By C.V. Wigneswaran –
C.V. Wigneswaran
His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena
President
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo 01
May it please Your Excellency!
Problems of the Tamil Speakin People
This may be the last epistle that I may be directing to Your Excellency while you are still in office. It appears Your Excellency would not seek a second term of office. Your Excellency came to power with the votes of the minorities, especially the Tamils. It might be relevant o mull over the past a little just to assess what political benefits you have brought to the Tamils.
When I first met Your Excellency in Colombo you were very frank and cordial. I sought your help to release the Tamil political prisoners. Your Excellency said you are well aware of the experiences of being incarcerated since you spent many months in Jail during the JVP rising in 1971. Your Excellency was then a Member of the Chinese Wing of the Communist Party headed by Mr.Shanmugathasan. Your Excellency told me that you would gladly grant Amnesty to all Tamil political prisoners but the Sinhala papers have already started writing that you are releasing the Tigers and incarcerating the Sinhalese. For political reasons you said you needed time to consider how soon the prisoners could be released. Thereafter many reminders in person as well as in writing only got the response that Your Excellency would look into the matter but nothing materialized. The problem of the Tamil political prisoners still has not been solved.
Many matters need urgent attention as far as our Community is concerned. So too the Tamil speaking Muslims. They too need your intervention in many matters. But their leaders will no doubt bring their problems separately to Your Excellency’s notice.
Meanwhile let me briefly appraise Your Excellency of the unfortunate predicament our people are in –
1. Tamil political prisoners were taken into custody under a dubious statute called the Prevention of Terrorism Act, (which does not conform to International Standards of Justice and Fair Play), kept in very long periods of detention, remand, incarceration or finally convicted to serve jail sentences. The statute clearly is contrary to accepted legal norms in that by a mere confession a person could be convicted and sentenced to long periods of jail. When I was Supreme Court Judge, in Nagamany’s Case, I suggested corroborative evidence to be sought with regard to the contents of a confession since for any one or more of many plausible reasons, the confession may contain deliberate falsehoods. Unless a Court is certain that the offence mentioned in the confession had indeed in fact taken place through an independent witness, I had said such convictions on a mere confession would be very dangerous and could more often amount to travesty of Justice. Many Sinhala Judges would not follow this judgment since they were prejudiced right from the beginning against any Tamil person brought before them on a PTA charge. It was a Sinhala lawyer from the Polonnaruwa Bar who brought this to my notice.
They convicted many on mere confessions. I believe most of the Tamil political prisoners if not all were taken into custody under the draconian PTA and therefore releasing all of them, including those convicted, on a General Amnesty would be quite in order, since you are releasing persons not remanded nor convicted under the normal laws of the Country. After all not one of them in Remand or Convicted could have committed any more serious crime under the Law, than what Karuna had committed. He is held in high esteem and given Royal treatment by Powers that be. But those who carried out orders of such persons like Karuna are languishing in Jail for long periods of time. Hence releasing all Tamil political prisoners on a General Amnesty by Your Excellency could not amount to an indiscretion on Your Excellency’s part.
2. Those demonstrating on streets and elsewhere regarding their disappeared dear ones have done so by now for nearly 1000 days continuously. They only seek to know what happened to their dear ones taken into custody by the State officials on a specific date, time and venue.
You could have given some assurance to those seeking their dear ones long ago.
For the past four and a half years Your Excellency has not cared to inquire into those who had disappeared after being taken into custody by the Forces in the presence of reliable witnesses. Obviously Your Excellency knew what took place and therefore reluctant to probe into the activities of the Military and others lest they be exposed! Already some who demonstrated on the streets have passed away cursing Your Excellency because probing into the disappearances was within your authority and yet Your Excellency did not move an inch.
3. Still private lands are occupied by the Forces. Your Excellency has not been able to remove them all from private lands.
4. There are over 55000 to 60000 acres of State land in the Northern Province still occupied by the Forces. Ten years after the war Your Excellency has still not asked the reasons that prompted the Forces to keep these lands continuously for such a long period up to now. These lands traditionally belong to the people of the Northern Province. Security cannot be the reason since security investigations in modern days with appropriate equipment and accessories could be carried out from inside a small room. From such a room the entirety of the Northern Province could be overlooked with the help of satellites.
The Forces therefore do not need acres and acres of our land to look after our security.
It appears the continuance of the Military in our areas has certain other connotations. Buddhist places of worship are put up in areas where there are no Buddhists with the help of the Forces. Forcible colonization of our areas with persons from outside our district are taking place through the Mahaweli Development Authority with the assistance given by the Military. We need to be allowed to choose whether the Mahaweli Development Authority should be allowed to have jurisdiction over the Northern and Eastern Provinces which two Provinces have been accepted by Sri Lanka in the Indo Sri Lankan Accord of 1987 as follows –
“4.1. Also recognizing that the Northern and Eastern Provinces have been areas of historical habitation of Sri Lankan Tamil speaking peoples, who have at all times hitherto lived together in this territory ——–”
Construction of Buddhist places of worship without due permission being obtained from the relevant authorities and Pan Sinhala colonization of the Northern and Eastern Provinces by the Mahaweli Development Authority must be stopped by Your Excellency. After the 13th Amendment was passed provisions of Statutes such as the Mahaweli Development Authority Act have not been re considered in the light of the provisions of the 13th Amendment giving devolution of power to the periphery. No more can the national ratio be applied to Provinces. Colonisation should be according to the Provincial population ratio.
5. The assurances given by the Government in Geneva to the U.N. regarding War Crimes Inquiry to be conducted impartially with foreign collaboration have not been kept. Your Excellency has not questioned the Government the reasons for their delay and their indifference in this matter. May be Your Excellency is hand in glove with the present Government with regard to such matters concerning the Tamils, despite your political differences with them.
Many matters need Your Excellency’s intervention if not as the President of the Country at least as an obligation Your Excellency owes to the Tamils who brought you into office.
It is not too late to act prudently. At least the release of the Tamil political prisoners could be done by Your Excellency before you relinquish office since you would not be seeking office again and therefore political reasons need not constrain Your Excellency.
Let us hope Your Excellency would consider this request favourably as a token of your appreciation for what the Tamils did in January 2015 to bring you into power. I for one had done my part successfully.
Thank you.
Yours Sincerely
Justice C.V. Wigneswaran
Former Chief Minister
Northern Province
Secretary General
Thamizh Makkal Kootanii
K.Anaga / August 23, 2019
CVW!
Maithrepala’s Government is By the TAMILS-For the SINHALESE Of the SINHALESE. Therefore you cannot expect anything better. Soon after Maithree was elected he promised that he would not run for a second term. That was a good reason for him to have done the right thing for the Tamils immediately- say within two years, when Ranil and Maithree were Honey Mooning. Now they are at logger’s heads. Perhaps this is another reason why he could do the right thing for the Tamils as he need not depend on the Sinhalese votes or Tamil votes. All that he needs is an Easy Chair Made to Order, to relax at his home in POLONNARUWA and watch the political fun unfolding.
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D. P. / August 24, 2019
K Anga,
Two points:
1. MY 3 is an average politicians whose main tactic has been winning votes through cheap lies and therefore, taking his word seriously is a mistake. He came to power offering so many noble promises, all of which became nothing at one time or another as he established himself within the position. No-second term was one such broken promise. He is not contesting now not b’cos he doesn’t want but b’cos of the certainty that he would lose so badly. I think that the reasons for his abandonment of Tamils are two fold: Pressure from the security forces +racists elements and the newly developed friendship with a few Muslim leaders (leading to disastrous Eater Sunday security failure).
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2. From the Tamil point of view, it appears that Vig has failed to taken into account the immediate reason for their demise: LITTE terrorism. LITTE is still live & well abroad and its cinders are still only hiding under the ashes. The lesson from the history is that, terrorism can be destroyed but its ideology will live on to rise repeatedly. It is wrong to expect any Gvt to ignore this lesson. I also believe that Vig himself as the CM missed a golden opportunity to find some solutions to some of the problem he has mentioned if he tried to invite expertise & capital of Tamil abroad to invest in Tamil areas while, at the same time, working with Ranil, Harsha, Eran, etc to facilitate such programs. Instead, he took a path of confrontation both with his own Tamil colleagues & the central Gvt.
_
Yes, no doubt that GoRa’s handling of Post-War “mopping up” was too excessive. If it was too much for elsewhere, no wonder why Tamils feel very bitter about it. But, what did Vig do to help the Gvt to resolve serious social & economic problems Tamils are facing?
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Another broken promise / August 24, 2019
Everybody says, Ranil cheated the Tamils and the TNA by appointing a constitutional council and promising to change the constitution. Ranil says he could not do anything because the President and the SLFP were not supportive. The President came to power by the Tamil votes but he did nothing to the Tamils.
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Another broken promise / August 24, 2019
Even the next president will have to come to power due to the Tamil and Muslim votes. If the Tamils refrain from voting (like in 2005), it will be a walk over for Gota. The minority vote is a must but to whom they should vote is the issue. Can the Tamils trust Sajith, he may even take revenge for his father’s killing?
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punchinilame / August 23, 2019
Very very appropriate and in good time. Let’s await the farewell award to just another
human community right here in Sri Lanka, just 89 (?) in numbers.
Any bet? It will be damn NO in his Buddhistic leadership style!
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Eagle Eye / August 23, 2019
“There are over 55000 to 60000 acres of State land in the Northern Province still occupied by the Forces. Ten years after the war Your Excellency has still not asked the reasons that prompted the Forces to keep these lands continuously for such a long period up to now. These lands traditionally belong to the people of the Northern Province.”
Who decided that these land traditionally belong to the people of the Northern Province? By descendants of slaves brought by colonial parasites and dumped in the North?
Land in the Northern Province was under the King of Kandy at the time Portuguese occupied this land. At the time Portuguese occupied Yapanaya, Sinhalayo lived in Yapanaya. Demographic composition in Yapanaya was drastically changed by Portuguese and Dutch bringing Demalu from Malabar to work in tobacco and indigo farms. After Dutch were kicked out by British, Wellala Demalu grabbed the land and imposed the Malabari customary law ‘Thesawalamei’ to keep land under their control. British gave citizenship to these illegally imported people from Malabar.
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Deva / August 24, 2019
Eagle Eye,
The Dravidians were the original people of South Asia who later occupied Southern India and Sri Lanka. This island was originally a Siva Boomi (sacred land of Saivate/Hindu Dravidians). The Dravidians were occupying this island (and South India) from time immemorial and the language of this (South India-Sri Lanka) region was also Dravidian from the very beginning. They were devotees of Lord Siva (Saivaism is a sect of Hinduism/Brahmanism prevalent in South India – Sri Lanka region before Buddhism). The numerous occurrences of the personal name Siva in the Pali chronicles and in the early Brahmi stone inscriptions and the recent discoveries of Siva temples and Saivate Dravidian villages buried in the Anuradapura area are further proof that the island was originally occupied by Saivate/Hindu Dravidians in the ancient past. As per Ramayana, even the Yaksha king Ravana was believed to be a Dravidian chieftain and a strong devotee of Lord Siva.
Everything changed in Sri Lanka due to the North Indian Emperor Asoka who sent Buddhist missionary monks led by his son Mahinda Thero to the island and converted the Saivaite Dravidian King Muta Siva’s second son Tissa (brother of Maha Siva) to Buddhism in the 2nd century BC (Tissa/Tisa is his Buddhist name, his real Saiva Dravidian name is not known). Emperor Asoka gave Tissa a title Devanampiya for accepting Buddhism. In fact, Buddhism in Sri Lanka was actually a North Indian conspiracy organized by the North Indian Emperor Asoka with the support from the local stooge Tissa who seized the Anuradapura throne (with Asoka’s support) which rightly belonged to his elder brother Abhaya.
Continued…
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Deva / August 24, 2019
Continued from above…
Following the king Devanampiya Tissa, a large number of Saivaite/Hindu Dravidian (Eela) tribes in the island embraced Asoka’s Buddhism, Aryanised/Prakritised their speech, learned to write using Asoka Bhrami script, adopted the North Indian Lion symbol (National flag, Sri Lanka never ever had any Lions), accepted the Asoka Buddhist culture and implemented Asoka’s technology to build Stupas, Chaityas, Viharas, Sangharama, and so on. Even though the Sinhala language, religion and culture are Indo-Aryan (meaning North Indian), the ethnic structure of the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka is quite similar to South Indian (Dravidian). The latest Archeological and Genealogical discoveries in Sri Lanka using modern technology shows that not only the Flora and Fauna but the people of these two regions (South India and Sri Lanka) are of the same stock and closely connected. The people who call themselves Sinhala-Buddhists today are converts, they were originally Saivate/Hindu Dravidians.
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Native Vedda / August 24, 2019
Deva/SSSSSSSS
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“The Dravidians were the original people of South Asia who later occupied Southern India and Sri Lanka. This island………………..”
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Is Eagle Blind Eye your Conjoined twin brother?
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Eagle Eye / August 23, 2019
“Also recognizing that the Northern and Eastern Provinces have been areas of historical habitation of Sri Lankan Tamil speaking peoples, who have at all times hitherto lived together in this territory ——–”
—
When did this history start? After 1505.
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Karan / August 23, 2019
Blind Eagle Eye
SL Tamils are as indigenous to the island as native Sinhalese and this has been proven by multiple DNA studies:
https://sldna.blogspot.com/2019/02/common-ancestry-of-sinhalese-and-sri.html
If SL Tamils have to go back to India, then by that same logic Sinhalese should do as well (as we definitely share at least the same maternal ancestors).
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Thambapanni man / August 24, 2019
“When did this history start? After 1505.”
Long before Kallathoni Vijay came from India in a boat and created the Sinhala race. Very long before Paradesi Chingalam…
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Native Vedda / August 25, 2019
Eagle Blind Eye
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“When did this history start?”
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About 4.54 billion years ago.
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JD / August 23, 2019
Wigneswaran, as a retired Judge: You have ridiculed the Judiciary in Sri Lanka. Everybody knows you. Hoe about, if you were exposed to the Tamils, who will win ?. You say even supreme court Judges are not that intelligent. I do not think English reading Tamils are that dumb. You have got the equation completely wrong.
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Tamil from the north / August 24, 2019
@JD mutt, you ridiculed the entire Sinhala community the day your thathe and amme did their hanky panky business behind the plaintain tree in the Wilpattu. Why are you soooooooooooooo dumb?
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Karan / August 23, 2019
Eagle Eye no doubt you are from the Karawa, Salagama or Durawa castes. You should study your own recent post 15th century history, rather than spout outright lies about the Tamils of Jaffna, most of whom have ancestry in SL that goes back millennia as proven by genetics.
Even the Sinhala Nampota written in 14th century called the Tamil Jaffna Kingdom as Demala-pattanama (Tamil city).
How can it be a Tamil city if there were no Tamils living there as per your hallucinations?
Go back to school.
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JD / August 23, 2019
KARAN: There are Tamils who have written well about Tamil migration within South Asia and all around the world. Wigneswaran talk like a Brahmin (He is very casteist, I do not think most tamils would vote him if he comes.) . There are not Brahmans outside India. I heard he is descending from MALAYALI Tobacco farmers.
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Deva / August 24, 2019
JD & EE,
You are saying that the indigenous Sri Lankan Tamils (NE Tamils) are tobacco farmers brought by Dutch from Malabar Coastal Area. Is there any proof for what you are saying or is it just a made up story by the Sinhala Racists? What reliable evidence (or any published authentic research) do you have to prove your historical fiction that the Jaffna Tamils were brought by the Dutch for Tobacco plantation. If what you are saying is correct then I have some questions for you to answer.
1. The people of Kerala are known as Malayalees (Malabars) and they speak a language called Malayalam. How and why did those Malayalee tobacco farmers from Malabar Coastal Area became (converted to) Tamils and adopted Tamil language/culture instead of Malayalam language/culture after coming to Sri Lanka? (in reality the Malabars hate Tamils, they will never become Tamils).
2. During the Dutch period, the Dutch Predikant Philippus Baldeaes (who lived in Jaffna) has mentioned about the inhabitants of Jaffna Patnam (in his famous 1682 historical account) as “this part of the country was times past peopled from Coromandel Coast”. He talks about ‘times past’ and not present time (Dutch period). So, how can you say Dutch brought them when the Dutch themselves were saying, a part of the country was peopled TIMES PAST from the Tamil country? (he did not say, we/the Dutch brought them).
Continued…
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Deva / August 24, 2019
Continued from above…
3. In his book ‘Jaffna under the Portuguese’, Prof. Tikiri Abeyasinghe (Professor of modern history at the University of Colombo till 1985) notes that in the period 1624-1626 (during Portuguese rule of Jaffna), they converted 52,000 Jaffna Tamil Hindus into Catholics. Prof. Tikiri Abeysinghe is one of the very few who has done extensive research on Portuguese archives and Goa archives by living in those countries. How did Tamil Hindus live in Jaffna during the Portuguese period if Dutch brought them?
4. Bhuvanekabahu VI (Sapumal Kumaraya aka Chempaha Perumal) the adopted son of Parakrama Bahu VI captured the Jaffna Kingdom in 1450 (much before the Portuguese arrived). During his rule in Jaffna, he built the premier shrine of Hindu worship – the Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil (he did not build any Buddhist temple) for the people of Jaffna peninsula. The Tamils of Jaffna are still invoking his name and singing thevarams to him in the Nallur Kovil before the temple procession of Lord Murukan. Why did this so called Sinhala King build the Hindu Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil in the 13th Century AD for the people of Jaffna if there were no Tamils until the Dutch arrived?
5. We all know about the Jaffna kingdom (all the historians have accepted it) that existed from 13th century onwards (long before the Dutch came) and the last Tamil king of Jaffna Cankli Kumaran was defeated in the battle with the Portuguese in the 16th century. What happened to all those Tamil people of Jaffna who lived during the Jaffna kingdom?
Could you please answer these questions without running and hiding like you did before. Can you also show some reliable evidence to your Tobacco story?
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Eagle Eye / August 24, 2019
Until a Demala guy named Ponnambalam Arunachalam involved in preparing the Census Report in 1911 changed the term ‘Malabars’ to ‘Ceylon Tamils’ to refer to Demalu who lived in the North there were no Tamils in Sinhale. Demalu are a hotchpotch of several groups who spoke Dravidian languages.
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“most of whom have ancestry in SL that goes back millennia as proven by genetics.”
Proved by whom? Amarasiri the Pseudo Genetics expert.
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Karan / August 24, 2019
Blind Eagle Eye, are you so blind that you could not see the link I posted before?
sldna.blogspot.com
If you are able to read, read every genetic study quoted in this blog. Hopefully, your eye sight won’t fail you.
By the way which post 15th century South Indian Tamil caste are you descended from?
I am guessing you are of
Tamil Karaiyar descent.
I wonder what caste Dayan is from? His father’s Da Silva name sounds like South Indian origin caste too. And he has the gall to claim sons of the soil status.
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Karan / August 23, 2019
Eagle Eye
Should learn more about his recent South Indian Tamil ancestors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMbhLoJWXs0
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Bodin / August 24, 2019
When Sri Lanka became a crown colony of the English, during the period 1800 to 1820, Captain Percival lived in Jaffna and recored the land, people and demographics in great detail. In his book he says that the majority of Residents were Moors, then the Sinhalese and the Malabars were indented labour working in Tobacco and other farbe ms. Free Tamils were a very small number.
So, after independence, the NP should revert to the hands of the Muslims. It is their traditional land. The Mlalbars should go to the Malabar coast.
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Karan / August 24, 2019
Another Nutty Professor of history. Why don’t you write a book about your Islamic caliphate in Jaffnastan based on this single quote.
And while you’re at it, explain away the Tamil Jaffna kingdom, the archaic Jaffna Tamil dialect and Parakrambahu’s Tamil inscription addressed to the locals in Tamil.
And then flush it down the toilet.
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Siva Sankaran Sharma / August 24, 2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Province,_Sri_Lanka
This is the ancient to modern history of the northern province . Population statistics are there from 1881 would not have changed much from 1820, as no one was killing or ethnically cleansing then. Not even the British. So how come the so called Moors who are supposed to be in a majority are less than 4% in the north now and then and the Tamils who were ruling the north but strangely a minority as per you and this Percival chap , have always been more than 94% in the north? Most probably your so called Percival was living in a Muslim brothel house and only saw Muslims
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Hatim Effendi / August 24, 2019
Bodin
You should know the basic history of the Moors (Muslims) Of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan Muslims/Mohammedans (a religion and not an ethnic group) are the third largest ‘ethnic’ group in Sri Lanka comprising 9% of the country’s total population. They are made up of the Moors (Sonakar/Yonaka or Marakkar/Marakkala) from South India, the Malays from Malaya, the Ja (Javanese) from Indonesia, the Memons (Baai people) from Pakistan and the Bhoras and Khojas (Shia Muslims) from North India. Other than the Bhoras and Khojas, all others are Sunni Muslims. It was actually the Portuguese who named the Malabar Muslims as Moors (a Moorish identity). In Tamil Nadu they were known as ‘Thulukar’. The Moors were also known as Nana/Kaaka in Tamil and Thambi in Sinhala. The Malays who were originally settled in Hambantota were called Hamba but later, all the Malayas were known as Hambayas. The Traditional Sri Lankan Sunni Muslims were from the Shafii sect and some of them were also the followers of Sufi traditions (Sufism). Salafism and Wahhabism were introduced recently within the Sunni Muslims of Sri Lanka due to strong influence and heavy funding from Arab countries in the Middle East.
The bulk of the Muslims in Sri Lanka are the Moors (Malabar & Arab mixed) who came to Sri Lanka from South India (not direct from any Arab country). The fact is that Islam had come to South India (Chera/Kerala) direct from the country of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in the 7th century, while it reached North India much later. Arab traders used to visit the western coast of India (Coastal Malabar) as early as the 7th century AD. Malabar region in South India was a link between them and ports of South East Asia to trade. They intermarried with the local people (Hindus) in Malabar and with this admixture the large Muslim community of Kerala evolved.
Continued…
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Hatim Effendi / August 24, 2019
Bodin
The first Indian mosque (Cheraman Juma Masjid) was built in 621 CE by one of the last kings of the Chera Kingdom, Shankara Varman or Chenkal Perumal who got converted to Islam and facilitated the proliferation of Islam in Malabar.
Those who adopted the religion of the Arabs in the Tamil country (Kerala/Tamil Nadu) came to be referred to as ‘Sonakar’ (Jonakar or Chonakar) irrespective of their racial origin. The ‘Sonakar’ were Malabars/Tamils (Hindus) from the Malabar and Coromandal coasts of South India who were the earliest converts to Islam in South India. Writers such as Humayun Kabir (Indian Heritage) has pointed out that the majority of the Muslims of South India are converts to Islam (from Hinduism) and not Arabs.
Barbosa in his account of the Island (Ceylon) in 1519 in his book ‘Economic, Political and Social Geography of Maritime Asia’ says, a large numbers of ‘Moors’ from the South Indian (Malabar and Coromandel) coasts resorted constantly to Sri Lanka. Barbosa speaks of their heads covered with handkerchiefs and of their earrings so heavy that they hang down to their shoulders. A handkerchief was necessary to cover their shaven crowns, while the earrings indicated most emphatically their South Indian origins. They lived primarily in coastal trading and agricultural communities, preserving their Islamic customs and the South Indian language/culture (the book describes a lot more about them).
The inter-marriage between the local women (Malabar Hindus) with the Moorish Arab Merchants was in fact encouraged by the Zamorin kings of Calicut/Kozhikode (Northern Kerala commonly known as Malabar), the reason why the Muslims (Moors) are fair in complexion with sharp features when compared to others in the region. A good number of Malabar Muslims (Sonakar) were enlisted in the naval force of Zamorin and given the title of Marakkar (so named because they were using wooden boats known as Marakkalam).
Continued…
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Hatim Effendi / August 24, 2019
Bodin
These Marakkar (Moors) became the traders in the Indian Ocean operating from the ports of Calicut/Kozhikode and Cochin.The Marakkar established a monopoly in the commercial activities in the Indian Ocean and one of their main trade was spices.
The South Western coast of Sri Lanka where the premium quality spices (such as cinnamon) were grown was the first landing/settling place of the Marakkala/Yonaka/Moor Muslims of Malabar in Sri Lanka in the late 14th century. Even today the Sinhalese call them Marakkala Minissu. The Sinhalese also used to call the Sonakar as Yonaka during the early days. They are the people who brought the banana known today among the Sinhalese as Koolikutu (from Kozhikode/Malabar), in Jaffna they call it Kappal palam (because they brought it in the ship/Kappal from the Kozhikode port). Vattil Appam is a Malabar dish introduced to Sri Lanka by these Marakkar/Sonakar Muslims (Moors). Since then it has got modified in Sri Lanka as Watalappam and certain amount of its taste has changed.
One of the famous Malabar Merchants who traded in cinnamon with Sri Lanka and sold them to the Portuguese in Calicut/Kozhikode (before the Portuguese came to Ceylon) was the Markar family. Later, some members of the Markar family (the Marakkar/Sonakar/Moor Muslim families) settled in the Island. It is the members of the Markar family who took the ‘Parangiya to Kotte’ when the Portuguese wanted to meet the King of Kotte and we all know how the Parangiya went to Kotte.
The settlement at Beruwala (South-West coast of Sri Lanka), which the Sri Lankan ‘Muslims/Moors’ generally admit to be the first of all their settlements, took place not earlier than the 14th century (after 1344). Ibn Batuta (Arab explorer from Morocco) visited the Island in 1344, but makes no mention of any ‘Muslims/Moors’ at Beruwela (or anywhere else in the Island) though it lay directly on his route from Galle to Colombo.
Continued…
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Hatim Effendi / August 24, 2019
Bodin
The affairs of Sri Lanka (economy) during the time of Bhuvanaike Bahu (King of Kotte) was in most critical condition. Within a short period, all the trade in the Island was in the hands of the Moors and they were more powerful than the natives. The wealth which this trade had brought to the country rendered them powerful and gave them ascendency over the Sinhalese rulers. Their aim at that time was to become the absolute rulers of Sri Lanka.
The arrival of the Portuguese saved the Sinhalese from the Moors becoming the rulers. When the Portuguese arrived (from South India, their first landing was Kerala), it was the Moors who first organized resistance against them and urged King Bhuvanaike Bahu and his brothers Mayadunne and Raigam Bandara to oppose the Portuguese. However, the Portuguese not only took over the trade but also persecuted the Moors and saved the Sinhalese from the slavery of the Moors. The Portuguese treated the Moors harshly, they suffered widespread persecution because (1) they refused to become converts to Christianity (2) they were their rivals in trade. Professor Courtnay in his ‘History of Ceylon’, (pp. 13-14) says that had not the Portuguese come to Sri Lanka the entire Island would have come under the control of the Moors. Due to the Portuguese persecution, the Moors were seeking help from King Senarat of Kandy who settled them in the up-country as well as in the North-Eastern Coasts of Sri Lanka.
Every Muslim (Moor) village in Sri Lanka from South-West to North-East carries with it a Malabar name (Peruveli aka Beruwela, Sammanturai, etc), a pointer to the fact that the original Moor occupants had hailed from Malabar and spoke from the beginning the Malabarish Tamil language, whatever their present ‘nationality’, ‘race’ and ‘language’ might be. Some of them still bear Malabar names like Periya Marikkar, Sinna Lebbe, Pitchai Thamby and so on.
Continued…
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Hatim Effendi / August 24, 2019
Bodin
There is hardly any difference between ‘Ceylon Moors’ and ‘Indian/Coast Moors’. The difference between ‘Ceylon Moors’ and ‘Indian/Coast Moors’ is, the ‘Ceylon Moors’ represent the earlier Muslim settlers/traders in Ceylon from South India (before the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka). The ‘Indian Moors’ consists of those who came recently to Sri Lanka from South India (after the Portuguese period).
It is wrongly believed in Sri Lanka that the Sri Lankan Muslims (Moors) descend from Moorish Arab merchants who married native (Sinhalese & Tamil) wives after having them converted to Islam. The fact is, bulk of the ‘Moors’ in Sri Lanka, as it has been amply demonstrated (refer books/writings mentioned above), are not Moorish Arab Merchants but Tamil/Malabar speaking Sonakar/Marakkar who came from South India. Except for a few visitors like Ibn Battuta, the Arabs did not come direct to Sri Lanka. If they had come to Sri Lanka (South Western coast) direct from the Middle Eastern Arab countries and married to Sinhalese women, today their descendants (Sri Lanka Moors) should be speaking Arabic or Sinhala as their mother tongue but throughout the island even today their mother tongue is Malabarish Tamil. All these days, as a religion they were following Islam but as a culture they were following the Malabarish Ceylon culture. Only very recently they have adopted the Arab culture in order to show others that they are more Arabs than the Arabs themselves. However, the fact is, if any Sri Lankan Muslim/Mohammedan go to any Arab country and say he is an Arab (by ancestry), they will only laugh (never accept). In Saudi Arabia and all the surrounding Arab countries, the Arabs do not consider the Sri Lankan Muslims as a part of their (Arab) people.
This is the brief history of the Tamil speaking Moors/Muslims of Sri Lanka also known as Sonakar/Chonakar/Nana (in Tamil) or Marakkala/Yonaka/Thambi (in Sinhala).
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PBG / August 23, 2019
Wiggy has forgotton the ‘traditional Sinhala homeland’ of the old Kandyan kingdom now occupied by several million Tamils. What does he propose doing about that?
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Native Vedda / August 24, 2019
PBG
–
There is no homeland for all Kallathonie descendants in this island, irrespective of their date of arrival.
This is the ancestral land of the Veddahs.
Rest may have to find their way back to their original homeland in South India, including all Tamil/Sinhala speaking people.
–
When are you leaving?
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PBG / August 24, 2019
Native Vedda, I’m leaving when the Veddahs go back to Africa. When are you going to stop avoiding the issue?
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Native Vedda / August 25, 2019
PBG
–
Are you sure you don’t want to go back to your ancestral home (land) in South India?
Give us one reason why you don’t want to go back and why we shouldn’t forcibly evict you and your fellow kallathonies descendants?
–
Please stop playing the silly game and give a rational reply.
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PBG / August 26, 2019
‘Please stop playing the silly game and give a rational reply.’
Listen Vedda. The question was What does Wiggy propose doing about the ‘traditional Sinhala homeland’. You replied by asking when I am leaving. Typical sleight of hand.
Feel free to ignore this if you have no answer.
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Native Vedda / August 26, 2019
PBG
–
“Feel free to ignore this if you have no answer.”
–
I might consider taking out patent on all my best lines. On the other hand if stupid Kallathoies want to learn its okay with me.
–
Shove the ‘traditional Sinhala homeland’ up the Sinhala/Buddhist a***. So should the Tamils.
–
I am serious about ethnically cleansing this island of all Kallathonie descendants, including you, your mother, father, children, sisters, …. Wiggy and other 21 Million of you lot, both Tamil and Sinhala stupids.
You descendants give us grieve.
Please go away.
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PBG / August 26, 2019
You must be the only ‘Vedda’ to read Noolaham. Post your rubbish somewhere else.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / August 24, 2019
PBG these several million Tamils occupying “traditional Sinhala homeland” of the old Kandyan kingdom are relatives of those who ruled the territory. Remember Kandyan convention about surrender of Kandyan kingdom to British was signed in Tamil. Also archaeological survey has shown that after Veddhas, next migrants were Dravidians similar to those who lived in Tamil Nadu. Therefore any Dravidian in the world has the right to settle in Sri Lanka as it is their ancestral property. With BJP on the rampage, I will not be surprised that Sri Lanka will become a Hindu majority country.
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Ayathuray Rajasingam / August 23, 2019
Just imagine when I appeared in the High Court of Colombo, an elderly Tamil woman gave one coconut and she was given Five years sentence. Today everyone knows how many died at St.Anthony’s Church at Kochchikade and at Negombo and Batticalo. Zaharan was in the company of Rishard Badurdeen and Hisbullah, yet they are not arrested. How can we expect justice. Buddham Charanam Kachchami ……..
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SJ / August 23, 2019
Wrong CVW.
“Your Excellency was then a Member of the Chinese Wing of the Communist Party headed by Mr.Shanmugathasan.”
The JVP was hostile to both factions of the CP as early as 1966. Deserters from the ‘pro China’ side joined the JVP and MS is one. in 1971 he was a JVP activist.
*
I am not sure what MS told CVW.
MS when he met the families of the detainees, not long after he was elected, he seemed touched and promised to release the detainees.
The one who screwed it up (to prevent credit going to MS rather than to Ranil W) was the UNP’s Tamil minister, who proposed to the Cabinet that a general amnesty be granted (rather than Presidential pardon), knowing well that the Cabinet will reject it, and the Cabinet did just that.
Then the mischievous media whipped up opinion against the release of detainees.
*
The point is that none of the three (or is it 2+0.0… now?) political parties that are bidding for power care to solve the national question.
In fact, the ever increasing number of Tamil nationalist parties do not want a solution either.
That is bread and butter of electoral politics.
What plea to the International Community can CVW make if there is no national question? The release of Premananda’s accomplices, perhaps?
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Estate Labourer / August 24, 2019
Sir, Did you send him a Sinhala Translation? Better still an audio file of the Sinhala Translation!
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Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka / August 24, 2019
If there’s a post-election ‘Article 370 outcome’, this gentleman’s provocations would have been partially responsible.
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K.Pillai / August 24, 2019
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka {“If there’s a post-election ‘Article 370 outcome’, this gentleman’s provocations would have been partially responsible”}
Dayan betrays his wishful thinking. He wants a ‘Article 370 outcome’. Where did he find the ‘provocations’? Why?
Does Dayan find the Gnanasara Thera tirade against Lankan Muslims provocative?
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Native Vedda / August 24, 2019
K.Pillai
–
One thing you tend to forget about Dayan is that it is not he who types here. It is his
Dr Strangeloves Nazi arm which takes control of Dayan when he starts typing.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / August 24, 2019
Dayan, according to BJP, Article 370 outcome post election in Sri Lanka is creation of a Hindu majority state and a Buddhist majority state side by side as union territories similar to how in Kashmir they created a Buddhist majority state and a Hindu majority state side by side as union territories. Do you seriously think that your cardboard veerayas who did not open their mouths when Modi told Sri Lanka to implement 13th amendment in full and go beyond, will be able to do anything. Both Gota and Sajith the leading contenders are begging for an appointment with Modi, and if they get one, riot act will be read to them to fall in line.
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D. P. / August 24, 2019
Dayan,
No way for such a possibility b’cos not even Tamils didn’t care much about his hoopla! Besides, it is Ranil & UNP that run the Gvt; not your favorite MaRa/GoRa!
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Iftikar / August 24, 2019
Now that is one clever observation. CVW should not arouse rabid Singhala dogs too much near elections. Otherwise Tamils will lose the little they got with 170,000 Tamil lives lost and 89,000 Tamil war widows.
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shankar / August 24, 2019
anyway by sending the letter wiggie has shown the diaspora that he has done something.
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Edgae / August 24, 2019
All land of people who rise against the state are normally confiscated. In effect all land in the North now belongs to the winning army. What kind of a judge is this man when he doesn’t even knw this simple fact?
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Pandi Kutti / August 24, 2019
Victorious army? You mean to say Thamizh do not belong to the state and only Chingkallams . especially the vast majority who are descended from recent South Indian immigrants only belong to the state? The winning Chingkalla army victorious in foreign Thamizh land? Is that why you did not confiscate Chingkalla land down south during the JVP uprising down south for the winning army , as Chingkallams are part of the state and not Thamizh? You and the rest of the Chingkallams constantly vomit all this nonsense , proving that you never considered the Thamizh as part of land and their lands foreign. This is why you , marginalised them and still marginalise them and talk about victorious army not an army that liberated and helped their own people. You gave the game away Chingkalla kurangu. From the time of independence all Chingkalla governments have done is to ,discriminate kill marginalise,steal Thamizh lands , commit war crimes and state sponsored terrorism on the island’s Thamizh population and then when the Thamizh rise up call it terrorism , play victim and with the help of many nations, who should have known better than to help Chingkalla racist devils like you, to crush and defeat the Thamizh , and call this victory over a foreign people.
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PBG / August 26, 2019
Pandi what was India’s role in letting all this happen?
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shankar / August 24, 2019
back to angoda please.
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soma / August 24, 2019
If ALL Tamil speaking people en block voted for a particular person that person has no authority to deal with properties that commonly belong to those who did not vote for him/her. Such promises by Sinhala politicians for the Tamil vote base are invalid after elecctions.
–
Soma
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soma / August 24, 2019
Tamil racists are playing politics with the lives of the subject detainees by calling them “political prisoners” instead of “LTTE suspects in long detention without trial”
I am in favour of immediate release of all those who are in long detention without trial while the Tamil racists want to use them for vilification of the Sri Lankan government before the international community.
–
Soma
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Native Vedda / August 24, 2019
somass
–
“I am in favour of immediate release of all those who are in long detention without trial…………. “
–
Are you going to shoot to kill all of those detainees once they are freed claiming a mass jail break out, threat to national security, planning to assassinate presidential candidates and their cronies, …
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It’s a cunning idea.
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JD / August 24, 2019
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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Real Revolutionist / August 24, 2019
Presently Sinhalese are learning Tamil & Tamils are expected to learn Sinhalese.
Don’t forget the fact that @ least 75% of the population speak Sinhala.
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K.A. Sumanasekera / August 24, 2019
I thought Mr Wigneswaran lived in Vellala Gardens or Cinnamon Gardens?..
–
50,000 to 60,000 Acres of Lands which belong to Tamils have been taken over by the Armed Forces..
Do our Sinhala People own even 5 Acres, let alone 50,000 Acres of Land in the South?..
–
My home town Galle has 3 Tamil Kovils . I know there are a heck of a lot of Tamil Speaking there.
.But I don’t think they worship in Siva Temples..
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Dr Ranil’s “Yahapalana Security Guards ” tell us they have rounded up over 2000 Tamil speaking people after our Brother Cardinal lost 300 of his Flock.
Is Mr Wigneswaran pleading the President to release them too?.
–
How can Mr Wigneswran accuse our Sinhala Judges to be biased , when the whole hog of them got together in October, to stick the Boot into the President .
And give an all clear to Dr Ranil and his Cabal to carry on, by making the President looked like a Dumb Ass for installing a people friendly popular Government..
And it was Mr Wigeswaran’s buddy the the Gun Lawyer ,Anglican Kid Abraham who convinced the the Judges to make that decision…
–
I must be one of the very few who live in Wellala Gardens among tens of thousands of Tamil speaking people .
If any one is having problems there, it is the poor Sinhala Men and Women who push those Hand Carts even up hill, carrying the refuse from Tamil Speaking dwellers in Wellala Gardens.
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Nathan / August 24, 2019
I am so tired of scolding this guy Bling Eagle alias HLD. I just cant go on abusing this clown. He is a masochist. He enjoys being abused. So he keeps provoking by writing bull shit in order to get abused.
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Nathan / August 24, 2019
Well said CV. But as long as this rabid racism is there no civilised methods will solve our problems.
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Thanthai Selva / August 24, 2019
Dear Vigniswaran
Don’t Tamils have any shame? For 71 long years Tamils have been asking, begging, fighting and again begging for these. Did you get anything? If you have any shame try somewhere else. Or keep begging which only makes these useless Singhala politicians big shots. Like a master would throw some scraps off his dinner table to the dog underneath they will throw some scraps because they need you to live to beg. You know they are not sufficient.
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Thambapanni Man / August 24, 2019
Thanthai Selva
Why don’t you look at how things are happening in egalitarian (Buddhist) Sri Lanka with 2500 years ancient history and heritage, it seems Gautama Buddha gave all his wisdom to others and gave his begging bowl to the Sinhala Buddhists, or rather the Sinhala Buddhists have taken only his begging bowl leaving the rest to others, that’s why they have been begging every country on earth for loan and aid. They are not only begging the West but also China and India for aid, grants, etc. LOL!
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Peacelover / August 24, 2019
If Tamil politicians and their pantham holders are genuine in their demands and appeals to bring relief to Tamils, let all of them start with holding a satyagraha at galleface green as one took place in 1956 and get hammered by Sinhalese. ( Don’t you have any doubts, Sinhalese are waiting for it ) The amount of beatings that these Tamils are prepared to endure will show their genuiness to the cause. To show more of their dedication, they should follow up with another one by sitting in front of kachcheries as it happened in 1961 and get imprisoned. ( Tamil people will be better off if they are in prisons. Surely they will get beaten up by Tamil political detainees inside ) Will they start satyagraha without delay ?
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Rajash / August 24, 2019
The appropriate heading would have been
“Same old story of The Tamil Speaking people”
– who every election either elect the govt of the day or form the govt of the day …on promises that are never fulfilled…
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shankar / August 24, 2019
tamils position is federalism with northeast merger.Sinhalese position is 13th amendment without land and police powers.lets see whther the two sides can come closer.Let the sinhalese offer land powers to the provincial councils if the tamils agree to forego the northeast merger.If both agree and this is done then the two sides have moved closer.Then the sinhalese can offer police powers also if the tamils move from federalism to quasi federalism.If that is agreed and done then the two sides positions now will be tamils asking for quasi federalism for northern province and eastern province seperately without merging them and sinhalese position is that they have fully implemented the 13th amendment.The same type of negotiating procedures should be done until both meet halfway.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / August 24, 2019
Don’t be hasty about what would happen. When Modi was in Sri Lanka, he asked Sri Lanka to implement 13th amendment in full and go beyond, against which none of the Sinhala card board veerayas opened their mouths. They know that BJP means business unlike the pussy footing congress. They are waiting for the new president to be elected and will deal with him according to their line of thought and will not care too hoots to the Sri Lankan head, however powerful he may think he is. Indian foreign secretary recently told TNA that they will not force north-east merger, but if Tamils demand it, they will not be against it. What Tamils should do is to demand a re-demarcated east to be linked to north which I had explained in these columns earlier which will be a win-win situation for all. Did you hear of BJP plan where they say that Sri Lanka was originally a Hindu territory which now consists of Hindus and Buddhists who were once Hindus, and they want to create a Hindu majority state and a Buddhist majority state to exists side by side as union territories. They have also come to realize that successive Sri Lanka governments had funded and nurtured Islamic extremists against Tamils, who could be used against India in the future by Pakistani intelligence agency working among Muslims in Sri Lanka, which threat India can only eliminate by direct involvement.
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shankar / August 25, 2019
“What Tamils should do is to demand a re-demarcated east to be linked to north “
will the batti tamils be content to be dominated by the jaffna tamils?You can see from the prabha karuna split that the two can’t get along.If your re demarcation involves muslim areas also to be merged with the north it will be even worse as the muslims will howl in protest.At the moment the east is equally divided between sinhalese,muslims and tamils and better to leave it as it is as none of them can dominate each other.Further colonisation of the east should be prohibited by law.
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KA / August 25, 2019
The demography, atrificially altered by Chingalam against the wish of originall and ancient Tamil owners of East,, is very similar to Jamu-Kashmeer that BJP addressed as a first step for correcting the course of history.
However, you cannot ignore the very similarities, even after BJP’s authoritative sounding public letter to Rajapakse.
I am no fan of BJP or Hindia, even suspicious that BJP is attempting to create leverage on Chingalams using Tamils as pawns.
The Chingalams are silent on their ususal, vulgar jokes about Hindia or BJP.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / August 25, 2019
Now the situation is different where Tamils in east are undergoing suffering at the hands not only of Sinhalese, but also Muslims. Their lands are being appropriated, their temples are being desecrated and their livelihood being threatened. Even the eastern Tamil politicians aligned with Sinhala parties are watching helplessly at the fate of their people. Successive governments had not only let loose Sinhala racism, but also funded and nurtured Muslim extremism against Tamils. It is a dream to expect further colonization be prohibited by law, as this is one of the fundamental policy of successive governments to alter demographic pattern to make Sinhalese the majority in east. Only way it could be stopped is by granting police and land powers to Tamils. Muslim claim to eastern province over the heads of Tamils and Sinhalese is rank racism as they went there as refugees. There was opposition for merger only from Tamils in Batticaloa and not those in Trincomalee or Amparai who had suffered at the hands of Sinhalese and Muslims. Now Tamils of Batticaloa who in the past did not suffer much are being harassed even by Muslims, and are in favour of merger. TNA policy is merger and majority of Tamils in east have voted for them. With Islamic terrorism arising form east and Pakistani intelligence agency working with Muslims in east, India will not permit any area to come under the influence of Muslims. Recently Indian intelligence have reported that Islamic terrorists are coming into India from Sri Lanka. With Sri Lanka pussy footing about Islamic terror with top Sinhala politicians of both sides trying to sweep it under, India is not prepared to swallow assurances given by Sri Lanka. Now north east merger to bring the area under Tamil control has become a necessity for India’s security. Remember Sri Lanka’s sovereignty depends on security concerns of India.
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shankar / August 26, 2019
what about the referendum in the east that is mentioned in the indo lanka accord?When that is held the easterners will say no to any merger,unless you are thinking that just like in kashmir the referendum can be put off indefinitely.
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KA / August 26, 2019
The referendum is not needed any more, if you take a look at how BJP approached Jammu-Kashmir.
BJP’s thinking (is also the reality) is that the Island’s original and ancient owners are Hindu (saivaites) and part of them converted to Buddist religion.
As it stands, the original owners of the Island must have self rule in their current parts.
BJP is not extreme to the extent of restroring populations going back to history.
This has to be viewed in th context of Modi’s stern instruction to Chingalams to go beyond 13.
Otherwise, why BJP bother to make it public the letter that was written Rajapakse?
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / August 25, 2019
Dear. Hon CWV
Thank you for speaking on behalf of my people who are imprisoned wrongfully. The reasons they are there (you may not know as I Colombo man) but I grew up under the FP/TULF/TNA politics who are responsible for this horror in the first place. You have quite rightfully distanced your selfs from the Traitors who sold my language/religion/culture by conniving with the foreigners/neighbours to sell my children in the first place and in the process they sold the entire land with that is a fact.
The bottom line is we all in it together and perhaps time to show some understanding with the Most Hon President by putting ourselves in his shoes which we have always failed to do historically/sincerely.
So give up the ‘Tamil’ talk and ask the Hon President will help him a long way is a starting point/reality……only if we really concerned about the plight of these innocent people with rough justice. Not a place for politics but a place for understanding and conflict management……then again is always done by those who have got Tamil that and this attached for their representation to save the human rights of a Sri Lankan and why..why…why??? what have we learned after all this carnage in our Mother Land?
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / August 25, 2019
The best thing for CVW is to follow the example of that Idiot called Thiagarajah who for selfish reasons betrayed the trust placed on him by his voters and went behind Sinhala parties who were carrying out discrimination and sponsored violence on Tamils. I am sure CVW will be bestowed with position and perks by Sinhala government if he does so, but has to be mindful about what happened to Thiagarajah, where even his students were waiting to slap him with their slippers.
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shankar / August 25, 2019
I do have a twinge of conscience for these chaps who are incarcerated without any trial.Namal also when he went to jail met them and when he came out told mahinda he does not know why they are still there.Mahinda also had expressed surprise.He might do something for them if he is PM.
Ps.wiggie is quite right that the confessions are worthless.We all know how they are obtained.
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Nathan / August 26, 2019
Dr Ganana, as said rightly by you, this Venugopal is again and again crying with the same funeral kavi (oppu in tamil). He is yet to change his tune. As one headline said elsewhere, same dog but with different trick but here the same dog with the same trick. For him, his tunnel vision is the only aim and hope in life. He is talking more than what he knows. I now even doubt that Venugopal really lives in SL. He has used his father’s sinhala favours (for betrayal of tamil voters who elected him) to get him out of SL and from there he is lamenting for his children and people. That is indeed a different trick this time. Birds of a feather flock together. Vickie is another eccentric senile judge and he is no more than another mischief maker. His children are married to rabid (and even mad) sinhala leader’s children and he is well placed to live like an eel. One trick in Jaffna and another trick in Colombo. Venugopal, doesn’t his tricks dont remind you of your late father’s tricks. Your father was elected by tamils under TC ticket and once got elected jumped to SLFP going after Thuraiappah and Anura and virtually doing a Mama job in Jaffna. Vickie is a man who wrote to PM Modi to release that rapist, murderer Mathalie (A)Saamy Paramanantha saying he was innocent claiming that the Indian courts were wrong! This is what, he being a onetime judge, dispensed his wisdom and justice. Dont you think Vickie being a onetime judge, was too stupid to interfere in another country’s judiciary and legal system. This is almost similar to what your later father did without understanding the reality and carried away by sweet talks and tried to betray the Tamils.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / August 26, 2019
Dear Hon CVW
Kindly start a National Party that all Sri Lankans can vote if they choose not forced at gun point. Follow the JVP and have National policies for whatever reasons you can not support the other mainstream parties respected.
Just remove any Language/Religious attachments as they do not fit into the democratic future of our Nation whatever the personal grievances we may all have. This journey is the only journey left for us to explore and we should pursue this relentlessly as several our fellow visionaries have died telling us the dire consequences of thuggery (not addressed to date you could see from the comments sections too) in the name of justice………………just as the Peace and Reconciliation is not equal to Retribution is what matters and applies to me too hence the kind request specially when I do not even know the identities of the thugs/killers yet to be tried for their hidious crime of killing their fellow men under various disguises.
Peace reconciliation should start at home pithing the Northern communities for us to move on and have future planning is the what is very obvious from all the articles and comments alike. leave the Sinhalese and the Muslims out and let us open up investigations in Jaffna on the misfits as a starting point your honer as a Judge will go a long way to get the ball rolling.
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