Shenali D Waduge   

Leaving aside the LTTE and other armed militant role in the terror that unfolded for most of post-independent Sri Lanka, it is no better a time to seriously wonder if Tamils in Sri Lanka or Tamil Diaspora holding foreign passports as well as those vying to hold foreign passports would finally be happy if they were to be handed Eelam. The question is important for several reasons and takes us to ask exactly who wishes to have Eelam and why Eelam is so important to them. The better question is for whom is Eelam actually important, in our journey we may find out that it may not even be for Tamils!

 Caste Factors – An Eelam where High Caste/class Tamils can’t stand to live with low caste Tamils

With the caste differentiation factor remaining a strong divider among and between Tamil society whether in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu or Tamils living in foreign climes the question is how integrated can an eelam be in the context of people divided along caste lines?

 Caste factor is so strong there are parents who have died without speaking a word to their daughters simply because she married a Tamil man belonging to a lower caste, there are grandparents who have not and will not touch their grandchild because one of the parents is low caste, there are high castes who still keep different cups and saucers for the low caste Tamils to drink from, there are still homes where low castes are not welcome and there are even places of religious worship that will not accept low castes. Should we be surprised when these outcasts become easy prey for religions that builds its army from people indoctrinated and converted?

 In such a scenario it is curious to know how the Tamils propose to live together in harmony with these differentiations playing a key role in their day to day lives.

 Maybe it is because of this reason that the Eelam campaigners wish to have Tamils living among Sinhalese given the right to continue to live and move to Eelam and return but no Sinhalese are allowed to live in the created Eelam. How morally defensible is this suggestion?

 Eelam and the low castes

It may not be said often enough but it is time people looked at the LTTE cadres and drew some conclusions.

• Prabakaran was a low caste with high ambitions and surrounded by similar stooges that found the power of the gun and the power it yielded breaking caste barriers.
• That he was born Hindu but changed faith remains a contentious argument but most of his key cadres were all Hindu by name only and this ties up with the nations and Christian/Evangelical/Catholic NGOs funding LTTE over the years and lays claim to the notion of Eelam being a Church agenda and there are series of evidence to establish the links.

Eelam for foreign passport holding Tamils

• A lot of Tamil Diaspora groups have suddenly emerged post LTTE defeat to shed a lot of tears for their people back home. In the case of ‘Nandani’ an asylum seeker married to a LTTE cadre whose ‘story’ was made into a documentary by the BBC and Frances Harrison who still is counting the dead ‘civilians’, it emerged that Nandani’s story was in fact a ‘story’. It is worth reading about the fabrications and fraud involved.

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=Witness_Accounts_on_Sri_Lanka_Asylum_Seekers_20141007_04

 Some of these Diaspora members are part of organizations that have been banned by foreign governments for misusing their charity status while some members have been caught providing material support to the banned LTTE. Yet, these entities had been collecting colossal sums of money but this money did not reach the common masses that the Diaspora claim as their people back home. If the money they collected did not go to the people the only other party that the money went to has to be the LTTE. If the money went to the people and we know that Jane’s intelligence estimates LTTE annual profits to be US300m the GOSL did not require to take $6b in loans to rebuild a devastated North and if the Tamil Diaspora had spent money on the North what they did would have been visible. The only visible difference in how the people and the LTTE lived was the plush bunkers, Mahavir and LTTE cadre homes and LTTE offices. So let’s not fool ourselves on where the money and to whom the money was sent. Obviously the money laundering parties or beneficiaries will not complain and would probably not mind a sequel.

 Yet, how many of these foreign passport holding Tamils are likely to ever wish to live in an Eelam or is it a project they are carrying on behalf of other players for which they are being paid handsomely as they are able to create the noise in Sri Lanka as well as overseas on behalf of the gullible Tamils? A possibility that every Tamil and non-Tamil should think about.

Is a Prabakaran-less LTTE possible with multiple leaders?

How many LTTE cadres now loose without leader are prepared to take orders from 4 quarters? Rudrakumaran from US, Emmanual from Germany/UK, Nediyavan from Norway and Vinayagam.

 How viable and how effective will an LTTE with 4 leaders actually be when in Sri Lanka too there are likely to be others secretly hoping to be leaders as well. A lot of thinking for the Tamils!

 Whose orders are Sri Lankan Tamils taking?

When Tamil political parties travel overseas for instructions we need to wonder who are actually pulling the strings

• Do Sri Lankan Tamils take orders from Tamil Nadu given the influence that Tamil Nadu exerts upon Sri Lankan Tamils via cable tv and other modes of communication? It is no exaggeration to say that Tamils living in North Sri Lanka know the intimate details of Tamil Nadu filmstars than they know of the rest of Sri Lanka. This influence given the film-political connections in Tamil Nadu exerts much opinion making among Sri Lankan Tamils
• Do Sri Lankan Tamils listen to the Diaspora Tamils despite knowing that the majority of them funded the LTTE, if so it means that we need to determine how many benefited by the LTTE and what number actually suffered or were victims of the LTTE. This understanding would reveal much to us in understanding why Sri Lanka is yet to comprehend why Tamils have an inner sense of anger that LTTE was defeated despite its violent ways.
• If so this explains why the political alliance that LTTE formed in 2001 and helped enter Parliament remains the uncontested choice of the Tamil people! Though most would say what is the use in developing the North when the Tamils have not an iota of gratitude and have no wish to thank a Government that brought up their living standards to that on par with the rest of the country in less than 5 years, that line of argument is too petty. In the eyes of most it raises the Government and highlights the true nature of the beneficiaries. Appreciation is often an elusive trait as against opportunism.
• Are Tamils influenced by external elements? This takes various forms
  • Desire to live abroad – LTTE prevalence opened doors for asylum seekers and refugees and with each bogus story of woe and discrimination the avenue to settle down in Western shores was created. Today there are around 1million Tamils living abroad.
  • Employment opportunities – With scores of NGOs/INGOs, human rights advocates all based in the North with their own agendas via those that fund them the opportunities for employment, perks and other privileges soared throughout the war and continues post-conflict with new themes providing new opportunities for travel, career rise and this entails the need to keep up the façade and generate new campaign slogans and false flag situations.
  • New employers, new cultures, new mindsets – with all the external influences taking place and taking shape it is natural that the people themselves align to different modes of thinking and behaviour. The key concern of traditional Tamils which has been conveniently shoved into the background has been the conversion drive and the manner the Church has taken over as spokesmen for the Tamils despite Tamils being majority Hindu. In fact Hindus have had to as a result of spineless politicians ended up compromising the Hindu traditions followed following death. Notice that all dead LTTE cadres were buried and called martyrs. Hindus do not bury dead and martyrdom comes from Abrahamic religions. Thus, a big question remains how far the external factors have been able to not only manipulate the LTTE, but the Tamil political parties, the Tamil politicians and thus influence the Tamil people as well. Only self-awareness, self-questioning and critically examining the varied arguments can help Tamils fall out of their slumber and come out of their dream land which scores of people continue to be fooling them about. Surely, Tamils must learn to be a little mature now not to fall for the lies unless their intelligence stops short at the crucial point where they nurse a desire to have a country called their own. But even with a State named after Tamils (Tamil Nadu) how many Tamils are really happy there, how many Tamils are
  • Sri Lankan Tamils enjoying the global attention given to them – the Tamils of Sri Lanka have managed to gain a lot of empathetic attention in view of the globally funded campaigns against Sri Lanka raising them to international stardom and given their ‘spokesman’ unlimited VVIP access in the global diplomatic and UN circles. The scenario is most likely to lead to Tamils not realizing the actual plans in place and their own gullibility as the plot now thickens. There are hardly moderate Tamil politicians or even representatives among Tamils strong and fearless enough to come forward to give the true picture. In the absence of this need the Tamils find themselves being led up the garden path towards a very dangerous precedent. While there are right thinking Tamils their views are often kept silenced. Nevertheless, it is no better a time than now for Tamils to seriously ponder about the dangerous path being drawn up for Sri Lanka which has nothing to do about addressing any needs of Tamils. A good look at what happened to the Iraqis that were promised ‘liberation’, to the plight of the people in Kosovo and now in Libya are ample examples of the lies and manipulations used to take over and divide nations.

Do Sri Lankan Tamils feel part of Sri Lanka or do they think they can be happier in a newly created ‘country’. What or who can guarantee ‘happiness’ in life?

Tamils are well advised to seek opinion of the people of Kosovo to see how happy they are and they would be surprised to know that Kosovo is now a prostitute haven because people have no other means of making a living. After the US and Allies got what they wanted they simply discarded the people who now have to fend for themselves!

 Is this what the Tamils also want?

 The destination may be Eelam but for whom is Eelam really meant for is a better question that Tamils must now ask themselves as well as how prepared they are to be the guinea pigs for an Eelam meant to be achieved for others!

Shenali D Waduge