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10 TAMIL GUARDIAN Wednesday March 12, 2008
NEWS
‘The Tamil And the Tamil
homeland response …
fantasy’ Dr. K. Anparasu has given expression to Sinhala
Buddhist fundamentalism by giv-
ing the "foremost place to Bud-
entertain this application on the
grounds "that it is an emotional
issue". It is clear that the Supreme
DESPITE the biblical injunction dhism". What is more the priests Court is on the side of the mili-
not to answer fools, an exception and the all Sinhala military are tary. The courts show a marked
Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United States can be made for you, Mr. busy installing Buddha statues in reluctance to decide against the
dismissed the Tamils' claim to self-rule. Ambassador.
You may deny it for all you
the Tamil and Muslim lands of the
North and the East.
military or the police.
Have you heard of the Bindin-
are worth, the Tamils of Sri Lanka What type of democracy is uwewa rehabilitation centre mas-
Bernard Goonetilleke comprise a nation. There is ample this? What permeates the Sinhala sacre of October 25, 2000? More
evidence to show that the Tamils consciousness is the pervasive than 27 young Tamil detainees of
Washington Times have lived in the island for cen- belief that the Buddha bequeathed this centre were killed by Sinhala
turies. The Tamils have preserved Sri Lanka exclusively to the thugs ably assisted by the Sinhala
a language, religion and culture Sinhalese people as their home police. 41 persons were charged
THE conflict in Sri Lanka is inex- True, the majority of today's with which they are identified. It and the home of Buddhism. This with murder. Gradually all had
tricably linked with the demand Sinhala community comprising is a fact of history that there are belief is set out clearly in Chapter been released by the courts on the
for secession, deceptively design- 74.5 percent, is Buddhist. How- two nations in the island - the 6 of the Mahavamsa. grounds of lack of evidence. The
ed to wrench the sympathy of the ever, the multiethnic, multireli- Tamils and the Sinhalese. We will come to the business last 4 accused were released by
international community. Last gious tapestry of Sri Lankan soci- Prime Minister SWRD Ban- of official languages. Tamil is an the Supreme Court on 27 May
month, the Liberation Tigers of ety, older than 2,500 years, has daranaike, has to bear the brunt official language in name only. 2005 on the same grounds of lack
Tamil Eelam (LTTE), urged the been enriched by the threads of for the deterioration of relations The 13th Amendment to the con- of evidence.
United Nations to recognize racial amity and tolerance. The between the two peoples. His stitution adopted in 1987 declared The Sri Lankan system of jus-
"Tamil sovereignty" and end the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Bur- attempt to ram the Sinhala lan- Tamil as the other official lan- tice gives immunity to offenders
conflict in Sri Lanka. ghers, Malays and others share a guage down the throats of the guage. The Amendment itself is in police or military uniform. This
The international community strong sense of harmony unique Tamil people evoked the strong- as dead as the Dodo though some has occurred umpteen times with
must be told that, beneath a plau- to Sri Lanka. est resentment. This has a direct attempts are made to revitalize it. an occasional deviation from the
sible veneer, the demand for a se- Furthermore, even though the impact on the integrity of the Twenty years after Tamil was norm.
parate state for Tamils of Sri Lan- LTTE is attempting to establish a island and its bifurcation. so enshrined the constitution You say that Tamils are living
ka is rooted in fiction. There nev- mono-ethnic separate state for The collapse of law and order guarantee of language parity is in safety and peace among the
er was at any time in Sri Lankan about 12 percent of "Sri Lankan begins with him. He is the proge- not implemented. In government Sinhalese. That is a cliché handed
history "a traditional Tamil home- Tamils" in the north and east,
land" in the north and east of Sri ("Indian Tamils" comprising 4.6 nitor of the series of anti- Tamil offices, hospitals, police stations, out by the government propagan-
Lanka, as claimed by the LTTE. percent of the population are part riots and pogroms which started and courts of law Tamil language da machine. Those who can
If historically, the LTTE of our democratic fabric), more with his infamous Sinhala Only has no official status. In govern- afford it have fled the country and
demand for a separate state is a than half of that population now Act of 1956. The riots of 1956, ment administered institutions that applies to Muslims and even
downright fabrication, what is the lives in safety and peace among 1958, 1961, 1974, 1977, 1979, from the highest to the lowest lev- affluent Sinhalese.
case they can make to justify a the Sinhalese and other communi- 1981, 1983, resulted in the destru- els including Parliament down to Do you know that an extortion
separate state? The claim of dis- ties in the south. If Tamils are ction of Tamil lives and property. the local councils including the gang is operating in Colombo
crimination is made in relation to being discriminated against as Can you think of another Sou- grass root Grama Sevaka level with the blessings of the triumvi-
language, standardization in edu- alleged, why would they prefer to th Asian country with a record li- Tamil is observed in the breach. rate led by the President himself?
cation, justice, etc., for Tamils. live among the Sinhalese than ke this? Can you blame the Tamil Can you digest this instance of Have you heard about the death
Standardization or statistical under the LTTE? people for their urge to be free of a callous disregard of the Tamil squads roaming the streets in so-
weighting was designed to help Last month, an FBI announce- the Sinhala yoke at any cost? people's language rights? Nuwara called white motor vans for
disadvantaged students from rural ment said "No, it's not al Qaeda or The Bandaranaikes are the ini- Eliya district with an 80% Tamil abducting innocent Tamils? The
districts irrespective of their race Hezbollah or even Hamas.... The tiators of the state policies which population has the largest concen- abductions, disappearances and
and was never designed to dis- Tamil Tigers are among the most precipitated and aggravated the tration of Tamils outside the unsolved murder rate in the city is
criminate against Tamils. Such dangerous and deadly extremists island conflict. Language, anti- North-East. a crying shame.
positive discrimination exists in in the world." Tamil riots, colonization of Tamil It does not have a single Tamil The Tamils of Colombo have
other countries too, to grant relief No one knows this claim bett- lands, unleashing the military and Administrative officer. The posts no choice, if they get the chance
to the underprivileged. er than Sri Lankans, Tamils inclu- the police on unarmed citizens f District Secretary, Additional they will sell their property and
Thus, rural Tamils along with ded, which is why the govern-
others, benefited from standard- ment is continuing military opera- and standardization of marks. District Secretary, Assistant seek safety in distant lands.
ization, which is not what the tions against Tigers, to free the Standardization is the euphemism District Secretary are held by Sri Lankan is a basket case. It
Tigers would have you believe. people and wrest the land away for adding points to Sinhalese Sinhalese. All five Regional is a failed state. It is Sinhala mob
Consequently, the urban students, from this terrorist group. Presid- examination grades. Secretaries and their assistants are rule and every facet of life is
with access to better educational ent Mahinda Rajapaksa has con- You are the only person in liv- also Sinhalese. dominated by ethnicity.
facilities, were disadvantaged sistently said the answer to the ing memory to justify this evil. It is the same with Hatton, The underlying root of the co-
through standardization, among conflict will be a negotiated polit- That Tamil students benefited Diekoya and Talawakelle where a nflict in Sri Lanka is the Tamil pe-
whom were Sinhalese and Tamils. ical solution that is fair to all com- from standardization is a blatant large concentration of Tamils are rception that they had been deni-
Sinhala and Tamil are official munities. The dilemma is with lie. Standardization is a nefarious found. Even the electoral lists on ed their rightful place right from
languages today and English is a whom is he going to negotiate? education policy loaded against the basis of which parliamentary the days of independence. The
link language. One cannot fault Can it be the LTTE, "the most the Tamils. elections are held in these dis- Tamil struggle for self-determina-
the administration, which came to dangerous and deadly extremists The so-called father of the na- tricts are in Sinhala only. tion boils down to egalitarianism,
office in 1956 with an election pl- in the world," for the seventh time tion, D.S. Senanayaike, Sri Lank- Mr. Ambassador you have a justice, honour, democracy, plu-
edge to make Sinhala, spoken by since 1985? a's first Prime Minister is the wo- big faith in the Sri Lankan judi- ralism, human rights and dignity.
nearly 70 percent of the populati- Sri Lanka is one of the oldest rst culprit. He disenfranchised a ciary. The Tamils have lost that You may wonder why sepa-
on, the official language. The mi- democracies in South Asia, and sizeable section of the Tamil peo- faith long ago. The Sri Lanka ratism refuses to die in Sri Lanka.
stake, one can argue, was not to despite the relentless onslaught of ple and started his policy of settli- Judiciary is part and parcel of the The Sinhalese refuse to let it, they
have the foresight to recognize terror unleashed by Tigers, demo- ng Sinhala colonists in Tamil Sinhala monolith. If it grants jus- want to subdue the Tamils militar-
Tamil as an official language as cracy still survives in our island. lands calling it dry zone develop- tice to the Tamils occasionally it ily. Accommodation is not in their
well. Remember, in 1950, the In- While the United States pursues
dian Constitution declared Hindi new horizons to nurture democra- ment. is a deviation. books. There is no conscious
the official language of the union cy, it needs to be alert to the anti- There is no let up, coloniza- The landmark case of the effort to remove Tamil insecurity
and think of the ethnic diversity democratic forces that stalk vul- tion is still going on with military eviction of Tamil lodgers in and to demonstrate that they are
of India. nerable democracies like Sri patronage. Colonization is a Colombo is a rare instance where equal citizens. The Sinhala state
If anyone says that Tamils Lanka. wedge in Sinhala hands for the Supreme Court has driven to continues to alienate the Tamils
cannot seek justice through cou- Sri Lanka has no Pledge of parceling Tamils into isolated vil- mete out justice because the inter- by bombing and shelling them
rts, it is a downright fabrication. Allegiance to its flag. If it had lages for eventual annihilation. national community was appalled and carrying out a deliberate
Take the landmark Supreme Cou- one, it would be no different than You talk of Sri Lanka as a at this violation of human rights. scorching earth policy.
rt judgment in June 2007 on evic- that of the United States: "One democracy. It is an ethnocracy When the Tamils of Muthur Look Mr. Ambassador you
tion of Tamil lodgers from Colo- nation indivisible, with liberty fast descending into a theocracy. East filed a judicial application in have your Sinhala army, police
mbo. Many are the examples in and justice for all." The United Sinhala Buddhist priests hold the same court for the restoration and government machinery. We
which Tamils have vindicated States needs to afford Sri Lanka the whip handle and of recent date of their lands seized by the have our Tamil apparatus too. The
their rights guaranteed under the the strength to remain "one nation they have set foot in the Parliam- Sinhala military, what did this lines are drawn and the twain
constitution. indivisible." ent also. The constitution of 1978 institution do? They refused to shall never meet.
