An open letter to Minister Douglas Devananda

an appeal to the President and the international community.

By Rajasingham Jayadevan

Dear Mr Douglas Devananda

(July 12,London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Having received expressions of anger and disappointment from some of my fellow Tamils, I write this open letter.

I have been outspoken in the past on several issues relating to your conduct and purpose of this letter is to highlight the dire circumstances facing Tamil people who are experiencing the wrath of your party activists to achieve a favoured election results in the forthcoming municipal election to be held in Jaffna on the 8 August 2009.

I am appalled to hear about the conduct of your party activists in the run up to the Municipal election in Jaffna. It is clear from the stories I hear, that the Tamil people in the north have been subjugated by your party activists and this culture is throttling the very society that had suffered for many years under various military regimes.

As a pampered party of the government, your Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) is thwarting all the basics of democracy and trying to give the meaning of terror for the laudable mission of democracy the Tamil people are yearning for. The government that was quick to impose the election in Jaffna post defeat of the LTTE, is maintaining an astounded silence as it too sees the benefits of your party winning the election hook or by crook with your rudimentary and violent campaign.

I was told by the concerned Tamils that you have placed your nefarious shipping business agents as candidates and all these elements come from backgrounds that violently exploited the Tamil society in Jaffna when Jaffna remained isolated from the mainland due to LTTE rule in the southern terrain of Jaffna peninsula until recently.

One doesn’t need to be a political pundit to judge the objective of your campaign:

Intimidate the voters violently that they will stay away from voting on the election day.

Allow your gangster party activists to engineer in vote rigging and also stuff the ballot boxes with the government backing as had happened before.

When you took up party politics after engaging in militant struggle until mid 1980’s, it was expected that you will fully adhere to the democratic way of life. There was some justification that your group needed arms to meet the security challenges over the outspoken stand you had taken against the LTTE. But unfortunately, your activities have become a curse for the Tamil people and the stalemate never seems to end for them.

Whilst drafting this letter I received an email from one of my contact in Vavuniya. This news appeared in the Sri Lanan newspaper ‘Island’. I reproduce this news below for the right thinking people to expose the fallacy practiced by the government in the name of democracy to achieve desired election results in Jaffna. What V Anandasangaree has highlighted is gist of the problem faced by the candidates and the people, but clearly expresses the very threatening and pathetic situation prevailing for the terrified Tamil brethrens in Jaffna.

Tamil minister’s thugs terrorizing Jaffna: Anandasangaree

By Sandun A Jayasekera

TULF leader and Jaffna mayoral aspirant V. Anandasangaree yesterday alleged that a Tamil Minister with the backing of the government was terrorizing the residents of Jaffna in the run-up to the Municipal Council elections.

“Not only the TULF, even other political parties are helpless as thugs unleashed by this particular minister are roaming around Jaffna with none able to challenge or subdue them. Bicycle gangs and armed groups are a common sight in Jaffna these days. They are preventing other political parties from doing election work,” Mr. Anandasangaree alleged and said he had still not launched his campaign for the election.

He said Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation’s Tamil service was broadcasting several hours of propaganda and state institutions such as the People’s Bank and the National Lotteries Board had taken out full page advertisements in support of this minister.

Mr. Anandasangaree said it was a matter for regret that the government had ignored his pleas to put an end to this organized campaign of intimidation and stressed that in such a hostile climate he could not think of carrying out any electioneering in Jaffna.

He said the August 8 Municipal Council election was a golden opportunity for the residents of Jaffna to express their franchise after 1994 but unfortunately their rights have been hijacked by this man and the government had turned out to be a willing supporter of his crimes.

Mr. Anandasangaree said the meeting of the All Party Committee on Development and Reconciliation convened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week was mostly a one-man show and that he did not get an opportunity to air his views in respect of the Tamil community in the North.

He said he would have to re-think whether the TULF should participate at the next meeting as it would definitely be a waste of time if this Tamil minister was allowed to monopolize the meeting at the cost of the other Tamil representatives.

I appeal to the President Mahinda Rajapakse to immediately intervene in this terrifying matter and bring an end to the impunity enjoyed by his minister to achieve desired results with the backing of the military stationed in Jaffna. Any victory by the EPDP in the election must be rejected, unless immediate steps are taken to round up the goons of this party and strict guidelines are given to conduct the campaign and the election in a fair manner.

As a concerned Tamil wishing to see fair play, I appeal to the international community to use its influence to pressurize the President to conduct the elections in a fair manner and the outcome that all could satisfy as a fair conclusion.

I call upon the Tamil brethrens in Sri Lanka (in whatever way in the constrained situation) and in the diaspora to actively engage to expose the threatening culture imposed by the EPDP on the vulnerable civilian population in Jaffna.

Any news and views on the shenanigan conduct of the election by this paramilitary group operationg under the patronage of the government must be exposed and I invite my fellow Tamils to provide me with any information to expose the scrumptious, violent, threatening and highhanded conduct of this group.

You may forward any information to me on this to my email: raj.jayadevan@btinternet.com.

-Sri Lanka Guardian