THE WEST, PRABHAKARAN AND THE "WAR"
What is Prabhakaran up to? Those who have interpreted his birthday speech had come to different conclusions. Some had said that it was a threat, and that we should expect a "war" situation within an year. Some said it was only an annual declaration that we should ignore. Then he exploded claymore bombs killing seventeen soldiers, fired at a helicopter, and there may be many who wonder whether "war" has already started. However, what most of these interpreters ignore is that "war" never ceased as far as the LTTE was concerned. The so-called ceasefire prevented the army from taking action while Prabhakaran and his terrorists were killing as they wished.
As far as Prabhakaran is concerned the "war" amounts to exploding bombs and killing unarmed individuals. Even the soldiers in the Sri Lankan armed forces have to be considered as unarmed, as Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Norwegians have effectively unarmed them through the "ceasefire agreement". At the outset, it has to be stated that there is no war in this country. Prabhakaran goes on exploding bombs and he has not ceased to do so under the "ceasefire agreement". Also there are no two countries at war, and it is one of the reasons as to why the so called ceasefire agreement cannot be implemented. To cease fire there has to be fire first, and when there is no war it is conceptually incorrect to talk of ceasefire agreements. As Lt. General Sarath Fonseka has said there are no more than five thousand terrorists, and Prabhakaran is not in a position to take up the army on a grand scale "war". What Prabhakaran has said in his birthday speech is that unless the "Sinhala" government gives him what he wants he would start a "war". Simultaneously Anton Balasingham who is protected by the British government has tried to outdo his boss by ridiculing the Bhikkus as saffron clad bold headed people. Though there supposed to be restrictions on travel imposed by EU, and a ban on the LTTE in UK, Balasingham continues to live in Britain and address meetings. Both Britain and EU will say that Balasingham addressed a meeting orgnaised by an independent body and not by the LTTE, though all know that these bodies are linked with the latter, and in many case they are merely its front organizations. If there is a ban on travel by LTTE terrorists in the EU countries, how can Thamilselvam demand so called peace talks with the government in Norway or some European country?
It is clear that both Balasingham and Prabhakaran have spoken to the gallery. They have problems of their own with respect to the LTTE. Prabhakaran is fifty one years old now, and he may not celebrate many more birth days. The Tamil separatist movement is nearly sixty years old now having roots in the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) that was established in 1947 by Chelvanayakam. ITAK in English means Lanka Tamil State Party, and it was established with the intention of forming a separate state in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces demarcated by the British only in 1889. It is inconceivable, and no rational minded person even in the western sense could concede, that these two provinces demarcated by the British only as late as 1889, are the traditional homeland of the Tamils. Chelvanayakam, as described by his son in law A. J. Wilson in the biography the latter wrote, had a policy of little now and more later. This was pointed out in the book "Prabhakaran Ohuge Seeyala, Massinala Ha Baappala" translated into English as "An Analysis of Tamil Racism in Sri Lanka", and what Chelvanayakam had in mind was to achieve Eelam, step by step going through a federal state. In order to deceive the Sinhala people, ITAK was expressed in English as Federal Party, and unfortunately no Tamil individual then appears to have said in public that ITAK meant Lanka Tamil State Party and not Federal Party.
There are some Tamils who would like to tell the world that the Tamil Separatist movement began only in 1975 after the infamous Vadukkodi (Vadugoda) resolution. However, this is a myth that the Tamil racists have successfully propagated with the help of the British and the other westerners, the so-called "intellectuals" making a contribution, though not original, to the propaganda. What they wanted the world to believe was that the Tamils were industrious and innocent people who minded their own business, and who had become successful in their chosen fields due to hard work and talent. They had also spread the myth that before the Europeans came there were two nations with two states in the island, the Tamils occupying the present eastern province and the northern province, stretching from Chilaw to Panam Paththuva along the coast, while the Sinhala people lived in the rest of the country. According to the Tamil racists the Europeans, especially the British ruled these two states as one unit and after 1815, when the Kandyan kingdom was "annexed" the whole country for the first time became a unitary state. When the British went back they did not hand over the two (three?) states to the respective "nations" but to the Sinhalas, thus the Tamil state coming under the rule of the Sinhala people. Though this myth has been debunked the Tamil racists who had the backing of the British went on propagating the myth.
According to the Tamil racists everything went smoothly until Sinhala was made the official language and then the Republic constitution was adopted, standardization of marks at the University Entrance Examinations (or GCE - A/L) and such other measures were taken. Then in the seventies Tamil youth took up arms to establish a separate state. They claim that the so called Vadukkodai Resolution was adopted after these events with the incorporation of self determination of the Tamil nation, Tamil homeland etc. However, it can be shown that, what happened was something else. (please see An analysis of Tamil Racism in Sri Lanka, for details). It is a case of depriving the Sinhala people and their culture, the due place after nearly five hundred years of colonialism. The so called minorities created by the British had been a privileged group, and whenever the Sinhalas wanted their due place given these "minorities" had to lose some of the privileges that they had enjoyed under the western colonial powers, and they considered these loses as injustices forced on them. The bogey of Sinhala Buddhist hegemony was created with the assistance of the western theories, and later the clichés such as Mahavansa mindset were created. If everything happened after 1956 why did Chelvanayakam establish the ITAK in 1947? The Tamil racists get upset whenever this question is asked and reminded of the "little now more later" policy of Chelvanayakam.
Though Prabhakaran and Balasingham have spoken of the Mahavansa mindset to the gallery, the so called intellectuals who pronounce the same thing in a sociological jargon are no better. Some people think once the jargon is used any myth acquires an academic respectability, but unfortunately for them it is not the case. What matters finally are ideas which are consistent with other evidence, and it is exactly the ideas consistent or otherwise that these "intellectuals" lack. Prabhakaran's birthday speech had to be interpreted taking into consideration what he is. It is not rational to attempt to give complex reasons for a speech made by a murderer with a plain mind, who knows only to kill people in order to gain power. Prabhakaran is neither acquainted with Advaitha Vedantha nor a competent military strategist and his speeches and actions have to be interpreted accordingly. He has been inflated by the western media and the "intellectuals" as a talented military leader with the mind of a Napoleon, when he is only a ruthless murderer who had engaged in street fights in Chennai and other places.
Prabhakaran's problem is that after nearly sixty years of a separatist "struggle" begun by Chelvanayakam, and nearly thirty years after the Vadugoda declaration, and after more than twenty years of "armed struggle" meaning exploding bombs, he has nothing to show to his terrorist gang. Apparently he has sent his son abroad for studies while conscripting the children of others. It is not a fact that the terrorists do not know or would tolerate for many years, unless Prabhakaran delivers goods. So far he has failed to do so except killing more Tamils than Sinhalas in his so called liberation struggle of the Tamils. In order to keep his gang intact he has to pronounce statements now and then and also to take some action. The only action he knows is killing which he has done again recently at Kondavil. The birthday speech, Kondavil killings and helicopter shooting are mainly for the terrorists to convince themselves that gang leader is still in business.
However, this does not mean that we should ignore the terrorist leader. He should not be allowed to kill at his will. The so called ceasefire agreement has been violated thousands of times and the incident at Kondavil is only the one with the biggest casualties. The SLMM had to admit that shooting at the helicopter was a violation of the so called ceasefire agreement. Prabhakaran has to be defeated militarily, and it would be the duty of President Mahinda Rajapakse and the newly appointed Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka to map out a strategy to achieve this objective. Balasingham on the other hand has a different problem. He has been challenged by Thamilselvam for the "political leadership", and he has to convince his fellow terrorists that he is as revolutionary if not more revolutionary than the terrorist leader. He is prepared to ridicule the Bhikkus and call Buddha a Hindu, when there was no Hinduism in Bharat two thousand five hundred years ago. These are simplistic arguments expressed with or without jargon, and whether it is Balasingham or Shri Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan who expresses such opinion it only reflects their lack of knowledge of the fundamentals. The Vedic religion cannot be equated to Hinduism which is a very late phenomenon as Hinduism came into existence after Sankaracharya who lived long after Buddha, and who was accused of being a disguised Buddhist. Coming back to politics, Balasingham has taken great pains to describe the sexual struggles of Karuna and Thamilselvam in order to show that he is interested only in an armed struggle.
Instead of giving complicated interpretations to these speeches and killings we have to look at them as speeches action by plain irrational minds to the gallery. They are no better than some of the election promises we heard just last month, and we have to be aware that Norway has provided funds to the LTTE, and it together with the other western countries keep the LTTE going. President Mahinda Rajapakse should not only review the so called ceasefire agreement that has given the LTTE an open license to kill, but terminate the "services" (disservice) of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Commission and the facilitator Norway which has only facilitated the LTTE with funds, declare Eric Solheim a persona non grata, and take steps to defeat the LTTE militarily. Norway in Hong Kong has gone against an agreement between the foreign ministers of that country and Sri Lanka and has tried to give the impression of conditions raised by the government of Sri Lanka. Norwegians have always spoken for the terrorists and, if Mahinda Rajapakse cannot point out these now to the Norwegians where is the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. However, it is not easy to do send back Norway, one reason being India's attitude. Apparently India has not given the green light to send back the Norwegians, and Mr. Mangala Samaraweera had to come back from Delhi without much support. Norwegians, who have been accused of partiality even by persons such as Mr. Anandasangaree, have to be sent back, but the government may be having problems in this regard. However, we have to commend the President for the decisions to ban Akashi's visit to Kilinochchi, and to request the appointment of some others to the "monitoring mission", instead of the Norwegians, which had been monitoring only the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. If the western countries, Japan and some others are an obstacle on the path of Mahinda Chinthanaya, then they have to be exposed by the President Rajapakse. There may be few elements especially in the foreign media who would like interpret the above as the ideas of a single person or "Sinhala Chauvinists", and are against reality. There is no reality as such, and the so called reality is a creation of the western powers. If we are to gain independence and defeat Tamil racism, we have to engage ourselves in research in history. However, they cannot hide the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Sinhala people are behind those ideas, as could be seen from the election of Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse as the President against all odds, when the media mafia, the unofficial church. born again Christian businessmen, and the leadership of his own party campaigned for his rival. The days that the westerners with their paid servants in the NGOs could mislead the Sinhala people, and ignore them are over. Nobody can rule this country hereafter without listening to the opinion of the Sinhalas. All those non national forces should realise that the Sinhalas put the country before a measure of "parippu" and that they are prepared to make sacrifices to safeguard the sovereignty of the country.
Foreigners such as Akashi may still try to go to Kilinochchi, and apparently he has said that he has other ways of contacting Thamilselvam. Could a Sri Lankan minister go to Tokyo and utter a similar statement, if he is prevented from meeting a person who has taken up arms against the Japanese government? The President must stand up to these people though they may come with their so called aid. The aid they bring is worse than aids, and we have to strengthen the hands of the President in his dealings with these non national forces both here and abroad. The Sinhalas know that Prabhakaran cannot exist without the support of the westerners (and the Japanese), and the government should not read much into the statements and acts by him. He may order the schoolboys to throw stones at the army, and get the armed forces to attack the children. One does not need special talents to device such schoolboy techniques, and the armed forces should ignore these stone throwing. We have to remind ourselves if Israel attacks such Palestinian children the western world would come to the defense of the Israeli government, but if the Sri Lankan forces retaliate then the latter would be branded as inhuman barbarians and the Sinhalas as a nation that deprives the rights of the innocent Tamils. Just as much Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse campaigned against all odds, the Sinhalas have to fight the non national forces against all odds. Mr. Rajapakse should believe in the voters who voted for him and tell them of the pressure by the westerners and the Japanese who are western Christian in culture, and should not abandon them for the "wisdom" of the "advisors" surrounding of him. Mr. Rajapakse could begin his confidence building exercise by holding Provincial Elections in the Eastern Province soon. The Northern Province could wait till Prabhakaran is defeated, unless the people in Northern Province themselves demand an election, ignoring Prabhakaran.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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