DAYAN JAYATILLAKE ARGUES THE CASE FOR SEPARATISM

by L. Jayasooriya In an article in the Daily News of Friday July 03, 2009 Dayan Jayatillake says “One of the silliest arguments against the implementation of the 13th Amendment is that it is a stepping-stone to or somehow related to the Tamil separatist cause”.

He then provided proof for his statement in the next sentence by saying “If that were the case, Prabhakaran would have accepted it, not rejected it and gone to war against the Indian Peace-keeping Force, damaging his relations with India and culminating in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, an atrocious crime for which he paid this May. At the very least he would have abandoned or suspended the war against the IPKF that he began in October 1987 and negotiated for privileged entry into the provincial council”.

Let me comment on his second statement first and say to him that India trained and equipped Prabakaran to create conditions for the IPKF to come in making Prabakaran believe that India would establish Eelam by force of arms and then go back. The relationship between India and Prabakaran would have been at the very best during the years of planning and preparation.

 When the infamous IPKF arrived humiliating Sri Lanka Prabakaran would have thought that his dream had come true but when Rajiv Gandhi ordered Prabakaran to surrender his arms he knew that he had been taken for a ride and made use of for India to occupy and then annex Sri Lanka. Those were the days when Viceroy Dixit was ruling Sri Lanka and the people of Sri Lanka were kept in the dark but the rest of the world knew what was going on in Sri Lanka. I saw and heard Rajiv Gandhi say on television referring to Prabakaran in measured tones taking so much of time between two consecutive words and say that he hoped wisdom would prevail. When somebody asked what if Prabakaran did not comply he said again in very measured tones that he will then have to face the Indian army. The rest is history. Most people in Sri Lanka still do not know this.

 This was also the time when both the LTTE and the Sinhalese were lobbying the American government at every possible level and America was helpful may be because America had other plans. I myself lobbied the office of Senator Vic Soares and the officer told me that he would interview both ambassadors. Our ambassador was Mr. Alwis who died recently. After the interview the officer who interviewed both told me that India had no intention of leaving and came there to stay. This is common knowledge to everybody concerned who lived outside Sri Lanka.

 The readers can now see how irrelevant Dayan Jayatillake’s ‘proof’ is.

 Let me now reply to Dayan Jayatillake with regard to his silliest argument referred to in his first sentence. One iota of devolution, I mean just one iota of it will institutionalize a difference between the various ethic groups of this country germinating the seeds of disunity just at a time when the relationship between the Tamils in the North and in the East with the Sinhalese are at their warmest.

 Once that is institutionalized the natural tendency of ‘those of the minority groups’ would be to accentuate the difference paving the way for the English educated wealthy characterless men and women of the ‘minorities’ to exploit the environment for the division of the country and Ponnambalam and Chelvanayagam and Ashraff will be re-born.

 If land powers are given no Sinhalese will be able to own property in the North and East and if police powers are given the Police will harass the Sinhalese to such an extent that the Sinhalese will leave on their own thus making the cleanest ethnic cleansing ever done. The Sinhalese will be voluntary IDPs with no support from the government and Eelam would be firmly established. How can you do this to us Dayan Jayatillake?