutral foreign policy.

Therefore, if he is  assured of  the possibility of  a further extension of his Presidential Office, it would be in the interest of the country, and its people. 

In that respect the 18^th Amendment is essential for the country's continued development.  Though the President and his brothers who occupy important positions in the parliament and in the administration, are subjected to unfair and unsubstantiated criticism of personal enrichment, their contribution towards the security  of the country and the people, development, and beautification  of Sri Lanka cannot be contested.

The Executive Presidency of Mahinda Rajapakse has not been one of concern as the President Mahinda Rajapakse has shown that he is not a President who precipitates into action.  But he is quite capable of evaluating pros and cons of an issue before taking action. His critics and enemies are many but he wades his way through them without hatred, harsh words, and arrogance.

President Mahinda Rajapakse could have used  executive powers of his Presidency in numerous occasions for instance in the application of the 6^th  Amendment though he had refrained from doing so.  He  had shown that he would use executive powers when necessary for the benefit of the country, but not  merely to impose the privilege of his office.  After elimination of terrorism the President Mahinda  Rajapakse has continued the development process of the country which had been neglected for nearly three decades. He had to face obstructions not only from those within the country, but from those  outside as well. 

It has become more than evident from recent events that have taken place, that terrorism is not altogether over within Sri Lanka.  It is therefore reasonable to assume that short of a vigilant presence of the Armed Forces in the North and East terrorism has the likelihood of  raising its head again.  Even if the people in the North had not voted for the Government at the PC elections the Tamil people are willing to cooperate with the Armed Forces if it is to eliminate the possibility of a resurgence of terrorism.

“……It is in this context that news of the LTTE revivalists being killed and the potential tiger renaissance being crushed was received positively by the Sri Lankan people in the Island and abroad. The Tamil people of the North who found normalcy disrupted for many weeks due to the intensive security efforts made to meet the fresh challenge were able to usher in the “Sithiraip Puthaandu” (April New Year)on a joyful note. Many Tamils in the north had cooperated with the armed forces in the campaign against an LTTE revival as the ordinary Tamil civilian knew the horrible consequences for the community had the LTTE emerged again in Sri Lanka….” (http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/29501)

This is one reason why Executive Presidency should not be abolished yet.  In an emergency when the security of the country and the people is at stake, an Executive President could take action without waiting to obtain the sanction of the Cabinet and the Parliament.

Even if the Executive Presidency is to be abolished, it cannot be done overnight as it means re writing a new Constitution, or amending the  Constitution according to Parliamentary procedures.

In the mean time Maduluwawe Sobhita Thera  wearing the saffron robe should instead of dabbling in politics  turn to Buddha Sasana, which needs immediate reforms.  He should try to help the formation of disciplined Bikkhus, who devote time for their mental development, learn the teachings of the Buddha and lead a true life as  Buddhist monks .  Today one hears of monks turning to  criminality, stepping out of their monastic vocation to lead lay lives seeking employment, demanding driving licences, without abandoning their saffron robes.

The people of Sri Lanka should be grateful  that they have a President with brothers to help him to make Sri Lanka a safe place for everyone to live in peace.

Never Say No

Wall painting of Dutugemunu- Elara war from Dambulla Temple

Never say No,  is a streak of the character of the Sri Lankans, from the President to the ordinary peasant in a Sri Lanka village.  They never give up hope.  It was seen recently with the Sri Lanka Cricket team winning the T20 world Cup.  Within them was the  flickering spark of hope because of which despite several losses they would Never say No.

When the vote of the Tamils at  the north PC elections, despite all that the government with its Armed Forces did to rescue them from the inhuman lives they lived under terrorism, was likely to be for the remnants of the terrorists the TNA, the President  never wanting to say no to the Tamil people to have their freedom of choice in a democratic election what ever the outcome  would be, called for PC elections in the  North.

The vote was as expected to the anti government TNA, but yet there was the hope that an educated man who had been a judge by profession would as the Chief Minister of the NPC  see the wisdom of  reconciling the Tamils with the rest of the Communities to make one Nation of Sri Lankans.  But yet it was not to be, the Chief Minister Wignesvaran chose the separatist camp of the  Tamil terrorists. The President and the rest of the people were disappointed, still they would never say no, for things could still change tomorrow. The change has to come from the Tamils, and the Muslims, as the ground for reconciliation had been laid by the Government.

There is at last a gleam of hope of the changing mentality of more intelligent Tamils. “Nearly five years after the extraordinary defeat of the LTTE, the Tamils in Sri Lanka and overseas are taking a tough stand against the LTTE. Tired of intimidation, assault and killings, ordinary Tamil civilians are beginning to fight back. One such leader is Rajan Mahavalirajan from Canada who is tired of racist Tamil politicians filled with hate and the LTTE remnants. These respectable men and women want to purge the LTTE from their society and community and get on with their lives”, writes Camelia Nathaniel  in “ LTTE Faces Canadian Challenge”        ( Sunday Leader 20 April, 2014).

247 years before the West invented their religious faith,  Sri Lanka was the land of the Sinhala people ruled by Kind Devanam Piyatissa, from the seat of his Kingdom in  Anuradhapura. The great King Asoka of India sent his son Venerable Arahat  Mahinda Maha Thera to meet his friend the King Devanam Piyatissa and offer him and his people the teachings of the Buddha.  The King Devanam Piyatissa accepted the teachings and in appreciation offered  the Land of Sri Lanka of which he was the sole ruler to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.

Years passed and the prosperous  and peaceful Sri Lanka attracted the attention of the thieves and marauders from South India, and Anuradhapura that was once the seat of the King Devanam Piyatissa , after many invasions  and wars  was occupied by Sena and Guttika two horse dealers who set up a  kingdom of their own in Anuradhapura. Later a Chola Prince Elara invaded Anuradhapura unseated Sena and Guttika and set up his Kingdom in Anuradhapura , while the South of Sri Lanka continued to be ruled by Sinhala Kings. The hope of the Sinhala to bring the whole  country under their own rule remained alive.

In the South lived a young Sinhala Prince, who hoped one day to  re-establish the Sinhala Kingdom in the whole of the Island and bring lasting peace. King Elara had a strong Army and  the Sinhala Kings feared to take arms against him. In the year 161 before the West invented their faith, this young prince Dutugemunu from the South against all warnings waged a  war and  defeated  King Elara and brought the whole of Sri Lanka under his rule.  The impossible was done  because the Sinhala never said no.

The Sinhala rulers thereafter became weak and internal fighting made the country come under the rule of the  conquerors from the west. Finally the British who colonised the country  introduced Indian labour and in order to keep the Sinhala Majority weak and  dependent recognised Tamils as a  Community extending to them special favours sidelining the Sinhala majority, until after independence of Sri Lanka from the British colonial rule, the small population of Tamils  began demanding equal rights along with the Sinhala majority.

Thereafter, the   governments through  democratic system of elections came to be set up by the Sinhala by reason of their majority.  This became a bone of contention over which the Tamils disputed the right of the governments set up by the majority of the people, who were Sinhala. They even began to question the right of the Sinhala people to be the majority claiming that Tamils had been there even  before the Sinhala, some of them even took to rewriting the history of Sri Lanka.

However circumstances kept on changing until conceived by our close neighbour India now a far cry from what it was under King Asoka, a group of Tamil youth from the north of Sri Lanka was trained in terrorism and released in the North in 1980s making them kill in cold blood 13 Sinhala Policemen, expecting a backlash from the South in order to  have the India trained group of Tamil youth  officially recognised as terrorists.

The back lash as it was expected by the Indian secret service  who trained the terrorist group caused a venomous riot which saw the exodus of large number of Tamils from the north to foreign countries as refugees.  

In the mean time terrorism was continuing with many facetted development.  The Tamils who left  Sri Lanka settled down in different foreign countries as wage earning refugees. At the behest of the terrorists in Sri Lanka  pro-terrorist militant groups amoung these migrant Tamils formed into Terrorist Front Organisations and collected funds to help terrorism in Sri Lanka which had as its aim the setting up of a  separate Tamil State . 

Terrorism continued for decades and  the small group that was trained  by India and sent to Sri Lanka became a considerable terrorist force.  The Sri Lanka army was no match to the terrorists who had by then procured most modern military equipment. Sri Lanka Army was helpless and no government  since 1983 onwards  was neither able to fight against terrorism, nor come to a peace settlement, as the terrorists were persistent in their demand for a separate  Tamil State- a Tamil Homeland.   

Situation was hopeless, all Western Governments on which the Government of Sri Lanka was dependent did not step into help, but seemed on the other hand  bent on helping the terrorists  to have their way . They demanded that the Governments of Sri Lanka should find a political solution to settle the ongoing terrorism. The governments’ demand for peace negotiations ended up with the representatives of the terrorists walking away from  negotiations.

JR Jayawardhane offered to make Prabhakaran the Chief Administrator of the North and Eastern Provinces. Ranasinghe Premadasa presented Prabhakaran with  power sharing offering him arms and money. In 1994 President Chandrika Kumaratunga offered to Prabhakaran the terrorist leader the entire  Northern Province for ten years without elections. Even after Prabhakaran’s attempt to assassinate Chandrika Kumaratunga in  December 1999, she generously offered  Prabhakaran Regional Councils.  All these offers wer rejected by Prabhakaran.  Then in 2002 Ranil Wickramasinghe  signed a Cease Fire Agreement with Prabhakaran giving the terrorists the control of  some of the areas occupied by them.  But Prabhakaran made use of the CFA to build his terrorist Armed Force, in order to set up a separate Tamil State by force.

The Sinhala people would never say no. There was some where in the deep south of Sri Lanka where King Dutugemunu  who also never said no had once come from to defeat the powerful King Elara, a man  who would never say No, and was determined to defeat terrorism.

He would not offer the North to Prabhakaran, nor give him arms or money, or give him Regional Councils, but would meet him face to face to negotiate a peace settlement.  He was Mahind Rajapakse a man from a remote village in Beliatta in the heart of the South.  He was elected the President of Sri Lanka in 2005. 

Mahinda Rajapakse was a determined man who had vowed to  settle the twenty five years  old terrorism peacefully if possible or militarily if not.  Everyone who knew the strength of the Terrorist Force and the weakness of the Government Armed Forces, thought that Mahinda Rajapakse was no match to the terrorist leader the Mahavir Prabhakaran.   But Mahinda Rajapakse did not take no for an answer- Never say No is the spirit of which he is made.

He made no concessions to Prabhakaran, he knew what he was going to do and knew that he would come out of it the winner.  Victory over terrorism, cannot be put to “chance”.  Mahinda Rajapakse meticulously organised the method to end the  now nearly three decades of terrorism, which many Presidents before him with experienced Army Commanders  had failed to achieve.  

He not only eliminated terrorism but also ordered  his Armed Forces to evacuate 300,000 Tamil civilians into safety.  He got the Armed Forces to organise camps to temporarily accommodate the evacuees. He got these IDPs resettled within three and a half years after elimination of terrorism, after progressive demining of lands in the North. Thus he brought civilisation back to the North and East after three decades of  terrorism.  Not wanting to leave things half done, he allowed democratic PC elections in the North and the East.

TNA says that because they won the PC elections the Tamil people are 100 percent behind them and was boastful of the command they think they hold over the Tamil people.  When the Sri Lanka Air Force wanted to use precise bombing to avoid collateral damage to persons and property, the Air Force had to depend on Tamil people to provide them “information”, and it was with such collected intelligence that the Air Force targeted a residential complex where TamilSelvam was meeting  with the  members of the LTTE, which marked the beginning of the end of terrorism.  The ordinary Tamil people trusted the Sri lanka Armed Forces.

Recently when the Armed Forces were searching for Sundaralingam Kajeepan alias Thevihan, who was involved in aerial attacks on Anuradhapura Air Base and Kollonnawa Petroleum Storage in year 2007, Selvanayagam Kajeepan alias Gobi, and Navarathnam Navaneethan alias Appan, it was on the information received from the Tamil people, who may even have voted for the TNA Candidates, that the Armed Forces successfully conducted the search operations in Nedunkerni in Vavuniya and killed the three terrorists.

The ordinary Tamil people who suffered under terrorism will continue to help the Sri Lanka Armed Forces  to which they fearlessly turned to be  evacuated from the deathly terrorists.  Hence the USA and the West should take into consideration that all the ploy about violation of human rights and war crimes at the last phase of military operations by the Armed Forces is  made up by the Tamil Politicians and the Tamils of the diaspora who did not know what it would have been to be under the terrorists for nearly three decades.

It is not possible to blame all Tamil people for the vicious political ambition of a few  who tries to  dominate the Tamil people.  We could still harbour the fervent hope that at least  a section of the Tamil population in the North would soon change its attitude towards the Sinhala, and that the  reconciliation would become  a reality.  The President Mahinda Rajapakse, too has still not given up hope that the  Tamils will eventually reconcile with the Sinhala to make the freedom and peace  which he had won for them after thirty years of suffering meaningful.

It is unfortunate that the Tamils in the North have turned  their backs to the President Mahinda Rajapakse without any show of gratitude for  all that he had done for them to be emancipated into an independent free thinking Community divested of suffering under the terrorists who treated them no better than animals driving them hither and thither to keep them as human shield to save their own skins.  Never say no is a streak of the character of the Sinhala.