I feel sorry when you ask for proof that the government is putting up Buddhist shrines etc. We have to be Buddhist at heart not only in name.

I have read you article and posts with great interest. It is conspicuous that many Buddhist emblems have been sprung up within the North and East, and there is no doubt that they are done with government cooperation and financing. There should not be any objections for Buddhism among the Tamils. It would have been more appropriate for the Sinhalese to settle by their free will and build Buddhist Viharas etc! As it stands now, it projects that the Government is Sinhala and Buddhists, and it has won the war becoming the new masters of the Tamils!

To me, it is crystal clear that, the Foremost place given to Buddhism in the constitution is at work; it is perceived that the government machinery is to uphold Buddhism, and the whole country is to be painted with Buddhist flavour! What is your view on this? Is the Foremost place given to Buddhism has anything to do with what is afoot in the north and east?

i dont beleive in a seperate state – though i have long advocated for equal rights and treatment for all poeple in sri lanka

no one i met in vanni in the last 6 months had spoken to me of a separate state

also, if someone else does something wrong (like CIA or FBI) i dont think its an excuse for others also to wrong things, i wud take it as a challenge to be more humane and

i dont think we can ever have security in sri lanka when its at the cost of someone else’s security – i think its possible to work towards security of all sri lankans, although this maybe more difficult than trying to ensure security of some sri lankans at cost of other sri lankans life, liberty and wellbeing

i hope your question is answered

i find it a pity that u seem to be using subjects such as “seperate state” which i never mentioned, and asking me questions, to avoid responding to facts i had mentioned

ahamed,

i have seen and also visited the mosque in jaffna….but as i had made clear, i have limited this article to only vanni, and not covered jaffna, mannar etc.

and no where do i say this covers all details of life in vanni, rather it attempts to share what i saw and heard, and i hope will provoke others to do same, which i hope will include things i had failed

i have also been long concerned about the rights of the muslims evicted by the ltte, the organization i work with is doing extensive work on this issue with some muslim community leaders, some of whom in puttlam and elsewhere are my good friends, and if you are interested to discuss, collaborate, pls let me know your phone number or email and would be happy to talk more on this

Susantha:

i dont have proof the the government is building buddhist monuments, and i didnt say that either. i did mention what i saw, soldiers cleaning up an area under a bo tree in mankulam, which with i dont find anything wrong

however, it is clear that whatever is done in north is done with full cooperation of the government, particularly military, and as the vast majority of the civilians vanni now are non buddhists, i think its likely that buddhist monuments are built with consent, cooperation of government and military

i also dont think its wrong to build buddhist monuments in any part of the country, but i do think that when so many kovils and churches have been destroyed, and almost all civilians in these areas are hindus and christians, that it would be better to give priority to rebuild these also than only buddhist monuments

i think giving priority to buddhist monuments in predominant hindu and christian areas is not helpful to ensure co-existence and reconciliation

i have basically stated what i have seen and heard with my own eyes and ears

in some situations, i have raised some questions and expressed my opinions and feelings….im aware of coz that others cud have different opinions, but facts remain as they are

Eelamaran
listen man the Sinhalese regard sri lanka every inch of it as the traditional homeland of the Sinhalese and therefore have all the rights to settle in any part of it even if done artificially.give me a single historical document which proves tamil terrorists homeland concept?I am not asking for references from books written by some one give me a document.Even if Tamil students helped the Sinhalese does it mean that a racist attack did not take place ?Some of these Sinhalese students were handicapped for life.

Don’t you know that there’s been a paradigm shift in the Sri Lankan conflict and political power dynamic?

If you didn’t hide behind a false identity I’d make sure you end up in the dustbin of history in which you belong now.

Jaffna Muslims reopen mosque after 20 years
Jaffna Muslims evicted by Tamil rebels 20 years ago, have revived prayer services following the re-opening of their newly renovated Grand Mosque.

About 75,000 Muslims, mostly involved in trade were evicted in 1990 from the northern districts of Jaffna by the now-defeated LTTE in their struggle for an independent Tamil homeland.

For the last 20 years, Muslims lived in other parts of the country as refugees or built up communities in the western part of the country. After the defeat of the Tamil forces last year, a number of Muslims began to return to their homes.

kanishka – stop coughing for cash …lol

” Therefore if Sinhalese in large numbers chose to live in the North so be it. The same applies to the large numbers of tamils currently living in Colombo (Wellawatte), Kotahena etc. This does not amount to colonising Colombo either.”

Ahh; there is a big difference between minorities setting in other areas to Sinhala only colonisations. I am all for people to live anywhere they chose to live. However, for e.g. the Tamils in Wellawatte and Kotahena financed by themselves and there was no government assistance or funding do you get it? By contract, the Sinhala are colonised exclusively with government sponsored programmes, do you get it?

This is what the minorities object to not the fact the Sinhalese wanting live in North and East by their free will. Yes of course we will get used to the blatant majoritism!

But we cannot build this future if we live on the mistakes of the past and continue to not address the root causes of the conflict. Reading your article was like reading a replay of 1984 to 2009 and its shameful.

Ignore [Edited out] allen and speak to the hearts and minds of the real people of the South. They will listen.

The truth will set the South and the North free.

“i think i fully understand why tamil people i met in vanni are not happy with large numbers of soldiers and camps in their villages and towns ”

well look at this way – in US do CIA and FBI check white males? they mostly check muslim males . why do we need large number of security in wanni – obviously cos the main threat to sri lankan state came from that area.

ok – let me re-state my question – in your opinion – can the tamils ask for a seperate state ? is it justifiable. thats my question. (let see how you answer this one)

The wider question is with all this empirical evidence, Hilary Clinton says she happy with the Reconciling Progress made? see:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1705667530?bctid=88712871001

And India, the largest democracy with 70 million Thamils watches very happily
Why?

Again I say the inability to understand the global politics is a destructive blindness of the Thamil Freedom struggle

The army can go anywhere in the country and establish camps that serve the strategic military interests (which needs to be justified on the basis of acceptable criteria) of the country on government land or land that they purchase, rent or lease from private owners.

However, they should not have the right in peace time to occupy or take forcibly land and houses owned by civilians who do not want to sell, rent or lease these land or buildings to the army. Nor should they have the right to change names of villages or put up new nameboards of villages. This should be under the jurisdiction of the local authorities in consultation with the people of the villages in question. Nor should the army have the right to destroy or deface cemeteries where the ancestors of local people are laid to rest. Nor should they have the right to run businesses that take away livelihood opportunties of people and thus prevent or prolong the recovery of local economies.

If they have the right to do all these things under a new peace-time civilian government, we can safely conclude that what prevails is the law of the jungle. Some people used to accuse the LTTE of having a “jungle mentality”. It seems that the Rajapakse regime is surpassing the LTTE in its jungle mentality. Peace and reconciliation, any one?

you have combined two separate things i said in two places, and also misquoted me, so i will respond separately and suggest you read more carefully

the fact that buildings occupied by the army and police are in better condition than the houses (and tents) vanni civilians live now is something i saw with my own eyes, not what tamil people said (read carefully the original article)

if you make the effort, you can see for yourself this, so you dont have to believe me

and its upto you to form your opinion, whether it is just, fair, humane….and whether this will help reconciliation

for me, its not just, its not humane, and it doesnt help reconciliation

to respond to other question, no tamils told me about soldiers occupying their (tamils) country (again, pls read carefully….to me, country and land mean very different things, especially when we talk about ownership)

but several did tell me that they are not happy about the large presence of sinhalese soldiers, in villages that have been traditionally been predominantly tamil (even before LTTE forced and compelled non tamils to leave)

several tamils also told me that some of the buildings and land legally belonging to them, and some they had been living in for decades, are now occupied by army and police (this was substantiated by what i saw with my own eyes, many houses, that clearly appeared to be that of civilians, now occupied by army and police..although i didnt have chance to check deeds of ownership)

i think i fully understand why tamil people i met in vanni are not happy with large numbers of soldiers and camps in their villages and towns

i was not at all happy when for years, the airforce blocked off the access road to my house, and everyday, in rain and sun, i had to walk extra coz the buses were not allowed to go through

and i would be even more unhappy if the army and police came and built camps on land that i legally own and houses that i built and legally belong to me

even if some sri lankan law made it legal for the army ad police to forcibly occupy private land and property, i wud expect that i would be informed, consulted, provided alternative land, compensation

and if this was done in an emergency without consultation, providing alternative land and compensation, i would expect it at least a bit later (months, not years)

perhaps you might feel different about your village / town or particularly land or house you may own?

the fact that many tamil people have had negative experiences of army and police in the past (sexual abuse, rape, torture, abduction, disappearances) and changing tamil village names to sinhalese, display of sign boards in sinhalese only, more attention to buddhist monuments than hindu & christian, building memorials for soldiers and stopping memorials for tamil civilains killed and and even obstructing religious ceremonies for civilians killed, makes it even more understandable that tamils are not happy, and worried, about large army and police presence in their villages

i trust i have answered your questions?

Therefore if Sinhalese in large numbers chose to live in the North so be it. The same applies to the large numbers of tamils currently living in Colombo (Wellawatte), Kotahena etc. This does not amount to colonising Colombo either.

That should be the way and it should be encouraged. So get used to seeing notice boards in Sinhalese like we are used to seeing the same in Tamil. There is nothing wrong with that.

This is the new reality…better get used to it fast.

Therefore the Army can and has the right to camp anywhere they like be it in the south, north or anywhere else. After going through 30 years of a hellish war, waged upon on the entire population by one moron (of course amply funded , supported and cheered on by a large section of the Tamil population) if people still think the country should be divided; they should simply go and live elswhere.

“…Crimes against the Sinhalese by Tamil terrorists…”

If you wish to have a balance view, please, draw two columns.

1.As you written here, “Crimes against the Sinhalese by Tamil terrorists”
2.“Crime against the innocent Tamils by Sinhala terrorist (Govt??)”

Fill both columns with as many information as possible. A brain storming session with your friends or enemies (even better) is a good idea.

Brain storming session is better. It will help you to get to the root of the matter.

NB: You called “Tamil terrorist”. Fair enough. However, political campaign by GG ponnampalam is NOT a crime. Expressing your view in a non violence mean is your birth right, in my view.

Thank you.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN? IS IT A TAMIL COUNTRY OR ARE THE SOLDIERS IN THERE BECAUSE TAMILS WANTED TO CARVE A EXISITNG COUNTRY?

would like to see ur reply here!!