Dr Sudath Gunasekara. President Senior Citizens Movement, Mahanuwara, 28.7.2013.
I give few excerpts from an interview given by C.V.Vignaswaran, the Tamil National Alliance nominee for the post of Chief Minister Northern Provincial Council on why he entered the political arena as reported by Padma Rao Sundarji of Hindustan Times that appeared in Ceylon Today of 24th. July, 2013.
I am quoting these few lines in this note hoping that this piece will be an eye opener to those political pundits, who do not know the history of this country and who talk of reconciliation with the communal Tamils by implementing the 13th Amendment as a panacea.
Excerpts and comments
1 “I want equal rights for Tamils within a united Sri Lanka“. Vignesvaran (V)
This implies that there are no equal rights for Tamils in Sri Lanka. If so, I wonder how he became a Supreme Court Judge in this country and retired with a handsome pension, denied to even people like Sarath Fonseka Ex-Army Commander who won the war for the Government and Shirani Bandaranayaka the Ex- CJ (who maintains still she is the de jure and de facto CJ of this country), both of whom are Sinhalese, and also how he lives in Colombo 7 enjoying all the luxuries of five star facilities with security provided by the State. Also I wonder whether he is talking on behalf of all Tamils in Sri Lanka. To me it appears that he is now appearing on behalf of a particular set of extremist communal political Tamils who do not care a dam for the destinies of the ordinary Tamils n this country but are only concerned about political power for their survival in the North and East, while living in the Deep South, leading a comfortable life, far away from the suffering ordinary Tamils, he is now pretending to represent and serve. I also ask him then as to whether he is, along with his political friends, who are all living in Colombo and over 1.2 million other Tamils all over the Island outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces, are not having equal rights with the majority. Can he also tell us any other country under the sun where minorities are enjoying so many privileges like here while actively and openly engaging in subversive and traitorous activities?
I challenge him to state any privilege enjoyed by other citizens that is denied to a Tamil citizen in this country merely because he/she is a Tamil. Is he not aware that a Tamil like any other can live, work, get employment, buy property, reside in any part of the country and do anything and everything including free movement and use his own language where as both Sinhalese and Muslims do not have the same privilege in the north and the east?
2 “The LTTE was defeated in 2009. But the problems of Tamils remain unsolved, so the TNA is back in the fray”. V (they have been always in the fray)
What are the problems peculiar only to Tamils, other communities are not having. As an eminent member of the judiciary is he not aware that it was the LTTE and the Communal Tamil politicians and the LTTE terrorists who are responsible for all the problems of Tamils in the North and the East and not the Sinhalese or the Government. Is he not aware that all Tamil politicians from 1921 onwards have been leading the innocent Tamils along a blind alley of hateful and communal politics thereby taking them to destruction and devastation? They have been talking only on behalf of Tamil people only? Look at the names of their political parties. Tamil Congress (TC), Ilankai Tamil Arasukachchi (Lanka Tamil State Party dubbed as the Federal Party to hoodwink the world) (ITAK), Tamil Elam Liberation Organization (TELO), Elam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Eelam People’s Peoples Liberation Organizers of Tamils Eelam (PLOT), Eelam Revolutionary Organization (EROS), Tamil United Front (TULF). All their parties have the prefixes like Tamil or Eelam and they don’t call this country even by its historical name. For them it is EELAm or Ehelam and not Sihalam or at least Sri Lanka. Is he not aware that this country had been the land of the Sinhalese throughout history and was known as Sinhaladvipa or Sihala Desa (Sihalam). So how can you have an Eelam which they define as a Tamil Kingdom, within somebody else’s country? I do not know whether he knows that even the word EElam like Ceylon and many others terms coined means the land of the Sinhalese and it is derived from the word Sihalam (may be coined by them as EELAM by mistake).
They also vouch for liberation. From whom and from what are they struggling to liberate. In fact what they should do is to liberate from the communal clutches of Indian psychosis if the really want to be true Sri Lankans. Though they talk of liberation actually what they mean is separation from the rest of the country and align with South India. They don’t want even to call this country by its real name. They call it Ilankai and what they want is a Tamils State in this country. This is their eternal dream. They talk of reconciliation by which they mean nothing else but the establishment of a separate Tamil State.
What more evidence is necessary to show their true colour. These extremist Tamil politicians have never behaved as national politicians. As such Vignesvaran should know that all these problems are the direct result of the wrong attitudes of these communal Tamil politicians when he jabbers about Tamil problems.
3. “I primarily mean India, of course. When a wife is beaten up by a husband, it is not an internal affair. Neighbours have a duty to intervene. (what a wonderful legal luminary he is). When we are precariously at the mercy of 150,000 occupational troopsin the Northern Province and our rights are being affected, naturally we have to discuss this first with the Government of Sri Lanka”. V
When he says that “ƒ”¹…”we have to discuss this first with the Government of Sri Lanka’ he already talks like an Indian or at least a Tamil who is not a Sri Lankan, may be a citizen of their Dream EELAM.
Does he not realize that the Northern Province is only another administrative area of this country and the Army is deployed there to protect all Sri Lankan citizens living there including Tamils from external threats and defend the territorial integrity of the country against LTTE left outs and their foreign agents including India? The troops are the members of the Sri Lankan Army. So how can he name them as an occupational army? Is he aware that even Tamils are there in this Army. Doesn’t this portray his perception of the Northern Province as a separate Tamil State? It appears as if he is already behaving as the King of the EElam and treats the Government of this country as a foreign Government even before he gets nominations to contest elections.
3. “There are 150,000 Sri Lankan troops in the Northern Province “”…” very close to your nuclear reactors in Southern India. Chinese nationals have been seen in boats which went to the island of Kachhathivu with our navy“. V
Does he not realize that Kachhathivu is an Island that belongs to Sri Lanka? So what is wrong in anyone whom we want and trust being present there? Although V is a citizen of this country (I presume so) he appears to be more worried about the safety of Indian Nuclear reactors and Indian security more than the Security of this country. This also makes it abundantly clear that he, like all other Tamil politicians here, talks, behaves and acts like an Indian both in mind and spirit.
Sri Lanka is an independent sovereign country. So why can’t we have friendly relationships with any country who helps us when India is openly doing everything to destroy this country and the Sinhala nation.
Has he spoken a single word against poaching by Tamilnadu fishermen that destroys the livelihood of Sri LankaTamil Fishermen of whom he now pretends to be the liberator par excellence?
4. “Would these things not be considered a threat to India’s security? India cannot be non-committal even if she wants to”. V
Here again he behaves like an Indian citizen. He is only worried about Indian security and not the security of this country. So how can such a man become a chief Minister inthis country? His lives in Colombo, sons are married to Sinhalese girls and he does not have any interest either in the North other than his emotional, sentimental and crazy communal and petty racial prejudices. He is only a proxy of the TNA representing Indian interests. Even if he wins he will be more in Colombo than in Jaffna and most probably operate from Colombo. Therefore he want be easily accessible either to the people or the members of the PC. TNA has selected him only to satisfy India and the “ƒ”¹…”so-called Tamil diaspora’ (in whose hands TAN members are hostages) as the best bet for the game as it has no suitable Tamil to contest for the post of CM. This also clearly shows that the TNA has no concern for the people of the area and their needs. It is concerned only with power for the party, for the western educated Tamil Vellalas as Nalin Silva puts it). If you read the interview with Geetanjaleee Aguleswaran the SLFP Organizer for Kilinochchi in the Sunday Divayina of 28th July (Page 8) you will know who these TNA politicians are from the point of view of a local Tamil.
5. On police and Land powers to the PCs. V
“It should be the other way round. Police and land powers should be granted to the local people first. Certainly, the presence of the armed forces can then be phased out gradually. Four years have passed since the end of civil war, the Tigers are long gone. So why on earth is there still an occupational army in place?”
Usually in any State police powers are with the Government .They are being exercised by the police on behalf of the government to keep peace and order in the whole county. You don’t give police powers to people in any country. So are the land powers. The cry for land and police powers clearly shows the hidden agenda of a budding Tiger CM heading for separation. Territory is one of the major requirements for a separate State. That is why they want land powers. If land powers are given then the TNA will settle only Tamils in the NP. Landless Tamils from all over the country including the Estates and even Tamilnadu will be imported Tamilize the entire region. If by chance the Eastern Province also revolts and join the North and declare the EElam, with the help of India and the International enemies then 1/3 of the total area of the Island and 1/3 of the coastal belt will be lost to the country.
With regard to the Army it is the Sri Lanka Army occupying Sri Lankan territory to protect the interest of the State. As such it is not an occupational Army. So what does he mean by phasing out the Army. This clearly shows that he also holds the view that North and East are the traditional Homeland of Tamils, while living and enjoying the super luxuries of Colombo 7 under the protection of an “enemy Government”? In short he also thinks the north and east are the exclusive Tamil country independent of the Sri Lankan State, though he lives and wants to continue to live in Colombo. See how people change their perceptions and attitudes to serve their self interests.
6 “ƒ”¹…”There are tremendous problems being faced by the people there. Their lands have been taken over by the army, they are unable to get back to their original places, they live in makeshift houses there is cultural degradation. How can law and order be in the hands of people not indigenous to an area“ V
What is the difference between his views and those of the LTTE? He thinks only Tamils are indigenous in the north and the east. By this he subscribes unreservedly to the LTTE notion of the Eelam and the so-called “ƒ”¹…”Timpu Doctrine’; that is, a) the North and East are the historical traditional Homelands of Tamils, b) Tamils in this country are a distinct Nation and c) they have the right of self determination.
Where was he when the LTTE was killing thousands of Tamils, dragging thousands of school children out of schools and their homes to the jungle to be trained as combatants, depriving all Tamils of their means of livelihood, running their kangaroo courts, collecting ransom at gun point and occupying their lands, brutally murdering all the democratic Tamil Leaders in broad day light and making life impossible for the Tamils in the north and the east. What was he doing then? Did he speak a single word against such LTTE atrocities? What is the difference between his perception and that of the savage LTTE?
This is the man now trying to be the biblical Moses for the emancipation of northern Tamils? Apparently he doesn’t seem to have eyes to see the massive development work done by the Government in the North after the conclusion of the war. These developments I am sure will accrue more benefits to Tamils than anybody else in this country. Neither the TNA politicians nor Vignesvaran have eyes to see them.
7. “India can make sure that our army returns to its barracks, that election ID cards are not snatched away, mysterious bombs don’t scare people away from voting. It can ensure a fair and clean election by placing observers there and convincing our government to see what the Tamils really want, instead of forcing the election to reflect a different idea”. V
Here he wants India to conduct the NPC elections. Does he think we are a part of India? Does he want India to dictate terms to Sri Lanka? That may be why he wants India to conduct elections in this country. Doesn’t he know that we are an Independent and sovereign country over which India cannot have any say on our local matters? If this is how he behaves as the Chief Minister Nominee one can imagine how he will act if he becomes the CM. I have no doubt he will declare the NP as an independent EElam following the footsteps of Vardaraja Perumal. Does he know that the army is there not to snatch ID cards but to protect the citizen’s rights? It appears that this “ƒ”¹…”eminent Judge’ has already come to the foregone conclusion that the Government is planning to rig the elections. Had he being the President of Sri Lanka would he have ever allowed an election in an area with a situation like this.
Looking at his responses I feel that he is not talking or behaving as a legal luminary or a citizen of this country but only as another anti Sinhala, anti Government and pro-Indian Communal Tamil politician. I wonder what difference is there between him and other racist Tamil politicians like Chelvanayagam and Ponnambalam including Prabhakaran who wanted an Eelam carved out of this country. But still the Tamils in the North might vote him in. Because, for the simple reason, that he is a Tamil. Because, when it comes to issues like race, religion, language and territory humans become very emotional and therefore gullible.
In my opinion he is only another LTTE agent, an Indian Woolf in Sri Lanka in sheep clothes discovered by the racist Tamil politicians to hook the innocent Tamils in the north and the east by fanning their communal emotions and throw them to the fire from the frying communal pan. He may also be another Elara, Magha, or Prabhakaran reborn as far as the Sinhala nation is concerned.
Going by all what he has said I think he should contested for the post of Chief Minister in Tamilnadu to replace Jayalalitha that mad woman and Karunanidi, the decadent old owl. Because, he has proved to be a better Tamil communalist, who loves Tamilnadu and India, than either of them.
I would like to conclude this note with a word about the Indian friendship.
Finally, I must emphatically record it here that India has never been a true friend of Sri Lanka. Conquering this Paradise Island had been the eternal dream of Indians from the beginning of this world. First recorded event on this vicious trend was the Rama invasion from North India. Of course for Ram it was only a war to rescue a woman. Subsequently at later times the center of invasion shifted to the South and the objective also was changed to conquering territory and wealth. The same struggle continues up to date. What is worse is today the whole of India as a State is trying to make this Island an outlying peripheral State of India with the help of the pro EElam Western countries and the communal politicians within Sri Lanka.
The first historical invasion began in the 2nd Century BC and they ended in the 13th Century with the Magha devastation that completely destroyed the golden period of the Sinhala Buddhist civilization in the Dry Zone centered on Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. This resulted in the complete devastation of the Sinhala Buddhist civilization by shifting those survived their atrocities to the South West. It is a tragedy that we as a Nation have not been able to recover from that devastation up to date. The archaeological an epigraphic ruins of that pristine and glorious civilization that spread from Pointpedro in the north to Dondra in the South across the whole country bear evidence to this great bygone civilization. Each and every grain of sand in this good earth that has been soaked with warm red blood of the Sinhala Buddhist warriors who have sacrificed their life to defend their native land for posterity against the invaders firstly from India and thereafter from the west bear testimony to that valiant nation of the bygone days.
We can never forget or forgive the diabolical hostilities India has committed against this country and its people in the more recent past. The training and nurturing the LTTE, providing them with military, financial and technical aid, logistics, military intelligence through the RAW, invading and interfering during the Vadamarachchi war (Operation Poomalai), imposing the Rajeev Pact on old JR under duress in 1987 and providing billions of Indian money to the LTTE to wage war against the Government of Sri Lanka (See Feature on Prabhakaranta Rupiyal Billioyanayak dime Rahas givisuma by Keerti Warnakulasuriya in Irida Divayina Page 28), voting against us at Geneva, causing duress, imposing economic pressure and invading it through IOLC etc, supporting Tamilnadu to create nuisance to this country and regular conspiracies with the Tamil politicians in this country making them feel that India is behind them in any event and all struggle against this country etc . If you read the latest press release (rather the love letter to Jayalaitha) by the Indian PM under the caption “ƒ”¹…”No change in Centre’s stand on SL Tamil’s issue: PM tells Jaya’ given wide publicity in the world press you will realize the depth and the scale of the Indian conspiracy against this country.
What I quoted is only few randomly selected short list of their atrocities committed against this Island nation. How can we rate Vignesvaram who cannot see this danger as an eminent jurist as a suitable person to be a patriotic politician in this country who loves the country and its people.
The whole world knows that tigers of Sri Lanka are a creation of India. They were breast fed, brought up, trained, facilitated and mobilized to fight against the democratically elected Government of this country by India under the supervision of the RAW. A tiger will never change its spots with the change of the wood. Similarly a Tamil is a Tamil whether he is in Jaffna, Matara or Colombo or even in the Moon.
It reminds me what Piyadasa Sirisena once said, in the mid 20th century “ƒ”¹…”one should trust only three Tamils: that is the unborn, the dead and the one on the wall’. All others want to annihilate the Sinhala Buddhist civilization and make this another Tamilnadu. That has been their utopian day dream from the dawn of history, as history reveals. This is the naked truth whether one likes it or not.
In order to understand the true nature of racial, communal and human instincts I further suggest that you all read between lines the following statement by Barack Obama as it was reported in the Colombo Telegraph of July 22, 2013 filed by Malinda Seneviratne. Isuppose it will enlightened the blind supporters of the 13th A on the fallacy of their arguments on it and open their eyes to behold why we say that the 13th A will never fulfill the so-called aspirations of the Tamils in Sri Lanka until they wipe out the Sinhalese race and establish the EElam on this soil that will be a mono Tamil State, which will remain an eternal day dream of all Tamils both here and abroad, including Vignesvaran the Judge who swallowed the racist bait of the TNA and turned politician.
The Tamils in the north will vote him not because they think he will be a good politician who will solve their problems heaped up since independence but only because he is a Tamil. This is the naked truth about Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. That is the eternal and never changing human instinct, the common denominator even Black Obama after 35 years of soul-searching has finally discovered. His emotions on race and religion dear and near to his heart appears to have overtaken him as an outlying American President, as he himself has admitted, and shown his true colours as a human at last.
Barack Obama Talks About The 13th Amendment
July 22, 2013 | Filed under: Colombo Telegraph,Opinion | Posted by: COLOMBO_TELEGRAPH
By Malinda Seneviratne –
Malinda Seneviratne
Meanwhile In A Parallel Universe Called Humility; Barack Obama Talks About The 13th Amendment
When Trayvon Martin (black) was shot dead by Mark Zimmerman (white) in February 2012, I said “ƒ”¹…”If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon’. A few days ago, when Zimmerman was found innocent of any wrongdoing, I told the nation to engage in soul searching. I said that that the jury has spoken, meaning that we have to respect the decision. Then I said, “ƒ”¹…”Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago’. I have searched my soul, especially about race relations. Here’s what I found.
We talk big. We act small. We layer lie over truth and sprinkle glitter over it. Then we show the magnificent fiction to a world we believe is gullible. We praise Abraham Lincoln and do multiple versions of Martin Luther King’s “ƒ”¹…”I have a dream’ speech. We think we are so clever, so classless and so free but I often wonder whether we are peasants or whether we are slaves.
Just this morning I read something from the other side of the world. The Chair of an EU delegation to Sri Lanka, Jean Lambert, after enumerating the positives of reconstruction and democratization, opined that trust building among communities needs to be worked on. It took me back to 1865. That was when slavery was abolished, through the 13th Amendment to our constitution. When it was passed by Congress on January 13, a Trayvon Martin of that time might have smiled. He might have cheered and felt truly free when it was ratified on December 6 the same year.
No one is smiling now. No one is cheering. Well, not the blacks anyway. I asked myself “ƒ”¹…”have we reconciled?’ I asked myself what moral authority do I have and do my officials in the State Department have to comment on Sri Lanka’s post-conflict reconciliation process and progress therein. It is almost 150 years since the 13th Amendment was passed. The fact that I, a black man, is President might give the impression that our race relations are cheer-worthy. The truth is that Trayvon Martin’s killing was not an outlier. There have been Trayvon Martin’s before and there will be Trayvon Martins in the futher. Zimmermans too. So too double standards for whites and blacks. If there was an outlier, that’s man, Barack Obama, and maybe this is because it was felt that I was white inside. Maybe I am. I know how to use words. That helps.
I also wondered, in my soul searching exercise, whether we preach democracy, peace, tolerance, co-existence and talk about the values that make America great and bomb those countries which we believe are not as virtuous as us only to cover up. I remembered how we vilify our enemies or rather those who will not submit to us and asked myself if we do this because of a deep sense of national inadequacy.
It’s almost 150 years ladies and gentlemen. We thought we had fixed race-relations and related problems for good. The truth, I am compelled to acknowledge, is that we are not clever, we are not classless, we are not free of racism and we are as divided along lines of color as we were back then.
I am, as I said, an outlier. I thought about it a lot. Soul-searched. We are not a nation. I mean we are not the nation we claim to be. We are a lie. I am a lie. And out-lying one another seems to be an integral part of our national ethos, if such a thing actually exists.
This is a confession by Obama
I have no doubt this will go down in history as a classic revelation and a masterpiece like the famous speeches of Abraham Lincoln”ƒ”¹…”s Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King’s “ƒ”¹…”I have a dream’ speech.
Also I suggest you all read the latest piece by Senali Waduge “ƒ”¹…”What “friend” India did to Sri Lanka’ Friday, 26 July 2013 published in The Nation. I recommend this as one of the best articles on this subject everybody should read.
I thank profusely Malinga and Senali for their wonderful and timely pieces.
To Tamil Brothers and sisters of the North with love
If you want to win your aspirations, restore economic and socio-cultural prosperity destroyed by the LTTE and Tamil politicians of the past and usher in an era of peace and happiness for your children and the generations to come and live as one family in this blessed Island vote the Government sponsored group
On the other hand if you want total destruction and devastation then vote the TNA and Vignesvaran the Indian spy. I want the ordinary Tamils to be not gullible.
In any case also please remember this PC election is only an interim measure. Mark it “the Provincial Councils will be abolished in the near future as they have already laid the foundation for the Sri Lankan Federal State along with the adoption of the 13th Amendment in 1987. Thereafter we all will have to live together as one nation in this country.”