Date : 2005-10-13
“Right now, it is the Tamils who are mainly getting killed by the Tamil Tigers. It is easy for me to say, "Good, go after your bloody Tamils and keep killing your own people.", but I will not. I am saddened by the whole brutal skullduggery and terrorism by the Tamil Tigers, who target the Tamils, their own flesh and blood. That is sick, ” Asoka Weerasinghe from Canada writes.
He underlines in a letter written to “Asian Tribune” that the Jaffna man and woman are now begun to realize that this is not what they bargained for in the Eelam campaign
The Editor
Asian Tribune
Sir:
When Makenthiran tries to classify opposing Tamil terrorists and the armed forces as good guys and bad guys, then he begins to loose it and it becomes a mugs shell game. A wanton war forced by the Tamil Tigers with no rules and little pity is turning the Sri Lankan world, bit by bit, into a free fire-zone.
Makenthiran thinks that " the Tamil Tigers carried out some daring attacks against the army and police and the Sinhalese began to fear and respect them.
The young Tamils are a new breed of angry and fearless youth." No kidding!
Isn't Makenthiran angry at these youth who have started killing his own people, extorted cash and jewellery, kidnapped Tsunami orphaned Tamil children and trained them as cyanide-necklace suicide bombers, and shot and killed Tamils if they do not agree with their demands.
Right now, it is the Tamils who are mainly getting killed by the Tamil Tigers. It is easy for me to say, "Good, go after your bloody Tamils and keep killing your own people.", but I will not. I am saddened by the whole brutal skullduggery and terrorism by the Tamil Tigers, who target the Tamils, their own flesh and blood. That is sick. The Jaffna man and woman are now begun to realize that this is not what they bargained for in the Eelam campaign.
It is a pity that Makenthiran decided to leave Ceylon in 1972, after the first three ethnic riots in which Tamils, according to him got the brunt of it. Who knows, in retro, if he had stayed back he could have been one of the many Tamil millionaires in Colombo, living in harmony with the Sinhalese and owning a house in Wellawatte, a posh suburb in the capital Colombo, where 85 per cent of the land is owned by the Tamils.
The question is, can I as a Sinhalese own one-square-inch of land in the Jaffna peninsula? No way hozey! That is where the Thesvalamai Law kicks in. So for Makenthiran who is sobbing that he as a minority Tamil has been discriminated by the majority Sinhalese and yet, can buy one-square-inch of land anywhere in the island - north to south, and east to west, but I as a Sinhalese is barred to buy even one-square-inch of land in the northern Jaffna peninsula. What is going on? That is a reality check for all your readers, especially the non-Sri Lankans. They can be judge and jury on the Tamil complaints.
The majority Sinhalese have discriminated the minority Tamils he complaints. What nonsense! It is interesting for your reading panel of judges and jurists to figure this one out, and ask the simple question, what the heck are these Tamils weeping about?
It is interesting to note that colonial favoritism towards the Tamils carried on to the post-independence years. Schools in the Jaffna (North) Educational district, which the Tamils claim to be their 'homeland’, were well supported and qualitatively superior in comparison with the situation elsewhere in the island. Even in 1981, 33 years after independence, and two years prior to the 1983 riots, the Jaffna Educational District had 555 Government Schools for a student population of 207,524, whereas the capital Colombo in the west had 251 such schools for 231,690 students. In 1981, the Sri Lankan Tamils enjoyed a literacy rate of 88.3%, compared to 86.5% for the majority Sinhalese. Makenthiran, what the heck are you weeping about? Makenthiran cut it out and wean yourself out of your unconvincing complaints.
The privileged position of the Jaffna Educational District schools was evident from school facilities and amenities such as approved science laboratories. They were available in 41% of Jaffna schools compared to the all island average of 19.6%. With these statistics, the minority Tamils who complain about discrimination by the Sinhalese should hang their heads in shame. One wonders why the heck these Tamils are fighting for. Are they insane? Give me a break Makenthiran. Now you know why I call you Tamils who came to Canada after the 1983 incident as a bunch of 'economic refugees' and not 'convention refugees', when you were indeed the 'privileged minority' and I from the 'wrong majority’.
It is amazing that Makenthiran says that the Dollar and Kent Farm massacres by the Tamil Tigers were tit -for-tat retaliation. Ouch! That hurts!! This is what 28 year old D.H.Somapala, who survived the attack on Dollar Farm in November 30th, 1984, said.
"At about 5.30 a.m. on the morning of Friday 30th November 1984, about 100 terrorists, some of them dressed in army uniforms and others wearing ordinary shorts and longs and shirts and a few of them even wearing sarongs and banians, circled our entire farm from various sides and began firing at us and also throwing bombs at some of the huts in which we were living. A few of us were able to escape by running into the jungle and I was one of those who survived. When inside the jungle I hid myself and tried to see what was happening.
Within a few minutes the terrorists rounded up all the civilians who wee unable to escape and herded them into one circle. Thereupon they threatened them with their sub-machine guns and asked them to lie down and while some of the terrorists held guns at the heads of the civilians who had laid down, other terrorists quickly began to tie the hands and legs of each civilian. Then they started jumping on the bodies on the ground and kicking them with their feet. Some terrorists even urinated on these live bodies on the ground. When all the civilians’ legs and hands were tied, the terrorists made them stay on the ground with their faces downwards, next to each other. Once this was done, at one given signal they kept guns at the head of each of the civilians who lay on the ground with their legs and hands tied and shot them through their heads and necks. When I saw them commence firing I fled and could see nothing more".'privileged minority' and I from the 'wrong majority’ If Makenthiran's unholy reasoning for this brutal killing was a tit-for-tat response by the Tamil Tigers, then don't whine with your arms stretched out to the world seeking pity about the killings of Tamils by the armed forces, as if the Tamils are the victims. The armed forces will shoot in defence and to bring law and order in this unsavory and unnecessary war.
Makenthiran questions why the Sinhalese did not go to Bangladesh or to Buddhist Burma after the 1983 riots. That is simple. The Sinhalese did not believe that they were persecuted or in danger from the minority Tamils, thus wanting to sneak out of the country and land themselves in foreign lands claiming to be refugees like the Tamils. And the only common denominator between the Burmese and the Sinhalese is that both groups are Buddhists compared to the Sri Lankan Tamils and Tamil Nadu Tamils. The Sri Lankan Tamils are immigrants from Tamil Nadu, both groups have a common culture, both speak the same language, eat the same spicy foods, and go down on their knees in front of the same idols Ganesh and Paththini, and the Sri Lankan Tamils consider India as their 'Mother India.' And the only commonality between the Bangladeshis and the Sinhalese from Sri Lanka is that both countries now play Test cricket, and nothing else.
Makenthiran complaints under his breath about the Indian Tamils being sent back to India. Here are the facts. The British planters imported cheap and amenable indentured labor from Southern India to work in coffee and tea plantations. With the emergence of popular politics in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) after the First World War, a controversy developed as to whether these people were bona fide Ceylonese, or whether they were mere birds of passage looking towards India as their motherland.
Before Independence, all residents of Ceylon, India and Pakistan were British subjects. Citizenship of these states after Independence adopted a new status determined by new laws enacted for the purpose.
It was acknowledged that each country had the right and duty to prescribe the qualifications for citizenship after Independence. The Indians in Ceylon had only a limited franchise even under the British rule.
After Independence in 1948, the Ceylon (Citizenship) Act of 1949, and the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Act of 1949 were enacted. It was against this scenario that the then Prime Ministers D.S. Senanayake of Ceylon and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru of India met to solve the citizenship problems of these Indian indentured laborers. And during the latter years, India did acknowledge that these Indian indentured laborers were indeed Indian and penned the agreement to have them back and languish in their favored, rightful Motherland - India. There was no discrimination. So what's the complaint?
Makenthiran's complaint that the police and army have very few Tamils is a mischievous observation. If the Tamil are refusing to join the police force, then I will not blame them, as the Tamil Tigers have a habit of bumping them off.
The first killings of Tamil policemen happened in the 70s. Police Constable Karunanidi was executed by the Tamil Tigers at Maviddhapuram on Valentines Day in February 1977. On May 18th 1977 two constables bearing the name Shanmuganathan were shot dead at Innuvil by Tiger terrorists who approached them on bicycles. On April 7th, 1978, Inspector Bastianpillai, and Sub-Inspector Perampalam were gunned down near Murunkan. Do I blame the Tamils not wanting to recruit themselves into the Government Police Force in droves? I understand their predicament.
As I said earlier, Makenthiran's indictment against Sri Lanka has no honest substance to be based on. Forget it Makenthiran. You seem to be intelligent, so don't let emotions get hold of you and reduce yourself to be an irrational and a silly person!. Asoka Weerasinghe
- Asian Tribune -
(A Letter that appeared on www.asiatribune.com)
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