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The Washington Times on 11 December 2007 News Link:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20071211/EDITORIAL/112110008/1013
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Many independent organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Red Cross and many more well respected UN organization have provided credible evidence of the ongoing insecurity and irregularities on the island. Which are a result of bad governance, after the island became independent and the majority Sinhalese took over power without taking into account the legitimate political aspirations of the Tamil people and their historical homeland?

They always had their own administration before the British centralized governance when they took over the Tamil and Sinhalese administrations from the Portuguese and Dutch colonizers.

The Tamil sovereignty did in fact exist and has been well documented. This makes the claim of disinformation by the Sri Lankan ambassador unfounded and even disputes the claim of Sri Lanka as a country to be a sovereign state as 15% is no longer under its control but administrated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In this context, many can understand that due to discriminated policies against the Sri Lankan minorities, which have been implemented by the majority Sinhalese governments, the Tamil people felt oppressed and opted after years of non-violence participation to restore their lost rights trough an armed struggle.

UN conventions against colonization and the right of self-determination to a people only further the legitimate claim of the Tamils to govern their traditional homeland. Every person is well aware that nation building in modern history has never been accomplished without the component of violence.

The Netherlands, one of the former colonizers of the island, is one of the many countries who are in fact recognizing the legitimate grievances and the political aspirations of the Tamil people. Knowing this it makes it very doubtful to believe the claims of the ambassador, who does in fact not represent the entire population and taking into account his hard-line and extremist views as a Sinhalese Buddhist with a Sinhalese patriot attitude in the historical conflict.

I am very well aware of the tactics this governments to desperately try to wrongly portray the historical conflict as pure terrorism without describing the root causes which led to the nowadays violence and tactics of terror used by all warring parties including the Sri Lankan armed forces.

The Royal Family of Jaffna has been forced to live a secret life abroad due to the initiation and threats by various actors in the conflict. This makes it very difficult to represent the royal roots of the Tamil population but their existence is as real as the credible evidence of the once existing Tamil Kingdom, which has been well documented by archeologists.

The Sri Lankan government is itself involved in terrorism by being the main suspect in many extra-juridical killings.

If you do dispute my credible explanation, you can see for yourself the well-documented reports by Amnesty International and the SLMM (Sri Lankan monitoring Mission led by Europeans, who oversea the defunct cease fire agreement between the Sri Lankan government and LTTE)

The British are in fact very well aware that they made a huge mistake by not taking into account the minority rights before the island became independent.

Tamils always gained a well-respected place within the governmental institutions before the island became independent. This soon changed when Sinhalese nationalists took over power and brought the Singhalese culture into power by also declaring Singhalese as national language thereby depriving Tamils from their right to education and jobs within the public sector.

This all led to major opposition from the Tamils and resulted in the nowadays-protracted conflict between the Sri Lankan state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  

The Ambassador might be in a good mood to wrongly portray the facts, due to the latest victories by the Sri Lankan armed forces that consist for 90% of Sinhalese poor farmers. Most of them are occupying a land with people who do not speak their language and do have another culture.

Many countries are well aware that the Sri Lankan Government has deliberately underdeveloped the war torn North and East. It is well known that the Sinhalese majority governments in history are providing assistance to the Sinhalese settlements, which are established to change the demography, to claim it as a Sinhalese region.

The communities live separately in the North and East unlike the Muslims who always had good relation with the Tamils but unfortunately this relation has been severely disturbed when the Sinhalese intervened to split the communities, to ensure their long term objectives will be realized and that will be a Sinhalese state with Buddhism to be given the foremost place and all minorities to be integrated in that system.

Tamils are a proud people with dignity and respect to others. They will never accept to be oppressed and this is the reason that many support the fight for freedom in Sri Lanka to establish a state for the Tamils and to live in peaceful co-existence with the Sinhalese nation in the South.

On the end of the day, the International community will recognize the Tamil State, as they are well aware of the grievances and legitimate claims by the oppressed community. Though many Tamils and the international community disagree with some tactics of the LTTE and their non-democratic way of pushing for independence, many see no alternatives then providing assistance to the movement and know that Eelam will be a reality on the end of the fight.

The early-expected independence of Kosovo will only boost the legitimate claim of the Tamils in Sri Lanka to go the same way, as has been the case for East Timor and Eritrea.

However, to claim that the EPDP leader and his party are representative and moderate enough is a truly lie. This ''political'' party has never been taken serious by the International community because it is itself involved in criminal and terror activities especially in the Jaffna peninsula and recently in the East too, where the Sri Lankan government forces claim to in ''full'' control.  

I hope the readers will rethink the disinformation provided by this Sinhalese Ambassador Mr. Bernard Goonetilleke and I have great hope that in the upcoming years the attitude of Washington on the historical conflict in Sri Lanka will change. In addition, provide the opportunities for the legitimate grievances of the Tamil community to be taken serious enough by the Sinhalese majority politicians, who after three decades do still deny the basic facts and try to ignore the other party's legitimate desires.

Rukmalan Silva, Colombo