TNA Manifesto: A Trojan horse

Monday, 9 September 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By a Special Correspondent Perusing the manifesto of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), it should become clear to anyone that it is not drafted to canvass for votes but to project an (obvious) win for TNA in the Northern Provincial Council as the ‘yes’ vote for a ‘referendum’ for a neo separate state. It contains many inaccuracies, half-truths and distortions which is the hallmark of the Tamil separatist campaign since the 1960s. It also contains several targets with regard to devolution beyond the 13th Amendment. There is no doubt that this manifesto is carefully drafted by the Tamil separatist lobby to be used as a ‘referendum question’ for the consumption of the Western world after the NPC election. Many moderates and educated Tamils have left the north. The remaining are the folk that are trying to re-establish their meagre lives. They are not going to read the TNA manifesto to decide on whom to vote for. All would agree that the people in the Northern Province will vote on ethnic lines and TNA will win. Why then would TNA or their backers, the Tamil separatist lobby, put out a manifesto of such nature? The events in 1956 (Sinhala Only Act), 1974 (standardisation of university admission), 1977 (anti-Tamil riots) 1983 (Black July), 2001 (Ceasefire Agreement), 2009 (Nandikadal) did not create the so-called ‘Tamil issue’. These events that happened due to miscalculations, falling in to traps of the separatists , or due to Sinhala chauvinism and are only used by the Tamil separatists to ‘justify’ their cause. Kurds and Tamils are two ethnicities with large populations in the world without their own country. Tamil separatism did not start in 1976, nor did it end in May 2009. The Tamil separatists commenced their separatist activities to create a Tamil country as far back as the 1920s even before Muhammad Ali Jinnah started his campaign for a separate Muslim country (Pakistan). It will end only on the day if and when the Eelam is established and not before. Unless the history and the current workings of the Tamil separatism are comprehended our actions and omissions will end up helping the separatist. Many of the present day generation are not aware of the history of the ‘conflict’. For their benefit and also to justify my opinion that the TNA manifesto has very dangerous ulterior motives, I like to give a very brief description of the history and the current status of the Tamil separatist movement. Beginning of Tamil separatism Erode Venkata Ramasamy (17 September 1879-24 December 1973) was the author and the mentor of the separate Tamil state or self determination. His justification for separatism was the ill-treatment the low cast and poor received in the hands of Brahmins. Ramasamy was like Ghandi and believed in non-violence. Ramasamy started the Self Respect Movement. According to Wikipedia ‘The Self Respect Movement’ was described from the beginning as “dedicated to the goal of giving non-Brahmins a sense of pride based on their Dravidian past”. However the people who worked with him and followed him had different ideas. The Justice Party Ramasamy founded in 1938 was the predecessor to the Dravidar Kazhagam and later ADMK, etc. Please read en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periyar_E._V._Ramasamy Subsequently this movement developed into a separatist movement attempting to get the Dravidanadu when the British granted independence to India and Sri Lanka. They wanted the southern parts of India and northern parts of Sri Lanka to be demarcated as a Tamil country. According to Wikipedia, initially, the demand of Dravida Nadu proponents was limited to Tamil-speaking region. Some of the proponents also included parts of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Orissa, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Other names for the proposed sovereign state included ‘South India,’ ‘Deccan Federation’ and ‘Dakshinapath’. The British, who gave in to separation of India and creating West and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), did not create a Tamil country. The separatists however continued its struggle to get separation from India. This made late Indian Prime Minister Nehru use the Indo-China war in 1961 to amend the Indian Constitution to make separatism impossible in India. This together with the behaviour of (RAW and) India with regard to Pakistan that managed to separate made the separatists shift focus to Sri Lanka. Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka To understand the thinking behind the TNA manifesto, one should also understand the various models used by the Tamil separatists to get their separate state using discrimination and many other cries. The first method the separatists used was to take over the running of the country. They succeeded in donning many influential positions. Tamil separatists did many underhand things in Sri Lanka apart from what was visible such as acts of LTTE and others. Especially under British rule the Survey Department had many separatist surveyors. In the maps that they drew Tamil names were given to the non-Tamil villages and tanks in the north and east. When the hitherto un-surveyed areas were surveyed a ‘gama’ became ‘gramam’ and ‘wewa’ became ‘kulam’. Similarly dubious marking of university entrance exams and subsequently in AL answer scripts ensured the other communities were cheated in getting university admissions. When the Colombo, Peradeniya and Jaffna were campuses of the then University of Ceylon, the Jaffna campus ‘produced’ disproportionately large number of first class degree holders compared to its counterparts. This was done to cheat the other communities on the overseas scholarships and also to cheat other communities on getting State jobs. After failing to obtain a separate state from the British, they were motivated by the creation of Israel. Therefore the work of the Tamil separatists that were limited to India and Sri Lanka gradually started to expand to the other parts of the world. Models used by the Tamil separatists Until the 1990s the Tamil separatists were depending on two models. They were: 1. The method used to create Cyprus and Bangladesh. In 1971 the Greeks invaded turkey and separated a part with Greek majority and created Cyprus. Also in 1971 India assisted the creation of Bangladesh during their war with Pakistan. Similar to Cyprus and Bangladesh the separatists worked on India to invade Sri Lanka and separate the country. Although the RAW wanted to destabilise Sri Lanka they did not and do not want to create a Tamil country due to the risk of attempts to annex Tamil Nadu. 2. The method used to create Israel. Creating a large diaspora in the western world for financing and also influencing the decision makers is part of the modus operandi in creation of Israel. The influence part is to happen not only in accumulating voting strengths but also getting the second and third generations in to the decision making bodies and influential places. July 1983 was the method used to create the separatist Tamil diaspora. July 1983 that (staged or) took place when the IGP of Sri Lanka was Tamil and four out of five Deputy IGPs were Tamils. The fact that during a time there was no CNNs, to Al Jazeeras in Sri Lanka and the television cameras were limited to one with SLRC that was started a year before (1982) and another with ITN (1979), the footage of July 1983 burning houses reached the Western news outlets overnight defies logic. July 1983 benefitted the separatists due to the start of large-scale diaspora and Western countries opened the flood gates for refugees. In fact the massacre of almost 150 Buddhist monks in Aranthalawa or bombing the sacred Sri Maha Bodhiya not creating a ‘backlash’ is the proof that July 1983 is a creation of some group that wanted to create a diaspora. Thanks to the divisions in the non-separatists in the country after 1956 each one accusing the other for political benefit has given the ‘authorship’ of July 1983 to Sinhalese. Please read on the subjects of ‘Zionism’ and creation of Israel, to see the similarities the Tamil separatists (and LTTE) adopted to reach their goals. Subsequent models In the last two decades the Tamil separatists has pursued several models that were proved successful in creating new countries. Kosovo Model: Occasional rifts between the Tamils and Sinhalese have been made used by the separatists to show that there are ethnic tensions between the Sinhalese and Tamils. When it was evident to the separatists that the LTTE was losing ground in the 2009 the cry for international intervention hiding the fact that it was LTTE that was using the innocent Tamils as a human shield, could be described as an attempt to get US and Western governments involved and to get separation on Kosovo Method. Please read on the creation of Kosovo at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo). East Timor Model: Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1975 to prevent a communist state at their boarder. To liberate East Timor. After Suharto a UN sponsored referendum was held in 1999 and based on which East Timor became an independent nation in 2002. The so called ‘Tamil homeland’ claim is to make parallels to East Timor to show that the Sri Lankan Army is occupying their homeland. Southern Sudan Model: This is probably the current model used by the Tamil separatists. Any reading about the creation of Southern Sudan will come across many similarities such as Darfur massacre, genocide claims, claims of war crimes, international inquiries, warrants issued by ICC for the arrest of President Omar al- Bashir, subsequently Sudan signing the 2005 Nairobi Comprehensive Peace Agreement led to a referendum in 2011 and subsequent creation of Southern Sudan. Slogans used by separatists Discrimination: Discrimination is rampant in Sri Lanka. Poor are discriminated by the rich. The party in power discriminates the followers of political parties in the Opposition. The English speaking people discriminate the non-English speaking people. The people of upper caste discriminate the ones in the lower castes. State jobs are given to kith and kin and to stooges and not to the deserving. The truth is that discrimination is common to Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, Burghers, Buddhists and Christians alike. Devolution is not going to solve discrimination. The best example is Tamil Nadu. The rich and the powerful play out the poor and the powerless in Tamil Nadu more than in any part of Sri Lanka. Still the separatists want devolution. Vigneswaran was a Judge in the Supreme Court. If there was discrimination, he or the current and former judges, distinguished Tamils in the civil service, etc., would not have come to those positions. This exposes the lie on the discrimination of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The solution for discrimination is handing the power to the people and not to the politicians. The way to handover the power to the people is implementing comprehensive Equal Opportunity legislation (similar to Bill of rights) so that the people of all sections are benefitted.) Ethnic cleansing: The only planned ethnic cleansing happened in the north where armed Tamil groups killed and chased the Sinhalese and Muslims from the north. 1983 was a riot (which is mentioned elsewhere). Anyone who has access to demographic data of Colombo and the other parts of the country will not see any evidence of ethnic cleansing. Genocide: The genocides I can recall are the massive killings of unnamed civilians in the ‘border’ villages by the LTTE. Genocide of Sinhalese farmers and their families at the Dollar and Kent farms and using the pictures of the corpses to convince the Westerners that those were of the victims of genocides by the Sinhalese is another. In 2009 too they tried the ‘genocide’ cry while holding the innocent Tamils as a human shield. Not only they held the innocents as a shield but also got their members in the Western capitals to stage massive demonstrations to force the hand of the Western community to do a Kosovo style intervention. The numbers of casualties now used by LTTE Diaspora and UN are if at all the casualties due to Sri Lankan forces trying to finish the war before the LTTE Diaspora and the sympathising Western governments stopped the war using threats. If the LTTE Diaspora succeeded in their attempts the war would have continued like LTTE has done after many so called ceasefire agreements. Funding methods used by separatists The funding mechanism of the separatists has not ceased after LTTE. This is also a clear proof that the Tamil separatists are still very much on the project of creating Eelam. In the 1960-’70s there were underground groups in United Kingdom that financially and otherwise assisted new Tamil immigrants to UK. The model was that once the immigrants settled themselves with houses and jobs they have to pay back the loans and for the assistance. This was a lucrative but underground business. When the LTTE took over the separatist agenda they also took over this operation and expanded to many continents. Irrespective of the method or arrival, securing a job, etc., the LTTE has to be paid a weekly ransom of US$ 20 or so. As many are aware this was the largest income source of the LTTE sometimes running in to US$ 300 million a year. Although the war is not there the collection of funds has not stopped. The end of war also had many benefits as there is no need to fund the requirement of arms and ammunition and also the money can be collected without the ‘terrorist’ label. These funds that are collected mostly by coercion are used to fund the operations such as ‘Channel 4,’ ‘buying’ favours from ‘human rights’ organisations, funding politicians in India and some in the West, and also ‘recruiting ‘white skinned mouthpieces’. The ability of the separatists to get a one-sided and inaccurate and unsubstantiated Channel 4 documentary to be screened in a UN building alone should prove the financial, political muscle the separatists now possess. Sadly the Sri Lankan government has never attempted to curtail this although many innocent Tamils contribute due to fear rather than identifying with a ‘cause’. Need of separating handing of minority issues and devolution from politics The 1956 selfish Bandaranaike election campaign (a capitalist pretending to be a communist and using chauvinism to come to power) not only divided the Sinhalese and non-separatists to two camps, but also created many slogans to the separatists. It is said SWRD could not read or write Sinhalese although he used Sinhala chauvinism to grab power. The infamous Sinhala Only Act is a famous slogan that survives still in the separatist propaganda. The division on non-separatists to two camps was a great opportunity for the separatists as the party every time when the party in power attempted to do something for the minorities the opposition blocked by trying to get political mileage. Even today as the power of holding the NPC election was in the purview of the ruling party, India managed to twist their arm. If such decisions relating to any minority issues are handled by independent body comprising of reputed people then situations such as 1956 and what happened subsequently could have been avoided. Referendum East Timor and Southern Sudan models were based on referendums. The separatist lobby has been trying a southern Sudan since May 2009 to get Sri Lanka convicted of war crimes and get a referendum probably as a bargaining point, as the demand for referendum may not work out due to the changes in the world politics. The world is gradually returning to the cold war time (Russia and China are becoming economically and militarily powerful) which is evident in the stands taken by the Russia and China in the world issues such as in the case of the Syrian issue. Sri Lanka agreed to hold the NPC elections to ensure that the Commonwealth Conference is held here. If India was genuine they could have insisted in restoration of the 17th Amendment and introduction of equal opportunity laws to ensure the poor and the minorities will not be discriminated. Whatever the benefit we get from the conference the price we had to pay (i.e. NPC election) if not handled will have long term repercussions on the country. It is clear that the separatists are going to use the Northern Provincial council elections as a pseudo referendum in the ever so willing western world who wants to separate Sri Lanka to control India. Therefore it is an urgent requirement that government or the legal community to obtain legal redress and get the so called ‘manifesto’ to be declared illegal. Apart from that to ensure that Sri Lanka is not divided in the future much more has to be done. Although unlikely to be implemented I believe Sri Lanka could avoid the western world supporting the separatists by reforming in the following ways. 1.Restoration of 17th Amendment. 2. Draw up and implement Equal Opportunity legislation similar to that of ones used in the west. 3. Ban political parties based on religions and ethnicity, and reintroduce the first past the post system with additional seats to ensure proportional representation. 4. Establish an independent establishment to handle the ‘ethnic issue’. This will give credibility to the handling of the issue and also prevent the occurrence of forcing the NPC election by India or Sri Lanka leadership accepting conditions that may have long term repercussions such as accepting to hold the NPC election in return for the support of holding the commonwealth conference. 5. Work with foreign governments to arrest the funding for separatists. 6. Document the history of the attempts of the separatists and the history of the ‘conflict’ and educate the public, diplomats, outside world. As the non-separatist community is divided into two camps since 1956, LTTE sympathiser, Ban Ki-moon, Navaneetham Pillay and Western conspiracies will be good slogans for the locals for political mileage. Unless and until we comprehend the issue fully and strategise the future of the nation without any divisions and act with maturity, the country will continue to risk separation.