Good to read the comments of two giants among us, Ethir and Nesiah.

Tamils have “reacted” when “provoked” we would have been better served with cooler heads and warmer hearts I think.

Manning petrol shed tills in Croydon is more lucrative than you might think!

Your input,
as always, is valuable. But I think you have misunderstood some of what I have
said. That we are Octogenarians ( I will be 80 years in a fortnight) may be a
part of the reason.

I do think that
the Sri Lankan Tamil people (not the LTTE, which was an aberration) have been politically
suicidal. Traditionally, we had been thoughtful and progressive. Acute,
prolonged discrimination has provoked uncharacteristic overreaction, with
horrible consequences to the whole country but especially to us. I would
suggest that Rajan Hoole’s excellent book Palmyra Fallen should be
compulsory reading to thoughtful concerned people. But there are also some
hopeful signs.

Re. Justice
Wigneswaran, I always had and yet have a very high opinion of him. I was among
the many who urged him to enter politics. He is an example and an asset to all
of us, but that does not mean that I agree with him on every issue.

Re.
anti-“Indian Tamil” legislation of 1949, the UNP did have the numbers in
Parliament to pass that legislation, but they valued international (especially
Western) opinion as well as securing the best possible national consensus, and
that is why they needed G.G. Ponnambalam and others within the cabinet.
Moreover, if all anti-UNPers and the liberals and radicals within the UNP got
together, the 1952 General Election might have gone the other way. That would
also extend to the 1956 election, with the left parties, together with minority
leaders firmly in command. Bandaranaike and the UNP liberals and radicals could
have become a part of that future. But this is speculation.

Re. the LTTE, there would have been no LTTE in the scenario
outlined above. I have not touched on the LTTE except in passing. Suicide,
individual (cyanide capsules) and collective, such as taking on the IPKF and
engaging in numerous meaningless massacres (six hundred policemen in one
instance, many groups of Buddhist and Muslim worshippers, as well as countless
numbers of individual assassinations meaningful only in their negative
consequences (Rajiv Gandhi, Neelan Tiruchelvam, Rajani Thiranagama, Amirthalingam)
and others too numerous to mention are among those that come to my mind. No
terrorist organization active globally, now or in recent years, can match the
record of the LTTE, whether in numbers killed or in the counter-productivity of
their stupid strategies. As in many other cases, significant sections of the
local and expatriate elite went along with the tragic developments for some
time, and a few have even tried to justify them after the exercises ended in
inevitable disaster. Perhaps collective political suicide is not the exclusive
preserve of Sri Lankan Tamils, but we could make the dubious claim to pre-eminence
in this field in recent history.

You are
thoughtful and correct on many counts. The Tamil Diaspora is potentially a
great asset to the Tamil people and also to the entire country. We need to
realize the full potential of that asset. But it is in the nature of Diasporas
to take extreme positions, and that is often a liability. For example, the
Irish Diaspora in the USA for many years and the Jewish Diaspora to date have
hindered progress and reconciliation in their home countries. Fortunately, the
Irish problem appears to be now working out well, but the Israeli problem shows
little signs of progress. Happily, there are some hopeful developments recently
within our island as well as the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora. The potential
benefit, especially to the Sri Lankan Tamils but also to everyone in this
island includes large inflows of capital, skilled personnel, technology and
other investment.

Why be so
negative? We have had very good political leadership, e.g. Arunachalam and others
pre-1920, the Jaffna Youth Congress in the 1920s, and a few since then, even
now. On environmental issues the North had been exemplary, especially in
organic farming and water conservation with leaders such as Balasingham and Arumugam
who devised the logistics of a River for Jaffna. There are a few good signs now;
let us work on these rather than indulge in sterile grumbling.

Agree with everything except:
Gordian knots – in the modern day, unless Sri Lanka is willing to reform, the only solution may be to cut the knot and that is not off the agenda – it is up to the sri lankan majority to decide what they want;

Seriously speaking, You are taking events from 60 years onwards and dumping all the blame on the Tamils and the Tamil Diaspora – even when there were no diaspora in the thirties to the sixties. You know it takes two hands to clap as the saying goes. I am surprised that you are failing to examine the flip side of the ethnic coin and its rims. True that coin has worn over 2000 years of rubbing and hard to decipher what it really is worth.

Look at it not only three dimensionally but also take into account the fourth dimension of time. If you say both communities are engaged in a suicidal dance you may be closer to the truth. Though one community is small in number in this day and age numbers is not that important.

I am appalled that you would criticise Tamil leaders (Chief Minister Justice Wignesvaran) on their declaration on Tamil Genocide. I hope you look up what the Pope said today on Armenian Genocide by Turkey.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32272604

Tamils may have to wait 100 years and like the Armenians it is the Diaspora that may bring about such recognition. Reading your article twice, I suddenly realise that you did not write it. You, a Ph.D. From Harvard could not have said that the 1949 Legislation was passed because there were Tamil Ministers in the UNP cabinet. Do you really think that if they were not there such a legislation would not have been passed? Your logic that the 1956 Sinhala Only policy came about because of the positions that the Tamils took to state their rights is difficult to understand. It seems so illogical.
Again you are putting the blame on the Tamil leaders for all what was visited on the Tamil people including the 1972 constitution and all what happened after that before the Vaddukkoddai resolution on the Tamil leaders. All this before the LTTE.
Now that the LTTE is not there you are blaming the leaders and the present generation who elected them. How do you explain that the Pre LTTE Generation and the Post LTTE Generation demanding thier rights and justice. You cant, so you invent your theory of “Tamil Political Suicide.” Let us accept that the Tamil – Sinhala problem is a Gordian Knot. If we cannot cut it let us learn to live peacefully with that knot. Explain it does not make the know go away.

Not sure we all love him. Wonderful cricketer but paid up member of the Rajapakse clan .. perhaps he should stick to what he knows best.

I agree entirely. In the long term there can be no compromise on fundamental rights. To do so is to accept economic servitude – the Tamils of Sri Lanka can never give up their fundamental rights, regardless of what their political leaders negotiate. These are inalienable rights. It is easy to say that when not living under the oppressive boot of the Sri Lankan military – but in the history of mankind no people have ever submitted completely – resistance has ebbed and flowed but the journey to their inalienable rights has always continued. The Tamil position is actually a lot stronger (globally) than most.