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The Sri lankan imbroglio : Does Unity Necessitate Unitary Polity
[Ku.Ve.Ki.Aasan, Assistant General Secretary, Dravidar Kazhagam,]

REMOVE THE CAUSES OF CONFLICTS:

IT is ironical that while the statesmen are issuing lofty statements strongly avowing their earnest determination to work for world peace, they are lukewarm in taking steps to ensure the necessary conditions to achieve the goal of peaceful world order namely arresting the most heinous violation of human rights and the continued denial of justice to the minority nationalities like the Eelam tamils.

ORIGINAL INHABITANTS:

Even according the Mahavamsa, the oldest Sinhalese Chronicle the original inhabitants of the island of Sri Lanka were Tamils whose women the migrant Vijaya and his followers married to procreate a distinct to comprehend how the world community can remain a silent spectator when the native Tamils are denied the basic inherent inalienable right to live with dignity as equal citizens in a comparatively small area of the northern and eastern provinces which they were constrained to make their homeland due to their complacence if not due to their large-heartedness, the Tamilian traits cunningly exploited by the enemies for their selfish ends.

UPCOUNTRY TAMILS:

Soon after the attainment of independence in 1948, the Sinhala dominated government of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), deprived the citizenship and voting rights of nearly one million estate Tamils of Indian origin, a cruel blow to those who by their sweat and tiol,blood and tears of about 150 years cleared the jungles and cultivated the soil to grow, in the beginning coffee then tea and rubber that are still the major commercial crops exported to earn the precious foreign exchange. It was, and still is, the selfish intention of the Sinhala leaders to keep them as stateless people or inferior citizens without any rights, in order to exploit their toil to the maximum possible extent, keeping them paid very low and ignorant. It is also their plan to send away to India now and then such numbers of these stateless people they consider in surplus of their need.

What a cruel joke, generations of lakhs of unfortunate helpless plantation workers at the mercy of their alien masters! A sort of reserve army of laborers, created not by monopolist capitalism as predicted by Marx, but by the political machinations of the chauvinist Sinhala leaders and their coteries. When the idea of taking back the up country people of Indian origin living in Sri Lanka for several decades was mooted to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Free India, his sense of justice prevented him to be a party to an agreement that would blatantly violent the norms followed by civilized nations. But he failed to take a strong or sure stand against the unjust maneuvers of Sinhalese leaders.

After the passing away of Nehru, they signed Sastri-Sirima Pact and Indira Gandhi- Sirima Pact. According to these agreements, India agreed to the repatriation of about 6 lakhs out of an estimated 10 lakhs up country Tamils of Indian Origin. These agreements and the act of handing over to Sri Lanka the strategically important Kacha Theevu, a small island between Jaffna and rameswaram-an act that causes terrible hardships to Tamil Nadu Fisher men-clearly show that those in power in Delhi were interested more in placating the wishes of the Sinhalese than stand for the legitimate rights of the Tamils.

SELVA-FATHER OF EELAM NATION:

While most of the Eelam Tamils who are descendants of the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka remained indifferent and some of their selfish leaders even consented, to the Sinhala dominated government to enact laws to deprive the citizenship and voting rights of up- country Tamils of Indian origin employed mostly as estate laborers in plantation industry, Mr. S.J.V.Selvanayagam, the gentle genius among the Eelam Tamils, foresaw the evil design of the leaders of the majority Sinhala nationality against all the sections of Tamils of this tear drop island in the Indian ocean, and in order to protect the inherent rights and legitimate Interests, organized along with his enlightened colleagues, the Tamil Arasu Kazhagam, popularly known as the Federal Party. They ;wanted the state to be organized on Secular and Federal principles, giving equal status to the Tamil and Sinhala nationalities and remaining neutral on religious issues.

But the leaders of the Sinhala nationality did not agree to this progressive enlightened and just constitutional solution suitable to a country inhabited by people speaking more than one language and professing more than one faith. Instead they were bent upon dominating the Tamil Nationality and the non-Buddisht religion in the State apparatus. They enacted laws, particularly the Sinhala only Act in 1956, and made constitutional provisions to achieve this end. But the Sri Lankan tamils refused to accept a subordinate position in a land that belongs to them more than to any other people. This led to conflicts between the Sinhalese and minority Tamils who agitated adopting peaceful and constitutional methods. They were brutally attacked and inhumanly treated in 1956, 1958 and 1961.

BROKEN PROMISES:

Two Prime Minister, S W R D Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Snanayaka of United National Party (UNP) entered into agreements with Tamil Leaders, the former in late 1950s and the later in early 1960s. But both of them were forced to go back on their solemn assurances given to Tamils. The Modus Operandi of Sinhala politicians vis-à-vis the Tamilian demands is this: those in power will make a promise to the Tamils and those in opposition will force the Government to annul the agreement. J R Jayewardene who came to power in 1977 played such an ignominious role in 1957 as an opposition UNP leader to invalidate the Bandaranaike-Chelvnayakam Pact which promised regional councils and certain measure of autonomy to the Tamils.

FALSE STORIES:

Why do the Sinhala leaders dishonor their commitments to the Tamils Nationality? Are they unwilling or unable to honor? They are both, If they are willing, they would have told the true history of the peoples of the island, Instead, along with the monks, they spin yarns based on myths unrelated to facts; they do not explain the people that Sri Lanka belongs to two nationalities, Sinhalas and Tamils, professing four major faiths-Buddhism, Saivism, Islam and Christianity.

They do not mould the Sinhala masses in the proper way because they intend to keep the non-Sinhalese only as subordinate or suppressed people. They are unable to carryout the assurances because the common Sinhala people are taught only to hate and fear the Tamils, to consider them as potential rivals and enemies, not as partners in nation building. Being shaped thus the Sinhalese in general neither take a reasonable or friendly stand nor permit their leaders circumstances it is but natural that the Sinhala dominated Sri Lanka governments follow policies and implement measures that are adverse to the Tamils.

RIGHTS DENIED:

The consistent demand to organize the state on Federal basis had not been conceded. Thus the Tamil Nationality was denied equality and autonomy. Tamil Language was assigned a subordinate position by law. Their traditional homeland in northern and eastern parts is being progressively colonized by the Sinhalese with State aid. These are economically neglected. The Tamil students are not allowed to get their due share of seats in higher education in the name of media standardization. Employment avenues in civil and military branches are being gradually closed to the Tamils.

WHY EELAM:

The constitutions adopted in 1972 by Sirimavo's SLFP government and the unprovoked brutal killing of innocent Tamils in Jaffna in 1974 while they were participating in a cultural function organized by the Sri Lankan unit of the International Tamil Conference convinced them that the Sinhalese were becoming not only more and more unreasonable but also aggressive in their domineering stance. The Tamils were forced to come to the inevitable conclusion that they will not be permitted to live with honor and dignity or to have equal rights so long as they remain united with the Sinhala majority. So they decided to form Tamil Eelam, an independent state of their obtained a mandate from the people for liberation in 1977 general election, the militant youth, embittered by the tragic experiences in the past, took up arms to make their home-land free.

THE TRAGIC COURSE:

The tragic events that followed 1977 are too numerous to give the details here. The unfortunate Tamils are victims of heinous crimes committed not only by fanatic Sinhala hooligans but also by the police and the undisciplined army serving a terrorist state. It is a dismal story of indiscriminate killing, imprisoning, torturing, raping looting etc., They did it is 1977,1979,1981 and 1982. There is rarely any comparison to the mass murder of Tamils in July- August,1983. Between 2000 and 3000 unarmed Tamils were killed in that pogrom. Several thousands became refugees. They were living mostly outside Tamil areas.

In the past two years, the Sinhala police and security forces are engaged in brutally attacking the innocents living in northern and eastern provinces. In this process they have eliminated about 2000 persons. Several hundreds are kept in army camps or imprisoned without any trial. Several thousands are driven away from their dwellings. There are about a lakh refugees in India. Convict Sinhalese are armed and encouraged to settle in areas vacated by the fleeing Tamils. Normal movements are restricted. Emergency is being indefinitely extended. Fishing and agriculture have virtually come to a stand still. There is no law and order. It is at this juncture the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, has arranged for talks.

FEDERALISM:

Left to themselves the Tamils in Sri Lanka, after their bitter experiences since 1949, will certainly continue to fight for the independence of their dear home land, Tamizh Eezham, comprising the Northern and Eastern provinces. Anyhow, the world community and particularly the Indian Government who stand for a negotiated settlement of this grave problem, have a special responsibility to see that the Tamils of this island nation are assured of the following conditions essential to ensure their safety and dignity:


1. The Sri Lankan state should be made secular and federal.

2. Tamils should be allowed to have provincial autonomy with their own police force in their traditional homeland comprising northern and eastern regions.

3. Sinhalese colonization of these areas shouldn't be permitted. Those who have already settled should be asked to vacate. In future only Tamils residing in other parts of Sri Lanka should be permitted to colonize these parts.

4. Tamils should be given parity of status with the Sinhala language.

5. In the civil and military services under federal government, Tamils should be represented in proportion to their numerical strength.

6. Built-in constitutional arrangements should be made to enable the representatives of the Tamils to share the gubernatorial position at the federal level.


The general purport of these conditions will convince any one that we do not seek in any way to curtail the rights of the Sinhalese but only ask them to recognize the legitimate rights of the Tamils in their own land which they occupy from pre-historic times. Tamils want to have Eelam not for the sake of mere separation. They have come to the genuine conclusion that it is the only solution to save themselves from subjugation, poverty, indignity dishonor and even virtual extinction. We do not question the bonafides of the mediators who urge the Sri Lankan Tamils to give up their Eelam demand. But it is a fallacy to equate unity with a unitary polity. Civilized people all over the world know that in a land inhabited by more than one nationality federal system is the best for suitable to promote mutual trust and confidence, enduring peace and co-operation among different peoples.

"A country stands high which has inherent strength to contain calamities and to rebuild with growing strength". -Thirukkuralh,Country-74,Couplet-736.

- May 29th, 2001