On Sinhalese Nationalists, Tamil Diaspora and the War Crimes Saga
Repost This Article
Photo from The Australian
A couple of days ago I was watching a political talk show in the Derana TV Channel attended by prominent nationalists including Professor Nalin de Silva of the Sinhalatva School of thinking. One needs no special introduction to this nationalist ideologue cum academic. The focus of discussion was Report by the UN Experts Panel baptized by the government as the “Darusman Report”. I was curious when Nalin de Silva said something along following lines “There was no war in this country and whatever the pundits ( pandiyo) say this is not the Post War period. In fact this is pre-war period and there will be a real war within next six to seven months!” then came the thunderbolt if ever there was one as Nalin de Silva went on to explain that this report would be a preliminary towards a more damning report which would be taken as justification for NATO to do a Libya or for that matter Serbia, in Sri Lanka! And that the USA and the UK are hatching this plot with Ban Ki Moon doing the fronting. While Nalin de Silva would await this scenario to unfold as a doomsday prophet would an apocalypse, his analysis clothes the age old nationalist paranoia about the Christian West and its evil machinations against the local religions and customs. But will these Cassandras prove to be correct?
UN Report was the outcome of combination of factors. According to various analysts Prabhakaran and the LTTE depended on Tamil Diaspora for succor during Ealam War iv more than in any of the previous instances. However despite Diaspora activists wreaking havoc in London to secure a truce, and it is debatable whether it was due to concern for Tamil civilians trapped between or survival of Prabhakaran and top rung leaders of the LTTE or both, they failed miserably in spite of a hurried visit by David Miliband along with Bernard Kouchner to Sri Lanka. GOSL held its ground in face of massive international pressure mainly because India was supportive of the war effort and by extension this meant keeping USA at bay despite several last ditch covert attempts to save LTTE from total destruction, no doubt propelled by domestic political compulsions in the form Tamil Diaspora support for many an influential Democratic politicians in New England including the present Secretary of State. The post war period saw the excessive triumphalism in the part of the government and closer ties with enemies of the West like Iran, Libya and Myanmar and this period also shown GOSL inching ever closer to China with massive investments including a brand new harbor that was being built under Chinese patronage. Not only was India sidelined, but the ever surging nationalist sentiment meant solutions to ethnic problem was getting delayed. Indeed there were many issues; there was a massive security blanket over North and East that hampered freedom of movement and posed a psychological threat, there was sluggish resettlement of the IDP s, there were alleged disappearances, there was no progressive dismantling of High Security Zones in the North and giving back houses to rightful owner and in some instances alleged insensitivity towards Tamil culture and their holy sites etc. Of course one cannot expect changes to happen overnight especially when the violent path advocated by the LTTE is etched deep in to the Tamil psyche and there may still be hardcore cadres or fifth columnists on the loose with plans for resurrection of the evil. And then video footage began to surface with alleged executions and other alleged ghastly crimes. In the meantime Tamil Diaspora was pressurizing British Coalition Government while USA is to go to the Presidential and Congressional elections in 2012. And on top of that Ban Ki Moon is to seek reelection in the same year where he will need the endorsement of USA and its allies. So it won’t take rocket science to ascertain that the Obama Administration which put human rights at least stated on top of its agenda and Her Majesty’s Government ostensibly precipitated the chain of events that led to appointment of the experts panel in last July, to corral in the rowdy kid on one hand and to appease Tamil Diaspora on the other.
The nationalist response was so far more disciplined than anticipated. The UPFA May Day rally was meticulously organized to shun any Anti west or anti American sentiments and focusing solely on the joker in the pack, in this case UNSG save for usual histrionics by NFF lead by Wimal Weerawansa. So will the NATO invade our country within next six to seven months and does a gun fight at the OK Corral to capture Mahinda Rajapakse and drag him to the altar of (skewed) justice? This might be the dream of Diaspora activists but unless and until the present government becomes willing marionettes in the machinations of the global power struggle for supremacy between Russia, China and USA with Rajapakse doing a Chavez by becoming part of the New World Order depicted in the now famous NFF poster and even then choose to completely sideline India, we can dismiss such notion as outlandish. The Serbian and Libyan interventions occurred while the massacres were ongoing and there were many other reasons involved. And also Sri Lanka is, at least on the face of it, a functioning democracy and going by the amount of US public and political unpopularity with Libyan intervention such incursion to Sri Lanka is unimaginable given also US proclivity to cultivate India as the most important ally to counter the threat of China it would not take any action without tacit approval of India in this theatre. Consequently we can also dismiss a sanctions regime as envisaged by some of the Diaspora activists.
However this does not mean that the government should not take progressive measures to help genuine reconciliation and usher in the spirit of democracy. The stifling of press, undue interference in the Judiciary should stop and while this is highly unlikely, anti democratic clauses in the 18th amendment should be repealed reducing the already inflated power distance between the ruler and the ruled. As an initial move the government had extended the LLRC hearings. The legitimate grievances of the Tamil people should be attended to with some form of devolution of at least some aspects power without being condescending about it. Such a conciliatory approach would go a long way to make this country a true miracle of Asia.
There will not be any more devolution to Tamil people under the present regime. Reason: the regime will lose popularity if it does so.
why do we need devolve power to tamils? are they some kind of a special race than the rest of us just, to give them special treatment or are they want us reward them for the terrorism and the destruction they caused for the lat 30 years?
My sweet little Kaush,
When were you born? Or are you again parroting things that people like me were saying only a few years ago, just to counter Tamil racist supporters of LTTE.
But right now it’s not appropriate darling. Just get this through your skull.
There are no such group as Demala except those created by your parents and their parents’ generation. Once created, this group could be identified only by their name (unless they changed it) or accent. In fact in my day every Indian was called “Demala”.
Now the issue of being special. Well people are going to act special when they are treated special like:
1) When you are shown a pen and asked to pronounce the name before the kill you
2) When you have “Jathi Alae” shoved down your throat
3) When you are looked at suspiciously when your ID shows your name
4) When your relatives are raped, lynched or tortured because they are “special”
5) When you are called a “Tamil racist” because you said “Please sir I don’t want to be special; like registering at the police station”
What’s the matter Kaush. Didn’t you know that there were special people in Sri Lanka. You know you should try embracing a Tamil guy at least once. Then you’ll find out how special they are (nudge nudge wink wink).
kaush
what is this:
Jayantha Dhanapala’s written submission to Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, written submission, 30 August 2010:
‘’ Each and every Government which held office from 1948 till the present bear culpability for the failure to achieve good governance, national unity and a framework of peace, stability and economic development in which all ethnic, religious and other groups could live in security and equality. …… Our inability to manage our own internal affairs has led to the taking of arms by a desperate group of our citizens.’’
(Dhanapala is a Sinhalese and was formerly an Under-Secretary in the UN)
kaush
These people need a lesson from you:
A.- “Every citizen must have full confidence and trust that he will be protected by the legal system of the country and by the Constitution. There, we have a long way to go. To achieve this, there are some essential prerequisites:
1. A Constitution which shields all citizens from abuse of power and authority and guarantees them against any denial or erosion of their rights;
2. Freedom of information and complete transparency of government. [Justice CG Weeramantry, Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka 1967-72 & a Judge of the International Court of Justice (1991-2000)]
B.- “The Tamils have undergone, and are undergoing immense hardship. We need to reach out to them…. We have persistently discriminated against the Tamil people from 1956….Now I must tell you of a very, very sad situation, particularly bad and dangerous situation. We have in our prisons over 2000 young Tamil men. Some of them in the Remand Prisons have been taken on suspicion. Just picked up and taken in for detention without charges for years. [K Godage, former Sri Lankan diplomat]
C.-“Years of inequitable allocation of national resources and consequential disparities in regional economic development, infrastructure development and public service delivery have sown the seeds of discontent and disillusionment leading to conflict, insurrections of the South and the North and even the armed struggle towards a separate administration.” [Chandra Jayaratne, member of the Board of Directors of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies and a former President of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce]
“In the meantime Tamil Diaspora was pressurizing British Coalition Government while USA is to go to the Presidential and Congressional elections in 2012. And on top of that Ban Ki Moon is to seek reelection in the same year where he will need the endorsement of USA and its allies. So it won’t take rocket science to ascertain that the Obama Administration which put human rights at least stated on top of its agenda and Her Majesty’s Government ostensibly precipitated the chain of events that led to appointment of the experts panel in last July, to corral in the rowdy kid on one hand and to appease Tamil Diaspora on the other.”
Was it a game of Politics where Human Rights was just a cover?
Justice becomes a casualty in the power game of politics. Its the same everywhere
Sharing power with Tamils (ONLY) is a racist idea. Power shold not be shared with Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, etc. Instead power should be shared with MULTIETHNIC teams made up of people of ALL races, democratically elected.
If SL share power with Tamils, there will be another Tamil Nadu in SL which is the worst thing that can happen. We can see how racially prejudiced, anti-Sinhala, anti-Hindi, anti-non-Tamil and how disgusting the conduct of Tamil Nadu leaders and many others are. They attack non-Tamils, SL leaders, even the SL film director who went there for his work. This must not be allowed to happen in SL. They attacked a convoy of trucks transporting weapons to SL during the critical stages of war.
Sharing power with multiethnic teams will eliminate this dirty possibility.
For that the 9 COLONIAL provinces should be done away with. Those 9 provinces were made to DIVIDE & RULE by COLONAIL rulers. For UNITE & PROSPER we need a different set of provinces.
1. northern, north-central and wayamba provinces should be merged to ONE province.
2. eastern, southern and Uva provinces should be merged to ONE other province.
3. western, central and sabaragauwa province should be merged into ONE yet another province.
We have 3 multiethnic provinces. Share power to them!
This way we can have a California, Victoria, Perek or any other multiethnic power sharing unit, not another Tamil Nadu.
Great idea! I love gerrymandering! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering
BTW the term Sinhalese nationalists is not a very accurate term.
Sinhala is not a nation but a race and Tamil is also a race not a nation.
There are 2 meanings of the term Sinhalese nationalist.
1. A champion of the notion “Sinhala Nation”. In this case, such a person would not be a nationalist because Sinhala is not a nation but a race/ethnicity.
Only a very few people exist of this category as can be measured from the support this view gets at elections.
2. A person who champions the cause of Sri Lanka who happened to be a Sinhalese. Sri Lankan nationalism IS nationalism because SL is a nation. In this case the race/ethnicity of that person is unimportant as he/she champions a wider multiethnic community (SL).
Hello Rawana
Where were you Ravana during the last 30 years? Didn’t you see the killings and sucide bombs during these years?They were done by LTTE terrorists dear Ravana. Not from ordinary tamils. Where was the this special treatments you are taking about? My room mate in the University of Peradeniya was a tamil and there were many tamil students. They were treated equal by all the university community.
But they were treated differently from their own tamil students ( who came from Jaffna, not from Colombo). I remember very well one they made one student to go back of the line while waiting in the cafetaria because they said he belong to a low cast. The sinhalese students stood up for him.
Can we find any Sinhalese in Jaffna university or in Jaffna? No way. They were killed in the riots in the 1950s. I come from a mixed family. I see everything balance minded.The Srilankan’s, both Sinhala and Tamils suffered from this blood thirsy terrorism created by almigty ” Prabhakaran”.There are many poor people in Jaffna and would you mind at least collecting a dollar from each so called tamils who live Canada and other western countries, for the sake of those people.As far as I know the Sinhalese that you hate so much are feeding them.
Now please let us enjoy the peace and come back and help these innocent people.
See you soon.
There are no such thing as “sinhalese” people. There was a nation called sinhale. The nation had people who spoke siyabasa and taymoli (both means “my language”).
Then two races were created. Each thinking the other superior.
Right now I am attacking the one which is on top and rubbing the face of the “identified other” in the dirt.
The “Tamil” people cringe (I presume) when they say they are Sri Lankan and a westerner asks “Are you Tamil or the other one”. Pretty soon westerners are going to asking “Are you Tamil or Sinhala?” It will be time for those who identify as sinhala to cringe. The way “Tamils” are shut down repeatedly in various fora I have seen and the lack of respect there clearly is among certain Sri Lankans for minorities within Sri Lanka, it is a matter of time before Sri Lanka develops a reputation in the World. At present “Tamil”=”Terrorist” (this is the fault of the LTTE. Pretty soon it could be Sri Lanka=”Genocide” and Sinhala=”fascist”.
It is easy to blame the GSL for the potential latter outcome. But I really think that GSL would not have the courage unless the sinhala chauvinists did not expect the obnoxious behaviour they have displayed. If you want to be respected again, immediately implement recommendation of Mr. Moon’s panel instead of insulting them. There are many recommendations which can be implemented overnight.
We are beyond being ashamed of you guys who continue to lift your sarongs at a drop of a hat. Next time at least pick up the hat to hide your own shame. There appear to be a lot of card board heroes in Sri Lanka after the War was won by General Fonseka. (it’s been easily forgotten that many of the heroes of the General’s Special Forces were “Tamil”; how would they feel when they hear dogs pretending to be lions telling Tamils to leave the country “if they don’t like it”)
Take this as a piece of advice. When you have a position of authority over someone or if they depend on your good will, always pretend that the tables are turned. That will always guide you in your actions. Other wise you could be in a situation of “having caught the tiger’s tail”
BTW, we have seen photos of how the “sinhalese” are looking after the Tamils. Either you don’t know or are lying about ethnic cleansing in Jaffna as far back as the 1950′s. Try to be entirely truthful. Ethnic cleansing in Jaffna occurred with the advent of LTTE. Who did the ethnic cleansing in Kelaniya?
You ask for money. Why are the people from the “Wonder of Asia” still begging. You are a middle level country now. Get a life and look after your own. If you miss treat them we are happy to accept them. The World is realising that it is not just the poor Tamils who are mistreated in SL. The statistics will gradually seep through. We are ready to accept the refugees from “the Wonder of Asia” so that you guys can live in peace.
OTOH if you want specialists expatriates to come and help, you’d better be prepared to pay our rates! Welcome to the free market.
“There appear to be a lot of card board heroes in Sri Lanka after the War was won by General Fonseka. (it’s been easily forgotten that many of the heroes of the General’s Special Forces were “Tamil”; how would they feel when they hear dogs pretending to be lions telling Tamils to leave the country “if they don’t like it”)”
Can you enlighten us as to who these Tamils are who were in Fonseka’s special Forces?
Ravana,
aj says
There are many poor people in Jaffna and would you mind at least collecting a dollar
from each so called tamils who live Canada and other western countries, for the
sake of those people. As far as I know the Sinhalese that you hate so much are
feeding them.
You say
“You ask for money. Why are the people from the “Wonder of Asia” still begging.
You are a middle level country now.”
Ravana, aj did not ask you for money. He asked you to help the Jaffna Tamils. The
very same people you show such a lot of concern and who are currently being looked
after by the Sinhalese. Was that request so repugnant to you for you to react with
such venom?
If you supported a war that caused these people to suffer is it not time for you to
accept responsibility and give even a token of reparation? How did you miss the
significance of aj’s last sentence and the emphasized text above (emphasis is mine)?
He said “Now please let us enjoy the peace and come back and help these innocent
people. “
You say
Get a life and look after your own.
Are you disowning the Tamils of the North?
You say
“We are ready to accept the refugees from “the Wonder of Asia” so that you guys
can live in peace.”
What a paradox, you refuse to spend one dollar on behalf of the Tamils but brag about
accepting them as refugees.
Why not Walk the Talk as according to you the Northerners have not been looked after.
You say
“OTOH if you want specialists expatriates to come and help, you’d better be
prepared to pay our rates! “
So it’s ALL about the MONEY.
Was the show of concern feigned?
Prabaharan is not cause of terrorism. He is the result of terrorism by Sri Lankan Govt terrorist to the innocent Tamils in 1958, 1972, 1983. Where was Prabaharan before 1983. He is the result after 1983 and a noramal Tamil could not tolerate what happened to Tamils in 1983.
By that logic Sinhalese racism is clearly the fault of British marginalization. Sadly, my meager knowledge of britsh history makes it difficult pin point who exactly is blame for the british colonial practices. But i’m sure the romans are to be blamed at one point or the other
This cycle of abuse is an unfortunately prevalent phenomenon: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7027.html. Instead of playing the blame game, (though it does shed some very fascinating light on current power issues) I think we need to really examine what has to happen now. Those who are the most scared of power sharing seem to be those who are least able to manage it.
Meh! power sharing is something the poor tamils in the north & east care little about their primary concerns are socio-economic. In fact those are the same concerns that plenty of poor sinhalese also. This countries priority is to sort those out. Unfortunately all i hear is a bunch upper middle class people yapping about power sharing.
Rajesh,
How are we tolerating now as he is no more? Whatever created VP; he certainly screwed up everything that is for sure!
Anyway Prabakaran is history now. He was defeated, humiliated, abused and killed. It means the mode of resistance was WRONG and counter productive. It also means the aspirations of Tamil political parties were inappropriate to the SL context.
Lesson: Inconsistent racial aspirations (with national aspirations) must be put down using violence and other means.
This Sri Lankan government will go on appointing committees such as APRC, IIGEP and LLRC to placate the international community. It is not interested in resolving the ethnic problem or addressing the allegations of war crimes and violations of international law in killing more than 40,000 Tamil civilians. The culture of impunity to the violators of HR will continue until able young men and women among Tamils are annihilated and jounalists are silenced.
looks like, so many have got agitated replied me and unfortunately there aren’t any reply links for each of my replies…anyway some have gone through lot of hardship in trying to show what kind of trouble have the so innocent tamils have gone through in the past without showing that they were all only confined to tamils and tamils alone..just because they were tamils…for example take the case where some one have highlighted how over 2000 tamils were imprisoned without any charges forgetting the fact that around 60000 sinhala youth were executed without any charges in 89….my point is simple, as i pointed out why tamils need power only to them, without devolving powers to other races in the country..again if the current system is faulty, giving a mini system just like the current, to the so called all goody goody tamils will resolve the problems?
“GOSL held its ground in face of massive international pressure mainly because India was supportive of the war effort and by extension this meant keeping USA at bay despite several last ditch covert attempts to save LTTE from total destruction, no doubt propelled by domestic political compulsions in the form Tamil Diaspora support for many an influential Democratic politicians in New England including the present Secretary of State.”
I completely agree that India’s support (not only New Delhi’s but also Chennai’s) was a crucial factor in the final outcome in May, 20009. However, I feel the author has got it wrong on the US Democratic Party’s (not only the Secratary of State’s) motivation for taking such a tough stance on Sri Lanka at that pivotal moment in it’s history. I would suggest that, unlike in the case of the British Labour Party (who unashamadely pursued the Tiger rebels’ cause towards the end of their tenure in government, under the guise of supporting human rights, to secure a few British Tamil votes in marginal electorates ahead of their 2010 General Election) and Canada, the US position was strategic. For years they had used the national security crisis that Tiger rebels caused to ‘leverage’ the Sri Lankan government. Their tactic was to offer military assistance in the form of training and weapons sales, and influence government decision making by threatening to withdraw this assistance.
The end of the separitist conflict and the re-election of the president and his government the following year was a blow to the regional dominance of the USA. It lost it’s leverage in Sri Lanka, with it’s ideally situated sea-ports on the route between Europe and South-East Asia, and continued the emerging pattern of losing influence in the Asia/Pacific region to the People’s Republic of China.
well put. I might also add that there is rather amusing coincidence between this, hastily put together, UN panel report & UK local elections.
Those diasspora living in cosy comfort kindly enjoy your lives instead of making it miserable for the Northern Tamils living in Sri Lanka.
We Sri lankans through the GOSL or otherwise will take care of them.
All self centered, selfish diasspora who funded the Tamils terrorists kindly take your hands off Sri Lanka.
You belong elsewhere. Can you not focus on what is happening where you are instead of making it miserable for your host.
Stop spewing venom or else Retribution will catch up with you.
agreed
you mean the UN and international NGOs will take care of them?
Ban Ki-moon’s controversial ‘Darusman Report’ managed by Hard-core LTTE affiliated Global Tamil Forum, sponsored by US and UK political establishments is full of factual inaccuracies, contradictions, speculations, rumours, hearsay and allegations without substance. Facts in the report came from Tamil Diaspora who financed LTTE, die-hard LTTE supporters who are bitter about losing the war and often-biased NGO’s rather than Tamil people in post-war Sri Lanka. What else do you expect to find when you interview such people? Report attempted to whitewash the universally banned terrorist outfit LTTE as a ‘disciplined militant group’. LTTE forcefully took away the children and trained them as suicide bombers, the concept they invented that other terrorists follow at present. As for proof of bias, two out of three panels members had record of speaking out in public directly against the Government of Sri Lanka!! UN is pushing for a war crimes probe and ultimately targeting economic sanctions/embargo + against Sri Lanka to derail the economic recovery since SL does not fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
During the final phase of the war in which Sri Lankan forces rescued hundreds of thousands of civilians held captive as a LTTE human shield, USA, UK and Norway governments ordered SLG to stop the war and offered safe passage to 100 odd top leaders of LTTE and their families. USA did not want SL to be the first to defeat terrorism when they were a laughing stock to control Iraq and Afghanistan. Also as per Wiki-leaks the Tamil diaspora virtually blackmailed western politicians for votes if they did not support LTTE. LTTE has smuggled the Tamil diasporas into EU and smartly settled them in certain electorates to get the numbers significant enough to have a say. Sri Lankan leaders stubbornly asked the West to go to hell. Wiki-leaks confirm what was said to David Milliband and the French FM in Colombo. Colonial masters have a vendetta against Sri Lanka for revenge. Furthermore Rajapakse regime has been at odds with the West for a good while!!!
UN is funded by western countries and UN tends to have an international agenda that responds primarily to Western interests. Only exception is the veto power of Russia and China in the Security Council. Ban Ki-moon is seeking re-election thus he needs to please his western masters. Perfect proof of this theory is the UN treatment of latest events in Libya as opposed to identical events in Bahrain where ruler is an ally of west. UN has no time for the Iraq indiscriminate bombing (shock and awe tactics), Guantanamo Bay enquiry in US and Iraq enquiry in UK that were swept under the carpet by the respective governments. But Sri Lanka is a small fish and suits everyone’s own agenda perfectly. India will abstain in any UN vote due to Tamil Nadu coalition partners pressure!!! UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, who has consistently demonstrated an anti-Sri Lanka attitude, was at her stride again supporting her own Tamil Diaspora/LTTE rump.
Difficulty to explain the SLG stance ‘zero civilian death toll’ is due to the fact LTTE combatants were ordinary civilians trained and armed wearing civilian clothes not suited & booted wear a tag saying ‘I’m LTTE combatant. Count me dead’!!! I wonder how UN accounted Al-Qeada death count although wearing civilian attire!! This report is an outrageous attempt to harm the delicate task of forging national unity through reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction, which is underway in Sri Lanka. The reintegration of former LTTE child / suicide soldiers as productive citizens, rehabilitation of detainees, de-mining, restoring democratic processes in the North and East as well as reconstruction of housing and infrastructure in Sri Lanka should be commended. Government is already in discussion with Tamil National Alliance on devolution of power in tamil areas. SLG has to act proactively rather than react each time UN + western media raise their ugly head with financial backing of diaspora.
Dear Lak Puthra,
You seem so confident that the UNSG’s panel report is full of inaccuracies, fallacies, contradictions, etc,etc. Can you show me evidence or any form of proof to back this statement of yours??
You state:
“…..USA, UK and Norway governments ordered SLG to stop the war and offered safe passage to 100 odd top leaders of LTTE and their families.”
When was the war ever stopped during the final phase?
When and how did the 100 odd top LTTE leaders leave? Any names and methods of escape?
Do you have any credible sources to back your comment?
you state:
Difficulty to explain the SLG stance ‘zero civilian death toll’ is due to the fact LTTE combatants were ordinary civilians trained and armed wearing civilian clothes not suited……”
my take:
Satellite images show that shells being fired came from GoSL side. SL Airforce admitted to Foreign Embassy Defense Attaches that they were bombing the southern part of the NO FIRE ZONE because they (SLAF) believed that was where LTTE military positions were!
You state:
“This report is an outrageous attempt to harm the delicate task of forging national unity through reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction, which is underway in Sri Lanka. The reintegration of former LTTE child / suicide soldiers as productive citizens, rehabilitation of detainees, de-mining, restoring democratic processes in the North and East as well as reconstruction of housing and infrastructure in Sri Lanka should be commended.”
My take:
What kind of reconciliation is taking place? What reconstruction of housing is taking place? India is still waiting to build its pledge of 50,000 houses.
What kind of restoring democratic processes in the north and east is taking place?
What kind of rehabilitation is taking place? Detainees have been kept and torched and only towards their release is their a vocational training which is done for the sake of propaganda.
It seems to me that you are the one who is depending on hearsay and speculation!
Hi! Everyone
I always read these Sri lankan news as I had lot of sri lankan friends from all communities. They are very nice people.
I need some TRUTH from RAVANA
You say that General Fonseka’s Regiment had Tamil soldiers who killed Tamils? Would you please leborate on this matter.
Secondly, I read somewhere that Karuna and Douglas Devnand supplied women to Sri lanka Army?
Also that Indian Army was with Karunas soldiers and being trained inside sri lanka? during the war.
Please clarify these points if anybody has 100% TRUTH on these matters ; I would like to hear from the Sri Lanak M<ilitary people please on these matters.
“The legitimate grievances of the Tamil people should be attended to with some form of devolution of at least some aspects power without being condescending about it.”
What devolution now? For one thing, any form of devolution is belated by more than 100,000 lives and destruction of millions worth of properties. For another, even the 13+ devolution of power would prove meaningless at this point, where provincial councils are just another way of president exerting power. Perhaps some changes to the constitution would help?
Given some time, even a political power sharing such as federalism would prove meaningless at the rate of demographic changes, land grab, etc. I believe all that talk with TNA is just simply buying time just like all the commissions and discussions before, including the ceasefire with LTTE.
They ought to do much more help to the remaining Tamil survivors by concentrating on resettlement, demilitarization, releasing the political prisoners, etc. Much change has to come from within the Sinhala polity if there is to be democratization and genuine address of political grievances.
An interesting article and responses. GOSL needs to get the basics right and what are these basics- ensuring everyone living in Sri-Lanka are treated as citizens with a right to recieve high quality public service and to have a voice in their country.
Devolution, localism, new localism etc within a united Sri-Lankan state- yes. But no to seperatism or devolution that just compounds the feeling of seperation and division between communities. No to devolution that prevents people from living and working where they want in the country. Yes to devolution that encourages good government and decision making based on whats good for all communities. Yes to devolution that represents the majority in a geographical area but doesnt exclude others who are not part of majority. No to devolution that just creates a SL Tamil north, Muslim East and Sinhalese South- POINTLESS.
Yes to learning from trials and tribulations of recent experiments in the UK… its not an easy ride, a journey and painful at times. Look at Scotland now- with potential seperation and potential English disharmony when they see a lack of real devolution in England.
Will the Tamil Diaspora enter into a sensible discussion about this? Will the Sinhalese Nationalists calm down and start thinking about whats good for the whole country and all its peoples.
I support any form devolution that gives more power to local people but not at the expense of the country.