Articles of Interest

Conditional and unconditional talks - INTERESTED CITIZEN

These days the newspapers and state media give much publicity to various view points expressed both by the Government party and the Opposition focussed on direct "Conditional" and "Unconditional" talks with the L.T.T.E.! Various reasons are being adduced in support of one or the other giving public the impression that either party is more concerned about political mileage gained rather than finding a speedy or steady solution. True there is no other way of checking the pulse of the nation than by having an opinion-poll on this vital issue!

But the main question is - "Can any party, government or opposition offer to have talks - whether conditional or unconditional - with an organization which has been already officially proscribed by the State.

Recently the papers reported an instance of the arrest of a civilian who had been compelled under death threat to buy some loaves of bread for the L.T.T.E. and civilians had been taken into custody for even renting out premises to suspected L.T.T.E. cadre under the emergency regulations such actions were deemed to be criminal offences. If that be the case, I wonder what the Attorney General's interpretation of any kind of talks with the L.T.T.E., as suggested, could be - the citizens have a right to know. Several other countries have also proscribed the L.T.T.E. on the request of the Sri Lankan Government. What will their attitude be now?

 No talking to LTTE without an agenda - D. H. WIJEWARDENE - Sri Lanka

The leader of the opposition, recently requested the government to hold unconditional talks with the LTTE. Subsequently, he called for an all party conference to discuss certain national issues including the ethnic problem. These events, take us back fifteen years in our history where his uncle, the late President J. R. Jayewardene, sent his brother to hold discussions with the Tamil militants in Thimpu and the all party conference that followed few years later.

As a party to negotiations, the LTTE, became some what serious only when Rajiv Gandhi brought him to the discussion table for the Indo-Lanka pact. There too, Prabakaran had been not very keen, but due to the persuasions of late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi and Mr. M.G. Ramachandran the consent was given when he was flown to India. Immediately on return, Prabakaran had addressed a public meeting in Jaffna and made a military speech in favour of the Eelam. With President Premadasa, the LTTE took a joint patriotic approach to send the IPKF away. They capitalised the anti Indian feelings of the late President. Once the IPKF began to pull out, the negotiations started rolling. The LTTE made sure that our police were limited to their barracks, but their cadres gradually and secretly filled the vacuum created by the IPKF. The LTTE did not show any resistance to our forces until with no warning the Police was asked to surrender. Hundreds of Police personnel who were surrounded, were brutally murdered. The so-called negotiations ended. Few years later President Premadasa who helped them militarily and financially was also murdered.

Didn't they give a similar fate to Mr. Rajiv Gandhi? Didn't they try it with President Kumaratunga? Ever since the abrupt end of "unconditional talks" with the PA, the LTTE is now targeting the President! That is how, finally, the LTTE respond to "talks". It is very clear that there is no basis in talking to them without an agenda. If any one wishes to talk to the LTTE, it should begin where it previously stopped because the LTTE leadership has not changed since its inception, so have their demands. The following are the key issues that have cause the negotiations to break in many occasions. 1. Merger of north and east and call it the Tamil homeland. 2. Authority over land. 3. Police powers. 4. De-colonization of border villages. The LTTE supremo is adamant on these demands and had never agreed to any compromise except in Indo-Lanka Agreement where a merger was to be decided on a referendum and de-colonization was abandoned after much persuasion.

Tigers have rejected the set of proposals put forward by the PA, but the minority parties and the international community have accepted it. This has endorsed the government's war efforts and apparently not much resistance came from the other interested countries. This is very important, since if there is pressure from such nations. Military operation may not be possible. For that matter, if India did not intervene, J.R. Jayewardene's government would have captured Prabakaran. The history of this country would have then be different. The plight of our nation is that every time the ruling party finds some kind of solution, the opposition rejects it. May the wisdom for peace and not the power hunger emerge from our politicians, to get our country out from this plight!

UNP fund raiser in LA - "A SRI LANKAN"

I am certainly no puritan but those pictures of belly-dancers procured to entertain at a Sri Lankan dance in Los Angeles, made me squirm in shame. "Dancing while Rome burns" would have been an appropriate caption to those pictures. The blatant lack of sensitivity on the part of the UNP leaders is appalling, to put it mildly. While our beloved country is torn by the horrors and sadness and misery of war - while thousands of our youth are sacrificing their lives for our country these UNP leaders have shamelessly gone with the begging bowl to collect money for their party - for an election campaign. Adding insult to injury same media storeys of the UNP are trying to justify all this by pointing out that other countries like France, America, England indulge in this sort of entertainment - they do not mention Bangkok, where the sex-act is performed on the stage in full view of an audience. Well, this is Sri Lanka where the doctrine of the Buddha is still practised and our culture and values are different? I wonder how many votes the UNP has lost while collecting funds in this manner for their election campaign!!

Fund raising in L.A. - By Mahathota Abeyratne, Sri Lanka

At a time the country is engaged in a decisive battle with the ruthless terrorists the chief opposition party is engaged in fund raising abroad. They are following the LTTE in raising funds abroad. LTTE do it because no one in Sri Lanka would support the LTTE's cause. The UNP who support the LTTE may be thinking correctly that any local fund raising will fail as they indirectly support the ruthless terrorists.

The colour photographs published by the DN (Oct. 9) show the ways and means of the present day UNP leaders. We have seen this type of pictures during Sir John's regime when he had wine and dine with women and barbecues. The cultured people punished him at that time in Sri Lanka. Today the present UNP leadership also seem to follow him. While leaders enjoy with women and wine abroad the followers here continue uttering filth in the presence of respectable audiences.

When the country is facing a crisis it is not the correct way to act as a responsible party. They do not allow the government to go ahead with important issues with the required 16 votes with them. They oppose every important issue concerning the masses. They do not bring forward any suitable alternative proposals. They follow a "Eating-Drinking" policy disregarding all matters of importance.

Was there a debacle? By Alfred Wickremabahu, Sri Lanka.

It is being grilled into the minds of the people that the military has suffered a debacle in Kilinochchi. The number of troops killed in action have been given and attempts have been made to inflate these figures by the LTTE, its sympathisers and those who want to project what happened in Kilinochchi as a defeat for the incumbent government. (The SLFP and its allies also thought and acted on the same lines when in opposition). How can one call what happened in Kilinochchi a debacle? The reason why I am posing this question is this: no one knows for sure how many LTTEers have died in the attack and what other damges it has suffered in terms of loss of equipment weaponry etc. As a result.

If the side that mounts an attack sufferes a loss that is similar to the one inflicted on the enemy, can that side claim victory over the other. The area captured by the side staking claims to victory may be considered some yardstick. But there again, in a terrorist war what matters is cadres not real estate. (Isn't it the UNP that has told us so?) Could anyone enlighten me on how many LTTEers have been killed in the attack and how the calculations have been done in that respect. If it is the land caputred that matters in determining which side has won, then why isn't Mankulam taken into consideration in reaching a conclusion? And above all, going by that argument, hasn't the state already secured a considerable victory in view of the liberation of the Jaffna peninsula and many other areas where the military dared not tread in the past? I cannot just understand why certain people are making an attempt to portray? What happened in Kilinochchi recently as a debacle for the military. The media too failed to be exception. It too fell for what the LTTE wanted it to believe in respect of Kilinochchi?

Why jump to conclusions before ascertaining the numbers killed and loss of equipment and weaponry ? Shouldn't we restrain ourselves from making such hasty conclusions which are likely to badly affect the morale of our troops? Over to you those who told us about a military debacle in Kilinochchi (including Dr. Nalin de Silva, the staunch supporter of the military).

Be patriotic: stand by the forces - By Carl Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka.

Is it just and fair to say that army takes severe beatings in the North. This is most unpatriotic and anti-national. Gross ingratitude to the thousands of youth who are dying to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty. In a deadly and brutal war like this beatings are taken by both sides. Why this dirty double tongued talk to lower the morale of our brave and valiant youth of the armed forces. We would rather give them full support and unstinted courage. We salute the Defence Minister, Deputy Defence Minister and our heroic and valiant soldiers. They captured Jaffna, the once invulnerable and invincible fortress of terrorists. Now they are hiding in bunkers in the jungles. To play up defeats suffered by the military without giving publicity to their victories smacks of treachery. Support the war like true patriots. Do not support brutle and deadly terrorism. All want peace. Our forces know they joint to die but fight valiantly to restore peace, law and order. Unite and help to achieve victory.

Where have all the values gone?

My Dear Podiakka

Ayubowan, Vanakkam and Assalamu Alaikkum and best wishes for Deepavali. This festival makes the victory of light over darkness but most of us are evidently far from it and groping in a tunnel.

Every part of spirituality - be it Christianity or Buddhism, Hinduism or Islam - is a process of liberation and enlightenment beyond the self or the ego factor. Sri Lanka had a civilisation and culture based on the richness and lofty values of the four great paths of spirituality. Why then are we in a graveyard today and where have all the flowers gone? In the Kilinochchi catastrophe alone the death toll is around 1500 according to figures given in Parliament by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. They joined tens of thousands of youth - the full-blown flower of the nation - who are perishing in this dirty bloody war.

The youth between the ages of 18 and 30 are a bundle of dynamic energy - full of life, creativity and overflowing with potential in different dimensions. Thus the heart and the mind of the nation are being battered while a skeletal body staggers on like a walking corpse. Where are all the young people going. Most of the poorer ones from the village have no option but to go to the battlefield and the graveyard, while the more fortunate or richer youth in urban areas wallow in a false peace of the graveyard. For most people living in cities and suburbs, the war often means only a little more than horror stories in the media - heard today and forgotten tomorrow. We don't feel the pain of the poor families that lose their loved ones in battle and often don't have even the consolation of seeing the body or giving a decent funeral. Largely city-based nationalist or extremist groups - darkened or hardened rather than enlightened by the Kilinochchi calamity - are still insisting on a military solution to the conflict. They whitewash it as a call to wipe out terrorism. But what they are really saying is that more people must be destroyed for the conflict to be solved.

The horror of horrors is that they are making such appeals in the name of a philosophy that respects even the life of an ant. Some time ago, the government warned that conscription would be introduced so that those who insisted on war to settle the conflict would be compelled to send their own children to the front to fight. Indeed that may be an effective solution. Most of these city-based war-mongers from rich or elite families are not personally affected when the sons of poor village families die in the war. But if these advocates of war are compelled to make a personal sacrifice and send their own children to the front then they are likely to relent. On the political front also the country is still deep in darkness though next Monday we have a national holiday to celebrate the festival of light. Instead of some initiative or compromise for a bi-partisan agreement between the two major parties, we see more cheap politics with cheesecakes from a Los Angeles ball and Ônew maths' on casualty figures - a strange process of calculation through which the dead are politically resurrected.

Enlightened men who helped work out the historic peace accord in Northern Ireland insist that popular support is essential if any peace agreement is to be effectively implemented. It is a reality that popular support in Sri Lanka could be achieved only if the two major parties support an agreement. We saw this though in negative form, in 1959, 1966 and again in 1987. One party proposed, the other opposed, thus there was insufficient public support and the agreement fell apart. A parliamentary majority and even a constitutional two-thirds majority may be obtained. But if popular support is not available then the agreement will crumble.We saw this in 1987. The Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement got a five-sixth majority in Parliament but it got nowhere in terms of implementation because popular support was lacking. Some newspaper reports say the government is hoping to get a two-thirds majority in Parliament for the devolution package by getting a group of UNP MPs to cross over.That is not likely to help. For better or for worse, the UNP has a substantial vote bank in the country and it is not likely to substantially change because of any cross-overs.

During the past two months your Daily Noise propaganda sheet appears to be losing even the little impact it had on discerning readers. With page 1 lead headlines that look more like amateurish tailpieces, the once-respected newspaper is behaving like a wild elephant on a hunt for the two-legged breed. The former editor was kicked upstairs because he refused to toe the line of cheap politics. The front page these days is so much like a graveyard that discerning readers prefer to turn to the other side of the section and read the obituary notices. Indeed the values and principles have gone to graveyards.

Yours Sincerely,

Kottha-malli

Cry the beloved island, Prof.  Ernest Ariasigham, USA

I am a 71 year old Sri Lankan with many physical ailments including arthritis which makes walking very painful. But none of these hurt me as much as what my countrymen and women have done for the past fifteen years.

I left Sri Lanka in 1966 with my wife and children because I sensed the dark clouds approaching, but I never thought the dark clouds would remain so long hiding the beauty of this serene and bounteous land. A land lapped by the oceans and kissed by gentle breezes.

Yet the tragedy of it all is that we people of colour, Asian or African never thought about crossing the oceans in search of other lands to conquer and subjugate, to exploit and even humiliate. We left that to the Europeans who gave us colonialism and slavery, two institutions which gave birth to racism as we came to know it. On the contrary we have over the years expended our energies, our money and our ingenuity in destroying each other, unable to share God's bounty equably and with good will. We have destroyed cities and turned our young men and women into killers.

We have forgotten that we people of colour are the heirs to the legacy of three of the greatest statesmen of the twentieth century who by their lives and deeds saved their people even from foreign subjugation, governmental oppression or plain subjugation and humiliation and grinding poverty. I refer to Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. The genius of the three men was that each saw clearly in their struggle that the most potent weapon of the weak in their battle against the mighty is the moral weapon. The gun is always the weapon of the weak.

Gandhi facing the might of the British Empire sat quietly by his spinning wheel preaching a gospel of nonviolence realizing that if the Indian people resorted to violence they would lose the high moral ground they occupied as the oppressed. Very early in his life in S. Africa Gandhi facing the harsh cruelties of a racist S. African government which was essentially a British administration, gave voice to words of wisdom which all minorities, for that matter all people, all government would do well to remember. On one occasion a young Indian in S. Africa protesting the harsh pass laws declared angrily "I will kill the first policeman who lays a hand on my wife." The young Gandhi got up and calmly told the young man "There are causes in this world for which I am prepared to lay down my life, but there is no cause on earth for which I am prepared to kill." I call this the distilled wisdom of the ages. The foresight of a man who saw clearly that his country must come out of this struggle with clean hands and heads upheld in the knowledge that the might of the British Empire had no weapons to fight against a people who held the high moral ground. The killing in India as in Sri Lanka started only after the British left and the Indians finally killed their great apostle of peace. It is said on one occasion during the British rule Gandhi was brought before the court charged with sedition. In a crowded courtroom as the accused was brought in the judge of the Supreme Court rose from his bench in deference to the high moral stature of the accused.

In the end we saw the Union Jack being unfurled at a midnight hour in August 1947 and the Indian Tricolour rise in all its glory, a new nation had been born with hardly a shot being fired. The great lesson to be learned is that the weak are not bereft of weapons to fight the mighty but they are not weapons wrought of iron but weapons that derive power from the human spirit in defense of good against evil.

When I came to the United States in 1970 I already knew a good part of American history, but what I did not realize was how bad race relations had been. I came at the tail end of the civil rights movement when the civil right bill had been passed which made segregation illegal and the voting rights bill gave the black people the right to vote without fear of intimidation or violence.

However it is what I saw in documentaries and read in books about what actually happened for 200 years to black people I was amazed at how they ever overcame the extreme deprivation and humiliation that slavery and racism brings. The cruelties of slavery are well documented and as one reads through history one wonders whether like Lady Macbeth there will ever be water enough to wash the stain of slavery which America inherited. After slavery was abolished racism flourished. Black men were lynched for so much as looking at a white woman and the final act of lynching was to cut the genitals of the man hanging from the tree as though those genitals were a threat to the white race. Black had to sit in the back of the bus and use separate toilets in public rest rooms.

Then came the day when a poor seamstress Rosa Parks boarded a bust in Montgomery. Alabama and since the bus was empty took the first seat available. As the buse filled with white people the driver asked her to move to the back. She sat stubbornly weary and tired of years of humiliation. The driver summoned the police and she was arrested and taken to jail for violating the laws of segregation of Montgomery, Alabama. Word spread rapidly and the black community decided to take a stand and boycott the buses. But who would lead them? They knew the white establishment would destroy and black leaders and brand them as agitators and communists.

It is then that the black community turned to a relatively unknown young preacher Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and he reluctantly agreed. A meeting was called in one of the churches and poor black people flocked in large numbers. Looking at the documentary of what happened the night portrayed so vividly in the series "Eye on the Prize" I realized that once again God had given the moral weapon into the hands of the weak to smite the mighty. Martin Luther King's first words to the crowded church were "Our cause is just." Then he went on to say "if we are wrong the Constitution of the United States is wrong, if we are wrong the Supreme Court of the United States is wrong, if we are wrong God Almighty is wrong." With those few simple words he placed the whole civil rights movement on such a high moral plane and challenged anybody to prove him wrong.

More importantly he opened the door to well meaning white people to join him in a crusade of righteousness and many did. Some even paid with their lives. Well meaning Americans sitting in the comfort of their living rooms saw on television a battle of evil against good. Saw their country exposed to the world with all its warts and it was not a pleasant sight. Without raising the barrel of a gun even though some blacks were itching to do so Martin Luther King led his people to the "promised land" even though he himself did not get there. But before he died the world paid him homage by conferring on him the highest accolade with the Nobel prize for peace. America owes this great apostle of non-violence a great debt because as he himself once said "America should rise up and hold these truths as self evident that all men are created equal." He challenged America to live up to its creed recited each day by school children "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

Liberty and justice for all is a moral concept not easily killed by guns. When Nelson Mandela finally walked out of his prison in Robyn Island saints in heaven and on earth metaphorically held his hand as he walked out unbroken and proud.

For fifty years the racist regime in S. Africa had crushed the human spirit by implementing the laws of apartheid. When the British left S. Africa they left 90% of its people without the right to vote. The British therefore are as much culpable as the Afrikaners in the subjugation and humiliation of blacks, Asians and people of mixed origin in S. Africa.

But as Nelson Mandela was sitting in jail and the years rolled by, 27 in all, he knew that his people poor and despised as they were held the high moral ground while the government of S. Africa was slowly sinking into the morass of political and social infamy. They were expelled from the United Nations and the Olympic games. No nation would even play cricket with them. They were forced to carry their badge of shame and many of them did so gladly, quite oblivious of the terrible fate that would befall their children if sanity did not prevail.

Alan Paton that great S. Africa wrote a novel of the travails and fears of both black and white S. Africa and gave as its title "Cry, the beloved country." Fortunately well meaning S. Africa leaders such as DeKlerk realized their nation will perish in rivers of blood and released Mandela and gave the black people their birthright, the right to vote. Today Mandela stands tall almost of mythical proportions. This son of a chief held his high moral ground and led his people to the promised land. It is one of the great ironies of history that when the British finally granted independence to the people of Ceylon, they took the high moral Prince of Peace the Buddha? Will well meaning Sinhalese and Tamils finally say enough is enough? Will this blessed land return to its great glory? Will there ever be peace makers among Sinhalese and Tamils who can truly be called sons and daughters of God?

I lay awake at nights for an answer, before this aching body of mine is turned into dust or will I die lamenting like Alan Paton "Cry the beloved country?"

A 1000 years of Peace, T. D. L. Wijenayake, Sri Lanka

The Family Health Director, Dr. Mrs. Himanthi de Silva has stated that in Sri Lanka 60 per cent of the married couples use some form of birth control (DN 2.9.98). One would like to know whether family planning has been a blessing or a curse as far as this country is concerned.

Any government would prefer a static population as that will eliminate the need to provide additional expenditure year after year on food, or engage in an intensive food production campaign to feed a growing population. As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, family planning has brought about disastrous results. A greater population than the present estimated 18 million would have resulted in more Sinhalese being present in the North-East which the LTTE would never have succeeded in driving away, nor would the idea of an Eelam have ever arisen. Who can gainsay this?

Even in the up-country, where the Sinhalese once held sway, the situation has deteriorated, and Mr. Thondaman is now demanding a separate unit of devolution for the up-country Tamils. Even now it is not too late to abandon family planning, and concentrate on cultivating every inch of arable land. When I came to Battaramulla over 30 years ago there were large extents of land under paddy cultivation. A farmer of the area told me that the 'asvenna' (harvest) from those fields was enough to feed the entire population of Battaramulla. All that was abandoned by the previous government. Why not cultivate every inch of land, and free the population from control? It will result in a greater presence of the Sinhalese in the North-East, and ensure peace for a thousand years to come.

The only alternative by Nalin de Silva

The non-national forces including the western Christian powers, the NGO’s, and the Tamil racists are busy trying to promote the presidential candidate that they have picked. This means that the government from now onwards will have to fight for survival. If not for the executive presidency, by now the government would have been toppled by these forces. It is only a matter of the Tamil racist parties voting against the government in the parliament.

The LSSP, as a party is very much interested in the survival of the government, unlike Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara and probably a few others who would like to present a bill before the parliament to abolish the executive presidency. Mr. Nanayakkara who is more interested in showmanship knows that he would not succeed and thus could become a ‘hero’ in the eyes of some ‘leftists’ while at the same time retaining his parliamentary seat. The LSSP, the oldest political party in the country not only wants the government to last the full term but also wants the G. L. - Neelan draft constitution to replace the JRJ constitution. They have now forgotten the Colvin R. de Silva unitary constitution and would support the idea of a Federal constitution whole-heartedly.

It appears that the LSSP can think of only one alternative. In their ‘Marxist’ wisdom they have called upon the two main ‘capitalist’ parties in the country to unite in order to solve what they would like to call the national question. Of course, they have a heap of arguments to support their ‘bid to build PA- UNP peace bridge’ as "The Sunday Island" of September 27 put it. Some can come out with the old classical theories on completing the programme of the ‘capitalist revolution’ which includes the national question while some others may resort to various post modernistic re-readings of Marxism. However, in the process they would have discarded Trotsky and his theory of permanent revolution on skipping the bourgeois revolution and the theories of uneven development in the capitalist world.

The trouble with the Marxists and most of the western sociologists including the post modernists is that they want us to adopt the theories created in the west while the west itself does not have much regard for them. There have been intellectuals in the west who were not happy with the state of affairs in their countries. Some of them have criticised their societies and have come out with remedies. Despite these criticisms and remedies presented in the form of theories the western world has carried on regardless. Eventually most of these theories find admirers in the non-western world, including Eastern Europe, and they try to implement the remedies, which in the first instance were recommended to the west. I am of the view that these theories are created in the west for exportation to the other countries This is another form of cultural imperialism and the LSSP with all their anti imperial activities is now nothing but an indirect agent of the western Christian powers. The LSSP does what these powers want them to do either consciously or unconsciously. I would not be surprised if the LSSP request the Anglo-Saxon Christian British government to mediate or facilitate or whatever with regard to the Tamil racist problem in Sri Lanka.

The Marxists, neo Marxists and those who re-read Marx are all in the same boat now. They have no revolution to look forward to. The much-adored proletariat is not to be seen. The working class was only a figment of imagination of Marx. No body could provide a working class consciousness to this proletariat. Lukacs realised that the working class consciousness was not defined in Marxism. Lenin tried to introduce this undefined element from outside. What they did not realise was that there was no working class as a class to begin with. This elusive creature failed to materialise in the evolution of capitalism. There were ‘working class leaders’ but unfortunately they had no working class to lead. The working class was only an idealistic concept originated in the head of the ‘materialistic’ Marx.

Without a revolution round the corner the Marxists and the rest have taken up arms against nationalism. In fact throughout, what the Marxists have done is to work against nationalism in the non-western world. This has been the so-called historical role of the Marxists. Marxism in the final analysis is a weapon created in the west to suppress nationalism in the non-western world. In Sri Lanka most of the Marxists, neo Marxists and the never ending re-readers of Marx can be found in the NGO’s funded by the western Christian countries, working against Sinhala nationalism and supporting Tamil racism.

The western Christian countries have a problem. We all know that they are not secular countries. If they are secular then Britain cannot have the present national anthem nor can they have the queen as the head of the Anglican Church. They will have to redesign their national flag; the archbishop of Canterbury will have equal status as the chief incumbent of the London Buddhist Vihara etc. If and when Mr. Charles Windsor is crowned as the next king of England and the rest of Britain and the Northern Ireland we should be able to see the Maha Sangha chanting pirith at the coronation held not in the Westminster Abbey but perhaps in a "neutral" place like the office of "The Independent" newspaper. The coronation will have to be a Sarva Agamika function where dignitaries representing all the religions practised in Britain take part.

As pointed out by Citizen - D in "The Island" of September 28, Norway has similar problems. Since they are not secular states they want some secular states somewhere in order to satisfy their bourgeois ego. Sri Lanka is one such country. They are determined to see that Sri Lanka is not a Sinhala Buddhist country. Recently when Mr. Kotakedeniya the DIG spoke of Sinhala Buddhist archaeological treasures there was a big cry from certain quarters to drop the words Sinhala Buddhist. A meeting was to be held yesterday to discuss the suitability of teaching of the history associated with the king Dutugemunu in schools as some ‘enlightened’ people are of the view that this history is an obstacle to achieve peace in the country. Who is being discriminated in this country by the NGO’s, the newspapers published by these NGO’s, the Tamil racists and their sponsor Christian countries? I am sure that most of the Sinhala Christians understand what is happening and that they have no sympathy with these Christian powers. We distinguish between Christianity and the western Christian culture.

The only alternative for some of the sympathisers of Tamil racism appears to be a joint effort by the PA and the UNP to adopt the G. L. - Neelan draft constitution. They seem to be coming out with the same old hackneyed theory that in order to wean the Tamil people away from the LTTE power has to be devolved to the East and the North. These people ignore the evolution of Tamil racism in this country and forget that the problem is nothing but the refusal by the Tamil racist leaders, under the patronage of the British and the other Christian powers in the west, to recognise the fact that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist country.

When the PA came into power they thought they had the solution to the problem. However when we asked them to define the problem they could not do so. They went on talking of grievances when there were none and continued with their pronouncements even after the Tamil racist leaders themselves declared that they had no grievances but aspirations. The PA first wanted to talk to the LTTE as if the terrorists had been charmed by Ms. Kumaratunga. The PA government like their predecessors learnt a bitter lesson after paying a heavy price.

The G. L. - Neelan package was presented as the panacea for what was described as the ethnic problem and the ministry of justice went into action with a big bang. They told us only by devolving more and more power that the Tamils can be won over from the LTTE. Like a set of schoolboys yelling at cricket matches they asked those who opposed the package "what is the alternative to the package?"

When we told them that there are neither solutions nor alternatives to non -existing problems they did not understand. Now the government finds that they just cannot ignore the Sinhala opinion and find it difficult even to present their so-called solution as a bill to the parliament. Meanwhile the LTTE continues with their killings. The LSSP seems to believe that the LTTE has the support of the Tamils because of the government’s failure to implement the "package".

The LTTE does not need the support of the people to kill. They are a ruthless terrorist organisation. Even if the package is given neither the LTTE nor the other Tamil racist parties will be satisfied. The LTTE has already rejected the package and the others will say "too little too late" and will demand more. Their policy is ‘little now and more later’. If they had grievances then once solutions were found to those they could have stopped their so-called struggle. But they have only an aspiration and that happens to be a separate state, so they will always claim "too little too late".

To those who wanted us to provide alternatives we said there is no ethnic problem and it was only a problem due to Tamil racism created by the British. In the evolution of Tamil racism over a period of more than hundred years a section of the Tamil racists have taken up arms against the state to carve out a separate state. It is the foremost duty of the government to protect the state by defeating the LTTE militarily. It is now abundantly clear that in the context of the recent developments, the survival of the government itself depends on whether it is prepared to take this course of actin. The only alternative as far as the survival of the government is concerned is to defeat the LTTE militarily. It will be able to survive only that way.