“I hope you will concede that all those who are in the fore-front of the campaign hardly know anything about the happenings in Sri Lanka and act only on the testimony of some LTTE supporters, who themselves are mis-led by some others. They never bother to find out the truth.”by V.Anandasangaree
(October 27, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Tamil People of Sri Lanka are glad that Tamil Naad has started showing interest in the Sri Lankan ethnic problem. But they are disappointed that the concerns of the Tamil People now trapped in the areas under the control of the LTTE are ignored. LTTE is using them as human shield to protect them. The People are also upset and worried that the enthusiasm displayed in Tamil Naad is showing tendencies of confrontation with the majority community the Sinhalese, with whom the Tamils had been living from time immemorial and will have to live in the future as well. Long before his assassination Mahatma Gandhi had warned that India and Ceylon can’t afford to quarrel each other, but more than that being immediate neighbours and having several things in common, Tamil Naad and Sri Lanka should maintain cordial relationship between the two.
We Sri Lankans remember with gratitude the innumerable detections in Tamil Naad, made by both the “Q” branch of the Tamil Naad Police and the Indian Navy, of several tons of material, including steel balls, aluminum foils, ball bearings and chemicals, used for the manufacture of bombs, claymore mines hand grenade etc. The credit goes to your Police of Tamil Naad and the Indian Navy for the detections, and if those detections had not taken place only God knows as to what would have happened to our countries. We are not un-mindful of what can happen to our country, if the LTTE is allowed to operate freely in Tamil Naad and that is why I re-iterate that both Tamil Naad and Sri Lanka should maintain close relationship between them. We can’t forget so easily as to what happened to Hon Rajiv Gandhi and there is no guarantee that a similar incident will not take place again, if the LTTE is allowed to operate freely in Tamil Naad. Please see that a Jaffna is not created in Tamil Naad.
The decision of the All Party Conference to seek the help of the Central Government to find an early solution is perfectly alright. But that is not the immediate need of our people trapped and kept under compulsion in Killinochchi by the LTTE. The decision of the All Party conference would have been more appropriate if it had also decided to request the Central Government to compel the LTTE to release the innocent civilians detained by force in areas under their control. The ultimatum of two weeks given to the Central Government to act has caused a furore among the hardliners in Sri Lanka, causing embarrassment to the Sri Lankan Government, which is aware of the compelling need to maintain good relationship with India.
I hope you will concede that all those who are in the fore-front of the campaign hardly know anything about the happenings in Sri Lanka and act only on the testimony of some LTTE supporters, who themselves are mis-led by some others. They never bother to find out the truth. Tamil Naad should be warned of the danger in acting on the advice of the TNA Members of Parliament who were fraudulently elected as members with the fire power of the LTTE and they act only as proxies of the LTTE. They carry out LTTE’s orders. No one cared to come to Sri Lanka to find out the truth. The people in Sri Lanka live in constant fear and tension due to the LTTE’s claymore- mine, land- mine and hand- grenade attacks that are taking place everyday in some part of Sri Lanka. That had caused the death of several innocent Sinhala Tamil and Muslim people. This is perhaps why no one from India undertakes a trip on a fact finding mission to Sri Lanka. It is this menace that we are trying to get rid of.
Hope you will recollect our first meeting in early 1976, over thirty years back. I was then the Member of Parliament for Killinochchi. Why we met is irrelevant here. But imagine what my feelings would be to see the people, with whom I lived for very many years, now living under the subjugation of the LTTE, deprived of almost all their rights and detained under compulsion for well over quarter of a century. You say that you are unable to eat or sleep with the Tamil problem not solved. If so Sir, how can I live peacefully?
Things are going from bad to worse everyday. But due to the false propaganda by the agents of the LTTE, the innocent people, cinema actors, university students of Tamil Naad hail them as heroes. If Tamil Naad wants a Jaffna without realizing the consequence only God can save it. But is Tamil Naad fair by the other States in exposing them also to the grave risk they face from suicide bombs, claymore mines etc. The children of the LTTE leaders have the best of education in Foreign Countries. So are the children of the TNA Members of Parliament too. The TNA Member’s families are settled in foreign countries. The children of the poor parents are sent to the battle front as sacrificial animals and as suicide bombers. They killed the Ex Prime Minister of India in Tamil Naad. They took away all the properties of the Muslims of the North who are Tamil speaking and lived with us for generations. They sent them out of the North with just 500 Rupees to live in refugee camps in the Sinhalese areas for over 17 years now. Our culture and civilization are gone. Our children’s education is ruined. According to recent news reports over six thousand children in the East do not know their alphabets.
The following are extracts from two letters I wrote to the Hon Dr. Manmohan Singh – Prime Minister of India and to the Secretary General of the United Nations His Excellency Ban-Ki-Moon the purpose of which is to impress on you that the LTTE had not shown any change in their behavior.
In my letter dated 16-01-2006 I wrote to the Hon. Prime Minister, “What the Sri Lankan Tamils need today is liberation from the LTTE, the so called liberators of the Tamils. It is very unfortunate that some leaders of Tamil Naad, without understanding the real problem fully and with hardly any knowledge of the ground situation in the North and the East of Sri Lanka, are trying to hold the Indian Government to ransom, with its numerical strength in Parliament. The Tamil Naad Members of Parliament who have joined the alliance should stop their veiled threats to the Government. They should study the situation and either help to find a solution or leave the matter entirely in the hands of the Central Government, to help the Sri Lankans to find a solution for their problem”.
In my letter dated 08-10-2005 to the Secretary General of United Nations I wrote, “ I take full responsibility for all what I have said here. The people who had been living in areas under the control of the LTTE sacrificed enough and it should be noted that all their sacrifices, tolerance and sufferings were all borne by them for the sake of their children. Now with a demand from the LTTE for one person from each house-hold they are prepared to defy the LTTE and revolt against them. They are also prepared to welcome and give all co-operations for a friendly army that will give an undertaking to give protection for their lives and properties inspite of any provocation that they may have to face, while engaged in the process of liberating them” .
I quote two paragraphs from my letter written to you when you had good relationship with both Mr. Vaiko and Mr. Nedumaran dated 08.10.2005 I wrote thus, “ In the interest of the Tamils of Sri Lanka the leaders of Tamil Naad should forget all their political differences and get together to find a solution to the ethnic problem. I have had discussions with a number of Sinhalese leaders of political parties most of whom are agreeable to accept a solution based on the Indian pattern of devolution. I am confident that there will be hardly any opposition to this proposal. We Tamils in Sri Lanka can’t expect anything more than that since we know the Indian attitude towards the creation of a separate Tamil State. Successive Governments of India had clearly spelt out that they can’t support separation. The Tamils of Sri Lanka can’t confront India on this issue”.
“You will be doing a great service to the Tamil People of Sri Lanka who are living in total subjugation in areas under the control of the LTTE. I am confident that you have the capacity to convince leaders like Hon.Vaiko and Mr.Nedumaran of the need for an early solution bases on the Indian pattern of devolution. It will be acceptable to a larger section of the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims as well. Having convinced the Leaders of Tamil Naad you should take up this issue with Delhi and through Delhi with the Sri Lankan Government. Your facilitation for talks on this basis will certainly bear fruit and will also be welcomed by the International Community. It will not be rejected by any body. The leaders of Tamil Naad too should feel glad to play a role in finding a solution to a long standing problem”.
Sir, we missed a good opportunity in October in 2005. Another opportunity has now come on your way to intervene and help to solve the ethnic problem easily. In an interview to the PTI too Members of Parliament of the TNA who are proxies of the LTTE had said that they are agreeable for a reasonable solution within a united Sri Lanka. This stand will certainly make things easy for you to help to find a solution. Please act immediately without any hesitation. - Sri Lanka Guardian
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