What do the Tamils really want?

“It may be urged by some Sinhalese that there is, in fact, no discrimination against the Tamils. This may appear to be so in theory, but if the Sinhalese were to make private enquiries from their Tamil friends they will soon realise that, rightly or wrongly, the Tamils and other minorities, feel a sense of discrimination. It is this feeling of discrimination that must be set right.”
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by N. Pullenayagam

(March 30, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) That all Tamils want Eelam is a facile assumption that needs further examination. When the ethnic problem escalated to its acute form in l956, none of the Tamils asked for Eelam. They really objected to being second class citizens in Sri Lanka and wanted to be regarded as equal citizens in every way with the Sinhalese. This was not granted although the Tamils kept on pressing for it continuously from 1956 to 1976.

It was only in 1976 that the Tamil leadership, in desperation, asked for Eelam as they felt that the Sinhalese would never agree to what the Tamils felt was a just demand for equality of status. Even so, many Tamils did not sincerely want Eelam. They preferred equality of status in an undivided Sri Lanka, for they realised the disadvantages that Eelam would bring to both Tamils and Sinhalese.

Unfortunately the ethnic riots of 1983, when many Tamils were killed and their houses were burnt, made more Tamils feel that Eelam was the only solution to the ethnic problem. This is the view taken by Prabhakaran and the LTTE, and one cannot blame them for it. Many Tamils who have left, or as some would say have been driven away from Sri Lanka, are also advocating Eelam.

But now nearly twenty years have passed since the ethnic riots of 1983, and many Sinhalese have realised the mistakes they have made, and many Tamils, too, are beginning to realise the great advantages of living in peace and friendship with the Sinhalese majority in an united country. Still the great problem of the Tamils remains, that of feeling discriminated against, and being regarded as second class citizens. If the new constitution lays down clearly that the Tamils and other minorities, the Muslims and Burghers, are not to be second class citizens, and are not to be discriminated against in any way, a great step forward would have been achieved, and we can reasonably hope for a change of attitude on the part of the majority of Tamils - even of the LTTE!

It may be urged by some Sinhalese that there is, in fact, no discrimination against the Tamils. This may appear to be so in theory, but if the Sinhalese were to make private enquiries from their Tamil friends they will soon realise that, rightly or wrongly, the Tamils and other minorities, feel a sense of discrimination. It is this feeling of discrimination that must be set right.
It needs not only a constitutional safeguard. It is the way the minorities are welcomed and treated in every day activities that is also important. So let our Sinhalese majority, especially its leaders, be building bridges of real friendship with their minority neighbours and acquaintances. This will bring us all closer to the day when we shall all ‘leap to single bugle, march to a single drum’!
- Sri Lanka Guardian