2 Jan, 2012 Dayapala Thiranagama Colombo,

    [Editors note: The author was married to Dr. Rajini Thiranagama (née Rajasingham), a Tamil human rights activist and feminist murdered in 1989 by the LTTE. She was one of the founding members of the University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna, which during the war, published some of the most hard hitting critiques and exposes of Government as well as LTTE atrocities and human rights violations. Since 2009, Dayapala Thiranagama's insightful articles to Groundviews have been amongst the site's most read and shared.]

    ###

    “Politics can be relatively fair in the breathing spaces of history; at its critical turning points there is no other rule possible than the old one, that the end justifies the means” (Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon, London, 1940, Page 81).

    On 27 December 1989 I arrived in Heathrow along with my two young daughters, aged 9 and 11 years. At  the Immigration Desk the  Officer asked me how long we intended  to stay.I replied ‘a couple of weeks’. My youngest daughter still hanging on to my hand and whispered  to me ‘Thaththa, don’t tell lies we are not going back to Sri Lanka’.  She  of course  was telling the truth. Now after more than two decades I had to return to  Sri Lanka alone, leaving them behind.

    There were two main  reasons that made ending my  exile possible: the achievement of my personal  commitment to  my  children which was  to ensure that they were independent,  and the change in Sri Lanka’s political climate, which is the focus of this account.

    By the end of 1989  when we fled Sri Lanka we left behind a country gripped by  seemingly insoluble political contradictions. They seemed to require a comprehensive military defeat  of one party over  the other for  the  resolution  of the crisis. The JVP was fighting   the Sri Lankan state which had sought India’s help and the LTTE  had taken on the mighty IPKF(Indian Peace Keeping Force). The JVP had  begun a ‘patriotic war’ accusing  that the Sri Lankan State of  capitulating   to Indian imperialism.They demanded that the people patriotically oppose the  devolution of any power to Tamils  just  as the UPFA at present defines its patriotism in order   to deny the possibility of granting of democratic rights to the    Tamil speaking people.  At the time the JVP had  begun  assassinating all those who supported the devolution of power to Tamils. Their targets  included  the activists and the leaders of the Left parties and groups,  as they were in the forefront of  the campaign in support of the 13th Amendment, which allowed  for the devolution of power. The JVP  had become  cruel  and ruthless killers of  other political activists in the name of ‘patriotism’ and appeared  to be   knocking on the door of the state power.

    I had joined the Vikalpa Kandayama (Alternative Group) and later organised the Movement for Socialism and Democracy uniting all the left groups ,democrats and some  prominent individuals in trade unions.The state also responded with equal cruelty and ruthlessness to the JVP rebellion. There were death squads acting with impunity  and  the roadsides in certain areas became open graves.  The LTTE was not any different from the JVP and they  also assassinated all those who were critical of them. With these murders there were personal sufferings within families  who experienced irreplaceable losses.

    Rajani Thiranagama, my wife who was  brutally  gunned down by the Tamil Tigers  merely  because she was a vocal critic of their human rights violations. This was despite the fact that she had  given medical treatment to  leading LTTE cadres at the  very inception of their organisation. Her  assassination  was symbolic of  both the Tamil Tigers’ fascist nature as well as the  bleak future  that    the so called ‘Tamil liberation’ would have brought about in the North and East, if they were not  comprehensively defeated.

    Rajani was brutally killed on 21 September 1989. My children lost their most stable primary carer who was their  great  source of love , stability and hope. Despite the fact that I took the full responsibility for their upbringing after her death, I feel that I could not replace fully the love and support  they should have had from their mother. Like them, thousands of children in Sri Lanka  have suffered the loss of their parents leaving them experiencing  a legacy of pain and vulnerability that  has continued long after the war   has finished.

    When Rajani was assassinated I had to assure my children that I would be there for them.But unfortunately I could not carry out this  responsibility whilst being in Sri Lanka and having  an  underground  or semi -underground life . Sri Lanka had become very unsafe, as there was not  even  the  slightest regard for human life. All the parties who  fought their armed opponents threw away almost all  internationally accepted  norms  of warfare and when they had  audacity to kill their  unarmed critics or civilians they  also threw away unhesitatingly  all the civilised norms of  resolving  human  and political conflicts. The victims of the armed violence never had a chance to comprehend  or to know the specific charges against them  at the time when the gunman or the suicide  bomber appeared before them. Like many others, Rajani never knew the specific charges against her.  She only knew that the Tigers did not tolerate dissenting  views  and that  these  would be punishable by  death.

    By 1989  the Sri Lankan state was in  grave danger of being defeated by the armed  groups  led by the Sinhala extremist JVP. It survived. In all three armed struggles , two of them led by the JVP in 1971 and 1987-89 and the Eelam war  led by the LTTE, the challengers to the state and parliamentary democracy has been  comprehensively defeated by the Sri Lankan state. It is ironic that that the defeat of the reactionary,violent and fascist forces of the JVP and the LTTE has been won at an unbearable cost for Sri Lankan society and its parliamentary democracy. The survival of the state in this fashion has posed difficult questions as well as presenting an opportunity to reform  the Sri Lankan  state political structures.

    The  absence of   a commitment  from the current government to meet the democratic aspirations of all our communities and  the  lack of political will  for democratic reforms  appears to be the  main challenge facing Sri Lanka  at present. The massive loss of human life,legacy of the war,its effect on ordinary civilians and the imprint it has left on political activity has reshaped our future.Understanding and addressing what is felt on an individual level as a deep personal loss and what is felt by us collectively as a tragedy is fundamental to the creation of a different   country  and a different  politics,where such events cannot happen again.

    President Rajapaksa enjoys a solid political support among the  Sinhalese rural masses, which hither to  no other political leader has been able to  command . His popularity is unassailable and the  recent  local election results show that it is not going to be any easier now  for  his political opponents. This    popularity is undoubtedly  due  to  the political leadership  he was able to provide  in defeating the LTTE separatism. This  will  continue to have  huge political significance in the country for generations to come.  Without the Rajapaksha brothers  at helm of the state power it would not have been  possible to defeat the Tamil Tigers. Whether we would like it or not as long as the West  pursues   the war crime allegations  against the state, Rajapaksa’s popularity is bound to increase,   solidifying  the  support that President Rajapaksa already enjoys. This popularity  is also the main  obstacle for the possibility of ethnic inclusiveness. As long as the TNA continues to apply pressure  through India and West to gain a political solution to the issue of the democratic rights of the Tamils ,it will be seen as political interference in the internal affairs of  Sri Lanka and  thus a largely a  counter productive effort.

    There is also an element of this when foreign funded NGO’s campaign for the rights of Tamil people. However, the NGO’s are making a valuable contribution in defending democratic rights, a role which political parties in the opposition are unable to play with credibility as their political lines have been similar to that of the parties in the UPFA.The JVP’s anti-devolutionary violent  political history against the Tamil democratic rights is a case in point.

    It is unlikely that the government will be able to dismantle  Sri Lanka’s  parliamentary democracy as some critics would like to suggest but there should not be any complacency in this regard. When the tentacles of family interests spread through state institutions giving up power will not be an easy option.The most difficult situation is that the opposition is meek and feeble and the government would like to have  a free ride at the expense of the political rights of the people. If the government is planning to   dismantle parliamentary  democracy,  it will be the greatest political blunder and the folly of the capitalist class in this country .

    A divided opposition  hugely disadvantages ordinary  people.They are in disarray precisely at the time when there is an urgent need for a common political programme to protect basic democratic  and  political rights. Each opposition party is also deeply  divided  within themselves on the issue of political leadership  and/or  political ideology and strategy. The UNP and the JVP are undergoing the most serious and catastrophic  splits  within  their own parties  by weakening their capacity to oppose the government and to change the balance of forces in their favour. The  UPFA political hegemony  appears unbreakable despite  their  shortcomings.    The  government is also  using every possible corrupt incentives  to lure the opposition figures to their side. As long as the opposition is unable to mount a credible and mass base democratic   political challenge to the government, the possibility of  launching a successful  battle  to win for greater  democratic rights  is  still long way off. This has meant that the government have felt able to get away with any anti-democratic act or legislation.In Gramscian  terms this is the ‘effective reality’  at present in the country . Gramsci further sees the need for any political   opposition to ‘transcend beyond’ this ‘effective reality’ and alter the balance of forces in their favour.

    The  Mulleriawa incident  exposes  the  continuing thuggish and criminal  behaviour of  some of the government politicians . It is also  a warning that what they are capable of doing to their own  they will feel able to do double fold to those who aim to challenge  them democratically. These are legitimate and genuine issues that need  to be  addressed  by both the opposition and the government. If they fail at this juncture, they will not be forgiven  nor  forgotten by the people. In the deep fault-line of our politics the effect of the breakdown of civil society and political culture can be still felt.The forces of violence ,the climate of fear  and the suffocation of democratic voices that took centre stage in our politics have not yet been defeated despite the end of the war.

    I returned to my village, Happawana-Harumalgoda West in Habaraduwa to reside . I had last left as a young man  in 1967 to attend the university. All my memories in growing up here  were of   the poverty and destitution of this village, matched only by   the generosity of its people  when I had difficulties  with the security forces. Growing up in this village made me conscious of  the path of the personal sacrifices  that have to be made   to achieve social justice,political rights  and fairness  for all ethnic communities in our country. The legacy of this village lies deep within my political history and identity. In 1971  the villagers  protected me from the CID and police   as they encamped this village to apprehend me.When I was acquitted  in my trail in1975  they took me home in a huge procession  that filled a two-mile long stretch from the Pilana junction  of  Deniyaya-Akuressa Road to my house.

    In Sri Lanka, the journeys we make , both politically and physically are often defined by great  losses.This two mile long route runs through the village that  connects it to  the George Ratnayake Mawatha, which was named after  my comrade and friend George Ratnayake  who was brutally assassinated by  the  JVP in  August 1989. He was the finest human being this village has ever produced. His loss is  felt deeply not least by me.Without him my village is a lonelier place. George was a trade unionist and a Central committee member of the Communist Party . He  stood for the provincial council election  and won in 1989. He was killed by the JVP because he openly supported the devolution of  power to the Tamils. His assassination  stands  a testimony to the brutality of the JVP and their  racist politics of  Sinhalese supremacy. This village  will never forget this heinous crime. The JVP  had  sent  a group of   faceless assassins from outside that day. The day the village buried their finest human being they also defied all the funeral restrictions imposed by the JVP.

    This village has changed  since I left it  and will  continue to change at  increasing  speed. It no longer bears the hallmark of destitution and abject  poverty I witnessed as a child. It no longer exists in the same intensity. Both male and female  wage labour has increased here. This I hope  will influence its future political direction and enable it to continue making a political contribution to win and preserve democracy.

    In Sri Lanka in  general the politics in the  countryside where  the electoral bulwark of Sinhala Buddhist supremacy reigns supreme  will be pivotal in the coming years of  re-drawing electoral battle grounds. This is partly  due the UPFA regime shifting the political emphasis to its village  based  support  structures and has undertaken infrastructural development hither to unseen in rural areas.Sri Lanka will not be able to resolve its thorny issue of   nationhood unless rural communities support an electoral victory that would resolve the issue of the devolution of power to to the Tamil community.

    During these turbulent years of violent politics, the personal losses including having to leave my own country have made a lasting impact on my life.Those  comrades and friends who knew me closely  including my wife Rajani who fell victims to the LTTE, the JVP and  the security forces would have expected  in their last moments that I would continue their  struggle for social justice and democracy. But  I could not evade my personal responsibility towards my children at the time.  Rajani , my  comrades and friends knew  very well the mortal danger that would pose  to any individual in Sri Lankan politics. But they never hesitated. These  murderous  non -state actors eager to justify these crimes  in the name of ‘revolution’ or ‘national liberation’. They have made no  apology for these murders.The  security forces have  not shown any accountability.They have acted with impunity in the name  of ‘democracy’ and ‘national sovereignty’.

    It is great to return home.

    However, Sri Lanka as a nation has not ended its own political exile even after  wining the separatist war. Unless Sri Lanka  resolves its critical issue of ethnic inclusiveness, she will be in political exile. There will be a day, the masses of this country will drag her out of  this and make us a proud nation where all ethnic communities will enjoy democracy and fre

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    29 Comments

    1. Aachcharya

      January 2, 2012 • 2:55 pm

      “Whether we would like it or not as long as the West pursues the war crime allegations against the state, Rajapaksa’s popularity is bound to increase, solidifying the support that President Rajapaksa already enjoys. This popularity is also the main obstacle for the possibility of ethnic inclusiveness”. – How does one promote ethnic inclusiveness without talking about the past (which Dayapala also recognises as important) ? So do we forget the past for the sake of ethnic inclusiveness? Can we build ethnic inclusivity on such falsehood?

      “As long as the TNA continues to apply pressure through India and West to gain a political solution to the issue of the democratic rights of the Tamils ,it will be seen as political interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and thus a largely a counter productive effort”. – This has been said many a time before. Dayapala can do better by suggesting ways by which we could locally apply pressure. What would he suggest the Tamils do to convince the Sinhala Budhdhist polity that their grievances are genuine and demands legitimate? Where does one start? Can Dayapala please suggest a programme of action, please?

      Reply

    • Dayapala Thiranagama

      January 3, 2012 • 2:48 pm

      Aachcharya

      The past is very important.I agree with you that it is not possible to build ethnic inclusiveness on falsehood or without talking about the past. But in politics you need to make a serious look at the options available.There are two options in my view:

      Option 1: Taking up the accountability issue now and go with the West pursuing the war crime allegations.

      Option 2:Negotiating with the government and get the international support for this.

      There is no third option or a middle path here as that would lead to a collision course. Option 1 will also lead to the same result.You cannot afford to go for this after a massive military defeat.There is no local active mass movement to give you the support necessary for such an action.The government is politically very stable in the country. In politics you need to learn how to retreat.But I know that the Tamil nationalists will be comfortable with the Option 1 rather than the Option 2.They would consider taking up the Option 2 as national humiliation.Taking up the Option 2 is not falsehood or humiliation but ability to retreat. It also offers some way forward for a resolution.Tamil Diaspora will love to go for the Option 1.

      You are asking me to provide a plan of action.I do not think that you expect me to write a political programme for the TNA.The TNA need to do a lot of home work.Their history is the history of the infamous alliance with the LTTE . Remember, they were very quite when the LTTE assassinated the prominent Tamils including my wife for their dissenting views.They need to apologise these families for keeping quite when the LTTE murdered their family members. They have not done this so far. It is the duty of any civilised political party that is sensitive to human feelings and sufferings. Unless they make verifiable reforms and changes to their political line and ideology,there is a question of trust and I do not trust them. It is not possible to say whether they have given up their separatist political views or will become victims of another armed movement in the future. They will have to show that they have given up the ideology and politics of the LTTE. I do not think that they have done enough to convince this.Tamil nationalism will have rethink about their political tactics and strategy.

      It is the duty of the Sinhalese progressive forces to work with the

      Sinhalese to convince them about the plight of the Tamil community and their democratic rights.Parties like TNA should facilitate this process even taking up the issues of democratic rights of the Sinhalese.Their politics has contributed to isolate themselves from the Sinhalese polity and they lost their political credibility when they became the proxy of the LTTE. I would like to remind here that the Southern progressive forces had worked hard for decades to convince the Sinhalese polity that Tamil demands were legitimate but the when the LTTE started killing innocent civilians the whole thing collapsed and they could not continue with this work. The TNA have to work hard to get out of the ultra- nationalist politics and offer us some hopes. It is going to be a long and difficult and painful process.

      I do not know who you are but I appreciate your comments.It is also important that one recognises the painful sentiments expressed in this article if one cannot condemns the senseless killings by the LTTE.

      Reply

    • kadphises

      January 3, 2012 • 7:51 pm

      Aacharya,

      The TNA will do itself a favour if it could come out in the open and state what principles of Tamil Nationalism (if ever) they are prepared to compromise on. Are they prepared to settle for anything short of Fiscal, Police and Land powers for Tamils within a merged North and East within their British defined borders?

      We know the problems with Sinhalese nationalism. But can the TNA distance itself from the Tamil equivalent that demands a state with four times as much land per capita as they are prepared to yield to the Sinhalese?

      Accountablility is good. It would be nice to see the back of the Rajapakses. But in the absence of any credible opposition, or an inspirational leadership contender, have you considered the implications of trying to get them over to the Hague with threats and sanctions so they can be locked away for good?

      Reply

    2. Thrishantha

      January 2, 2012 • 4:11 pm

      Rajini and Dayapala’s story and their determined struggle is perhaps the most well documented human experience in the conflict (No more tears sister, the broken Palmyra, etc.). If one reads “Buddhism betrayed” along with their personal story, one can see that it is very dangerous to misunderstand what an anagarika life means. In fact, in my first meditation retreat at Amaravathi monastery, I was a bit scared to see two White clad two Anagarikas sitting on either side of the meditation master monk. I thought they would start the retreat by asking “Who in this assembly says Sinhalaya, marakkalaya, thambiya, hambaya, demala, sudda, kalla are equal? Those who say yes, leave please!”. But to my amazement, they fostered the opposite by saying “Sakkayaditti (personality view) is the first fetter we have to get rid of” in the process of entering the stream. The whole goal of Buddhism was made very clear – to see that everything is transient and thus there is nothing to cling onto as a source of unconditioned happiness. Perhaps, it is time to request the Guardians of Buddhism in Sri Lanka to build or renovate monasteries for people to truly practice Buddhism than wasting time inculcating insecurity and capitalizing on those sentiments to do their tribalistic politics. The result of the hard work of these tribalistic anagarikas over the last few decades is to make sure that Buddhism is confined to Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, whereas it has been open to any ethnic background elsewhere.

      Reply

      • wijayapala

        January 3, 2012 • 2:08 am

        Dear Thrishantha

        “I thought they would start the retreat by asking “Who in this assembly says Sinhalaya, marakkalaya, thambiya, hambaya, demala, sudda, kalla are equal? Those who say yes, leave please!””

        What made you think that?

        Reply

      • Thrishantha

        January 3, 2012 • 2:16 pm

        Memory of another anagarika in Sri Lanka.

    3. R.M. B Senanayake

      January 2, 2012 • 4:26 pm

      I am afraid the cause of the Tamils will never meet the sympathy of the Sinhalese. The Sinhalese are steeped in the myth that this country belongs only to Sinhala Buddhists. This stems from the mythical belief that this is the country of the Buddha and it is this myth that Buddhist monks uphold. It is similar to the view among the Jews that the land of Israel will be restored to them by God and that God will protect them. This myth will first have to be disproved in history before the Tamils can get justice and fairplay. The question is whether this myth will be disproved by the esablishment of a Tamil Eelaam or some other historical forces such as a civil war among the Sinhaese where democracy will triumph through bloodshed.

      Reply

      • yapa

        January 2, 2012 • 10:21 pm

        Sinhalese are a wonderfully progressive set of people. They always write against their own wrongs. They always support Tamil ideology more than than Tamils. They never were partial towards their ethnic community. They are self critical. They are not patient of their own wrongs (especially against Tamils). They vigilantly identify and vehemently oppose unjustifiable moves by them against Tamils.

        I think R.M. B Senanayake is one such Sinhalese among many. We hail such Sinhalese.

        Thanks!

        Reply

      • Ravi Seneviratne

        January 3, 2012 • 2:46 pm

        Certainly, I agree with you.

      • wijayapala

        January 3, 2012 • 2:05 am

        Dear RMB,

        “The Sinhalese are steeped in the myth that this country belongs only to Sinhala Buddhists. This stems from the mythical belief that this is the country of the Buddha and it is this myth that Buddhist monks uphold.”

        Could you tell us another country in South Asia where Buddhism is practiced to a significant degree?

        Also, as a Christian could you share with us the role of the European colonial missionaries in suppressing Buddhism in Sri Lanka and thus creating a xenophobic mindset among the monks?

        Reply

      • anbu

        January 3, 2012 • 8:33 am

        wijeyapala

        Could you tell us another country in South Asia where Buddhism is practiced to a significant degree?

        BHUTAN- it ethnically cleansed its Hindu population recently so it can be a pure Buddhist state.

        Thats at one tip of SOuth Asian and Sri lanka at another tip

      • Jaliya

        January 3, 2012 • 10:21 am

        welcome home brother ………….

      • MAH

        January 3, 2012 • 11:51 am

        Well said! I have yet to hear any positive statements from any Tamil religious leader about coming together. They are afraid of the TNA?

      • kusum

        January 3, 2012 • 3:53 pm

        ”Could you tell us another country in South Asia where Buddhism is practiced to a significant degree?”::::

        http://www.lakbimanews.lk/portal/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1057:llrc-on-its-final-lap&catid=40:news&Itemid=64

        LLRC on its final lap, 3 April 2011:

        The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) members met the Chief Incumbents of the Malwathu and Asgiri Chapters last week to seek guidance before preparing the final report scheduled to be presented by May 15.

        http://religionviolenceandpeace.blogspot.com/2010/10/buddhism-excuse-of-nationalism-and.html

        Buddhism: an Excuse of Nationalism and Justifier of Violence in the Case of Sri Lanka, Dachuan Zhu

        Buddha’s Savage Peace, September 2009, ROBERT D. KAPLAN: ‘’President Rajapaksa came to Kandy a few days later, on May 23, to receive the blessings of the chief Buddhist monks at the Temple of the Tooth for winning the war. He expressed no apologies or remorse for the victims of the war, and he promised the monks, “Our motherland will never be divided [again].” He told them that there were only two types of Sri Lankans, those who love the motherland and those who don’t. Because he conceives of the motherland as primarily Buddhist, his words carried too little magnanimity’’ – http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/buddha-8217-s-savage-peace/7620/

        Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology: Implications for Politics and Conflict resolution in Sri Lanka, East-West Centre Policy Studies 40, Neil De Votta(2007): ‘’International human rights monitors must be stationed in Sri Lanka to ensure minorities are protected’’.

        ‘’ Chandra R. de Silva implies that Buddhist monastic opposition to a non-unitary state has contributed to the conflict. He appreciates the reasons for this, but pleads for a system of monastic education that would expose monks to other religions and cultures. …. one of the most complex and intractable conflicts in the world’’, Dr Elizabeth Harris(Liverpool Hope University), Review(2007) of Buddhism, Conflict and Violence in Modern Sri Lanka(2006)

        Belief, Ethnicity, and Nationalism By David Little(1995), Senior Scholar, Special Initiative on Religion, Ethics, and Human Rights , United States Institute of Peace:

        ‘’What is most menacing about the type of religious and ethnic nationalism that has appeared in Sri Lanka is precisely its more or less systematic incompatibility with the right of non-discrimination. The eminent Sri Lankan historian, K.M. de Silva has pointed out that the Sinhala Buddhist revivalists had no time for such norms.”

        CEYLON : A DIVIDED NATION, B H Farmer(1963):

        ‘’…Since those saddening days of 1958 Ceylon has had its share of trouble…..The truth, though unpalatable may be to some, is simply that nobody unacceptable to the present Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism has any chance of constitutional power in contemporary Ceylon.”

  4. cyril

    January 2, 2012 • 6:04 pm

    It was the Indian pressure, or rather intervention which brought about the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord under which the 13th Amendment was promulgated as a solution to Tamil separatist demand. The 13th amendment is yet to be fully implemented. The apartheid system in South Africa broke down partly because of anti-apartheid campaign in the West and the consequent political isolation that the apartheid regime suffered within the international community.

    In globalised world where national sovereignties are increasingly being challenged and diasporic community groups could play a role in lobbying their hosts in the West and also sustaining and influencing local politics back in home countries it would be not only unrealistic but also suicidal for the TNA just to talk with the GOSL without the active backing of India and the West.

    For example, the LLRC would not have come about if not for the continued pressure brought about by the combined effort of the human rights lobby in the West. This is the ‘effective reality’ at the global level which the Sri Lankan State has to come to terms with and the people, particularly the Sinhala rural masses will have to comprehend in aspiring to identify with universal values and norms

    Reply

  5. Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam

    January 3, 2012 • 2:43 am

    Mr. Dayapala Thiranagama,

    Thank you for sharing your sorrow and your concerns. Rajini’s father was my mathematics teacher in 1950. I met him again in 1994 at Jaffna College and expressed my sympathies for his loss. It is only in 1994 that I read Rajini’s writings and listened to her friends at the Univ of Jaffna about her work and fearless protest against all those who abused other people’s rights.

    In this day and age, Sri Lanka nor any other country can say that no other countries should interfere in its domestic affairs. A country that violates HR and political rights of its ethnic groups, for whatever reasons, cannot hide behind the cloak of sovereignty and democracy.

    The late Shri Rajagopalachchari, the First Governor General of India, had stated that: “Most private wrongs are done within family walls, and most public wrongs within the borders of States. If world opinion is to consider state frontiers sacrosanct then there will be no chance for world progress as a whole; tyranny would have received a world charter.’

    (From SJV Chelvanayagam, “Meomorandum from the Tamils of Ceylon to all delegates attending the 20th Commonwealth Conference in Sri Lanka, 1st September 1974.”)

    Reply

    6. Ken

      January 3, 2012 • 5:44 am

      Dayapala Thiranagama ,

      Wishing you a successful new year for you and your kids.

      Yes. Rajini acca would be happy to read this article..

      … Unless Sri Lanka resolves its critical issue of ethnic inclusiveness, she will be in political exile. There will be a day, the masses of this country will drag her out of this and make us a proud nation where all ethnic communities will enjoy democracy and freedom.

      Thanks for the valuable piece…Dayapala Iya..

      Reply

      • raj

        January 3, 2012 • 8:02 am

        What is ‘ethnic inclusiveness’ that is not there. What do the ‘tamils’ not have and others have. Please tell us.

        Reply

      • DessertFox

        January 3, 2012 • 12:41 pm

        the purpose of ‘ethnic inclusiveness’ is to ensure that the members of a minority enjoy the same civic rights as members of the majority; above all that they are secure in their cultural reproduction on terms that are equal to those of majority and, at the same time, that they have equal access to the ‘material’ and ‘symbolic’ goods of the state….

      • Burning_Issue

        January 3, 2012 • 2:54 pm

        Please read the LLRC recommendations. It is really pathetic that one asks such questions even after a body that was set up by MR published the minority issues in Sri Lanka. I would question whether the LLRC has gone far enough on this issue. E.g. Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinism has not been touched!

      • Ward

        January 3, 2012 • 5:20 pm

        ”What is ‘ethnic inclusiveness’ that is not there. What do the ‘tamils’ not have and others have.”

        Please ask the President and the Prime Minister:

        1. “If I make any devolutionary concessions to the Tamils, 13A Plus, Minus, Divided or Subtracted, it will be curtains for me.” The government’s parliamentary group met the evening before the esteemed visitors arrived and decided; ‘’Let’s tell them the truth straight from the shoulder and upfront; let’s tell them. if we do it we are dead meat” – Sri Lanka: Indian Delegates go Home Empty Handed, Kumar David, 15 June 2011 – http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers46/paper4558.html

        2. http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2009/3/41098_space.html

        If not satisfied:

        3. http://groundviews.org/2009/02/08/rajapaksrized-chauvinism-in-flowery-prose-sri-lankan-diplomat%E2%80%99s-outright-humiliation-of-sri-lankan-tamils/

        Ethirveerasingam: I like to share conversations I had with Lalith Athulathmudali and Ranil Wickremasinghe 12 years later.

        On Feb 4th 1985,…. Finally I asked him why not his party with more than two-thirds of majority in parliament propose a federal constitution. He said that SLFP will oppose it. I said