Author: Swarnajith Udana - swarnajithudana@gmail.com
Have you heard?
Frightened by the immediate defeat when the civilian defense cover is removed, commenting on the demand of the world organizations from the LTTE to release the Wanni hostage population, Nadashen and his Sun God has further tightened the screws on civilians and are threatening the World. To this effect, Nadashen roared:
“The LTTE calls this a calculated ploy by the Lankan government to uproot Tamils from their traditional habitat.”
Can you really here what he is saying. It is true that he is trying to be thunderous and claim moral righteousness. This is not a surprise. That is the way it has been with them, or any drug dealer or warlord. The surprise is that the world has put up with it for so long rather than putting it off.
One does not need to be a military expert to see that if the civilian hostage population is released then the LTTE would have been obliterated in a few hours, at most in a day or two even a couple of months ago. The fact that the beast, the LTTE, is still panting is remarkable evidence that how caring the Government’s attitude towards its citizens is. From the fact that the world had not been able to decipher the motivation of the LTTE in taking civilians hostages until late, are we to conclude that the world suffered from lack of military expertise, or the world was simply pretending or merely misguided.
Nadesan writes: "I ask if the UN, or India, or any other country would ever promote uprooting and relocating the people of Gaza as a solution? And the Tamil people are expected to willingly rush to these barbed wired internment camps in these surrounding situations? Is this what UN, India and other nations are envisioning for Tamils? The human shield term is a propaganda used towards uprooting the Tamil people from their traditional habitat. The Tamil people have lived here for generations and want to continue living here and make a livelihood in these lands. The Sri Lankan Government, UN and other international community's statements that claim to seek the well being of Tamil people - in uprooting them to forcibly and put them in barbed wired military run camps is unprecedented."
For some watchers and champions of human rights this might be wonderful news. They might be hallucinating that Nadeshan is making a divine effort of making the world a utopian heaven which has no crime and evilness. Yes, it is true there are no crimes in this world because any thing can be justified by this or that. For example, the Lahore attack was morally right otherwise the perpetrators would not have done it. That is Elam logic and its twisted character.
Nadashen brings the visual image of barbed wires into the discussion. The real meaning is not about the Tamil civilian welfare. It is about the Sun God’s right to send suicide black tiger killers freely to cities. Nadashan did not know (yes, he did not know) a suicide killing had occurred even inside a refugee camp killing the people what he says that he was liberating. Again, we are at the wrong end here. Sun God can do any think he wishes with his chosen people.
Did you notice that Nadeshan is asking whether it is right to uproot people from their own land? How true is it? It is true, isn’t it? What about the Muslim people lived in the North? What about the Sinhalese people lived in those areas? That uprooting is alright, morally correct and divinely (Sun Godly) blessing, otherwise they wouldn’t have done it. They might try to cover their answers in many disguises. To this effect, they will use history, human rights, and claimed that someone did wrong and they had to respond. For instance, why did they kill monks and temple goers in Anuradhapura? They did it only because it was right, wasn’t it? Whatever they say, ultimately it is amount to Elam logic of evilness: we can do it, therefore it is right.
What about Tamil people who were uprooted from Jaffna and forcibly took with the LTTE years ago? Nadashen would say there was no uprooting in that case; even a single mammoth was never used to uproot at that time (They used only guns and false propaganda.), so how can it be uprooting? It was an act of liberation. LTTE did it and therefore it was right, otherwise the LTTE Wouldn’t dare to do it. The world has been listening with sympathetically raised ears. What about taking Tamil people with them form Mankulam, Kilinochhi etc. with the LTTE to use as defense amour? Wasn’t it uprooting? Nadeshan would be surprised at this question. That uprooting had a moral reason. The problem is with the world. The world is blind to see this. Yes, the world cannot see that these Elam people were created by Sun God, so HE is at liberty to do anything with them what so ever HE chooses. That may be what he would be feeling, but he would say something different. He would say, “The civilians are of great love with magnificent Sun God. They voluntarily follow our one and only Sun God wherever HE goes. The world is merely too jealous. The government is only too vicious. Some of these civilians even voluntarily shoot themselves for attempting, wishing or thinking about going to the Government controlled area. Yes, nothing is a sin and no one is a sinner in Elam theology as long as Sun God blesses it. Anything can be justified if Sun God wishes so.
This behavior should not cause surprise. That was how Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler or any other who is blinded by any ideology thinks. The ideology comes first before any thing. Since the master is the ideology itself, Sun God is the only thing or only one that has right to exist. Everything or everyone else exists for his wishes and whims and is under his mercy. For example, consider Rajiv Gandhi. This abhorrent behavior is the nature of the beast. What surprises me is that only now the world has just begun to awake from their slumber to look at the reality, but still many are sleeping or pretending to sleep.
One of the myths that LTTE bases its Elam theology is that Tamils were not allowed to practice their own way of life in Sri Lanka. I am a critique of my own Sinhalese people and the past and present Governments. I had never wittingly white washed any wrong doing of my people or its Governments. In that sense I had never been a patriot. I will never be a patriot but I can solemnly affirm that this is a lie constructed in a miraculous creation. Not only Tamils were and are enjoying their own cultural traditions and way of living, but also Sinhalese and others have embraced Tamil culture for some extent. Katharagama, Koneswaram are examples of that. Tamil students were and are taught in Tamil unless they choose/chose otherwise. Sinhalese people have made gods of Tamils their gods, except the ungodly one in the most recent times. This cultural infusion might have happened in both ways.
However, I am not here to attest that there were no problems for Tamils at all. If I say that I am lying to myself. At least some of the Tamils were brought here by colonial powers. Then they use the divide and rule strategy. This strategy has polluted and poisoned both ethnic groups. The Tamil political leaders surrendered themselves to the temptations designed by the colonial masters. Subsequently they even went so far such as asking for fifty fifty presentation for Tamils (20%) and others 80% (Percentages are relevant to that period.). That was the magnitude of the audacity displayed by then Tamil leaders. This did not happen without the permission of Sinhalese politicians. Also, when they decided to respond to this audacity rather than asserting the rights of the Sinhalese people by standing on fairness to all, they choose to aggregate the problem for cheap political benefits.
This has created a problem of dignity and other practical problems to Tamils. For instance, one MP, in mid 1960s, has stated in the Parliament that he would not sleep until the last Tamil is killed and wearing shoes made out of the skin of that last Tamil. At this juncture, if the whole country had expressed outrage towards this person and his statement, if the Sinhalese politicians had stood for fairness for all, the present history would have become an ancient history long time ago.
I sincerely hope that in the post war era, people will rise for fairness for all and Sinhalese people will not demand subjugation of Tamil or other people and instead demand that all groups commit and dedicate to the concept of one Sri Lankan Nation. For this to happen, it will never be sufficient or prudent to draw a line in land say this side is ours and the rest is yours. Even if we do the separation of groups to different lands, the war can still continue. If the separatism is right for Tamil, Then Muslims also deserve a piece of their own; also the Up country Tamils. If we go in the lines of division of land we may even have to divide Colombo or devolve power into Tamil Colombo, Sinhalese Colombo and Muslim Colombo. Where would it end? Moreover, in the East and North there would be two minorities, namely Sinhalese and Muslims. Then the East and North should be again separated into many pieces. At the end even the streets would need to have demarcations or power devolution.
In a recent speech, Dr. Nalin de Silva has expressed the view that Sinhalese people had been tamilised and Tamil people had been sinhalised during the natural process of history. This information should be brought to the consciousness of the masses so that they will understand what is at stake is not a label like Sinhalese or Tamil, but human lives and their ways of living. But, unfortunately, in the same speech, Dr. Nalin seemed to be demanding total subjugation of each ethnic group to the Sinhalese hegemony. What Sinhalese people need to learn is to accommodate, acknowledge and respect all other groups while asserting themselves and without yielding. The Sinhalese need to expect other groups to be assertive without yielding or attempting to domineer. This is hard work but I believe that we have learned that this is much easier than war.
In the post war period of building up this national unity and consciousness, there is a golden role to play for people like Thomas Frenando Fulle and Ananda Sangari etc. These people assert themselves while being sympathetic to the other groups. Another such organization is UTHR(J). Nevertheless, the people like Siri Jayathunga, Wickramabahu Karunarathna are traitors of all the ethnic groups even though their views seem to be sympathetic to Tamils. In reality they are not sympathetic to any living people and their real sympathy is directed only to dead people and dead ideologies. On several blogs dedicated to discuss Sri Lankan National issue, one blogger by the pseudo name Wijayapala, a Sinhalese Buddhist, is taking abuse from both sides, mainly from Sinhalese side. The only reason why he is abused is that he is pro Tamil and pro Sinhalese at the same time. We need many people like him to nurture our ideal of National identity in the consciousness of Sri Lankan people.
What is necessary is to erase the lines that are already drawn in our hearts not drawing new lines in sand. If we can erase these lines of evilness, overcoming these pseudo demarcations of ethnic divide, we can integrate all the ethnic groups as one Nation in which each ethnic group owns the whole country and practices its own way of life and cultural infusion continues to occur in natural way. The suffering of war should have taught us this lesson. I remember a little Sinhalese poem I read a long time ago:
In a place which
Even two people
Cannot take shelter,
Who teaches us
To share even by ten people
Is the
Rain!
I am dreaming of one united Nation. I hope that you share and cherish my dream.
