| by Pearl Thevanayagam
(September 27, 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) So what has changed? TNA (Tamil National Alliance) - the offshoot of ITAK (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi) - aka Federal Party which is Sri Lanka’s oldest Tamil political party has won with an overwhelming majority and UPFA United People’s Federation (Front) Alliance (this writer stands corrected on this acronym) the ruling party scored even better in other provinces.
Election monitors both local and foreign came and went and it is now business as usual. Did 65 percent of Tamils in the North according to the Elections Commissioner cast their ballots due to love of TNA or due to having no choice?
The profiteers of the elections were the NGO monitors with foreign funding who sent out reams of reports of election monitoring to their funders and hoping their next budget is in better form so they could make some foray into western funds.
Tamils abroad are bent on choking the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) in Colombo although it is now an antiquated organisation which makes no decisions one way or another since Commonwealth no longer has any authority over its member countries.
CHOGM should not be boycotted. It is an opportunity for these attendees to make their own conclusions as to how the war was won and how many Tamil lives were sacrificed in the name of Sinhala hegemony. CHOGM attendees should investigate war crimes and present their report to the UN on rape, murder, torture, abductions, and use of chemical and biological weapons on fleeing civilians. Wiping out terrorists also meant committing genocide.
For the first time in its existence CHOGM is not being attended by its head, Queen Elizabeth 11. She is sending her son Prince Charles who has a hope in hell of being Britain’s monarch since his mother would outlive him as she looks after her well-being and health diligently. But he will be enjoying a lovely holiday in sunny Sri Lanka all at the expense of the Rajapaka Government with his ex-girlfriend and current wife Camilla, described by the media as a Rottweiller. For those uninitiated, this breed of dog is a deadly specimen.
Commonwealth is a dead parrot except for some trust left by colonial powers to satisfy their dedicated colonial servants to have some enjoyment in their twilight years by attending conferences and taking tropical holidays to reminisce their years in bygone days as some kind of kings with servants and palanquins.
Commonwealth consists of toothless curs who still believe Britain is a colonial power as much as TNA believes it represents Tamils.
Seriously Tamils have issues unresolved such as their subjugation by the majority Sinhalese governments since independence which led to the 35 year old protracted war began by Velupillai Pirabhakaran and nurtured by ITAK leader Appapillai Amirthalingam.
Unlike the protégé of Mrs Bandaranaike, JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera, who went on to lead an opulent life despite his Che Guevra teachings and communism, Pirabhakaran lived a virtually frugal life although his penchant for violent uprising saw his dying an equal violent death, betrayed by his own followers and in the hands of the government he fought against.
Former Supreme Court Judge C.Vigneswaran in his red pottu has an uncanny resemblance to Mahinda Rajapaksa with his signature kurrakan shawl and this does not seem to bode well for the future of Tamils. Neelan Thiruchelvam’s son Ahilan is going to court seeking to redeem his property. To hell with all the other Tamils who cannot seek recourse from the courts for the many displacements and loss of lives but when one has connections in high places one can get anything.
And we have the future of Tamils in a nutshell. The government has won again.
(The writer has been a journalist for 24 years and worked in national newspapers as sub-editor, news reporter and news editor. She was Colombo Correspondent for Times of India and has contributed to Wall Street Journal where she was on work experience from The Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley, California. Currently residing in UK she is also co-founder of EJN (Exiled Journalists Network) UK in 2005 the membership of which is 200 from 40 countries. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com)
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