Chief Minister Of The Northern Provincial Council Has Been Entrusted With Huge Responsibilities!
| by Dr.Sripali Vaiamon
(This is a courteous appeal to the Chief Minister.)
Sir,
( November 5, 2013, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) Much more than the other Chief Ministers in the Island you have been entrusted with colossal amount of accountabilities. ( I am reluctantly using the term accountability as it is a term coined by American and European nations indirectly to harass the governments of third world countries.)Prior to lay your hand on any of the functions you have to shoulder I like to stress a few of the requirements which are at the moment really paramount which you should expedite quickly. May I appeal as a person born in Sri Lanka who wishes to see that before it gets into another brutal civil war to devastate the country, economy and the people, you may initiate early actions on the followings;
Expedite demining, construct housings for the displaced and eradicate the abominable caste rift.
Chief Minister! You have been a Magistrate, Judge of the District Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, you are a person who has studied the entire episode of the 26 year old brutal civil war that was in the country. I would like to earnestly request you first of all to pay your profound attention to completely demine the entire northern region where these wretched rioters buried pernicious mines without an iota of sympathy on poor and innocent Tamil people who are living in the North knowing very well these treacherous crimes one day will boomerang on them. Now most of the poor guys living in the regions are minus limbs and eye sights and become disabilities in the area. Invariably they could be the bread winners of their families. Don’t wait until Central Government complete the job. You can expedite and carry out diligently and methodically. Although Government urgently started building houses for the displaced people as I understand these are not yet fully complete. The most abominable problem in the North and East is the outdated caste system where poor low caste people were harassed and oppressed.
It was the main reason to crop up the conflict.
It was on the 17th of October 2013, President recognized you as a capable personality been an ex-judge accorded you with colossal amount of portfolios after a second swearing in Tamil, at the Temple Trees, which were Finance and Planning, Law and Peace, Land and Road Development, Cooperative Development, Housing Development, Water Supply, Social Services and Rehabilitations, Women Affaires, Industrial and Enterprise Developments, Tourisms, District and Provincial Council Managements, Food Supply and Distribution. By these I presume you have been encompassed with almost everything that required for you to develop your region satisfactorily. Moreover now the President has paved the way for all the Chief Ministers of the Provincial Councils to sit in a Cabinet meeting once a month where you get the opportunity to thrash out any problem or achieve any requirement after a fruitful discussion.
I have my doubt whether your TAN leader is quite happy that you have been entrusted with so much of responsibilities but he got absolutely nothing. In his capacity as a leader of a party he cannot expect to get anything. So you have to take little care and even your chosen ministers may have some incredulous attitudes as some of them are still living in the dreams of separatism. You need not get perturbed as you were a judge I am quite sure you are in a most intelligible attitude to tackle all these undesirable and redundant problems. All are now under your jurisdiction. I presume you can have full faith on your Governor, Major General G.A.Chandrasiri and the new Chairman C.V.K.Sivagnam, to continue your undertakings without undue interruption. However TNA leader now has given up the unwanted move of separatism. That is one salvation! You firmly said at the inaugural meeting Muslims evicted from the region will be resettled. Even the Sinhalese who were there virtually ousted should be summoned if they wish to return. A Muslim Organization in Sri Lanka, The Muslim Brotherhood has called for the resettlement of Muslim and Sinhalese evicted from the North by the terrorists. Main Muslim Party in Sri Lanka SLMC has called on the TNA to support and assist Muslims in the North. Let all the three communities live amicably in unity and peace in the North as well. Tamils have the right to live anywhere in the Island as it was in Kotte and Gampola period. No restriction what so ever.
Velupillai Prabakaran whom you proclaimed as a hero in one of your election meetings approved by all the people in all the electorates in the North, It gave a big boost. More than 90% of Tamils in the North have cast their votes to Illankai Tamil Arsu Katchi and with that had a land slide victory. Prabhakaren had a duel target in his deliberately designed conflict where he and his category people affected so badly from his ancestors time and it was nothing but the wretched low caste degradation where they had to suffer inhumanly.
One Scandinavian lady who was involved in a research in Jaffna had produced a research volume where she had highlighted so many disgracing situations. Even high minded high class personality like Mr. Ponnambalam Ramanathan who opposed the introduction of Adult Franchise on the ground that it gives the lower castes the right to vote. He was also against the tradition of equal seating position for lower castes and commensurate in Jaffna schools. (James Russel, Ceylon Tamils and Donoughmore Commission. 1976. P.21)
She quoted; mostly women and elderly men in high caste category are strongly caste conscious. Caste system has given rise to serious social evils. It denied certain civil and religious rights to a large number of people and let to the oppression and exploitations one caste by another and this paved a constant source of discontent or unrest (p.149.Religion of the Hindus by Kenneth Morgan)
Govt. issued Social Disability Act in 1957, forbidding caste discrimination by Land Lord and other upper class and high caste elites. But they didn’t pay any heed.
It is because of this prime reason Prabhakaren launched the deadly war by killing the Mayor of Jaffna, Mr. Alfred Doraiappa who was a high class and high caste personality. All Prabakaran’s friends of his caliber joined him and ultimately 26 groups came up with one aim to annihilate so called high caste Vellalas and others by lamp post massacring and other assassination such as suicide bombs etc.
Affordable faction of them went as refugees to industrial countries such as Canada, Australia, England, France etc.Now they have become very rich people living in luxury and funded the war in millions to separate the northern region for them to treat as a mother country. But it was miserably failed. Because they were killing their own people too. In a war it cannot be distinctly separate them. Now you have the opportunity to get those millions to develop your battered people in the region and develop the country. More than 90% of war victim today are low caste people. This caste rift is something outdated and not suitable for present era. Before lay your hand on development strategies you have to take stern and congenial action to annihilate this situation in the North by dismantling the wretched caste label. You may name every one of them without any faction or division as Jaffna Tamils or any other suitable term where division is not implicit. I am quite confident all now in the North and the East may like this suggestion. That would be a most concordant and present step that you as a Supreme Court ex-judge and the very first Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council could be taken with sympathy towards your people. They would then have the pride to live in this united country.
Following are the caste categories that exist in the North.
Shiva karakul Sather Paver
Vellala Kuku war Karaiyar
Pantharam Makkuwar Dhobi
Sirpachari Vannar Kadikular
Nalvar Komathi Vanniyan
Panchali Cheliya Kasavan Ambatta Kuruoa Idiyan
Oddi Irulu Irulu
Vettuwan Baruni
You are aware much better than me the long list of doctors, lawyers, professors and well dignified people killed by Tigers because they were in high caste category. Tigers couldn’t tolerate them. Please see that position will never crop up again in the North. Ball is in your court now. You are not a cheap caste minded intellectual. Before lay your hand on other responsibilities you have to take up degraded wretched caste mentality which is a horrendous problem in the North.
Next and the third step are to build houses as quickly as possible for the poorest that have lost their houses and properties and provide them with some kind of job facility to enable them to keep their heads above water.
If the Diaspora in foreign countries has real sympathy towards them they must provide millions for this worthy project, in place of what they earlier channeled to kill human beings without an iota of sympathy towards human rights.
Now you can take your agenda one by one and continue in a pass speed with the help of the main government. Main government never goes against you as you are an intellectual not stoop down to asinine silly matters.
TNA boss must be jealous that President has recognized you and accorded with so many responsibilities. That must be the reason why he wanted you to boycott CHOGM and requested the Indian Government too to boycott. He is likely to take hand in hand with Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu and create disruptions. You give him a higher position and keep him in a state of insubstantiality but in a high sounding position. It would be not only TNA leader even the other chosen Ministers of your Council with divergent views will definitely come out with incongruous ideas to go against the government. Even the certain wily members. But you have to be causes as those guys could not be satisfied even if you give them the moon. Indian Prime Minister is now likely to take a decision to attend CHOGM and you too have decided not only to participate even to invite him to visit Jaffna. Please get the army to safe guard the area. Defense and urban development Secretary will definitely strengthen the military protection as several dignitaries are likely to visit the northern part of the Island which has achieved a development in unprecedented level.
Now you have opened up your new office at Kaithady and you could plan and carryout all your activities as you have preplanned. Further if there is any controversial matter that you could get settled without delay at the proposed cabinet meetings. If there is anything more not just to please your ministers but what you definitely feel essential to what you have already planned could be tabled at a future meeting and get the approval. I am hundred percent sure you will deliver the goods for the satisfaction of at least 51% of your population who were battered during the past. Country is progressing pass. Even economy is now quite sound. According to the global survey by the International Finance Corporation and World Bank comprising 189 Countries Sri Lanka’s position is 85.Although I am not a government party member but as a person who like the mother country so much, m ay I pray that you would be the most efficient and productive Chief Minister in the Island. Yet you have to prove your mettle Sir! God Bless you!
