By Deirdre McConnell –
Deirdre McConnell
The history of the persecution of the Tamil people is long. Colonisation of Tamil land by the Sinhalese goes back nearly 200 years. For more than 70 years, there has been systematic denial of other economic, social and cultural rights; and of civil and political rights. Discriminatory legislation disenfranchised Tamils (1948), denied them equal rights in language (1956) and education (1971). The 1972 constitution abolished the right to appeal to Privy council; abolished section 29 of the 1946 constitution which intended to protect numerical minorities; renamed the island Sri Lanka, rather than Ceylon, (favouring Sinhala concepts), and gave Buddhism foremost place over other religions practiced on the island. This last, secured the ability of Buddhist clerics, alongside Sinhalese politicians to maintain Sinhalese control. A distorted version of buddhism, which demonises Tamils (who are mostly hindu, though there are Tamil muslims and christians too) inculcated belief that Sinhala Buddhists are racially superior to the Tamils. This ideology influenced and influences the policies and actions of successive governments of Sri Lanka up to the present day.
Non-violent resistance: With each wave of racist legislation Tamils protested with dignified satyagraha protests (non-violent civil disobedience in the Ghandian manner). However these were crushed with hostile and repressive measures taken by police and army on the direction of the government. In the 1950s and 60s Tamil politicians proposed political solutions. However, agreements for peace based on a quasi-federal system devolving certain powers to the Tamils in North and East signed by Sinhala leaders (prime ministers) and Tamil leaders (parliamentarians) to resolve the political turmoil, were unilaterally abrogated by the prime ministers then in power. Between the failed agreements of 1957 and 1965 over 500 Tamils were killed.
By this time and over the next decade, the Tamil non-violent movement, Tamil civil society and their political parties started to consider it time to exercise their right to self-determination. They had been consistently denied the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development as provided for in international law in article 1.1 of the ICCPR and ICESCR.
Self-determination: In the July 1977 elections the Tamils voted overwhelmingly for their desire for self-determination to be defined by external self-determination. The government responded by introducing the Sixth amendment to the constitution prohibiting peaceful advocacy of independence. The rest is history. Further persecution of the Tamils included the burning down of Jaffna library in 1981, destroying over 95,000 irreplaceable ancient Tamil texts and manuscripts. By now an armed resistance movement was forming to defend Tamils. During the July 1983 pogroms in which over 3,000 Tamils were brutally killed, Tamils were identified by their names, electoral lists or the fact that they could only speak Tamil and not Sinhala. The International Commission of Jurists reported that this victimisation and dehumanisation of Tamils was of genocidal proportions.
Since then acts of state violence have continued, in what became a genocidal war. Rape as a weapon of war has been used systematically against Tamil women. The UN Working Group on Disappearances reports that Sri Lanka has the second highest number of disappearances in the world. The Prevention of Terrorism Act – PTA is used to facilitate torture; sexual violence against women; disappearances and extra-judicial killings and to entrench impunity. It allows confessions made under torture to be admissible in court. Over years international HR organisations have condemned the PTA, calling for its abolition.
Mullivaighall 2009: Since the massacres of 2009, which cost between 70,000 and 140,000 Tamil lives, the EU and many countries have actively taken up the issue. Channel 4 media has documented war crimes and crimes against humanity committed at the end of the war. Careful documentation of interviews and courageous testimonies by victims has led to widespread awareness of the dire situation of continuing torture; violence against women; land-grabbing – and militarisation, Buddistisation, Sinhalisation of Tamil homeland in the North and East.
International scrutiny: The report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) issued in September 2015, identified a pattern of persistent and large scale violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The Resolution agreed by consensus in the HRC of the same month, was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka itself. This resolution urges implementation of the recommendations of the OISL. Yet the government is attempting to convince the international community that all is well now, and that there is no need to implement the recommendations.
The victims need justice not denial: 11 previous presidential commissions of inquiry produced no fruitful outcomes for the victims. The present ‘Office for Missing Persons’ is deeply structurally flawed and victims fear it will be fruitless. There has been no significant land releases or detainee releases. The consultative task force of NGOs say they have no help from government media to disseminate their ideas on transitional justice, and language discrimination continues. Memorialisation of the dead has been criminalised. Hindu temples are destroyed, and Buddhist ones erected even where no Buddhists live. The government promised to reduce military spending but has increased it. It is a deeply militarised state, both judge and jury of its own acts. Recently media have exposed the fact that new legislation the government is proposing to replace the PTA, is no improvement, it is actually worse not better.
These facts and strong representation should be made to the OHCHR and member states of the HRC .
The Sri Lanka government is attempting to eyewash the international community but this needs to be exposed. The government must take concrete and immediate action towards full implementation of Resolution 30/1 with genuine commitment to accountability and reconciliation.
Deirdre McConnell -Director – International Programme – TCHR
De Silva / December 29, 2016
Deirdre dear,
A damsel like you should never loiter in streets washing clothes. Tamils that walk by easily gets titillated.
You should also not get involved in things beyond your pay grade. I say that with all honesty because you may end up wasting a whole life over absolutely nothing.
I urge you to click on my name “De Silva” above and go on a journey with me.
It will be quite a revelation I can assure you. I also urge Tamils not to read the material. Its only for non-Tamils to read and understand.
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Native Vedda / December 29, 2016
De Silva
“I urge you to click on my name “De Silva” above and go on a journey with me. “
Could you tell us the destination of your Journey, perhaps the “never never land”
Are you hearing Jules Gabriel Verne’s voices in your head today?
Or voices of Vijaya, Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama,Christopher Columbus,
Ibn Battuta, … .?
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Rajash / December 29, 2016
Native He is going on a journey of self denial…
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
Rajash
Is he the Pied Piper of the adult world? What is he up to now? I warn you say no to strangers.
He is going to take you to jaffnahistory and indecently abuse you. You can’t do much about it.
Hear is a song:
Stranger Danger
Safety Song Lyrics and Sound Clip
Healthy Start Publishing
Stranger danger, stranger danger
Don’t be fooled. Stranger danger, listen to the rules
Stranger danger, stranger danger
Don’t be fooled. Stranger danger, listen to the rules
Don’t go with strangers they are not your friends.
This is a rule that only parents can bend.
Strangers don’t love you like your parents do.
Don’t go with strangers their not good for you.
Stranger danger, stranger danger
Don’t be fooled. Stranger danger, listen to the rules
A stranger is a person that you don’t know.
Even if they seem like fun.
If a stranger tries to take you and make you go.
You just have to run, run, run!
Don’t go with strangers they are not your friends.
This is a rule that only parents can bend.
Don’t go with strangers no matter how they sound.
Don’t go with strangers when parents aren’t around.
Never, never ever be afraid to scream.
Tell somebody dial 9-1-1.
It doesn’t matter how strange it seems
Shout it loudly as you run.
This is not my mother
Shout it girls and boys
This is not my father
Make some noise come on
This is not my mother.
It’s a stranger.
We call it stranger danger.
We won’t walk with strangers
We won’t talk to strangers
We won’t listen to strangers
We run away from strangers
We won’t ride with strangers
We won’t hide with strangers
We won’t play with strangers
We stay away from strangers
Stranger danger, stranger danger, we’re not fooled.
Stranger danger, stranger danger, we know the rule
Stranger danger, stranger danger, we’re not fooled.
Stranger danger, stranger danger, we know the rule
You and your parents can think of a magic word.
Only give it to a person that you know.
It can be a funny or made up word.
When the right person says it you’ll know it’s safe to go.
Don’t go with strangers
This is not my mother
This is a rule that only parents can bend
Stranger danger, stranger danger
This is not my father
Stranger danger, stranger danger, we know the rule
Strangers don’t love you like your parents do.
Don’t go with strangers they’re not good for you.
Stranger danger, stranger danger
This is not my father
Stranger danger, stranger danger, we know the rule
songsforteaching.com
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
stupid vedda
See a psychiatrist ASAP
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
Nuisance the stupid I
sachoooo is still looking for your padikkama.
In the meantime, you can borrow one from HLD Mahindapala.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
I said ASAP!
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Sama / December 31, 2016
Dear Native,
Please providE Nuisance with dozens of Padikams. He has been incoherent with his comments from the day one.
This became to me even clearer last week.
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Rajash / December 30, 2016
very good Native.
Rest assured no one will follow strange De Silva to oblivion of course there are some exceptions here on CT
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old codger / December 29, 2016
NV,
It seems that Vibhushana De Silva is into computer jilmarts nowadays, having given up on mapmaking. Clicking on his name brings up another link to his version of history. Not bad, don’t you think?
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Native Vedda / December 29, 2016
old codger
He is an entrepreneur selling lies.
I wish him well.
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SinhalaPropaganda / December 29, 2016
yea yea cite more rantings of sinhala nationalists because you’ve never heard about unbiased scholarly sources as your modaya brain graduated from the school of modayas through affirmative action.
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Aravinthan / December 29, 2016
[Edited out]
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Sylvia Haik / December 29, 2016
de Silva, your comments make no sense unless you are directing the readers to porn to be titillated. If that is indeed the case, you are prostituting yourself just like your ancestors did to the Portuguese as your name suggests. There are plenty of facts in what Deirdre McConnell says and if they are not palatable it would have been wiser to remain silent. Sadly though, if the present situation continues unamended with your mindset, we could expect the emergence of another Prabakaran, but more effective and cleverer having learnt from past mistakes.
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sunderam / December 30, 2016
Sylvia, you say to de Silva:
“you are prostituting yourself just like your ancestors did to the Portuguese as your name suggests.”
So that’s how they got these names, then? I often wondered to why it is that the most ardent Dammila phobes have Portuguese names: de Silva, Rodrigo, Peiris Ramona Fernando etc.
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Sylvia Haik / December 31, 2016
Sunderam, it is in their genes. Look what they did to the Native Americans, the South Americans, made Chinese opium addicts just for their spices, traded in Humans as slaves, massacred the original inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand, land grabbed several islands in the Pacific Ocean that belonged to Japan after winning a war by dropping a nuclear bomb and then using these islands and their inhabitants as guinea pigs for nuclear tests. Please watch John Pilger’s latest documentary “War on China 2016” on Youtube and if that doesn’t move you to tears, your heart is made of sterner stuff.
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AJ / December 30, 2016
“I urge you to click on my name “De Silva” above and go on a journey with me. “
A journey on a white van?
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SinhalaPropaganda / December 30, 2016
Sinhalese talking about rape urges among Tamils is the biggest irony of the century. This is after being internationally known for gang rape and genocidal rape being used as foreign policy by your nation to subdue the Tamil nation. How many Sinhala women did LTTE rape? Even corpses of Tamil women are not safe from Sinhala predators. Nor those poor women in Haiti. Clean up your own house first.
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Thanos / December 29, 2016
Before the Sinhala Nationalists start shouting vulgarities at Ms. Deirdre McConnell, understand that there is thing called “Freedom of Expression”. “Freedom of Expression” DOES NOT guarantee accuracy, but it DOES guarantees people’s right to express themselves. So now it is up to the Sinhala Nationalists try and debunk what she has said. So let see whether you can do it without getting into personal attacks. The ball is in your court.
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Words / December 29, 2016
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2/
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Jurassic / December 29, 2016
‘ Colonisation of Tamil land by the Sinhalese goes back nearly 200 years’
Lady, from what world are you? Over 50% of Tamil community live outside Northern Province, the so called Tamil Homeland. That is colonisation. Check out for yourself Sinhalese population in so called ‘Tamil land’. To understand real meaning of colonisation, visit Wellawatte, Pettah etc. In Colombo.
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SinhalaPropaganda / December 29, 2016
eelam tamils (as opposed to indian up country ones brought by the British) settled in Colombo in search of job opportunities by their own efforts without government backing. More moved down south when Sinhala military was shelling them and their schools, temples and hospitals in the north. But you can send them all back to their native lands if you support the establishment of their own country and both races can live in peace. deal?
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
sinhala
No body is holding Tamils in the South. Hmm, Wonder why they are not leaving??
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SinhalaPropaganda / December 30, 2016
recent study found that regions with the highest rate of poverty in Sri Lanka are areas inhabited by Tamils, according to a study of the World Bank. Perhaps your government should rectify that then we can discuss.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
sinhala
What do you expect when Tamils are living in a country where more than 85% of the population speaks Sinhalese and many Tamils refuse to learn Sinhalese? Who will give employment to who knows only Tamil? I will not employ a Tamil in Kandy if he/she does not speak Sinhalese. No wonder the highest rate of poverty is in Tamil area! Do Tamils in Italy refuse to learn Italian? Are they in poverty too?
Look at the rich Tamils in the south (Colombo/Kandy/Galle etc.) they are doing well because they have assimilated well and have learnt Sinhalese. Lazy, separatist like you bring up irrelevant issues which have no merit. Work hard, educate your self, learn many languages and improve your life rather than complaining. These idiots who complain will be a burden to your Elam too, if you get one!
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SinhalaPropaganda / December 30, 2016
as a sinhalese blind as you always are why don’t you look into the effects of war on poverty or how the sinhala governments deliberately failed to develop north east. Tamils don’t need your job. You simply had to let them be and determine their own destiny in their own lands but since you couldn’t do that the onus is on your government to rectify inequality imposed by them and then we can talk about whether Tamils down south should be sent back. Why do Tamils in North East need to assimilate to your culture? They make up the majority in those areas and it’s their language that should rule the economic life there. Their language enjoys an official status and that must be respected instead of imposing Sinhala hegemony. The problem with you people is that you simply don’t respect the island’s multiethnic heritage. Due to Mahavamsa fundamentalist religious brainwashing from an easily age you believe that the entire country belongs only to the Sinhalese. You want to talk about Italy but a more apt comparison would be Canada where the province of Quebec enjoys autonomy to preserve its unique character as a French speaking province despite most of Canada being English. They even held referendums on its right to sovereignty. That’s how you run a civilised society. Perhaps you people should learn from that on what compromise and coexistence mean.
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AJ / December 30, 2016
Nobody is holding Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. HMM wonder why they are not leaving.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
aj
Genius!
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AJ / December 31, 2016
I know ;)
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bodin / December 29, 2016
The history of Tamil people persecuting their own people (by the insane caste system of the Tamils), as well as the persecution of the Muslims by the Tamils should be studied
first. Instead, a straw man is erected an smashed!
How and why did the Tamils ethnically cleanse Jaffna of Muslims in the 1990s?
That was not the first time. Captain Percival says in his 1812 book that most people in Jaffna were Muslims. But by a few decades, they were drive out by tamil gangs.
Our Muslim people have not yet been settled in their rightful properties in Jaffna
Sangili did the same thing sometime earlier, expulsing Sinhalese and Muslims.
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Truth / December 29, 2016
Tamil ethnicity did not “ethnically cleanse Jaffna of Muslims” because 1) Muslims are not an ethnicity 2) it was the LTTE that did that not the entire race. How would you like it if Muslims or Islam was blamed for ISIS?
Sinhala military arming and establishing Muslim home guards who went around massacring Tamil civilians should also be studied.
“Captain Percival says in his 1812 book that most people in Jaffna were Muslims. But by a few decades, they were drive out by tamil gangs.”
That’s a funny fantasy, but that’s what happens when you take too much of the Quran seriously, it messes up your mind. By the way, where did your ancestors come from? Muslim is not an ethnicity.
Actual census of the North:
1881 Census Tamil: 95.70% Muslim: 3.44% Sinhalese: 0.46%
http://www.sinhalisation.com/census-1911-2012/
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justice / December 29, 2016
bodin,
There was a Jaffna Kingdom in the north.
There were Sinhala kingdoms in the south.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffna_kingdom
Casteism exists among the Sinhalese too, even among the Buddhist clergy.
All the differences and enmities will vanish if ALL linguistic groups, and all religious groups are made equal, in the strict sense of the word.
A Secular Constitution will achieve this.
But, the “militant” Buddhist clergy will not allow.
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G. H. Peiris / December 29, 2016
It is quite obvious that the author of this piece has only a superficial understanding of ethnic relations in Sri Lanka and/or is a propagandist for a segment of the Secessionist lobby which is now attempting to gain what their hero Prabhakaran, the late leader of the LTTE failed to achieve through terrorist attacks targeted almost incessantly over a period of about 25 years at civilians including Tamil leaders in mainstream politics and a former Prime Minister of India.
Apart from the shameless distortions of the past, the article (especially the paragraph titled ‘The victims need justice not denial’ contains a pack of lies and half truths relating to a series of controversial topics on which there is a mass of published writings. I can certainly elaborate these distortions, but will refrain unless I have some assurance regarding the impartiality of your ‘Comments Policy..
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SinhalaPropaganda / December 30, 2016
“superficial understanding of ethnic relations”
then why don’t you enlighten us with your profound understanding? i’m assuming that involves linking to a nutjob sinhala nationalist website?
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Vichara / December 31, 2016
She should reveal her maiden name which will explain her hatred towards the Sinhalese.
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John / December 29, 2016
It was the barbaric British colonialist who created this mess with their “divide and conquer” policy.
How much have the Tamil terrorists (Kallathonis and Coolies) paid you to write this stupid article with lies???
There were no Tamils before 200 years ago, before 200 years ago they were called Malabaries or Dravidians, it was Sinhalese who gave those wandering round orphaned gypsies the Tamils identity. And it is still Sinhalese who’s looking after Tamils trouble makers.
Sinhalese are the victim of their own generosity and compassion.
Deidre McConnell, you must write about the then barbaric British colonialists’ grand scale atrocities (e.g: looting, massacres, ruthless hunting, slavery, etc).
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Truth / December 29, 2016
yes blame everyone but yourselves. Never take responsibility because responsibility is for civilised humans not for bunch of savages who burn down libraries and massacre civilians. There was no divide and rule policy. British simply hired anyone that was competent and qualified for the job. There were more English educated Tamils from Jaffna because of the many schools opened there by the Christian missionaries. Jaffna Tamils prioritised education and this is why they continued to outperform even after the power was transferred to the racist Sinhala leadership who who did everything they can to limit opportunities for Tamils.
You have no problem putting down your colonial masters but if it weren’t for them there would be no centralised unitary state called Sri Lanka. It’s they who united the whole country for administrative convenience. Prior to the arrival of your colonial masters, Tamils enjoyed regional autonomy in the north and accounts indicate they had their own army. Tamils in the east were ruled by the Vannimai chieftaincies. Even the last rulers of Sinhala Kandyan kingdom were Tamil speakers from southern india.
You clearly don’t hold your colonial masters in high esteem yet you have no problem taking their eurocentric view of the world as a sole gospel. Malabar was a designation used by Europeans to refer to the whole of south india and then to Tamils in Lanka in the similar way they mistakenly called native americans ‘indians’. That doesn’t mean these people didn’t have any self-identity before the arrival of colonial masters. Tamils are a very ancient civilisation and their language is the oldest indian language that is still spoken and their ethnonym goes back millennia way before the arrival of europeans.
Sinhalese giving Tamils their identity is quite funny because without Tamils there’s no Sinhalese according to your own origin myths which says your trouble making refugee ancestors took brides from Tamil Pandyan kingdom to population Lanka after have been exiled from their native homeland in Bengal.
According to Princeton anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere although “the first colonizers of Sri Lanka were probably north Indians . . . even the first [Sinhalese] king and his followers married women from south India . . . Thereafter the patterns of royal marriage and mass immigration were wholly from south India, initially from the Tamil country and later, since the thirteenth century, from Kerala.”
This, according to Obeyesekere, makes the Tamils “not only kinfolk but also cofounders of the nation”.
Disanayaka argues that “Sinhala occupies a unique position among the languages of South Asia because of its close affinities with two of the major linguistic families of the Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian”. Tamil, the oldest of the Dravidian languages and Sinhala have coexisted for generations interacting with each other, thus bearing an impact on the phonology, morphology and syntax of Sinhala.
Susantha Goonatilake observed:
The megalithic evidence points to an important fact that the economy
and technology of Sri Lanka in the early phase was not different from the
South Indian one. This fact is also collaborated by present evidence of
the kinship system which is largely of the South-Indian type. The kinship
system it should be noted has an intimate association with production
system and is conditioned by.
Also a good portion of your Sinhala populations are recent imports from South India who became Sinhalized:
“Traditionally Tamil and South Indian immigration was a well-known phenomenon; powerful caste groups like the karava and salagama came from the Tamil country and Kerla. But they were eventually assimilated into the Sinhala social structure.”- Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka, p. 186
Yes the British were barbaric as any greedy colonial powers but they were much more benign in Ceylon and the transfer of power was rather peaceful. At least the British knew how to rule a civilised society with rule of law unlike Sinhala Lanka which commits crimes against humanity on its own citizens.
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Burning Issue / December 29, 2016
john,
Without the Brits you would not have had Ceylon as one country! The Tamils blame the Brits for handing over the entire Ceylon to the Insecure Sinhalese that systematically marginalised the Tamils.
“There were no Tamils before 200 years ago, before 200 years ago they were called Malabaries or Dravidians,…”
Just study your Sinhala language, you will see Tamil influences in all respects including your grammar! Just 200 years to do all that! Get real mister and do not expose your chronic insecurity in public forums.
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Ajith / December 29, 2016
john,
I love you because you are the first kallathoni and I am the second Kallathoni. The difference is your father was Lion and my father was a Human. I don’t know whether you still can understand difference between Carnivorous & herbivorous.
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Thamilan / December 29, 2016
Rather than digging into history can someone write articles as to how we can bring the communities to live together in Sri Lanka.
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SinhalaPropaganda / December 29, 2016
not possible because sinhalese don’t compromise but expect the tamils to do it after everything they’ve sacrificed and suffered. No impartial justice, no stop to colonisation, no freedom for political prisoners and no punishment for war criminals. They continue their genocidal neocolonialism as usual while the world watches in silence.
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anaconda / December 29, 2016
you cannot find where the problem lies unless you can dig up the past and confront it.
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Anpu / December 29, 2016
Thank you Deirdre.
It all started in Sir Ramanathan and Sir Arunachalams days.
Sinhalese cheated them and are continuing … Cheating Tamils and the International Community.
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was the Founder of the Ceylon National Congress in 1919. However, within two years of the formation he was a disappointed man. He formed the Ceylon Tamil League in 1922 of which also he was the Founder-President. Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam died in 1924.
Ramanathan was acutely conscious that a defined territory was basic for identification of a people. Any tinkering with the identified traditional areas inhabited by the Tamil people was not to be fiddled about with. I believe in current terminology this would be described as ‘Demographic Engineering’. We see the beginnings of moves in this direction in the ‘Nachchaduwa Scheme’, as early as the latter part of the second decade of the 20th century. Here the Sinhala leadership did alter a Tamil electorate to that of a Sinhala one. Ramanathan along with other colleagues in the state assembly vehemently opposed these moves. The idea of the need for a clearly demarked land area therefore could be traced to no lesser person than Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan…
Ramanathan belittled, Arunachalam sidelined, and the beginning of broken pacts and evasive proposals
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was side lined and Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan was belittled. In the All Ceylon Legislative Assembly, the representation of the Sinhalese and the Tamils were at par. With the passage of a few years, the Tamil representation began to decline.
It is necessary to repeat that Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam held the office of President of the Ceylon National Congress. It was agreed that a Tamil was to be nominated to the Western Province Legislative Assembly. That nominee was to be Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam. This was later denied. The Ceylon National Congress by now had begun to be dominated by the Sinhalese and Sinhala interests. Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam then broke away from this body to set up the Tamil League.
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Adrian / December 29, 2016
“The Sri Lanka government is attempting to eyewash the international community but this needs to be exposed. The government must take concrete and immediate action towards full implementation of Resolution 30/1 with genuine commitment to accountability and reconciliation.”
Since independence in 1948, more than discriminatory events, political administration weakened the rights of the people by introducing discriminatory friction among communities as a mean to stay as career politicians. As such few professionals who would have otherwise earned meager sum as incomes found being a politician very lucrative embarked on a deceptive road to remain in power by creating laws which while protecting them also enabled them to have all the controls over finance and administrative powers leaving the common man to fend himself. People were made poor, fight each other over no sensible reasons ended up with all the catastrophes mentioned.
It is not that people are at fault. They were/are misled to believe that people of different communities are enemies whereas they are not. The irony is that people are made weaker economically, politically, academically, unable to fight for justice. Legislators are in a world of their own not willing to forego the privileges they enjoy along with their kith and kin.
This can be resolved only if a third political party intervene and reverse the current process. Good that the matter is highlighted.
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max / December 29, 2016
Other than putting to the dustbin, is there any valid and provable points in this tale of Deirdre McConnell? Waste of time of readers. (not of those who instigate Tamil chauvinism). Waste of space of the magazine.
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anaconda / December 29, 2016
typical statement of a denier. deny and point the finger in the other direction. you can disprove the points if you can.
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Simon De Silva / December 29, 2016
Anaconda,
MAX, Sumanasekara, Sacho, Jimbumpty, Nonsence are all hired men working for Rajapakshe extremists.
Max will never learn it. He has now been the toilet cleaner ofMedamulana.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
simon
Good intelligence work! The same type Parayabakaran had when he and his tamil terrorists were wiped out!
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AJ / December 30, 2016
Tamil terrorists and Prbakarans are gone. Only left is BBS sinhala terrorists sponsored by state terrorists.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
aj
How many Tamils were suicide murdered by the BBS?
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AJ / December 31, 2016
terrorists and suicide bombers are related but not identical concepts!
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AJ / December 31, 2016
[Edited out] Please write instead of posting web links – CT
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
max moron
“Waste of space of the magazine.”
If you think so, you should first consider stop typing.
On second thought keep typing else we miss the fun watching you making fool of yourself.
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max / December 30, 2016
Stupid NV,
Why no response to ”Waste of time of readers. (not of those who instigate Tamil chauvinism).” of my comment?
Is it because your entitle to be in the bracketed sentence?
Actually Vedda, you, this lady and a lunatic like Brian Seneviratne do not deserve a decent response when it comes to talking about history, Tamil terrorism, chauvinism etc., since you all are paid agents of Tamil Racism. All you buggers know is label other opinion holders as various names and ridicule them personally but never be able to challenge what they say in theoretically. At least, what is your own definition for the concept “nation”? Repeating what’s there in google or what West has taught you, is there anything “new” that can be put into your somewhat smart vocabulary?
CT commentator forum mainly comprise with people like you. If someone, outside the forum criticize the govt, then, he or she will be branded as ‘medamulana catcher’ or bbs ally. If someone questions Tamil chauvinism, alleged homeland madness, then, it will be the end of him/her. Such a with full of hypocrisy.
When do you get a life Vedda? (Bdw, I must say, though its crap, I enjoy your reading).
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
max moron
As to your above typing, this is what I want to say, keep typing else we miss the fun watching you making fool of yourself.
Nothing personal.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
stupid vedda keeps writing garbage! Actually not even garbage. Garbage has some value; can be recycled!
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
Nuisance
“Garbage has some value; can be recycled!”
Hence you think your brain has some value.
Has HLD Mahindapala agree to give you his spare padikkama?
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Taraki / December 29, 2016
Another bleeding heart, five minute expert on Sri Lankan affairs. Does she know that there have been minority Ministers in every cabinet since independence? What have they done for their people?
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Taraki / December 29, 2016
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2/
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Native Vedda / December 29, 2016
Taraki
Brilliant
Best ever typing from you.
Thanks
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Taraki / December 30, 2016
Oh thank you Native. Deidre McConnell is actually Deidre Kirubakaran, the wife of S.V. Kirubakaran the TCHR leader. That alone shows that her comments are biased and unreliable.
A smart move, writing under her maiden name. A European name gives the impression of complete impartiality to the unaware reader.
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
Taraki
“Oh thank you Native. Deidre McConnell is actually Deidre Kirubakaran, the wife of S.V. Kirubakaran the TCHR leader.”
Many in this forum are aware of the fact she is married to Kiruba.
I am told, in the west some married spouses would continue to use their maiden names even after their marriage, may be part of their civilisation, not willing to change their identity just for the sake of their husbands or custom. May be a militant feminist.
“A European name gives the impression of complete impartiality to the unaware reader.”
Yes for you and not for us who virtually live here in this forum.
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Taraki / December 30, 2016
Native, you would have to live here. Where else but in a Sri Lankan forum would such pro-terrorist comments be allowed? At one time Britain would not allow elected Irish MPs to take their seats in parliament. They could not be interviewed on TV, radio or in the press, but with the liberal-minded Sinhalese, anything is allowed.
Can you imagine comments like mine in English or Tamil being published in a Tamil forum? It will never happen.
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
Taraki
“At one time Britain would not allow elected Irish MPs to take their seats in parliament.”
My Elders tell me it was never the case on the contrary Sinn Fein continues to boycott the green seats at the parliament. Please accept you haven’t studied the Sinn Fein.
Here is the proof:
Sinn Féin MP says party will always boycott Westminster, despite report
theguardian.com
01 May 2015.
“They could not be interviewed on TV, radio or in the press, but with the liberal-minded Sinhalese, anything is allowed.”
I think you are not taking balanced food, lack of natural vitamins makes you forget past and present history of this island selectively. May be lacking sufficient sex. I don’t want to go into how illiberal this island has been since the mid 1950s.
As for the TV interviews it was the Thatcher government which introduced the ridiculous ban. The Sinn Fein leaders were interviewed on camera but voiced over with another, never banned their appearance on TV.
“Can you imagine comments like mine in English or Tamil being published in a Tamil forum?”
Give it a try.
Tamil Canadian used to let me say whatever I wanted to say between 2006 and 2010. DBS Jeyaraj and his Transcurrent (both were controlled by Tamils) used to let me have freedom to write my comment.
Like you there are hard core nationalists in Tamil Forums as well. Let me know if there are any. By the way, most Sinhala run forums never let me write what I thought were appropriate comments.
I think you should take plenty of Vitamin, have regular sex, read widely, remember events past and contemporary history, …… basically come out of the bunker and make an effort to see beyond your nose – This is what my elders taught me many many moons ago.
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anaconda / December 29, 2016
just like the japanese denying their crimes in their colonised territories, sinhalese are always in denial, regardless whether they are the so called colombo based ‘liberals’ or ‘hardline nationalists’. when the past history or even the present is inconvenient to them, they like to point the finger at the other direction. this is why reconciliation is not possible.
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Naman / December 29, 2016
Or the GoSL of whatever party will point to the atrocities /crimes committed by the west. But it does not make it right. Give the rights to minorities and let us live in a peaceful and prosperous country from 1/1/2017……..just dreaming.
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jim softy / December 30, 2016
Piranha:
japanese denying their crimes in their colonised territories, sinhalese are always in denial,
Japanese were denying rights of colonized terrotories.
We are talking here about Kallathoni migrents in Sri lanka.
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AJ / December 30, 2016
Sinhalese colonised kallathoni Sinhalese. They arrived from India wearing safron saree , Bodhi tree in one hand spear in the other and colonised the coastal Tamil vedas.
Make use of free education in Sri Lanka and study the history. if you go back to your homeland you have to pay for education
Kallathoni. Kalla national anthem stole from Bangaledesh – your home land. Kallla safron saree wearing faggots. Everything is kalla.
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CountryFirst / December 29, 2016
Oh dear oh dear!! Where did you learn your history, dear Dierdre??
Off Eelamist revisionist literature?
It is time you did some independent research for yourself of materials
acknowledged by historians prior to their disappearance after the Eelamist movement started payoffs for taking these volumes off Univ. Library shelves, especially in the West.
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Native Vedda / December 29, 2016
CountryFarce
“Where did you learn your history, dear Dierdre??”
Perhaps from Darshanie Ratnawalli, Kamalika Pieris, Shenali Waduge, ….. Mahanama, …..
“It is time you did some independent research for yourself of materials
acknowledged by historians prior to their disappearance after the Eelamist movement started payoffs for taking these volumes off Univ. Library shelves, especially in the West.”
Please find those puskola pots looted from burnt out Jaffna library, she may be able to write authentic history.
Who are these acknowledge historians and what are the disappeared materials you are talking about?
Name the historians and their disappeared work. You mean the books, journals, puskola pots, ……. that were burnt and looted from Jaffna Library.
Are you still singing Sinhala National anthem with gusto?
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Burning Issue / December 29, 2016
What exactly you disapprove? Please put counter points with historical references rather than accusing the author of being shallow in her knowledge.
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Mallaiyuran / December 29, 2016
The consultative task force of NGOs say they have no help from government media to disseminate their ideas on transitional justice, and language discrimination continues.
M/S Deirdre McConnell,
Mary Colvin was shot by Sri Lankan army with a RPG. She witnessed it herself and documented it. But the army put it on LTTE. Until now, neither Army, and their masters, the Old Royals, nor the Yahapalanaya -UNP boss Ranil have apologized for her or to her family so far. She was approved by the government to carry the visit she was going on. So, not just apology, Lankawe government should have paid her compensation too. Lankawe remain as one of the top most dangerous country for journalists. Lankawe has earned 175 in 179 nations for media safety. Even yesterday a Tamil Journalist was hacked and his house was ransacked. http://www.tamilwin.com/community/01/129754?ref=home. Using Kathirgamar, Chandrika Kumaratunga launched a very successful false propaganda against Tamils. She still remains as the most influential false spreading Sinhala Propagandist in IC arena.
By the way,
Regarding the history of Ceylon, Wikipedia is completely corrupted. While agitating the IC for a solution, Tamils have a parallel, tremendous job to have has the massive volumes of the Ceylon history appearing in Wikipedia corrected.
Using the Lankawe’s massive funding, the jobless Monks have corrupted the Wikipedia on the subject of Ceylon’s History from 2011. Anything appearing with the date stamp of after 2011 is utter false. If Lankawe has fought a war to carry out Genocide of Tamils spending 60 million rupees per head to a total of $200 billions, it is spending even much more than that on the Wikipedia editing and false propaganda.
Many part of its loaded right from Jaffnahistory.com a web site opened by the Old Royals to launch a massive probaganda to hide thier 2009 genocide and sustanciate the Sihala over ruling. Wikipedia cannot fix it. The NPC CM has asked to re-edit the corrupted Tamil children’s books with UNESCO, but no avail.
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jim softy / December 29, 2016
Deirdre McConnell
Did you ever have the time to reward Suicide bomber girls with Cyanide capsules ?
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
jim softy dimwit
“Did you ever have the time to reward Suicide bomber girls with Cyanide capsules ?”
If they were designated suicide bombers why did they need Cyanide capsules? They were going to die anyway.
What did you really mean? Are you probing her to find out if she could spare you a few?
Generally, most of us who share this forum do not encourage people to commit suicide or murder others. However, there are a few exceptions.
Tamil from North may be knocking your door now, with some capsules. Go hide under the bed.
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Ariyam / December 30, 2016
Deirdre McConnell
Have you even written about how the Singhalese governments cheated the Tamils not only in the North and East, even in Upcountry and others parts!
I think the birth of Cyanide capsules was due to cheating by various Sinhala governments.
I think cheating is a sweet word. For the massacres, torture, killings and ethnic cleansing.
What about JVP terrorism. The sinhala patriots think they can be excused by they are Sinhalase comes from another planet.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
ariyam
How did the birth of cyanide capsule go?
Success? or purged a generation of Tamils?
Hope you learnt that terrorism will not work!
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Native Vedda / January 1, 2017
Nuisance
“Hope you learnt that terrorism will not work!”
It would be much desirable if you found your padikkama.
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Eusense / January 2, 2017
stupid answer!
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AJ / December 31, 2016
Sinhalese are mastermind in making somebody a suicide bombers
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AJ / December 31, 2016
She conveniently left out the Sinhala suicide bombers.
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Jurassic / December 30, 2016
SinhalaPropaganda
“eelam tamils (as opposed to indian up country ones brought by the British) settled in Colombo in search of job opportunities by their own efforts without government backing”.
Thank you for admitting “Eelam Tamils” came to Colombo in search of job opportunities. From the numbers, it is obvious they were successful in finding jobs in large numbers despite all the accusations of bias against Tamils by the state. They were able to graduate from ‘bachelor chummaries’ to ‘family homes’ in a part of the country supposedly anti-Tamil and with genocide in practice. Secondly, why did professionals such as doctors not return to Tamil homeland after passing out to treat and look after Tamil patients rather than remain in Colombo and other parts of the island treating ‘Sinhala chauvinist patients’???
It would indeed be interesting to ascertain by way of a referendum how many Tamils living outside the so called Tamil homeland in other people’s homeland would opt to give up their businesses and property and move to the Norther Province (especially the likes of NPC CM born, bread, educated and worked outside the NP his whole life),
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jim softy / December 30, 2016
Dumb Native Veddo:
If they were designated suicide bombers why did they need Cyanide capsules? They were going to die anyway.
Did that Dumb Woman Australian ADELE do the exact same thing that you are talking about ?
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Native Vedda / December 30, 2016
jim softy the dimwit
We know you and logic don’t mix.
Logic:
Reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity.
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AJ / December 31, 2016
If the budhist monks are designated trannies why are they against LGBT?
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jim softy / December 30, 2016
This is for any of the Dumb Tamils writing here including the Author of this article. Why don’t you write about why Sinhala people are not moving to Tamilnadu. Only the Tamilnadu Dalits are moving, have moved to Sri lanka and are asking a Homeland ?
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AJ / December 31, 2016
Dusclaimar: to make sense of this BBS terrorist’s nonsense, switch the words Sinhalese with Tamils
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Zeus / December 30, 2016
Ms. McConnel, The problem with people like you is that you have an agenda and facts do not matter for people like you. Please educate yourself on the issues involved before you start writing articles. Many people have died because of the type of lies propagated by people like you. Do not get the facts only from the Tamil net or the Tamil diaspora only. If you really want the truth please read at least these two articles (links below), from Lankaweb. You talk of the non-violent resistance of the Tamil people. How about the 30 year insurrection by the Tamils against the Sri Lanka Government, with help from India and foreign countries.
This is a brilliant expose of the Tamil fraud that has been perpetrated ever since we got independence.
It has been sustained because of support from India and foreign countries for their own strategic geopolitical reasons. Ever since the first Colonists (Portuguese) came in 1505, the Sinhala Buddhist culture which had been sustained for 2600 years began to decline. It was the worst under the British who brought 1.5 million Tamil Dalits to Sri Lanka changing the ethnic mix permanently. It is the British who even today support the unjust Tamil cause for separatism. We the Sinhala Buddhists are the minority in an ocean of Tamil Dalits 12 miles away across the Palk straits. There are 15 Million plus Tamil Dalits in Tamil Nadu.
I must also emphasise that you ought to read about the Vadukoddai Resolution which the Tamil leaders brought out in 1976. This Resolution urged the Tamil people to get Tamil Eelam through violence. This Resolution stands to date as we have not seen it removed and no Tamil leader anywhere has condemned it. What do you think of that ?
Also what do you think about the Caste problems going on in Tamil Nadu in India ? What are writers like yourself doing about that ? This problem has been going on in Tamil Nadu (Homeland of Tamils) for over 3000 yrs.
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Spring Koha / December 30, 2016
I witnessed much of what Ms McConnell has written about, from the mid 1940’s to date. She writes…. During the July 1983 pogroms in which over 3,000 Tamils were brutally killed, ……To that I would add…..’and some 3 million were scarred for life’. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth; It was probably the saddest time in our island.
As with all mongrel races, the Sinhalese are insular and visceral with a deep inferiority complex. Many who see the light escape those confines and flourish – but not enough to take the overwhelming majority with them. And it is that overwhelming majority who provide the life blood for the cunning and devious Sinhalese politician. The Sinhalese politician will turn cartwheels to win the heart and soul of the 75% who constitute the Bauddha-Sinhala electorate. They will fight tooth and nail, out-do each other, to prevent any independent (especially foreign) investigation into the events of those times. This defence, this manning of the barricades, is a badge of honour to them. Our obdurate leaders, masters in the art of stymieing will fight each other for the right to be seen as ‘defenders of religion and language’.
The saddest thing is that we have not learned the lessons of the last thirty years. There are evil forces at work now who will not stop until they goad another minority into another opportunity for a chance to subjugation. They are playing with fire!
I remember horrified people in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s asking the question “how long will the Tamils put up with the tribulations that were heaped on them?” . Now we ask the same question, of another minority.
The next conflagration, if and when it comes, will be in the sprawling ‘megapolis’.
Those toiling to keep the peace had better double their efforts.
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Taraki / December 30, 2016
‘As with all mongrel races, the Sinhalese are insular and visceral’
Generalised racism and racial hatred at its best.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
Look at Deirdre. She looks like a typical drug addict. Nobody should take anything she says seriously.
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SinhalaPropaganda / December 30, 2016
Let’s see a photo of your pretty face. You guys are always judging people by their appearances, calling Tamils the N word while looking no different from them. Must be some sort of insecurity.
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Eusense / December 30, 2016
sinhal
I did not comment on her prettiness or ugliness. Have you seen older female Caucasian drug addicts? If you have, you wouldn’t have made your comment.
Why do you think job applicants are interviewed in person?
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Samson Gunaratne / December 31, 2016
Sinhale,
Needless to add any thoughts coming from these dimwits – their genes are so rotten as nothing coudl reverse them in this life.
That is why they stay as irreversible. Else, Genetic studies havealready proved that we the sinhalaya and tamils have the same genetic patterns only Veddas had been the aborigines of the country at the time, both folks migrated to lanka from India.
We also know most of the words in sinhala and vize versa to Tamil we find more similarities than with other langagues, even if Sinhala belong to the category – indo german langagues while tamil to dravidian langagues. All in all, we have much common than s thought before.
But the extremists dont want to see facts through their masked and blind folded eyes. Those politicians that abuse these extremist mind set will have to face it before long. Basta.
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Southern Historian / December 31, 2016
My observation is many of the comments are out of the subject talking from their hats.
Ms Deidre McConel from UK can be named by you stupids as anything, but in fact she is one of the saviours of so called Sinhala terrorist in 80s.
This is not a joke, it is a truth known well among the Human rights supporters in 80s.
Including most racist President of Sri Lanka Rajapakasa, Vasuthevananayakara and few others, who can deny this?
When Police officers like Udugampola and President Premadasa were terrorising the youths in the South, some westerners (I do not like name them here) came to Sri Lanka and rescued some of the most wanted JVP activists out of Sri Lanka.
This cannot be denied by people who know the JVP history in the South, including Rajapakasa, Vasuthevananayakara and few others.
So stop all your nasty remarks and be grateful for someone telling the truth.
Do not forget, once again the youth in the South may get involved in capturing the government by any means.
In such a scenario, I do not think Westerners like Ms Deidre McConel will ever come for help to the youths in the South because of racist attitudes growing rampantly in the South.
So-called Academics like Dayan, Rajeeva and others are pure opportunists. They want police officers like Udugampola to wipe out the youth in the South.
Sri Lankan history will not be finished today or tomorrow.
In future Sri Lankan history will be decided by foreign powers.
So ladies and gentlemen, stop your nasty emotional remarks and accept the truth.
For your information. Someone is still ALIVE.
Someone is still ALIVE. Ask Karuna for his honest reply!
You all should think about the future of Sri Lanka but not about a person talking sense and truth.
To write nonsense with bogus names is possible.
What is the reality? You all will see the reality before the next general election.
Good luck, happy New Year 2017. Be patient.
Can you please pass my well researched comments to your executive President, ex-Presidents, ex-Prime Ministers and other racist politicians.
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AJ / December 31, 2016
[Edited out] Please write instead of posting web links – CT
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AJ / December 31, 2016
This author is biased against the Tamils. She conveniently left out Sinhala suicide bombers. CT is removing the links I posted to corroborate evidence with news papers listing Sinhala suicide bombers. Now we can’t post any links to substantiate our claims ? Some people here already liars . They can lie more now. Great work CT :(
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Edward Upali / December 31, 2016
The lesson here is:
If you cannot find a job, you can always get a job with the LTTE diaspora as a hired hand. Join Adele Balasingham et al…, you have a job for life servicing the LTTE guys living abroad.
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Kettikaran / January 3, 2017
A valid and representative synopsis of the fate of Lankan Tamils
by the eminent British politician Ms McConnel. What is absent in the report is a necessary critique of the retrograde remote-controlled role played throughout by the Buddhist clerical hierarchy. It is they who really hold the real political power in the country – not the Cabinet or Parliament. With over 75% of the population being Buddhist Sinhalese, it is unlikely the truth will come out. Tamils can hardly expect any justice in this environment.
Sinhalese consider the decades long events to be a racial Sinhalese Vs Tamil “war” – a continuation of what took place thousands of years ago. Already even UNP leaders have announced they will not allow the apparently guilty Rajapakses and their henchmen to be subject to the relevant laws of the UN, The Hague or its agencies. If the Rajapakses and friends go scot free after committing Genocide, HR and War Crimes of the magnitude widely known the UN, ICJ and other agencies will lose their validity.
Kettikaran
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