POST OF OPPOSITION LEADER – An Open Letter to the Speaker
Posted on April 22nd, 2015
Rear Admiral (Dr.) Sarath Weerasekera VSV,RWP,USP,Ndc,Psc
2015 April 15th
To: Hon. Chamal Rajapaksa,
Speaker,
Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
Hon. Speaker,
POST OF OPPOSITION LEADER
I write in regard to the proposal to designate Mr. R. Sampanthan Opposition Leader. I am firmly opposed to any such step. Mr. Sampanthan, both as a result of public statements made by him, as well as his membership in the Illangai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), has identified himself with certain agendas antithetical to the State, and making him Opposition Leader will put him in a position to pursue those agendas with greater ease, to the detriment of the State.
I wish to place on record the following concerns, which I trust will inform any decision to appoint Mr. Sampanthan Opposition Leader.
1) In May 2012, at the 14th National Convention of the Illangai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) held in Batticaloa, Mr. Sampanthan said, inter alia:
The softening of our stance concerning certain issues, and the compromise we show in other issues, are diplomatic strategies to ensure that we do not alienate the international community. They are not indications that we have abandoned our fundamental objectives… .Our expectation for a solution to the sovereignty of the Tamil people is based on a political structure outside that of a unitary government, in a united Sri Lanka in which Tamil people have all the powers of government needed to live with self respect and self-sufficiency… .The current practices of the international community may give us an opportunity to achieve, without the loss of life, the soaring aspirations we were unable to achieve by armed struggle” (Text of Address by R. Sampanthan at 14th National Convention of ITAK, 27 May 2012, www.dbsjayaraj.com)
2) I wish to draw your attention to two portions of the aforesaid statement:
- The current practices of the international community may give us an opportunity to achieve, without the loss of life, the soaring aspirations we were unable to achieve by armed struggle”
- Our expectation for a solution to the sovereignty of the Tamil People is based on a political structure outside that of a unitary government, in a united Sri Lanka”
3) Since the armed struggle” referred to in passage ‘a’ above was designed to attain a separate Tamil State within Sri Lanka, Mr. Sampanthan is clearly identifying himself with that goal, except that he wants to achieve it without loss of life.
4) The statement made in passage ‘b’ above, meanwhile, is almost an exact repetition of a statement that appears in the Vaddukoddai Resolution of 1976, the document generally recognized as the formal beginning of the separatist armed struggle. The passage in question is as follows:
Whereas the proposals submitted to the Constituent Assembly by the Illangai Tamil Arasu Kadchi for maintaining the unity of the country while preserving the integrity of the Tamil people by the establishment of an autonomous Tamil State within the framework of a Federal Republic of Ceylon were summarily and totally rejected” (Vaddikoddai Resolution, 14 May 1976)
5) The Vaddukoddai Resolution is an indisputably separatist document, i.e. its ultimate aim is to facilitate the attaining of a separate Tamil State. Therefore, any reference in such a document to a Tamil State, once created, being part of a united Sri Lanka” must mean that the Tamil State, though it may be temporarily united” with the rest of Sri Lanka, will have the capacity to unilaterally secede.
6) Since Mr. Sampanthan has identified himself with the goals of the armed struggle,” and since he has repeated a sentiment regarding a united Sri Lanka” in almost the exact formulation used in the Vaddukoddai Resolution, it is clear that the unity” he envisions is the same unity” envisioned by Vaddukoddai Resolution, namely, the Tamil State (to be created) will be united” with the rest of Sri Lanka for temporary purposes, but have the capacity for unilateral secession.
7) Mr. Sampanthan is a ranking member of Illangai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) whose Constitution, and Amendment to same, contain inter alia the following statements:
Constitution (Dated 20-5-1981)
Aim: In pursuance of the right of self-determination and as part of the United Federalist Sri Lanka, establishing an autonomous Tamil State and an autonomous Muslim State and achieving the political, economic and cultural emancipation of the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka.
Amendment (Dated 27-4-2008)
Aim: Introducing the sentence that says that full guarantee will be extended to the minority national groups that live within the autonomous State that will be established in the Tamil Homeland.
8) The Vaddukoddai Resolution, to which reference has been made earlier, contains the following final and climactic sentence:
This Convention resolves that restoration and reconstitution of the Free, Sovereign, Secular, Socialist State of TAMIL EELAM, based on the right of self-determination inherent to every nation, has become inevitable in order to safeguard the very existence of the Tamil Nation in this country.”
9) I wish to draw your attention to two key elements in the quotations given above: first, the idea that the Tamil State to be created is to be so created by invoking the right of self-determination”; and second, the invocation of nationhood (the reference to Tamil nation” in the Vaddukoddai resolution, and the reference to Ethnic nationalities”—as opposed to ethnic groups—in the Amendment to the Constitution).
10) I contend that, on account of the matters discussed above, the sentiments expressed in the relevant portions of the ITAK Constitution and Amendment on the one hand, and the sentiments expressed in the corresponding passage from the Vaddukoddai Resolution on the other, are identical.
11) Therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that, Mr. Sampanthan, a ranking member of ITAK, whose Constitution espouses the same goals as the Vaddukoddai Resolution, identifies himself with the aforesaid goals also.
12) On account of the matters discussed above, it is self-evident that having a person with the views of a Mr. Sampanthan as Opposition Leader will be detrimental to the State. Also in view of the above material Mr. Sampanthan, as the Leader of Opposition, would not enjoy the confidence of the Members of the Opposition.
13) I further consider that, on account of the seeming intimacy between Mr. Sampanthan’s sentiments (either expressed personally by him, or with which he can be associated as a result of his membership in ITAK) and sentiments expressed in the Vaddukoddai Resolution, a separatist document, Mr. Sampanthan must be required to clearly and unambiguously reject and renounce the Vaddukoddai Resolution, if he is to be considered for a post as important as that of Opposition Leader.
14) For your convenience, I attach herewith a copy of the Vaddukoddai Resolution of 1976, along with English translations of the relevant portions of the ITAK Constitution, and Amendment to same.
Sincerely,
Rear Admiral (Dr.) Sarath Weerasekera VSV,RWP,USP,Ndc,Psc
Member of Parliament for Digamadulla.
Copy; All Party Leaders
April 22nd, 2015 at 3:13 pm
Well said Sarath. Are these morons going mad. I will give 2 more years until Tamils start another war. This time US UK and India will help them.
April 22nd, 2015 at 4:22 pm
Well said Sir!
But this is not enough.
This is the type of leaders SL needs not bloody useless crooks like Maru Sira, Run-nil, FBI wanted Ravi, Fraudster Arjun, etc.
That’s why I have been clamoring for a MILITARY TAKE OVER like LKY indirectly did. There is DISCIPLINE in the high ranks of the military unlike in politics. The military has GREAT power but it controlled it for the good of the country.
We cannot put up with this political dirt for any longer. Whay good does it bring? NOTHING! We are TOO SCARED to think outside this shitt box of politics. We need a better set of leaders from the military to save the country this time POLITICALLY.
We must NOT shy away from military rule which is INCREASINGLY seen by the PEOPLE as the ONLY HOPE. With the VERY HIGH CALIBER military leaders, I have NO doubt whatsoever. We CANNOT confine them to a MP post, or another posh post and satisfy. They have the POTENTIAL.
April 22nd, 2015 at 4:27 pm
Now Wijethasa – the conduit between RAW, Aluthkade bar, supreme court and parliament – is trying to BULLY the speaker into submission!!
SL is a DICTATORSHIP!
MR should also accept responsibility for TOTALLY NEGLECTING Singhala “border villages” (threatened villages) after 2010. IF what was given to MUTTUR, ERAVUR, Batticaloa, Amparei, etc. was given to these villages, things would have been much better.
April 22nd, 2015 at 5:03 pm
When the US lease in Diego Graecia expires next year they need another base in the area. That is why they are so desperate to promote Tamil Eelam now with the help of the two traitors Ranil and Chandrika. The first step was to neutralize one big threat by promoting SF to field Marshal. Dismantling the high security Zones, removing the military governor, isolating China are a few steps taken by Ranil to make way for this to happen.
April 22nd, 2015 at 6:15 pm
Dr. Sarath Weerasekera, welcome to Lankaweb! We need patriots like you to write to LW regurlarly.
April 22nd, 2015 at 6:26 pm
The current opposition leader is a scarescrow (pambaya). The real opposition leader acceptable to many is honourable Dinesh Gunawardene one who never betrayed motherland for pretty personal gains.
April 23rd, 2015 at 3:59 am
Dr.Weerasekara,It is quite clear what the US wants and that now they are desperate. That is understandable. What is not clear and difficult to understand is why India is supporting to have a US military base in their back garden.
April 23rd, 2015 at 4:27 am
Dr.Weerasekara,It is quite clear what the US wants and that they are desperate now. What is not clear and difficult to understand is why India is supporting to have a US military base in their back garden.
April 23rd, 2015 at 5:27 am
NAK, Why India is supporting US is because the Leader of India is a Modi.
April 23rd, 2015 at 6:52 am
NAK and others,
Endia and USA are already in BED!!
This was published TODAY in thediplomat.
“A new paper by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argues that India and the United States should collaborate on building New Delhi’s next Vikrant-class aircraft carrier, the 65,000 tons nuclear-powered INS Vishal, expected to enter service in the 2020s.
“Working in concert to develop this vessel would not only substantially bolster India’s naval combat capabilities but would also cement the evolving strategic bond between the United States and India in a truly spectacular fashion for many decades to come,” Ashley J. Tellis, the author of the Carnegie study, underlines.
In January 2015 (AFTER PUPPET MY3 was made the president – my addition), both countries announced a joint working group to share aircraft carrier technology and design. The Pentagon selected Rear Adm. Thomas Moore, the Navy’s two-star program executive officer for aircraft carriers, to lead the U.S. delegation in discussions. India will be represented by Rear Admiral Surendra Ahuja, a former Indian test pilot.
Tellis uses the working group announcement as an impetus to push for even closer cooperation between New Delhi and Washington. He assesses that India is more likely to consider deeper defense ties given the growing Chinese naval threat in the Indian Ocean:
[N]o country today would profit as much from collaborating with the United States in carrier design and construction as India at a time when its local dominance in the Indian Ocean is on the cusp of challenge from China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), which commissioned its first aircraft carrier in 2012.”
– thediplomat.com
April 23rd, 2015 at 1:19 pm
Sir Ranil is going Big Game Hunting with Indo/West nexus. It is Econo/Security games, methinks. Empire ambitions stirring too with elections on May 7.
All the la de da with the Rajapakses and the true Patriots is to pass the 19-A. Ranil wants to do better with the 19-A than when his Unc Dickie who was forced to take the 13-A. There was someone else with infe-complex who wanted to do better than his Pa, and ended up with a disasterous major war. Same symptoms showing up now.
Now Lanka has her own Pocket Hitler with his Henchmen in place too. Mahendran too has been re-installed, says the news. O tempora ! At least we now know what is hitting us all.
April 23rd, 2015 at 4:21 pm
SL IS A GESTAPO POLICE STATE run by the ARALIYA MAFIA.
April 24th, 2015 at 12:04 am
Well said, Admiral! We need you to keep on the good fight without caving into the bulying and subterfuge of the RW/MS/CBK Mafia, and especially the soft talk of the President who has learnt to play this game well as demonstrated by his meetings with the US/UK and German diplomats and his address last night to the nation. The US is in the driver’s seat and the Kerry visit will endorse it.They are bankrupt, though.
They depend on the submissiveness of small nations to keep puppets in their power.
Has the SLFP not yet realized what is happening between the sweet talk of the President and the dictatorial threats of the PM? You will all be pulp by the time they are finished with you. Do not believe their empty promises which are meant to soften the SLFP into accepting the 19A. Learn from your past experiences and ‘JUST SAY NO’!! We depend on you to keep the nation safe.
April 24th, 2015 at 4:02 am
and especially the soft talk of the President – War finished Now We do not need any more Sandiyas !!!
We-Tamils are happy first 100 days PR please no hurry Sir you have 6 more years to give TE !
All is well .