Dr Sudath Gunasekara (SLAS) Former Ministry Secretary 6.9.2010

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Apropos ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Lankan army to return lands of Tamils of Indian origin:

Published: Thursday, Sep 2, 2010, 18:43 IST, Place: COLOMBO | Agency: PTI, attributed to Nirupama Rao former Indian Ambassador in Sri Lanka, I thought it appropriate to write few lines on this perpetual Indian intervention on our domestic matters for the benefit of those who are concerned about the future of this country.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Nirupama Rao said in Colombo that apart from the focus on resettlement, there was a need to keep in mind “a long-term perspective that also includes issues relating to the political settlement that would meet some of the needs of the minorities”.
The above news item was quoted as a news brief by the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary.
The same sources said that the Indian government is also likely to appoint a special envoy for Sri Lanka to look into the needs of the Tamil community and oversee resettlement. Officials said the government was considering having a special envoy as a permanent diplomatic fixture in relations with the important neighbour.

Another news item TNN, Sep 2, 2010, 08.40pm IST in which officials said Foreign minister M.S Krishna is also expected soon in Sri Lanka and will emphasize before the Lankan leadership the need to move from resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to chalking out a political solution which is substantive and durable.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The gist of these statements is that the Sri Lankan government has not taken suitable measures to address the issues relating to the political settlement that would meet the needs of the minorities from a long term perspective that should be substantive and durable. Therefore the Indian intervention on behalf of their people in Sri Lanka? I see very little difference between these threatening and arrogant statements and the infamous DHAL drop of 1987 to Jaffna that blatantly violated all civilized diplomatic ethics. Shame to Indian politicians and their mandarins.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Tamils of Indian origin maniaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ on the part of the Indian government and the Sri Lankan Tamils, I think, was a post colonial manifestation. Those Tamils or Muslims who lived here prior to the advent of colonial times never thought like this.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  For all intent and purposes they considered this country as their motherland. Even the left outs from south Indian invasions got absorbed in to the local population and got naturalized politically as well as culturally. As such there was no ethnic conflicts that threatened the political stability of the country at that time. On the contrary today this Indian Tamil mentality on the part of both the Indian government and the Tamils physically living here has become the root cause of all problems in this country. They range from political, economic, and cultural to international fields. As long as this cancerous mentality persists, this problem will never end. Peace will only dawn to this Island nation on the day both these parties stop thinking like that and the Tamils in Sri Lanka begin to think as fully pledged citizens of this country and divorce their allegiance completely to India as their mother land and the Indian government accept Sri Lanka Tamils as Sri Lanka citizens with whom India has nothing to do or in the alternative all Tamils in this country decide to go back to India and India take back all of them as her full citizens. Tamils in Sri Lanka has to give up this divided allegiance. Until such time and as long as the current thinking on the part of Tamil people and the Indian Government prevails this chronic and tragic situation will persist eternally. Therefore I think all those who are willing to see an end to this tragedy should either get rid of this mania as soon as possible and leave the government of Sri Lanka to decide on the destinies ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Tamils living here along with her other citizens. India I think has to renounce for good her hidden political agenda and refrain from all sinister moves against this Island nation and its peace loving people.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is indeed excellent that every body including theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Sri Lankan and Indian governments are interested in resettling Tamils displaced by the war in Jaffna who are currently supposed to be living in IDP camps in Vavuniya. Because it is a human problem, and not a Tamil or a Sinhala problem. Assistance on the part of India in this regard is most welcome. In fact it is a bounden duty on her part to repay for the wrongs she committed against these people because it is India that instigated and encouraged them to wage war against the Sri Lankan government. It is with the strength of that Indian support the LTTE revolted against the Sri Lankan government. I do not like to see that these Tamils being referred to as Tamils of Indian origin:ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Yes it is absolutely true all Tamils are of Indian origin. There is no argument about that. But the Tamils in Sri Lanka are Sri Lankan citizens who belong to the Tamil ethnic group from an ethnographic point of view though most Tamils in Sri Lanka also think otherwise. In fact the latter mentality is the real tragedy in this whole tragedy. All these Tamils are Sri Lankan citizens and not Indian citizens any longer. As the tradition goes they should be the citizens of the Sinhale: the land of the Sinhala people. For the Sri Lankan government they are her citizens displaced by the war who need relocation as soon as possible. But for India these Tamils are only a bait to catch the votes of Tamilnadu. I donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t think other than that the Indians are seriously concerned about Tamils in Sri Lanka as human beings. It is only a cunning political strategy on their part enacted as a drama to appease the Tamilnadu government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Meanwhile it is sad that no one talk about the fate of those Sinhalese and Muslims who were chased out from Jaffna by the Tamil Tigers with Indian support, or the rights of those who were murdered as a result of LTTE massacre in 1983 and after who were around 30,000 and Muslims around 15,000. The moment you donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t do so the whole issue takes a dirty and parochial communal outlook. It completely ceases to be a humanitarian approach within a broader conceptual framework.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ All these Indian politicians and mandarins labour and mourn day and night and talk about the Tamils of Indian origin, living in Sri Lanka, there by ignoring that Sinhalese are also of Indian origin. If that is the fact of history why is this preferential treatment to Tamils only? Obviously the Indians do not talk about the Sinhalese as there is no Sinhala vote base unfortunately, in India as the Tamils do in Tamilnadu. Why is this political hypocrisy on the part of Indians and the naivety on our part not to tell them that we are taking necessary steps to resettle not only displaced Tamils but also the Sinhalese and Muslims treating all of them as equals since they are our citizens? Also why donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t we tell them not to perpetuate ethnic dissention and create additional problems for us only when we are struggling to raise our heads from the mess they have already hatched and manipulated by supporting Tigers for decades arming and training them to wage war against the legitimately elected government of this countryƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  for a separate Tamil State in the North and East comprising 1/3 the total area of this small Island for a mere fraction of Lankan Tamils not numbering even 3 million at the moment, just to pacify the Tamilnadu politicians for their vote.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When Rao and all Indians talk about the Lankan Tamils they also talk of a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Jaffna Tamil KingdomƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. In a press statement Rao issued last week at the conclusion of her visit to Sri Lanka she has said ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Lankan army to return lands of Tamils of Indian originƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ This type of statements imply many things. Firstly it implies that Sri Lankan Army which is asinhala army has forcibly occupied the Land of Tamils of Indian origin who belongs to a separate nation; the Sri Lankan military has no right therefore to occupy the lands belonging to Tamils who live in these lands; as such the government has agreed to return the said land to the Tamils. In other words the Sri Lanka government has accepted its guilt. Does not this notion give legitimacy to the idea of a separate Tamil kingdom in Sri Lanka as against the Sinhalese Kingdom in the rest of the Island? This also concretizes the idea of Tamil Homeland theory.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Historically it is true that there had been a break away regional Tamil rebel rule in the peninsula of Jaffna for a short time during the medieval times just before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505. But that was subsequently brought under the Sinhala Kingdom.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If RaoƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s statement is to be accepted as a serious fact of history then one can also claim that the whole area within the boundaries of ancient Anuradhapura Kingdom that was ruled by Elara for 44 years should also be interpreted as the land belonging to these South Indian Tamils.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I give below few more statements attributed to Rao and Indian Foreign Minister.

“a long-term perspective that also includes issues relating to the political settlement that would meet some of the needs of the minorities”. The need to move from resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to chalking out a political solution which is substantive and durable.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What do they really mean by this jargon. What is this political settlement that would meet some of the needs of the minorities” and they have in mind and the need to move from resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to chalking out a political solution which is substantive and durableƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  In fact they are the very people who are responsible for these displacements. So why do they want to place the responsibility on our government for their sins. The other question is who are they to dictate terms to us. IsnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t it better if they try to put their own house in to order first before they try to meddle with neighbours.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What is worse is that now India wants the Tamils in Lanka not only to re-establish this so-called Jaffna kingdom but she also wants that to be extended to cover the entire northern province and annex the entirety of the eastern province as well, that has been under the Sinhala kingdom right through out the long history of this Island nation. This is what the Indian Government postulated when she imposed the 13^th Amendment by force on us under which they wanted the Sri Lankan government to merge the Northern and the Eastern Provinces.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ DoesnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t this appear to be an attempt, by the Indian Diplomats and politicians to interfere with the internal affairs of another country by creating ground to perpetuate ethnic divisions within this country that falls outside the legitimate exercise of diplomacy by the Indian government? Why canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t these learned Indian mandarins advice their politicians to leave Sri Lanka alone and mind their own business at home as Sri Lanka is NOT ANOTHER REGIONAL STATE OR A SUZERAINTY of India as they appear to think.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Then she also talks about the Tamils of Indian origin living on the central hill country.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  India also dreams of a Tamil enclave right at the centre of this country, for Indian Tamils on the plantations probably with a pipe dream of Sri Lankan as another State of the Indian subcontinent or at least a suzerainty in future. No one disputes that they were also of Indian origin. But all these people who espouse their cause fail to realize that they were only indentured labour brought by the British to work on their plantations in the latter half of the nineteenth century who should have been taken back to either England as British citizens or repatriated to South India as the British left the shores of this Island nation without leaving this ugly legacy to become a perpetual headache to the native people of this country.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The present day Indian politicians and their bureaucrats talk as if they want to have several Indian enclaves inside this country. My grievance is as to why no one is talking about the native Kandyan people who have lost all their rights including their claim for their ancestral mother land where these plantations sprawl. Today the Kandyans who have been resident on this land at least from the second century BC, as proved by epigraphic evidence, have got reduced to a minority and they are strangers on their own mother land as against immigrant labourers who have come from outside few decades ago to earn a living and who have been shuttling up and down between India and Ceylon until 1948. Even today these people think and act as Indian citizens. Their mortal bodies are on our soil but their minds are still in South India. They, or at least their politicians want to be the owners of some one elseƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ancestral land while they want to remain as Indians both in mind and body. It is strange even the local politicians espouse the cause of these immigrants not realizing that there by they are betraying their own people. In this regard I respect the Indian politicians more than the locals for their love for the Indians even though they live outside India.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Why canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t the present day Indian politicians abide by what Nehru said in 1958 about these Indian labourers who had been taken to foreign countries by the British and left high and dry? This is what he said in 1958.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We do not want Indians to have any rights or privileges in a country which, in any way, would come in the way of the inhabitants of that country. They should consider themselves as guests. If they are unwelcome, they have no business to be thereƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Meanwhile no one speak a word about the plight of the natives who have lost everything they inherited from the past 2500 years of history and fought for more than three centuries against the most powerful colonial powers at that time and successfully retained the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of this nation, which all Sri Lankans enjoy today, thanks to them. The beneficiaries include Tamils and Muslims as well who never fought against the invaders on the side of the Kandyans. Not even the representatives in Parliament who have gone their on the back of these hapless peasants who have now become strangers on their own land speak a word about them. There are over 80 members of Parliament in addition to a battalion of Provincial and Divisional politicians numbering over 300. But they provide only props for the Colombo government to survive and enjoy the fruits of political office while the peasants who live in the god forsaken Kandyan ravines and secluded valley bottoms continue to suffer their karma in silence like deft, blind and dumb people. What ever party rules the country, this status quo perpetuates.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In this backdrop my grievance is not against the Tamil labourers who are there but it is against our own politicians who have miserably failed in their duty by these brave worriers who have fought for three centuries with their blood and life and saved the motherland for these present day politicians to enjoy the luxuries of power.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In my opinion these estate laboures have only two options. That is they should either totally renounce their out dated and redundant Indian mentality, if they want to live in this country and get absorbed in to the native society as an inherent part of it as Punchibandas, Ranmenikes, Appuhamys and Sopiya nonas as they did in Burma under compulsion immediately after Independence or in the alternative get back to their cherished mother land South India to preserve their Tamil Identity or request the British government to take them there and make them Suddha gentlemen as they were British citizens at the time of the British leaving this country.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As it is, no one can expect political vultures whether in India or here to solve this problem, because they are only interested in getting the votes of these innocent people. I think it is the people who have to decide. Firstly, if they want to remain in this land of the Sinhala people then the estate Tamils will have to decide for good to renounce their out dated Indian allegiance and opt to be the sons of this soil and integrate with the natives.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  They should not be misled by the cunning politicians, most of whom, even donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t speak the native language and wait until the Tamilnadu dawn on the central hills of Sri Lanka. Secondly the locals also have to decide to absorb them to their own rank and file and think of a mass scale village- estate integration programme that will put an end to this vexed tragedy.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Let them intermarry and naturalize as members of the native society. If the Kings and Queens can do this and in fact have been doing this for generations why canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t the ordinary folk also follow suit. It has happed in the past So why canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t it happen today. After all this is a human problem. We are dealing with human beings of blood and flesh not with robots that act according to the whims and fancies of cunning politicians of both countries and suffer for themselves eternally.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I think this is how at least the enlightened mandarins of India should look at this problem without just coming here carrying the political burdens of the Indian politicians on their strained back. They must embody the ancient wisdom of Indian state craft without just behaving like robots of Indian poly-trickysians. This is the advice I would like to give to people like and Indian Foreign minister S M Krishna who is due to visit Sri Lanka soon and as reported ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”who is expected to emphasize before the Lankan leadership the need to move from resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to chalking out a political solution which is substantive and durable and Nirupama Rao the charming Foreign Secretary who is expected to be appointed as the Special Envoy of India for Sri Lanka. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Let them come here as diplomats of India to Sri Lanka, which is a separate Independent and Sovereign State and not as representatives or ghosts of Karunanidi or Vaiko of South India. It is high tine that they stop talking about the Tamils in Sri Lanka and their so-called grievances and aspirations and things like ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-a political solution to the Tamil problemƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ The more they tread this beaten track the more they make bilateral relation and the goodwill between the two countries difficult and problematic, confused and intractable; the more communal minded they make Lankan Tamils and distance them from the reality of Sri Lankanization and make life miserable for all of us for generations to come.