This statement is in response to recent article on Sri Lanka Guardian titled “The EROS & Eastern Muslims – A Reminiscence?” by lawyer on Human Rights Mr S.M.M. Bazeer of the Sri Lanka Muslim Information Centre based in London, UK._____________________________________
by R.Yogarasa
(February 14, Ampara, Sri Lanka Guardian) A majority of the Tamil speaking community as we call "Eelavar's" (Hindu's, Muslims and Christians etc) will already be aware of the good name and reputation of EROS and the work that we have conducted for the benefit of Eelavar's.
It is distressing to learn that Mr S.M.M. Bazeer would choose to write such a slanderous and derogatory article as such and have this published in the media.
We contacted Mr Segu Dawood Basheer, Chairman of the SLMC and former M.P of EROS, yesterday whom Mr S.M.M. Bazeer had met when EROS contested in the elections in 1989 and he confirmed to us that a meeting did take place with Mr S.M.M. Bazeer but at no point did he state to Mr S.M.M. Bazeer that the EROS were consulting Ulamas (Muslim Theologians) to evaluate their definition of Muslims." Mr Segu Dawood Basheer of the SLMC also denied that his meeting with Mr S.M.M. Bazeer ended on bad terms in fact he stated that both he and his former comrade Balakumaran were very hospitable towards Mr Bazeer. This totally contradicts Mr S.M.M. Bazeer's claims, which has proved to fictitious and false.
Mr K.V. Balakumaran was formerly one of the leaders of EROS along with late Mr Shankar Raji and Mr Eliyathamby Rathnasabapathy & others. EROS has always had a collective leadership which is something that Mr S.M.M. Bazeer has failed to grasp and has wrongly stated that Mr K.V. Balakumaran was the "original leader of EROS" which is again false and inaccurate.
EROS IS the first political group which recruited Sri Lankan Muslims as well and we have always remained more concerned with the question of the Sri Lankan Muslims than any other group has been. We drew up a four phase programme to co-opt the Tamil-speaking Muslims of the Eastern province into the Eelam struggle, by working closely with them, and understanding and espousing their grievances. It is therefore totally illiogocal for Mr S.M.M. Bazeer to make slanderous remarks in is write up regarding EROS and against Mr Segu Dawood Basheer, Mr K.V. Balakumaran, late Mr Shankar Raji, Mr Ravi Sundaralingam alias Kudambi Ravi, Mr Rajanathan Prabaharan and Mr Nesan Shankar Raji.
EROS always has had a good name and reputation amongst the Eelavar Tamil community which includes Muslims and we do not differentiate Muslims from Tamils. It is our understanding that Mr S.M.M. Bazeer is infuriated that EROS is contesting again in the local Government elections in the East under our EDF (Eelavar Democratic Front) political banner. This self explains Mr S.M.M. Bazeer's motives behind writing such a slanderous article about EROS and attempting to discredit our good name and reputation.
It is clear that Mr S.M.M. Bazeer is a racist and does not wish for Tamil speaking Muslims to be identified as Eelavars. A majority of Sri Lankan Tamil speaking Muslims to not have any problem identifying themselves as Eelavar's. However Mr S.M.M. Bazeer’s agenda is totally different and his thinking and motives are radical.
Mr Segu Dawood Basheer was a popular member of EROS and is still widely respected by the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. He is also an MP for Batticaloa and Chairman of the SLMC. We strenuously deny any claims of Mr S.M.M. Bazeer that Mr Segu Dawood Basheer used any form of violence or intimidations against members of our community "Eelavar's" and we also strongly deny anything to do with the killing of former Town Council Commissioner of Eravur, Mr. Ramlan.
We have never taken the upper hand in state of affairs, interfered in the administration of Quazi jurisdiction in Eravur. We have never forced the Quazis to act in favor of our members, supporters and families, in relation to Muslim matrimonial disputes. We have never had "torture chambers" as Mr S.M.M. Bazeer claims. In fact local young Muslim boys have adored our organisation much to the anger of Mr S.M.M. Bazeer and this why we have been the only political organisation to have a large Muslim membership in the past and even now more local Muslims from our community (Eelavar's) in the East are joining us. This has infuriated Mr S.M.M. Bazeer who has always been historically opposed to EROS and the SLMC as he has always been opposed to Mr Segu Dawood Basheer and his popularity amongst Muslims (Eelavar's).
We have always had a presence all over Sri Lanka as a political organisation even though we did not contest in elections. We feel the time is ripe to contest and that remains the reason why we are contesting in the Local government elections.
We have never sided with the Premadasa’s government when the LTTE ended their honeymoon with Premadasa. In fact were unable to re-place our M.P's seats when the LTTE ordered Balakumaran and others to boycott them. Again Mr S.M.M. Bazeer has got his facts wrong....
EROS is now revitalized under new collective leadership consisting of Nesan Shankar Raji, M Sakthikumaran, Thilakaraja, A.R. Arudpragasam, Rajanathan Prabaharan and several others. Mr S.M.M. Bazeer fails to forget the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 and the merger of the North-East as a recognised Tamil Homeland as a basis for Tamil revolutionaries (EROS, EPRLF, PLOTE etc) to handover arms and enter into the democratic mainstream. Even Minister Douglas Devananda of the EPDP was angered when the Government of Sri Lanka decided to illegally de-merge the North and Eastern provinces.
It is the failure of successive Sinhalese majority Governments not recognising the Eelavar's (our) right to self-determination and right to self-govern their homeland that has resulted in this ethnic bloodshed over the last 3 decades. We abide by the speech that was handed over at the "Canadians For Peace" seminar in Ontario, Canada by our senior leader Nesan Shankar Raji. Again Mr S.M.M. Bazeer seems to purposely mis-interpret what was written and claims that we a racist which is not the case. We consider Tamil speaking Muslims as Eelavars and that will remain.
Mr S.M.M. Bazeer noted some entries on the Wikipedia Encyclopedia in his write up. Again we wish to emphasize that Wikipedia entries can be placed by any member of the public and we do not endorse such entries.
We kindly urge Mr S.M.M Bazeer to refrain himself from writing slanderous and derogatory articles regarding EROS and attempting to discredit our party in the run up to the elections in March and focus on his profession as respected a “Human Rights” lawyer within the Eelavar Tamil community.
(R. Yogarasa, Media & Communications Wing of EROS )
by R.Yogarasa
(February 14, Ampara, Sri Lanka Guardian) A majority of the Tamil speaking community as we call "Eelavar's" (Hindu's, Muslims and Christians etc) will already be aware of the good name and reputation of EROS and the work that we have conducted for the benefit of Eelavar's.
It is distressing to learn that Mr S.M.M. Bazeer would choose to write such a slanderous and derogatory article as such and have this published in the media.
We contacted Mr Segu Dawood Basheer, Chairman of the SLMC and former M.P of EROS, yesterday whom Mr S.M.M. Bazeer had met when EROS contested in the elections in 1989 and he confirmed to us that a meeting did take place with Mr S.M.M. Bazeer but at no point did he state to Mr S.M.M. Bazeer that the EROS were consulting Ulamas (Muslim Theologians) to evaluate their definition of Muslims." Mr Segu Dawood Basheer of the SLMC also denied that his meeting with Mr S.M.M. Bazeer ended on bad terms in fact he stated that both he and his former comrade Balakumaran were very hospitable towards Mr Bazeer. This totally contradicts Mr S.M.M. Bazeer's claims, which has proved to fictitious and false.
Mr K.V. Balakumaran was formerly one of the leaders of EROS along with late Mr Shankar Raji and Mr Eliyathamby Rathnasabapathy & others. EROS has always had a collective leadership which is something that Mr S.M.M. Bazeer has failed to grasp and has wrongly stated that Mr K.V. Balakumaran was the "original leader of EROS" which is again false and inaccurate.
EROS IS the first political group which recruited Sri Lankan Muslims as well and we have always remained more concerned with the question of the Sri Lankan Muslims than any other group has been. We drew up a four phase programme to co-opt the Tamil-speaking Muslims of the Eastern province into the Eelam struggle, by working closely with them, and understanding and espousing their grievances. It is therefore totally illiogocal for Mr S.M.M. Bazeer to make slanderous remarks in is write up regarding EROS and against Mr Segu Dawood Basheer, Mr K.V. Balakumaran, late Mr Shankar Raji, Mr Ravi Sundaralingam alias Kudambi Ravi, Mr Rajanathan Prabaharan and Mr Nesan Shankar Raji.
EROS always has had a good name and reputation amongst the Eelavar Tamil community which includes Muslims and we do not differentiate Muslims from Tamils. It is our understanding that Mr S.M.M. Bazeer is infuriated that EROS is contesting again in the local Government elections in the East under our EDF (Eelavar Democratic Front) political banner. This self explains Mr S.M.M. Bazeer's motives behind writing such a slanderous article about EROS and attempting to discredit our good name and reputation.
It is clear that Mr S.M.M. Bazeer is a racist and does not wish for Tamil speaking Muslims to be identified as Eelavars. A majority of Sri Lankan Tamil speaking Muslims to not have any problem identifying themselves as Eelavar's. However Mr S.M.M. Bazeer’s agenda is totally different and his thinking and motives are radical.
Mr Segu Dawood Basheer was a popular member of EROS and is still widely respected by the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. He is also an MP for Batticaloa and Chairman of the SLMC. We strenuously deny any claims of Mr S.M.M. Bazeer that Mr Segu Dawood Basheer used any form of violence or intimidations against members of our community "Eelavar's" and we also strongly deny anything to do with the killing of former Town Council Commissioner of Eravur, Mr. Ramlan.
We have never taken the upper hand in state of affairs, interfered in the administration of Quazi jurisdiction in Eravur. We have never forced the Quazis to act in favor of our members, supporters and families, in relation to Muslim matrimonial disputes. We have never had "torture chambers" as Mr S.M.M. Bazeer claims. In fact local young Muslim boys have adored our organisation much to the anger of Mr S.M.M. Bazeer and this why we have been the only political organisation to have a large Muslim membership in the past and even now more local Muslims from our community (Eelavar's) in the East are joining us. This has infuriated Mr S.M.M. Bazeer who has always been historically opposed to EROS and the SLMC as he has always been opposed to Mr Segu Dawood Basheer and his popularity amongst Muslims (Eelavar's).
We have always had a presence all over Sri Lanka as a political organisation even though we did not contest in elections. We feel the time is ripe to contest and that remains the reason why we are contesting in the Local government elections.
We have never sided with the Premadasa’s government when the LTTE ended their honeymoon with Premadasa. In fact were unable to re-place our M.P's seats when the LTTE ordered Balakumaran and others to boycott them. Again Mr S.M.M. Bazeer has got his facts wrong....
EROS is now revitalized under new collective leadership consisting of Nesan Shankar Raji, M Sakthikumaran, Thilakaraja, A.R. Arudpragasam, Rajanathan Prabaharan and several others. Mr S.M.M. Bazeer fails to forget the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 and the merger of the North-East as a recognised Tamil Homeland as a basis for Tamil revolutionaries (EROS, EPRLF, PLOTE etc) to handover arms and enter into the democratic mainstream. Even Minister Douglas Devananda of the EPDP was angered when the Government of Sri Lanka decided to illegally de-merge the North and Eastern provinces.
It is the failure of successive Sinhalese majority Governments not recognising the Eelavar's (our) right to self-determination and right to self-govern their homeland that has resulted in this ethnic bloodshed over the last 3 decades. We abide by the speech that was handed over at the "Canadians For Peace" seminar in Ontario, Canada by our senior leader Nesan Shankar Raji. Again Mr S.M.M. Bazeer seems to purposely mis-interpret what was written and claims that we a racist which is not the case. We consider Tamil speaking Muslims as Eelavars and that will remain.
Mr S.M.M. Bazeer noted some entries on the Wikipedia Encyclopedia in his write up. Again we wish to emphasize that Wikipedia entries can be placed by any member of the public and we do not endorse such entries.
We kindly urge Mr S.M.M Bazeer to refrain himself from writing slanderous and derogatory articles regarding EROS and attempting to discredit our party in the run up to the elections in March and focus on his profession as respected a “Human Rights” lawyer within the Eelavar Tamil community.
(R. Yogarasa, Media & Communications Wing of EROS )
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