Shenali D Waduge

What examples can be given to show that Tamils do not have equal rights in Sri Lanka? Obviously our governments have failed to answer this question by presenting examples to statistically show what minorities in Sri Lanka enjoy.  

 Those that are under the impression that Tamils do not enjoy rights constitutionally and legally need to first look at the Constitution which clearly sets out fundamental rights. There is no word in the constitution that denies Tamils or minorities equal rights. Moreover, Tamils need to remember that they are asking rights in Sri Lanka while historically being referred to as Malabar Tamils with their roots to India and only it was only in 1911 that a new nomenclature emerged referring to them as Ceylon Tamils. Therefore the argument of traditional homelands gets washed away with the Malabar Tamil reference.

The foremost place afforded to Buddhism cannot be challenged because Buddhism was the state religion chosen by royalty and that status changed only upon colonial invasion and occupation though the colonial invaders assured that they would not depose the place afforded to Buddhism in Sri Lanka passed down from King to the next (a promise the British didn’t mean to keep, but nevertheless is important in the context of the historical status that Buddhism held and should continue to hold).

 In a population of 20m there are less than 2.2m Tamils and less than 1.6m Muslims in Sri Lanka as against 14.8m Sinhalese. Those that place their arguments must realize that 7 out of 10 in Sri Lanka are Sinhalese, the country has been ruled by over 180 Sinhala Buddhist kings that status only changed because Sri Lanka was taken over. Those that invaded and occupied Sri Lanka brought workers from Tamil Nadu and before independence these Tamils numbered more than the Tamils that had settled down following various South Indian invasions throughout history. This was one ground that these settled immigrant Tamil politicians desired the Tamil Nadu labor Tamils to be sent back and the pacts signed between Indian and Sri Lankan leaders gave the choice of remaining in Sri Lanka or returning to India.

We must seriously wonder how many of the IDPs presently coming from India are actually our own or maybe Indians coming as illegal immigrants. Now even Colombo is seeing an influx of such arrivals.

 In responding to the question of rights the world needs to look from the lens of what people currently enjoy and not what Tamil politicians / Tamil foreign passport holders and NGO representatives on foreign payroll are demanding:

 Let us therefore stick to answering the most basic of questions

• Are Tamil pregnant mothers denied entry to State hospitals to deliver their baby because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamil patients denied State doctors and nurse care because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils denied admission to State schools because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils given less marks because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils denied State scholarships because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils denied employment in State sector because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils not allowed to travel in public buses because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils given separate seats in public places because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils made to stand in separate queues because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils denied right of freedom to travel throughout the country? NO
• Are Tamils denied right of residence because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils denied right to worship because they are Tamil? NO
• Are Tamils denied burial/crematorium rights because they are Tamil? NO
• Will public or private entities refuse or deny to serve a Tamil because they are Tamil? NO
• Will parcels, letters and postcards not be accepted or delivered because people are Tamil? NO
• Are there separate areas for Tamils? NO
• Have Tamils being terminated from service because they were Tamil? NO

   

  Nevertheless, there is also the need to look at the reciprocity.

• While Tamils can live, buy property, indulge in business, educate their children throughout Sri Lanka even in the South of Sri Lanka where most Tamils now live and have lived, do Tamils and in particular Tamil politicians want Sinhalese to live in the North? NO. How fair is this behaviour from those demanding equal rights?
• While Tamils buy property, build houses/flats etc are people aware that the majority of them sell or rent/lease only to Tamils? NO. How fair is this behaviour from those demanding equal rights?
• While Tamils own businesses and the wholesale market is virtually run by the minorities in Sri Lanka as are most coated companies why are Sinhalese not allowed to run businesses in the North and everyone together shouts ‘colonization’. People seem to have forgotten that Sinhalese were living in the North evidence of which can be proved by the architectural/archaeological remains as well as the fact that all bakeries in the North were run by the Sinhalese. Today, in the commercial capital of Colombo the Sinhalese are a minority and the Tamils and Muslims make up the majority. This gives the minorities access to all the leaders with ease and thus able to get their ways through any other means! Go through areas of Kotahena, Wellawatte, Dehiwela to see and people will be surprised to see how the Maldivians have taken over entire parts of Dehiwela/Mt Lavinia too!
• How many job adverts purposely omit Sinhalese by declaring that Tamil is a must (these are all NGO/INGO jobs/projects) discriminating Sinhalese from applying and getting the job.

Shenali D Waduge