Sri Lanka: A replyto Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke

Sun Mar 16 17:54:54 UTC 2008

  OPINION: A Reply to Bernard Goonetilleke
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*By Dr. K. Anparasu. *

Despite the biblical injunction not to answer fools, an exception can be
made for you Mr. Ambassador. You may deny it for all you are worth, the
Tamils of Sri Lanka comprise a nation. There is ample evidence to show that
the Tamils have lived in the island for centuries. The Tamils have preserved
a language, religion and culture with which they are identified. It is a
fact of history that there are two nations in the island – the Tamils and
the Sinhalese.

SWRD Bandaranaike has to bear the brunt for the deterioration of relations
between the two peoples. His attempt to ram the Sinhala language down the
throats of the Tamil people evoked the strongest resentment. This has a
direct impact on the integrity of the island and its bifurcation. The
collapse of law and order begins with him. He is the progenitor of the
series of anti- Tamil riots and pogroms which started with his infamous
Sinhala Only Act of 1956. The riots of 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1977, 1979,
1981, 1983, resulted in the destruction of Tamil lives and property. Can you
think of another South Asian country with a record like this? Can you blame
the Tamil people for their urge to be free of the Sinhala yoke at any cost?

The Banaranaikes are the initiators of the state policies which precipitated
and aggravated the island conflict.Language, anti-Tamil riots, colonization
of Tamil lands, unleashing the military and the police on unarmed
citizens   and
standardization of marks. Standardization is the euphemism for adding points
to Sinhalese examination grades. You are the only person in living memory to
justify this evil. That Tamil students benefited from standardization is a
blatant lie. Standardization is a nefarious education policy loaded against
the Tamils.

The so-called father of the nation, D.S. Senanayaike, the first Prime
Minister is the worst culprit. He disenfranchised a sizeable section of the
Tamil people and started his policy of settling Sinhala colonists in Tamil
lands calling it dry zone development. There is no let up, colonization is
still going on with military patronage. Colonization is a wedge in Sinhala
hands for parceling Tamils into isolated villages for eventual annihilation.

You talk of Sri Lanka as a democracy. It is an ethnocracy fast descending
into a theocracy. Sinhala Buddhist priests hold the whip handle and of
recent date they have set foot in the Parliament also. The constitution of
1978 has given expression to Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalism by giving the
"foremost place to Buddhism". What is more the priests and the all Sinhala
military are busy installing Buddha statues in the Tamil and Muslim lands of
the North and the East. What type of democracy is this? What permeates the
Sinhala consciousness is the pervasive belief that the Buddha bequeathed Sri
Lanka exclusively to the Sinhalese people as their home and the home of
Buddhism. This belief is set out clearly in Chapter 6 of the Mahavamsa.

We will come to the business of official languages. Tamil is an official
language in name only. The 13th Amendment to the constitution adopted in
1987 declared Tamil as the other official language. The Amendment itself is
as dead as the Dodo though some attempts are made to revitalize it. Twenty
years after Tamil was so enshrined the constitution guarantee of language
parity is not implemented. In government offices, hospitals, police
stations, and courts of law Tamil language has no official status. In
government administered institutions from the highest to the lowest levels
including Parliament down to the local councils including the grass root
Grama Sevaka level Tamil is observed in the breach.

  Can you digest this instance of a callous disregard of the Tamil people's
language rights? Nuwara Eliya district with an 80% Tamil population has the
largest concentration of Tamils outside the North-East. It does not have a
single Tamil Administrative officer. The posts f District Secretary,
Additional District Secretary, Assistant District Secretary are held by
Sinhalese. All five Regional Secretaries and their assistants are also
Sinhalese. It is the same with Hatton, Diekoya and Talawakelle where a large
concentration of Tamils are found. Even the electoral lists on the basis of
which parliamentary elections are held in these districts are in Sinhala
only.

Mr. Ambassador you have a big faith in the Sri Lankan judiciary. The Tamils
have lost that faith long ago. The Sri Lanka Judiciary is part and parcel of
the Sinhala monolith. If it grants justice to the Tamils occasionally it is
a deviation. The landmark case of the eviction of Tamil lodgers in Colombo
is a rare instance where the Supreme Court has driven to mete out justice
because the international community was appalled at this violation of human
rights. When the Tamils of Muthur East filed a judicial application in the
same court for the restoration of their lands seized by the Sinhala
military, what did this institution do? They refused to entertain this
application on the grounds "that it is an emotional issue". It is clear that
the Supreme Court is on the side of the military. The courts show a marked
reluctance to decide against the military or the police.

Have you heard of the Bindinuwewa rehabilitation centre massacre of October
25, 2000? More than 27 young Tamil detainees of this centre were killed by
Sinhala thugs ably assisted by the Sinhala police. 41 persons were charged
with murder. Gradually all had been released by the courts on the grounds of
lack of evidence. The last 4 accused were released by the Supreme Court on
27 May 2005 on the same grounds of lack of evidence. The Sri Lankan system
of justice gives immunity to offenders in police or military uniform. This
has occurred umpteen times with an occasional deviation from the norm.

You say that Tamils are living in safety and peace among the Sinhalese. That
is a cliché handed out by the government propaganda machine. Those who can
afford it have fled the country and that applies to Muslims and even
affluent Sinhalese. Do you know that an extortion gang is operating in
Colombo with the blessings of the triumvirate led by the President himself?
Have you heard about the death squads roaming the streets in so-called white
motor vans for abducting innocent Tamils? The abductions, disappearances and
unsolved murder rate in the city is a crying shame. The Tamils of Colombo
have no choice, if they get the chance they will sell their property and
seek safety in distant lands.

  Sri Lankan is a basket case. It is a failed state. It is Sinhala mob rule
and every facet of life is dominated by ethnicity. The underlying root of
the conflict in Sri Lanka is the Tamil perception that they had been denied
their rightful place right from the days of independence. The Tamil struggle
for self-determination boils down to egalitarianism, justice, honour,
democracy, pluralism, human rights and dignity. You may wonder why
separatism refuses to die in Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese refuse to let it, they
want to subdue the Tamils militarily. Accommodation is not their books.
These is no conscious effort to remove Tamil insecurity and to demonstrate
that they are equal citizens. The Sinhala state continues to alienate the
Tamils by bombing and shelling them and carrying out a deliberate scorching
earth policy. Look Mr. Ambassador you have your Sinhala army, police and
government machinery. We have our Tamil apparatus too. The lines are drawn
and the twain shall never meet.

We present the following quotable quotes for your kind attention and
edification.

"Partition as an option. I believe it has to be considered seriously as a
possible and viable alternative. Partition may pose many practical,
political and social problems that has to be negotiated, taking into
consideration the needs and interests of all the communities."  - *Dr.
Sumanasiri Liyanage, Professor of Economics, University of Peradeniya.*

"The country (Sri Lanka) will *never* be put together again." Emphasis on
the word 'never' - *Lee Kuan Yew, Senior Minister, Singapore.              *

"When partition does take place it will be based on a unilateral declaration
of independence and not with the consent of India."  - *Professor A. J.
Wilson in his book, Break-up of Sri Lanka.*

Lee Kuan Yew viewed the Sri Lankan problem as about the "supremacy of the
Sinhalese over the Tamils."

J.R. Jayawardane, former Sri Lankan President reframed Lee Kuan Yew's view
as "the fundamental premise that Sri Lanka is inherently and rightfully a
Sinhalese state and that is and must be accepted as a fact and not a matter
of opinion to be debated, by challenging this premise the Tamils have
brought the wrath of the Sinhalese on their heads, they are themselves to
blame". - *Quoted by David Little in Religion and Ethnicity (1998).
*

"The Sinhalese cannot fathom the Tamil claim to equal rights. The Sinhalese
seem to be bemused at what the Tiger's view as a problem of exclusion when
they see no problem at all."    Teresitta Shaffer, Former US Ambassador in
Sri Lanka. Peacemaking in Sri Lanka, the Kumaratunge Initiative 1998. The
above view she said is "the most damaging blind spot of the Sinhala side."

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