http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2012/04/15/main_Editorial.asp

Lord Naseby’s revelations, food for thought
In days gone by, it was the Tamil United
Liberation Front (TULF) which was in mainstream politics in the North and the
East, along with the two major national parties - the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
(SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP).
The emergence of Veluppillai Prabhakaran’s terrorist outfit, the LTTE, eroded
the chances for democracy in these two provinces. Former TULF leader T.
Amirthalingam and many Tamil leaders, scholars and moderate Tamil personalities
were brutally killed by Prabhakaran and his blood-thirsty Tigers in broad
daylight.
Following decades of terror, the Tigers invariably silenced democratic Tamil
leaders in the North as many armed groups emerged in the North in the ‘80s.
Tamil politicians, who reposed faith in democracy, had little or no choice but
to abandon their activities and remain taciturn, chiefly through fear for their
lives. The LTTE nullified the power of the ballot through the bullet.
Eventually, almost all Tamil leaders, except TULF leader T. Anandasangaree
and EPDP leader and Minister Douglas Devananda, formed a political party under
the patronage of the LTTE. The Tigers got all political parties in the North and
the East to come under one umbrella and this gave birth to a new party, the
Tamil National Alliance (TNA). It was more or less the democratic arm of the
LTTE as Prabhakaran remote-controlled it from his jungle hideout. All decisions
were taken by the LTTE leadership and its decisions foisted on TNA leaders who
were mere puppets.
The TNA leaders lived in mortal fear during the height of LTTE terror and did
not utter a word on the sufferings of Tamil civilians, but emerged from nowhere
after the Security Forces crushed terrorism and liberated over half a million
civilians from the clutches of LTTE terror.
After the LTTE annihilated all democratic political parties in the North and
the East, they claimed to be the sole representatives of the Tamils. In similar
vein, when the LTTE was crushed by the Security Forces militarily, the TNA
called themselves their saviour. Nevertheless, there are other prominent
political parties and leaders such as Ministers Douglas Devananda,
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, T. Anandasangaree and Chief
Minister of the East, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan.
The priority of the State is to ensure that communal politics are dispelled
from North-Eastern politics. As Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa quite
rightly pointed out recently, there is a vast number of voters in the Northern
Province who do not favour ethnic politics, TNA or any separatist-inclined
organisations engaged in ethnic politics over the past years.
After the Security Forces liberated the North and the East, a large number of
Northern voters was keen on participating in mainstream, non-communal politics.
As the Defence Secretary had said, these voters should be given a chance to
exercise their democratic right as leaders. These leaders should be given
political guidance by national level political parties, such as, the SLFP and
the UNP.
Only a microscopic segment of the elderly Tamil community approves TNA
politics as they had been brainwashed into believing a so-called separate State
by the LTTE. However, the majority of voters in the North are yearning for a new
and moderate political leadership from their own area. ‘Exporting’ political
representatives to those areas from the South will by no means fill that
political vacuum.
The SLFP and the UNP should allocate at least half of their national list
Members of Parliament to moderate social leaders in the North. This could be the
stepping stone for moderate Tamil leaders and youth to join mainstream,
non-communal national politics. If such an offer is made to leaders who are
socially accepted in the North until the next general election, a conducive
environment could be created for democratic politics in those areas. Else, the
TNA would continue to brainwash Tamil youth with the LTTE ideology.
TNA leader R. Sampanthan is now globe-trotting, dishing out concocted stories
to mislead the international community, that the Tamil community in Sri Lanka is
being discriminated. These sweeping statements are to woo international sympathy
and strengthen the TNA’s position after the LTTE was vanquished. Sampanthan is
backed by a section of the Tamil diaspora and front organisations of the now
defunct LTTE.
Tamils have, by no means, been discriminated in Sri Lanka as Sampanthan
alleges to gain petty political advantage. On the other hand, they could reach
the zenith in any field - be it political or otherwise. Tamils can now live in
peace in any part of the country. It was the unrelenting LTTE which got rid of
Sinhalese and Muslims in the North. The LTTE massacred and chased away Sinhalese
and Muslims from their traditional homelands in the North and the East. In this
scenario, it is crystal clear that it was really the Sinhalese and the Muslims
who had been discriminated against.
Lord Naseby, PC, Baron of Sandy and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary
Group on Sri Lanka debunked all such allegations. He said that the allegations
levelled by several Labour Party MPs in the UK that Tamils who return to Sri
Lanka from the UK are being harassed, persecuted and not allowed their rights,
were totally misleading.
After an extensive tour of Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission, Lord Naseby
took certain British media outlets to task for stating that Tamils who return to
Sri Lanka from the UK are being harassed, persecuted and denied their rights.
“This was totally wrong considering the ground reality in Sri Lanka,” he said.
Lord Naseby said that the UK has huge problems with the diaspora, especially
with the British Tamil Forum and Global Tamil Forum. The bogus money-raising
charities are still in place in the UK and this money is channelled to the Eelam
movement which is totally unacceptable.
The mechanism to meet the aspirations of all communities lies solely with
Parliament. All Sri Lankans, irrespective of caste, creed and religious
affiliations, should repose faith in the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee
in the true spirit of democracy, rather than relying on imported solutions and
being swayed by foreign influences.
Lord Naseby’s revelations, based on first-hand experience, are indeed food
for thought. The US and other countries in the West must see for themselves the
ground situation in the North before jumping to conclusions.