Sinhalese Won’t Give Anything, We Must Try To Obtain Our Rights Under International Laws: Wigneswaran
Last few weeks the Chief Minister of the Northern Province has been answering in a serial, one question every week in Tamil for the press. Without answering perfunctorily he explores the background of the question and gives detailed reply. The latest in this series is as follows – (This is a translation to English) –
Wigneswaran
Question – You have been discussing many matters recently with the political and religious leadership of the Sinhalese. Sometimes your views seem to have angered these leaders. The Tamil leadership is worried whether your utterances would prevent the Sinhala leadership from granting even the meagre powers they are willing to grant presently. What have you got to say?
Response – Good question! But whoever told you that the Sinhalese leaders are ready to grant anything to you. What is the back ground to the Sinhalese leadership usurping our legitimate rights and now saying we will give you so much and not anymore and so on?
We must be clear in our minds of one thing. A person like the UN Official Pablo de Grief is aware of this matter. But it is a pity that our Tamil leadership has failed to recognize this. What I mean is that the Sinhalese political and religious leadership is not interested in sharing power with the Tamils. If they were interested they would have at least granted by now what they publicly undertook before the International Fora.
For example even eight years after the war the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act has not been withdrawn. What do you expect from those who have not kept their word in this regard even?
Even if the Sinhalese leadership condescends to grant some powers to the Tamils it will wriggle out of its obligations in no time. What happened to the Banda-Chelva Pact and Dudley-Chelva Pact and such other Agreements would be reenacted again or what happened to the North –East merger after 18 years would happen belatedly.
You may ask me as to why I am so pessimistic about the Sinhalese leadership. The reason is traceable to the fundamental cause that led to the racial contradictions in this country.
The Sinhalese leaders are zealously guarding the political powers they clinched from the British in whatsoever manner they did. It is their reluctance to share such power which is the fundamental cause for our communal impasse. There is a misapprehension that has engulfed the Sinhalese political leadership. They feel that what has been obtained by in whatsoever dubious means if shared would lead to the destruction of the entire Sinhalese Buddhist race. Hence they would try to jealously guard their political hegemony over the entire country.
In a legal sense it is ideal for every racial, religious or linguistic group living contiguously to govern themselves in their respective areas. While doing so they could consider the entire country as theirs and set up an appropriate shared government. But the Sinhalese Buddhists are reluctant to do so. The reason trotted out by them is that this the only country available to them while the Tamils have Tamil Nadu in India for themselves. What that means is because there is a Tamil Nadu in the neighbouring country the progeny of those Dravidians who lived in this country even before the genesis of the Sinhala language should go away to Tamil Nadu or if they wish to continue residing here they should conform to the dictates of the Sinhalese. In effect their political philosophy appears to be “Tamils leave us! If not prepare to live under our yoke”. But preferring not to be so blunt in saying so they prefer to articulate such noble sentiments such as “we will give you that” and “we will give you this” delaying giving anything.
