Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Have Muslim Fundamentalists in Sri Lanka found the right time to make their move?

Muslim fundamentalism in Sri Lanka is not a new phenomenon. It days back to 1980's with Muslim politicians including powerful ministers of the government in power of the day being accused of supporting it.  This was quite prevalent in the eastern districts of the country with Wahhabism being the most prominent faction.  However, with the total elimination of the LTTE there had been less talk about this.   

But some of the recent developments that happened in the country prove that the Muslim fundamentalism remained only in dormant stage and there are clear signs of its ugly head re- emerging. As I discussed in my previous post, the attack by Muslims to the some police stations in the East and the navy camp in Kinnya, hacking to death of an innocent police sergeant, Navarthna Bandara in broad daylight in Putttalm are clear indications of what its real intention is.  The unprecedented violent manner in which the attacks were carried out against the security establishment resulting in its personnel being killed, unusually higher number of such high handed actions reported in Muslim dominated areas, the sheer number involved in the attacks and the subsequent provocative protests made with some nasty actions strongly suggest that the Muslim fundamentalism is behind the whole episode.

As one of our fellow bloggers in Kottu, Sinhala Buddhist rightly points out there is a strong evidence to suggest that their intention is to create "No-go Zones" through fear psychosis in the Muslim dominated areas.  Non-Muslims and the security personals are barred from entering the areas on account of the fear psychosis created and subsequently use the areas as launching pads against the rest of the country. These No-go-zones or exclusive Muslim areas are turned into prime breeding grounds (Recruitment Bases) for recruiting the fundamentalist to carry out Jihad. This has been tested in some European countries including in the UK with London, Paris and Amsterdam being the prime targets. And the areas selected were extremely vital economically. As far as Sri Lanka is concerned these incidents were mostly perpetrated in the coastal areas where the arms smuggling and other illegal activities can be carried out.               

Giving his views to the Sunday's Lankadeepa on 21st August a well respected serving army officer who was among the higher government officials and the politicians in Kinniya Divisional Secretariat Office over the attack carried out against the Kinniys navy camp mentions that the Muslim extremism is behind the incident. The army officer says that he clearly heard the crowd shouting the word 'Taliban' while protesting. He goes on to say that he felt disgusted by the nasty manner in which the Mullas behaved and treated high personalities belonging to their own community who came to the scene to resolve the problem. He says that he was able to get the first hand experience how the Muslim fundamentalists generally behave.  

The current nasty witch hunt being in operation against Sri Lanka in the international arena over alleged 'War Crimes' makes it extremely difficult to Sri Lankan government and its security establishment to effectively act against unruly elements disestablishing the country especially when those elements are minorities. Literally Sri Lankan governments hands are tied and made it disabled to act against those who are hell bent to disestablish the country. So this is the perfect moment that the Muslim Fundamentalists have been waiting for ages.

PS: The police sergeant Navrathna Bandara was hacked to death in cold blood while he was begging for his life. His wife is a 09 months old pregnant. He begged his attackers to give him a chance considering his unborn child. But the Muslim fundamentals had no mercy in their hearts as sergeant Navarathna Bandara was a Sinhalese. 

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A glaring feature of the whole Grease Yaka episode: an alarming degree of violence unleashed against the police and security forces in the East.

One o f the notable features of the Grease Yaka episode has been the spate of violence associated with it resulting in death of a few persons and injuring scores of people of whom the majority being the police and security forces personals.  Considerable amount of damages to the properties was also caused including the vehicles belonging to police and security forces. This may be perhaps the first time in Sri Lanka similar incident caused such an unprecedented scale of violence.

Anyone who followed the whole episode would not fail to notice the fact that there has been an alarming degree of violence directed against the Police and the Security Forces in the Eastern part of the country in the areas exclusively dominated by Muslims. While the police stations in Samanthurai, Kaththankudi, Addalachchenai and Potuvil were attacked in Kinniya it was the navy camp that was at the receiving end. Almost all the cases it was very clear that attackers took the law into their hands. They demanded the alleged Grease Yakas and the attackers to the police stations and armed forces camps who were taken into custody by the police are released. They finally succeeded in getting released all of them. While in other parts of the country in which Grease Yaka incidents were reported there had been a considerable amount of cooperation by the public with the police and the security forces personnel there had been extreme level of animosity against the latter in the East by a particular community.

What does this new phenomenon indicate? Is it a mere coincidence?  Or Is the law applied in the areas dominated by Muslims in the East different from the other parts of the country? Or is it a warning against security forces and the police? Or is it an indication of a turbulent outcome in store? The authorities must immediately act to see what the real reason behind this new phenomenon is. Whatever reasons behind it, the government must take every measure to nip it in the bud. History repeats itself if we do not learn lessons from it!

PS: Meanwhile the Navy had alleged the attackers' real intension was to getting rid of the navy camp from Kinniya
  

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Tamil Nadu Jokers!

Anyone who is not a regular viewer who happens to tune in a local Tamil TV Channel in Sri Lanka would think that the whole Tamil Nadu is a bunch of jokers. Such is the amount of crap shown on local TV channels taken from Tamil Nadu. These craps include films, mega Tele dramas, joke scenes etc, etc. But judging its politicians' behavior one would tend to think that what's shown on TV channels is indeed a true reflection of Tamil Nadu.    

Take for instance of its Chief Minister herself (She is also a film star from the Tamil screen). There is hardly a day passes that she does not spit venom against Sri Lankan government supposedly concerned by the suffering of her Tamil 'brethren' in Sri Lanka. But these outbursts have turned out to be just empty rhetoric as there has so far never been any genuine effort made to alleviate the alleged suffering of her 'brethren' here.  Why can't this former actress volunteer to build at least a few houses for the IDPs, If she is so genuine in her feelings for her 'brethren'? Instead, the only means of livelihoods of her 'brethren' is mercilessly denied by allowing Tamil Nadu fishermen to poach in Sri Lankan waters. She may not be unaware of the fact that her beloved 'brethren' here got the opportunity to engage in their only livelihood after gap of thirty years.

Another biggest joke scene in display is the demand for an Indian economic embargo against Sri Lanka. I think the former Tamil Nadu actress and her cohorts don't have a brain even in the size of peanuts to understand that the trade ties between India and Sri Lanka is hugely in favor of India. What Sri Lanka is getting is mere peanuts. The sheer scale of automobile export to Sri Lanka from India itself speaks it volumes. Every road in Sri Lanka is full of Indian vehicles, you name it!-Three Wheelers, Buses, Lories, trucks, mortar bikes, scooters, tractors, cars etc, etc. The newest addition has been the Nano- cars. Sri Lanka has literally become India's scrap yard. And it is the state of Tamil Nadu that claims to have been the biggest automobile manufacturer among other states of India. So don't these jokers have brains to understand who would affect in the event of cutting the trades ties between the two countries?    

The biggest joker of all is the poor Eelam looser Vaiko! (For some strange reason he is apparently not from Tamil cinema. Is he also Tamil Film actor? I don't know). Just the other day this fool was left with egg on his face suggesting the idea of economic embargoes to Man Mohan Singh. Singh is not a fool like Viko.  One of the most ridicules things I heard coming out from a  mouth of an Indian lately is that this nit wit Viko's suggestion to Sing that Sri Lanka Navy was getting support from China to attack Tamil Nadu fishermen. Thanks to these jokers' horribly lost Eelam project Sri Lankan armed forces became one of the most formidable counter terrorism forces in the world. Sri Lanka navy is unique in this sense. So suggesting SL Navy getting support from China to attack an unarmed bunch of civilians in boats is well enough to understand what a nit wit this Eelam looser is!

The latest news is that the Buddhist pilgrims from Sri Lanka who were in Chennai have been harassed by the Eelam looser's goons.  The pilgrims have been asked to remove their cloths which had Sinhala letters and the cloths have been burnt. What a heroic deed indeed by the brave soldiers of the Sun God!  
    

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The need of erasing the fabricated Tamil history from the minds of Tamil people in Sri Lanka as Europe did to rid the Nazi ideology from its societies at the end of WW-11

Dr. Susantha Gunathilake in an insightful article published in yesterday's Daily Mirror highlights the need of stringent measures that should to be taken to erase the fictional Tamil History and 'Homeland theory' implanted in minds of Tamil people in Sri Lanka, which has been created in order to meet the political aspirations of Vellala Tamil elite from Jaffna.  Brainwashed and poisoned for years by this fabricated history Tamils in Sri Lanka are reluctant to shed the false concept of mono ethnic exclusively Tamil enclave in Sri Lanka. This idea is well reflected by the results of the recently concluded Local Government Election which gave the LTTE's proxy, TNA a victory in the majority of the local government bodies despite the fact that the unprecedented development efforts taken by the government in the "Northern Province giving its the highest rate of growth in the country with infrastructure reconstruction on a massive scale". The fiercely conceived fabricated history in the minds of the people makes it's easy to Tamil racist elements here and abroad to exploit them to furtherance their political aspirations. Dr. Gunathilke eloquently points out how the authorities took stupendous measures to erase the fascist Nazi ideology implanted in the minds of the people at the conclusion of the World War -11 in Europe though it took some time to completely erase it. The authorities went on to even banning 30,000 books on Nazi Ideology and "those who collaborated ideologically were removed from positions of influence".

Challenged and made helpless by the hard evidences in the form of archeological remains found length and breath of north east which are corroborated by the chronicles of their existences, the Eelamist have gone to the extent of resorting to claim an existence of a Tamil Buddhist culture in Sri Lanka. Case in point is Kadurugoda Viharaya Tamilnized as Kanthrodai                     

I quote some of the paragraphs of his very enlightening article


"The parallels between the LTTE and Nazi ideology are also revealing. Examples: a false exclusive mono-ethnic traditional homelands, ethnic cleansing, indoctrination of the gullible by raw racist propaganda, undisputed rule by one man, brainwashing of the young through a fictional history.

The Nazis were in power for its propaganda only for a period of 12 years from 1933 to 1945 compared with the nearly 35 years of propaganda the separatist forces carried out among Tamils in Sri Lanka. This propaganda extended to a massive invention of history. For example, the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) findings of Sinhala Buddhist remains at Kandarodai in Jaffna in 1917 by Paul Pieris and Rasanayagam, the author of Ancient Jaffna were changed by Jaffna academics during the LTTE control to be "Tamil Buddhist" unconnected with the rest of Sri Lanka. A total new fictional history indirectly justifying separatism was created and fed to the Northern population for several decades."


"The lessons learnt from Germany are very clear. Decades long, brainwashing does not vanish after a military victory. The problem is not with the Diaspora, it is here among the brainwashed. Concerted efforts should be made to clear the virus. In our case, it is to remove teaching a false invented history with fictional traditional homelands. All those who subscribe to this should be removed from government and university employment. Indian Tamil separatism was stopped after the 1962 China war through its 16th Amendment banning separatism."


I also take this as an opportunity to quote a few Tamilinized names of original Sinhala place names in north and east as I did in one of my previous articles as well. They were taken from  'Traditional Sinhala Place names of cities in Sri Lanka', a comprehensive work on the Sinhalese place names in the North and East, which have later been Tamilinized. 

ATTANAVAEVA, අත්තනවැව- Achchankulam

Mannarama  [Mannar district)

 Meaning: There is no "achchan" listed in the usual Tamil dictionaries and Lexicons; however, close forms like 'accan' may be listed. 'Achchan' means "brother", (also father etc.) in Malayalam, and may be the source of the sinhala slang word "machang". However, there is no contextually useful meaning in it for a place-name. On the other hand, the sinhala word "Attana" refers to a plant species (Latin Dathura Alba, or Datura metal, Tamil "Umaththai"). Its occurrence in Sinhala place names is well established. The plant and seeds contain the alkaloids Hyoscine, hyoscyamine, norhyoscyanine and atropine. The plant as a whole is a narcotic, and the Tamil name "Ummaththai" is probably derived from the Sanskrit/Pali word which means (causing) "madness", or "ummmada" in Sinhala. It is poisonous. Its use in Ayurveda is well established.


ATHURUELIYA, අතුරුඑලිය- Achchelu

Jaffana (Yapanaya)

This is a common sinhala place name. "Athuru" mean "nearby" in the present context (also, it may in other contexts mean "supplementary", or "inter-mediating"). "Eliya" implies an "open place", a "cleared place", or a region held as a "common". In other contexts it may mean "a source of light". hist: Ancient Buddhist shrine and Dagoba, referred to by de Queyroz 


ATHURUVAELLA- අතුරුවැල්ල -Achchuveli, Achuvely

Jaffna-(Yapanaya)

The etymology of this place-name is similar to that given in preceding discussions. "Vaella" means "shore", or a "sandy place". This name is often found in southern maritime areas in SL. This is a location of ancient Buddhist ruins; de Queyroz, discussing the fall of Jaffna says "It remained under the Portugezen sway for upwards of 40 years, wrested from the Emperor by Philippo d'Olivero when he defeated the Cingalezen forces near Achiavelli (Achuvely) by the great pagoda".

HADUGALA -හඩුගල- Adaichakal

 Madakalapuwa[Batticaloa]

 'Adai, Adicha, or related stubs do not occur in the Tamil Lexicons. There is a small Tank here;


HADUGALMOTTE- හඩුගල්- මොටේ- Adaikkalamoddai
Adaikkalmottai, Adukkalmoddai  

Mannarama district [Mannar]

'Motte ← Modde ← Made' signifies a muddy, swampy place. The Latin word for 'marsh' is 'madeo', while Skrt. 'manda' means slime. In Tamil, Ala, Alaru Alakkar, Ceru etc., are used for mud.


AADAMPANA or AETTAMPANA or RAAMAPAENNA- ආදම්පන,   ඇටිටංපන
රාම පැන්න  රාමසේතු
-Adampan -Adampanai, அடம்பன் 

 Mannarama District

Meaning. Tamil "Pan" by itself seems to have no immediate meaning, however, "pampan", and the sinhala "paalama" (පාලම) both means 'bridge'. This name may have been inspired by "Adam's bridge" near by, across the Falk straits. However, the name Adampan is found in several places which are far away from "Adam's bridge", e.g., in the North Vanni, and in the Trincomalee district (near Gomarankadavala), and hence it cannot be positively connected with Adam's bridge. Note that the old names "Rama bridge" (irāma;-cētu; இராமசேது in Tamil consistent with the Tolkkappiam rules), or Ramasethu, was replaced by "Adam's bridge" in 1804 by the British surveyor James Rennel. He was the first Surveyor General of British India. 'Siripada', (or 'Adams peak'), known also as 'Vishnupada' in the Mahabharata was also renamed "Adam's peak" by Rennel. "Setu" means bridge in Sanskrit and other source languages.

It has sometimes been claimed in some Internet blogs, without much foundation, that the Tamil word "Adampu" has been used for "bin-thambura", a creeper which grows by the sea shore, and found almost every where in the costal regions of SL. The well-known Tamil name for "bin thambura" is "attukkal". The placename "adampana" is not found in any early records, but came in during the British era. All these suggest that the place-name is unlikely to have originated from the construed name "Adampu". We believe that the old name is "aettampana". "Aettanpana', or "Aththampana" where "attana" or "Aththana" (Bot: Datura alaba)is well known. The word "aththana" occurs in plant names like Rukattana (bot:Alstonia scholaris), "Kaulaththana etc., and are well recognized plant species.



AETTAMPANA-ඇටිටංපන-Adampan

 Giranikke-[Killinochchi]

See previous discussion under "adampana" in mannar


AETTAMPANTALA-AADAMPANTHALAVA, AADAMPANTHALAVA, RAAMANTALAVA- ඇටිටංපන්තල ආදම්පන්තලාව රාමන්තලාව-Adampantalavu

Mannarama

Read the discussion under "Adampan"


ATHTHANAMADE- අත්තනමඩ- Adampanmodddai

Giranikke-[Killinochchi]

Read the discussion under "Adampan", regarding the plant "aththana", and the etymology of the word "mada", "moddei" and the english "mud" under the entry "Athimottai".


ADDARAHENA –ATTAALAHENA- අද්දරහේනAddalaichenai, Addalachenai, ApdalacChena

Ampare

 Meaning: In Tamil "Addalai" has no immediate contextual meaning; it may have originated from the sinhala "addara" = "near by" , or "attaala" = "scaffolding". The sinhala, word ``attaala'' is related to the Sanskrit and Pali words for "scaffolding". It may mean a raised hut usually made of wooden beams, bamboo etc. But the common tamil usage for the latter is `Paran', and "addalai" may be a form which is not current. However, the word order is incorrect as "attaala" or "addala" is not used as an adjective. Thus "Addarahena", a common place name, is the most judicious choice for the origin of this name, while "attaalahena" is not prevalent and etymologically unlikely.
The remaining part of the name contains 'Chennai'. It is from the Sinhala "hena", i.e., 'slash-burn' cultivation plots. In Tamil 'Chenai' may mean 'army' and does not fit into the context here


AETAAPAENNAVEVA- ඇතා පැන්නවැව- Adappankulum

Mannarama-Mannar
 
This literarily means, in Sinhala,"The Tank into which the elephant jumped". "Aetapan"  may also be a type of grass or reed (but not identified)

More names will follow with coming posts. 

Monday, August 1, 2011

Vandalism of Sinhalese Buddhist monuments in the East by fundamentalists intensified!

Destruction of Buddhist temples and monuments in the North and East is not a new phenomenon. This has been going for quite a sometime  with the beginning of declination of the Sinhalese Buddhist civilization from the regions with Sinhalese population shifting to other parts of the country mainly caused by the South Indian invasions. With the extremism and fundamentalism taking root among the Tamils and Muslims the scale of destruction took a new turn with severity of destruction taking renewed vigor.  The severity of vandalism in the northern districts have been such that hundreds of such places that exited in the region until early decades of the 20th century have vanished from the face of earth for ever except a few places .

However, sizable number of such places still exists in the eastern districts though they are also being subjected to a severe type of destruction at every passing day. Due to efforts made by some vigilant residents in the areas led by some Buddhists monks we were able to get a glimpse of scale of vandalism being perpetrated in the places such as Deegavapi, Muhudu Maha Viharaya and some other places in the Digamadulla District.  As it is well known the biggest causes for such destructions among others have been the ever growing Muslim fundamentalism and the Muslim population explosion in the districts.  The land grabbing of Buddhist temples, destruction of monuments and making use of pieces of them for construction purposes have been among the most common mode of destruction. Threatening, intimidations, doing physical harms to the resident Buddhist monks who reside in the places with great difficulties have also been most common mode of getting rid of Sinhalese Buddhist heritage from North and East.          

Yet another similar attempt is reported by our fellow blogger on Kottu- Sinhala Buddhist. This time around a non- Buddhist with fundamentalist ideas Assistant Forest Officer has joined the ever growing cliché of enemies of Sinhalese Buddhism hell bent to destroy the legacy of Buddhism in the region. As mentioned earlier this instance too the particular perpetrator has resorted to threaten and intimidate the resident Buddhist Monk in the temple Venerable Gonawala Sudassilankara who lives there with great difficulties even without proper meals. He has done it several times by destroying Buddhist decorations and the name boards put up by the Department of Archeology. In order to conceal his fundamentalist intentions he makes use of his position at the department of forest to deny the Buddhists Henanegala Raja Maha Viharaya, a vast complex of mediation monastery with many Buddhist monuments and ruins strewn around.  

Preserving the Sinhalese Buddhist heritage from the ever growing fundamentalism has been a stupendous challenge in monumental propositions. Those who dare to do that face unimaginable proportion of challenges including threats to their very lives. Case in point is the Deegavapi . (Contrary to what we are told, the most of the lands belonging to Deegavapi have been grabbed by Muslims with the ruins completely destroyed.). It would, therefore, be a great injustice if we don't mention some of other personalities too who have taken a great deal of their efforts to preserve the Buddhist heritage in the region. The resident chief monk of Budhdhangala Raja Maha Viharaya some time ago was ex- Brigadier Ananda Weerasekara who was well known in JVP insurgency times in late 80s as the Director General of Rehabilitation of insurgents. He did a yeomen service and was held in high esteem by the JVPs and general public alike. During he was serving in Ampara area he has done a great deal of work to preserve ruined Buddhist temples and monasteries, the most prominent examples being Samangala and Rassagala, the former being a meditating cave complex cum Sangha monastery and the latter being a monasterial complex with number of temples covering more than 100 acres.

 He is also the brother of Vice-Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, the ex- Director General of  Civil Defense Force during Eelam War IV time. Vice -Admiral Sarath Weerasekara made those rustic village lads and lasses to a force to be reckoned with uplifting the force's standard and their moral with better training, facilities and recognition. He is now an elected MP for Ampara district. This has been a long-felt need for poor Sinhalese in the district. His service in the capacity of an elected MP is much needed in this post-war period for poverty stricken and marginalized Sinhalese in the district who are in the danger of getting dislodged from their villages and their places of worship due to huge population expansion of Muslims. This ever increasing danger has long been ignored by our leaders due to political advantages.