Betel Leaf Of Invitation, Olive Branch Of Reconciliation

By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody –JANUARY 24, 2022

Ruwan Jayakody

For some cuckolds, the predicament of humiliation also affords them a virile source of power.

For the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to complain about the local, elected Tamil political leadership that represents the North and the East of the country, requesting the assistance of the Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – specifically seeking the latter’s intervention on pressuring and assisting the GoSL for the purpose of achieving certain political aspirations of the Tamil speaking people of the two said Provinces, in particular those pertaining to the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the holding of the Provincial Councils Polls – claiming instead that any related concerns these political parties have should be raised with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is akin to playing the political cuckold, when in actuality, it is engaged in a shrewd act of political cuckolding.

A total of seven political parties representing the Tamil speaking people in the North and the East, including among others, the Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani (TMTK), the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi/Kachchi (ITAK), the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, the Democratic People’s Liberation Front and the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front, have, through a delegation led by TNA Leader and ITAK Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan, handed over a jointly signed letter addressed to Modi and the Indian Government, to the Indian High Commission, outlining certain concerns and the interventions sought. The leaders of these parties, it is reported, are to be afforded a meeting with the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay soon.

The concerns raised in the letter pertain to seeking the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the conduct of the Provincial Councils Elections (calls for which are also supported by the Tamil Progressive Alliance {TPA} which represents mostly Tamils of Indian origin in the upcountry areas); the implementation of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution on language rights, in both word and spirit; putting an end to the alleged systematic attempts made through acts of land grabbing to change the regional demographic patterns of the predominantly Tamil speaking North and East in a manner that is contrary to the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact (1957), the Dudley-Chelvanayakam Pact (1965), and the Indo-Lanka Accord (1987) {which the letter further alleges is taking place through the appropriation of Tamil border villages in the North and the East to Sinhala areas and vice versa, thereby altering the ethnic composition and making Tamils minorities in their own areas}; halting activities and attempts by the Archaeology Department, the Mahaweli Authority, the Forest Department, the Wildlife Conservation Department, the Tourist Board, and the Defence Ministry to allegedly destroy and/or pervert historical evidences that confirm the historical habitation of the North and the East as the traditional homelands of the Tamils; granting full citizenship status to Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin; the immediate repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979; the implementation of the proportional representation electoral system; and the dissolution of the ‘One Country, One Law’ Presidential Task Force.

On the reasons for these minority parties turning to India through the submission of this set of common proposals, this is what the TPA Leader, MP Mano Ganesan had to say publicly: “India also has a responsibility towards the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Do not criticize us by saying that we are taking Sri Lankan problems to the international community. It was Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who first took Sri Lankan problems to the international community in 1989. Yes – we need a united Sri Lanka; but, we also need a diverse Sri Lanka. We must stop the division and extremism in Sri Lanka. Our hope is to live equally in a united Sri Lanka. But the 13th Amendment to the Constitution is not our final hope. It is a Constitutional right and it is not a new thing. We demand that the Government enforce the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and challenge them to win the hearts of the Tamil speaking people”. The TMTK Leader, MP C.V. Wigneswaran said of the same that “the removal of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution by the proposed new Constitution would invalidate the Indo-Sri Lanka peace Accord which would in turn prevent India from being able to intervene in the issues of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka”.

In response, Cabinet Co-Spokesman Udaya Gammanpila has opined that if the parties representing the Tamil speaking population in the country have any concerns or worries, they must raise such with President Rajapaksa, instead of seeking the assistance of Modi, as Sri Lanka is a sovereign nation and as such, is not a part of the Union of India, while fellow Cabinet Co-Spokesman Dr. Ramesh Pathirana has claimed that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution has been fully implemented. Both statements by the Government Spokesmen are disingenuous to say the least, not to mention, factually, legally speaking, wholly erroneous in the case of Pathirana’s claim, when it was Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa who when he was the President, called for “13th plus (a reference to going beyond the 13th Amendment to the Constitution)”. Moreover, it is mighty white of Gammanpila and his cohorts to consider it acceptable to cherry pick national causes and to therefore run after India whenever it seeks aid for economic woes and to promote bilateral religious ties of meaning to the Sinhala Buddhists, but to decry the same as anathema, when a major segment of the country’s population – the Tamils, who with as much or perhaps more historical links to India, reach out to its neighbour on matters that the GoSL should equally be concerned with, yet, to much national detriment, is not – and instead declaiming such as conspiratorial attempts at bringing about meddlesome foreign and treacherous international intervention.

Furthermore, previous attempts by the TNA to meet President Rajapaksa have been cancelled or indefinitely postponed by Rajapaksa himself. Therefore, it is not as if they have not tried or for the lack of trying on the TNA’s part, as the President and the Government have consistently not shown any inclination to engage with the elected Tamil political representatives, let alone meet them halfway on the issue; instead, the latter, at best, have been stonewalled, and at worst, been greeted with a cold shoulder.

Also, the TNA, together with the Global Tamil Forum, the latter which has been proscribed by the Rajapaksa Government, despite occupying a moderate position within the Diaspora political space as far as the Sri Lankan situation is concerned, recently embarked on a high profile international tour which culminated in meetings with the United States State Department, where they requested the latter to be more involved, proactively engaged, together with India, to bring about change in conditions within Sri Lanka, by promoting a holistic approach to reconciliation, which would include addressing the root cause of the conflict, human rights violations, and the denial of political rights to the Tamil people, as addressing the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people for equality, justice, peace, dignity, and meaningful power devolution is critical in guaranteeing non-recurrence. It is unlikely that the Government is oblivious to the said visit as it received media publicity. In this context, the letter to Modi is a last resort of sorts, having exhausted all options.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s idea of modern day reconciliation, per his recent policy statement speech, involves, setting aside the dark memories of the past and building a secure country where all sections of the community can coexist in peace, where all, irrespective of ethnic, religious, or political differences, must unite for this purpose, with the Government’s prime responsibility towards the reconciliation of the people in the North and the East being to provide facilities for economic security, sans discrimination. Specifically, he has urged MPs representing the Northern and Eastern areas to set aside various political ideologies, and to support the Government’s efforts to improve the living conditions of the people in the said areas.

TNA’s Spokesman and ITAK MP, President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran has already criticized the absence of anything meaningful in this statement, as for as the national question is concerned.

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