History, MOUs, CFAs and all
If ever the nation of Sri Lanka stood united wherein all factions of
society whatever their opposing views came together to say NO – that was when
India forced Sri Lanka’s then President J R Jayewardena to sign the Indo-Lanka
Accord on July 29, 1987 threatening to invade Sri Lanka if it did not do so. The
SLFP, key members of the UNP, the nationalists, the JVP and even Prabhakaran
opposed it so much so that the signing of the Accord was done under emergency
with curfew and a gag on media and eventually led to the deaths of 70,000 JVP
youth who rose against it. When Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says that Sri Lanka should not sign anything to please India and that the threat to national security is a concern – the entire nation must pay heed. Unlike most he is a man who has delivered and a man who commands our respect because he has earned it by his actions and deeds. Sambathan may say he does not want to talk to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa because he is not the government but this same Sambanthan had no qualms about taking orders from the terrorist leader Prabhakaran and even went so far as to quote from Prabhakaran’s Mahavir Speech in Parliament which was opposed by JHU Ratana Thera. If our memories are not short we may well come up with numerous other instances of LTTE-TNA links that beckons Sambathan to respond to what makes Gotabhaya repulsive and Prabhakaran not! As a politician living off taxpayers money we demand him to answer. In our eyes we continue to equate the TNA with the LTTE and they have done or said nothing to change our opinion.
 Defence and Urban Development Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa |
The 13th Amendment was signed under duress, the concerns of the Supreme Court were ignored, and there was no people’s mandate. The first Provincial Council election in the merged North-East held in 1988 voted the EPRLF into power in which Varatharaja Perumal became the Chief Minister and Dayan Jayatillake was its ONLY Sinhala (Christian) member. It did not take two years for Perumal to declare an unilateral declaration of independence going so far as to even print letterheads to the effect. Then President Premadasa had to dissolve the Provincial Council and Perumal fled to India.
Solutions for WHOM?
The 13th Amendment was said to be a solution to the “ethnic problem” – that it provided no solution reveals the lack of any “ethnic” problem as well as the fact that it was never meant to solve anything for anyone in Sri Lanka.
Politicians have put the interests of the nation aside for political and personal gain and failed to do what is right by the wishes of the people vis a vis the 13th Amendment.
Where is this “ethnic” problem?
If there was a historical problem can we have evidence of such prior to arrival of the colonials? Even Elara the Tamil King followed the doctrines of the Dasa Raja Dharma and punished his own son for harming a cattle! Genetically the Sri Lankan Tamils are the same as the Tamil Nadu Tamils and have NO similarities with the Sinhalese.
Yet the Tamils who lived through history NEVER demanded a separate area to live separately from the Sinhalese! Let it also be known that the local Tamils teamed up with the Sinhalese kings during invasions by Tamils from Tamil Nadu.
 R Sambathan |
The civilization that developed from the Sinhalese is indigenous as shown in the new archaeological findings whereas the DNA of the Tamils is clearly matching with those Tamil invaders from Tamil Nadu which nullifies claims of any Tamil Homeland.
There was no animosity between the Sinhalese and the Tamils and much of the hype that revolves around two-three incidents were mostly planted and created and nothing that proportionately permits people to generalize. Again we say that the 1983 riots had no involvement of the Sinhalese public except organized goons of the UNP Government possibly with the involvement of foreign interlopers turning a situation from bad to worse for it met their agenda. It is time the Tamils come out and said how many Sinhalese saved them and kept and fed them in their homes.
When we say we do not trust the TNA parliamentarians there are valid reasons to say so. It was the TNA that claimed the LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamil people. The Tamil people did not come out and deny this? Always, the fear of the LTTE was used to maintain their silence. Now that the LTTE is no more why do the Tamils remain silent and why do they continue to vote for the TNA if the TNA was always voicing what the LTTE wanted and aligned itself with the LTTE.
There is enough of evidence in TNA manifestos to prove that they are working towards the separation of the country. When they specifically demand land and police powers are we so childish to think that they may not do what Varatharaja Perumal did in 1990 by declaring the North as independent. Our worries are far greater than 1990 because we are well aware that the TNA, the Tamil Diaspora and other institutions funded from abroad.
Let's think about those who played a key role as architects of various federal solution packages.
We now have foreign mission heads directly dealing with the provincial councils and striking MOUs – these are all dangerous scenarios. Whilst, President Premadasa packed off British envoy Gladstone, our foreign ministry is too diplomatic even to call for an explanation! If this be the case we can well imagine what other MOUs may come to our knowledge after the damage has been done and all we will end up doing is nothing.
Drafting packages
These ground realities are what moves us to be alert at all times – the very people presently bringing packages called “solutions” were instrumental in drafting packages that were craftily linked to dividing and separating Sri Lanka.
We do not accept the “reconciliation” gimmick. There can be no time bar scenario. Reconciliation must cover every crime that took place and not a period suitable to the West. Ideally it has to start from 1505 when the country was invaded.
 Parliament |
We do not accept the traditional homeland theme because there is no archeological or historical evidence to prove so. Moreover when more than 1/3 of the Tamil population as a whole live outside of the area being demarcated as exclusively Tamils it also ignores that these areas were populated by Sinhalese and Muslims too and moreover, there cannot be a federal system based on ethnicity when more Tamils live outside that enclave and have no desire to go and live up North.
We would also like to ask of Tamils who now complain about the quality of the facilities and the slow progress of the roads etc whether they would have made the same complaints to the LTTE and how far they enjoyed any luxury during the 30 years they lived under the LTTE. Therefore, let the Tamil people not forget that the North was left in such a decrepit condition not by the Sri Lankan government or the Sinhalese but because the LTTE did not do anything to develop the North or areas they controlled and destroyed whatever state infrastructure was in place – transformers and even railway tracks. Therefore, the Tamils need to show far more appreciation than they do currently which only a handful do.
How many LTTE members went so far as to build homes with their own hands as the Sri Lankan military personnel are now doing? The Sri Lanka military deserve far more accolades than they are getting for the tireless work they do.
Be that as it may the point in question is that whatever the TNA says, whatever links the TNA has had with the LTTE or continues to have with the LTTE representatives in the Tamil Diaspora – the Tamils would not vote for the government even if elections were held in the North.
The Defense Secretary leads the calls for the repeal of the 13th Amendment – it is based on solid evidence of the likely outcome and the nationalists of Sri Lanka who have all the while been alert to destabilizing operations taking place have made known their reservations clearly and objectively to the government.
The power of the Sangha should never be underestimated or ridiculed. Whatever said and done they have always played a key role in protecting the nation.
Sir John Kotelawala retired from politics after his embarrassing defeat when he undermined the power of the nationalists in 1956, J R Jayewardena never expected 70,000 Sinhalese youth to give up their lives for a cause, Chandrika Bandaranaike professed to do everything in her power to pass the regional councils but that fell flat on her face, the CFA was drafted to slowly carve out the West’s Eelam but that too crumbled into oblivion….. the dreams are kept alive through the 13th Amendment which is not India’s baby anymore because India’s future lies in the hands of a foreigner.
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