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E-mail from readers the world over
'Tamils have more enemies in India than in Lanka'
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Fri, 16 Jun 2000, 14:51:41EST -0400 Professor Suryanarayan's views and analysis are viewed by Tamils as being biased. Unfortunately, Tamils have more enemies in India (Tamil Nadu) than in Sri Lanka. Jaffna is the ancient Tamil kingdom where Tamils have been living for years now. Who are these people to decide whether or not Jaffna should be with the Tamils? How dare they suggest that the Sinhala government forces be protected by India? Thambiaiyah
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Sat, 17 Jun 2000, 06:36:11EST +0530 Being a Brahmin, I obviously cannot expect professor Suryanarayan to say anything other than what he has done. For the minimum mercy he has shown in his final words that " India must work for a political system in Sri Lanka which provides autonomy to the Tamils, creation of a Tamil linguistic state which protects the interests of not only the Sri Lankan Tamils but also of other minorities like the Muslims in the east," ethnically conscious Tamils like me are really grateful even while we wonder why an erudite person like him should shy away from asserting that now is the time for the Eelamite Tamil kinsmen to get their independent state. Professor V S has also referred to the Judge of the Special Court which tried and convicted the accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case as follows: "Special Judge Navaneetham awarded capital punishment to all the 26 accused. The Supreme Court then confirmed the death sentence on four of the accused and awarded life imprisonment for three of them. The others were convicted for lesser offences under the Arms Act, the Explosives Act and the Foreigners Act." What he conveniently omits to mention is that the Supreme Court of India has also pointed out, while dealing with the motive and character of the accused in the much publicised case that, "This is an act of revenge by the accused on the one whom they believe was responsible for the death of their people." (These words are not quoted exactly from the Supreme Court judgement but have been translated from a reference in Tamil to that portion in the judgement of the SCI by one Thiru Suba Veera Pandiayan in the well read Tamil journal Thamizhan Express dated May 17 to 23 from the New Indian Express group in Chennai. Thanks to the efforts of an arrogant and immature Rajiv Gandhi who was the then Prime Minister of India and a wily Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, J N Dixit, the foetus of Tamil Eelam was aborted in the womb of the Island! P Padmanabhan
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Sat, 17 Jun 2000, 09:28:38EST An ordinary person with his/her brain in the right place will be able to judge from his statement 'If Jaffna falls, there will be a flood of refugees to Tamil Nadu' whether or not Professor Suryanarayan is really an expert on the refugee situation. This is the most ridiculous statement I have read so far in the Indian media's anti-Tamil/Eelam propaganda. Brian Whitney, Canada.
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Sun, 18 Jun 2000, 10:20:33EST -0400 One of Professor Suryanarayan's quotes reads, "( Tamils) In their heart, they all support the LTTE. But if you probe further, they will tell you they do not want their children to join the LTTE." You are right Professor, all Indians love India, but how many of them are prepared to join the Indian army? Ratnakaran, Canada
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Thu, 15 Jun 2000, 11:12:10EST Eelam is a dream. This is our country. We will not give even an inch of land to you barbarian Tamils. You started this war. So you have to suffer. You go back to Tamil Nadu. You came to Sri Lanka as slaves. To work in our houses. To work in our estates. We are lions. Do you know our history? Do you know what King Dutugemunu did? Go back to south India and create your dreamland there. A foolish Prabakaran is betraying his own people.
Date:
Thu, 15 Jun 2000, 17:56:02EST +0200 I totally agree with Mr Chandrahasan that the LTTE will not procure Eelam for the Tamils. But the rest of his interview is totally inaccurate. Mr Chandrahasa also contradicts himself. Here are some instances where he has done so. 1."I wanted to help my fellow refugees go back full of motivation, with no hatred, with love towards our countrymen." Who does he mean by countrymen? "Ealamians" or Sri Lankans in general? 2.. "Look at the OERR office. It is a temporary arrangement, made of bamboo shafts and coconut leaves." His children seem to be doing extremely well in India, for a 'bogus' refugee. I wonder if any real refugees had connections at higher echelons. Can you believe that he did all this while living a bamboo hut! Where did the money come from for all this? 3. " Fortunately, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M G Ramachandran and the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi were very considerate " We all know how these two personalities aided and abetted the upsurge of Tamil violence and how training camps were established in India to train the LTTE. 4. " In 1987 when the India-Sri Lanka Accord was signed, we were sure that the Sinhala government would cheat India. We were certain that the pact was a premature step. But no one believed us. The unfortunate thing was that the Sri Lankan government gave money and weapons to the LTTE to fight the IPKF. It is something that has never happened anywhere in the world." Sri Lanka did not sign the accord willingly. Rajiv Gandhi threatened the then president of Sri Lanka when he was about to nip the LTTE menace and India forced the accord on us. So it is no big wonder that a later Sri Lankan president abrogated it. India, or any other country would have done exactly the same thing. 5. "Tamils are the indigenous people of Sri Lanka." Chandrahasan doesn't even seem to know where he came from! 6. "Our only request is, give us equal opportunity." The Tamils had more than an equal share of the pie. JR only tried to correct it. All the important countries had Tamils as Sri Lankan Ambassadors. Colombo with a population of 600,000 had 32 schools where advanced level science examinations could be taken while Jaffna with 250,000 had 33. Most of the Senior Civil Servants were Tamils. Currently there are two universities in the North and the East where only Tamils are taken as students. Tamils can also enroll in any other university in the island. No Sinhalese can enroll in the universities in the north and the North and the East. No Sinhalese can own land in the North and the East while Tamils can own land right up to the southern tip of the island. Then again most of the trade and big businesses are in the hands of Tamil moguls. 7. " But the Sinhalese have adopted violence so that they can kick us out." It is the LTTE and other groups who took up arms at the instigation of Mother Gandhi as JR was not willing to hand over the Trincomalee habour Oil Tanks to India for operation but to a Singapore subsidiary of a US company. It's was rather a product of Cold War politics. 8. " Today about one-third of the Tamil population is out of the country. We are scattered all over the world." Tamils made use of the liberal refugee policies of the west and duped some governments to introduce special migration policies for Tamils. They are not political refugees but economic refugees. The Tamils have never had any patriotic feeling towards Sri Lanka. It was always towards Tamil Nadu, not even towards the whole of India. Given a chance, not only the Tamils , most of the Sinhalese, or most of the Third World population including Indians would migrate to the west for a better life. 9. "The basic problem in Sri Lanka is majority rule." What can be wrong about this? In any democratic country it is the majority which rules. Things turn sour when the minority tries to dictate terms to the majority, like what happened in Sri Lanka and Fiji recently. 10. "We have been trying to work out settlements within the framework of Ceylon. The Sinhalese often come to agreements with us, but they go back on their word." No settlement was reached so far as the LTTE eliminated the other tamil groups and did not allow any settlement short of separation. Separation is not an acceptable solution to the Sinhalese. They are the minority in the region. There are 60 million Tamils living just 25 miles away. Finally, I would say that not all Tamils want to live under the LTTE. Most of them are willing to accept self rule within a unitary state. But it is the LTTE which has the power and does not allow the rest to speak. Ranjit Wimalaratne
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Thu, 15 Jun 2000, 14:05:24EST -0700 Chandrahasan was the son of Chelvanayagam who is considered to be the Mahatma of Eelam. Chelvanayagam followed the principle of non-violence in his fight for Eelam Tamils for over 30 years. Though I had great respect for the old man, he did not achieve anything for the Eelam Tamils. In fact most of the misfortunes of the Eelam Tamils happened during his leadership. This included mass colonisation of the Tamil areas with Sinhala peasants and militarisation of Jaffna. The Sinhala leaders were smarter than the old man. Chandrahasan is dreaming of Eelam while sitting in the cool comforts of Chennai. Please tell him that this will never happen. Having born and raised among Sinhalese, I can tell you that you have to fight with the Sinhalese to get what you want. I am aware of Chandrahasan's dislike for the liberation fighters. He feels that he should be the leader of the Eelam Tamils simply because of his father's stature. Please tell him that if does not know what he is talking about, the money that comes from US for his pet projects in Tamil Nadu will dry up soon. Shan Ranjit
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Fri, 16 Jun 2000, 12:55:16EST +0100 Gandhian non-violence will work when the oppressor is in the minority and the latter is in the majority. I don't understand why Tamils are not willing to learn from their past experiences. In 1958 for instance, Tamil politicians went on a so called non-violent strike against the Sinhalese. The government unleashed violence against them and what happened thereafter is history. Eelam would have been a dream for another 2000 years against the Sri Lankan government had we chosen the path of non-violence. I too believed in non-violence when I was a kid and even now cry within myself when I think of the lives that have been lost to this cause. Is it a crime to struggle for freedom? Nirmala Shankar Satchitanandan
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