Colombo Tamil group fallen into GoSL net?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 January 2012, 13:33 GMT]
“After the war, with protection of Tamil civilians neutrralized, the Eezham Tamils have become powerless even to conduct their routine day-to-day activities to survive. The occupying Sri Lankan army, the military-led administration of Colombo, and Sri Lankan ministers such as Rishad Bathiutheen, who intervene in the affairs of resettlement, have become the authorities of ‘appeal’ in resettling the Muslims in Jaffna and other places,” says a Colombo-based Tamil academic responding to an appeal that appeared Thursday in the Island paper. The appeal was made by a group of 68 Colombo-based Tamils. The academic describes the move as an attempt to create divisions among the Tamil speaking people and as a move to counter the real civil society in the North and East that has recently spoken up on course correcting the Tamil National Alliance.

In the meantime, reports from Jaffna and Mannaar said only a few of the Muslims uprooted during the war have resettled in Jaffna. Many of the remaining also came in buses just to register their interest in their lands and houses, but chose to return the same day back to Puththa'lam, where they have established their livelihood, the reports said.

The 68 “Colombo Tamils” have appealed in the Island newspaper of 5th January 2012 to the Eezham Tamils to resettle the Muslims displaced by the LTTE during the times of war.

“Many known faces in the 68-group were anti-LTTE during the war and now they are turning their guns at the Eelam Tamils and that matches very well with the agenda of the GoSL and the sections of the so-called international community,” the Tamil academic in Colombo said.

Further comments by the academic follow:

First, my apologies to the ordinary Eelam Tamils living in Colombo for calling these ‘visitors to Colombo’ as ‘Colombo Tamils’ as it is not my intention to say these 68 represent even the Colombo Tamils.

The politics of the many known faces in the 68-group was anti LTTE during the war, and now they are turning their guns at the Eelam Tamils.

This 68-group seems to be a ‘civil group’ propped up to promote the agenda of Colombo and its abettors in the international community, to counter the authentic NorthEast civil society of Eelam Tamils, which recently came with a course-correcting open appeal to the Tamil National Alliance.

Tamils have long acknowledged that the displaced Muslims were unfortunate victims of LTTE’s ‘High Security Zone’, the same way the GoSL dealt with Eelam Tamils uprooting them in large numbers throughout the country of Eelam Tamils.

The LTTE, during the CFA times repeatedly made it clear that the movement was not opposed to the resettlement of the Muslims. The LTTE leader entered an agreement with the SLMC leader as a move in the process of reconciliation between the Tamils and the Muslims during that time.

Further, the representation of Muslims in the ISGA proposal of the LTTE and the Muslim representation included in the PTOMS agreement are documentary evidence to the LTTE's commitment to the reconciliation process between the Tamils and the Muslims.

While damages suffered by civilians should be redressed by the State that unleashed terror on them, both groups of victims have received neither justice nor reparation from the victors of war.

The ‘victors’ instead are concentrating in settling Sinhalese who were never displaced by the war.

After the war, the Eelam Tamils are completely powerless even to survive in the absence of their defender. So why is this new ‘civil group’ appealing to the powerless Eelam Tamils instead of appealing to the all-powerful occupation Military?

Further, they are trying to create more confusion and damage by their ‘political philosophy’, which is not based on the social reality of the existence of Nations and hence does not recognize the Right of Self Determination of Nations.

Their characterization of the war as an ‘ethnic war’ only shows that they are living in a pre-capitalist era which gave birth to Nations.

What is more dangerous is their effort to create a new ‘ethnic war’ between Tamils and Muslims. Nothing else can be more pleasing to the Sri Lankan State.

The dictatorship of the Colombo regime by Rajapaksa siblings has probably prevented the TNA fighting for the Tamil victims and the SLMC fighting for the Muslim victims.

One should take note of what Mavai Senathirajah of the TNA has spoken recently on the need to combine the demands of both groups of victims. The TNA MP said that such efforts should be further pursued in the spirit of a Tamil speaking Nation.

There is no time for religious or caste differences.

We, as Tamils residing in Colombo, are certain that the progressive Sinhalese led by leaders like Dr Vickremabahu Karunaratne, who is building bridges with Mano Ganesan and who believe in the social reality of Nations and the Right of Self Determination of Nations will join such a struggle.

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An appeal to the Tamil Community and its civil and political representatives