The Tamil people remain deeply distressed by the inability of Tamil political parties to unite and act in consensus in their efforts to find solutions to the challenges they face in the post-war period.
Even the processes of drafting constitutional proposals for the resolution of the ethnic issue are being pursued by the Tamil political community which remains divided into two camps.
Against this backdrop, an announcement has suddenly emerged regarding a plan by parties representing the Tamil-speaking communities to unite and form a ‘common platform’.
Holding a press conference at a Colombo hotel last Monday (13), leaders of six Tamil and Muslim parties announced that the objective of this ‘common platform’ was to raise a collective voice for the resolution of common issues faced by Tamil-speaking communities, including the national ethnic problem.
The participating parties include the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC), Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA), Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), and All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC).
Although these six parties claim to represent the Tamil and Muslim people of the north and east, along with the up-country (Malaiyaha) Tamil people, it is essential to involve several other parties and groups from the three communities if the objective of voicing common grievances of the Tamil-speaking people is to be truly fulfilled.
Stating that their initiative aims to facilitate discussions, exchange views, build consensus, and find solutions regarding the common challenges faced by their communities, the leaders of these parties have put forward three main demands to the National People’s Power (NPP) Government.
These demands are:
- A new constitution must be introduced, encompassing maximum devolution of power
- Provincial Council Elections must be held swiftly
- Fair and lasting solutions must be found for land-related issues affecting all three communities
When these parties work together to find solutions to the issues common to their communities, the mutual understanding and goodwill generated over time can greatly assist them in making possible compromises on previous stances – which acted as barriers to unity in the past – when transitioning to phases where they must seek solutions for issues unique to each community.
The creation of such a conducive environment depends entirely on the political maturity and wisdom that the leaders of these parties can demonstrate. For this, it is crucial that the leaders possess a clear understanding of the complex factors that prevented the political leadership of the three communities from working together in the past, or that hindered them from optimally utilising rare opportunities that may have come their way.
Explaining Tamil issues to Karnataka politicians
There is one thing that Tamil politicians never fail to do, even if they fail at everything else.
Whenever they meet foreign diplomats in Sri Lanka or political leaders during their overseas visits, they immediately post the photos of these meetings on social media. They feel compelled to share these updates so that the Tamil people know they are continuously holding such meetings and explaining the issues. However, only they know what has actually been achieved through these meetings thus far.
A few days ago, ITAK Jaffna District Member of Parliament (MP) Sivagnanam Shritharan posted an update on Facebook. The post was about his visit to the South Indian State of Karnataka, along with Dr. Elayathamby Srinath, the Batticaloa District MP from the same party.
Under the title ‘A substantive meeting regarding the political solution and justice for Eelam Tamils,’ the post stated: “Sivagnanam Shritharan and Dr. Elayathamby Srinath, Members of Parliament from the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi who were visiting the Indian State of Karnataka, paid a courtesy call on Dinesh Gundu Rao, a Karnataka State Legislative Assembly member from the Congress Party and the son of former Chief Minister of Karnataka R. Gundu Rao.
“During this meeting, it was pointed out that while a long-term political solution for the Tamil people has still not been reached, the Tamil people in the Northern and Eastern Provinces continue to live in great hardship amidst militarisation, land grab, and intimidation.
“Furthermore, the role of India in moving towards a permanent political solution that ensures devolution of power and the right to self-determination for the Tamil people, the necessity of international pressure, and the creation of a secure environment to rebuild the livelihoods of the affected people were strongly emphasised.
“An in-depth discussion was also held regarding the Chemmani mass grave issue – an unhealed wound in the Eelam Tamils’ struggle for justice, which is now identified as the second-largest mass grave in Asia. Detailed discussions took place on securing international justice for the horrific human rights violations committed in areas including Chemmani, and the current plight of the families of the forcibly disappeared.”
The Facebook post, however, made absolutely no mention of what Gundu Rao had said in response to Shritharan and Srinath.
It remains unclear whether these two MPs travelled to Karnataka specifically to explain the issues of Sri Lankan Tamils to him and other political leaders of the State in order to seek their support and urge them to exert pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government – or if they simply made use of an opportunity to talk about Tamil issues while visiting the State for some other business.
No other posts were found on Facebook indicating that these two had met with any other politicians in Karnataka.
One cannot help but wonder: what compatibility did the two ITAK MPs see in seeking support and solidarity for the issues of Sri Lankan Tamils from a politician of a State that has a history of behaving ‘inhumanely’ towards the Tamils of Tamil Nadu when it comes to sharing the water of the Cauvery River? Only they can explain.
KP and Champika Ranawaka
It appears that Opposition parties are relying primarily on racism to mobilise against the NPP Government in the south.
Whenever allegations against former military officers are investigated, Opposition politicians immediately begin to claim that ‘high-ranking military officials who destroyed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and protected the country’s unitary status are being targeted for political revenge’.
These politicians seem to believe that even if the military officers who defeated the LTTE committed crimes, they should not be punished – or perhaps that such officers are saints incapable of committing crimes.
Speaking at a Joint Opposition rally in Kurunegala last Sunday, United Republic Front Leader Patali Champika Ranawaka called upon “all those who act in the interest of nationalism to unite against the Government’s victimisation of high-ranking security forces officials who protected the unitary state”.
Furthermore, he alleged that while high-ranking military officials – including former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda – are being targeted, the Government was protecting Kumaran Pathmanathan (commonly known as KP), who was a pillar of support for LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
KP was arrested by Sri Lankan intelligence agencies in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on 5 August 2009 and brought to Sri Lanka. Since then, he has been living in the Vanni.
Ranawaka, who entered Parliament through the National List of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), joined President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government in 2007. At the time of KP’s arrest, Ranawaka was serving as the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. He held various ministerial portfolios in the Rajapaksa Government until late 2014. Later, he left that Government to support the Opposition’s common candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, in the January 2015 Presidential Election.
Why didn’t Ranawaka question or express his opposition to this when he was a Minister in the very Government that brought the arrested KP from Malaysia and allowed him to live freely in the Vanni?
For more than four years after KP was brought to Sri Lanka, Ranawaka continued to enjoy his ministerial post and privileges under the Rajapaksa Government without saying a word about KP. He fully supported the actions of that Government.
Yet now, Ranawaka is inciting racism by claiming that the NPP Government, led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is protecting KP.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Colombo)
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)