Open letter to Opposition Leader Hon.R.Sampanthan,
Dear Sir,
I thought of writing you this letter because you are always in the news.Internal party dispute between you and the Northern Chief minister is now debated and discussed in the media supportive of you and the Chief minister.Recently concluded local authorities election results have clearly shown there is nothing between you and EPDP leader Douglas Devenanda whom your party and Tamil media supportive of you character assassinated.It has been proved your permanent interests prevail.Your feud with Chief Minister also is not seriously taken by ordinary Tamil people.
Moreover 16 SLFP MPs met you and discussed current political situation with you. On top of that you met the American delegation and complained them about the other members of Good Governance of which you are also a party as members of National Executive council.Tamil people over several years gave you mandate to solve their problems but you are making petitions and complains to the forces which are inimical to Sri Lankan interests.There is no any wonders because your leaderS.J.V.Chelvanayagam fondly known as Ceylon Gandhi sent telegram to Queen Elizabeth not to withdraw the British air force base from Sri Lanka when former Prime Minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranayake in 1956 had demanded the British air force bases be withdrawn from Sri Lanka.
No one would dispute if supporters honour S.J.V.Chelvanayagam as Ceylon Gandhi. But the truth remains the original Gandhi the Mahatma was the face of the Anti colonial movement in India which demanded full freedom from British.Original Ghandi demanded closure of British military bases but the duplicate Gandhi demanded the other way.Policy of venerating imperialist forces still is being fascinated by you without any shame.History of your party is full of contradiction,manipulations and betrayal which the majority of Tamil population failed to grasp.Consistent party (ITAK) line was fanning the communal flames and grabbing the parliamentary seats.Majority of the tamils were not aware of the theme at election meetings and campaign conducted by major national parties UNP and SLFP.The theme was economy ,unemployment , development and so on.However you and your party along with the so called independent Tamil media manipulated and told the Tamil that the national parties fanned communal flames.Tamil people generally believed what was told by your colleagues.To make your memory fresh,in `1970 parliamentary elections SLFP coalition promised to bring rice even from moon.In 1977 parliamentary elections UNP under JRJ promised to distribute 8 KG food stuff on ration basis.
The manner in which Tamil National Alliance led by you untiringly engage in what some media describes” hate speech”(propagate communal felling )is clearly indicating your obsession with parliament seats and ensuring your party winning the seats without any opposition from the national parties United National party, Sri Lanka Freedom party and the newly organized Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and host of other parties. It is not a secret the hate speech syndrome was orchestrated by the Official weekly organ,Suthanthiran of Ilankai Tamil arasu katchi (ITAK)the or Ceylon Federal Party under the stewardship of S.J.V Chelvanayagam.TNA has been the most powerful political alliance in the north and somewhat diminished status in the east.Of course the federal party is the strongest single party in the alliance.Federal party was formed in 1949 as a breakaway faction of All Ceylon Tamil Congress led by G.G.Ponnambalam.Breakaway was attributed to G.G.Ponnambalam decision to join the D.S.Senanayake’s government as a minister and also your party blamed G.G.Ponnambalam for his support to disfranchise(Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 )the upcountry Indian Tamils.
This Act was aimed at weakening the influence of leftist parties among the Indian Tamils. Unchallengeable leader GG was instrumental along with Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake for the disfranchisement of Indian Tamils.Gradually your party ITAK became the political force in north and east of Sri Lanka.I would like to remind you that late M.Thiruchelvam became minister of local government in the 1965 UNP government led by Dudley Senanayake.M.Sivasithamparam of Tamil Congress was given the Deputy speaker position.Now in the present Good governance coalition you became the opposition leader position which is very controversial due to the fact you are part of the National executive council formed by the advocates of the Good governance along with many parties UNP,SLFP,JVP ,JHU SLMC ACMC, Democratic party of Sarath Fonseka .It is not a rocket science to conclude that you are the Government sponsored opposition leader.We all boast Srilanka is a vibrant democracy which have resorted to a stupid precedent by selecting you as the Leader of the opposition. Meanwhile your followers and the so called independent Tamil media never bothered about this aspect of governance and busy disseminating hate speech, (pure communalism) which has been the bread and butter of Tamil media in Sri Lanka notably since Independence.
I am eager to direct some questions at you as the leader of the TNA and the inheritor of the mantle of leadership from the leaders such as S.J.V.Chelvanayagam and late Appapillai Amirthalingam.
(i). Tamil mainstream leadership in the early seventies created the Tamil militant cy and brainwashed and encouraged young innocent Tamil youths to take up arms against the Sri Lankan state. Government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1970s introduced the new University entrance system called standardization aimed at providing higher education opportunities to students from backward areas The main accusation by your party was standardization had been introduced to deprive the Tamil students of higher education. Tamil youths of those years without understanding the pros and cons blindly believed and the rest is history..The experience witnessed in the last three decades proved the benefits achieved by Tamil students from Trinco , your area,Ampara,Batticaloa,Mullaitivu,Kilinochchi and Vavuniya.The achievement of the students from these areas have been excellent.Don't you think the Tamil leadership intentionally misguided the Tamil youths with the long term plan of sustaining the parliamentary seats?
(ii). Tamil leadership boasts of 70 long years of struggle for the rights of the Tamil citizens-Is it true that you have struggled other than retaining the parliamentary seats.Can you deny that the Tamil leadership aligned with UNP and alienated the SLFP and other progressive forces.It was the policy of the Tamil leadership to instigate the Tamil youths to oppose the so called Sinhala government when the SLFP came to power.Can you adduce a correct answer why your party aligned with UNP , part of which , your party shouted, was responsible for 1983 communal riot and the burning of Jaffna Public library. You and your colleagues never made self-inquiry whether it is right to carry out the so called struggle against the Sinhalese governments while you and your team comfortably live in Colombo and visiting north and east only during election times. The 70 years political journey of ITAK and TNA gave you and your group excellent comforts. Have you ever thought of the untold sufferings of the former eelam combatants who had made tremendous sacrifice for their cause they deemed right. They are now nobody, they depend on meagre government assistance and other well-wishers support for survival. Still their plight has also become a scoring point for you at election meetings.
(iii). who is responsible for the three decades of mayhem and agony of the Tamil people in north and east? The so called Tamil freedom fighters were the creation of the Tamil leadership and they believed what the Tamil leaders discoursed to them and the Tamil youth at the beginning of the struggle had faith on you. The Tamil leadership betrayed the Tamil youths, Tamil people and the country. When the LTTE turned against you, you and your colleagues without shame pleaded to the government and the security forces against whom you made lot of noises, protected you in fortified houses in Colombo. You and your party is responsible for the action and atrocities of the so called liberation fighters as you were the creators. Being a professional lawyer I don’t need to remind you about aiding and abetting.
(iv).The other day you were flanked by the SLFP 18 MPs who left the Government and the photographs illustrated how honorably these MPs were interacting with you.Don’t you feel ashamed of your many guided visits to Kilinochchi and sitting before LTTE political commissar as slaves when the LTTE was de facto rulers in the Vanni area?The whole world is aware that that you and your colleagues were impotently watching the sufferings of the entrapped Tamil people in Vanni.
(v). during the last episode of Ealam war at Mullivaikal more than 300,000 Tamil people were protected by the security forces (including some of your MPs).Despite limitation of resources the security forces handled the situation diligently. Thousands of former combatants were rehabilitated and integrated with society. Vast amount of land under the control of the security forces were returned to the owners. Constructive programs were initiated to provide livelihood to the families of former combatants. Of course those programmes are still continuing.
Do you have credible evidence of the civilian deaths other than just repeating thousands? Do you accept that credible evidence is lacking for dispassionate observers seeking truth? Geneva and other forums with the close cooperation of the selfish diaspora groups have become another stage for you betraying the Tamil people for your sole objective of retaining the parliamentary seats.
(vi). Are you not ashamed to use the word Sinhala Buddhist hegemony to attack the Sinhala race and the state? Can you raise your finger and say at least a single Tamil Hindu citizen was converted to Buddhism? Can’t you appreciate the fact that Srilanka in the past centuries were protected by the wise counsel of the Buddhist monks during time of invasion by Indian Kings and European invaders? Why do you and your colleagues paint a wrong picture about Buddhism and Buddhists monks to the innocent Tamil population? How more than a million non-Buddhists cohabit with Buddhists in western and other provinces? I like to remind you that Buddhism associated with tolerance made the cohabitation so peaceful and smooth. Please tell the people what happened to the Sinhalese people lived in Jaffna and have you made any sincere efforts to relocate our Muslim brethren in Jaffna and other places in north who were ethnically cleansed in early nineties?Can you remember the displaced Tamils during the 1983 communal riots having temporarily dispatched in the government ships to Jaffna and other places returned to their original homes in Colombo and suburbs within one year.Returness did not encounter any problems as such other than some minor nature.
(vii). I would like to present you a question many people have been asking-what is the logic behind supporting former successful Army Commander Field Marshall Sarah Fonseka at the 2010 presidential election? You have been showing the face as the protector of Tamils rights and on many forums denounce the regime of former president (though you have good relationship privately with him) for killing thousands of innocent Tamils at Mullivaikal.Field Marshall Sarah Fonseka was the Commander of the Sri Lankan army which totally annihilated the LTTE and brought peace to Srilanka.How come you and your team decided to support the candidature of the leader of the alleged killing force?
(viii). The other day former Minister of Economic development Basil Rajapaksa during an interview with Tamil media in Jaffna told that TNA never extended any support to the Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa to solve problems encountered by the northern people. While you and your party leaders were provided full security along with other parliamentary perks by the Mahinda ‘s Government your party chose not to extend support to the Government of Mahinda.
Before concluding I like to reiterate Sir, You cannot fool the Tamil people forever because they have started to think differently as illustrated by the results of the recent Local authorities’ election. They are ready to vote for national parties even though you label the national parties s Sinhala chauvinist parties. I want to remind that the Tamil speaking people have been living in all 25 districts in Sri Lanka and you may find Hindu temples, Islamic mosques, Tamil medium schools throughout the country. However you and your colleagues try to amplify isolated incidents.In fact the bottom line is both average Sinhalese citizen and UNP/SLFP/SLPP/other parties are not communal and there is no institutional arrangement to harm the ethnic minority people in Sri Lanka.
Sir,
Srilanka, our motherland, has been a unique one and the free education and other welfare measures like free health facilities uplifted and emancipated impoverished citizens irrespective of race and religion. Please abandon your communal politics which would not bring any thing other than misery to Tamil people.
Thank you
Nallur Murugan
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