Even constitutional restructure is no solution: Kasi Ananthan Video talk

Even constitutional restructure is no solution: Kasi Ananthan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 August 2013, 00:30 GMT]
A constitution, even after any reform or restructure, is meaningless in the context of the island Ilangkai (Sri Lanka), as the single State for the whole island is not disposed towards honouring any constitution. In a two-nation island, where one nation is dominant, there are no safeguards as in the case of the multi-nation India under one federal constitution. There is no point in India and the USA harping on the 13 Amendment under a unitary constitution or any other constitutional changes. The 13th Amendment is not a part of Sri Lankan constitution but a part of Sri Lankan conspiracy. The TNA leadership announcing abandonment of Tamil Eelam is the greatest treachery in our liberation struggle, said poet and veteran Tamil political activist Mr Kasi Ananthan in an interview to TamilNet this week.



When asked about the on-going campaign that the 13th Amendment is the only existing basis for a solution and that has to be taken as a starting point or interim solution, Kasi Ananthan said that it is part of the conspiracy.

The PC doesn’t have powers of even civic bodies. Varatharaja Perumal was the Chief Minister of the combined North and East. He had said that even to buy a chair for him he had to beg Colombo. We should not forget that, Kasi Ananthan said, adding that Tamils cannot find a solution without recognition of them as a nation.

* * *

As a person coming from the East, Kasi Ananthan was asked to comment on the provisions of the Indo-Lanka Agreement that not only failed to recognize the combined North and East as a traditional homeland of Tamils but also incorporated a mechanism for the separation of the East.

The effort to separate North and East started since the times the British left the island. Early British records considered North and East as a common homeland of Tamils. But even in British times when the provinces were demarcated North and East were separated.

According to Early British records the Tamil territory was roughly 26,500 Sq.km. When provinces were demarcated and some territories went with the Sinhala Northwest Province, 7500 Sq.km. were lost. Another 7500 were lost with Sinhala colonisation in the East after 1948. After losing almost half, Pirapaharan waged his armed struggle only in the remaining territory. But not an inch was lost as long as the armed struggle was there.

Tamils are the same in the North and East. But the 13th Amendment pave way for the separation of the East, Sinhalicisation of it and ultimate separation of it from the North.

* * *

When a question was asked what should be the line to limit the colonisers from voting in the event of a referendum, Kasi Ananthan reminded Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India movement in the contexts of colonialism.

He however said that 1948 should be the limit, as all the later colonisations were schemed by the Sinhala State. There is no difference between the Sinhala military that is occupying and the State-aided colonisations. One should not compare this aggressive colonisation with Tamil migration to Colombo. In both instances Sinhalicisation is the process, Kasi Ananthan said.

For another question on the TNA, Kasi Ananthan elucidated on the sequence of Tamil national political formations. He was the first Joint Secretary along with Mr. Gnanamoorthy of Valveddiththu’rai, when the TULF was founded.

The TNA may be facing a lot of constrains today. But the TNA leadership should have kept quiet on the question of abandoning Tamil Eelam, or it should have at least insisted on the recognition of our homeland as a first step. But announcing that it drops Tamil Eelam was the greatest treachery in the long liberation struggle. They have no right to do it, Kasi Ananthan observed.

* * *

On the stand of the USA and India, insisting on the acceptance of the 13thAmendment as solution, Kasi Ananthan said that any constitutional reform or restructure is meaningless in the context of State in the island.

Kasi Ananthan came out with great appreciation on the stand taken by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa in passing a resolution in the State assembly demanding a referendum on the question of Tamil Eelam, besides specifying that Tamil Eelam is the only solution. After taking such a stand, she is not expected to talk on the 13th Amendment, he observed.

On the role of the diaspora in course-correcting the USA and the UK, Kasi Ananthan said that one of the major outcomes of Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal is that the diaspora has directly entered into the field of liberation struggle. It bears bulk of the responsibility today. It should continue with unflinching commitment, as achieving Tamil Eelam is a foregone conclusion, Kasi Ananthan said.

‘Reconciliation with Sri Lanka is fake, Tamil Eelam only solution’

‘Reconciliation with Sri Lanka is fake, Tamil Eelam only solution’: Los Angeles event

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 May 2013, 23:03 GMT]
The Mu’l’livaaykkaal Genocide Remembrance event in Los Angeles, USA on Sunday stated emphatically that asking the Eezham Tamil nation to reconcile with genocidal Sri Lanka was fraudulent and that a sovereign state of Tamil Eelam was the only solution, further criticizing the ICE for failing to address the chronic national question of the Eezham Tamils. The speakers at the event further affirmed the necessity for sustained pressure from the masses in Tamil Nadu to effect a change in the regional and global order. Commenting on the recent series of Tamil Genocide Remembrance events, a diaspora activist from Canada said the fourth year after Mu’l’livaay-kkaal has seen an increase in protests challenging the injustice of the world powers towards the Tamil nation, lamenting, however the eagerness of some in the Tamil diaspora to forsake national symbols under the slightest pressure.

The activist, referring to the Mu’l’livaaykkaal event held at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Saturday, said that the Canadian police had tried to persuade the Tamil public from holding the Eezham Tamils’ national flag.

While some second-generation activists tried to reason with police that the flag was a Tamil national symbol and that it was well in their democratic rights to uphold it, some senior members attempted to dissuade the Tamil youth from raising the flag at the event.

However, refusing to comply and asserting that the flag was an integral part of the Eezham Tamils’ identity, the second-generation youth and the assembled audience held their flags high throughout the event, the activist said.

Just as the national symbols are vital to the Eezham Tamil identity, it is equally important to raise the right slogans and place the right demands during such core events to allow no space for manipulation, as this is central to an informed Eezham Tamil politics, the activist further asserted.

Separately, the Genocide Remembrance event held at the Santa Monica beach in Los Angeles, USA saw participation of activists from Tamil Nadu and the Eezham Tamil diaspora.

Organized by activists of the May 17 Movement, the speakers at the event and the gathered audience strongly criticized the solutions based on the LLRC, condemning the UN and India for collaborating with Sri Lanka in the genocidal war on the Tamil nation.

Speaking to TamilNet, Rathish Kumar, a May 17 Movement activist from TN working in the US, said "The West's refusal to recognize the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation and to arrive at a corresponding political solution only encourages the Sri Lankan government to carry out its atrocities with impunity. Instead of talking about abstract 'human rights violations', the UN should take action against the genocide-accused in the Sri Lankan state and facilitate a referendum for Tamil Eelam."

Speakers at the Los Angeles event also talked about geo-politics in the Asia-Pacific region, especially about why Tamil Eelam was important for Tamils in Tamil Nadu. They urged that educated Tamils in Tamil Nadu need to be aware more of contemporary global politics and intersecting interests in that region.

அண்ணாமலைப் பல்கலை : அரசு தீர்வு காண வேண்டும் :கலைஞர்கருணாநிதி

தினமணியின் இதழமைப்பில் மாற்றங்கள் வந்துள்ளதால் அதன் கருத்துப்பதிவேற்பிலும் நல்ல மாற்றம் இருக்கும் எனக்கருதி இதனைக் குறிப்பிடுகின்றேன். (வழக்கம்போல் புறக்கணித்தாலும் கவலை இல்லை.)அண்ணா பல்கலைக்கழகத்திற்கும் அண்ணாமலைப் பல்கலைக்கழகத்திற்கும் வேறுபாடு தெரியாமல் செய்தியை வெளியிடலாமா? செய்தியாளர் முதற்கொண்டு மேலுள்ளவர்கள் வரை அனைவருக்கும் வேறுபாடு தெரியாமல் உள்ளதுகவனக்குறைவு என்று சொல்ல இயலாது. தமிழிதழில் தமிழ்நாடு பற்றிய பொதுஅறிவில் ஈடுபாடின்மையைக் காடடுகிறது. உடனே  தலைப்பைத் திருத்தி வெளியிடுங்கள்.அன்புடன் இலக்குவனார் திருவள்ளுவன் /தமிழே விழி! தமிழா விழி! எழுத்தைக் காப்போம்! மொழியைக் காப்போம்! இனத்தைக் காப்போம்!/


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அண்ணா பல்கலை விவகாரத்தில் அரசு தலையிட்டு தீர்வு காண வேண்டும் : கருணாநிதி

Bydn, சென்னை

First Published : 14 November 2012 05:31 PM IST

அண்ணா பல்கலைக்கழக விவகாரத்தில் தமிழக அரசு உடனடியாக தலையிட்டு தீர்வு காண வேண்டும் என்று திமுக தலைவர் கருணாநிதி கூறியுள்ளார்.

இது குறித்து அவர் இன்று அனுப்பியுள்ள கேள்வி - பதில் வடிவிலான அறிக்கையில், கேள்வி :- கழக ஆட்சியில் வழங்கப்பட்ட அருந்ததியினருக்கான உள் ஒதுக்கீட்டை எதிர்த்து வழக்குத் தொடுத்திருக்கிறார்களே?

கருணாநிதி : திராவிட முன்னேற்றக் கழகம் ஆட்சிப் பொறுப்பிலே இருந்தபோது, ஆதி திராவிட மக்களுக்குள், அருந்ததியினர் சமூக மக்கள் பொருளாதார நிலையில் அடித்தளத்தில் மிகவும் பின்தங்கி இருப்பதால், ஆதி திராவிடர்களுக்கு வழங்கப்பட்டு வந்த 18 சதவிகித இட ஒதுக்கீட்டில் இருந்து 3 சதவீதம் அருந்ததியர்களுக்கு உள் இட ஒதுக்கீடு வழங்குவதற்காக 27-11-2008 அன்று கூடிய தமிழக அமைச்சரவையின் முடிவுப்படி ஆணையிடப்பட்டு, 2009ஆம் ஆண்டில் “தமிழ்நாடு அருந்ததியர்கள் (தனியார் கல்வி நிலையங்கள் உள்ளடங்கலான கல்வி நிலையங்களில் இடங்களை மற்றும் அரசின் கீழ் வரும் பணிகளில் நியமனங்களை அல்லது பதவிகளை பட்டியல் சாதியினருக்கான இட ஒதுக்கீட்டிற்குள்ளாக தனி ஒதுக்கீடு செய்தல்) சட்டம் இயற்றப்பட்டு, 29-4-2009இல் இது தொடர்பான விதிகள் உருவாக்கப்பட்டு, நடைமுறைப்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஆனால் மதுரை உயர் நீதிமன்றத்தில் அருந்ததியர் உள் இட ஒதுக்கீட்டை எதிர்த்து சிலர் வழக்குத் தொடர்ந்திருக்கின்றனர். இந்த வழக்கில் தமிழக அரசு போதுமான அறிவுரைகளை அரசு வழக்கறிஞருக்கு வழங்கி, வலிமையான வாதங்களை முன்வைத்து, தாழ்த்தப்பட்டோருள் மிகவும் தாழ்த்தப்பட்டோராகக் கடைநிலையில் இருந்து வரும் அருந்ததியரைக் கைதூக்கிவிட, கழக ஆட்சியில் வழங்கப்பட்ட உள் இட ஒதுக்கீட்டையும், சமூக நீதியையும் காப்பாற்ற வேண்டியது கடமை என்பதை நினைவுபடுத்துகிறேன். இட ஒதுக்கீட்டிற்கான பஞ்சாப் வழக்கு தற்போது உச்ச நீதிமன்றத்திலே உள்ளது. அந்த வழக்கில் என்ன தீர்ப்பு சொல்லப்படு கிறதோ, அதே தீர்ப்பு அருந்ததியர் உள் ஒதுக்கீட்டிற்கும் பொருந்தும் என நீதிமன்றத்தில் சொல்லப்பட்டது. உச்ச நீதிமன்றத்தில் இட ஒதுக்கீடு வழக்கு வரவுள்ளது. எனவே கழக அரசால் வழங்கப்பட்ட இட ஒதுக்கீடுதானே என்று ஏனோதானோ என்று இருந்து விடாமல்; உச்ச நீதிமன்றத்தில் நடைபெறும் பஞ்சாப் வழக்கில் தமிழக அரசும் தன்னை ஒரு தரப்பாக இணைத்துக் கொண்டு, தமிழகத்திலே அருந்ததியர் இட உள் ஒதுக்கீடு தொடர்ந்து நடைமுறையில் இருப்பதற்கு ஆவண செய்ய வேண்டுமென்று இந்த நேரத்தில் வலியுறுத்துகிறேன்.

கேள்வி :- சிதம்பரம் அண்ணாமலைப் பல்கலைக் கழகம் காலவரையறையின்றி மூடப்பட்டுள்ளதாக இரண்டு மூன்று நாட்களாகச் செய்தி வந்து கொண்டிருக்கிறதே?

கருணாநிதி :  சிதம்பரம் அண்ணாமலைப் பல்கலைக் கழகத்திற்கு தமிழகத்தில் ஒரு சிறப்பான பெயர் உண்டு. மூத்த பல்கலைக் கழகம் என்பது மட்டுமல்லாமல் திராவிட இயக்கத்தின் பல தலைவர்கள் உயர் கல்வி பெற்ற இடமும் அதுதான். எனவே அந்தப் பல்கலைக் கழகத்திற்கு என்று ஒரு மதிப்பு உண்டு. அந்தப் பல்கலைக் கழகத்தில் நிதிச் சுமை - நிதி நெருக்கடி - என்ற காரணத்தைக் காட்டி அங்கு பணிபுரிவோர்களின் எண்ணிக்கை யைக் குறைப்பது அல்லது அவர்கள் வாங்கும் சம்பளத்தின் அளவைக் குறைப்பது போன்ற யோசனைகள் பரிசீலிக்கப்பட்டு வந்த நிலையிலேயே - இந்த யோசனைகளை அறிந்த பல்கலைக்கழக அலுவலர்கள் போராடி வந்தபோது பல்கலைக் கழகம் காலவரையறையின்றி மூடப்பட்டிருப்பதாகச் செய்தி வந்துள்ளது. அப்படி கால வரையறையின்றி மூடப்பட்டிருப்பதால், பல்கலைக் கழக அலுவலர்கள் பெரும் பாதிப்புக்கு ஆளாகியிருப்பதோடு, பல்கலைக் கழகத்தில் பயிலும் மாணவ, மாணவியரின் கல்வியும் பாதிப்புக்குள்ளாகியுள்ளது. எனவே அ.தி.மு.க. அரசு சிதம்பரம் அண்ணாமலைப் பல்கலைக் கழகம் என்பது ஏதோ வேறு மாநிலத்திலே இருப்பதைப் போல எண்ணிக் கொண்டு இந்தப் பிரச்சினையிலே அக்கறையற்ற நிலையில் இருந்து, அந்தப் பல்கலைக் கழகத்தில் போராடிக் கொண்டிருப் போர், அந்தத் துறையின் அமைச்சரைச் சந்தித்து தங்கள் குறைபாடுகளைத் தெரிவித் திருக்கிறார்கள். இதில் உடனடியாக தமிழக அரசு தலையிட்டு பல்கலைக் கழக அலுவலர்களையும், மாணவ மாணவியரையும் காப்பாற்றுவதற்கு ஆவன செய்ய முன் வரவேண்டும் என்று கூறினார்.

‘Reject LLRC based solutions, work with nations without states’: Tamil Nadu activist

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 October 2012, 04:07 GMT]
Arguing that LLRC based political solutions were a trap of International Community of Establishments (ICE) to let Sri Lankan state escape prosecution for the charges of genocide and war crimes, environmental activist from Tamil Nadu, Srinivasa Rao, accused the ICE and India for abetting the genocide of the Eezham Tamils for geopolitical interests in an interview on Palak’ani. Conversing with the presenter V. Kohulan, he further appealed to activists in the Eezham Tamil diaspora to work beyond the structures of establishments to build solidarity with nations without states facing similar oppression. “Without struggle we cannot achieve our goals,” he said, urging the Eezham Tamils to join hands in struggle with other nation without states.



Mr. Srinivasan, along with fellow activist Gnanasekaran, has been on a world tour to inform people on the genocide of the Eezham Tamils’ and their demands for self-determination.

Answering a question on the role of Tamil Nadu in the past and present and whether there was an adequate response to the suffering of the Eezham Tamils, he opined that the knowledge of the genocide of Eezham Tamils had spread even to villages in TN. He also claimed that it was grassroots pressure that led the DMK to take the positions it took in the TESO conference, a shift from its earlier position of silence.

Mr. Srinivasan was of the opinion that that it was impossible for any of the two main Dravidian parties to establish government on absolute majority and hence, the pro-Tamil Eelam parties that would support them should do so on the basis of a common minimum programme keeping the interests of the genocide-affected Eezham Tamils in mind.

He also noted how New Delhi was creating “diverting tactics” in Tamil Nadu by bringing up other issues whenever demands for justice for Eezham Tamils intensified among the TN public.

The Tamil Nadu activist opined that TN parties should take it to other parties and peoples across the Indian country. He also discussed about the about the work they did in New Delhi to inform non-Tamil politicians of the genocide and also the solidarity work they were involved with in Malaysia and other countries.

Srinivasan appealed to diaspora to firmly stand by the position of genocide and be on guard against defeatist mentalities, encouraging them to build solidarity among other nations without state.

He strongly criticized those diaspora organizations and TN parties who were toeing the Western governments’ initiated step by step approach that gave legitimacy to a LLRC based political solution, also questioning the politics of failed peace-broker Mr. Erik Solheim.

Commending civil society organizations in the homeland who were taking a principled political position despite living under structural genocide, Srinivasan appealed to activists in the diaspora, who were living in democracies with no fear of white vans and other repressive measures, to remain committed to the same.

தமிழீழமே தீர்வு: இராமதாசு

தமிழீழமே தீர்வு:  இராமதாசு

தினமணி First Published : 12 Aug 2012 05:37:45 PM IST

சென்னை, ஆக.12: இலங்கை பிரச்னைக்கு தமிழீழமே தீர்வு என்று பாமக நிறுவனர் ராமதாஸ் கூறினார்.இது தொடர்பாக அவர் வெளியிட்ட அறிக்கை:ஈழம் என்ற வார்த்தையைப் பயன்படுத்த விதிக்கப்பட்ட தடையை மத்திய அரசு திரும்பப் பெற்றுள்ளது.எனினும், இலங்கையுடனான இறையாண்மையைப் பாதிக்கும் வகையில் மாநாட்டில் எதையும் பேசக்கூடாது என்று மத்திய அரசு அறிவித்துள்ளது.இதன் மூலம் ஈழம் பற்றி பேச மறைமுக தடை விதித்துள்ளது. இப்படித் தடை விதிப்பதும், மாநாடு நடத்த மாநில அரசு அனுமதி மறுப்பதும் ஜனநாயக உரிமையைப் பறிக்கும் செயலாகும்இலங்கையில் சிங்களர்களுடன் தமிழர்கள் இணைந்து வாழ்வது என்பது நடைமுறை சாத்தியமே இல்லாத செயலாகும். இந்திரா காந்தி இருந்திருந்தால் ஈழத் தமிழர்களுக்கு எப்போதோ தனி நாடு கிடைத்திருக்கும்.ஈழத் தமிழர் நலனுக்காக இந்தியாவின் வெளியுறவுக் கொள்கையை மாற்றியமைக்க வேண்டும்.இலங்கை பிரச்னைக்கு தமிழீழமே தீர்வாக இருக்கும். தமிழீழம் அமைப்பதற்கான முயற்சியில் இந்தியா ஈடுபட வேண்டும் என்று அவர் கூறியுள்ளார்.

ICG acknowledges crisis but turns out cock-eyed on solutions [TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2012, 10:40 GMT] The International Crisis Group in its latest reports acknowledges militarisation and Sinhalicisation of Tamil land as currently the burning crisis in the island of Sri Lanka. It is implicit admission of structural genocide faced by the nation of Eezham Tamils. Both the Sinhala militarisation and colonisation increase the risk of a return to violence, the reports caution. But the ICG doesn’t want to see the historical impossibility of any righteous solution becoming successful in the island without secession. Reducing the nation of Eezham Tamils as ‘minorities’ and focussing the crisis of only the North, intriguingly leaving out the East, the ICG is cock-eyed in perceiving that elections to the northern provincial council under the rotten unitary constitution and control through foreign ‘development’ funds could bring in solutions, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo. “By adopting policies that will bring fundamental changes to the culture, demography and economy of the Northern Province, the government of Sri Lanka is sowing the seeds of future violence there,” said the conclusion of the ICG report, “Sri Lanka’s North I: The Denial of Minority Rights,” dated 16 March 2012. “Political processes that gave the Tamil majority in the province a democratic voice in their future would go a long way to diminishing the risks,” the report envisaged. “The north may be quiet now and the population acquiescent, but that will not last unless long-standing grievances over land, language and political marginalisation are addressed in ways that give people in the north meaningful control over their own futures. That will not happen as long as the military remains the key engine of reconstruction and control in the Northern Province,” said the conclusion of another report of the ICG, “Sri Lanka’s North II: Rebuilding Under the Military,” released on the same date, 16 March 2012. “The militarization will only lead to growing resentment among the majority Tamil population, thus increasing the risks of a return to violence,” the ICG again cautioned. Removal of the military from ‘resettlement and development’ work; the UN agencies, International NGOs, donors, the World Bank and the ADB upholding international standards; local NGOs asserting to their own independence from the military; Donors lobbying against the former and current military playing civilian roles such as the provincial governor; free flow of information and donors as well as implementing agencies establishing collective monitoring, are some of the suggestions of the ICG to check the militarization. Donors who are funding the reconstruction in the North have a responsibility to do more to avoid paying for policies that may lead to violence, the ICG Report-1 said, adding, “The situation is not irreversible and could be turned around with an approach that followed general principles of participatory and transparent development.” Interestingly, in the same month, March, a monograph prepared by The Social Architects also has come out with a systematic and competent documentation on the Sinhalicisation process of the North, East and Hill Country. Harping on ‘equal rights’ and echoing the same concern about renewed violence, The Social Architects report said: “President Rajapaksa and his allies should initiate a genuine process of reconciliation that is respectful of the cultures and traditions of all communities and views the members of all communities as citizens with equal rights […] However, if Extremist Sinhala Buddhist policies continue to emanate from Colombo, another civil war may be unavoidable. The Social Architects (TSA) are comprised of a diverse group of writers, intellectuals and working professionals. While most of TSA’s members hail from the country’s North and East, the group also includes other scholars and activists who have been working on issues related to Sri Lanka […] They write under the pseudonym "The Social Architects" because of the risk of retaliation against those that speak out against the government, said a TSA document. * * * If elections to the Northern Provincial Council under the unitary constitution that repeatedly proved genocidal, and donor control of ‘development’ in the North, could bring in solutions to a historically chronic crisis in the island as envisaged by the International Crisis Group, does the group mean that solutions have already come in the East? If so the Eezham Tamils can understand what the ICG envisages for the North too. For quite some time now, the US and India talk only of the North and they seem to imply to Eezham Tamils to write off the East. Whether the US and the US-tagged West’s mouthpiece the ICG have found any special interest in truncating the East from the Tamil homeland, and in continuing militarization and Sinhalicisation there, is a question asked among the Eezham Tamil political observers. * * * Before and during the Vanni war the ICG was in the forefront in tilting the balance against Eezham Tamils that brought out the genocidal end of the war. Licking the wounds, all the crises the ICG now talks about such as militarization and Sinhalicisation are direct consequences of the policies, and they have not come unknowingly or from the star-crossed heavens, as the former Norwegian peace facilitator Erik Solheim was trying to imply. But the ICG is still not addressing the fundamental crisis of two nations bound by a genocidal state in the island. Adding insult to injury, the latest ICG reports were implying that the lack of resistance among Tamils against the occupying Sinhala military is due to the acculturation of Tamils with the ‘military rule’ of the LTTE. Genocidal Colombo and its stooges also speak in the same way, telling Tamils at every juncture that ‘if you have accepted the LTTE without any question, why don’t you accept us too in the same way’. “With many in the north having lived under the LTTE’s military rule for much of the previous two decades, it is perhaps not surprising that despite occasional protests, mostly in Jaffna, the military’s presence has yet to provoke widespread resistance or significant public expressions of hostility,” the ICG report-1 said adding, “while people have come to accept the military as long as it is not too intrusive, there is real anger when it comes into competition with people’s lives and livelihoods, through taking lands and houses or competing for business.” [Meaning military occupation of Tamil country is OK, if it is not competing with the ‘development’ agenda.] “The Tamil population is exhausted by war, broken by defeat and, after decades of LTTE tight control, sadly acclimatised to authoritarian rule.” The report reiterated the point in the conclusion. It is atrocious that the ICG doesn’t see the difference between the tolerance of a people towards their liberation fighters and the hapless gag that comes from an occupying genocidal military, especially when it was brutally demonstrated that the entire world wanted Tamils to be left like that, thanks to the efforts like organizations like the ICG. The need of the ICG now is to paint a picture of saviours, when its report talking about Tamil compromise with authoritarian rule said, “It will not necessarily remain that way.” This week, Tamil Nadu political activist Thirumurugan Gandhi of the May 17 Movement revealed about a 5-hour talk his movement had with a representative of the ICG. “The ICG didn’t want us to raise the issue of crimes. It didn’t want us to talk on the independence of Eezham Tamils. It wanted us to take up only the matter of rehabilitation of Tamils with the Indian government,” Thirumurugan said, adding that the ICG held similar meetings with many political parties in Tamil Nadu. * * * Not surprisingly, three days before the release of the ICG reports, the US Asst. Secretary of State Robert Blake was also talking to Associated Press about Tamils in the ‘North’ feeling that they are under “military occupation.” [The official US position doesn’t recognize Sinhalicisation, as transpired in many discussions with Tamil representatives]. Blake’s remedy was the same like the cock-eyed envisagement of the ICG reports. “He called for provincial elections to devolve power, and for Tamils to take more control of policing the region,” AP reported Blake. Giving a Skype-interview to Colombo-based ETV on Tuesday, Mr. Robert Blake has also cautioned on renewed ‘insurgency’. “As I said in other interviews, the experience of many other countries that went through a similar insurgency and then failed to take real, concrete actions on reconciliation and accountability, found that in many cases those similar insurgencies restarted because of levels of frustration were very high. And, I think there is a similar risk here in Sri Lanka.” Eezham Tamils in general have no idea from where this renewed violence is going to come. The ICG reports, Blake’s stand and the US resolution passed in the UNHRC on implementing LLRC recommendations – all aim for the same: diffusing and deviating the struggle of Eezham Tamils and binding them to the unitary State of Sri Lanka to facilitate the economic and strategic inroads of the USA. Last week, the US-based World Bank’s IBRD wing passed a US$ 213 million loan to strengthen the infrastructure of Colombo city, saying that it is the international gateway to the island, while the Colombo-centric system is the bane of Eezham Tamils. On Thursday the US eased restrictions on defence sales to Sri Lanka. Sections of Tamils in the diaspora and those who are hooked to the NGOs now try to build an image that the USA is currently a tactical ally as its need of Rajapaksa is over. They also believe that the US calculations on saving State in the island are not going to work due to chronic chauvinism of the Sinhala State. While there is no guarantee why the gullible of the Oslo Declaration won’t again end up in another Mu’l’livaaykkaal, and while sections of Tamils are never tired of trusting the West and hoping of ‘returning’ to the lure of Colombo right since 1958, what they miss is repeated hints from the USA that ‘pressure’ is not enough from the side of Eezham Tamils. Our enthusiasm to cooperate with tactical allies doesn’t mean that we should compromise with the fundamentals or that we should not know where and how the pressure has to be exerted. Tactical allies are no exception when it means business. India’s bankruptcy of the policy on Eezham Tamils and naked injustice exhibited by China and Russia without any sense of propriety, concede to unipolar influence of the USA at least in the case of the island. ICG: Sri Lanka’s North I: The Denial of Minority Rights ICG: Sri Lanka’s North II: Rebuilding under the Military The Social Architects: Salt on Old Wounds: The Systematic Sinhalization of Sri Lanka’s North, East a Chronology: 24.03.12 ICG acknowledges crisis but turns out cock-eyed on.. 23.03.12 TNPF cautions ‘first step’ myth of UN resolution 22.03.12 Watered-down resolution passes in UNHRC, stops sho.. 21.03.12 US-led World Bank loans to Rajapaksa, fortifies Co.. 21.03.12 China card misleads Indian public 20.03.12 Centre for Peace and Reconciliation attacked in Ja.. 19.03.12 Jayalalithaa blasts New Delhi supporting US-bailou.. 19.03.12 India inclined to vote in favour of US resolution:.. 19.03.12 Begin next stage of struggle by burning Sri Lankan.. 18.03.12 Tamil civil society warned US officials on LLRC da.. 18.03.12 ‘LLRC hollow, India must use pressure to secure ju.. 16.03.12 Eezham Tamils demonstrate outside US Embassy in Lo.. 15.03.12 US resolution offers bailout to Rajapaksa: Brian S.. 14.03.12 New Delhi’s ‘historical’ Lanka relations outweigh .. 14.03.12 Onus focuses on India 13.03.12 Boyle warns Tamil diaspora against "Stall and Dela.. 13.03.12 Grassroot Diaspora unites, upholds Tamil sovereign.. 12.03.12 LLRC will only legitimise Sinhala occupation of Ta.. 12.03.12 Win TV discussion sets Tamil perspective straight .. 11.03.12 Without international investigation accused will b.. 11.03.12 We always requested international investigation: T.. 11.03.12 LLRC-based resolution extremely disappointing: Gaj.. 10.03.12 Tamil Nadu activists caution diaspora of the US-re.. 09.03.12 US-resolution inadequate, India should seize oppor.. 08.03.12 US-resolution binds Tamils to less than the 13th A.. 07.03.12 World socialists reject both US-backed resolution .. 06.03.12 Thousands gather in Geneva denouncing deceptive de.. 06.03.12 Tamil Nadu demands India to declare Rajapaksa guil.. 06.03.12 Sumanthiran, Sritharan contradict reasoning Geneva.. 05.03.12 West has to concede to Tamils its failure of ‘war .. 02.03.12 US demand on Sri Lanka is not enough: UNSG Panel o.. 01.03.12 US, Sri Lanka squabble whether hang or slaughter E.. 29.02.12 Enragement over US-India stand results in Sumanthi.. 27.02.12 SL colonial governor coordinates anti-UN demonstra.. 26.02.12 Peace academic denounces US-LLRC formula, urges al.. 25.02.12 TNA plans boycotting UNHRC, requests people to rem.. 25.02.12 US ‘tables’ Rajapaksa formula while pretending pre.. 24.02.12 UNHRC sessions open on Monday amidst US–Sri Lanka .. 18.02.12 TNA tries to sell Indo-US pre-emption to Eezham Ta.. 16.02.12 Sumanthiran comes forward to save Rajapaksa from i.. 22.01.12 TNA should use its Tamil national mandate: Bishop .. 01.01.12 Majority ITAK members welcome civil society report.. 13.12.11 TNA leadership faces admonition from civil society.. Related Articles: 19.03.12 Begin next stage of struggle by burning Sri Lankan constitut.. 25.03.11 Democratic uprising in Tamil Nadu crucial to changes in the ..

ICG acknowledges crisis but turns out cock-eyed on solutions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2012, 10:40 GMT]
The International Crisis Group in its latest reports acknowledges militarisation and Sinhalicisation of Tamil land as currently the burning crisis in the island of Sri Lanka. It is implicit admission of structural genocide faced by the nation of Eezham Tamils. Both the Sinhala militarisation and colonisation increase the risk of a return to violence, the reports caution. But the ICG doesn’t want to see the historical impossibility of any righteous solution becoming successful in the island without secession. Reducing the nation of Eezham Tamils as ‘minorities’ and focussing the crisis of only the North, intriguingly leaving out the East, the ICG is cock-eyed in perceiving that elections to the northern provincial council under the rotten unitary constitution and control through foreign ‘development’ funds could bring in solutions, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.

“By adopting policies that will bring fundamental changes to the culture, demography and economy of the Northern Province, the government of Sri Lanka is sowing the seeds of future violence there,” said the conclusion of the ICG report, “Sri Lanka’s North I: The Denial of Minority Rights,” dated 16 March 2012.

“Political processes that gave the Tamil majority in the province a democratic voice in their future would go a long way to diminishing the risks,” the report envisaged.

“The north may be quiet now and the population acquiescent, but that will not last unless long-standing grievances over land, language and political marginalisation are addressed in ways that give people in the north meaningful control over their own futures. That will not happen as long as the military remains the key engine of reconstruction and control in the Northern Province,” said the conclusion of another report of the ICG, “Sri Lanka’s North II: Rebuilding Under the Military,” released on the same date, 16 March 2012.

“The militarization will only lead to growing resentment among the majority Tamil population, thus increasing the risks of a return to violence,” the ICG again cautioned.

Removal of the military from ‘resettlement and development’ work; the UN agencies, International NGOs, donors, the World Bank and the ADB upholding international standards; local NGOs asserting to their own independence from the military; Donors lobbying against the former and current military playing civilian roles such as the provincial governor; free flow of information and donors as well as implementing agencies establishing collective monitoring, are some of the suggestions of the ICG to check the militarization.

Donors who are funding the reconstruction in the North have a responsibility to do more to avoid paying for policies that may lead to violence, the ICG Report-1 said, adding, “The situation is not irreversible and could be turned around with an approach that followed general principles of participatory and transparent development.”

Interestingly, in the same month, March, a monograph prepared by The Social Architects also has come out with a systematic and competent documentation on the Sinhalicisation process of the North, East and Hill Country.

Harping on ‘equal rights’ and echoing the same concern about renewed violence, The Social Architects report said: “President Rajapaksa and his allies should initiate a genuine process of reconciliation that is respectful of the cultures and traditions of all communities and views the members of all communities as citizens with equal rights […] However, if Extremist Sinhala Buddhist policies continue to emanate from Colombo, another civil war may be unavoidable.

The Social Architects (TSA) are comprised of a diverse group of writers, intellectuals and working professionals. While most of TSA’s members hail from the country’s North and East, the group also includes other scholars and activists who have been working on issues related to Sri Lanka […] They write under the pseudonym "The Social Architects" because of the risk of retaliation against those that speak out against the government, said a TSA document.

* * *

If elections to the Northern Provincial Council under the unitary constitution that repeatedly proved genocidal, and donor control of ‘development’ in the North, could bring in solutions to a historically chronic crisis in the island as envisaged by the International Crisis Group, does the group mean that solutions have already come in the East? If so the Eezham Tamils can understand what the ICG envisages for the North too.

For quite some time now, the US and India talk only of the North and they seem to imply to Eezham Tamils to write off the East.

Whether the US and the US-tagged West’s mouthpiece the ICG have found any special interest in truncating the East from the Tamil homeland, and in continuing militarization and Sinhalicisation there, is a question asked among the Eezham Tamil political observers.

* * *

Before and during the Vanni war the ICG was in the forefront in tilting the balance against Eezham Tamils that brought out the genocidal end of the war.

Licking the wounds, all the crises the ICG now talks about such as militarization and Sinhalicisation are direct consequences of the policies, and they have not come unknowingly or from the star-crossed heavens, as the former Norwegian peace facilitator Erik Solheim was trying to imply.

But the ICG is still not addressing the fundamental crisis of two nations bound by a genocidal state in the island.

Adding insult to injury, the latest ICG reports were implying that the lack of resistance among Tamils against the occupying Sinhala military is due to the acculturation of Tamils with the ‘military rule’ of the LTTE.

Genocidal Colombo and its stooges also speak in the same way, telling Tamils at every juncture that ‘if you have accepted the LTTE without any question, why don’t you accept us too in the same way’.

“With many in the north having lived under the LTTE’s military rule for much of the previous two decades, it is perhaps not surprising that despite occasional protests, mostly in Jaffna, the military’s presence has yet to provoke widespread resistance or significant public expressions of hostility,” the ICG report-1 said adding, “while people have come to accept the military as long as it is not too intrusive, there is real anger when it comes into competition with people’s lives and livelihoods, through taking lands and houses or competing for business.” [Meaning military occupation of Tamil country is OK, if it is not competing with the ‘development’ agenda.]

“The Tamil population is exhausted by war, broken by defeat and, after decades of LTTE tight control, sadly acclimatised to authoritarian rule.” The report reiterated the point in the conclusion.

It is atrocious that the ICG doesn’t see the difference between the tolerance of a people towards their liberation fighters and the hapless gag that comes from an occupying genocidal military, especially when it was brutally demonstrated that the entire world wanted Tamils to be left like that, thanks to the efforts like organizations like the ICG.

The need of the ICG now is to paint a picture of saviours, when its report talking about Tamil compromise with authoritarian rule said, “It will not necessarily remain that way.”

This week, Tamil Nadu political activist Thirumurugan Gandhi of the May 17 Movement revealed about a 5-hour talk his movement had with a representative of the ICG.

“The ICG didn’t want us to raise the issue of crimes. It didn’t want us to talk on the independence of Eezham Tamils. It wanted us to take up only the matter of rehabilitation of Tamils with the Indian government,” Thirumurugan said, adding that the ICG held similar meetings with many political parties in Tamil Nadu.

* * *

Not surprisingly, three days before the release of the ICG reports, the US Asst. Secretary of State Robert Blake was also talking to Associated Press about Tamils in the ‘North’ feeling that they are under “military occupation.” [The official US position doesn’t recognize Sinhalicisation, as transpired in many discussions with Tamil representatives].

Blake’s remedy was the same like the cock-eyed envisagement of the ICG reports.

“He called for provincial elections to devolve power, and for Tamils to take more control of policing the region,” AP reported Blake.

Giving a Skype-interview to Colombo-based ETV on Tuesday, Mr. Robert Blake has also cautioned on renewed ‘insurgency’.

“As I said in other interviews, the experience of many other countries that went through a similar insurgency and then failed to take real, concrete actions on reconciliation and accountability, found that in many cases those similar insurgencies restarted because of levels of frustration were very high. And, I think there is a similar risk here in Sri Lanka.”

Eezham Tamils in general have no idea from where this renewed violence is going to come.

The ICG reports, Blake’s stand and the US resolution passed in the UNHRC on implementing LLRC recommendations – all aim for the same: diffusing and deviating the struggle of Eezham Tamils and binding them to the unitary State of Sri Lanka to facilitate the economic and strategic inroads of the USA.

Last week, the US-based World Bank’s IBRD wing passed a US$ 213 million loan to strengthen the infrastructure of Colombo city, saying that it is the international gateway to the island, while the Colombo-centric system is the bane of Eezham Tamils.

On Thursday the US eased restrictions on defence sales to Sri Lanka.

Sections of Tamils in the diaspora and those who are hooked to the NGOs now try to build an image that the USA is currently a tactical ally as its need of Rajapaksa is over. They also believe that the US calculations on saving State in the island are not going to work due to chronic chauvinism of the Sinhala State.

While there is no guarantee why the gullible of the Oslo Declaration won’t again end up in another Mu’l’livaaykkaal, and while sections of Tamils are never tired of trusting the West and hoping of ‘returning’ to the lure of Colombo right since 1958, what they miss is repeated hints from the USA that ‘pressure’ is not enough from the side of Eezham Tamils.

Our enthusiasm to cooperate with tactical allies doesn’t mean that we should compromise with the fundamentals or that we should not know where and how the pressure has to be exerted. Tactical allies are no exception when it means business.

India’s bankruptcy of the policy on Eezham Tamils and naked injustice exhibited by China and Russia without any sense of propriety, concede to unipolar influence of the USA at least in the case of the island.

• ICG: Sri Lanka’s North I: The Denial of Minority Rights

• ICG: Sri Lanka’s North II: Rebuilding under the Military

• The Social Architects: Salt on Old Wounds: The Systematic Sinhalization of Sri Lanka’s North, East a

Chronology:

24.03.12  ICG acknowledges crisis but turns out cock-eyed on..

23.03.12  TNPF cautions ‘first step’ myth of UN resolution

22.03.12  Watered-down resolution passes in UNHRC, stops sho..

21.03.12  US-led World Bank loans to Rajapaksa, fortifies Co..

21.03.12  China card misleads Indian public

20.03.12  Centre for Peace and Reconciliation attacked in Ja..

19.03.12  Jayalalithaa blasts New Delhi supporting US-bailou..

19.03.12  India inclined to vote in favour of US resolution:..

19.03.12  Begin next stage of struggle by burning Sri Lankan..

18.03.12  Tamil civil society warned US officials on LLRC da..

18.03.12  ‘LLRC hollow, India must use pressure to secure ju..

16.03.12  Eezham Tamils demonstrate outside US Embassy in Lo..

15.03.12  US resolution offers bailout to Rajapaksa: Brian S..

14.03.12  New Delhi’s ‘historical’ Lanka relations outweigh ..

14.03.12  Onus focuses on India

13.03.12  Boyle warns Tamil diaspora against "Stall and Dela..

13.03.12  Grassroot Diaspora unites, upholds Tamil sovereign..

12.03.12  LLRC will only legitimise Sinhala occupation of Ta..

12.03.12  Win TV discussion sets Tamil perspective straight ..

11.03.12  Without international investigation accused will b..

11.03.12  We always requested international investigation: T..

11.03.12  LLRC-based resolution extremely disappointing: Gaj..

10.03.12  Tamil Nadu activists caution diaspora of the US-re..

09.03.12  US-resolution inadequate, India should seize oppor..

08.03.12  US-resolution binds Tamils to less than the 13th A..

07.03.12  World socialists reject both US-backed resolution ..

06.03.12  Thousands gather in Geneva denouncing deceptive de..

06.03.12  Tamil Nadu demands India to declare Rajapaksa guil..

06.03.12  Sumanthiran, Sritharan contradict reasoning Geneva..

05.03.12  West has to concede to Tamils its failure of ‘war ..

02.03.12  US demand on Sri Lanka is not enough: UNSG Panel o..

01.03.12  US, Sri Lanka squabble whether hang or slaughter E..

29.02.12  Enragement over US-India stand results in Sumanthi..

27.02.12  SL colonial governor coordinates anti-UN demonstra..

26.02.12  Peace academic denounces US-LLRC formula, urges al..

25.02.12  TNA plans boycotting UNHRC, requests people to rem..

25.02.12  US ‘tables’ Rajapaksa formula while pretending pre..

24.02.12  UNHRC sessions open on Monday amidst US–Sri Lanka ..

18.02.12  TNA tries to sell Indo-US pre-emption to Eezham Ta..

16.02.12  Sumanthiran comes forward to save Rajapaksa from i..

22.01.12  TNA should use its Tamil national mandate: Bishop ..

01.01.12  Majority ITAK members welcome civil society report..

13.12.11  TNA leadership faces admonition from civil society..

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Cannot expect solutions from NGOs tied to western bureaucracies: Kurdish Activist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 March 2012, 20:54 GMT]
Stating that oppressed nations must enforce their own agendas and not rely on NGOs like ICG for solutions, Kurdish activist in UK, Mehmet Aksoy, argued that such NGOs were entrenched in bureaucracies, at a seminar on ‘State Repression and the Struggle for Self-determination: Strategies for Resistance’ organized by Campaign against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) on Sunday. The meeting at the University of London Union, London was held in association with diaspora organizations of Kurds, Balochs, Eezham Tamils, Basques, and Sindhis. The Eezham Tamil activists spoke about how the double standards in dealing with the Tamils deployed by the western governments gave a green signal for the GoSL to carry out its genocidal offensive in May 2009.

Mehmet Aksoy, Halkevi Kurdish Turkish Community Centre

[R-L] Hyrbyair Marri, Baloch Political leader and Saleh Mamon, Chair

Janani Jananayagam, TAG

Sivagami Rajamanoharan, TYO-UK

Les Levidow, CAMPACC

Oier Imaz, Basque activist with the Abertzale Left

The diaspora activists talked about the respective histories of their struggle, the nuances of geo-politics in their specific cases as well as their experiences in dealing with establishments.

The meeting, chaired by Saleh Mamon of CAMPACC, comprising diaspora activists of various nations without states emphasised on the need of building solidarities among such groups especially in the UK and also on the imperative to conceive new resistance strategies to tackle repressive laws in the UK.

Les Levidow of CAMPACC said that beyond the colonial measures of counterinsurgency, the EU has also devised ways to create a stigma of ‘supporter of terrorism’ among oppressed nations here. Noting how refugees have been prosecuted and deported for supporting so called terrorist organizations, he said that there is “a securitization agenda which turns all political conflicts into security issues.”

Referring to David Miliband’s observations in the recently released Channel 4 documentary, he also said that there was an asymmetric labelling of one side as terrorists while the other side was committing genocide.

In the discussion that followed, the Chair Saleh Mamon noted that the counterinsurgency model followed by Sri Lanka, Turkey and Pakistan was the US model.

Talking about how the GoSL was attempting to erase the Eezham Tamil identity, Jan Jananayagam, UK spokesperson for TAG, said that how people in the Tamil homelands were reduced to life at a bare minimum, where struggling to stay alive was made to be the only priority. She referred to double standards in governments of US and Canada where the first prosecutions were not of war criminals but of students who sent computer equipment to Vanni. She also pointed out that what came out in the Channel 4 documentaries were already put across to the world from journalists on the ground much earlier, but the world failed to act.

Sivakami Rajamanohar of the TYO-UK opined that the fact that the LTTE was banned in the western states and the Tamil nation was criminalized for standing by their demands led to the genocidal offensive in 2009. “Although the Sri Lankan government claims peace now, the fact that genocide is ongoing tilts the balance in our favour,” she said.

Ali Has, Kurdish lawyer and Higher Court Advocate practicing Human Rights and Criminal Law in London, talked about the history of the Kurdish struggle for independence and the violent repression of the PKK led movement by the Turkish state. He also spoke about the draconian anti-terror laws in Turkey and how the 1982 Turkish constitution made any demand for Kurdish independence or even autonomy illegal.

Mehmet Aksoy, from the Halkevi Kurdish Turkish Community Centre, spoke on how the Kurdish movement worked with Turkish leftist leaders outside Turkey and with other socialist movements in the western countries. Referring to repression in Turkey, he stated that every time the Turkish appeared as giving a solution, it would combine it with mass arrests. He also elaborated on how Kurdish paramilitaries were used by Turkey to dissipate the movement in Kurdish regions.

When a question was raised during the discussion following the presentations on the role of groups like ICG which talk only about human rights without addressing political demands, with reference to Eezham Tamils and Kurds where the popular demand for sovereignty is painted as extremist by such groups, Mr. Aksoy said that such organizations are tied to bureaucracies of the west and that they should be worked with tactically without expecting too much from them.

“The disease of liberalism will always pull you back making you expect solutions from such organizations. But if you do not enforce your agenda, you will never get a true freedom,” he said.

Oier Imaz, a Basque activist affiliated to the Abertzale Left, talked about the experiences of the Basque struggle and emphasised that a creation of counter-power dynamics, even while working within the system, should be part of our daily agenda.

Baloch political leader Hyrbyair Marri and Baloch human rights activist Dr. Shahzavar Karimzadi spoke about the history of the Baloch movement and of the various human rights abuses by Pakistan. Both opined that a free and democratic Balochistan alone will bring a lasting peace in the region.

Towards the end of the seminar Mr. Levidow proposed that there should be an organized opposition to draconian anti-terror laws in the UK and to prosecution or extradition of refugees in the name of countering terrorism.

Former SC judge sceptical of solution without internal or external pressure

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 December 2011, 23:32 GMT]
“I do not see any possible solution to the ethnic conflict immediately, unless extraneous pressure, inland or foreign, compels the powers that be to relent,” said former Supreme Court Judge CV Wigneswaran in giving an interview to Colombo-based Daily Mirror, Thursday. Justice Wigneswaran’s interview gains significance in the light of Sri Lanka’s ‘leaked’ LLRC report, coming out with a blue print for completing structural genocide by 2020, accuses Tamils seeking international remedy as counterproductive. Justice Wigneswaran’s interview, dealing in detail with the past deceits of Sinhala polity, also corresponds with Prof. Sitrampalam’s concerns over Colombo-centric elements in Tamil polity once again leading Tamils into a trap and with the recent Tamil civil society admonition to the leadership of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Former SC Judge CV Wigneswaran [Photo courtesy: Daily Mirror]

“I do not see any possible solution to the ethnic conflict immediately, unless extraneous pressure, inland or foreign, compels the powers that be to relent. This applies to both the government as well as the opposition. Majority community parties are not interested in any solution and want to maintain the supremacy of the majority community through their language and religion. Except for a handful of persons like Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne, Mr.Weliamuna and a few others the majority of Sinhala masses do not want a solution, “ Justice Wigneswaran said in the interview to Daily Mirror’s Ayesha Zuhair on Thursday.

The following are further elucidations of Justice Wigneswaran on his point:

Let me explain why I make such a sweeping statement.

Around 1919, the Sinhalese leaders found that unless they made their request for territorial representation unanimously the British were not going to grant their request. So they approached Sir P. Arunachalam, gave him written undertaking that a seat would be reserved for the Tamils in Colombo, and requested him to talk to the Jaffna Association, which preferred communal representation to territorial representation.

In the cause of creating a well-knit united Ceylonese polity he was able to get the Jaffna Association to consent to territorial representation. He had implicit trust in the Sinhalese leaders.

The request to the Queen was thereafter unanimous and the 1921 Constitution granted their request for territorial representation. Once the supremacy of the majority community was ensured in the Legislature the Sinhalese leaders Sir James Peiris and E.J.Samarawickreme retracted.

A seat for Tamils in Colombo was refused. The reason they gave was significant. Apart from saying that they were not bound by their written promise since they no longer held the offices they earlier held when promising, they also said “You Tamils are yourselves the majority in your two provinces. Why should you have seats in Colombo?”

This meant they recognised the individuality of the Ceylonese Tamil Community who had occupied the two provinces, North and East, from pre-historic times.

It was such recognition that made S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike passing out from the Oxford University to recommend a federal constitution for Ceylon. The Tamils did not accept this idea favourably since they were scattered throughout the island while being rooted in the North and East and were doing well.

Thereafter the majority community made use of the whip-hand they had got by virtue of the legal instrument of territorial representation, to discriminate against the minorities especially the Tamils. Under the Donoughmore Constitution the numerical strength of the majority community led to the formation of the Pan Sinhala Cabinet.

After the Pan Sinhala Government of the 1930s we see them depriving the franchise of the Up Country Tamils in the 1940s. Then in the 1950s the Sinhala Only Act deprived many Tamils of their government jobs. Early 1970s saw standardisation in education, which deprived many Tamils of their higher education.

Throughout this period the state was colonising areas traditionally Tamil speaking with outsiders without giving first preference to the people of those areas. The demography of the two provinces traditionally Tamil speaking was being calculatedly changed. The 1972 and 1978 Constitutions centralised power in the hands of the majority community. Now there is de facto Army rule in the North and East.

Should there be not civilian over-sight in these areas? Does not democracy mean civilian management of local areas? How long is the military going to stay in the North and East? Forever?

For all this, the Soulbury Constitution of 1947 was secular. It did not indicate a unitary structure. It had an inclusive approach. It recognised the multi-ethnic nature of our society and inserted the all-important provision of Section 29.

Our 1972 Constitution, which had no mandate to change the 1947 Constitution and no participation from the elected representatives of the Tamils of North and East, got rid of Section 29, giving no akin provision instead, made Buddhism State Religion and approved of the Sinhala Only Act earlier passed thus ushering in officially the supremacy of the majority community.

Having got so far do you mean to say any Government of the majority community would consent to settle the issues of the minorities? They would want the minorities to creep around the stem if they wanted any succour and that too, individual favours. Look at our budget. Highest for the military. After the war, is it human security that needs precedence or state security? What has prevented the State from granting the legitimate expectations of the people of the North and East that they be allowed to look after their affairs undisturbed by outside forces? Root causes, which gave rise to violence among the Tamil youth, still remain unattended to.

None of the Political Settlements reached with the leaders of the Tamils have been given effect to. Bandaranaike – Chelvanayagam Pact, Dudley Senanayake-Chelvanayagam Pact, Regional Councils’ Legislation under J.R. Jayewardene have been abrogated.

The present President, if I remember right in January 2010, gave an assurance to the Prime Minister of India that he would work along the lines of the Thirteenth Amendment plus. The Thirteenth Amendment is a dead letter today.

Now tell me Ayesha! Do you think any majority community based Government, with a history such as this, would consent to grant rights to the Tamil-speaking people, unless internationally or locally pressured,” Justice Wigneswaran asked.

* * *

In answering a question “What exactly does the Tamil community want,” Justice Wigneswaran said it is “simple”.

“The Tamil-speaking people want to look after their affairs themselves. In legal terminology that is the right of self-determination.”

“They want to be governed in the North and East in their language. They want to go back to the land of their forefathers from temporary living quarters provided by whomsoever. They want their security, law and order to be in the hands of their siblings and progeny not in the hands of outsiders.”

“They want their lands and properties to be administered by themselves; not by outsiders. They want to elect their own representatives without being dictated to by outside agencies, military power or financial power or administrative power.”

“They need to preserve their language, culture, religions and their way of life without outsiders building statues and vihares in their midst with military might.” They need to be freed from mercenaries amongst their midst who plunder and rob at the instigation of outside agencies.”

“All these are not rights which the Tamil speaking people have concocted for themselves. Any people who have certain identities of their own are entitled to ask for self-determination in terms of the international covenants,” the former Supreme Court Judge said.

“Unlike when we were young, many Sinhalese have forgotten or have been made to forget the fact that Tamils occupied this country even before the birth of the Sinhalese language. Their progeny in the North and East are therefore entitled to their unfettered individuality,” he observed.

As a model of political solution he favoured a federal constitution. “Separation is what Prabhakaran asked. Federalism is what the non-violent Chelvanayagam asked,” he said.

After becoming completely hopeless in a 30 years struggle for federal solution, Chelvanayagam decided to call for independent Tamil Eelam in 1976. Prabhakaran's LTTE with local genius achieved a de facto military and territorial parity to address the issue. But ‘internal pressure’ by indigenous efforts was not acceptable to the outside powers, whose competition to keep the issue regional or international, jointly and deliberately tilted the balance, commented a Tamil political analyst in the island.

Justice Wigneswaran’s interview has to be read in between the lines to realise that unless there is internationally recognized parity between the nations in the island, no solutions are going to come. The 13th Amendment is not a beginning but a failed pre-emption, the political analyst commented further.

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