I consider this argument a friendly and mutual one because its just between the two of us. I also admire your enthusiasm in continuing this argument.I don’t know about you but I am enjoying this argument very much.

I know this is not a game but I am not representing the Government of Sri Lanka and I suppose you’re not representing the Tamil Diaspora. So our arguments don’t have an impact on any of them. Hence, we can speak out what’s in our heart and mind and wouldn’t hurt anybody even if we don’t have genuine facts and figures.

There is one aspect of this argument that I really appreciate and enjoy and that is getting an opportunity to correspond with someone who has opposite opinions to mine. Otherwise this would not be an argument and we would not know what the other party is thinking.

Personally, I have nothing against Tamils. Some of my best friends in school were Tamils. I even had a love affair with a Tamil Girl from Jaffna who was permanently residing in Colombo. Unfortunately for me, her father got permanent residence visa in Singapore while working there and the family migrated to Singapore.

Culturally, the Singhalese have no differences with Tamils. The Singhalese people enjoy Tamil food, worship Hindu Gods, wear Indian clothing, watch Tamil and Hindi films. If you check out Colombo about 80% of the businesses are owned by either Tamils or Muslims. So who says we are harrasing Tamils. What happened in 1983 was a big mistake. The situation was created by some political extremists called JVP but the whole country had to suffer.

The civil war was not against Tamils. It was against a band of terrorists who were trying to disrupt the country claiming to bring freedom to The Tamil poulation. Now that those people are gone, Sri Lanka is starting a new life, a new beginning. The black americans in USA didn’t ask for a seperate country, they only asked for equality. Today they have a black President. So who knows, one day there will be a Tamil President in a united Sri Lanka. I am very optimistic about this.

The “facts” you have presented are nothing more than propaganda. Perhaps it could be true, but they are accusations that have no real grounds and evidence; partly because of the opaque nature of the Sri Lankan government; they will not allow international media to cover the area. What the English media did catch however, were army planes shelling running civilians.

Forget the LTTE for a moment; if the government marginalizes the minority Tamils, then the needs of Tamils in Sri Lanka are not met. Ever since the first riots 30 years ago, where a thousand or more Tamils have died, they have been fighting for the removal of this marginalization. This marginalization has continued, and instead of trying to convice a government that would kill them before they would consider their needs, Sri Lankan Tamils have decided that governing themselves would be more effective. With war chants claiming this war “is for our race”, it’s hard for Tamils to side with the Sri Lankan government. This was evident in a confession in a speech of the wife of a Sinhalese reporter who sympathized for Tamils spoken in Geneva.

Bangaladesh has a separate culture, and refused to learn Urdu as their main language. Now they cannot be bullied into it by another country since they are separate. So should Tamils be free to have their own culture, instead of being forced to conform to Sinhalese customs.

Forcing people to be a part of a country that opresses them is no such solution, it will heal no 30 year old scars, and faith has done nothing. We couldn’t even know if the government was trying to heal it; the government is trying to hide something. This argument has no evidence in our present world that proves it would work, it is without precedent. However, many countries have separated and their peoples had their respective needs met.

For the past thirty years the LTTE never compromised on anything. They had only one thing in mind and that was separation. So what they did was just play with time staging peace talks in different parts of the world whilst building up their arsenal. It is true that the previous governments of Sri Lanka dined and wined with the LTTE but could not bring a solution because nobody had a solution. It was too complicated for them because to separate or not to separate was the question.

When the present government came into power they also invited the LTTE for peace talks but what did the LTTE do. They walked out on the peace talks and provoked the government by stopping the distribution of water to villages in the Eastern Province.

So what the present government did was simplify the equation.
What the LTTE wanted was seperation and what the present government wanted was an undivided country. It was one on one. No more x and y factors. It was a do or die situation and the LTTE had to face the consequences.

It is true that a war cannot be fought without deaths and casualties. The Defence Secretary admitted after the war was over that nearly 20,000 government soldiers were injured, nearly 2,000 were permanently disabled and nearly 6,000 were killed within the humanitarian operation itself. In any kind of war Civilians get caught in the middle and die too. What the LTTE did was show the world that their cadres were civilians too by removing the gun and explosives from the dead-body because the cadres were innocent civilians forced to fight. Some were children as young as 12 years old, dressed shabilly or in school uniforms not to look like a fighting force.

Same time the LTTE exploded bombs on the ground, in and around civilian homes, hospitals and schools to make craters to show on satellite photos aerial bombardment or heavy artillery fire on civilians. They even broadcasted on their web sites photos taken from the actual sites but to their benefit with unbelievable numbers. So the world was duped into thinking that the army was killing innocent civilians. How clever of the LTTE.

Adolf Hitler had once told his propaganda Minister,” If you want to tell a lie to the people to make a real impact on them, say it as big as possible.” So, what the LTTE has done was the same thing. First they made 200 civilians 2,000 and when it was gulped in, slowly they made those 2,000 civilians 20,000 civilians. It was as simple as adding a zero at the end. It is undeniable that LTTE propaganda mechanism was much much more superior than that of the government.

As for the Muslim community, they too feel that being under the Tamils in the Eastern Province would make them the minority and thus a separate homeland is the only solution. Would this kind of ideas bring about peace to Sri Lanka. Never. Therefore it is the firm belief of the present government to bring all communities under one flag, as a one nation and one nationality and that is Sri Lankan. It takes time. Wounds don’t heal in minutes or in a day. Bigger and more serious the wound is the longer it takes to heal given the proper medication of course. This government knows and has the medication for the 30 year old wound of Sri Lanka. Already the antigens have been recognized and removed. There may be left overs but they will also be dealt with. The healing process has begun.

Lets have faith in the doctor and help with the healing.

It’s not a “you killed one of mine we kill two of yours situation”. It’s a “we can’t trust your government any longer” situation. The thousands who have died are a testament to the inability of the government to equitably serve all people within the nation. The people must have faith in government if the government is to control aspects of protection and policing. The loss of faith is justified. Sri Lanka had a chance to stop, and they have failed. They have been failing for 30 years. Now is the time for a new solution.

By the way Tharan, I don’t know if you are aware, the Muslim community in Sri Lanka has had their minds set on the Eastern Province as their homeland if Eelam had been established. This was just an underground rumour. But that’s how the fight for Eelam started also – underground. If Eelam did come true I wonder who would be fighting whom because Eelam consists of Eastern Province also. Reminds me the war between East and West Pakistan.

The only solution is to recognize Tamil Eelam.

What good is history and nationality and culture and ethnicity if you are not sure whether you will live long enough to have lunch that day or your loved ones will return home in the evening without being blasted into bits by a parcel bomb or being shelled by artillery or bombs dropped from the air.

If we can’t establish Eelam in a peaceful country, then we must bring peace to Eelam. That is we must look at Eelam from a different angle. We must make Sri Lanka adopt principles adopted by countries like Singapore. “All cultures can live in harmony by having a common language like English to work with but each ethnicity must keep their culture and language alive by passing them on from generation to generation” Singapore has no problems. So why cann’t Sri Lanka do the same.

Secondly; Eelam should be in Sri Lanka for the same reasons Israel was given near Palestine; cultural significance. Having Eelam, a country that Tamils can call their own, in a place that has nothing to do with Tamils is just plain wrong. With no history, there is no nationality. With no nationality or national identity, the country will fail.

Thirdly; Just because there are sympathizers doesn’t mean they are ready to let Tamils make a country in their own. That would probably make the sympathizers feel violated. For example; during slave times in America, there were plenty of black sympathizers; however, a lot of them didn’t want to live next to black people because ethnocentrism was abundant.

How long did you think about this?
That was a ridiculous thing to say.