I feel sorry for Tamils

I feel sorry for Tamils

Guest Column by Nilantha Ilangamuwa

...against my will, my fate,

A throne unsettled, and an infant state,

Bid me defend my realms with all my pow'rs,

And guard with these severities my shores. - The Prince - by Nicolo Machiavelli

It is no secret that after the elimination of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and its leader Velupillei Prabhakaran inclusive of his family members on May 17 -18 at the Nadikandal lagoon of Mullaitive District, the political stalemate has not nor will see the end and the polarised politics of the races of Sri Lankan nation will continue as before. In this article, I do not wish to talk about the Sinhala leadership or its policy towards creating a so-called new Sri Lanka set out in the President’s Mahinda Chinthanaya.

After the arrest of LTTE’s new leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan (KP) by the Interpol with the help of a friendly country, a new dimension is set for the pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora as the arrest of its leader is a major blow for the old guards of the Tamil Tigers in the Tamil Diaspora.

KP is the only man who knew Prabhakaran well and seems in the final months was given the responsibility to control the international network of the LTTE. He attempted to remove the pressure on him by being a wanted person by the Interpol. It is clear KP dug his own grave by being careless in his communications with the outside world post defeat of the LTTE.

Going beyond this issue, we have to now consider what the future is for Tamil people in Sri Lanka from now onwards. There is no doubt the history will tell us the so-called liberators - the Tamil Tigers, too had betrayed the Tamil people in the island. They destroyed the Tamil leaderships with their inward looking gun culture but however they have created a very strong Diaspora base which is better than the Sri Lankan state supportive Diaspora at present. With the end of influence of KP, it is expected Diaspora will go through a rapid change even though it is weaker due to infightings.

Now that the war is almost over, we can see there are no energetic and intellectual based leadership within the Tamil community. It will not be surprising the criminal minded Tamil Tigers will continue to dictate their terms to undermine legitimate rights of the Tamil people to be fought in an orderly and responsible manner.

It is futile talking about the old reasons that influenced the Tamil uprising and fighting for equal rights in the island nation. Sinhala Only Act, standardization to curtail the entry of Tamils to the universities, Sinhala “Sri” letter in vehicle number plates, state sponsored colonization schemes in the Tamil areas, government backed riots against Tamils etc, etc’, are things of the past and these have lost the purpose in the current political contexts.

The Tamils have to move away from these historic tragedies and articulate a new and effective democratic process to fight for their just demands. If they decide to linger on with the past, it will be tragedy for the Tamils and this will only further harm in the long term. Emergence of a genuine Tamil leadership at this given difficult moment is a crying need.

It was a curse on the Tamil people when Tamil Tigers destroyed the very basis of the democratic leadership of Tamil community. On the other side, the opponent paramilitaries are none other than selfish criminals, who did not have the political vision and they are deplorable unscrupulous yes men of the government in politics. They too believed in the power of the guns rather than real interest in the people. So, where are the Tamils now? The Tamils have sunk into the irredeemable decline as a result of their lives has been dictated by the violent cultures for the past thirty years.

It is high time now that Tamil political parties must come together to win over their political rights to prevent Tamil people further becoming victim to the eccentric regime. They should rethink strategies and political ways to take their struggle forward for liberation to further through the democratic processes. After the end of the violent liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, is there are any bargaining power for the Tamil political parties to archive political resolution to the so called “problem” that is embedded in the politics of Sri Lanka for the past 60 years since our independence?

In this context, the present regime has not only won the battle with the Tamil Tigers, they have also taken the power in their hands to dictate the Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. People in the East had new hopes over their future when Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan a/k/a Karuna Amman broke away from the Tamil Tigers along with over 6000 cadres including number of child soldiers. But unfortunately these people have lost all the hopes and opportunities as they have become victims of criminal gangs ruling the East now. Karuna’s stand on Tamil issues has made him a joke among some Sinhalase and Muslims. Even the wider Tamils see him as a selfish and a burden to their society.

According to well respected scholar who came to Colombo recently: ‘the situation seems, there is huge hole in the Tamil politics. I met several people including the so-called leaders of Tamils and unfortunately they don’t have in-depth knowledge on what the Tamil people needing now. All of them are doing their task as petty brokers not as politicians.’

There is no trust in those who call themselves the ‘leaders’ of the Tamil people. Mr. V. Anandasanagaree, a veteran Tamil moderate, has written many letters to the President as he did with V. Prabhakaran. But unfortunately the President will never read or reply to the letters or even take any action to help the TULF leader.

‘After facing many problems you have reached here, you have got a wonderful opportunity to live with your friends and relatives’, the Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda said recently. But can the people win the total peace they want post end of Velupillei Prabhakan when the government is dithering from dealing with the long term cancer of political unwillingness to solve the conflict?

It is clear that the present regime wants to make some symbolic tinkering work with the help of the Tamil quislings to satisfy the people and the international community without the will to deal with the core issues to the crisis. Why these quislings are needed for this regime? It is clear the government will make use of them and when the time comes will kick on their teeth one by one to extend its long term agenda. It is unfortunate that Tamils are in a worse off situation than before and what is stored for them in the future is further subjugation and decay.

(The writer is a journalist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He can be reached at ilangamuwa@gmail.com)

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