Even while the self-appointed champions of Eelam Tamils here
and their fringe outfits decry the TESO conference in Chennai arranged by
Kalaignar and say that it will serve no purpose, the Rajapaksa regime in Sri
Lanka is in jitters, which is the proof for the impact and success of the
conference.
The following two news reports from Colombo on August 6 show
the panic of the Sinhala regime.
Under the headline, ‘Special attention would be paid on
Lankans take part in the TESO conference: SL government’ the reported Stated:
“Government announced special attention would be paid on
Lankans taking part in the TESO conference. TESO conference organized against
SriLanka.
Lankan government would not grant permission to create
separate or independent state in this country.
Only Tamil Nadu state stage various protest against
SriLanka. Other states of Indian did not engage protest against our country.
Indian central government need to pay special attention on
Tamil groups which stage protest against SriLanka in the Tamil Nadu state.
On 12th of August DMK leader Karunanithi has organized
special conference against SriLanka in Tamil Nadu. Lankan government thoroughly
condemns this activity. Some of the Lankans have been invited to take part in
this conference.
Lankans schedule to take part in the TESO conference would
violates the national policy of this country. In such situation government
would pay special attention on these members said Minister Keheliya
Rambukwella.”
Under the headline, ‘Sri Lanka government does not need to
protest the Eelam conference – Minister’ another report stated:
“Sri Lanka Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
Rajitha Senaratne says that the government does not need to protest the Tamil
Eelam Solidarity Organization (TESO) conference to be held in Tamil Nadu under
the aegis by DMK leader Muthuvel Karunanidhi.
The Minister expressed these views in response to a
statement by the government coalition Sinhala Buddhist party Jathika Hela Urumaya
(JHU) which says Sri Lanka government needs to protest the conference.
JHU spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe has said that the
Tamil Nadu politicians are trying to revive the struggle to truncate Sri Lanka
to establish a separate state of Eelam and the Sri Lankan government that
crushed the armed struggle for Eelam appears to be turning a blind eye to this
ominous threat.
It is confirmed that the conference will be held in Chennai
on August 12.
It has already been confirmed that Democratic People's Party
leader Mano Ganesan, New Left Front leader Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne and
United Socialist party leader Siritunga Jayasuriya will attend this conference
while major Tamil constituency Tamil National Alliance has not still taken a
final decision on their participation.”
The Rajapaksa regime is also using its diplomatic mission in
India to dissuade leaders of other political parties in India from attending
the conference. Lok Jan Sakthi Party leader and senior Parliamentarian Ram
Vilas Paswan has said that the Sri Lankan envoy Prasad Kariawasam in New Delhi
met him and tried to dissuade him from attending the meet stating that the
government in Colombo is taking steps for the resettlement and rehabilitation
of Tamils there. Paswan said he told the envoy if that be so, go and tell
people in Tamil Nadu and Kalaignar and try to convince them.
Union Minister and National Conference leader Dr. Farooq
Abdullah has said that Kalaignar has convened the conference at the right time.
“This conference organized by the DMK for the cause of Tamils struggling in our
neighbouring country. I think this is a wise decision of Karunanidhiji . This
will create an uprising among Tamils all over the world besides people in our
country for the rights of Lankan Tamils. This is the correct time for world
Tamils to raise up for getting justice for Eelam Tamils. They are still
languishing in camps and unable to return to their houses. The Sri Lankan
government should give up violations and help Tamils to return to their
hereditary areas and take action for them to live in peace and harmony in Sri
Lanka.
Anti-India feeling is so deep among Sinhalese in Sri Lanka
that writing in ‘The Island’ daily, a Sri Lankan diplomat Dayan Jayatilleke
justified the over-bearing Sinhala militarisation of the Tamil Eelam, implying
that the militarisation is necessary in the context of having a neighbour like
India.
Dayan said: “A recent article in a respected paper in the
region made the point that the military-civilian ratios in Kashmir as well as
our neighbour’s north-eastern periphery are far less favourable to the military
than the corresponding ratio in Sri Lanka’s North. Though there is indeed a
case for a lighter military footprint, the pseudo-sophisticated argument of
comparative ratios is specious, given that the balance of forces between our ‘gargantuan’
neighbour and its neighbours across those troubled frontiers is overwhelmingly
in favour of our neighbour, while that is manifestly not the case with the Sri
Lankan military and its neighbourhood.”
Dayan’s parochial outlook of state is not prepared to accept
that Eezham Tamils are citizens in the island and anti-India.
TESO meet will contribute in taking the issues of
Eelam-Tamils to masses in Tamil Nadu and the beyond. It could contribute in sending
message to New Delhi and to the world. No one needs to worry how Colombo would
look into it. Colombo would behave in the same way whether there is a TESO
meet, or no meet. Without fear Colombo never spared Tamils is the practical
experience of Tamils
It is indeed paradoxical that the forthcoming TESO
conference is opposed by the Sri Lankan regime of Rajapaksa and Sinhala
chauvinist parties on the one side and by the self-proclaimed champions of
Tamil Eelam cause here on the other side. Are they two sides of the same
(Anti-Eelam Tamil) coin?
No comments:
Post a Comment