Shenali Waduge

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ More and more we run through the instances of Tamil Nadu politicians rising furiously against Sri Lanka it always appears close to critical political decisions at both local and international levels. This certainly does raise an eyebrow and makes us to wonder whether these are all part of a gameplan to promote the inference that the Tamil Nadu people hate us in Sri Lanka and now we believe this to be just a show.

So we are beginning to wonder who actually gains by promoting this ill-will because Tamil Nadu politicians do not have a very good track record of integrity and many of them are often accused of being easy to lure using multitude of factors. But what we want to actually project to the world is that though Tamil Nadu politicians may use media to promote a feeling that they are with the Tamils of Sri Lanka and that the Sinhalese are ill-treating them, we know for a fact that the Tamil Nadu people have never shown any reason to make Sri Lankans feel not welcome when they have visited the state of Tamil Nadu. In reality the people of South India are far warmer in terms of hospitality than their counterparts in the North.

Of course we have a few incidents that would be used to counter this statement but these are all calculated and planned attacks and have nothing to do with the Tamil Nadu ordinary people ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” so they can be easily brushed aside. In the case of the fishermen ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” all we need say is that if Tamil Nadu claims to be so concerned about the welfare of the Tamils of Sri Lanka, would they intrude in Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s waters and impose on Tamil fishermen whose livelihoods they would be affecting? We thought not too ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” so now we wonder who exactly are behind these intrusions as well and we donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t really have to go far to come up with the answers whatever Stalin says and the less said about Vaiko the better.

Whenever these anti-Sri Lanka and in particular anti-Sinhala slogans come to the fore by Tamil Nadu politicians it is always the Indian Government that ends up profiting because they use these situations to perfection. It has now become quite an easy maneuver to all the while blame Tamil Nadu theatrics for the decisions that IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Central Government makes ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” now if IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Central Government depends on Tamil Nadu to take decisions there is little point in having a Central Government at all ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” international players may as well confide in Karunanidhi or Jayalalitha!

Bottomline is with Geneva fast approaching and as we expected the films and documentaries are now coming out and some of these former officers really deserve a second vocation in acting and drama and certainly deserve merit status for their emotions, we do not expect India to do any different to what it did in 2012.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Though this time round Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Government is being tested on how it plans to address IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s vote in favor of the Resolution which would reveal to the people how far Sri Lanka has been unnecessarily compromising Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s assets and interests to India for no reason whatsoever!

However, we now want to tell IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Central Government not to use Tamil Nadu people as a ruse because we do not believe that the people of Tamil Nadu hates us in Sri Lanka though Tamil politicians in Tamil Nadu may ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” but then these politicians can be swayed in any direction ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ so we are little surprised. It is no different when we Sinhalese proudly say that it is the Sri Lankan Tamil politicians who project a picture of discord because the Sinhalese and Tamil ordinary people get along just fine.

Moreover, why is it that only Tamil Nadu politicians seem to echo self-determination for Tamils in Sri Lanka? If self-determination realistically speaking implies ALL TAMILS of the world and with a ready-made state already available in Tamil Nadu where Tamil is the official language, where Tamils are in the majority and where Tamils are developing the state at a far higher rate that the other states of India it is Tamil Nadu that should be championing a separate state. Realistically speaking it is by using Tamil NaduƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s wealth that the Central Government props up less privileged states in India. Therefore, knowing that it can sustain itself far better than Sri Lanka, shouldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t the people of Tamil Nadu have led the Tamil Eelaam campaign in Tamil Nadu because logistically speaking over 75million Tamils cannot fit into Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s North and 65million of the Tamils live in IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Tamil Nadu ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a readymade Tamil Eelaam that just needed a simple declaration. Why has that not got off the ground?

So thereƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s a lot of things that are confusing us especially now that we are beginning to realize that this entire Eelaam thing is just a white wash and a bigger agenda is being put into motion or rather has been in motion though we have gone behind something else. Now if this presumption is so that should then lead any to think that the LTTE itself may have been a just a proxy and if we look at how the LTTE functioned and all its stakeholders over the years things begin to make sense and explains why Prabakaran kept on refusing all of the peace offers and negotiations made some of which any terrorist would not have walked away from. So does that mean he was buying time and happily enjoying the rule he had over people? Well that answer died with him but that shouldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t stop us from exploring.

As for our Government, we insist that all dealings with India be annulled if it continues to betray the friendships we have shown over the years. Winning the terrorism should not mean that we have to end up enslaved to agreements and pacts that could at the touch of a button end up undermining all that the forces sacrificed their lives for.

That is unthinkable and unforgivable.

The Sampur project is one such and the Minister in Charge an expert in this area should not have even encouraged Sri Lanka to commit to it. When India is exerting pressure on Sri Lanka to build a 283 km high voltage DC (HVDC) transmission line from Trincomalee to Madurai in Tamil Nadu comprising 264 km of overland line and 39 km of submarine cable and to connect the grids of two countries is it so difficult to imagine what is at stake? Knowingly stepping into virtual diplomatic landmines and thereafter doing damage control is not what we expect from our legislatures.

We expect our legislatures to put country first though we have been disappointed over and over again however we shall not stop reminding them that their duty is to serve the nation and the people of the country and not the interests of other nations. We donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t expect miracles because the man entrusted to take care of the countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s interest at the diplomatic level is only interested in winning accolades from the West and apologizing for everything and following the policy of appeasement ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” that is because he does not come from the peoples vote to know what the pulse of the people is nor has he delivered anything of the stature that late Kadiragamar achieved.

The key decision makers of Sri Lanka cannot however let Sri Lanka down, now that we are a country free of terrorism. We cannot become terrorized by other means nor be victims of western terminology.