I refer to your Victory
Speech of 22-12-99 on your election, once again, as President.
I write as a Tamil Eelavan.
But more importantly, I write as an unalloyed, unrepentant supporter of
the political philosophy of the LTTE and as one who, with that
conviction, lives in the South. I write as one who has publicly stated
this position of mine not only within this island but also without, and
both verbally and in writing. I write as one whom you have recognized in
your speech. And, I write as one who refuses to be deterred by the naked
threats that dot your speech.
Permit me to tell you that
your speech reflects the hatred that you have, only too readily,
recognized in others.
Your speech is
nauseatingly replete with one word - “peace”. But the tenor of your
speech is anything but one that is, in any way, conciliatory or given to
peace.
You have sent a clarion
call to all your “Tamil brothers and sisters” with outstretched
hands of friendship. This shows your stark insincerity if one only
recalls your speech made many moons ago, when you inaugurated the Sama
Tawalama at Anuradhapura, with the unacceptable posture that this island
is Sinhala land and Buddhist country.
You refer to 18 December
1999 as “the night that will go down in history as the night this land
was touched by the hand of darkness one too many times”. You indulge
in this rhetoric because it happens to concern you. Do you not realize
that there are thousands of widows in Tamil Eelam to whom certain nights
have gone down, in their own lives, as nights that have been touched by
the hand of darkness which is yours, as Commander-in-Chief of your armed
forces?
You have challenged
“those who doubt (your) resolve to lift the curse of hatred and death
that has fallen upon (this) land” to look you in the face now and
voice our doubts about the sincerity of the desire to forge permanent
peace. I hasten, with this letter, to say just that to you with all the
vehemence I command. I am fortified in this statement by your victory
speech itself.
You want to finish the
LTTE. Please do so, if you can. With that will go, for all times, any
prospect of permanent peace in this island. Your election results shows
ruthlessly that all Tamils, not only Tamil Eelavar but also the
Upcountry Tamils, not only do not want you because they do not trust you
anymore, but also do not want a political solution from you. This is an
indictment on all your postulations of wanting to forge permanent peace.
Just take your peace
packages. There were three in as many years, during the first three
years after the commencement of your tenure. For the next two years,
there was not a murmur about those packages. Even those three packages
were diluted with each subsequent appearance! Surely, anyone who has a
genuine desire to bring about a political solution will not trifle with
packages every summer? One stands or falls with just one.
You say that you see very
clearly “the enemy that walks so freely” in this island, and you
identify that enemy as “hatred”. No, the enemy you see are the
Tamils in this island. Thank God this is reciprocated by every Tamil
worth his salt. This has also been evidenced by the election results.
You boast that “the
entire LTTE terrorist enterprise will fail” against you but, in the
same breath, you contradict yourself pathetically by wanting the Tamils
to bring Prabakaran to the negotiating table. You have played ducks and
drakes for far too long about whether you want to talk to the LTTE or
not. Political maturity demands that you and your Government finally
state whether you want to talk to the LTTE, unconditionally, or not. It
is only when this is known definitely will anybody move in this matter.
If talking to the LTTE at
the negotiating table is your honest position, then your outburst about
“cowards of the LTTE” and “terrorist cowards” or your urge to
wipe out the LTTE, must surely be counter productive.
By all means “clear away
the culture of terror and death”, which has become the way of life in
this island thanks to the Sinhalese who first showed everybody the way
in June 1956. But you will realize immediately, as everybody in this
island realizes, that you will have to start doing so at your very own
doorstep in the first instance, before you decide to go anywhere near
the LTTE!
May I close by referring
to your constant refrain about bringing about peace. If you are hoping
to bring about peace through any one of your packages, please forget it.
The Tamils have shown unmistakably that they are not interested in you
or in your peace packages.
In fact, if the Tamils are
worth their salt, they will not want anything dished out by you, or for
that matter, by your adversary. Why should we? We Tamils were not born
to depend on the “benevolence” of the Sinhalese or on what they
choose to dish out to us. A part of this island rightfully belongs to
the Tamils, in as much as the other part rightfully belongs to the
Sinhalese. This must be appreciated by the Sinhalese.
As far as the Tamils are
concerned, they in turn, must appreciate that if their aspirations hold
that as a Nation they have the right to self-determination and that that
right is inalienable in that it is born with them, then they must have
the political wisdom, strength and sagacity to exercise that right and
decide their own political future themselves. They have, for far too
long, looked to peace packages, negotiating tables and anything offered
or dished out by the Sinhalese. This beggarly attitude must go. The
sooner it goes, the better it is for the Tamils.
The Tamil Nation has,
through the Delegation of the Tamil People, solemnly informed the world
about its aspirations in August 1985 at Thimpu. To go back on that
position will be tantamount to compromising future generations of Tamils
yet unborn. The present generation does not have the right to compromise
future generations. Any signal that would give the Sinhalese the idea
that the Tamils are not serious about their aspirations, or that they
are climbing down, will be an act of treachery. The present generation
does not seem to tolerate such treachery or to take kindly to traitors.
May I end by saying that,
on the basis of what I have just stated I, personally, have got
disgusted and tired of talks, third party intervention, etc. My
considered conviction is that a political solution to the Tamil Problem
is in the hands of the Tamils themselves and only in their hands and
that the Sinhalese and Tamils can continue to live in this island and in
peace only if they live in two definite and distinct compartments each
minding their own business unfettered by the other. Only such an
arrangement will prove relevant that great quotation on peace you have
used in your speech:
“Peace is a battle.
Peace is never given freely, never acquired. Its conquest is the result
of courage and of respect for others. It demands awareness and
commitment from everyone. Peace is not the law imposed by the mighty,
but that which is founded on equality and
dignity of all peoples.”
G.G.
Ponnambalam.