5th Column
Steering wrong on Northern course
View(s):My Dear Sampanthan Seeya,
I thought I must write to you now when I heard that the provincial council elections that you were demanding all these years are to be held in a few months. Although I expected you to be happy at this turn of events, I understand that you are not.
From what I hear, like Oliver Twist, you are always asking for more. You seem to want police and land powers for the councils and you also want the right for two or more councils to merge. Naturally, these demands have run into considerable opposition from the South.
Considering what has happened since independence and especially after 1956, I can understand why you are making these demands, Sampanthan seeya, but as a person who is senior enough to have seen it all, I think you should think twice.
I am sure you would agree with me that the war that plagued our country for twenty-five years was the most dreadful event in our recent history. I know you will argue that the difficulties of those you represent have not been totally addressed since then, which is why you are making these demands.
Even so, Sampanthan seeya, I think it is worthwhile looking back at the war years. The Tigers were a brutal outfit and it is fair to say that they did more damage to your community than to anybody else. After all, they killed everyone from Duraiappah to Amirthalingam, Tiruchelvam to Kadirgamar.
And remember the time when your political parties were under the Tiger jackboot? Your party may have been in Parliament but your MPs were mere mouthpieces for the Tigers, weren’t they? And all your political strategies were carefully planned out for you by the Tigers and you were mere puppets!
Now that the war is over and the Tigers are no more, you are once again able to air your views freely and make your demands. You can also live without the fear of unexpectedly having a bullet through your head or encountering a suicide bomber on your way home. I hope you appreciate that.
That is why it disturbs me, Sampanthan seeya, when you and your colleagues rush across to India to meet Manmohan whenever you have some concerns about what is happening in our country. I am not sure you are doing what is best for the people you represent.
As you must well know, India makes a noise every now and then about protecting the people you represent but when you look back and think about it, it is difficult to believe that they had the best of intentions.
If they did, why would they train Tiger cubs and provide them with sustenance when the Tigers were a fledgling group? And it appears as if even they did not know what they were letting themselves in for because their Prime Minister got himself killed by the Tigers for bringing the Indo-Lanka Accord!
They want us to have ‘thirteen plus’, and you seem to agree with them. I am not so sure, Sampanthan seeya, firstly whether they have our best interests at heart and secondly even if they did, whether they knew what is best for our country. Frankly, I don’t think anything that is ‘Made in India’ will work.
As you know, some of the changes that they-and you- are asking for, such as the right of two regions to merge into one unit, are not concessions that they themselves have in their Constitution even though India is such a vast country with a population that is sixty times larger than ours!
I am also disappointed, Sampanthan seeya, that most of your views are quite similar to what is called the ‘Diaspora’. Don’t you realise that this ‘Diaspora’ is nothing more than the remnants of the Tigers and they are in fact hindering the prospects of peace after the war?
Then, it looks like countries such as the United States and agencies like the United Nations are more keen on humiliating us and belittling our victory over terrorism instead of helping us maintain peace. Sadly, what you are saying and doing is only helping them.
I am sure you have your grievances, Sampanthan seeya, but what I was most disappointed about was hearing you say that you don’t want to participate in a committee in Parliament that has been set up to discuss all these issues and arrive at a solution acceptable to all.
You may feel that it is a futile exercise-especially when the likes of Wimal sahodaraya are making a lot of noise these days. Yet, I think if you don’t take that opportunity, future generations will blame you as much as they will blame Mahinda maama for winning the war and losing the peace.
Isn’t it time, after twenty years of war that left nearly a hundred thousand people dead, to forgive and forget and move on in a spirit of compromise rather than hark back to the past? Think about all this, will you, Sampanthan seeya?
Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS-Isn’t it ironic that all the former Tigers are now hoping to contest the elections in the North under Mahinda maama’s leadership? It is just as well that Velu is no longer with us because if he was, he would have used his cyanide capsule rather than see KP or Daya Master as a Chief Minister!
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