by Kumar Ponnambalam; The Weekend Express – Saturday, November 7 – Sunday, November 8, 1998
The only possible solution to the Tamil National problem
The island is burning. The country is bleeding. Most of us are fiddling some of us are tinkering. Is this fair? Is this human? The cause of this state of affairs is the Tamil National Problem. Nothing else. And this has to be appreciated, first and foremost. There cannot be anything else to distract us from this situation.
What is this Tamil National Problem? It is the demand the people living traditionally in the North and East of the island, wanting to live, once again, with self respect and dignity and with safety and peace, which conditions they enjoyed a few centuries ago when they ran their own affairs in their own kingdom and when they had sovereignty. This people are the Tamils, of the NorthEast who have always been a distinct and separate Nation, in the most correct sense of the political content, a student of politics will attach to the concept of Nationhood.
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| Kumar Ponnambalam |
This Tamil National Problem has been there since this country gained independence from its last colonial masters, the British in 1947. The Tamils allege that when the Britishers left the shores fifty years ago, the Britishers handed over sovereignty to the majority Sinhala people and, therefore, they attained independence whilst they did not give back to the Tamils the sovereignty the Tamils enjoyed before the colonial masters came, and, instead, placed the Tamils completely at the mercy of the Sinhalese.
It is because the Tamils were placed under the Sinhalese that led to a lot of trouble starting with the Citizenship Act of 1948 and up to the present day with the President of Sri Lanka Kumaratunga saying, soon as she took office on 12th November 1994 and reading from a prepared script in her Address to the Nation, “We will ensure that our approach to peace will fully address the necessity to safeguard and strengthen the rights of the Sinhala people, whilst recognising dignity self-respect and equality of treatment of all communities,” thereby suggesting that only the Sinhalese have rights and no others, and over and over again that Sri Lanka is Sinhala land; that Sri Lanka is Buddhist country; that Sri Lanka is one nation with one people; and just now, that the Tamils are not the original people of the country[see http://www.sangam.org/NEWSEXTRA ‘Chandrika Kumaratunge in South Africa – A Video Clip’]. With this type of racist Sinhala sentiments being lavishly thrown about, what can the self-respecting and dignified Tamils do but to want to live separately from the Sinhalese who want to treat the Tamils as slaves or; as best, only as second class citizens?
With this type of racist Sinhala sentiments staring in the face of the Tamils, the Tamils have first to establish their rightful place in this island. That a certain quarter of the island belongs rightfully to the Tamils, whether the Sinhalese like it or not. That the Tamils are a distinct and separate people who constitute a Nation under any and every conceivable political theory. And because the Tamils are a distinct and separate nation, they have attached to them, the inalienable right to self-determination, which fact is also conceded by political philosophy.
To establish these positions even a war is going on in this country today between an army belonging to the Sinhala people and the Tamil youth in the name of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – the pride of the Tamil people. As far as the Tamils are concerned, this is a sacred war. It is a sacred war because the Tamils are seeking to establish their aspirations by this war and to put an end to Sinhala domination. That is why the war is looked upon as a war for liberation and the LTTE is seen as a liberation movement and acclaimed as liberators.
The LTTE has been carrying on this war for close upon fifteen years against the might of a trained conventional army, possessed of hi-tech military hardware and the well-known support of foreign countries, in kind and in knowhow. This has prompted the CWC leader, S. Thondaman, to eulogise that the LTTE is the recipient of divine grace.
The aspirations of the Tamils are now contained in a well- phrased document known as the Thimpu Principles. It is a document which contains just four principles. It was made public on 12th July 1985 at Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan, by six Tamil political parties. The six Tamil parties were the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), the Eelam Research Organisation of Students (EROS) , the Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The four principles are:-
1. The Tamil People are a separate and distinct Nation,
2. There is a traditional homeland of the Tamils,
3. The Tamils have the inalienable right to self-determination, and
4. All those who want to make this island their home must be given all democratic and human rights. (This Principle brings out the principle of equality).
When the six Tamil political parties put forward the Thimpu Principles, they did so as ‘The Delegation of the Tamil People’ and went further and said that any solution to the Tamil National Problem can only be on the basis of the Thimpu Principles. What is more, this is the last official political document to which the LTTE has affixed its signature.
What is most interesting to know is what is the position of the TULF, TELO, EROS, PLOTE, EPRLF, and now the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), (which was not in existence in 1985), today as regards the Thimpu Principles. Are they still upholding the Thimpu Principles or have they debunked them or have they put those principles into cold storage or have they made any variations to the Thimpu Principles? It is about time that these Tamil Political Parties show their hands on these Principles today.
It is very important to know the position of the Tamil Political parties on the Thimpu Principles today because all, or some of them, are party to an exercise today by the People Alliance (PA) Government to evolve a system of government in the name of a devolution package or peace proposals which either go completely counter to some of the Thimpu Principles or do not consider the other principles!
True, the J. R. Jayawardene Government would not hear of the Thimpu Principles in 1985, but much water has flowed under the bridge since them. The Thimpu Principles are too sacred a matter and too serious a matter for anybody who is serious about a solution to the Tamil National Problem to conveniently ignore or to forget about. Therefore, it is incumbent on the Tamil Political Parties, at least, to steadfastly hold on to them. In this respect, the LTTE has stated its position not only on 27th November 1997 in Prabhakaran’s Mahaveerar speech, but also in early September 1998 in the letter he addressed to President Nelson Mandela just before the Non-Aligned Movement Summit, that the LTTE will consider any peace initiative that is evolved on the basis of the Thimpu Principles.
Therefore, if we are to go on the basis that the LTTE is absolutely essential for a solution to the Tamil National Problem, it is clear that they will settle only for something on the basis of the Thimpu Principles. This position also shows that the LTTE will not accept the devolution package or peace proposals of the PA Government. Therefore, there would be no point talking henceforth about what the PA has done.
Obviously the PA Government has realised that its devolution package is a dead letter because the architect or it all, Prof. G. L. Pieris, has officially handed over the efforts to find a solution to the Tamil National Problems to the private sector, by his speech at the BMICH, at the first sittings of the meeting, convened by the leaders of the private sector on 22nd October 1998. He, more than anybody else, will realise that it would make a mockery of the efforts to find the solution to the Tamil National Problem if the PA Government now wants to resurrect the devolution package because surely two parallel forces cannot be seen to be tackling this subject.
Therefore, the private sector will have to realise immediately that if it means business, it will have to take up the Thimpu Principles in a very big way. Then it must forget that whilst the Tamil Political Parties has put forward the Thimpu Principles, that they must find out what the position of the Sinhala Political Parties are on the Thimpu Principles. It is not enough, henceforth, in any exercise to find a solution to the Tamil National Problem, to bank heavily on what the UNP or SLFP have to say on anything. The track record of both these parties are so very poor on this matter that the Tamils, and surely the LTTE, will never again go on what they say. So it will be important to find out what the MEP, JVP, LSSP, CP, NSSP and DUNF have to say on the Thimpu Principles.
If a common Sinhala position can be obtained on the Thimpu Principles,on the basis of what has been decided, be prepared to go to the Table to discuss further. If they are of the opinion that there is no point going to the Table to talk, then surely the search for a solution is at an end. But if the LTTE chooses to go to the Table on what the Sinhala Political Parties have to say on the Thimpu Principles, then surely there will be a light at the end of the tunnel and at this stage the facilitator or mediator or third party which is acceptable to the Sinhalese and the LTTE can move into action.
Source: The Weekend Express – Saturday, November 7 – Sunday, November 8, 1998
http://www.is.lk/is/spot/sp0318/clip4.html
Originally published May 10, 2004