‘President Rajapaksha can’t sweep everything under the carpet’ - Chandrahasan

“Indian government is doing its best for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka”
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By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

(September 27, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) “President Mahinda Rajapaksha can’t sweep everything under the carpet while using statements like ‘there are no minority any more and only two nations living here, one is people who love the country other one is people who do not love the country’. Even though the time has come for serious dialogue within communities to find a sustainable political solution that we could not find for the last few decades” Mr. S C Chandrahasan, Treasurer of the Oraganisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OFERR) said in an exclusive interview to the Sri Lanka Guardian.

Mr. S C. Chandrahasan, the son of late SJV Chelvanayagam, is a controversial person in the Tamil freedom struggle. His father followed the non- violence approach when was the head of the Federal Party and later the Tamil United Liberation Front.

Mr. Chandrahasan was supportive of the Tamil youth uprisings and he became an enemy of the Sri Lankan state. Later he was an enemy of the LTTE due to his stance on Tamil Tiger’s terror ideology. Mr. Chandrahasan also led the Organisation for the Protection of the Tamil Eelam from Genocide and other violations of Human Rights (Pro- TEC) in Sri Lanka.

When Sri Lanka Guardian asked the reason for the formation of these two organisations under the banner of Eelam, Mr. Chandrahasan said: “We depicted these organisations with Eelam connotation because the real meaning of Sri Lanka in Tamil is “Eelam”.

By using the term ‘Eelam’ it does not mean demanding for separate state in the island. We have accepted all the time that Sri Lanka should be one country that must reflect pluralist politics. ”

Sixty two years old veteran politician is happy that the Tamil Tigers have been wiped out, but is he also seriously worried over the delays in finding a political solution to the conflict.

‘There is a golden opportunity now following the wipeout the Tamil Tigers. The country’s progress will fail if the President does not adopt a proper political resolution which is acceptable to all the communities. The country will experience stalemate if he does not implement a political solution soon” he said.

Mr. Chandrahasan strongly criticized the power base under the present Provincial Council devolution. “A good example is the present situation in the Eastern Provincial Council. There are no powers given to Chief Minister and his elected team to take their own decisions. They are at present only implementing the orders of the central government. Chief Minister Pillaiyan openly says he is not allowed to exercise any powers and make decisions in the PC council without Central Government approval. This system must be changed and Government should close its extreme barriers with proper devolution. They can’t continue to conduct the affairs with the brokers. They must decide whether they want total peace within the country or an authoritarian peace.”

Talking on Indo- Lanka bilateral relations, Mr. Chandrahasan said, “I don’t think India was wrong in the last few decades over bilateral relationship with Sri Lanka. India did its best for Sri Lanka all the time, while some bitter things were experienced from Colombo. Especially no one can forget what the Government of Sri Lanka did to the Indian Peace Keeping Force that was deployed to wipe out the Tamil Tigers.”

“Even now, India is involved in the very important role on the Internally Displaced People’s issues in the Northern province, as well as dealing with reconciliation of post-War situation.” he added.

“Thousands of Tamil people came to India as refugees and they are still coming. There are 116 refugee camps in Southern India and there are more than 73,000 refugees including children and women. We are giving education facilities for all the children’ Mr Chandrahasan summarized the present situation of Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu.

Many commentators on Sri Lanka say there is serious vacuum within the Tamil leadership. Mr. Chandrahasan plainly said: “Tamil Tigers should be held responsible for the elimination of the democratic and energetic leadership in the Tamil Community. Of course now there is vacuum, but the time will restore a good leadership for the Tamils.”

Referring to the re-settlement programme of the Government, Mr. Chandrahana regretted the present developments in the Northern Province and said, “It is a joke when government says land mines are the main problem for resettlement. It is not the truth. I don’t think de-mining is the problem for resettlement as these people know how to manage themselves with it. People will not tolerate their lives are limited to barbed-wire boundaries imposed by the state”.

Commenting on the Transnational Government idea introduced by the LTTE recently, Mr. Chanadrahasan said, “I do not think good things will happen with this new concept. Let me tell you, the truth now is the Tamil people must accept good and democratic way for archiving their goal by dealing with the government. The local Tamils and the Tamil in the Diaspora must get together to find a solution immediately.”

“In the last few decades in his political career the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksha did his best for the country and we hope he will do the best in the coming future, if he is concerned about the urgent issues,” Mr. Chandrahasan concluded.

-Sri Lanka Guardian