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Ilankai Tamil Sangam, USA, Inc.
Association of Tamils of Sri Lanka in the USA
by Wakeley Paul, Esq.
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Who are these three that Rajapakse has selected to make these crafty proposals? Are they unbiased, neutral observers, or individuals with a strong inclination to favor every effort of the Sinhalese government to retain a nation virtually in its present form? |
Is the latest proposal of the Rajapakse government to obtain the services of three prominent foreigners - Satish Nambiar [an Indian military officer], Akashi of Japan and Ian Martin of the EU - to submit proposals to release High Security Zone lands to their owners, without jeopardizing the Security of the armed forces, a humanitarian concession to the Tamils refugees, or is it an effort to perpetuate the right to have the government's armed forces ensconced in the heart of the Tamil homeland?
To ask the question, is to answer it. Is this but one more attempt to con the international community into believing that the President is a genuine supporter of peace over war?
Who are these three that Rajapakse has selected to make these crafty proposals? Are they unbiased, neutral observers, or individuals with a strong inclination to favor every effort of the Sinhalese government to retain a nation virtually in its present form?
Mr. Nambiar, the last time the government asked him to comment on the issue, made the shocking proposal that the LTTE should place its entire cache of arms, ammunition and weapons in safe custody, as a precondition for easing strictures in the HSZ areas. Mr Akashi was visibly excited by the prospect of hosting the JVP, of all parties, in Tokyo, while the EU, of which Mr Martin is a member, are threatening to list the LTTE as terrorists, while restricting its members' traveling to member countries in Europe.
In the meantime, the government and its slavish press are praising the statements of Secretary Burns and Ambassador Lunstead, who are threatening to strengthen the Sri Lankan Armed forces, if the LTTE does not crawl to the peace table unconditionally.
There is an old Indonesian saying, “If you try and explain something to one who doesn’t want to understand, they will refuse to understand.” That is the attitude that these two Americans have adopted toward the Tamils and their efforts to set the record straight. These two gentlemen blithely ignore all Tamil objections and revelations, while quoting government tilted propaganda as if they were proven facts. They repeat this mantra on and on, without a trace of apology.
At the present time, it is sad to say, that the Tamils are not only victims of Sinhalese villainy. They are victims of the desire of the international community to preserve the right of the Sinhalese to badger and bully the Tamils, by virtually retaining the status quo.
The government mouths the need for a Federal structure with no guarantees of any substantial degree of autonomy for the Tamils. They have not endorsed the ISGA proposals. They merely want to have dangling talks that slither and dither along aimlessly, while the armed forces continue to violate the CFA, causing the LTTE to retaliate, which retaliations the Americans and the IC will readily condemn as acts of violence. They want us to sleep, while they fight. They condone the actions of the fighters as efforts to counter terrorism. They adopt a simple formula piggybacking on the effort of combating world terrorism. They twist reality and fact to suit their formula that the LTTE are shadows and allies of the El Qaeda, which they are obviously not.
The situation is a volatile one, designed to trigger superpower retaliation against the victims of Sinhalese discrimination and terror. It will take much more than ju jutsu for us to turn the tide in our favor.
The Americans have ignored their own concept of democracy, which is that the majority can rule, but not at the expense of minorities. In Sri Lanka, they have ignored that formula, and stood for the proposition that the majority can rule without restrictions, as long as it satisfies American diplomatic adventures. It is time that this age old diplomatic game of “We are for you, but against you” is ended. It is time the Americans recognized that the disguised democracy practiced in Sri Lanka is not democracy at all. It is time they called a dictator, a dictator when they see one before them.
cc. Secretary Condoleeza Rice
cc: Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
cc: Chairman, House Foreign Relations Committee
cc: State Department, Sri Lankan Desk
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