Those who were not in favour of
operations against the LTTE have a habit. They wanted the operations to be
stopped and engage in so called peace talks with the terrorists. The UNP ridiculed
the armed forces and Ranil Wickremesinghe referred to Thoppigala as a jungle.
Ravi Karunanayake wanted to find out whether the army was in Medawachchiya when
they were in Killinochchi. He probably does not know where Alimankada is as he
thought it was another name for Pamankada. As far as he is concerned it
appeared that all mankadas were the same. Then Lakshman Kirielele said any ass
or some other animal could fight a war. The NGO pundits and self appointed
specialists on warfare, echoing the westerners, said that the “war” cannot be
won by either party. However, the Sri Lankan armed forces were able to defeat
the LTTE and to become the first to defeat a terrorist organization.
The peace talks were to be based on the
thirteenth amendment, which was a result of the infamous Indo Lanka Accord
which is not a document valid politically or legally. The Indo Lanka Accord
referred to the historical habitats of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, and it was to
these so called habitats that power was to be devolved in order to solve the
“discriminations” against the Tamils by the Sinhala Buddhists, who in the eyes
of the westerners and NGO pundits are the worst Chauvinists in the world. The
government of the Sinhala people as the Tamil racists call the Sri Lankan
government has no respect at all for human rights according to the west, their
agent UNP and of course the NGO pundits and the TNA.
Almost all these anti Sinhala Buddhist
organizations habitually tell us though the war was won, peace was not won.
They seem to be of the opinion that peace could have been won without winning
the war. For them winning the “war” was not a necessary condition for peace. It
is clear what they mean by peace is not what the vast majority of Sinhalas and
probably Tamils have in their minds. As far as the UNP, NGO pundits and others
are concerned peace is nothing but betraying the sovereignty of the people and
the territorial integrity of the nation. For them peace is handing over a piece
of the country to the Tamil racists. In any event most of them talk of a non-existing
Tamil nation and their self determination.
It is wrong to say that there is no
peace in this country. Peace was won by the Sri Lankan armed forces under the
political leadership of the President and the direction of the Defense
Secretary. However, England and some other western countries want another \war
against the Sinhala people this time through various means. They employ the
dispersed Tamils in their countries on one hand and on the other, their so
called international organizations such as the UN and human rights agencies,
and of course the NGOs. The displaced Tamils operate through a faction of the
TNA that had its annual conference recently in Vavunia without Ananda Sangari
who was not sympathetic to the LTTE but with the widows of the terrorists and
others such as Sumanthiran the MP appointed on the national list. The anti
Sinhala lobby shout slogans inside and outside the Parliament, stage
demonstrations in London and Geneva and attempt to give the impression that
there is no peace in the country. In the whole of Sri Lanka the arrival of the
prince of peace was celebrated day before yesterday unlike in the days of
Prabhakaran the devil of terrorism and some Bishops of the Catholic Church who
dominated the Church then, and some other Churches. We cannot forget that the
Bishop of a Christian denomination referred to the terrorist leader as a humane
person. It is time for the Catholic and other Christian Churches to look back
and correct the mistakes. After all there are Sinhala Catholics and Christians
whom the Church cannot ignore in the name of finding so called peace that is
detrimental to the sovereignty of the people and the territorial integrity of
the nation.
As we have said very often, this so
called solution is backed by the Tamil racist Vadukoddai resolution, though the
Tamil problem is more than hundred and fifty years old. The Tamil racists took
so much time to formulate “the problem” in order to suit the solution that they
had from the state council days. Nagnathan who became the treasurer of the
Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi (Lanka Tamil State Party) later wanted a
separate country for the Tamils even before the first Parliament was elected in
1947. In the case of Tamil racism the solution came first and then the problem
was formulated.
However, the process was so artificial
that the solution does not address the problem. The problem is “discrimination
against the Tamils by the Sinhala Buddhists and their government”. The solution
is devolution of power to the historical habitats of the Tamils, identified by
the Indo Lanka Accord as the Northern and Eastern Provinces, though the “Eelam
Map” refers to an area to the north of Chillaw on the western coast and Panama
in the eastern cost. This “Eelam Map” is based on judicial districts demarcated
by the Dutch who imported the Vellalas to the country. Incidentally the word
Eelam was coined by C Sunthralingam who spelt it as Eylom. If the Tamils are
discriminated then a solution has to be found for all the Tamils in the country
and not only for the Tamils living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
It has to be emphasized that the
solution depends on the concept of habitats as stated in the Indo Lanka Accord.
It does not depend on the so called homeland concept and it is clear that it is
the concept of habitats that is used to justify the solution of devolution of
power to the Northern Province and the Eastern province. Thus when the Catholic
Church issues a statement recognizing habitats of the Tamils, the Sinhalas
especially the Sinhala Buddhists are disturbed to say the least. The Church in
its defense may say that they do not refer to the homeland, but then the
notorious Indo Lanka Accord also does not refer to the homeland of the Tamils. The
Catholic Church like any other organization is entitled to engage in politics
forgetting the differences between the God and Caesar without correcting its
mistakes, but then the Church should realize that it is not immune from
criticism.
It should be realized even by some
ministers belonging to the leftover left, not to mention the TNA leaders that
the Provincial Councils in operation today do not confirm to the Indo Lanka
Accord as such. The Northern and Eastern Provincial councils act separately and
the provinces are not amalgamated for the purpose of implementing the
thirteenth amendment and the provincial councils act. The present provincial
councils are not a solution to the so called discrimination of the Tamils and
they function in the framework of the “eksesath rajya” a form of unitary state
if one were to use modern terminology. The Northern Province Provincial council
is not different from any other provincial council in the country and this is
something that the TNA should realize sooner than later. The original idea of
provincial councils was bound to fail as there was no problem to be solved
envisaged by the so called solution.
It is in this background that we have to
consider the employment of the armed forces in the country. Sumanthiran who
said a few weeks ago in a television discussion that there were no Tamil
speaking policemen in most of the police stations in the Northern Province,
but did not respond to the media
spokesperson for the Police who challenged the honourable MP, is now shouting
slogans against the presence of the Army in the Jaffna Peninsula. It is the
commander of the Army who decides where to employ the platoons, and as long as
Premachandrans, Sritharans who want a separate state it appears that the
commander cannot confine the army to the barracks. The Provincial Council of
the Northern Province has no authority to decide where the army should be
stationed and as long as the Army is not involved in civil administration there
is nothing wrong in having the army in the streets of Jaffna or Colombo, if the
commander is of the opinion that there are separatists who are controlled by
external forces that act against the sovereignty of the people and the
integrity of the nation. The faction of Sampanthan and Wigneshwaran is only
using Sumanthiran to counter the faction of the dispersed Tamils in the TNA, and
this policy would not succeed.
Nalin De Silva
27-12-2013