BackTHE PROBLEM - 'ETHNIC' OR 'TERRORIST'?
"You speak of oppression of the Tamils. That was your propaganda. It is pointless saying that to me, because I know the facts, and the misinformation methods pursued against our people. Of course, there could have been administrative mistakes, errors of judgement, human failings in a long dependant country struggling to stand on its feet. But oppression or deliberate discrimination, never.The strident claim of a few ambitious persons for special position for the Tamil people within Sri Lanka was born long before the SLFP or even the UNP was founded. It was the same claim that was later advanced to Federalism and Eelam: and many inaccuracies and distortions, including that of our national history, became necessary to propel that political line; and whereas the facts and statistics of national performance will show that the Tamil people in the Country must have always been among the most privileged minorities in the world"
- Mrs Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, the Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in her reply to a letter addressed to her by A.Amirthalingam, the Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front exhorting her not to oppose the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, reported in the 'Island' of 14.8.87
Ex-President Dingiri Banda Wijetunge was a very simple man. His political career was as long as it was unremarkable, until the terrorist bomb that blew his predecessor into several pieces also propelled him to the highest office in the Land. Nobody quoted him or remembered anything he had said, until in the last days of his political career, he expressed a self-evident truth in a few simple and memorable words. He said "there is no ethnic problem in Sri Lanka; there is only a terrorist problem."
Those words proved to be Wijetunge's 'swan song'- for truth is a commodity that is not always welcome in politics. His own party, the United National Party (UNP) was embarrassed by his words and tried to disown them. The main opposition coalition, the Peoples Alliance (PA) was jubilant and castigated, pilloried and crucified Wijetunge labelling him a 'Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinist' for the 'horrific crime' of speaking the truth.
Though both the UNP and the PA are National Parties (as opposed to sectarian or communal) with an overwhelmingly predominant Sinhalese membership, they perceived that with the 'Sinhalese vote' being almost equally divided between them, the gate-way to power lay in 'cornering' the 'minority vote' in general and the 'Tamil vote' in particular. Hence they both saw dividends to be reaped by a sychophantic pandering to the whims of the unabashedly racist Tamil political parties and keeping alive the hoary myth of the existence of an 'ethnic problem' in Sri Lanka which needed a solution by the devolution of power - a myth that was created nurtured and propagated by those racist Tamil Parties.
If there is an ethnic problem in Sri Lanka what precisely is that problem ? Is there ethnic tension, suspicion and hostility between the Sinhalese and the Tamils ? Are the Tamils unable to live in safety and security among the Sinhalese ? Are the Tamils so discriminated against and so deprived of equality with the Sinhalese as to be relegated to the demeaning status of second class citizens ? Are the Tamils disentitled to any rights to which the Sinhalese are entitled because they are Tamils? These are the questions that call for answers in determining the question whether there is in Sri Lanka an 'ethnic problem' in need of a solution.
Can any unbiased observer of the Sri Lankan scene honestly say that there exists in any part of the Country outside those that are in the grip of the claws of the Tiger, ethnic tension between the Sinhalese and the Tamils or among any of the racial groups that inhabit our land ?
While the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) wage a vicious and unrelenting war in the Northern and Eastern Provinces to rob our Country of about 28.7% of Her land surface and about 60% of Her sea coast and territorial waters in order to establish an independent Tamil State in those two Provinces, slaughter and mutilate unarmed and helpless Sinhalese and Muslim villagers including women, children and infants in arms in those Provinces as well as in the Provinces abutting them, and explode bombs in the capital city causing fearsome carnage and destruction, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims live in perfect peace and harmony in the seven Provinces outside the North and the East. They work together in the same offices and worksites; they worship together in the same Temples, Devales and Churches; they shop together at the same market places; they play together in the same playing fields; they eat together at the same restaurants and eating houses; they drink together at the same clubs and bars; they study together at the same schools and universities; and entertain one another in their homes. Sinhalese employ and work under Tamils, while Tamils employ and work under Sinhalese; Sinhalese engage the services of Tamil Professionals, while Tamils engage the services of Sinhalese Professionals; Sinhalese join Trade Unions led by Tamils, while Tamils join Trade Unions led by Sinhalese. Social. Organisations like Lions and Rotary Clubs which have a membership of all racial groups elect, from time to time, both Sinhalese and Tamils as their Presidents.
The same atmosphere of inter communal amity prevailed and continues to prevail even in those parts of the North and East that have been cleansed of the polluting presence of the Tigers by the Armed Forces - one need only spend some time in the towns of Vavuniya or Trincomalee to see it. Where then is the ethnic tension, the fear and the hostility that calls for a solution? Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims etc. are unable to live together in peace and harmony only in those parts of the Country that are controlled by the Tigers. Thus the cause of the absence of peace and harmony in such parts of the Country is not an 'ethnic conflict' but the terrorism of the Tigers. The fact that the Tigers are Tamils does not make the problem any more an 'ethnic problem' than the fact that members of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (J.V.P) were all Sinhalese made the problems caused by the terrorism of the J.V.P an 'ethnic problem'.
Whenever it is pointed out that the allegations of there being an ethnic conflict is baseless because Tamils can and do live in safety and security among and in peace and harmony with the Sinhalese, the Tamil Chauvinists and other advocates of the devolution of power will invariably give in unison, a standard form response in the form of the rhetorical question "Have you forgotten the communal riots of 1983, of 1981, of 1977 and of 1958 when innocent and helpless Tamils were butchered and their houses and property destroyed and looted because they were Tamils ?" Those riots constitute an indelible blot on the escutcheon of the Sri Lankan Nation in general and the Sinhalese Race in particular. They have not been forgotten; they must never be allowed to be forgotten; we must forever remember them, because they show the havoc, the suffering and the misery that can be caused when thugs, criminals and perverts who are found among any nation, race, community or ethnic group are presented by the acts of commission and omission of leaders of People, both those in and those out of power, with the opportunity to take advantage of a situation created by such acts of commission and omission to satisfy their bloodlust and their greed.
The Tamil Chauvinists have consistently utilised these riots as evidence that the Sinhalese are a race that is possessed of such a virulent hatred towards the minorities in general and the Tamils in particular that co-existence with them is an impossibility, and that the creation of an autonomous Tamil State in the Northern and Eastern Provinces is a must. The evidence however, proves otherwise. As even Saumyamoorthy Thondaman, the outspoken leader of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, the major party of the Indian Tamils and an unabashed admirer of the LTTE said in regard to the last and the worst of the communal riots we have had the misfortune to witness, namely, the riots of 1983:-
"There are many people who claim that these disturbances are a further manifestation of the Sinhala uprising against the Tamil. But I do not share the view. The vast majority of the Sinhala people condemn these atrocities on these innocent Tamil people and have shown sympathy and understanding. Many have braved and given shelter in their own homes in spite of intimidations and threats.In those circum- stances, to say that this is a Sinhala uprising against the Tamils is absurd."(1)
The barbarities inflicted on innocent Tamils in those riots are inexcusable by any standard. It is not sought in this book to excuse the inexcusable. At the same time certain facts are conveniently forgotten and never mentioned by the Tamil Chauvinists and their fellow travellers when they wax eloquent about those barbarities. One of them is that those riots were the result of thugs, criminals and perverts taking advantage of situations created largely by the overtly chauvinistic Tamil political leadership which had, from the time of independence and even before, strained every nerve, muscle and fibre of their beings to drive a wedge between the Sinhalese and the Tamils to satisfy their lust for power.
If, as the Tamil chauvinists say, the Sinhalese are a chauvinistic and oppressive majority hell bent on oppressing and unleashing genocidal attacks on the Tamils, how is it that there never have been in independent Sri Lanka any anti Muslim riots akin to the anti Tamil riots of 1983, 1981, 1977 and 1958 unleashed by Sinhalese thugs and hooligans when the Muslims who comprise only about 7% of our population are a far smaller minority than the Tamils? How is it that the Sinhalese voters who constituted the overwhelming majority in constituencies such as Borella, Beruwela, Harispattuwa, Balangoda and Galagedera returned Muslim Members of Parliament by large majorities on the first past the post system ? How is it that the Muslims have never even alleged that they are oppressed by the Sinhalese or relegated to the class of second class citizens ? The answer is to be found in the fact that until the recent emergence of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the Muslim political leadership, never sought to drive a wedge between the Sinhalese and the Muslims or create a situation of which the brutish elements among the Sinhalese or the Muslims could take advantage to satisfy their sadism and their greed, but strove instead to strengthen further the bonds of friendship and brotherhood that already existed between the Sinhalese and the Muslims.
The fact that the overwhelming majority of the Tamils affected by those riots, many of whom had been protected and given refuge from those marauding mobs by unarmed Sinhalese families at grave risk to themselves, realised that these riots did not signify a hatred borne for them by the Sinhalese or the impossibility of co-existence with the Sinhalese was made amply evident by the fact after the riots were over they returned to and re-built their houses with State Assistance and continue to live amongst the Sinhalese in perfect peace and amity. Indeed Tamils in ever increasing numbers continue to purchase more and more real estate and to settle down in areas in and around Colombo where Sinhalese are in the majority. Tamil entrepreneurs who have always shown a marked preference to investing their capital in the Southern part of the Country rather than in the North and East, continue to act as such despite those riots. The same cannot, however, be said of the Sinhalese and Muslims who were brutally attacked and chased out of their houses in those parts of the North and East that are controlled by the Tigers. They languish in refugee camps with no hope of return to their homes until the Tigers are destroyed.
The last and the most virulent of the anti Tamil riots took place thirteen years ago in 1983 in the immediate aftermath of thirteen soldiers on a routine patrol having been foully murdered by the explosion of a land mine in Thinnevely in the Jaffna Peninsula and their remains mutilated by the Tigers. Since then the Tigers have committed and continue to commit the most unspeakable of atrocities upon Sinhalese civilians with a terrible regularity. These include the mass murder of over a hundred Sinhalese villagers at the Dollar and Kent Farms in Mullaitivu in 1984; a like number of Sinhalese worshipping at the Sacred Bo Tree at Anuradhapura in 1985; thirty five pupil Buddhist Monks at Aranthalawa in 1986; About 127 Sinhalese bus travellers at Kituluttuwa in the Anuradhapura District in April 1987; close on two hundred civilians (mainly Sinhalese) by bomb explosions at the Pettah Bus Terminus and at Maradana in 1987; over 600 Sinhalese and Muslim policemen in the Eastern Province who had laid down their arms and surrendered to the Tigers in 1990 while the Tigers were purportedly engaged in 'peace talks' with the Government; President R.Premadasa and a large number of civilians by a bomb explosion at Armour Street Colombo on 'May Day' of 1993; the UNP Presidential Candidate, Gamini Dissanaiake, four UNP Member of Parliament and about a hundred Civilians (mostly Sinhalese) by a bomb explosion at a political meeting at Thotalanga in Colombo in 1994, and over a hundred civilians (mostly Sinhalese) by the recent bomb explosion at the Central Bank. When none of these or any of the other horrendous atrocities committed by the Tigers over the last thirteen years resulted in a single anti Tamil communal riot, it is self-evident that the dark era of anti Tamil communal riots was over more than a decade ago.
Today, those Tamils who have managed to flee the oppression of the Tigers in the areas controlled by them seek refuge among the Sinhalese. Those Tamil political leaders living in areas outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces who are provided with security by the Police and the Armed Forces are given such protection not to secure them from the Sinhalese from whom they have nothing to fear, but from fellow Tamils in the form of Tigers from whom they have everything to fear. None of the Tamil politicians who claim to represent the Tamils and shout themselves hoarse demanding an autonomous Tamil State in the North and East as a solution to what they term the 'ethnic problem' and who are not members of the LTTE dare to set foot for even a fleeting moment in any part of the Country that is controlled by Tamils, namely the Tigers. This was so even while there was a ceasefire during the 'Premadasa Peace-Talks' in 1989 - 90 and during the 'Kumaratunga Peace Talks' in 1994-5. They realised that their safety lay in living among the Sinhalese in areas controlled by a Sinhala dominated Government with the aid of what they contemptuously term the 'Sinhala Army'. What is more, these self-same Tamil Politicians who would have faced certain death at the hands of fellow Tamils had they but sought to live in in the Northern or Eastern Provinces which they allege to be the 'exclusive Homeland' of the Tamils, not only obtained sanctuary among the Sinhalese, but continue to attack the Sinhalese and the Country's security forces who protect them from the safety and security of such sanctuary in the most virulent language and with a mendacity that defies comprehension. They do so in the full and complete knowledge that no Sinhalese would harm them in any way for exercising their freedom of speech, however much the Sinhalese might disagree with them.
A necessary hall-mark of a minority race that is oppressed and relegated to the status of second class citizens is that members of such race should be disentitled to at least some of the rights to which the members of the majority race are entitled by reason of their being members of that minority race; and correspondingly that members of that majority race should be entitled to certain rights to which members of that minority race are not, by reason of their being members of that majority race.
Does such a situation exist in Sri Lanka? Is there a single right to which a Tamil is not entitled by reason of his being a Tamil to which a Sinhalese is entitled by reason of being a Sinhalese ? The answer is clearly 'no'. Though this question has been posed publicly a myriad times nobody who claims that the Tamils are 'second class citizens' fighting for 'liberation' and for equality with the Sinhalese has yet been able to identify even one such right.
The Constitution of 1978 introduced statutory provisions for the guarantee of the fundamental rights of citizens and empowered the Supreme Court to grant relief or redress whenever there was an infringement or an imminent infringement of any of the fundamental rights of a citizen. One such fundamental right is the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of race, caste, creed or ethnicity. Over the last 18 years a multitude of Sinhalese, Tamils and others have had recourse to the Supreme Court for relief or redress in respect of the infringement of a variety of fundamental rights, but to the best of the author's knowledge and belief there has been but one decided case in which a Tamil sought relief alleging discrimination on the ground of race. That case too came about in peculiar circumstances. In about 1991 Ex-President Premadasa introduced a system of 'ethnic quotas' for recruitment to and promotions within the public service in order to allay any fears the minorities may have had regarding discrimination. This resulted in a Tamil who was a candidate for promotion in the Customs Department not getting a promotion because the 'Tamil Ethnic Quota' had already been filled by other Tamils. The aggrieved Tamil petitioned the Supreme Court and was rightly granted relief.
This case was followed by a number of cases in which Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims who had been unsuccessful in gaining employment in the state sector because the respective 'ethnic quotas' relevant to them had been filled instituted action seeking relief from the Supreme Court on the ground that they had been discriminated against on the grounds of race. These cases were were invariably 'settled'.
If, as is repeated ad-nauseam by Tamil Chauvinists, Tamils in Sri Lanka are so oppressed and discriminated against as to be Second Class Citizens one would naturally have expected to have seen a veritable deluge of 'Fundamental Rights Actions' instituted by Tamils before the Supreme Court alleging discrimination on the grounds of race. Yet, in the first 12 to 13 years since the adoption of that Constitution there was not one such case; and even in the years that followed, the only actions instituted by Tamils on the basis of discrimination on the grounds of race related entirely to the implementation of the 'ethnic quota system' in respect of which Sinhalese and Muslims too instituted actions on the identical basis. Thus, even the content of these actions do not reflect wilful discrimination against Tamils because they are Tamils, but only that the implementation of the 'ethnic quota system' (which was devised foolishly but with the best of intentions) resulted, from time to time, in discrimination on the grounds of race against members of all ethnic groups including Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims.
Having been unable to cite any concrete example of the alleged discrimination against Tamils which allegedly relegated them to the status of second class citizens, the Tamils Chauvinists have been reduced to citing the several arrests in Colombo of Tamils as being suspected Tigers as an example of discrimination !!
It is an undeniable fact that the Tigers have infiltrated Colombo with arms and explosives and committed a large number of assassinations of political and other leaders including President Premadasa, Minister Ranjan Wijeratne, Presidential Candidate and Member of Parliament Gamini Dissanaike, leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front A. Amirthalingam M.P, Sam Thambimuthu M.P., of the Eelam Pedople's Revolutionary Front, Oswin Abeygunasekera M.P., G.M.Premachandra M.P. and Gamini Wijesekera M.P.all of the UNP, and Navy Commander Vice Admiral Clancy Fernando and others, as well as acts of sabotage by exploding bombs in crowded city centres and key installations. Several hundred innocent civilians (including a number of Tamils) have been murdered and maimed and several billions of rupees worth of property destroyed by these acts of blatant terrorism. Clearly one necessary means of protecting the Country and the People from such acts of terrorism is to apprehend the Tigers who have inflitrated or are infiltrating the City before they could commit such acts of terrorism.
While all Tamils are indisputably not Tigers all Tigers are equally indisputably Tamils. Thus, the only persons who could be suspected of being Tigers are Tamils. Since no Tiger saboteur comes into Colombo wearing a Tiger uniform or proclaiming that he is a Tiger, the only means of taking the necessary precautionary step of arresting Tigers before they commit any acts of terrorism (in the absence of hard intelligence) is clearly to arrest such Tamils as are found to be in Colombo who have no apparent lawful reason for being there in order to investigate their credentials and connections. Those Tamils who were so arrested and found to be 'clean' have been and continue to be released while the others are kept in detention pending legal proceedings. Many of these arrests resulted in the discovery of large caches of arms and explosives and the consequent prevention of an inestimable amount of carnage and destruction. It would be recalled that during the insurrection of the Sinhalese Youth of the JVP thousands of Sinhalese Youth were similarly arrested as being suspected J.V.Pers and detained for investigation. No Tamils were so arrested during that period because while all Sinhalese were not JVPers all JVPers were Sinhalese. The one significant difference between the Tamil and the Sinhalese youth who were so arrested and detained at different times for similar reasons lies in the fact that while thousands of Sinhalese Youth so arrested were summarily murdered and their bodies cremated on pyres of tyres, no similar fate befell the Tamils. There were a small number of Tamils so arrested who were summarily murdered and whose bodies were found floating on the Bolgoda Lake. These murders unlike those of the Sinhalese Youth were, however, promptly investigated upon the bodies being found, and the suspects - some members of the elite Special Task Force, are now in custody.
Nobody of any community categorized these arrests and murders of Sinhalese Youth as acts of discrimination against the Sinhalese. How then can it be alleged that such arrests of Tamils constitute acts of discrimination against the Tamils ?
If there is indeed an ethnic problem in Sri Lanka and the Tamils are oppressed and discriminated against, no reasonably articulate Tamil could fail to state in clear specific and unambiguous language, the grievances of the Tamils that are peculiar to them. The following extract from an interview given by Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam M.P. of the Tamil United Liberation Front published on page 4 of the 'Sunday Leader' of the 25th February 1996 is most revealing.
"Q.What are the grievances of the Tamil people which the government's political package intends to address ?
A. The proposals with regard to the devolution of power must be read with other provisions in the proposed constitution with regard to language and the protection of fundamental rights. When the proposals of August 3, 1995 were announced it was clearly pointed out that these proposals were linked to a new vision of Sri Lanka as a plural and multi ethnic society and one in which all communities can live in safety and security. It also envisages the social order in which human dignity is valued and equality of treatment accepted as a norm of public life. The proposals are therefore intended to ensure that all communities participate fully in the life of the nation in such a manner so that the regions and the community which inhabit them becomes constructive partners in a stable and pluralistc democracy. A similar redefinition of the Sri Lankan polity to address the grievances of the minority was also articulated by Mr. Gamini Dissanayake in his 'Vision for the 21st Century'. This was the manifesto which he presented at the last Presidential elections. Therefore the grievances of different ethnic communities with regard to the quest for equality, the protection of their distinct identities and for the removal of the imbalances in the distribution of power between ethnic groups are sought to be addressed in these proposals."
Dr Tiruchelvam is an erudite and articulate lawyer with a doctorate from Harvard University. One may safely presume that he could not have obtained a doctorate from that august seat of learning if he did not possess a thorough knowledge of the English Language and an ability to articulate his thoughts and his views with the utmost clarity and precision in that language. Why then did Dr. Tiruchelvam indulge in a mass of meaningless verbiage in lieu of giving a clear, precise and unambiguous answer to that simple question ? The only credible explanation that can be given for Dr. Tiruchelvam's circumlocutuous evasion is that he himself realised that while Tamils in common with their Sinhalese, Muslim, Malay and Burgher bretheren do have manifold grievances which need redress, there are no grievances that the Tamils have by reason of the fact of being Tamils.
These are but some of the matters that go to prove the truth of ex President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga's statement that there is no ethnic problem in Sri Lanka but only a terrorist problem.
The 'Package' has been formulated as a solution to the 'ethnic problem'. There being no 'ethnic problem' in Sri Lanka, the 'Package' is thus a purported solution to a non-existent problem.