Ms. Ganga,

Do you see Canadian Parliamentarians speaking French in Parliament? How many address the Majority in French How many actually KNOW and can SPEAK French?????

Yes, you are right in saying that Canada has a 2 Language policy, but lets be real here… English is the majority spoken and thus it is spoken when addressing the Nation as a Whole…

Sri Lanka has a similar 2 Language policy, but this is not enough for you because it is your deep down aversion to Sinhala as the predominant language that makes you come out swinging against the Sri Lankan government. The fact is that the Language issue is only a Political football you kick around to further Tamil Communalism demands.

Also, The very fact that you bring up the Official Language of Sri Lanka being English and somehow saying that it was ok – only further substantiates my point that it is Tamil Communalism’s aversion to Sinhala and ALL things Sinhalese that is the deep rooted problem here. If English (which is an Alien Language forced upon the the people of the Island) was kept in place as the National language you are saying that Tamils would not have a problem with that? Oh Puh-leeaaase! Give me a break!

The fact remains that English cannot be the national Language as it belongs to the British. I’m not against anyone learning English, as it is a extremely useful language to know in the world today. However Tamil and Sinhala are native languages and in the past before unification of the Island the two languages were practiced independent of each other in different areas. However the situation is different, now we are integrated, the Island is unified and Tamils, Sinhalese, and Muslims live all over the place. It is no longer possible to have different areas speak different languages and have smooth flowing and trouble free commerce and social order.

…and by the way….I never white washed Sinhala Communalism,…if you bothered to read my initial post on this topic, I started by saying that it was a well established fact that Sinhala Communalism was the cause of these problems, but you Tamil Nationalists have had a field day covering up Tamil Communalism to portray your history at a Spotless, Faultless one…

Besides the usual language, we have certain issues raised by Mr. Fernando.

Mr. Mano Ganesan or for that matter Mr. Kusal perera and all other like minded ‘Crusaders’ are speaking and making the ‘Tamil Rights issue’ the centre piece of the entire conflict. Yes, it is true. It has valid reason Mr. Fernando which you kind of people chose to ignore and selectively forget. It is because of the very black and white fact that Tamils as community who are at the receiving end. It does not mean that Sinhalese and Muslims do not suffer. But Tamils are greater sufferers in the last 60 year history of Ceylon and Sri Lanka.

There had been Tamil communalist slogans, campaigns and campaigns. It is true. The 50:50 demands do not fall in this. It has a different meaning. Mr. Fernando should study the history. Anyway we agree we agree that there is Tamil communalism. No argument. But on the other hand there had been Tamil leadership which worked for unity and equality within one single country. Sir.Pon.Ramanathan was the senior most ‘Crusader’ in the national congress. What’s more? Even federalism was rejected by Jaffna leadership when it was proposed by Kandyan Sinhala leaders. Later after independence and formation of Federal party when C. Sundaralingam proposed ‘Separation’, non other than FP stalwart A.Amirthalingam called it ‘Suicidal’. So please do not unfairly accuse Tamil leadership in totality and white wash the Sinhala communalist leaders who were armed with ruling power.

This is the new fundamentalist conspiracy in emergence. They accuse LTTE and Tamil militancy for all ills and conveniently begin the political history from 1983. Similarly they now bring various accusations against early Tamil non violent parliamentary leaderships. By blaming both non violent and violent Tamil leadership in totality, they try to ‘bail out’ Sinhala Buddhist leaders and politicians of Ceylon and Sri Lanka. How’s that? This is a new conspiracy. All peace lovers and who oppose war and support political solution based on political power sharing should be aware of this tendency.

We do not say Tamil leaderships old & new and non-violent & violent are saints. They have their parts in the communal politics of pre & post independent Ceylon and Sri Lanka. But the Sinhala politicians hold the larger parts of the communal politics of Sri Lanka. This is simply because Sinhalese politicians are armed with the ruling power.

The government is considering provincial councils. Is it ’solution’? Forget about LTTE and TNA. Even the EPDP and Anandasangaree clan do not accept this as ’solution’. Besides it has taken 20 years since this 13th amendment became law. No wonder, it will take another 50 years or more for the implementations of these provincial councils. We learn from history. We will be fools if we do not learn from the history. We are only fair by going through history. Sinhala politicians have never implemented what they agreed. Sinhala masses are whipped up by the politicians. We have never seen any Sinhala statesmen, resigning from their posts of head of government when they were forced to disown their own agreements with Tamil leaderships. If any of them had done this it would have changed the history of Sri Lanka. It would have had an effect on the Sinhala mindset. We have not seen a Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln within the Sinhala community. Accommodative political tendency towards minorities is prevailing in India all the times. We have never witnessed such tendency within the Sinhala establishment.

You do not have to talk to LTTE or TNA. We had spoken too much. Bring reasonable fair proposals on paper and place it on the table. If they are reasonable Tamil people will defeat LTTE.

If the Hispanics do not claim their language rights in the US, that is their problem. There is clear two language policy in Canada. The language of the majority need not be always the common language. Tamil politicians encouraging Tamils to remain as Tamils is correct under any international law. If not it will be amount to cultural assimilation and racism. Mr. Fernando, please go and study international law.

Mr. Mano Ganesan traveled to LTTE areas searching for peace and political solution during the CFA period. Not only there are many Tamil politicians in current government went to Vanni searching for political solution. It was permissible then. Mr. Fernando should know that his idol minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle too traveled to Batticaloa and met with Mr. Gousalyan and other LTTE leaders. Minister Jeyaraj went there with his family. You can verify this with his wife, the new replacement for minister Jeyaraj in SLFP.

Thank you sir.
Ms. S.Ganga

Kusal Perera.

You know exactly what is going on in the East… Don’t play dumb. You may fool the Deluded Diaspora in Canada, or UK, or wherever who only look for news articles and opinions to compliment their indoctrinated thinking but you don’t fool the rest of us. Try thinking in Real world terms for a change… Do you think the East will just Sprout a Utopian Wonder land of Development overnight? Is that what you think or is that what you know won’t happen but talk as such and then criticize the SL government for not achieving it? After Eighteen odd years under LTTE rule and you are criticizing the developments in the East???? Give me a break, you must be smoking the good stuff! You ask how a government that does not know how to handle an economy? We are at war, you please point out an Economy that has not been strained by war? Please point one out to me…if you can. That’s what Wars do…they cost money and they are detrimental to the economy. You fail to realize this, or worse, you ACTUALLY DO realize this but feign ignorance to engage in condemnation for this current government conducting of the War and its policies of Zero-Tolerance towards Terrorism.

You must be living in your Liberal Fantasy Ideal world… Come back to Earth sir… we miss you!

*** As for Mr. Devinda F’do’s kindergarten argument that a person less than 50 years has no possibility of talking a 60 year history of a country, well, let me not say there are people who talk about Mohandajaro-Harappa civilisation too, who are not that old. ***

My point is that Mano Ganesan does not care about 60 years of discrimination towards Tamils? He claims to be this ‘Great Crusader’ for Tamil Rights but what really is he squawking about? He cries about a microcosm of this entire conflict trying to make it the Centerpiece of the Whole current conflict. I in no way say that Sinhala communalistic politics are without blame. I know the history, but you selectively ignore and deliberately white-wash Tamil Communalistic politics. From before independence there has been a jockeying for power between the two Ethnic groups in order to carve out the best deal for themselves… this was plain to see, but you make it seem like Tamils were just Happy to be Sri Lankans and wanted to be equal…which we all know is not true. Most people never mention GG Ponambalam’s attempt to go 50-50 on the Island. What was that? Fair? Or just Communalist Opportunists at work. Mr. Ganesan always implies that the LTTE is a direct result of Sinhala injustices, so then after 25 years of fighting and several attempts to devolve power to the LTTE, exactly what have they accepted? Nothing. The LTTE only want Eelam or nothing. Once again Mano Ganesan has to be incredibly naïve or incredibly Stupid to believe that there is a Peaceful solution with the LTTE. Now that we finally have a government that won’t tolerate the LTTE’s lies and fake peace attempts we have Ganesan trying his level best to hinder that effort. Mano Ganesan cares nothing for Tamils in general like he would have us believe. If he truly cared about Tamils as a Race then his noise making over a few hundred abducted Tamils (and lets face it these are not Innocent Tamils getting picked off the streets, rather they are those political enemies of the other Tamil groups who would just as sooner do the same to the likes of TMVP or EPDP) but instead he would be making noise against the LTTE for forcing (Tamil) men and women to fight and needlessly die for a goal they will not achieve. Instead what do we see… Prabhakaran’s 50th Birthday DVD with Mano Ganesan talking about Tamil Injustices along with the TNA Jokers and Vaiko, Nedumaran, Karunanidhi, and the other Tamil Nadu Communalist Clowns in full support of the LTTE. How can he claim to be for a united Sri Lanka and then appear on an LTTE video expressing support for them? I wonder what Mr. Ganesan discussed with the LTTE when he met Thamilchelvan and Prabharkaran during the CFA? Was he going there in optimism, that they would hold to the CFA,…? Or did he go there with a wink and a nod to support their ulterior motive? Either way he got played like a Prize Sucker if he thought they were serious about peace with the GoSL. Mano Ganesan pays lip service to a united Sri Lanka, claiming he speaks Sinhala and his brother is married to a Sinhalese woman,..yada yada yada…. But he really does not accept Sinhala as the common language. He openly admits that he encourages Tamils to remain as “Tamil as possible”.

The fact that Sinhala is the Majority language is what irks these communalists so much. But if it were English as the common Language then Tamils would have no problem with it. 20% of the United States of America are Hispanic and Hispanic speaking, yet, you don’t find them lobbying to have the Majority English speaking population learn Spanish too? Should all American Politicians learn Spanish too? A united country need a common language, and face it, the majority are Sinhalese speaking so what is wrong with that? It is not like they tell Tamils not to speak Tamil? Is it not taught in Schools as a Medium? Is it not recognized in the constitution? It is this Communalistic superiority complex that make them resist anything Sinhala. No, Mano Ganesan is not fooling anyone, he like Rauf Hakeem are just using the LTTE as political chess pieces to gain more footing from the current government. It’s the Good-Cop, Bad-Cop routine. He doen’t have the guts to openly speak out against the LTTE, because then he would be living in fear like Anadasangaree and Devananda are doing right now. People are tired of listening to you Comunalists harp on about Past injustices… you people sound like such Broken Records.. Give it a rest, we’ve heard that tired old tune a million times already…. Mano Ganesan should look to the Late Jeyaraj Fernandopulle as an example of how to be a Sri Lankan and a Tamil, and have an appeal with everyone (Sinhalese included) otherwise he is what he is practicing – a communalist with no real position in the future of Sri Lanka. Sooner or later people will stop voting for politicians who enter politics on the basis of their race.

Yes! It was the beginning of state terrorism against non violent Tamils and we are proud of your contribution in the human rights field and your relentless campaign to bring perpetrators to justice.

But when the state itself is the culprit what is the solution.
I fully endorse the stand of ManoGaneshan in the human rights issue and appreciate the services rendered by him and he deserves to be called the leading human rights activist in Sri Lanka

There is nothing wrong in Mano Ganeshan exclusively concentrating on human rights violations in Colombo and the upcountry areas excluding North East.

As for the LTTE violations there is the democratically elected sovereign government of Sri Lanka to look into those violations.

If the Government fails in that respect also then it is a failed state and international intervention is justified..

However I cannot agree on the rest of Mano aneshan’s article.

We always talk about the Sinhala leaders going back on the agreements signed by them and about the non implementation of even constitutional provisions such as 13th and 16th Amendments.

We must understand the context in which these agreements were signed and look at these problems with proper understanding of democracy.

The famous definition of democracy or government as of the people by the people and for the people.-Abraham Lincoln come to my mind..

S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike,Dudly Senanaike and Chandidika were only elected by the people by a majority vote for a limited period of five or six years.

The problem arises when they sign agreements for an unlimited period as if they have a mandate even to make decisions affecting future generations.

Further these agreements were signed under duress and behind the back of the people.

For instance the Dudly- Cheva pact was signed to enable UNP When it did not have majority in Parliament. to assume power

It was a black mail. As in any black mail when the first opportunity arise the victim will repudiate his agreement.

The BC pact of 1957 of 1965, the DC pact,JR-RAJIV’s Indo-Sri Lanka agreement of 1987 and PTOMS of 2005 came under this category.

The moment the blackmailer is not alert the other party will renounce.

The Tamils should understand this dynamics.

Any political package agreed even under international pressure will not last long.

If Tamils could not understand this simple theory, not even god can help then.

In this scenario what is the way out? Let us be realist!

We need not go for tit for tat!

The problem is among us and the solution is also among us.

The 13th and 16th amendments are now universally accatable at least among the majority.

With simple adjustments, it could be made workable.

We need not go on blaming every one other than ourselves for our misfortune and go about with beggar’s wounds!

We can live in Sri Lanka with self respect and dignity and there are still very serious matters regarding democracy, governance and human rights and we have to join and fight this battle ,
but not with arms!.

But it appears that the present regime is bent on remaining in power at any cost. The eastern elections are only a means to this end.
If Pillayan wins, there will be no Rule of Law in the east.
If the government wins, same will happen.
Hence the mindset of “power at any cost” must change. But this is deeply ingrained in the body politic since 1948.
Any suggestions ?

Kusal Perera says several things:
1.He blames DSSenanayake for ” uprooting over 01 million Tamils of Indian origin in 1948″
2. He blames DS for a chauvinistic colonization policy
3.He blames “Sinhala-Buddhist sentiment” for the failure of the Banda-Chelva agreement
4. Kusal Perera thinks that the whole reason why there is a conflict is because “the Southern Sinhala leaders are not prepared to set the pace for such negotiations, acceptable within the Sinhala society”

My answers are as follows, with the issues taken in reverse order:

4. The emergence of of politicians who are statesmen is necessary before “negotiations” can occur. No negotiations are possible with the LTTE which has committed far too many crimes against the Tamils. Instead of pointing fingers at the Sinhala politicians, I as a Tamil prefer to set my own house in order. Among the current Tamil politicians, I feel that Mr. Ananadasangaree, together with Mano Ganeshan and Thondaman Jr. CAN attempt to stand above cheap communalism. They have nothing to loose and everything to gain. Thondaman Jr. has adroitly solved the Sellasamy issue in his own doorstep. If he can show that he can think beyond the up-country Tamils and be fair-minded with the Moslems, up-country Sinhalese, and the other Sri Lankan Tamils, he is young enough to take the lead. Mano Ganesan also has that potential. But they MUST avoid the old confrontational politics of the Karuvakaadu-ITAK Tamils. To his immense credit, Ananadasangaree has already achieved much of that, although he comes from the old stock.
3. The Chelva- Banda agreement could not have happened because the two communties were NOT prepared and nourished to accept such a pact, immediately after the Sinhala-only excess. Distinguished Historians like Dr. Jane Russell (”Communal Politics, 1931-1947, Oxford Scholar), Dr. Michael Roberts (”Tamil Nationalism” article), Prof. Kingsly de Silva have shown how the complex process of communal confrontation in the 1930s led to the rise of Sinhala Jingoism in parallel with Tamil Jingoism which came up partly as a response to the fear of Universal Franchize, and the handing of power to the Majority.
The Tamil leaders of the time looked for a non-minority solution for a minority problem. When the 50-50 demand of GGPonna failed, and when the Soulbury commission gave him a fair hearing and replied him in detail, G. G. Ponnambalam moderated his racist politics and called for “responsible cooperation” with the Senanayake government – he took the right step. The moderate post-Soulbury Ponna’s call for cooperation was rejected by Chelvanayakam in 1948 – at a time when Buddhist Monks were hardly an important political force. Chelvanayakam went FAR beyond the 50-50 formula by asking for two separate nations. Here I add a reply to the comments made by Murugan. The “boat-people” are NOT the Tamils, but the Sinhalese. Vijaya of the Mahavamsa, myth or reality, was a group of boat persons. At that time the Island was (myth or reality) populated by various tribes, Nagas, Yakshas, austrlo-asians, sea-faring Phoenecians, Etrascans, and most certainly south-Indian people who later emerged as Dravidians. But at that time ethnicity as we know it today had not emerged (See Karthigesu Indrapala’s book). THERE IS NO POINT IN ASKING WHO CAME HERE FIRST – that is as irrelevant as the Romans having been in Britain before the Normans. The error of the Sinhala Chauvinist AND the Chelvanayakam click is that (a) the Sinhala Chauvinist denies the ancient origins of the Tamils, and (b) the Chelvanayakam click denied that the Sinhalese had an ancient, long history in the East and the North.
BOTH groups are dead wrong.

WE need to reverse the seeds of hatred sown for many decades (in the 1930s onwards) by the GGPonna-Chelvanayakam click and the SWRDBanda click. This is a slow process of re-integration. Actually, such a reintegration is ocurring in the Colombo suburbs and other urban centers in the south where the Sinhalese and the Tamils are re-learning to co-exist and do business without the communal attacks of the olden days. So I am an optimist.

2.Kusala Perera hurls the accussation of discrimination in colonization against D.S. Senanayake. This accussation was brought up at the Soulbury commission and the research wing of the commission dug up the necessary details which were used by Soulbury to fully reject the accusation. The post-Soulbury colonization, e.g, Galoya etc., was run by a number of distinguished Tamil civil servants led by Mr. Kanagasundaram who was the chairman of the Galoya board,
together with others like Sri Kanthan et al. This question has been discussed in detail by many historians. Michael Roberts (Tamil Nationalism article) and other historians, and geographers totally reject this accusation against Senanayake. When false claims and accusations are hurled by political writers for decades and decades, they get ingrained in the popular psyche, and given the poor ethnic record of the Post-Dudley Sri Lanka government policies since the 1970s, we tend to unfairly use the same Tar Brush against the people who led colonization policy up to 1960.

Would Mr Kusal Perera claim that the American West should have been colonized only on the basis of ethnic ratios that existed in 1840 in the USA, with California, New Mexico, Southern Texas and Arizona mostly Hispanic?

When the railway was built in Ceylon connecting Jaffna and Colombo in 1905, a very large colonization of Colombo by Tamils happened. We need to have that possibility in the future as well. We need FREE migration of able people irrespective of ethnicity. We don’t want restrictions placed on Tamils by limiting them to enclaves proposed by the Colombo-7 Tamils or expatriate Tamils who are never likely to send their kith and kin to Uyilankulam or Puthukudurippu. By contrast, Tamils living in Uliyankulam or Puthukudurippu would like to have the possibility of sending their kith and kin to the south, or settling down in Colombo or Hatton WITHOUT restriction. If we demand ethnic enclaves, the Sinhalese Jingoists will also demand restrictions on us. Then we have no right to cry foul.

1. The 1948 Indian citizenship act was largely drawn by DSSenanayake’s advisors, Vyithialingam et al., even G. G. Ponnambalam, and probably Ivor Jennings who was the constitutional Guru of the period. It defined citizenship for Indo-Pakistani people whose citizenship was not defined, and many western nations hailed it as a very liberal and advanced act – even when compared with what you today have in, say Switzerland or USA for immigrant workers. It provided for citizenship if there had been 7 years of residency. By contrast, the Canadian (Indian) citizenship act of 1952 required that a white official declare that the Native Indian is “civilized”, if he were to get even travel papers, education. medical help and other basics. When the Senanayake citizenship act was challenged in the supreme court (by SJVChelva and his supporters), and then in the Privy Council in London, the learned judges of BOTH courts rejected Chelva’s submission, with very detailed explanations where it was unanimously granted that the Ceylonese government had NOT discriminated against the Indian Tamils either before the act, or by the act. Ponnambalam, Vaithyananthan, and even Natesan supported the act, although Natesan criticized it in his Senate speech in 1948. The 1952 election in Jaffna was fought on the Indian citizenship act and Chelvanayakam and others were rejected by the Tamil voters. So, judicially, and electorally this issue has been settled. Yet the Arasu Kadchchi-Karuavakaadu-Tamil apologists, and also Kusala Perera very unjustly continue to throw this against DSSenanayake. This merely destroys their own credibility.

If we Tamils are to live in Sri Lanka, we have to compete in the economic sphere with the Sinhalese and carve out a distinguished place for us. We had that in the 1950s, and lost much of it because of stupid politics. Instead of developing the North and the East, we tried to separate it AND SPENT MONEY ON ARMING IT AND CONVERTING OUR CHILDREN TO CANNON FODDER.

We can still regain that old eminent position. Money and business in an open-market society transcends the legalistic battles brought into center stage by the Queen’s counsels of Colombo-7 who knew nothing else but confrontation. Remembering that Tamils have been leaders of Business, banking, shipping etc. a new, emergent Tamil leadership has to focus on those assets, covering the whole country and the whole Globe.

1. Devinda Fernando, where ever he is residing, he is not in SL, if not physically, then in mind. What development is there in the East ? Is F’do so naive as to believe all the muck this government is doling out ? How can a government that does not know to handle a market economy develop a country ? Is it by price controlling, money printing and mass scale corruption ?
Sorry, Mr. F’do, the podiens who only know to wield guns, abduct people and kill, will not bring any development to the poor Easterners.

As for Mr. Devinda F’do’s kindergarten argument that a person less than 50 years has no possibility of talking a 60 year history of a country, well, let me not say there are people who talk about Mohandajaro-Harappa civilisation too, who are not that old.

2. As for Rasalingam, he is talking of warped Tamil minds and feels it is the Tamil politicians led by SJV who blundered. He is sadly mistaken. The break up of the ACTC is based not on what DS said but on what he did. DS is responsible in uprooting over 01 million Tamils of Indian origin in 1948 thus allowing for a change in elected representation in favour of Sinhala voters in the Central and Uva provinces. He is responsible for the total change in the demographic pattern in the East, again in favour of Sinhala representation. He is thus a Sinhala communalist before SWRD. And he is also responsible for the bloody mess we are in today.
The 1957 B-C pact does not in any way prove SWRD is a democrat as claimed by Rasalingam and the pact became a cropper not because SJV wanted a “two nation” solution, but as every one knows the SInhala Buddhist sentiment hyped by monks and the opposition UNP was willingly acceded to by SWRD. The same reason made the D-C pact to fall apart. Every attempt to negotiate a political settlement to the conflict, before it became bloody, was stalled in the South and not in the North.
Why this conflict can not be solved is because the Southern Sinhala leaders are not prepared to set the pace for such negotiations, acceptable within the Sinhala society. Even now, the UNP is peddling with Sinhala extremism. The South is without a political alternative. Without a political dialogue. That only justifies the LTTE as the other side of the coin.

Mano Ganeshan must be fair (An open appeal)

-R Jayadevan

In the climate of fear and threats facing Tamil politicians, Western Province People’s Front (WPPF) leader, Mano Ganeshan, plays a difficult role to expose the human rights violations by the government and its agents. His critical comments have been widely published and he has been found to be one of the rare outspoken politicians to stand up and raise issues (though limited) in a public way.

As Tamil, Mano Ganeshan is playing a very difficult role compared to other politicians. His loud cry is widely spoken about in the Tamil community. By expressing his views and knowledge openly, he has put himself in a life threatening situation and there are concerns for the safety of his life due to his stand.

In the polarised politics in Sri Lanka, there is no one who could stand up and be counted for taking a middle ground to criticise all types of violence involving all the involved parties. In this regard, Mano Ganeshan too had positioned himself of being one sided and critical of the government for its fall backs on human rights. The voice that loudly and vociferously criticise the government fails to see the other side of the coin involving the other main antagonist-the LTTE.

Whilst the government as legal body have the major responsibility to uphold good governance, democracy and respect human rights to the utmost. It is imprudent for persons like Mano Ganeshan to maintain silence over the whole scale human rights violations committed by the LTTE. It is not the intention to go into minute details of human rights violations by the LTTE here. These have been widely reported and documented elsewhere.

Every Tamils belonging to the North and East of Sri Lanka (wherever they live) have chapters and verses of their experience of violence for being born as Tamils in Sri Lanka. Their experiences are millions of untold and unpublished stories. The violent conflict that has inflicted the country on a continuous basis since 1983 has produced volumes of pathetic and painful stories. The successive governments since independence must take the responsibility for the causes of the present predicament facing the country and we will be failing if we fail to ignore other contributory factors other than the government for causing the progressive decay.

As far as Tamils are concerned, the LTTE must be made accountable for its conduct towards its own people. The cry from the Tamil leadership about the conduct of the LTTE is not equal and proportionate compared to the outcry against the government. The Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians are very outright when they criticise the government. But they maintain pin drop silence when the very same people are abused by the LTTE. The very same parliamentarians whom call themselves the representatives of the Tamils in the Sri Lankan parliament maintain dumbfounded silence on issues relating to the LTTE. This is the same predicament facing Mano Ganeshan.

Their working routines are limited to criticising the government. They remain determinedly tight lipped to express the facts and views against the LTTE in public. Even when they visit the expatriate Tamils, they will play hide and seek games by avoiding the questioning and concerned Tamils to duck any questions being asked about their compromising and selfish stand.

Mano Ganeshan has rare quality of vociferously and powerfully raising the issues affecting the Tamils with the government unlike the TNA parliamentarians. It is necessary and of utmost importance that Mano Ganeshan takes a middle ground and deal with issues affecting the Tamils in an equal footing.

The stories that we hear about the situation for the people in Vanni and Jaffna are very serious and cannot be soft peddled. These are termed as sacrifices needed for the liberation of our land by some selfish vested interests. Mano Ganeshan must come out of his one sided approach and play the laudatory role as an outspoken critic of the LTTE violation too and pressurise the LTTE to end its gross human rights violations.

Twenty five years of suffering of our people on the visionless separate state agenda has created a monster (LTTE) that needs to be dealt with urgently by the Tamil people. One sided approach of only criticising the government is unhelpful to our people, who are sandwiched between the government forces and the LTTE terror.

What you fail to understand is that Jaffna Tamils feel they have an indisputable claim to Jaffna. And therefore if the whole island is united under one umbrella then the Jaffna Tamils must be treated as equal founders of Ceylon. Meaning Ceylonese nationalism must be a fusion of Tamil and Sinhala cultures. And Tamil language must be respected as equal.

Your analogies incorrectly portray the Tamils as ‘boat people’ who should appreciate the largesse of the Sinhalese for allowing them to live in Sri Lanka.

Nevertheless, Rasalingam you are correct in your analysis of the Tamil politicians stroking communalism to get in power after the Donoughmore Constitution. This is a natural result of democracy. Democratic elections give way to centrifugal politics and communalism. Therefore, the Donoughmore constitutions (universal democracy) is really the core of the problem in terms of building Ceylonese nationalism. Today we see that the entire county has been hijacked by the majority Sinhalese Buddhists who make up 70% of the electorate.

Therefore, if we want Ceylonese nationalism to work there needs to be a one party system similar to Singapore.
I think there actually were some true patriots who realized this when they tried to lead a coup against Sirimavo.

But today, after 25 years of war, I think Ceylonese nationalism is just ‘what could have been’ and not something that will ever happen in the near future.
The current leadership on both sides seems hell-bent on winning the ‘Final War’.