Utter impudence of the Sampanthan clowns

By Mohan Gunaratnam

(February 26, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Can any politico have the heart to announce with such audacious tenor and temerity that he will seek political representation of the Tamil people on behalf of an avowed terrorist entity described as the most brutal terrorist in the world?

This is an impertinent and insolent insult on the Tamil community in Sri Lanka that was subjugated at gunpoint by Velupillai Prabhakaran for over three decades now. He has also had nearly all of the community’s leaders opposed to him killed. His killings went even beyond the Tamils and that included the assassination of the Indian leader Mr Rajiv Gandhi as well.

Mr.R.Sampanthan, the Tamil National Alliance lead candidate in the Trincomalee district according to the Tamilnet.com Monday February 23, said when he addressed the first election seminar held at Hindu Cultural Hall in the port town of Trincomalee:

“We openly state that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is contesting the forthcoming election on behalf of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).” He had the impudence to make such a claim and leave no one in any doubt the TNA’s support of terrorism and that the people who matter have no other say.

The significance of the seminar, according to the Tamilnet.com report was that it was held for teachers and principals of schools in the Trincomalee district to formulate an election strategy to enhance TNA's parliamentary representation from Trincomalee district, sources said. This is the last place and group the TNA should have sought to begin their campaign on behalf of a terrorist contraption.

This alone reflects how the TNA parliamentarians treat the wellbeing of schools, teachers and students and obviously their interest to drag in the students into terrorism as a political force. Since the LTTE is banned in Sri Lanka, criminal proceedings should be instituted against Mr Sampanthan and all those who supported him at this meeting.

He said further: "TNA is contesting the forthcoming general election with only one objective. That is to show the international community that Tamils in the northeast are wholly behind the LTTE in the peace effort and Tamil people fully support the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals presented to the Government of Sri Lanka by the LTTE."

Now that the LTTE has proved beyond any doubt that the only solution they had wanted was a separate Eelam state where Prabhakaran will have a dictatorship of his own brand and with this dream about to explode, disgraceful LTTE cronies like Sampanthan who should not have been allowed to speak even for the rooster that awakes him in the morning, wants the ISGA rejuvenated as the last means to save Prabhakaran.

Sampanthan and his TNA contraption never really represented the Tamils; they only danced to whatever that was drummed up and dictated to them by Prabhakaran. Their conduct in parliament was shameless where they even conducted a mock funeral demeaning the Tamils. They neither have the intelligence nor the commitment to understand the problems of Tamils in Sri Lanka. They have shown time and again that they support violence and such cannot be the voices of the people.

If they oppose Prabhakaran, they know that he will not hesitate the use of the gun to finish them off; that is his way. The Tamils can get rid of them too but they have the right weapon, the vote.
-Sri Lanka Guardian