by V. Anandasangaree
President - TULF

Sri Lanka, known as Ceylon in the good old days was such a beautiful country where we Sri Lankans, the Sinhalese, the Tamils, the Muslims, the Malays, the Burghers and many others belonging to various ethnic groups lived in peace and harmony with mutual love, respect and understanding for each other and with malice towards none. The present day generation witnessing or hearing of the awful activities going on will hardly believe what I say now. We were in fact proud of our nation. There was no enmity and we did not envy each other. Observing the new trend that is developing in the country, promoting discord and hatred among various communities, I felt it was my moral duty to tell the present generation as to how we lived in the past and what we should do to regain our lost glory.

In the very same country where we all lived peacefully, death and destruction is the order of the day now. Hardly a day passes without innocents being killed. The discovery of headless and bullet riddled bodies on the road side and in marshy lands, sometimes in a highly decomposed state are very common. The casualties at times exceed one hundred in one instance alone. They include men, women and little kids including babies. The people are living in constant fear. People want peace and only peace, at any cost. If remedial measures had been allowed to take place for certain acts, over one hundred thousand lives and several billions of rupees worth of property could have been saved, during the last 50 years. It is the arrogance shown by certain political leaders that has resulted in so much of loss to our country. Should we not put a stop to the killings? The younger generation should find the answer.

Some of us are quite safe in our homes with the security provided. But the ordinary man has no security at all. It is he who dies on the road. It is he who should look after his wife and children.

We have in our midst the LTTE leader who will not hesitate to sacrifice one thousand lives merely to glorify himself. Two letters, one addressed to Mr. V. Prabaharan and the other one is this letter addressed to my countrymen, both appear together for all to read and to arrive at their own conclusions. If we desire peace these letters have in them the solution.

The letter addressed to Mr. Prabaharan deals with the manner in which he ruined the Tamil community and brought misery to all. It also deals with how he gradually brought the entire Tamil community under his subjugation. Any right thinking non-Tamil reading the letter will only have tears for the suffering Tamil community and will want to liberate them and live with them on equal terms and peacefully. Are we as children of mother Lanka, ready for that?

This letter addressed to the patriotic citizens deals with the ethnic problem, how and when it originated and how the issue dragged on without a solution for over 50 years. Any right-thinking person will feel for the wrongs that have been done to the Tamil speaking people and will want to find a reasonable solution without any further delay.

The Mahanayakes of the four chapters, the Most Ven. Udugama Sri Rathanapala Mahanayake of Asgiriya Chapter, Most Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Mahanayake of Malwatte Chapter, Most Ven. Veveldeniya Medhlankara, Mahanayake of Ramagnna Chapter and Most Ven.D avuldena Gnanissara Mahanayake of Amarapura Chapter had in their joint statement said "President Mahinda Rajapakse and his Government is doing its utmost to solve the National crisis to bring peace where all communities and religious groups could co-exist harmoniously and this attempt should be wrested in order to open the doors for the development and good governance of the country". They also said, "Some parties are attempting to capitalize on this opportunity to gain political mileage and this cannot be accepted by right thinking people. Therefore we request the nation to forget their narrow differences and petty gains and lend total support to the Government to solve our national problem."

The joint statement of the Mahanayakas gives a lot of encouragement. I am sure that all of you will give serious consideration to the plight of the widows, orphans and the disabled who are suffering due to the war. You will also have sympathy for those thousands who have lost their limbs and eye-sight, for the death of over 70,000 people belonging to various communities and for the destruction of their property, caused by those unscrupulous elements. I hope all the people will throw their full weight and find a lasting solution acceptable to the minorities without leaving it for the future generation to take the struggle forward, if a final solution is not found now.

I am one who has lived among the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, for a long time. I studied with Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim students. Apart from being taught by Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim teachers, I also taught students of all these communities. Hence, I say with confidence that we can live together peacefully without any difficulty.

I plead that everyone should read both letters to know the real truth. Extreme caution has been taken to draft these two letters, limiting to facts that I am personally aware of and without any exaggeration.

The age old ethnic problem of Sri Lanka is now half a century old. Whether we are trying to solve it or making it more and more difficult to solve, is the question now widely asked by many, including the international community. Today, in our midst we have many capable people who have very wide knowledge of various modern constitutions and are capable of drafting one to suit our conditions. Many academics and analysts are also ready to help to draft one. To what extent they can help us is in great doubt. One such proposal already drafted, by the experts committee, comprising legal luminaries and experienced constitutional lawyers was very much acceptable to the minority communities and the international community. It came very close to meeting the aspirations of the minority communities, but have been rejected by unexpected quarters for reasons best known to all. The entire scenario would have completely changed, if we were asked to accept that proposal but it will not do any help if such a proposal is going to be meddled with by others. As we accept a court verdict, we must also learn to accept proposals by men of high integrity and dignity reposing confidence in them. For them the country’s interest is foremost in their minds. Didn’t we accept the Soulbury Constitution? Unfortunately, we are not allowed even to consider the report of the Experts Committee. Why was that committee constituted? I am at a loss to understand as to why it was formed, if we are not going to accept their report or even consider it.

Another missed opportunity was the rejection of the 1995 Proposal of President Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumaratunge, acclaimed as the best solution ever offered and very well received by many. If those proposals had been accepted and implemented, apart from avoiding the destruction of innumerable valuable properties, unimaginable sums of money spent on the war during the past 10 to 12 years and thousands of lives lost in the battle front could have been saved. Thousands of today’s widows would be living happily with their husbands, children and grand-children. Who will take the responsibility for the loss of life and property during this period?

Hence, what is needed today is for a team of experts to go back to the origin of the problem and move forward making provisions to meet the aspirations of the minorities as at that time. Fifty years have passed since the problem started and the grievances that existed at that time have neither been redressed nor any remedial measures taken to meet the aspirations of the minorities. Most of them who now deal with the problem are those who are not fully aware of the problem as it existed then. They are only trying to show the world their own capacities with all types of proposals, fully deviating from the original issue.

The country is not looking for experts merely to draft a new constitution, but are only looking for specialists to cure a deadly decease, fifty years old and in a very advanced stage, along with the new problems. There is no justification for the inordinate delay in finding a solution, because some remedial measures had been taken after the Sinhala Only Act was passed in 1956. The Bandaranayake–Chelvanayagam Pact signed on 26th July, 1957 envisaged a solution to the ethnic problem but unfortunately it was abrogated unjustifiably, merely to satisfy a group of people. The problem remained unresolved not only for the next eight years, with the signing of the Dudley–Chelvanayagam Pact but continued for many more years thereafter, since the UNP failed to implement it even after getting the Federal Party’s assistance to rule the country for four years. The UNP refused to implement it and got the pact abrogated in 1969. The provisions in the B-C Pact and the D-C Pact being so relevant and important, few extracts are reproduced from those pacts below for the benefit of those who are confusing the issue with new proposals. What is needed is a solution for the problem as it existed in 1957.