Mrs. Amirthalingam’ s expression of gratitude to the Police officer who killed her beloved husband’s assailants: a story of bizarre irony of fate of Eelam proponents

Media reported recently that the wife of late Amirthalingam had expressed her gratitude to the police constable who shot dead the three assailants of her husband killed 21 years ago. It is a bizarre irony of fate that a wife of a staunchest proponents of Eelam expressed her gratitude to a person belonging to the community who Eelamist's consider as their arch 'enemies'-the Sinhalese. Above all, he was from the Sri Lanka police whom Eelamist refer as the 'occupational Sinhala army or police who are hell bent to kill Tamils'.    

Amirthalingam's wife was also an ardent supporter of the Eelam dream. She was once heard declaring in a public meeting held in Jaffna in late 70s that the Sinhalese should be skinned to death and then their skin should be used to make shoes.  What a bizarre turn of events! For Amirthalingams the LTTE terrorists were "our boys". 

The Sinhalese police officer displayed this daring act knowing very well that his life was at a great risk. The assailants and the target are both consider the latter's protector as a one from their arch 'enemies', the Sinhala community. The Sinhalese policeman could have easily fled from the scene leaving the two parties to settle their scores having known very well that both the assailants and their target were perusing a same goal-achieving the Eelam.         

Mrs. Amirthalingam came to Sri Lanka in a gap of 21 years and made a visit to the house of the Sinhalese policeman/bodyguard who shot dead the three LTTE terrorists who killed her husband. Her son had also accompanied her to the policeman's house in Kegalle and both the mother and the son had reportedly broken in tears while embracing him as if they saw their own affectionate son/brother after a long period of time. Mrs. Amirthalingam had reportedly thanked President Rajapaksha for elimination the LTTE. The LTTE monster created by Amirthalingams turned towards them and eliminated most of its creators along with thousands of Tamils of whom they claim to have been the sole representatives. It is the same Sinhalese 'enemies' who saved them and paved the way for their creators to return to their motherland without fear of blown by human bombs!     

Sri Lanka's armed forced displayed the similar type of courageous and humanitarian acts on numerous occasions sacrificing their own lives and limbs, the latest being the world's largest rescue operation when they rescued the thousands of Tamil civilians at the last stages of war when the so called 'guardians' and the 'protectors' of the Tamils used them as a protective shield risking their lives. The history of the conflict is replete with similar daring and humanitarian acts on the part of our security forces but they are swept under the carpet by the Eelamists in order to furtherance their Eelam dream.  

ILAM (Eelam) = Sinhala Homeland !

This article appearing in today's The Nation paper throws more light to expose the 'Tamils Homeland' fantasy with a fine analysis of the Tamil lexicon meaning of the word Eelam itself which means the Sinhala Land. Lt Col. (Retd) Anil Amarasekera, a prolific writer and a scholar finely analyses some critical reasons behind the defeat of the LTTE in his latest article. The first reason he highlights is based on the fact that 'false claims cannot and will not succeed'. Therefore, the defeat of the LTTE is simply a story of the Truth's triumph over the falsehood.

I quote the relevant paragraph of his article which brilliantly exposes the fact that the word Eelam means none other than the Sinhala Land        

"With regard to territorial claims made by the LTTE the word ILAM (Eelam), comes into much prominence. It is, apparently, being used to connote the impression of "a land of the Tamils". Indeed, the Tamil word ILAM was never before used in that sense. On the contrary, this Tamil word ILAM did not refer to Tamil land but to the "Land of the Sinhala people". None other establishes this than the Tamil lexicon published under the authority of the highest seat of Tamil learning - the University of Madras. Page 328 of this Tamil lexicon has the following entry: ILAM, n< Pali, Sinhala, 1. Ceylon. What it says is that ILAM means the land of the Sinhala people. The Tamil word given as the meaning of ILAM reads "SINHALUM". The term ILA in Tamil means "SINHALA", having its origin in the word HELA, by which term the ancient people of LANKA were known. Thus ILAKKACHU in Tamil means "Sinhala Coins"- ILA means Sinhala, Kachchu means Coins. Similarly, since NADU means LAND, ILANADU means the Sinhala land. According to the said lexicon the word ILANADU was derived from ILAM. The foregoing establishes the fact that the word ILAM (Eelam) never referred to any Tamil land but always signified the Sinhala land. Therefore, if one were to ask for ILAM (Eelam), what is being asked for is the traditional homeland of the Sinhala people. Therefore, such false claims cannot and will not succeed and that perhaps is one reason for the defeat of the LTTE."

So the time is ripe for those who are in search of a homeland for Tamils to change its name first foremost and then start the search to locate where it truly exists. But it is certainly not in Sri Lanka!

Is there a need of a political solution to the “North East Problem”?

The loud and clear answer to this question is "NO". Why? Because there is no problem in the North and East in existence to give a solution!  Sri Lankan government seems to be now in a helpless situation, apparently with the pressure being exerted by India to go for this so called "political solution".   

As well known the demand for this so called political solution is very much based on the mythical "homeland" fantasy created by the power hungry Tamil elite. So this demand is purely aimed at satisfying desires of a few Tamil elites based on a fanatical idea perpetuated with nonexistent "grievances of Tamils". It is an undisputable fact that the most of the grievances which were supposed to have been in existence among Tamils some decades ago are no longer in existence. Solutions to the most of the so called grievances have well been addressed. Careful analysis reveals that the problems faced by the Tamils and Muslims in the North and East are same as the problems faced by the people in other parts of the country with no specific problems confining to the provinces which was discussed in my previous post regarding the subject.  There are no longer any injustices in existence in terms of Language, education, employment, security or any other ways. Tamils are the equal beneficiaries of all the rights enjoyed by the Sinhalese as well. The security related problems that prevailed during the war is non-existence now. The resettlement of the war displaced is being done at a remarkable pace while the remaining IDPs will be settled soon. The government has undertaken a massive development schemes in the regions ravaged by the war with most of the Eastern districts being first to get the benefits.      

Forefront among those who demand a political solution are Eelamists or supporters of Eelamists who live in the mythical Homeland fantasy. They are the same people who supported the LTTE to carry out mass scale Sinhala ethnic cleansing programmes in the North and East.

I will discuss here only a few among many grave consequences that would befall on the country in general and the Sinhalese living in the provinces in particular in the event of such a "political solution" is granted. Foremost among the so called political solution will consist of powers vested to use the lands and enjoy the police powers.   

Lands

Any so called political solution entails the power vested to control resources, the foremost among them being the lands. The lands are the most vital resources available in the North and East with the largest swathes of unused and very fertile lands still intact. This availability of lands is equally supported by the vast number of irrigation works constructed by the Sinhalese kings.

The scarcity of lands has been one of the major problems faced by the people from other part of the country especially by the Sinhalese. This scarcity among Sinhalese is well exemplified by the moves they have taken to encroach the lands in Somawathee and Kokilai national parks as reported recently.

It is the forefathers of Sinhalese with their sweat and blood who developed these regions and turned them into rice bowls with magnificent irrigation systems. So it will be a great injustice to them if their own future generations are deprived to reap the fruits of their toil by giving in to a bogus homeland fantasy created and forested by a bunch of racists.    

The Eelamists prime idea of creating a mono ethnic entity in the region will conveniently be fulfilled with the powers to control the lands being bestowed upon them as they will allow no future Sinhalese or Muslim settlements in the region claiming that there will be "changes to the demographic stability of the Tamils depriving their rights to have the homeland".        

Sinhalese who are the minority in the North and East have become unfortunate victims of racist approaches followed by the Tamil and Muslim government servants ably supported by their racist political brethren. It is a well accepted fact that the Tamil and Muslim government servants discriminate Sinhalese over their own communities which is very common in Trincomalee and Ampara districts respectively. The Sinhala villages in the districts are purposely neglected and deprived with the government schemes and other benefits being hardly channeled to them. This is being done from the Grama Niladhri level to Divisional Secretary level.  Landless Sinhalese are discriminated with no permits being issued to them. Therefore, Sinhalese have become a voiceless, marginalized and poverty stricken lot.

The acute housing problem among the Sinhalese is growing day by day while many houses built in the Trincomalee district in several villages with the support of pro-LTTE I/NGOs for LTTE martyrs are still unoccupied. The return of perceived "Tamil civilians" from India is the common excuse being used to keep these houses remain unoccupied by the Tamil government servants in the DS level. Under these circumstances it is very much clear the scenario that would emerge if any powers are vested to the Eelamist politicians well supported by racist government servants to control lands and other resources.  

Police Powers:

The memories of the Sinhalese who lived in the North and East are still fresh with the atrocities carried out by the Tamil National Army when the IPKF was in the provinces. Sinhalese were chased away from their ancient villages and their properties were destroyed and confiscated by this Tamil National Army with the support of IPKF. This is the sour consequences of the first attempt to give a sort of so called 'police powers' to the regions. So it is well understandable the consequences which will lay ahead to the Sinhalese in the event of police powers being granted to a bunch of racists.    

The fate of Buddhist temples and archeological sites:

As was highlighted in my many posts including my previous post great damages have been caused to the thousands of ancient Buddhist temples and archeological sites that scatter all over the North and East. There had been many instances where the Hindu kovils have been built over them in an attempt to prove that they were part of "Tamil homeland". So with powers being granted, the fate that would befall to them is very much certain. 

Therefore, this so called "political solution" will certainly be a great injustice to the thousands of people who scarified their lives to preserve the rights of any ethnic community to live peacefully any part of the country with no particular resources being deprived to them. As mentioned earlier it will be a great injustice to the Sinhalese forefathers too whose scarifies in lives, blood and sweat turned the region into a great civilization until it was destroyed by the foreign invasions and colonial occupation depriving Sinhalese their own homeland.

Hot Water Wells in Kanniya used to be a complex of Buddhist monasteries!

Hot Water Wells in Kanniya in Trincomalee have been a great tourist attraction. This has specially been the case after the war was over. The place is quite known among many as wells with hot water. But the most glaring fact, unknown to many, is that the place used to be a complex of Buddhist monasteries spread over a vast area. The hot water wells are just a part of complex of ponds of the monastery.( pond complexes are common feature of Buddhist monasteries). Extensive changes have been made to these ponds to use as a bathing spot. 

As has always been the case with thousands of Buddhist places in North and Eastern part of the country this place too have not been able to escape the wrath of "Tamil Homeland Fantasy". An extensive destruction has been caused to the place and an attempt has been made to build a Hindu Kovil on parts of the ruins of the monastery in order to claim that the place was a piece evidence proving 'Tamil Homeland'.  One of the glaring examples of similar kind of many places which faced the same fate is the famous Koneswaran Temple in Trincomalee which was the Gokanna Viharaya before it was destroyed by the Portuguese. It was later turned into a Hindu place of warship after building a Hindu Kovil there. (The true history of the Temple is mentioned in this post).  

The photos show the attempts made to turn the place into a Hindu Kovil with a concrete foundation laid concealing the base of a Buddhist Pagoda (Degaba). The destructed parts of the stone monuments and bricks are strewn in all over the place.

A vast number of ruins of the Buddhist temples, caves, inscriptions and other works such as tank and irrigation works have been the major source of evidence to prove the existence of flouring Sinhala civilization in the North and East in Sri Lanka.  This is corroborated by the mentioning of the existence of them in the chronicles such as Mahavamsa, Deepavamsa and Chulavamsa etc. The Tamilinized place names which were earlier used to be the Sinhala place names are also strong evidences for the existence of a Sinhala civilization in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

Post Script: the funniest and bizarre part of the whole story is that a mosque is also being built close to the premises. 

Temple Tree of Sagarapura: a symbolic reminiscence of the brutal ethnic cleansing programme of Eelamists.

A Temple tree adorned with full of white hued flowers gives the beholder pleasing and serene feelings making him spell bound for a moment. The heavenly fragrance of the flowers of the tree is also equally pleasing.  The particular tree in the picture, however beautiful it might be, silently tells us a very sad story reminding us a tragic incident that took place over two decades ago. The tree is in the village called Sagarapura located 45 KMs northwards of Trincomalee on Trincomalee –Pulmudya road.  (About 05 KMs from Kusalaveli (Kuchchaveli).

This village is just one of the unfortunate hundreds of Sinhala villages in North and East that became the victim of brutal ethnic cleansing programme carried out by the LTTE. The fateful day of 6^th of October 1987, twenty seven unfortunate Sinhalese people including women and children were shot and hacked to death. Those who reached to the scene of mayhem in the following day morning only saw highly mutilated and burnt dead bodies. 

This tree stands in the place where the burnt bodies of 08 members of an entire family were buried who had been hacked to death. The tree was later planted in the memory of those dead family members by their relatives. Sagrapura was a flourishing village with 300 families before the mass scale ethnic cleansing programme of the LTTE was started. Another Sinhala village named Kallarawa in Yan Oya basin located about further 15 km north of Sagrapura had also been the victim of constant harassment of LTTE culminating 48 people being hacked to death in 1990. After the massacre Sagrapura was abandoned by the villagers. The tree has become a monument signifying the furry unleashed by the Eelamists poisoned by mythical Eelam homeland fantasy.

Ancient Sinhalese villages in Yan Oya basin have been a throne in the flesh of the Eelamists as the strategic location of the villages disproves the bogus Eelam theory. So the Yan Oya Sinhala villages had to bear the brunt of the ethnic cleansing programmes of the Eelamists.  

The only way to pay the homage to those unfortunate souls would be to resettle  thousands of Sinhalese who fled their ancient villages after spate of massacres in the North and East. The government should pay the same degree of enthusiasm and the effort that it shows in resettling the Tamil and Muslim villagers in resettling the Sinhalese too. Otherwise, it would be a great betrayal to those who scarified their lives in thousands to create an environment where every community can live peacefully in any part of the country. It will equally be a great betrayal for the brave Sinhalese who opted to live in their ancient villages despite ever persistent danger of being hacked to death at any moment.  

The beginning of a new era in Sri Lanka’s foreign relations

This article by Mr. K. Godage with the above headline appearing in today's island sees the bright future ahead for us in the sphere of foreign relations with the appointment of Prof. G.L. Peiris as our new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The article highlights with the appointment of Prof. G.L Peiris as the Minister of Foreign Affairs we will be able to get rid of one of the blight that our Foreign Services afflicted with for a long period of time. Our new foreign minister will be not subjected to 'constituency responsibilities'.Our past foreign ministers who came to parliament as elected members accommodated his supporters, cronies, stooges and family members in the Foreign Service with devastating effect to the country. As a result of it jokers and clowns filled with our foreign missions and other important positions in the service. The unimaginable damage caused by this foolish act is a history now. 

As he is an outspoken person and a good communicator plus a very sound academic background with a thorough understanding about Sri Lanka's affaires Prof. Peiris would be able to get rid of the negative picture that the world harbors about us due to disinformation campaign carried out by the Eelamists and their supportive I/NGO's. As highlighted by me in my previous post, due to our past foreign ministers' abysmal failure to highlight the world the true picture prevailing in Sri Lanka we have cost a lot. The so called perceived and now non-existence discrimination of Tamils, the bogus Tamil history in Sri Lanka, the imaginative 'home land' and demand for a 'political solution' are all just a Trojan horse to deny other communities to live in the North and East of country.  

The writer also points out the most important role the new foreign minister is expected to play with the backdrop of China becoming a super-power with her growing influence in the region. The maintenance of our friendship with her and other powers such as Russia and Iran who helped us immensely in our difficult times should never be overlooked. And also he highlights the importance of continuing the confidence and trust we have painstakingly cultivated with India. We would be able to reap immense benefits if we play the cards skillfully in the backdrop of the emergence of Asia as a new economic power with our strategic positioning in the continent. Maintaining healthy relationship with the West is also important but we should never succumb to their intimidations as we would have still been fighting the war had we given into them in the recent past.   

As known to many who are familiar with foreign relation subject in Sri Lanka Mr. K. Godage, the writer of the article is one most distinguished, respected and senior diplomats that Sri Lanka ever produced. He is an authority on the subject and also a prolific writer. He did yeomen and exemplary service to our country during times when she was sailing in troubled waters.

Publish or Perish !

While reading a National Geographic Magazine published in May 2003 I came across an interesting article with above headline. The article begins with the following paragraph.   

"Everyone knows Galileo was the first astronomer to point a telescope at the night sky. But like many facts that everyone knows, this one isn't true. Precedence should probably go to Thomas Harriot. What Harriot didn't do was publish his observations." 

The article goes on to say many other discoveries Thomas Harriot made and highlights how his failure to publish none of them cost him well deserved recognition while someone else earning it.   

I felt how fitting what the article tries to convey when it comes to Sri Lanka!  The world harbors an entirely different picture about Sri Lanka and the so called "Tamil Problem" due to her utter dismal performance in publishing the true picture prevailing over here: what she has painstakingly been doing to protect the rights of minorities, the monumental myth of "Tamil homeland" and the bogus Tamil history and the so called "Tamil grievances" which are no longer exists in Sri Lanka.    This utter failure on the part of Sri Lanka has cost her an unimaginable proportion of damage giving an excellent opportunity and an upper hand to Eelam supporters and I/NGO's to spread lies to mislead the people outside Sri Lanka and even within the country. She has miserably failed…      

(1)   To show the world the monumental myth of so called "Tamil homeland"  and the bogus history created by the power hungry Tamil elite politicians to claim so called "self determination" thereby attempting to deny other communities to live in so called "homeland".

(2)   To show the world that there are no longer specific problems that Tamils face that the Sinhalese do not face to demand a Political Solution. They do enjoy privileges as same as Sinhalese do and in certain instances even better than Sinhalese.

                                                                                                     

(3)   To show the world that the majority of Tamils peacefully live among Sinhalese in other parts of the country with no discrimination at all.

(4)   To show the world the enormous effort and the progress she has made in resettling the IDPs: No country would have achieved such stupendous task in resettling the people in such a short period of time.  

 

(5)   To show the world the sacrifices her armed forces made in rescuing the civilians at the final stages of the war: the so called international community has no idea whatsoever about the number soldiers lost their lives in their effort to protect the lives of the civilians at the final stages of the war. While the army stopped using the heavy weapons the LTTE used theirs against the army at their will.

(6)   To show the world the carnage created by LTTE in killing the civilians in villages and cities alike- The wholesale ethnic cleansing carried out in North and East against Sinhalese and Muslim villages.   The brunt of it was born by innocent Sinhalese civilians in villages who lived there from time immemorial. The brutality with which these killings were carried out was never highlighted: the most common killing method had been in hacking to death whole families including women and children.

(7)   To show the world that the most of the asylum seekers are just economic refugees who flee the country claiming bogus persecution allegedly being committed by the SL sate. The vast majority of so called Tamil Diaspora falls into this category.

     

(8)   To show the world that the innumerable atrocities the LTTE committed in the name of freedom struggle to the Tamil community itself whom they claimed to have represented.

And many other falsehoods being spread against Sri Lanka portraying an entirely different picture about her allowing her enemies to give her vary bad name in the eyes of so called International Community.            

  It is hoped that President Rajapaksha will look into this shortcoming and do necessary remedial measures to change this appalling situation with the appointment of a capable Minister of foreign affairs and perhaps a sate minister too.