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TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan making a special
statement in Parliament on January 10, 2007 on the 'Peace process and
the current situation pertaining to the civil population in the North -
East of Sri Lanka' has undermined the judgement delivered by the Supreme
Court saying that it has only pointed out a procedural flaw in the
proclamation made by the late President J. R. Jayewardene in 1988.
He states that President Mahinda Rajapaksa did not obtain a mandate
from the country for the dismantling of the North-East merger.
Mr. Sampanthan, a septuagenarian serving a very long stint in
Parliament we believe, is not suffering from amnesia or some aberration
that could erase from his memory the history of just the past two
decades.
He should surely remember the infamous and abominable invasion of Sri
Lanka's air space by India to air drop parippu to the North violating in
the process Sri Lanka's sovereignty.
This was followed by Rajiv Gandhi exhibiting India's bullying tactics
to coerce J. R. Jayewardene into acquiescence to enter into the equally
infamous Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement in a melancholy ceremony which looked
more like a funeral service, watched on television by an enraged nation.
Sri Lanka's animosity to India's blatant and brutish interference in
her internal affairs was abundantly manifested to the whole world when a
son of the soil, a Naval rating who participated in a guard of honour
dealt a thundering blow with the butt of his rifle on Rajiv Gandhi's
back.
J. R. Jayewardene who harboured a sense of guilt for having betrayed
the nation, went public saying that he would be the first person to
canvass for the de-merger of the Northern Province from the Eastern
Province, no sooner the referendum proposed in the Agreement is held.
Unfortunately, he could not do it due to the turbulent and volatile
situation that had been created there by the LTTE. Mr. Sampanthan who
undoubtedly is a proxy for the LTTE terrorists labours hard for the
retention of the merger and states that the past Presidents postponed
the proposed referendum 26 times during the last 18 years allegedly
because they supported the merger and did not consider the holding of a
referendum necessary.
How could anyone be so imbecile as to come to such preposterous
conclusions?
As everyone knows, there was no peaceful and conducive climate in
these two provinces to hold such an election. It is because of a mock
Parliament election that was held there that some of the TNA terrorist
acolytes were able to enter Parliament with as few as 8 to 18 votes.
Mr. Sampanthan attributes Chandrika Kumaratunga's polling of 62.68
per cent at the Presidential elections in 1994 to her wholehearted
support for the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement. He can console and pacify
himself by making such ridiculous assumptions but the real reason for
her victory was the disillusionment of the 17 years of corrupt and
autocratic rule by the UNP from 1977 to 1994.
The citizens of this country would wholeheartedly agree that the
Tamil community is in a majority in the Northern Province with only a
small percentage of Muslims and Sinhalese living there. They were driven
out making it the exclusive habitat of the Tamils.
How can they claim the entirety of the Eastern Province as theirs,
when they constitute only 40 per cent of the population.
During the Presidency of Chandrika Kumaratunga, the then DIG of the
Western Province Mr. Kotakadeniya who fought a valiant battle to rid the
Province of the LTTE terrorists, after a careful study of the
demographic situation declared that 60 per cent of the population within
the Colombo Municipal limits were Tamils.
Angered by this declaration, a man from the Thottams who considered
himself 'Kingmaker' brought pressure and got Mr. Kotakadeniya moved out
else where.
With the increased exodus of Tamils in the Northern and the Eastern
Provinces to the South due to terrorists brutality, this percentage
could be higher now.
The people of this country would not be surprised, if one of these
days Mr. Sampanthan claims that the entire Western Province is the
homeland of the Tamils just because they are in a majority within the
CMC limits.
Incidentally, has Mr. Sampanthan or his gang of TNA Parliamentarians
ever declared openly that they would be satisfied with the merger of the
two provinces? Never, because they are just the mouth pieces for the
terrorists.
In conclusion, instead of saying that Mahinda Rajapaksa did not get a
mandate from the country for the dismantling of the North-East merger,
pray Mr. Sampanthan, please answer the question - did the country give
J. R. Jayewardene a mandate in 1988 for the merger?
SHIRLEY SENARATNE,
Kegalle
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According to Section 185 of the Motor Traffic Act (as amended) where
a conductor is carried on an omnibus used on any highway that conductor
shall have the word 'conductor' legibly marked on some conspicuous part
of his clothing or wear in a conspicuous position, a metal badge bearing
the word 'conductor' in legible words.
This requirement is not being enforced by the relevant Passenger
Transport Authorities in respect of conductors of private buses nor it
is adhered to even by the Sri Lanka Transport Board.
In the interest of the bus passengers, I wish to request the
authorities concerned to ensure that the provisions of the said Section
is enforced with a number assigned to each conductor, so that errant
conductors who do not issue tickets after collecting fares and those who
involve in various acts of misconduct can be easily identified for
suitable action.
H. W. GOONESEKERA,
Panadura
----
I appreciate Hemantha Warnakulasuriya's attempt (DN Feb. 12) to
highlight the unacceptability of racial and caste discrimination, and
the essential unity of all the people of this island. However his
characterization of Veddhas and 'Aborigines' as 'savages' is
unacceptable and racist!
Most modern research shows that the Veddhas were the backbone of the
resistance to colonial invasion, and were subject to genocide and terror
by the 'savagery' of the English in 1818 and 1848. Moreover, many
Sinhala and Tamil people are in fact Veddhas themselves, albeit wearing
tie-and-coat and sometimes spouting English nonsense against each other!
As to the people called 'Aborigine' by the white man, in fact, they
are the original people of those lands which were stolen. It was those
same 'aborigines', who fed and clothed the first white settlers who
would have died and frozen, if not for their immense generosity.
Only now information is appearing to show the commonality of the
human (and basically Buddhist) philosophies that lie at the base of
Asian, African and Pacifican as well as original American peoples across
two continents!
The non-sequitur of hacking Mao and Stalin into his article, leaders
who were at the frontline of countries standing up to imperialism, and
who never used racism, even though they have been accused of everything
else under the sun, seems more a nod to the US State Department's
journalist visa section, to flag the penman's anti-socialist
credentials!
Also, the motion by India at the UN Conference on Racism was to
unbundle 'racial' and 'caste' discrimination, so as to prevent the
imperialist countries from watering down such concepts and divert from
their 500-year responsibility for using racism to justify colonial
robbery, for which they still refuse to pay reparations!
Some Europeans even claim that the Veddhas are 'indigenous', in an
attempt to divide us further. We are all indigenous people and have the
right to live in dignity and not be racially disparaged on our own soil
and in our own papers! "Proud to be a Veddha!"
KRISANTHA SRI BHAGGIYADATTA,
Colombo, via email |
