By Michael Roberts –
Dr. Michael Roberts
Mark Field’s visit to Sri Lanka is very, very significant. His pronouncements are threaded by the paternalistic air of an Etonian schoolmaster pontificating to students. That should not be allowed to mask the Sword of Damocles that is above the Sri Lankan body via the UNHCR as the instrument of the Western international community.
Field’s title as “Minister for Asia and the Pacific” gives the game away. In the Pacific Ocean USA’s “Pacific Asia Command” (PAC) holds the commanding military heights. In the Indian Ocean USA’s massive base at Diego Garcia plays watchdog for the West. Diego Garcia atoll and island, let me remind readers,. was handed over to USA by UK in December 1966/68 through a process which forcefully removed all its indigenized Chagossian inhabitants – one of the most horrendous human rights violations of the 20th century imposed on a harmless body of people.
However, it is Mark Field’s message to Sri Lankans — threats wrapped in cotton really – that we must reflect upon. The Western power talons driving this project were displayed in a striking ethnographic encounter in the UNHRC Office corridors in Geneva in September 2011 when the US ambassador to that Council, one Eileen Donahue, turned on the Sri Lankan ambassador in some fury and said, “We’ll get you next time!”
This incident lays bare the roots of the Western-cum-UN project: for which we must go back to the years 2008/09 and the last phase of Eelam War IV. It is by happenchance that at this very moment I have been working up a summarizing article on the politics of Eelam War IV in its last phase. Let me spell out pertinent points in capsule form.
A= A secret meeting was convened in Kuala Lumpur in February 2009 involving the head of LTTE International, KP Pathmanathan, plus Rudrakumaran and Jay Maheswaran plus three Norwegian diplomats — a meeting that clearly had the full backing of USA — in order to resolve the warring situation in Lanka and, ostensibly, to prevent a potential humanitarian catastrophe involving a massive death toll among the Tamil civilian population corralled by the LTTE.
B = This gathering was preceded or accompanied by the insertion of a PAC recce team into the island to work out the ways and means of effecting this forcible intervention.
C = The Western powers seemed oblivious (conveniently?) to the fact that the LTTE had assembled the civilians in the battle theatre precisely to invite their intervention – so that they in fact became the LTTE’s partners in war.
D = The despatches disclosed by Wikileaks show that, In line with this partisanship and alliance, the US Ambassador in Colombo, Robert Blake, consistently pressurized the GoSL Ministers to institute ceasefire spells, while recognizing that Pirapäharan would never agree to the stilling of his guns … so that ceasefire in his book was a one-way street…. And furthermore, …….
E = ….. that, in Despatch 32 of the 2nd January 2009 reporting on the outcomes of a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to work out measures for the re-settlement of Tamil IDPS, Blake summarily dismissed any reliance on the Social Services Minister: Douglas Devananda, he stressed, “would not be a suitable choice because his paramilitary, the EPDP, had been responsible for the killings and abductions of large numbers of Tamils in Jaffna.” Blake seems to have been blissfully unaware of the stark contradiction resting in his own hand: namely, that USA was sustaining the LTTE as a political entity – Tigers who had piled up a list of massacres, assassinations and huge bomb blast attacks in civilian space that was longer than the proverbial arm…. While we must also note ….
F = That in another despatch (No. 308 of 19th March 2009) Blake indicated that he had met the Foreign Minister Bogollagama on the 18th March and warned him that “the deaths of …. tens of thousands of civilians … would cause an international outcry, likely subject the GSL to war crime charges, and almost certainly undermine public support in the U.S. and other donor countries for future reconstruction efforts in the north.”
G = So that this body of evidence led me to this conclusion: “the international cabal was working within the framework of LTTE strategy [and] in effect encouraging the Tigers to sustain their use of the civilians as a defensive formation and a raison d’etre for international intervention. The Sword of Damocles in the form of “war crimes,” therefore, was held over the head of one party to the conflict in a manner that slotted in neatly with the grand strategy of the other party, the LTTE. In other words, in blithely positioning itself as international arbiter, and wrapping itself with a “humanitarian cloak,” USA, the UN bureaucrats working as American agents and its other international allies (embracing AI, HRW and ICG) were aiding and abetting the LTTE”.
H = … and that, as revealed by Daya Gamage, the thinking behind this programme was directed by a line of policy worked out by the US embassy in Sri Lanka from the late 1970s, This policy was revealed quite explicitly by Michael Owens, an Under Secy of State in Washington, on the 6th May 2009: they “had to find a way for the LTTE to surrender arms possibly to a third party in the context of a pause in the fighting, to surrender their arms in exchange for some sort of limited amnesty to at least some members of the LTTE and the beginning of a political process.”
I – The “political process” that Owens was referring to has always been “devolution” in American eyes. It is also the trump card favoured today by such well-meaning agencies as the National Peace Council and the Centre for Policy Alternatives … and, as we can see from his benign presentation, none other than the British Minister for Asia and the Pacific, one Mark Field.
THE YAKAAS WTHIN SRI LANKA: THAT FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION
Given the demographic configuration of the different communities in Sri Lanka and its present provincial maps, can the devolution of power serve as magic panacea? Roughly half the SL Tamil population live outside the Northern Province. Their heart may be in the north, but their feet, vote and clout are in the south … and sometimes beyond in London and elsewhere.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Eastern Province was cut out in arbitrary fashion by the British in the 19th century and serves as a bone of contention because the leading Tamil forces have falsely depicted it as “traditional homelands” — a specious claim pursued to this day in dishonest style by a long line of Tamil intellectuals.
To this one must add the complication of those identified as “Indian Tamils” (or “Plantation Tamils”) who have –with important exceptions – been at the socio-economic bottom of the ladder, but whose circumstances have improved somewhat and who now constitute a majority in Nuwara Eliya District within the Central Province.
The issue I pose is simple: is devolution extended to the Northern Province likely to be a time-bomb? Something that will push Sinhala chauvinist extremism still further? Something that stokes the fears of a Sinhala majority that feels itself a minority in the context of looming Tamilnadu next door?
I am directed here by the long view of a historian wary of well-meant ‘solutions’ that generate fresh and/or deeper problems. From this naïve position I suggest that what Sri Lanka requires is an ingenious constitutional scheme that provides the SL Tamils of the north, those of the Eastern Province and those in Colombo District some clout in the centre and in the Cabinet so that they are brought into the heart of power in an integrated manner. They must reap the benefits (and shortcomings) of any political system so that they develop a stake within it.
This line of gerrymandering must also be bolstered by policies that address identity and subjectivity. The tendency for some Sinhala-speakers to equate the category “Sinhala” with “Lānkika” must be undermined. The categorization of “ethnic’ in the census compilations and National Identity Card bureau must be re-jigged in radical fashion to generate a selection of labels that enables each individual a choice from; viz.
sihala lānkika
demala lānkika.
marakkala lānkika
ja lānkika
lansi lānkika
kolomba chetti lānkika
mishra lānkika
AND last but not least
lānkika..
Without addressing and reforming the political vocabulary in the vernacular, we cannot expect constitutions to yield the fruits fondly imagined by their framers.
Again, the national anthem must be re-jigged for state occasions so that it is sung in Sinhala and Tamil in the alternate style favoured by the Kiwi and South African rugger teams. The unveiling of this operation to the Sri Lankan people should be at Premadasa Cricket Stadium where a trained choir as well as the pre-prepared cricket team introduce this scheme of patriotic commitment to the public.
Such measures will not produce immediate results. Collective identity and belonging are subjective conditions of being – moulded over time by many factors. There is no quick fix here.
The steps that I have indicated here have to be backed up by intelligent use of cartoons and by the work of such playwrights and film-makers as Dharmasiri Bandaranayake as well as leading musicians in all three languages. Baila, in particular, is a medium for cross-communal togetherness. I note, here, that during the height of the Sinhala Buddhist movement in the third quarter of the century featured by the slashing criticism of the Catholic schools, such artistes as Sunil Shantha, Lester James Peries and Ivor Denis (all Catholic) collaborated innovatively with a range of other artistes to create music and film in erudite and meaningful styles attuned to indigenous sensibilities. More recently, Vasuki Amunugama and others at the advertisement agency, Triad, showed us how an intelligent programme such as Api Wenuwen Api can mobilise personnel to commit themselves to the deadly professions encountering fight and death.
Thus, many hands and many modalities of expression must be deployed in the hard yards required for the mind-work that is involved in moulding subjectivity in ways that will assist reconciliation. There is no quick fix.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carey, Sean 2009 The UK’s role in Diego Garcia: green fingers or red faces?”.,
7 September 2009, https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2009/09/diego-garcia-chagos-british
D’A Vincent, P. 1883 Forest Administration of Ceylon, Colombo, Govt Printer, being Sessional Paper XLIII of 1882.
Donaldson, Tony 2016 “Tony Donaldson to introduce Sunl Santha and His Sinhala Music to Contemporary Lankans,” 26 October 2016, ……………………………………………………………………. https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2016/10/26/tony-donaldson-to-introduce-sunil-santha-and-his-sinhala-music-to-contemporary-lankans/
Field, Mark 2018 “British Minister stresses Importance of Reconciliation.” 4 October 2018,
https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2018/10/04/british-minister-stresses-importance-of-reconciliation/
Gamage, Daya 2014 “The American Agenda for Sri Lanka’s National Issues, 1970s-2014,” 5 July 2014, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2014/07/05/the-american-agenda-for-sri-lankas-national-issues-1970s-2014/
Gunasingam, M. 2012 The Tamil Eelam Struggle. State Terrorism and Ethnic Cleansing (1948-2009), Sydney, MV Publications.
Gunasingam, M. 2014 Tamils in Sri Lanka: A Comprehensive History (C. 300 BC – C. 2000. Sydney.
Hattotuwa, Sanjana 2018 “Identity, Belnoging, Dignity. Lessons from Francis Fukuyama for Srri Lanka Today,” 2 October 2018, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/identity-belonging-dignity-lessons-from-francis-fukuyama-for-sri-lanka-today/
Kearney, Robert N. 1967 Communalism and Language in the Politics of Ceylon, Durham, N. C.: Duke University Press.
Kearney, Robert N. 1973 The Politics of Ceylon, Ithaca, Cornell University Press.
Kulendiren, Pon 2017 “Where Music transcends Ethnic Divisions: Sinhala Nona,” 21 March 2017, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/where-music-transcends-ethnic-divisions-sinhala-nona/#more-24614
Kunanayakam, Tamara 2016 “A Tour de Force by Tamara Kunanayakam …,” 23 February 2016,2016 https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/a-tour-de-force-by-tamara-kunanayakam-in-reviewing-the-rajapaksa-years/
Peiris, Gerald H. 1991 “An Appraisal of the Concept of a Traditional Homeland in Sri Lanka,” Ethnic Studies Report, Vol IX, pp. 13-39.
Roberts, Michael 2013 “Ethnic Identity in Sri Lanka’s Pre-capitalist Past: Shanie, Darshanie and Roberts,” 15 August 2010, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/ethnic-identity-in-sri-lanka%e2%80%99s-pre-capitalist-past-shanie-darshanie-and-roberts/
Roberts, Michael 2013 “BBC-Blind: Misreading the Tamil Tiger Strategy of International Blackmail, 2008-13,” 8 December 2013,https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/bbc-blind-misreading-the-tamil-tiger-strategy-of-international-blackmail-2008-13/#more-11221
Roberts, Michael 2014 “Generating Calamity, 2008-2014: An Overview of Tamil Nationalist Operations and Their Marvels,” 10 April 2014, http://groundviews.org/2014/04/10/generating-calamity-2008-2014-an-overview-of-tamil-nationalist-operations-and-their-marvels/
Roberts, Michael 2014 “Ball-by-Ball through Wikileaks: US Embassy Despatches from Colombo, 2009: ONE,” 27 August 2014, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/ball-by-ball-through-wikileaks-us-embassy-despatches-from-colombo-2009-one/
Roberts, Michael 2014 “Saving Talaivar Pirapāharan,” 6 April 2016, …………………………………… https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/saving-talaivar-pirapaharan/
Roberts, Michael 2014 Tamil Person and State. Essays, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.
Roberts, Michael 2014 Tamil Person and State. Pictorial, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.
Roberts, Michael 2014 “Winning the War: Evaluating the Impact of API WENUWEN API,” 1 September 2014, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/winning-the-war-evaluating-the-impact-of-api-wenuwen-ap/
Michael Roberts 2015 “Targeting Sri Lanka by playing ball with Tamil Extremism,” 24 July 2015, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/wpadmin/post.php?post=17127&action=edit&postpost=v2
Michael Roberts 2015 “Ambassador Blake in Never-Never-Land: Misreading LTTE Capacity in Early 2009,” 26 August 2015, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2015/08/26/ambassador-blake-in-never-never-land-misreading-ltte-capacity-in-early-2009/
Roberts, Michael 2015 “American Action and Inaction on Sri Lanka, 2008/09: A Critical Evaluation,” 15 September 2015, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/american-action-and-inaction-on-sri-lanka-200809-a-critical-evaluation/#more-17725
Roberts, Michael “Where USA sought to arm-wrestle Sri Lanka in March-April-May 2009,” 11 May 2018,https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/where-usa-sought-to-arm-wrestle-sri-lanka-in-march-april-may-2009/
1. The population was small, maybe only about 1,000 or so, but that does not alter the iniquitous character of the operation. See Carey 2009.
2. See Kunanayakam 2016. I stress here that Kunanayakam is a Ladies College product who has spent several decades in Europe and is not only Marxist in political leaning, but also married to a member of the French Communist Party.
3. For pertinent details, see Salter 2015: 348-49 & 364-65; Roberts, “Saving Pirapaharan,” 2016.
4. Roberts, “Saving Pirapaharan,” 2016 & Roberts, ”Where USA sought to arm-wrestle Sri Lanka …,” 2018.
5. Roberts, “Generating Calamity,” 2014.
6. See Roberts “Ambassador Blake in Never-Never Land …,” 2015 and Roberts, “Ball-by-Ball through Wikileaks,” 2014.
7. See Roberts, “Ball-by-Ball through Wikileaks,” 2014.
8. Roberts, “Saving Talaivar Pirapaharan,” 2016.
9. See Gamage 2014 and Roberts, “American Action,” 2015.
10. This concept was initially introduced on the 18th December 1949 by the ITAK or “The Federal Freedom Party of the Tamil-speaking Peoples of Ceylon” (for the full manifesto, see Roberts, TPS. Pictorial, 2014, pp. 273-92).
11. Its historic and cartographic basis has been comprehensively decimated by Gerald Peiris in his article in the Ethnic Studies Report in 1991. Also see my essay “Ethnic Identity in Sri Lanka’s Pre-capitalist Past: Shanie, Darshanie and Roberts,” 2010. Those interested in this knotty issue should also scour D’Vincent 1882.
12. Thus, several Tamil writers (abroad) have written whole books that pretend that the Peiris article does not exist and promote the concept of “traditional homelands (see Gunasingham 2012: 9, 21). They do not attend to the fact that the boundary lines of the Eastern Province drawn up by the British in the 19th century are quite arbitrary and encompass regions along its western border that were sparsely peopled – and these were either Vädda hamlets or purana hamlets with Sinhala villagers.
13. Note this statement from an MP in 1962: “the problem of the Tamils is not a minority problem. The Sinhalese are the minority in Dravidistan. We are carting on a struggle for national existence against the Dravidian majority.” (quoted by Kearney 1973: 267). Robert N. Kearney’s two books should be compulsory reading for all students of modern of Sri Lanka.
14. This merger is evident in the Anagarika Dharmapala’s writings (Roberts 1978: 365) and has been a strand in the Sinhala campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s directed at the English-speaking middle class. I have identified it in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s populist presentations of self (Roberts)
15. Note Kulendiren 2017. However, as medium, baila and songs can cut both ways.
16. Roberts “Winning the War ………,” 2014,
Hela / October 8, 2018
The Western power talons driving this project were displayed in a striking ethnographic encounter in the UNHRC Office corridors in Geneva in September 2011 when the US ambassador to that Council, one Eileen Donahue, turned on the Sri Lankan ambassador in some fury and said, “We’ll get you next time!”
Well……..they got SL by the throat via the regime change and the Geneva resolution 30/1 co-sponsored by the vassal yahapalanaya.
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Native Vedda / October 9, 2018
Hela
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The author had published a number of path breaking research articles before the end of 1990.
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Now he is being old and mentally lazy, he has nothing new to say to the the world. He is following the public racist Dayan’s path, recycling old garbage in attractive new packaging.
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The clan, the war criminals, ………………. their b***s carriers are allowed to go scot free because of the new government and and their new approach. It requires political sophistication to understand the new government’s nuanced approach to disarm the cry for war crime investigation.
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You could only understand and approve the brutal, confrontational and bloody approach to any problem, be it domestic or international. Where were you when Hindian troops were occupying this island, killing raping, looting the people? Hiding behind VP’s bum, because you loved him, understood and approved his brutal, confrontational and bloody approach.
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Are you awake?
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JD / October 8, 2018
Michael Roberts: You afe just summarizing what happened with respect to LTTE and Sri lanka. The same thing is happening Thailand with Malaysian Muslims who wants separate identity and probably their province. buddhist PM was was chased out. the same thing is happening Myanmar. In Myanmar, Aun Sun Su Kyi was not prosecuted by imposing sanctions against her. but, some military officials, I suppose have sanctions. In Asia, it is important to destroy the buddhist cultures and their identities, One way to do it create friction against muslims. I think Myanmar is safe because it is adjacent to China and China is digging oil in there. but Sri lanka is very vulnerable even now because politicians are saying OK we do anything for you let us be the politicians. In that line of thinking, as they as their sanctions against countries not working because both China and Russia help the countries, they may impose sanctions Against Rajapakses. So, if the next govt is Rajapakses and they spend the Treasury to lobby for them, they may invest there much more than they have now, Anyway, Sri lanka is supposed to be a bankrupt cpuntry for the next five years after the elections. that is the vision of Ranil and the govt. They want Sri lanka to have a powerful Navy and air force to police the PAcific -Indian OCean region against Chinese invasionas or they becoming a strong force. So, we will be the Cat paw. Do you think Mossad is watching these.
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Laxmi / October 8, 2018
Right on Micheal, Sri Lanka does not need a new Constitution now for power sharing and should ignore the UNHRC which Nikki Haily called a “Cesspit” recently.
Rather, Lanka needs a new political culture that is based on meritocracy, where and the best people, whether Burger, Muslim, Sinhala or Tamil can thrive and give their talents.
Today it is the corrupt who thrive under a corrupt political system of global-local networks of Money politics exacerbated by neoliberal of IMF policies and de-regulation and asset stripping.
Sri Lankan leaders have divided and ruled the people and distract the masses with Hate Speach, but it is external parties – India and US –that weaponized ethnic and now religious tensions in the island, and they are doing this again in their Cold War with China, building up the rhetoric of insecurity, disaster, crisis and threat and militarizing Indian Ocean.
These are dangerous days in Lanka as the Trump regime crashes the rupee and other currencies through currency manipulation, and attempts to gain strategic lands, transport infrastructure, and heagemony while bullying in their newly invented “Indo-Pacific”..
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Richard / October 8, 2018
Oh! Dear Author and Participants,
When Ceylon got Independence Ceylon was the envy of all the rest of the Asian Countries. How was it possible? You know the answer,”Rather, Lanka needs a new political culture that is based on meritocracy, where and the best people, whether Burger, Muslim, Sinhala or Tamil can thrive and give their talents”. They did just like that then under the British and soon after. Then began the Sri Lankan politics where non Sinhalese were laid off, forced colorizations started from the Eastern province and it is recent history how Tamils were dealt with.
The whole happening is nothing but “what goes around comes around” Because Power is blind and minority which was a hard working education bound community was devastated with violence and loss of property. They were also forced to take to arms because the youth were most deprived of their jobs and education! Hope you remember all the happening and whenever there is going to be some chance for the deprived Tamils, you come with another alternative just to prevent anything good happening to them. This is not new in Sri Lanka. But how far can to oppress minorities these days. Blaming the West or any other Country for your misadventure is not worth and it cannot bring any reversal. It is like when you hurt your baby your neighbor report you and you have to bear the responsibility. It is that simple.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / October 8, 2018
A dishonest attempt with a load of crap produced due to anti-Tamil agenda of the author. If eastern province was demarcated in an arbitrary fashion, then the nation state of Ceylon was demarcated in an arbitrary fashion by linking Jaffna Kingdom with rest of the land without the consent of Tamils. Please remember it is this lost sovereignty that Tamils are fighting to regain and not anything new. Why is he hiding the fact that Trincomalee district north of Mahaveli was a part of Jaffna kingdom together with present northern province, Puttalam district north of Deduru Oya and even parts of north central province north of Anuradhapura. The statement “Leading Tamil forces have falsely depicted eastern province as traditional homelands – a spurious claim pursued to this day in dishonest style by a long line of Tamil intellectuals” is an unwarranted attack which denies the truth and accusing a community without substantiating it. It is historians like the author who are dishonest, especially about the past of Sri Lanka. When scientifically accepted archaeological evidence is emerging about the truth of eastern province, how dare does he make such statement unless he is either mad or his brain clouded with racism. Just because part of eastern province was under Kandyan kingdom, does not mean that it belongs to Sinhalese. In the same manner UK can claim that Sri Lanka belongs to them as it was once a part of British empire.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / October 8, 2018
Original owners of eastern province are the Tamilized descendants of Vedddhs who are living in coastal area stretching from Mutur to Kumana, and not Sinhalese, Muslims or even other Tamils. Recently their seat of rule has been unearthed in Vaharai, which the author is conveniently hiding in order to propagate his falsehoods. When there is increasing archaeological evidence of presence of Tamils in eastern province, with 2000 year old stone inscriptions found in Mahiladitivu and Kathiraveli in Batticaloa and Weber stadium in Trincomalee, and no stone inscription in Sinhala of such antiquity found in eastern province, how dare he say that Tamils are making spurious claims to eastern province as their traditional homelands. Do not blame British only for boundaries of present eastern province, because after independence in order to create a Sinhala majority Amparai district, Sinhala government detached Mahaoya and Padiyatalawa revenue districts from Uva province and attached them to eastern province. Before independence there were only Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts in eastern province. Demographic census done since late 19th century shows that eastern province was overwhelmingly Tamil, and it is only after self rule in 1930 that planned Sinhala settlement to alter the demographic pattern together with murder and ethnic cleansing of Tamils since 1956 has resulted in the current lop sided demography.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / October 8, 2018
When there is a claim for original land ownership, it must be decided with archaeological survey to unearth relics and genetically test the skeletal remains. It is now proved beyond doubt by geology, archaeology and genetics that Dravidians were the first settlers of the island and that Sinhalese had originated form Tamils as base with input from other Dravidians and Bengalis similar to evolution of Malayalam ethnicity. So to deny Tamils their share of land and power is rank racism, by coming out with spurious reasons such as stoking fears among Sinhalese and pushing chauvinist to extremism. If it happens, it is the duty of the state to put down those racists and not to pamper to them and deny legitimate rights to Tamils of enjoying the same rights and privileges enjoyed by Sinhalese. The correct action about eastern province is to re-demarcate in a fair manner, detaching Gomarankadawela AGA division in Trincomalee district and attaching it to north-central province, and detaching Amparai electorate and Lahugala AGA division from Amparai district and attaching them to UVA province, and link the balance as Tamil homeland. To compensate for the loss of land, detach Puttalam electorate from Puttalam district and attach to Northern province, as this area was once a part of Jaffna kingdom, known as Demala hatpattu in Kandyan kingdom, and cradle of Dravidian civilisation by the discovery of urn burial sites. However much racist Sinhala historians and archaeologists like this author try, the truth about Tamil presence in Sri Lanka prior to the advent of Sinhala race cannot be swept under.
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K.Anaga / October 8, 2018
Almost 70 years have elapsed after the so called independence. Instead of going back hundreds of years, check on the population of The eastern province in 1948. Not even 3% of the population were Sinhalese. it was not Britain that cut of the east. The credit must go to the ‘Father of The Nation’-{ Sinhala Nationa) DS Senanayake Who commenced the colonization from Galoya, followed by the successive governments who brought the percentage of Sinhalese to almost 35%. in the East. DS covered a lot of his sins against Tamils and other minorities with the large MUSTASH.
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JD / October 8, 2018
If you are trying to compile all these into a book, there are books written about Asia, mostly south Asia, buddhist monks and politics. check the web and see. IT is some decade old western attempt to speread the infestion of indian OCean by western nations. France Recently, offered some LEgion of Doom or some position to CBk, Other less visible interested parties are Saudi Arabia, ISrael, Norwy etc.,
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JD / October 8, 2018
I heard the west is more interested in India than Sri lanka as India and china has some common features culturally and geologically next to each other, India may get friendly with China. India also knows it.
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Native Vedda / October 8, 2018
JD
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The west is not interested in Sri Lanka however west can grope this little island any time it wants to. Hindians, Pakistanis, Chinamen, ………… too are not interested in this island however they too can grope this islanders any time they want to. All because the shameless leaders do not treat their own people well.
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K.Pillai / October 10, 2018
Michael Roberts is telling Mark Field and ilk to clean up their backyard first. “Keep off. We are Lankans”. This is what certain puppeteers want to hear.
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Yet again Michael Roberts is couching his hollow ideas with bombastic words, structure and selected references. If this article was given to the 225 Lankan MPs, none will grasp what you are after because there is nothing in it.
Their aides may highlight the following for them ~ “Roughly half the SL Tamil population live outside the Northern Province. Their heart may be in the north, but their feet, vote and clout are in the south … and sometimes beyond in London and elsewhere”.
Yes Michael, this is what led to “Sinhala Only” etc. etc. Now there is a move to go for a partition of the Pakistan/India type. Who are the separatists here Michael?
Roughly one in every Lankan household is slaving in MidEast, S.Korea, Japan, Europe and other parts of the world. Do you ever wonder why Michael?
Michael’s sagacious question ~ “The issue I pose is simple: is devolution extended to the Northern Province likely to be a time-bomb?”.
There is only one answer in mind – otherwise you would not have raised. SLPP is exploiting this.
We have been sinking for 70 years. In another 20 years the climate change tsunami will get us.
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To cut a long story short Michael: What is the point in selectively going into the past? Have any of your colleagues pointed this out to you? Or are they dumb?
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