The session on Tamil- Muslim relations....
ثيران غاضبة تحاصر أسداً وتقتله bulls killed a lion
It's very important to point that Mr . M. A. Sumanitharan openly acknowledged the crimes the tigers committed against Muslims and highly appreciated my simple and strong positions on the Muslim question. He also accepted my position that it's Muslims who decide their own identity, not the Tamils.
The session on Tamil- Muslim relations went pretty good this morning organized by politically active Tamil diaspora groups in USA. I am happy that they recognized my works on Tamil ethnic question and invited me to deliver special talk on Tamil- Muslims relations in Sri Lanka .
Opposition law makers representing Tamils in the current parliament, Mr. M.A. Sumanitharan and Tamil National Alliance stalwart Mr. Mavai Senathiraja, and Mr. Ayngaranesan minister of agriculture and environmental of north and east provincial council and brother of responded to my talk.
In my speech, i emphasized the following to build a healthy Tamil- Muslim dialogue:
One, Tamils should stop defining Muslims as their part of ethnic group. It's Muslims who define their own identity and political choices. There's no role either for Tamils or Sinhalese to define Muslim identity and priorities.
One, Tamils should stop defining Muslims as their part of ethnic group. It's Muslims who define their own identity and political choices. There's no role either for Tamils or Sinhalese to define Muslim identity and priorities.
Two, Tamils should openly and sincerely acknowledge their past crimes against Muslims, and
Three , TNA and other Tamil civil society groups should work along with Muslim organizations, scholars and policy makers to seek justice by helping affected Muslims (by the Tami tigers who massacred Muslims in the east and forcibly expelled Muslims from the north in 1990).
The response was pretty mix father Immanuel thinks that Muslims are Tamils. In other words, Muslims are only different from Tamils by their religion.
The response from both parliamentarians was pretty fair, i thought. But the response from Northern provincial council agriculture minister was negative because he thinks not only Muslims are part of Tamil, but also he seems to be thinking that Muslims pose serious threats to Tamil aspirations.
It's very important to point that Mr . M. A. Sumanitharan openly acknowledged the crimes the tigers committed against Muslims and highly appreciated my simple and strong positions on the Muslim question. He also accepted my position that it's Muslims who decide their own identity, not the Tamils.
However, extremist section of Tamil diaspora who was at the session was extremely unhappy over his position on the Muslim identity and the Tamil tiger brutality. They also rejected my position. I emphasised that they're can't be any dialogue between Tamils and Muslims as long as Tamil forces would fail to both recognize their crimes against Muslims and take concrete actions to redress Muslim grievances hail from the Tamil tigers' brutality.
Significant portion of attendees at the session who think their community wanted justice from the government of Sri Lanka not only reject justice for Muslims, but also expecting to build monolithic Tamil state in the island .
In other session, Mr. M. A. Sumanitharan' s speech was received so badly by extremist section of Tamil diaspora in the session. When he communicated New Delhi's position, there was commotion against him. What he said was what Indian prime minister's words: "section of Tamil diaspora should stop using violent language".
There was clear anti- China trends among all attendees. I thought these folks have no any clear clue about the new global trends in the post- cold war. Most of them strongly believe that western political actors such as Washington and London would help them to win an independent state in the corners of Sri Lanka.
My task was to pass the message what should be done as far as Tamil Muslim relations are concerned. I thought i did good job . Sri Lanka's opposition law makers appreciated my role.
Photo: me and Mr. M. A. Sumanitharan
