When TNA leaders shop for separatist sponsorship in Canada and US

by Shenali D. Waduge

There is little that sets the LTTE and TNA apart. The objectives of both remain the same only the modus operandi differed. Sri Lanka's Security Forces eliminated the ground terror of LTTE removing the terrorist aspect from the quest. Now the TNA has taken over the baton with the objective well on track.

The world and Tamils conveniently forget that LTTE launched its campaign by killing their own Tamil people first while Tamil parliamentarians simply watched.

Our issue is that while LTTE is designated as a terrorist organisation and remains proscribed even four years after its demise, the TNA are voted parliamentarians so what business does the TNA have to continuously fly overseas (8-12 August 2013) to meet pro-LTTE lobbies under the very eyes of the Canadian Government whose decision to attend CHOGM is decided by the lobbying tactics of Canadian Tamil vote-base ridiculing the integrity of some Canadian parliamentarians.

TNA next transited to the US where its State Dept presumably do not “talk” to terrorists but “discusses” options of piggy-banking on the separatist agenda for it works perfectly with their plans to destabilise Sri Lanka and the Asian region - a coup d’état within a coup d’état ? It is high time the Sri Lankan Government read out the 6th amendment to the TNA.

Riding on lies

For years we have been living amidst lies. It was during British rule that Tamils first created a mono-ethnic political party for Tamils eliminating the supposed Sinhala discrimination, it was immediately after independence that Tamils formed a bogus “federal” party to hide its Tamil meaning for separate statehood (what federalism was required immediately after independence) and Tamils hijacked to perfection the 1956 Sinhala Only policy for when Tamil was never used in official matters or State administration where was the discrimination and when the supposed Tamils claiming discrimination were all English educated elite probably not even speaking Tamil in their homes! Standardisation was opposed because elite Tamils did not want their own low-caste Tamils to obtain university education. They did not want their own low-caste Tamils to attend schools or kovils either and that is why the elite Tamils opposed the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act of 1957.

That elite Tamils began to agitate in 1957 after the Act and not 1956 against the supposed Sinhala Only policy shows the Tamil cunning because what type of Tamils would write to Britain asking them to encode caste into legislative enactments and objected to the seating directive for previously even after allowing lowcaste Tamils to study in schools and enter kovils - these children had to sit on the floor.

Now TNA’s nominee Wigneswaran joins a coterie that claims to want an exclusive Tamil Homeland to look after their own - when they historically objected to their own people getting education and even entering kovils!

We wonder whether the Resolutions of Vaddukodai by the TULF and the calls for Tamil Eelam is really meant to go back to times where the elite can once more rule over the low-castes and now question how far Sri Lanka’s Tamils wish to continue to be manipulated and monopolised by their own community now that they are also educated and possessing wealth?

The TNA that sat silent for decades as LTTE enforced its own judicial system, banking, education, state functions, naval and air force, health services, civil police force, “human rights”, radio stations, television stations issuing its own stamps, coins and now its gearing into action to take over from where LTTE left off.

The TNA was voted into parliament by the LTTE facilitating its election victory and if Sampanthan claims to have also been under LTTE radar it was only because LTTE would not tolerate any TNA member going against its creed which TNA was well aware of. Sivanesan, Joseph Pararajasingham and Raviraj as well as Amirthalingam and over 200 other learned Tamils put to death by LTTE was enough to keep Tamils under fear psychosis including the TNA if it attempted to over-step LTTE goals.

The same fear scenario prevailed even amongst the Tamil Diaspora which is why the utopian in the sky transnational government of Tamil Eelam was formed in 2010 after Prabakaran’s demise. TGTE would never have been formed had LTTE or Prabakaran been alive.

So now a host of Tamil groups forming themselves AFTER LTTE collapse are carrying on the same separatist agenda for that is where the cash, perks and political power lie for THEMSELVES.

TNA gearing into action post-LTTE defeat exposes its cunning and it is high time the majority Tamils wake up to break away from becoming a pawn for a second wave of calamities.

It is time that Tamils now ask themselves whether they are to continue to align with TNA’s separatist agenda visible in its election manifestos.

No Tamil can claim to wish to live as Sri Lankans if they vote for a party that desires to create a Tamil Homeland with territorial integrity, inalienable right to self-determination of a Tamil Nation.

No Tamil should forget that the Sri Lankan Armed forces sacrificed their lives to save 195,000 Tamil civilians and it is they who must oppose the present calls for the removal of the armed forces from the North.

Did the armed forces ever treat Tamils as the LTTE had during the height of its defacto rule? TNA was living in Colombo protected by Sinhala guards, Colombo Tamils feared to travel to the North so both these entities have no right to be talking on behalf of the Tamils who were living and suffering amongst the LTTE.

TGTE thinks it can create a government in the sky and then lobby foreign governments to draw fictitious boundaries in Sri Lanka when Tamils in Sri Lanka does not know what TGTE stands for, what its leader looks like or probably haven’t even heard of TGTE though foreign governments think otherwise.

How many Tamils have also heard of the Democratic Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils, or the Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils, Maison du Tamil Eelam, National Council of Canadian Tamils though the British Tamil Forum, the Global Tamil Forum as well as the Tamil Youth Organisation are regularly having links and deals with foreign parliamentarians and heads of international organisations.

It is within this same club of conspirators that notorious entities have been caught and found guilty of sponsoring terror and fund-raising on behalf of terror. It is amongst this same club gathering that the TNA finds friendships and travels miles to deliver speeches and addresses its memberships.

What would any Government or nation have to say about parliamentarians delivering speeches or addressing groups that are associated with terror, that help fund terror, raised sponsorships for terror, helped buy arms and ammunition to kill innocent people and manipulated the weaknesses of integrity-less foreign parliamentarians ever ready to use their office to acknowledge and promote them through their Governments?

Chrishanthakumar Arunachalam aka Shanthan is officially the Chairman of the British Tamil Association while also the UK LTTE Coordinator operating from London taking over from Kitty (the country supposed to have banned the LTTE since 2001) though he has organized many cultural events, sports festivals and charities that are registered and unregistered duping foreigners and Tamils into contributing whilst also running the pro-LTTE website www.eelam.com registered under Shanthan’s address.

Does the UK Government care that the website violates British Terrorism Act - apparently it does not! Shanthan was eventually arrested in 2007 by Scotland Yard with Golden Lambert and charged on 6 accounts under UK terrorism act but released and rearrested in 2008.

When Shanthan is affiliated to the United Tamil Organisation, International Federation of Tamils, Action Group of Tamil Asylum Seekers - all front organisations in the UK what business does the TNA have with him and these organisations?

A question also posed to the TNA is what sponsorship shopping was its 2 leaders Sambanthan and Sumanthiran indulging in Canada as well as holding talks with US State Department just days ahead of Navi Pillay - UNHRC heads arrival in Sri Lanka and the Northern Provincial elections as well as ahead of CHOGM an event that Sri Lanka was naïve enough to fall for without questioning why a former colony should celebrate the colonial atrocities of the British and organisers have humiliated the nation further by pulling a discarded Queen Victoria to polish! This is not the first or probably the last time that the TNA has flown to Canada and delivered speeches on behalf of pro-LTTE organizations openly raising funds in these foreign nations under the very eyes of foreign Governments who preach one thing and practice something else. When foreign governments in their own letterheads describe TNA as a pro-LTTE political party is there anything else we need to elaborate on?When TNA leaders Sampanthan and Sumanthiran are hosted for dinner at 90 Nolan Cort, Jasmin Banquet hall, Scaborough, Toronto where the gathering including representatives of National Council of Canadian Tamils, Canadian Tamil Congress, Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, Tamil Lawyers Association, Canadian Tamil Traders Union and other Tamil organizations all working for a separate state would the TNA speeches have been asking other than echoing the same separatist sentiments?

What foreign passport holders would want to create a separate Tamil nation to which they are unlikely to come and reside? Are Tamils in Sri Lanka naïve to not wonder for what reasons they are making separatist calls that only contribute towards distrust amongst the rest of the communities? Would a country knowing what it was like to live with terror not fear that the present calls for separatism no different to what the LTTE made may again lead to taking their freedom away from them? Do Tamils now living happily, those able to travel freely want their people to contribute to the disunity and continue to divide people while they are happily living in foreign climes? These are questions that Tamils living in Colombo, the North, the East and throughout Sri Lanka should seriously ponder over. It is in the hands of the Tamils to put their foot down and say no more - the Tamils were kept silent by the gun but today there is no gun to silence them so it behoves Tamils to ensure that the Diaspora elements are not allowed to dictate how they live through remote controlling from overseas – Tamils in Sri Lanka deserve far better treatment for it is they who suffered while the Diaspora were enjoying life using the LTTE kitty.

Take legal action against TNA

For far too long the TNA has misled the Tamil people and contributed towards the disunity of the nation. They stand guilty of using parliamentary privileges to hide behind their separatist goals for which they have openly aligned with pro-LTTE groups. Foreign Governments have themselves described the TNA as a pro-LTTE organisation and sufficient evidence prevails to prove so. The election manifesto of the TNA suffices to prove that the TNA is seeking the same objective as the LTTE and that is a violation of Sri Lanka’s Constitution.

If the TNA has been violating Sri Lanka’s Constitution what have Sri Lanka’s Governments done about it?

The public do not wish to be pawns of another calamity because Sri Lanka’s Governments want to end up in the good books of foreign governments that are pressing buttons to upstage them from political power.

It is the welfare of the country that must take center stage and not the political future of politicians. Therefore, it is time that the TNA was read out the provisions of Sri Lanka’s Constitution under the 6th Amendment, Article 157A specifically prohibits any violation of Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity.

Article 157A (1) says that No person, shall directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka. (What were Sri Lanka’s politicians and public officials doing all these years especially the legal advisors when this provision clearly halts them from agreeing to anything that compromises the Constitution?)

Article 157 (2) says that NO political party or other association or organisation shall have as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri lanka. (Why has no Government taken action against not only the TNA as a political party but against scores of foreign funded organizations that have been directly and indirectly working towards separating Sri Lanka?)Article 157 (3) says that ANY person who acts in contravention of the provisions of paragraph (1) shall, on conviction by the Court of Appeal, after trial on indictment and according to such procedure as may be prescribed by law - face the following consequences as punishment.

a)have their civic rights removed for a period of seven years
b)forfeit their movable and immovable property other than that which is needed to sustain their family and self
c)not be entitled to civic rights for no more than seven years

d)if a Member of Parliament cease to be such a Member Article 157 (4) also states that if a political party, association or organisation that seeks to establish a separate State in Sri Lanka ANY PERSON can make an application to the Supreme Court to declare that such a political party/association or organisation has as its objectives the aim to separate and the Secretary of the political party/association or organisation shall be a respondent to such an application (it is time Sri Lankans filed applications against all political parties/ associations and organisations openly and covertly attempting to separate Sri Lanka) Article 157 (5) If the Supreme Court accepts the application the political party/association or organisation can be deemed to be proscribed. If a political party as in the case of the TNA, who are MPs they shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in Parliament with effect from the date of declaration and nomination papers submitted by the political party/association/organisation shall be deemed INVALID (This raises the question of whether TNA can actually contest even the Northern Province elections!)

Moreover under the Seventh Schedule to Article 157A and Article 161 (d) (iii) an oath of allegiance to the Sri Lankan State is required to be taken.

The Oath reads as “I .............................do solemnly declare and affirm / swear that I will uphold and defend the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and that I will not, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

The TULF walked out in 1983 refusing to take the oath and Anandasangaree walked out with them, this was the same Anandasangaree who wrote that the “TNA, as the first and the worst enemy of the Tamil People.

* They should take full responsibility, among many other matters, for the loss of several thousands of lives and for causing injuries for many more.….

All have become paupers now. They will find hardly anything left when they return to their homes one day. All these or at least 90 percent of these could have been saved and total displacement could have been avoided if only the TNA had the forethought to advise the LTTE to release the people from their grip, to go anywhere they liked. The TNA is blamed for this because, when everyone, every organization, every country, the EU, the UN etc. had made this request specifically, only the TNA kept on asking for the war to stop

. *When the 8000 students who sat for the G.C.E(O/L) exam were taken away for compulsory training by the LTTE the TNA kept mum. Some of them are now dead and others are under detention by the Government. Where are the children and grand-children of the TNA MPs. Will the TNA at least now tell the world as to what happened to the students at Sencholai. …. “Who are these gentleman of the TNA now wanting to form an alliance with the DTNA. They are the people whom the LTTE elected to represent them in parliament fraudulently and it is they who unashamedly claimed the LTTE as the sole representatives of the people.

Quit parliament

The LTTE is no more and hence they do not need any representation in Parliament. Under the Present circumstances the most honourable action the TNA can take or must do is to quit parliament without clinging on to that office.

Neither the PLOTE nor the EPRLF (Pathmanabha) gave any indication to Mr. Srikantha who met me by appointment and the other two by accident. As for me I will not touch the TNA even with a “pole”. The dead, the injured and those living in the IDP camps deprived of all their rights will not pardon us if we have any deal with them. The TNA should not under-estimate our alliance partners who cannot be bought over with a mayor-ship or with any membership in Parliament as they sold themselves in April 2004. …. “For five years I fought a lone battle, amidst threat to my life, unbearable humiliations etc. I was also christened as a “traitor”. I now feel exonerated. Let the souls of the dead haunting our homes bless me and not curse me.” Now the man who officially issued the above statement in 2009 has decided to put his eggs with the TNA. What else is there for us to say?

It is time to read to the TNA Sri Lanka’s 6th Amendment - it is time to get ALL MPs to read out the Oath of Allegiance as well as for of Sri Lanka’s citizenry to take a similar oath. We must guard and protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our nation - it is a country that all the communities must live in without the threats of terror, incursions or foreign invasions of whatever kind.