As Others See Us: The View From Sri Lanka

By David Leask -July 20, 2013 |

David Leask

He’s adored by breakaway movements across the globe and – publicly or privately – loathed by their enemies.

An international statesman, he has inspired demands for freedom plebiscites, most recently in Catalunya after telling Spain rulers “to let the people decide”.

Meet David Cameron, world separatist pin-up.

The British prime minister may seem an unlikely nationalist hero on these shores.

But internationally his Edinburgh Agreement with Scottish counterpart Alex Salmond is often seen as Britain “allowing” Scots a vote on their destiny.

And that, in many places, is simply revolutionary.

Take Sri Lanka. Its government back in 2009 defeated a go-it-alone statelet in the Tamil-dominated north of the island after a war that lasted a quarter of a century and cost perhaps 100,000 lives.

Now the bitterly divided island state is trying to figure out some kind of long-term fix. Some have mooted devolution. This delights mainstream Tamil opinion. And horrifies some in Sinhalese-dominated government circles in the capital, Colombo.

Suren Surendiran speaks for the Global Tamil Forum, an international diaspora organisation set up after the war and describing itself as backing a “non-violent” negotiated settlement on the island.

London-based, he says educated Tamils see Scottish parallels.                   Read More