{"id":12589,"date":"2009-06-07T00:03:43","date_gmt":"2009-06-07T00:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesamnet.co.uk\/?p=12589"},"modified":"2009-06-07T00:09:37","modified_gmt":"2009-06-07T00:09:37","slug":"stage-setting-mohamed-sr-nisthar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/?p=12589","title":{"rendered":"STAGE SETTING : Mohamed SR. Nisthar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mohamed<\/a>It\u2019s not unusual for a winning party to be euphoric.\u00a0 It\u2019s equally true for the losing party in the conflict to be dispirited, and this is a common scene in Sri Lanka and across the metropolitan\u00a0 cities of Europe.\u00a0 After all, it\u2019s the Tamil people, who are to be calm and prudent in contemplating the next move. A quieter but more profound move,\u00a0 that is to say, a vital and crucial part in shaping the political landscape of\u00a0 Sri Lanka and of its minorities, especially the Tamils.<\/p>\n

After nearly 61 long years the question of equality among the citizens, diversity of the multi-ethnic societies and the basis for prosperity of the tiny island of Sri Lanka has reached the next level needing a careful solution.<\/p>\n

One party in the conflict, the LTTE, had no plan \u201cB\u201d for their claim for a separate state, Tamil Ealam, logically a dystopian state.\u00a0 The other party, the GoSL,\u00a0 quickly learnt through its failure in the armed conflict and\u00a0 determined to wipe out the cry for freedom of the Tamils. Because the cry came in the form of a separate state from a military outfit, which lacked diplomacy and frequently even commonsense . The\u00a0 arms rich, but\u00a0 politically\u00a0 poor LTTE\u2019s\u00a0 short sight of the geo-politics and contemporaneous\u00a0 world order paved the way to their perish of no return.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nThe immediate past of the LTTE unequivocally showed that they heavily relied on the GoSL\u2019s mistakes and politics of India rather than their own military and\/or diplomatic ability to reach their ultimate goal. Thus their SOS signal through the diaspora to the world seemed to be the wrong signal at the wrong time at the wrong place and importantly for the wrong reason and that made the world see a brutal horror film in reality. The distasteful or even painful end to the LTTE, the very fact, which the LTTE\u2019s sympathisers\u00a0 around the world are adamant not to accept. But for the others it is an unavoidable or deserved end to the betrayers of the Tamils. For their unforgivable mistake they are no longer suitable for the title of\u00a0 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam. They are simply Tamil Tigers – TT). Not only\u00a0 did their dream land of Tamil Ealam die with them but also thousands of innocent lives were lost in vain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So what is the next move for the rest of the Tamils? What has the GoSL to offer to its minorities, especially to Tamil citizens? And how would the international community interact? These are the remaining questions.\u00a0\u00a0 Time and again it has been reiterated by the Sri Lankan presidents that the fight against the TTs is for lasting peace. Therefore it is obvious for the Tamils to expect peace since the TTs were defeated as GoSL claims, or at least\u00a0 TTs\u2019 statement of silencing their guns through their international spokesperson.\u00a0 But peace is not a commodity to be given by one and taken by the other. It\u2019s a process, which needs a collective effort by all parities, i.e. the President, the Parliament, the Singhalese, the Tamils, the Moors(religiously Muslims) and the international community.<\/p>\n

If so, what is the role of the president in this process, one would ask. The answer is, it\u2019s manifold and it can be prioritised\u00a0 in the following order. Re settling the IDPs as quickly as possible, disarming the gunners and underworld gangs, who are a possible threat to the innocent Tamils, Moors and Sinhalese, seeking a way of assessing and compensating the families who lost their\u00a0 bread winners or lost their limbs\u00a0 in the crossfire, putting forward a draft power sharing mechanism for the minorities, implementing a national curriculum which makes\u00a0 the Tamil language compulsory for the Sinhalese students and Sinhala language for the Tamil speaking students from year five and a year upward\u00a0 by every passing year up to\u00a0 A\/Ls.,\u00a0 creating a system of promotion for\u00a0 court staffs, including judges, police force and other vital government servants only on their tri or dual languages skills with working knowledge of the relevant area in order to make every government servant be able to serve in the language the recipients feel comfortable with.<\/p>\n

The current Sri Lankan President is of course brave and strong among the equals of the past but certainly not a great President. If President J.R. Jeyawardene, the alleged perpetrator of the July \u201983 pogrom against the Tamils across the island,\u00a0 was to be blamed for his political short sight and for the TTs\u2019 growth then no doubt the President, Mahinda Rajapaksha, will get the credit for eliminating the threat of the TTs. But to be a great president the task is very much different from just winning the war. The great President must win the hearts and minds of the country collectively.<\/p>\n

He may\u00a0 not be far away from manifestly proving his ability to restore peace in Sri Lanka by delivering what he pledged to the Tamils and other minority ethnics of Sri Lanka on 19th May 2009 on declaring the end of war in the Sri Lankan Parliament.\u00a0 If the President is serious about winning and retaining his office in the next presidential election then he should see clearly that it is very much hinged on his utterance and actions in the days to come. In the Tamils\u2019 history, former President J.R. Jeyawardane\u00a0 notoriously holds a place. However President Mahinda Rajapaksa may remain\u00a0 as Sri Lanka\u2019s Bismarck in\u00a0 history, if he attempts to amend the Executive Presidential set up of the constitution and takes all necessary measures to unite the country with fair and reasonable power sharing to the satisfaction of the minorities.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the role of\u00a0 the Parliament is crucial to the tasks ahead. It\u00a0 cannot be a club of racially motivated people any longer.\u00a0 The place should reclaim its conventional duty of\u00a0 restoring democracy. The Parliament should give its two third majority to do necessary amendments to the constitution. It should help the President\u00a0 create an Indian style of Presidential Office with a guaranteed selection of all ethnics of Sri Lanka as presidents in rotation depending on the individual\u2019s\u00a0 contribution to the country and his or her antecedents. Parties in the parliament should think of introducing a proportional representation voting system similar to the one which prevails in Northern Ireland to accommodate the ethnic minorities with their fair share.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Singhalese are allowed to express their natural emotions, but they should not go beyond the limits. The world currently understands your joy, which is derived from the constant fear you had for the TTs. The eyes of the international\u00a0 community are fixed on Sri Lanka now. Any political party\u2019s or community\u2019s stupid behaviour will produce undesirable consequences.\u00a0 What the Sinhalese mass must understand is\u00a0 that the\u00a0 Tamils and other minorities are not their foes and without their true participation they cannot have the island paradise they want to see. The minorities will motivate themselves to participate only when they feel there is a point to their participation. Sinhalese have a big say in the days to come. Be prepared to reject the idea of Sinhalization of\u00a0 entire island. Do not go behind the politicians who promote the idea that Sri\u00a0 Lanka is only for the Sinhalese and others are its second class citizens or simply a migrated crowd who live under the discretion of the Sinhalese people.\u00a0 Listen to the Sinhalese leaders and intellectuals who carefully promote race relation and power sharing with the minorities to keep the country moving through the challenges of the era of\u00a0 globalisation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We know for sure that the Tamils are divided into three, pro tigers, anti tigers and critics of both the government and tigers. It is also worth noting the innocently dangerous\u00a0 pro tiger diaspora, the main financiers and the propaganda machine at this juncture. This diaspora community, in my view, has blood on their hands. Because they never insisted that the TTs give up their arms when the TTs lost control over Kilinochi, the de facto capital of TT land, and took the people with them as human shields. They never put pressure on European governments or EU or UN to save the people who were caught up in the crossfire in the first place, but simply reflected what the TTs wanted. The leaderless, sort of\u00a0 makeshift Student Organization, British Tamil Forum, British Tamils Law and Advocacy Wing and Vanni Mission etc,\u00a0 all wanted the ban on TTs lifted and the international community\u00a0 to accept TTs as one and only representative of the Tamils\u00a0 first, then to declare the north and the east as the homeland of the Tamils with the right to self determination, then to put\u00a0 pressure only on Sri Lanka\u00a0 government\u00a0 and not on TTs to stop the war, then to give food and medicine to the IDPs.\u00a0 The easiest back door attempt to make a foundation for\u00a0 the dream of Tamil Ealam.<\/p>\n

What the diaspora overlooked was that every time they asked the international community for help it was always too late.\u00a0 They have not acted on their own\u00a0 rather they waited for the orders from Vanni to be delivered\u00a0 through pro TTs media, such as GTV, Theepam and IBC as to their actions.\u00a0 The above media not only misled the pro tigers but also kept them\u00a0 in dark by their military analysis on the basis of\u00a0 monsoons and political one on the Tamil Nadu\u2019s politics. They tried to portray the state of Tamil Nadu in\u00a0 India\u2019s shoes, meaninglessly diminishing India\u2019s ability to a minimal level and Tamil Nadu\u2019s\u00a0 in a huge proportion.<\/p>\n

It will be a great help for the Tamils back home if the diaspora community remain quiet or at least stop chanting the slogans \u201cour leader Prabaharan\u201d and \u201cwe want Tamil Ealam\u201d\u00a0 for a while allowing the\u00a0 international\u00a0 community to engage themselves fully in the making of Sri Lanka for the sake of all citizens.<\/p>\n

The pro tiger TNA has lost credibility since it did not discharge its duty at the time when the civilians lives were at risk. Their accounts and briefing to\u00a0 foreign countries and the diaspora about the terrible fighting and inside stories were utterly biased. They were afraid\u00a0 of their masters, the TTs. Therefore they have no legitimate claim to be the Tamils\u2019 representatives anymore. The sooner they resign\u00a0 the better for the future of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The anti tigers spend huge amounts of time analysing everything from the birth of the one time supremo of the TTs, to the mysterious final seconds of his death and the way the diaspora community dream about snatching Tamil Ealam from Sri Lanka. Educating the disapora about the non viability of Tamil Ealam and the possibility of a fair share option for the political survival of Tamils with the help of the international\u00a0 community is a required task for them, if they are prepared to\u00a0 positively contribute to rebuild the ruined Tamil society and their legitimate right for freedom and a fearless life.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0
\nOn the other hand the critics of the GoSL and TTs have great potential to act as mediators between the Tamils, the GoSL\u00a0 and even the Sinhalese mass.\u00a0 There are many Sinhalese and Tamil organizations all over Europe and the rest of the western world. They can identify like minded people and work together as one voice for safeguarding minorities\u2019 rights and betterment of all Sri Lankans with\u00a0 mutual respect and collective responsibility.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next is the Moors, religiously Muslim, the scapegoats and unwanted stock for TTs. However, they should not distance themselves from the current politics because they\u00a0 wear caps and grow long beards or the women wear Hijab.\u00a0 They should not feel that the current political chaos has nothing to with them because of their past experience with the TTs. They should not think that Sri Lanka is\u00a0 somebody else\u2019s country and they have no say on its bad and good times. It has been always their tradition and rights from the time of\u00a0 the Kings to be in their cabinet and holding a high position in politics and in making and shaping the Sri Lanka\u2019s political life. For Moors to be a true example of their religious ideology is to reflect themselves in performing their duties towards their country and make sure they enjoy their unalienable\u00a0 rights with dignity.<\/p>\n

It is true that the bitter experience they had at the hands of the TTs made them think differently. The so called Oluvil Declaration for \u201cMuslim Thesam\u201d initiated by the students of the South Eastern university was a by product of the TTs\u2019 terrorism on Moors, the indigenous people of east, north and north west of Sri Lanka who lived in harmony with other ethnics for centuries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The TTs\u2019 rise and fall\u00a0 can be a case study for the defenders of the Muslim Thesam,\u00a0 the\u00a0 name and the concept of which do not reflect anything other than a tit for tat.\u00a0 Kill those dangerous, unwanted and non viable idea of separation from its bud and bury them. Having said that, however, it does not and cannot mean that they\u00a0 should willingly lose their political voice or their ethnic identity. They have a right to loudly say they are Moors like others say they are Tamils and Sinhalese and\u00a0 religiously Muslim like Hindus, Christians and Buddhists. They\u00a0 can also loudly say that together they are ready to rebuild our broken societies and country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most of the Tamils arguably think that the international community has done nothing or kept quiet at the time of need. The international community\u00a0 were in a task of a balancing exercise between what they were told by the Tamil diaspora about what has been happening and what has actually been happening according to their diplomatic missions in Sri Lanka. The second thing that the international community wanted was to stick to their own\u00a0 resolution of defeating an armed group, regardless of what name we call the military outfit by, if they possess anything other than conventional firing weapons like AK 47 and sorts, any armed organization with different fighting units such as infantry, naval, air force, even in the rudimentary level, and most importantly a suicide squad\u00a0 is great cause for concern. The TTs\u2019 unnecessarily tremendous growth in this direction held back the international community from active engagement in solving the problem. As far as the international community is concerned the TTs are not the solution but part of the problem to the Tamils\u2019 political aspiration.\u00a0 Therefore\u00a0 it put the Sri Lankan government as first preference in the political list.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And almost all of the TTs\u2019 sympathizers believed that their protest in the streets of Europe made the governments of their respective countries look into matters, but\u00a0 this is not the case. Sri Lanka is not like a remote village in the Zing Zhang province of China.\u00a0 Sri Lanka has been on their check list for many reasons. The European Union, American administration and UN are well informed of the conflict which prevailed for more than a quarter of century in Sri Lanka, and their solemn resolute\u00a0 not to interfere\u00a0 until the war come to an end regardless of the way in which it ends, (I have mentioned this very fact in my previous article \u201cpolitics within politic\u201d in Tamil on 06th April 2009 in the Global Tamil News) made them sit back.<\/p>\n

Therefore the international community\u2019s positive interference in Sri Lanka now is imminent. If the Sri Lanka government does anything, which is suspicious or simply a dragging exercise\u00a0 in attending unsolved problems of ethnic question and their political aspiration then the international community may show their big stick and warn of the punishment awaiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this day and age of globalization and countries\u2019 interdependency on regional and international basis on each others, the GoSL may not attempt to waste its potentials to be a promising country in south east Asia\u00a0 and become one in the list of failed states. Let\u2019s see whether the politics of Sri Lanka make someone ends up in the Hague on ICC trial or to Oslo for a noble prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not unusual for a winning party to be euphoric.\u00a0 It\u2019s equally true for the losing party in the conflict to be dispirited, and this is a common scene in Sri Lanka and across the metropolitan\u00a0 cities of Europe.\u00a0 After all, it\u2019s the Tamil people, who are to be calm and prudent in contemplating the next move. A quieter but more profound move,\u00a0 that is to say, a vital and crucial part in shaping the political landscape of\u00a0 Sri Lanka and of its minorities, especially the Tamils. After nearly 61 long years the question of equality among the citizens, diversity of the multi-ethnic societies and the basis for prosperity of the tiny island of Sri Lanka has reached the next level needing a careful solution. One party in the conflict, the LTTE, had no plan \u201cB\u201d for their claim for a separate state, Tamil Ealam, logically a dystopian state.\u00a0 The other party, the GoSL,\u00a0 quickly learnt through its failure in the armed conflict and\u00a0 determined to wipe out the cry for freedom of the Tamils. Because the cry came in the form of a separate state from a military outfit, which lacked diplomacy and frequently even commonsense . The\u00a0 arms …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[102,40],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesamnet.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}