A Mirage of Equality
by J.P. Sangthiapillai
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As a community is free to determine its political status by virtue of the right to self-determination, let the Tamil community pursue its economic, social and cultural development. Let it safeguard its own traditions and language in conformity with United Nations' Resolutions, together with accepted International norms and standards, and establish its self-autonomy, self-determination, self-identity and national liberation from the Singhalese community without any further clashes with the Sinhalese community.
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Merely a mirage of equality is feasible, the longer the racial, linguistic, cultural and religious dominance prevails in Sri Lanka
1. It has to be borne in mind that democracy prevails in any country only as long as the rule of the people, for the people and by the people survives without being subjected to any racial, linguistic, cultural or religious dominance.
2. Population wise, in Sri Lanka, the majoritarian Sinhalese community is the mightier and the Tamil community is the weaker.
3. By the saying “Might is right,” politically it does not mean that the “mightiest could always be righteous.” It refers only to a country where there is no dominance of any race, language, culture or religion over the other.
4. To the utter dismay and despair of the Tamils, in spite of any opinions or proposals from the Tamil community for or against the decisions of the governments, the Sinhalese community by virtue of their majoritarian status and voting strength could arrive at any decision of their own, against the Tamils, disregarding the Tamils' aspirations and fundamental rights.
5. Further, Sinhalese representatives in the legislative assembly can enact any law or frame any constitution unilaterally at any time to the advantage of the Sinhalese community only, by their voting strength, surpassing the opinions or proposals put forward by the Tamils. This is amply demonstrated by the fact that the Republican Constitution of 1972 robbed the minorities of even the scanty safeguards against discrimination provided under Section 29 of the Soulbury Constitution introduced at independence in 1948.
6. In view of this, it would be comprehensible to all that the laws that govern the country are partial and replete with flaws and snags, and the rule by the Sinhalese community over the Tamil community is not democratic.
However, even it is peremptorily a requirement that the constitution and the laws of Sri Lanka should undergo a complete restructuring to satisfy the aspirations of the Tamils and the need of the day, such a restructuring would not take place!
7. In such a situation for the Tamils, like a predator who advises others not to eat meat, some unscrupulous international countries that indulge in warfare and thrive on sophisticated weaponry and armaments, advise the militants struggling for freedom to give up arms, and this concern of theirs smacks of hypocrisy, oblivion and antagonism. First, they must set an example, as it is better than precept.
8. Further, just like a tongue the tip which is coated with nectar and the bottom of which is filled with venom, these countries have already admitted that the Tamil population has legitimate grievances and legitimate issues, which the majoritarian population must respect, and the government ought to address.
Contradicting their own admission, they take a partisan stance without any ethics and provide military assistance, officer training and military exercises between their troops and the government's troops. They are all-out to see that the aggressive rulers are strong and their forces can deter future attacks against the Sinhalese people and the rulers of the island, just to show that the countries are friends of the Sinhalese governments and to show their support for them.
Do not these partisan actions imply that, they do not consider Tamils as the citizens of this country? Are they not aware of the fact that the successive Sinhalese governments have schemed in such a way to do away with the unarmed prominent citizens and the intellectuals among Tamils, who all are supportive of the Tamil struggle, one by one?
Even the prisoners sentenced to death are always given chances by the judges to apprise them of their versions with regard to the allegations leveled against them. Nevertheless, the countires of the type referred to above have always denied the Tamil representatives or the Tamil militant groups any chance of apprising them of their grievances and aspirations.
9. However, with a bigoted attitude, all the international community en masse ignore the fact that, since the granting of independence in 1948, over the almost 58 years, the Tamils struggled for their rights. As a result, all incessant, non-violent, peaceful agitations, resorting to ways of ahimsa, by the Tamils and their politicians for the rights of the Tamils in Sri Lanka have proved futile.
10. Despite this fact, it looks ridiculous when the international community still maintain that the responsibility there lies with the LTTE, blaming it for having taken to armed struggle as its political weapon and declaring that all the Tamils should abide by the rule of the Sinhalese.
11. Are they not aware that George Washington led the American War of Independence, a fight against the Great Britain? Mahatma Gandhi of India led the struggle for freedom from the British. Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman led the war against West Pakistan for the freedom of East Pakistan (Bangladesh). Nelson Mandela of South Africa led the struggle for freedom from the British with his motto that “The struggle was his life.” In spite of all this, none of the countries have branded these leaders as terrorists.
12. It is enigmatic and incomprehensible to every one of us why the Sri Lankan government is amassing sophisticated weaponry and armaments. They could very well, by settling the contentious issues with the Tamils in the country, avoid the colossal wastage of money spent on weapons and utilize it for the development of the country.
They Sri Lankan armed forces are not capable of waging a war to overpower any country in this world other than the Tamil community within Sri Lanka.
Even during the insurgencies of the Singhalese JVP extremists in the Singhalese areas, the government’ forces never resorted to indiscriminate attacks by way of aerial blitz and strafing or cannonade and shelling from naval ships as done in the Tamil homeland.
13. Never on earth would the Sinhalese community volunteer to devolve any rightful power to the Tamil community, as they are xenophobic towards them. As the Sinhalese politicians have biased the minds of the Sinhalese community, they all are obsessed with a jingoistic attitude. Hence, it is evident that the ethnic interests and aspirations of the Tamils in Sri Lanka will never materialize.
14. As a community is free to determine its political status by virtue of the right to self-determination, let the Tamil community pursue its economic, social and cultural development. Let it safeguard its own traditions and language in conformity with United Nations' Resolutions, together with accepted International norms and standards, and establish its self-autonomy, self-determination, self-identity and national liberation from the Singhalese community without any further clashes with the Sinhalese community.
15. International countries, together with peace brokering and human rights organizations, should pave the way for the separation of Tamil Eelam amicably, as done recently in the year 2002 in East Timor and the needful should be done to recognize Tamil Eelam's existence and independence, because only a family that shares together can stay together. Even the British Government and the IRA have reconciled their differences and arrived at a settlement.
As a catalyst or stimulus, it is only the denial of or belated delivery of justice that induces a proliferation of crimes, anywhere in the world.
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