Dilrook Kannangara

Sri Lanka is fast coming to its end. Having struggled a miserable 75 years of poverty, wars, insurrections, riots, bankruptcy, etc. it is now on its last legs. It will succumb to India within the next few decades if not years. Although it is resisted by some, there are supporters. India is home to 20 times more Tamils than Sri Lanka and India is home to 100 times more Muslims than Sri Lanka. Therefore, India will be a better nation to be part of than Sri Lanka for most Tamils and Muslims in the island. They need no Sinhala spokespersons to say otherwise.

This division of islanders was there since 1833 when the island was unified into one multiethnic nation which failed miserably. Sri Lanka has no reference point in history. Sinhala and Tamil people were at war since 205 BC at the latest. Sinhals lived in the island nation while Tamils lived in Tamilakam in south India as the world was made up of ethnicity-based nations. Invasions were short-lived and there was no concept of multiethnicity. That is a modern concept. However, the ethnic composition of Sri Lanka today is different and old boundaries are no longer valid.

There are only two choices for Sinhalas. Remain united with Tamils and Muslims and succumb wholesale to India or split Sri Lanka into mono ethnic nations and tread its own sovereign path to freedom and true independence from where it was lost in 1815.

Balkanizing Sri Lanka unifies India and ensures its security. Even if every islander is united, there is no way to fight off India. There are no guardian gods to save Sri Lanka. They have let down the island nation. Something must be given to defuse India’s expansionist agenda before the next round of war and violence. Politicians’ sweet talk has no place in reality. The Sinhala nation must save what is near and dear to Sinhalas and leave the sinking Sri Lanka ship. It is Sinhala people’s right of self determination