Anti-Tamil Bias
by Wakeley Paul
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The Sinhalese may well be Coomaraswamy's friends, but to assume that the average Tamil could regard them as such, is absolutely preposterous.
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I read Professor Ramasamy’s article “Response to Coomaraswamy” with avid interest and deep concern.
In her speech at McGill University last year and her response to the criticisms posted in the Ilankai Thamil Sangam, Coomaraswamy has evidenced a distinct anti-Tamil, pro-Sinhalese bias.
Coomaraswamy has accepted a position involving abuse of children. The Sri Lankan government and others influenced by the government have accused the LTTE of violating children’s rights. How could she possibly evaluate such accusations dispassionately in view of her statements to the effect that the Tamils did not take the initiative to build alliances and partnerships with their Sinhalese friends, but “played to their their ideological nightmares, thus accentuating the situation.” The Sinhalese may well be her friends, but to assume that the average Tamil could regard them as such, is absolutely preposterous.
Does Coomaraswamy realize the extent to which the Tamils have been duped by the false promises of Sinhalese leaders, time and time again? Does she realize the extent and frequency with which Tamils have been mauled and brutalized by Sinhalese mobs, fired up with the fanfare of racist hatred by Sinhalese leaders, and by the Sinhalese armed forces on orders of those leaders? Does she realize, what drove Mr Chelvanayagam, the very model of non violence and believer in compromise, to demand a “Separate state” for the Tamils in 1977?
Does not Coomaraswamy's appointment to the sensitive post of Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict amount to a clear and unequivocal “conflict of interest”? We have a Sri Lankan anti-Tamil Tamil, being asked to judge accusations made against the Tamil leaders, by those she regards as her friends, the Sinhalese.
This lady sounds like an individual anti-Tamil lynch mob. How could the UN not realize that a person with such disgruntled views would probably allow those views to interfere with her judgment? Don’t they realize the extent and depth of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka? On its face, it would appear that the UN appointed Coomaraswamy to take revenge against the Tamils, rather than to afford them the opportunity to fight those unsubstantiated government-generated accusations fairly and fearlessly.
wakeleypaul@sbcglobal.net
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