Published on - 2/21/2008
I HAVE WRITTEN a number of letters to you with good intentions but there had been no response for any one of them either from you or from anybody else on your behalf. It is very unfortunate that without taking any of my advice or warnings seriously you and your cadres continue with your atrocious activities without realizing the immense harm and the damage you cause the Tamil people whom you claim to be solely represented by you and to the poor innocent Sinhala village folk who mind their own business without coming into any confrontation with you and your cadres.
Your last Heroes' Day speech does not give the Tamil people any hope for a bright future but only forecasts a bleak future. At the rate the people are leaving the country, Tamils in Sri Lanka will get reduced to an insignificant minority with hardly anyone to speak on their behalf. As a responsible citizen and an elderly Tamil of Sri Lanka I have a moral duty, however unpalatable it may appear to you, to point out the various flaws I observed in your speech which reflects your present day thinking as well. Most matters referred to by you are false, distorted and exaggerated. I assure you that this letter too is written with the hope of bringing you back to the correct track.
Even at this eleventh hour I once again appeal to you to give-up your unachievable demand for separation. Stop forthwith your uncivilised way of chopping people to death with their hands tied behind and targeting the Forces with claymore mines in which more victims happen to be civilians and the worst is some are children.
There was a time the international community took you seriously and made available many facilities for you and your cadres. Now you are so fully exposed that they don't believe your canards. You talk of human rights violations and abductions, in cleared areas. But the whole world knows that such things take place more in your areas. I hope you will not deny this? No one has any right to kill or torture another. I strongly condemn every killing whether it is by the Forces, paramilitary as you say or even you.
'Buddhism and You'
You are the last person who can talk about Buddhism. The Buddhist philosophy emphasizes a life without desire, a life of love, compassion and justice. I too endorse the claim of the Sinhalese that with a few exceptions they had followed this path for well over 2000 years. There are people like you in the Sinhalese community, as you find in various other groups also. These black sheep bring utter discredit to their race and religion. We need not take note of them. We Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and other groups have enjoyed each other's hospitality for generations. It is only in your imagination that the Sinhalese remained immersed in the poison of racism. There are a few who spit communal venom like you for personal gain. But they don't claim that they are the sole representatives of the Sinhalese as you claim that you are the sole representative of the Tamil people. It is in doubt whether your own cadre accept you as the sole representative of the Tamils. Please keep your guns aside and open your Iron Curtain to allow free movement of the people. You will hardly find anyone left behind. Then you will realize how correct I am. It will take very many years to neutralise the poison of racism you have injected into the minds of our younger generation. Fortunately the younger generation of the Sinhalese is now free of the communal stigma. They live like children of the same parentage.
Communal politics in Sri Lanka
Your accusation that the Sinhalese are unleashing, unthinkable violence against the Tamils is ridiculous, unbelievable and unacceptable. You are trying to clean your hands soaked in blood, by such silly charges, when the whole world knows that more than half the Tamil population is living in the midst of the Sinhalese and Muslims in the South far away from their traditional homes, that too out of fear of you and to save their children from your conscription. Please be assured that contrary to what you say, during the long history of the Tamil struggle, first through non-violence and later even through armed struggle, the right thinking Sinhalese who form the majority, stood firmly committed to the high principles of justice fair-play and equality. Please learn from the elders as to how the Tamils lived in peace with all the other communities for generations in the past, spread all over Sri Lanka.
The culture of the Tamil people
The Tamils of Sri Lanka were always proud of their culture and civilisation. Brutal murders and torture are something very foreign to them. You are the one who has introduced this new culture of brutality, shooting and hacking people to death. The Tamil people were not accustomed to brutality and terrorism. Some cruel murders had taken place during the few communal riots that had taken place in the past. Those killings were by some hoodlums. The Sinhala civilians had always been sympathetic and also saved the Tamils from their hoodlums. There are several instances in which your brutality exceeded all limits, to the extent of mercilessly killing many women and children. You did not spare even pregnant women and babies. Can you mention one such incident that had taken place in which the Sinhalese civilians had participated. If so I like to know when and where? But disgracefully there are several brutal incidents in which you and your cadres had been fully involved and put the blame on some unidentified persons. But the people know very well in which of the incidents your cadres were involved and in which incident some others are involved. I am not holding a brief for anybody. What I maintain is that Sinhala civilians did not have any hand in any brutal killings of Tamils as claimed by you. If there are any exceptions they were during the communal riots that took place a few times between 1958 and 1983. The riots of 1983 and the mini riots confined to Trincomalee alone, were also due to the deliberate provocations you gave. The Tamil public servants, teachers, doctors, and such others had been killed by you in large numbers and not by the Sinhalese as claimed by you. Can you say that your hands are clean in this respect? You are the one who should take full responsibility for all such killings among the Tamils.
The thinking of the ordinary Sinhalese
As accused by you, the Sinhalese never changed in spite of so much destruction you caused to their property and the innumerable innocent lives of men, women and children they lost in bomb blasts, claymore mine attacks, suicide bomb attacks etc. They were deliberately planted by your cadres on your instructions to provoke a backlash in predominantly Sinhala populated areas. Everyone knows that you are trying hard to provoke a backlash to have a repeat performance of July, 1983 in which every Tamil in the South got badly affected. You did it to cause discredit to the country and its people. The credit goes to the ordinary Sinhalese for saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of Tamil lives spread all over the South of the country. The hoodlums responsible for the backlash too have now become wiser and not falling into your trap, in spite of your repeated brutal killings of the Sinhalese almost everyday.
The people and the international community
Please take it from me that the people and the international community are not at all satisfied with your conduct. You are losing your creditability day-by-day. They do not approve your causing the death of several thousands of our people Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and people of other ethnic groups and the destruction of billions and billions worth of property. Over 30,000 widows and thousands of orphans had been created. Thousands had lost their eyesight and limbs. Over 20,000 Tamil youths of both sexes and double that number of youths from the Sinhala and Muslim Communities had been sacrificed in the battlefield, all of whom came from very poor Sinhalese Tamil and Muslim families. If only everyone in this country has an atom of sympathy for these unfortunate youths and their parents, there won't be any problem in this country to be solved by fighting a war. People say that you have taken them for a ride. The Sinhalese people also feel the same about some of their leaders. The average people want peace with equal treatment for all. They do not want preferential treatment for anybody. The Tamil people want you to either give up your demand for separation and negotiate with the government or leave them alone to manage their affairs.
In your Heroes' Day speech, which everyone was anxiously waiting for, you have ungratefully condemned everyone who helped you, to a very great extent. By doing so you had earned their wrath and displeasure. You are going to be isolated by everybody, resulting in your facing a very bitter future, with no salvation. No one is going to believe your boastings any more. I am aware that you, being in the bunkers all the time, are not in a position to know what is happening outside. Please come back to your senses and face realities before it is too late. The people have tolerated you for exactly 25 years. Is there no end to their agony? Please don't be guided by your supporters living abroad and some Tamil media that glorify you even for your actions that deserve condemnation. They are well settled with their wives and children abroad. Some of them have thoroughly exploited your name and made a lot of money. Many of them had deserted you with the wealth they have acquired in your name. Hence please don't trust them anymore. Most of their children do not know even one word of Tamil. It is the same with some who run the media in your name in foreign counties.
The fall of the Eastern Province
Let me deal with your claim that you have withdrawn from the East as a part of your strategy. It is foolish on your part to say so and to expect that the others will believe it. The whole world knows that your backbone was broken with the defection of your Eastern Commander Karuna and also that it had a big impact on the North, which you are now holding with an uncertain future. It is foolish not to expect the Government forces to take the best advantage of the prevailing situation. Please take it for granted that the East is lost forever and re-capturing same is only a day-dream. The local people in the East will not extend their support to you anymore.
They are happy that they had been liberated from your subjugation, in spite of the fact that they had virtually lost almost everything that belonged to them and that they have to start from scratch. They are happy that they have now been freed and can move about freely to re-establish themselves. Most of the houses there are either destroyed fully or partly and whether it is due to your shelling or due to the shelling and bombing by the forces, it is you who should take the full blame for it. Because it was you who invited the army into the villages by attacking them from among the civilians, virtually using the civilians as human shields. You have irresponsibly sown land-mines all over, causing immense hardships for the civilians, some of whom had lost their lives and limbs due to the landmines. The people have tasted the bitterness of your so-called freedom struggle, going on for quarter of a century. Before you meet with the same fate in the North, please change your aggressive mood, tame your cadre and go to the people as a non-violent force, throwing away all your arms. The moment you stop fighting and give up your arms the Government will have no alternative but to stop fighting. If you have any sympathy for the young men in your cadres who are getting killed in large numbers everyday, please call for a ceasefire unilaterally and save the lives of the children of the poor parents, most of whom had been recruited by you compulsorily.
The Muslims of the North
I need not remind you of what you did to the Muslims of the North. At short notice they were driven out of the North. They had to leave behind all their movables and immovables and were permitted to take only Rs. 500/=. They are still, after 17 years, languishing in over 150 refugee camps in the South. You have neither tendered any apology to them nor invited them to return to their respective homes. Having created a situation like this, how do you expect to convince the international community of your innocence? (Courtesy: The Island)
