Response To “Cameron, Kudos For Your Trip To Jaffna”

By S. Sivathasan -November 22, 2013 

S.Sivathasan

In a communication addressed to Prime Minister Cameron, by some Tamils purporting to be near and dear to Obama, it is said “You met with three TNA members, all three of whom live most of their time in Colombo. We regard all of them as too sympathetic to the Colombo government”. What a preposterous position for anyone to take! Political positions are taken by physical proximity of a community’s leaders to power centres!

It is further said “We wish you had been able to meet with elected representatives, who live in and represent the North East”. In saying so, is it suggested that the three leaders are unelected and therefore have no credentials to represent the people, to champion their cause or to speak up for them?

In what light is Cameron to treat this assertion? What is the message that the readership of Colombo Telegraph will inescapably glean from such misleading statements? Publishing it in the public domain is  obviously designed to convey the idea that whatever the seeming togetherness of Tamils, know it on our authority, that they are riven into multiple splinters. They are located:

1. In the capital, Colombo
2. In the North
3. In the East

At the summit is an enclave in US, friendly to Obama. So Cameron, ignore this triumvirate and lend your ears to this caucus. So we, ‘Tamils for Obama’ are more legitimately placed to speak for the Tamils residing in Sri Lanka. How tenable is this usurpation?

What is the position, composition and nature of the TNA group? They are the top leadership of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). R. Sampanthan, handpicked 43 years ago by SJV Chelvanayakam, the respected Tamil leader, for a leadership position one day. He assumed the mantle a quarter century ago, has symbolized people’s aspirations and lived up to their expectations. He moved deftly among many a landmine and has brought the Tamils to where they are now. They have ceased to be voiceless and able spokesmen have surfaced.

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