On November 13, the European Union issued a statement which, inter alia said:

"...The EU is strongly in favour of these negotiations which must take substantial account of the aspirations of the Tamil minority..."

The keywords here are "substantial account" and "aspirations".

"Aspirations" are what somebody desires or hopes for. In this case it means what the LTTE are fighting for. "Substantial account" means that whatever the LTTE desires must be granted in sufficiently large measure so as to satisfy them. Almost all the Tamil leaders have said that talks are absolutely necessary with the LTTE & that what the LTTE wants is what the Tamils want. Also, in this so called conflict it is noteworthy that "Tamil grievances" have been replaced by "Tamil aspirations".

Whether the aspirations of the LTTE & the Tamils are justified, is another question. What the Europeans assume is that they are. What the Europeans desire is that these aspirations must be met substantially.

In the opinion of Tamils, substantial achievement would be tantamount to:

a) Eelam

b) If not Eelam then: confederation (the actual meaning of which or the implications of which have not been understood by most foolish Sinhala politicians).

c) If not confederation, then the Thimpu principles end more that is: substantial devolution.

All these imply that a large portion of our land will be carved out & recognized as "traditional homelands" of Tamils (the Muslims to get whatever the Tamils may give them).

This is despite the fact that the larger number of Tamils live outside the claimed Traditional Homelands. This is despite the fact that large areas of the Eastern Province have been historically Sinhala inhabited areas for centuries. This is despite the fact that large portions of arable land are in the Eastern Province . This is despite the fact that landlessness is largely among the Sinhalese - especially among the Kandyan peasantry.

It is tragic that Europeans who hardly have any knowledge of the historical background of non- European countries should sit in judgement over the future of our children & grandchildren. The Europeans dare not interfere or intervene in powerful countries like China & India. The Sinhalese in particular are not to be taken seriously because they do not constitute a big market & are comparatively small in number.

The Europeans think of our so called ethnic question as one where a chauvinist & intolerant majority has, down the years suppressed a minority. They do not know (or do not care) what the picture was during the Colonial Era where some minorities got a privileged position. They do not understand the significance of how, down the centuries a small ethnic group called the Sinhala were under continuous aggression by South Indians. They would prefer to ignore the agitation now being mounted among 65 million Tamils in South India by Tamil chauvinist groups which holds a grave threat to us.

Let the European Union peacemakers like Solheim read a few books on alternate opinions, as distinct from what they have imbibed from the Tamil diaspora and from some NGO lobbies both here & abroad. The book "towards a Sovereign State" by Guneratne may be a good starting point, not to speak of the historical works of a host of others, especially Europeans who lived & researched in Sri Lanka for years before they wrote about Sri Lanka.
Lomba — Kataka — Charya