The strategic importance of SriLanka in geopolitics and the rich natural resources of SriLanka are well known to the world. Over the years, many powerful countries of the world have directly or indirectly shown a strong interest in SriLanka. Both the UNF and the PA parties have time and time again exploited this world interest to achieve their local agenda, mainly forming a government.
Colombo has often succeeded in winning world interest at the expense of Tamil-Welfare. Each initiative that Colombo embarked on in order to cash in on the world interest sacrificed the well being of the Tamil nation. In this regard, the world has a huge responsibility in alleviating the Tamil sufferings. It is essential for this article to present a few examples to support this claim.
In 1947, the year before the British’s total withdrawal from SriLanka, the Solebury constitution was signed between the Sinhala leaders and the British rulers. This anti Tamil constitution received a widespread protest from the Tamil nation. However, using their overwhelming majority and by granting British the right to continue to use the SriLankan ports, the then Sinhala Leaders had succeeded in forming this constitution. D.S.Senanayake was the Sinhala leader at that time and his party is now called the UNF. Tamils were totally excluded from the process of forming this constitution. Even though the right to use the SriLankan ports kept the British quite about this injustice done to Tamils, soon the British realized that the Sinhalese had taken them for a ride.
Nine years after the Solebury constitution was signed, in 1956, D.S.Senanayake was defeated in the elections by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP now called PA) lead by S.W.R.D.Bandaranayake, the father of the present Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaranatunge Bandaranayake (CBK). This defeat was the beginning of the culture of UNF/PA alternate ruling in SriLanka. Bandaranayake, upon forming the government, eliminated from the Solebury constitution, the clause that granted British the right to use the SriLankan ports freely. However, the anti-Tamil aspects of the constitution were kept. Not only the anti-Tamil aspects were kept, enhancements were made to the constitution to make it even more anti-Tamil. The benign 29th clause was the only protection the Solebury constitution offered to the Tamils. Bandaranayake eliminated even this 29th clause from the constitution and introduced the infamous ‘Sinhala Only’ clause. It was at that point the British realized that they had been taken for a ride by the Sinhalese. It was too late.
It is very important to note at this point that the Sinhalese not only fooled Britain, but they also wisely made Britain a partner in their oppression of the Tamil nation—a partner in crime.
The creator of the Solebury Constitution, Lord.Solebury him self had registered the above fact in a letter he later sent to a prominent Tamil, S.Sundaralingam. Solebury stated in his letter that he created the constitution by trusting D.S.Senanayake and by doing so he had done wrong to the Tamils. Solebury clearly registered his regret in this letter. This and many other letters written by Solebury concerning SriLanka can be found in the book ‘EYLOM: Beginning of freedom struggle’ written by S.Sundaralingam and published in 1964. Further, later in the Forward written by Solebury to a different book, Solebury had in a way publicly confessed his mistake in creating the Solebury constitution. However, sadly, it is not Solebury or the Britain that did time for this wrongdoing; it is the Tamil nation that has been doing time.
Next, in 1987, J.R.Jayawadene (J.R) invited India in to SriLanka and signed the Indo-Lanka accord against the wishes of the Tamil Nation. It is very important to carefully study this accord, as it was here that a huge drama was staged. Being a smart politician, J.R. made the world to believe, right from day one, that even though he is fully in favor of the accord many of his ministers are opposed to it. At times, J.R. went even a step further and made the world to believe that he is helpless with his extremist ministers. Having established this picture, J.R. secretly commanded his Minister of defense, Athulath Muthali, to order the armed forces to arrest a few high-ranking LTTE commanders and to jail them in Colombo. While it was viewed by the world, as it was the work of an extremist minister, it was really all part of the master plan of J.R. J.R. knew that it would be possible to arrest senior LTTE cadres since the LTTE was strictly adhering to the cease-fire agreement and was not carrying arms. J.R. knew for sure that the LTTE cadres would intake cyanide-capsules and die if they were attempted to be brought to a Colombo jail. J.R. was right. The accord was broken and the Indo-Tamil war broke. J.R. cunningly used India to fight his war against Tamils. This is another example of Colombo taking a foreign country for a ride. Again, as usual, it was the Tamils that paid the price for this Indian ignorance.
Now, it is the Ranil Wickramasinghe administration. This administration too is trying to win the world support by publicly presenting itself as a pro peace government. However, underneath, it is two things the present administration is after: 1) To establish a ‘safety net’ using the world powers that would aid the government in waging an efficient war against the Tamils, 2) Receive sufficient foreign aid to boost the Sinhala economy.
‘Peace for Foreign Aid’ seems to be the motto of the present SriLankan administration. The insincerity of the Ranil administration in finding a lasting peace to the nation’s conflict can be seen clearly in its numerous arguments that make reference to the present SriLankan constitution. It is common knowledge that the conflict in SriLanka started due to the present oppressive constitution. Of course, the constitution is not going to have provisions that would allow an amicable solution to the Tamils. It doesn’t require a degree in political science to understand that if such a provision was there, the conflict will not have started at the first place. Therefore, citing the oppressive constitution as the reason for not being able to proceed with the peace process is nonsense. The world must understand this.
Playing the peace tune efficiently, the Ranil administration has already won some substantial foreign aid. The Southern Sinhala economy of SriLanka has already started to take off. This has made the Ranil administration the favorite among the southern polity. The west too, believing the false pretense of the Ranil administration as a pro peace government, has placed all of its hopes on the Ranil administration. Moreover, due to the eight years of brutal, inconclusive war that the PA party had waged, the PA has lost all of its credibility among the southern voters and the world. So, things look rosy for Ranil and his boys.
However, it must be understood that the PA is not going to remain quite. The PA has accepted the fact that it is not going to be easy for it to win world credibility in the near future. The PA also understands that it is hard for it to destroy the credibility the Ranil administration enjoys among the world powers. Therefore, the PA has chosen to take an indirect route. Namely, to derail the peace process. The PA’s approach is to eliminate the UNF trump card-- peace process. PA has been actively working towards this goal with the help of other Sinhala extremist parties and the fundamentalist Buddhist clergy. On many fronts it appears that the PA has already made significant progress towards its end goal.
Therefore, Ranil Administration’s insincerity to find a lasting peace to the nation’s conflict through the peace process combined with the opposition’s determination to derail the peace process equate to only one thing—the days of SriLankan peace process are numbered!
It is the responsibility of the world powers to quickly understand the real situation in SriLanka and to prevent the Sinhalese from taking both the World and the Tamils for a ride once again!!
Source: ViduthalaipPuzhihal, May-June, 2003
Translation By TamilCanadian - September 26, 2003