But may I ask you Sir, if the interests of the Sinhalese have ever figured in peace talks. The Tamil racists have christened the separatist conflict as an ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, but in-the peace talks that were held beginning with Thimpu Talks in 1985, no Sinhala Delegation was ever allowed to participate, thus giving credence to the assertion by the Tigers that the Government delegation represented the Sinhalese and the Tigers represented the Tamils of the country and therefore it followed logically that the two delegations were on par with each other. As a matter of fact the Tamil Delegation in a joint statement made at the conclusion of the Thimpu Talks, berated the Government Delegation for not having the" political will to recognise the existence of the Tamil Nation."

The Nation of Sinhale" - her culture, civilisation, arts and crafts, architecture, irrigation systems and agriculture- were developed nurtured and preserved and protected over the centuries at great and tremendous cost in sweat and blood solely by the Sinhalese against all odds, fighting ceaseless waves of invaders from Tamil Kingdoms that emerged in South India, and invaders from Portugal, Holland and England. It was the Sinhalese who erupted in revolts against the British which cost them thousands of lives and economic devastation in the face of a scorched earth policy engaged in by the British to suppress the rebellions. Malay troops were brought to decimate the Sinhalese. The Sinhalese were discriminated against by all the colonial rulers and the racial minorities always enjoyed privileged positions. The culture and the language of the majority were treated with disdain.

The plight of the Sinhalese did not change much even after the British left the Island. The attempts made by the Sinhalese to reassert their legitimate rights met with fierce resistance from the minorities and their agents. It is this resistance that has culminated in the demand for the recognition of the Tamil Nation. In the ensuing terrorist separatist war it is the Sinhalese who bore the brunt of the calamitous consequences. It is their youth who sacrificed their lives in the war front in their thousands. It is their civilians and priests who were murdered in genocidal attacks by the terrorists. It is their lands and properties that have been devastated by terrorist strikes. It is they who were subjected to ethnic cleansing by the Tigers in the North and the East and now in the Southern Province as well..

Dear Sir, I can go on and on, relating my tale of woe, but has any Government, up to now, deemed it fit to give representative status to the Sinhalese Community in any of these peace talks? The government delegation has to talk on behalf of all communities and therefore they would not highlight the dire straits to which the Sinhalese have been reduced - economically, educationally and socially. True there are Sinhalese among the rulers and the rich and the educated. But this is of no benefit to the vast majority of the Sinhalese who can be justifiably described as down trodden. Notwithstanding- the pitiable plight of the Sinhalese, it is the welfare and rights of the Tamils and now the Muslims which have attracted universal attention and including that of you, Sir.

This is the reason why southern consensus has eluded us. Treat the majority in a just and equitable manner and they -would reciprocate treating the minorities in the same manner. The western countries are looking after the minorities in a reasonable manner. The Indo-Lanka agreement has been dubbed as a shot gun wedding because it was forced down our throats by India by intimidating the Old Fox, and he made sure that India paid very heavily for the faux pas. Today the Marxist aliens are attempting to force the same bitter experience down our throats. In the Thimpu talks the separatists decried the paucity of legislative and financial power to the proposed District Units. But what is proposed now is not only these powers but police and land distribution powers as well. The game was up for the Indians, when Vartharajah Perumal the Chief Minister declared UDI, thus calling in question, the bona fides of India in compelling us to submit to the Provincial Council concept. This man, who challenged the territorial integrity of our motherland, continues to enjoy the hospitality and protection of India to date. This does not help in projecting India in a better light.

The President must tread this devolution course cautiously. Powers not granted to the existing provincial councils should not be granted to those in the North and the East. If the present crisis is a terrorist problem, devolution of power as an answer sounds incongruous. If more powers are to be granted to the provincial councils, it must be done only after all the Sinhalese and the Muslims evicted from the North and the East are settled in their former habitats. If not, it will only legitimise the ethnic cleansing engaged in by the Tigers. We need to draw a lesson from the past. The East was the cradle of a flourishing Sinhala civilisation. The South Indian invaders not only destroyed this civilisation but ethnically cleansed the East of the Sinhalese and today the Tamils call this area their traditional homelands and some Muslim scholars have started claiming this area as Muslim lands as demonstrated by one Mr. Mohideen who wrote to The Island recently on this subject. ROBBERS OF REAL ESTATE SHOULD BE TOLD THAT THEY DO NOT AQUIRE OWNERSHIP RIGHTS TO THESE LANDS BY PRESCRIPTION. Overlooking the effects of ethnic cleansing would create a conducive environment for another UDI in the North and the East. We should not commit our heroic forces to another prolonged war. No region in the country should be allowed to be ethnically homogeneous and creation of communal enclaves by design should be made illegal by legislation. This aspect must be given priority as we can clearly observe that such sentiments advocating traditional lands are being heard in a more pronounced manner after signs that terrorism would be defeated are emerging. The security forces achieved this success in order to keep this country as one unit and not to divide and decapitate her on ethnic lines.

It is quintessential and imperative that the Parliament must be consulted before the devolution proposals of the APRC are implemented. The Minister of Health Siripala de Silva taking part in the LAK HANDA programme HELI DARAWWA on 29.1.08 said that it was unnecessary to consult the parliament on this issue as the parliament had endorsed it in 1987. THIS HAUGHTY ATTITUDE MUST NOT PREVAIL AND IT SHOULD NOT BE ENDORSED. The Minister must be aware that the President at that time had to ensure that the Indian will prevailed at his and the nation’s peril. It was the Indian interests and not our national interest that was paramount in 1987. Even the Supreme Court was not unanimous in it’s judgment of the constitutionality of the Thirteenth Amendment But much water has flowed under the bridges since then. Today we have a truly national leader as our President to whom the integrity of the nation is cardinal and he is backed by nationalist forces to which the idea of damaging the national interest is abhorrent. Democracy must be respected and Parliament consulted. We learnt a costly lesson in 2002, when Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe signed the CFA without consulting the Parliament and the consequences were calamitous.