CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

The ultimatum of the lackeys

by S. L. Gunasekara

The lackeys the LTTE who call themselves the TNA are reported to have had the effrontery to give the Government an ultimatum till the 7th November 2006 to decide on a way to merge the Northern and Eastern Provinces, and announced that they would boycott Parliament from the 19th October .

The question that immediately springs to mind is does it matter one whit if the TNA boycotts Parliament for good ?? Apart from regularly indulging in acts of hooliganism in Parliament [in like manner as those notorious rowdy sons of ill bred Ministers behaved in and around night clubs], not one member of the TNA has yet made a single worthwhile contribution in Parliament or come to the assistance of the Tamil citizens undergoing a degree of oppression unparalleled in the history of our land at the hands of their [the TNA’s] `Lords and Masters’ the LTTE, by word or by deed.

When the children of Tamil parents were regularly kidnapped by the LTTE, the TNA was silent: when Tamil children were forcibly recruited by the LTTE into their terrorist cadres, the TNA was silent: when Tamil children were used as `cannon fodder’ by the LTTE, the TNA was silent: when Tamil citizens were deprived by the LTTE of their right to support the political party of their choice by murdering ad lib, members and supporters of parties such as the EPRLF, EPDP and PLOTE etc the TNA was silent: when the LTTE extorted the hard earned money of Tamil citizens, users of the A.9 road and pilgrims to Madhu Church in the guise of collecting `taxes’, the TNA was silent, and continued to be silent even when some of that money was used to send the children of Prabhakaran to foreign universities. Apart from not doing a thing for the Tamil People whom they claim to represent, this disgusting bunch of lackeys has always sought to prevent the Tamil People of the Northern and Eastern Provinces from enjoying any degree of `normalcy’, by never failing to support their `Lords and Masters’ of the LTTE in all their acts of villainy and even sought to canvass support for them at home and abroad.

Misbehaving

Not only have these fraudulent tub thumpers whose `courage’ does not extend beyond misbehaving in the presence of the inoffensive and non-violent Speaker Loku Bandara, not uttered a whimper of protest about the sufferings of the Tamils at the hands of the LTTE, but they who have unabashedly participated in ceremonies to commemorate dead murderers and kidnappers of the LTTE on what the LTTE has the impudence to call "Great Heroes Day", have not had the courage to hold a single meeting to commemorate the death of any of their own erstwhile leaders who were foully murdered by the LTTE, such as A Amirthalingam, Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam, V. Yogeswaran, A Thangadurai, V Yogasangaree, Sam Tambimuttu, or the heroine Sarojini Yogeswaran who rendered more service to the Tamil People than all the members of the TNA put together, and sacrificed her life in the cause of service to the Tamil People. It is not surprising that apart from V Anandasangaree not one Member of Parliament of the TULF even attended her funeral.

In the background of these circumstances the boycott of Parliament by this bunch of unmitigated sycophants of a gang of unrepentant terrorists is to be welcomed and encouraged by all who love decency. However, one does trust that if these sycophants do boycott Parliament, and have somewhere within their beings even an infinitesimal trace of decency, they will also `boycott’ and/or not accept and/or return to the State, the salaries, allowances and other perquisites that they have been provided out of the public purse – for on what basis could they continue to enjoy the benefits of being Members of Parliament if they do not even attend Parliament or attend Parliament and obstruct proceedings by their acts of rank hooliganism ??? Be that as it may, it is doubtful that anybody would wager even a single devalued rupee that any member of the TNA will so `boycott’ his salary and other benefits !!! It can hardly be a matter for surprise that the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh treated the TNA with the contempt it deserves by refusing to meet its delegation which went on a `pilgrimage’ to New Delhi in the vain hope of obtaining an `audience’ with him !!! Should not we in Sri Lanka afford to them the same treatment as was accorded to them by Manmohan Singh ???

Judgement

The bone of contention of the TNA that led to their ridiculous `ultimatum’ is the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court by which it held that the act of former President J R Jayewardene in purporting to merge the Northern and Eastern Provinces was null and void. This historic judgement by which the Supreme Court set right a monumental wrong committed by JRJ has been attacked by various people for various reasons and with various motives – all these `attacks’ however have one thing in common – none of them contained any analysis of the judgement which revealed any flaw whatever in the reasoning in the judgement or the interpretation of the law on which it is based.

The net effect of the judgement is to accord to the People of the Northern and Eastern Provinces the right accorded to the citizens resident in each of the other 7 Provinces, to elect representatives of their choice to a Provincial Council constituted for each such Province to govern themselves in respect of those matters set out in the Provincial Council List in the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution, free of any type of interference from residents of any other Province or any representative of such residents.

Clearly no Provincial Council could now be elected or function in the Northern Province because of the depredations the LTTE: but one could be elected and function in the Eastern Province. Thus the demand of the TNA that the Government should undo the good done by the judgement and merge the Northern and Eastern Provinces boils down to a demand that the citizens resident in the Eastern Province should be discriminated against and not accorded the right to be governed in respect of the matters set out in the Provincial Council List by representatives elected exclusively by those residents, which is a right enjoyed by all citizens resident in the seven Provinces outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

While the writer does not believe in the Provincial Council system and is convinced that it should be abolished, he is equally convinced that so long as that system exists, all citizens should be treated equally and have equal rights in that regard. The judgement of the Supreme Court undeniably paves the way for such equality.

East

The Eastern Province is a multi ethnic Province, the demographic composition whereof [according to the 1981 Census is approximately 42% Tamil (both Indigenous and Indian); 32% Moor and 25% Sinhalese. Thus, in a separate Provincial Council for the Eastern Province, the citizens of each ethnic group would have a significant voice in the administration of its affairs. The demand for a merger is nothing more than a demand to deprive the Sinhalese and the Moors of any voice in the administration of the affairs of the East because a merger with the largely mono-ethnic North would result in the demographic composition of the merged Provinces being approximately 69% Tamil, 18% Moor and 13% Sinhalese, thereby paving the way for the Tamils alone to control the affairs of the East. The demand for a merger is, therefore, nothing but a demand, steeped in unbridled racism to gerrymander the electorate so as to ensure an absolute Tamil majority and deprive the Moors and the Sinhalese of the significant political `clout’ they would enjoy in a separate Eastern Province.

The TNA seeks to justify this racist demand by taking refuge behind the hoary myth that the Northern and Eastern Provinces constitute the "traditional homeland" of the Tamils. This myth is based on nothing more substantial than the fact that the there has been, for a significant length of time, a preponderance of Tamils over the Sinhalese and the Moors in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The boundaries of these two Provinces were demarcated artificially by the British for their administrative convenience. If, therefore, as the TNA contends, the Northern and Eastern Provinces are the "traditional homeland" of the Tamils [to the exclusion of the Sinhalese and the Moors] because there has been, for a considerable period of time, more Tamils within their artificial boundaries than Sinhlese and Moors, it must follow with even greater force that the entire Island of Sri Lanka is the "traditional homeland" of the Sinhalese [to the exclusion of the Tamils and the Moors] because there have always been more Sinhalese than Tamils and Moors within the natural borders of the Island. However, the Sinhalese make no such claim; but contend on the contrary, that every part of the Country [including the Northern and Eastern Provinces] is equally the homeland of all its citizens of all ethnic groups. Racism and extremism are, therefore, entirely the preserve of the TNA and others of their ilk.

Peace Process

Another stupid `argument’ advanced by the TNA in favour of merger of the Provinces is that the judgement would result in the alleged `peace process’ coming to a halt. Even assuming, without in any way conceding that the proposed `talks’ constitute a `peace process’ which could result in a durable peace, it is clearly nonsensical to say that the success or otherwise of the `peace process’ is dependant on a continuance of the breach of the rule of law by the illegal merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces or on the continuance of the discrimination against the citizens resident in the Eastern Province effected by JRJ’s illegal merger. Let us not forget that the LTTE commenced its boycott of the `talks’ in early 2003 while the illegal merger was in full force; and that likewise, it sabotaged the 2nd round of talks scheduled to be held at Geneva as well as those scheduled to be held at Oslo while the illegal merger was in full force. We must, even now, accept the self-evident fact that the so called `peace process’ can never succeed because of the evil that pervades the entirety of the LTTE and its lackeys.

By its landmark judgement the Supreme Court has not only strengthened the rule of law by paving the way for according equality of treatment to all our citizens, but also taken a significant step towards salvaging the Country from the `odious legacy of Junius Dick’. On no account should the Government enact any legislation to nullify the salutary effect of that judgement.

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