Right to Reclaim – Right of the Sri Lanka government to reclaim its historical sovereignty over North of Sri Lanka

by. PBS. Hemachandra, M. Com, Post Grad Dip in Bus, MCP, MACS, retired. Lt. Commander of Sri Lanka Navy

I have read with great sadness various unsupported attempts to re-write the history of Sri Lanka by some Sinhalese, Tamils and others in the recent past, mainly to support their political agendas without any respect for basic historical facts.My experience in the Navy has helped me to grasp the realities of history from a grassroots level. I am a retired Lt Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy and worked in the Navy from 1971 to 1986. I have worked about 10 years of this period in shore establishments, Naval ships attached to North and East of Sri Lanka, which are the parts claimed by separatist Tamils to be their homeland without any incontrovertible historical evidence. During this period I had the privilege of being the first Commanding Officer of surveillance command ship SLNS Wickrama, which was deployed as a task group commander to start the surveillance zone between Sri Lanka and India in 1984 to prevent gunrunning, smuggling (contraband and humans as well) and drug trafficking by Tamil terrorists.I also had the privilege of being the Navy representative to General Weeratunga’s coordinating office established in the North of Sri Lanka to eradicate terrorism, with responsibilities to coordinate naval operations to support ground operations conducted by distinguished army officers including General Hector Kobbakaduwa. I also worked as the executive officer (Second in Command) of the Sri Lanka Navy’s Northern command, which was originally a part of the Task Force to prevent Illicit Immigrants from South India (they were called Kallathonis) after independence in 1948.

I have had the privilege of travelling extensively in the north and east of Sri Lanka and was fortunate enough to visit every corner in the north and east and seen many remains of our unique history, partly because I had the Naval transport facilities and partly because my father, who was a history teacher, stimulated a great interest in me to see engineering marvels of our ancient kings. But during these visits I have failed to see any historical evidence of a separate independent Tamil Kingdom in Jaffna. If anyone can tell me, or show me the places where I could find artefacts, epigraphs, or inscriptions of an ancient Independent Tamil Kingdom in North or East, or a single tank or irrigation system developed by the so-called Tamil kings of an Independent Tamil Kingdom in the North or in the Dry Zone, I will be most grateful as such evidence would help to review my understanding of history. If any one can tell me where I could find a treaty signed by the so-called Tamil kings with Portuguese, Dutch or English who ruled our country, to assert their sovereignty, I would like to examine them to find out the truth about the claims of an independent kingdom. As far as I know I have found treaties signed with foreign powers only by Kings of Sri Lanka. As far as I know Portuguese historians have recorded that the fiefdom of Jaffna had agreements to pay tribute to the kings of Lanka, like the other chieftains of other regions in the Vanni. So where was this independent kingdom with the power to resist the invading forces of the West and force them to make treaties? In fact when the Portuguese marched into Jaffna it was the Sinhala forces led by Mudliyar Atapattu who reconquered Jaffna, though these forces were defeated later. The march of Mudliyar Atapattu confirms that it was a part of the Sinhala Kingdom that had to be reclaimed from the invading Portuguese forces. There was no necessity for the King of Kandy to send Mudliyar Atapattu to risk his life and the lives of a few thousand Sinhala soldiers if they did not consider it to be a part of the Sinhala Kingdom.

This proves the historical claim that though there were chieftains in the province of Jaffna and the Vanni, Sri Lanka was a sovereign state ruled by the Sinhala kings. Any threat to its sovereignty, whether from the rebel chieftains or foreigners, was resisted. The intervention of Mudliyar Atapattu also confirms the historical fact that the province of Jaffna fell into the hands of the Portuguese from the defeat of the Sinhala forces and not the forces of the Tamils. In the last analysis, sovereignty of the province of Jaffna was passed over to the Portuguese not by the Tamils but by the Sinhalese who drove the Portuguese out of Jaffna and held it for several days before it fell into their hands again. A few thousand Sinhala soldiers, including Mudliyar Atapattu, sacrificed their lives to protect Jaffna. Portuguese historian Queyroz states about the Jaffnapatan “It remained under the Portugezen sway for upwards of 40 years, wrested from the Emperor by Philippo d'Olivero when he defeated the Cingalezen forces near Achiavelli (Achuvely) by the great pagoda”. So by any legal, political and historical assessment it is clear that sovereignty passed to the Portuguese from the hands of the Sinhala king who was the last ruler of Jaffna. It is, therefore, the right of the Sri Lankan government to reclaim its historical sovereignty over Jaffna if it is threatened by any invading or rebel forces.

The forces of Mudliyar Atapattu are not different from the forces of the Sri Lankan government fighting to restore national sovereignty and territorial integrity threatened by Tamil Tiger separatists. It is a case of history repeating itself. Historical myths, manufactured to support a separatist political agenda, have been one of the fundamental causes for misleading our people into this futile war.

What we require today is for Tamil and Sinhalese leaders to get together and develop a new vision based on historical facts.

These myths, of course, have helped the new mudalalis (businessmen) in the war industry from both sides of the fence. There is no point writing and teaching fiction about past history. Many of us do not care about being an Aryan or a Dravidian. What matters is that we share a common human heritage and primary duty in this day and age, where weapons of mass destruction can be used by any combatant and threatens the survival of the human race. Our moral duty therefore, is to learn to co-exist with mutual respect for cultural differences, sharing our planet as one world. Peaceful coexistence is the only way forward and Sri Lanka is a classic example which can show the way to the future by proving that it is not separate political entities that create peace, but the willingness and the commitment to share the island as the common property and homeland of all communities. As the founder of Sri Lanka, Arahant Mahinda said we are here as trustees of the land, protecting its environment and heritage to be passed on to future generations.

Imagine if both Tamils and Sinhalese got together and spent the money wasted for this unwanted war to develop Sri Lanka. Probably, we could have built at least a few thousand schools for the children who are sacrificed as the first wave in the war, started a few more universities and technical colleges for all our youth to study rather than getting their lives and limbs blown up in land mines and senseless suicide bombs. If their talents were developed we could have exported brains to the world, develop a few more highways to connect all major cities in Sri Lanka, restored all tanks and irrigation systems developed by our fore fathers to make Sri Lanka self sufficient in food, developed industries to employ all our unemployed youth and spent some money for research into harvesting natural sources of energy such as solar, wind and waves. But the war provides opportunities for only a few hundred people to make money out of arms deals, illegal narcotic trade, arms and human smuggling etc. Some leaders use children who should be at school to fight this unwanted war, and use them as the first wave in attacks on military establishments or as suicide bombers while their own children are sent abroad to acquire a good education and a future in affluent Western countries.

During my service in the north of Sri Lanka, the Navy had excellent relations with Jaffna Tamils, especially the fishing folk (Vaadis) as they needed our help to save them from Indian fishermen who used to cut their nets & harass them, search for and rescue their missing boats etc and we depended on them for information about smuggling and illicit immigrants. We did not have the cooperation of the smugglers, most of whom later turned into terrorists. I have interacted socially with a lot of Tamil friends who used to visit our camp, and in fishing vaadis I have met many migrating Sinhalese fishermen from the south who used to come up north for fishing during monsoonal periods, and many of their descendants who could not even speak a word of Sinhalese. During these times I have met many Sinhalese and Muslim people happily living together and carrying on their fishing, bakery and other trades in the north and east. All the communities lived in the north and east very peacefully. Before the 1977 communal problems, there were well over 30,000 Sinhalese and over 100,000 Muslim families living and working in Jaffna alone.

I wish to recall these times of peaceful co-existence and record the times we shared together because there is a sad attempt to engage in the lucrative business of re-writing history to deliberately distort history in order to create deep divisions between the two communities. I thought it is my duty to write my personal experiences to at least clarify some basic facts.

This analysis is in no way a criticism of patriotic Tamils like our ex- Foreign Minister Mr Kadirgamar who exposed extremist Tamils, or Muralidaran who tries his best to bring honour and glory to Sri Lanka in international cricket or my good friend and my room mate during navy training Admiral Sundaram, or many other Tamils who live peacefully with others in Sri Lanka and help to develop Sri Lanka. This attempt is only to expose the racist extremist Tamils and a few Tamil expatriates who fund LTTE terrorist activities and some Sinhalese alleged to be on LTTE payroll through Norway.

The aim of this analysis is purely:

1. To refute the claim of those who re-write the history of Sri Lanka that there was an independent Tamil kingdom in the north or east – a myth which is at the root of the current crisis. I wish to establish that there is no substantive historical evidence that can be drawn from Tamil, Portuguese, Dutch and English historians, or any other credible sources that can give credibility to this claim and definitely not an attempt to say that Tamils migrated to Sri Lanka recently.

2. To provide a better understanding about the history of Sri Lanka so that the international community can appreciate the nature of the Sri Lankan crisis and take appropriate action to stop more blood dollars (very similar to blood diamonds) flowing into the hands of LTTE terrorists and to stop refuge traffic.

3. To expose LTTE terrorists who exploited the safe havens of the West to run passport rackets, credit card rackets, human smuggling rackets, gunrunning rackets, drug trafficking rackets, techniques for suicide bombing etc to collect blood dollars. The attack on USS Cole is a good example. If one examines travel details of LTTE bomb experts one will realize that the boat that rammed USS Cole was set up by them for money.

4. To open the eyes of the small minority of professional Tamils who are able to live in the Western countries only because they got their qualifications from the Sri Lankan free education system, and to inform them that they have a moral duty not to create misery for the lives of the Tamils who were left behind by funding the destabilization of Sri Lanka which has resulted in the deaths and destruction of mainly the Tamil population.

5. To educate these professional Tamils that their blood dollars can help in better ways to provide life opportunities to children in the north and east if their funds are not diverted to the Tiger terrorists who are waging a war for the elusive and unattainable Eelam.

6. To inform everyone that all communal problems in Sri Lanka were initiated by the Tamil-dominated north, which provoked other communities to react violently. For example in 1983 if the LTTE did not kill 13 soldiers and provoke the Sinhala mobs to react, this crisis would not have reached this level of violence. It is common for critics to point the finger at the Sinhalese without giving due recognition to the underlying primary cause of Tamils deliberately provoking the Sinhala majority to react violently to gain political mileage and sympathy from the international community, as stated by Prof. A. J. Wilson, son-in-law of the father of separatism, S. J. V. Chelvanayakam. Besides, when I was working up north I witnessed at first hand some of the racist violence committed by the Tamils. The racist violence against Sinhalese students at Jaffna University or poor Sinhalese women and children who lived in the Kent and Dollar farms, 600 Police personnel who surrendered to the Tamil Tiger terrorists on instructions of President Premadasa, are well documented.

7. To re-educate professional Tamils in the Western world who take great delight in boasting about attacks by LTTE on innocent Sinhalese civilians who lived in harmony with the Tamils for centuries.

8. To record that the death toll of all nationalities during the 1983 communal riots, which was provoked by LTTE was around 450, according to BBC reports. S Chandrahasan, son of Chelvanayakam and V. Anandasangaree, President of the Tamil United Liberation Front, are on record saying that Velupillai Prabhakaran has killed more Tamils than all Tamils killed during all communal problems and by provoked return fire from Indian and Sri Lankan armed services put together.

9. To show every one that only racist extremist Tamils and others who finance this needless war can stop the suffering of people (especially Tamils) in Sri Lanka. This problem can never be resolved until racist extremist Tamils drop their arms and accept the principle of co-existing in harmony with the other communities.

10. To explain to all Tamils and Sinhalese that in the past we have inter-married and integrated and have blood relations and share a common heritage, with Hindu gods being worshipped in Buddhist temples. Genealogists have recorded that the elite Sinhalese and even the lower classes have inter-married or are direct descendants of Tamils and vice versa. Even the Tamil castes like 'Kovia', 'Tanakaras' and 'Nalavas' are descendants of Sinhalese. (page 382 "Ancient Jaffna" by Mudaliyar C Rasanayagam 1926) It is also known that the fisher castes like ‘Karreyar’ Parawer’ and Timilaer’ are descendants of migrating fishermen from South India as well as the South of Sri Lanka.

11. To educate everyone that the less Sri Lanka deals with Norway the faster we can resolve Sri Lanka’s problems.

History

Historical evidence found in forms of ruins, inscriptions, pyramids, tanks and irrigation systems, man made canals, fortresses, epigraphs etc provide ample evidence to the claims of all communities sharing Sri Lanka with majority Singhalese as a common homeland. This evidence is available mainly in Anurdhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kantalai, Nagadeepa, Mannar, Tiriyaya, Polmodai, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Mulaitivu and many other places in and around Jaffna. There are many ancient inscriptions found in Jaffna such as Vallipuram gold plate inscription found in Point Pedro in Jaffna or Sinhalese inscriptions found at Kandarodai, the ancient Kadurugoda Vihara, a Buddhist Temple in Uduvil or the inscription found at Tunukai in the D.R.O.’s division of Punakari or the Tiriyaya Sanskrit inscription of Aggabodhi VI or the Tiruketisvaram Pillar inscription of Sena II or the Mannar Kacceri pillar inscription of Kassapa IV or the slab inscription at Kurundanmalai near Mulaitivu or the Palmottai slab inscription of Vijayabahu or the Kantalai stone seat inscription of Nissankamalla will prove that there were Sinhalese people living in the north and east long before Tamils encroached and started living there.

In Mr Tambiah’s words "The Dry Zone was the ancient site of a much glorified Sinhala Buddhist civilisation” (“Buddhism Betrayed” by D. Tambiah). One can find millions of artefacts, inscriptions and other proof of a Sinhalese civilisation there. Proof of the history remains in those places and not in Mahawansa or Ramayanaya.

Any one can see the ancient glory of Sri Lanka on the web now. These are some links one can visit to see this glory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Sites_of_Sri_Lankahttp://www.travel-images.com/unesco-sri-lanka.html

http://www.baurs.com/travel2/historical%20places.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/wi/SriLanka/historic_sites.htm

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/sri-lanka/anuradhapura.htm

This link will indicate all ancient Buddhist temples in Trincomalee and Batticaloa

http://www.lankalibrary.com/heritage/temples/trinco.htm

I have copied below information from Portuguese, Dutch, English and Tamil historians to prove that the north of Sri Lanka had never been the traditional home land for Tamils although now LTTE has done a complete ethnic cleansing of all other communities from north of Sri Lanka. Some Tamils like LTTE Leader Mr Prabhakaran who cannot even prove two or three generations of residence in Sri Lanka are now trying to claim north of Sri Lanka as their traditional homeland.This map below is from “A true and Exact description of great island Ceylon” written by the Dutch priest Baldaeus in 1672. He accompanied the Dutch forces, which took over Jaffna from the Portuguese, and worked as a missionary. He did a lot of work for the people living in Jaffna. Fortunately he has left details of Jafnapatnam complete with a map.

According to Priest Baldaeus Jafnapatnam had four provinces. Look at the names of these provinces which were Tamilised later. How can these places have Sinhalese names if Tamils lived there???

1. Beligamme or Weligama (now Valikamam)

2. Tenmarache (now Tenmaradchi)

3. Waddemarache (now Vadamaradchi) and

4. Patchiarapalle (now Pachchilaippali)

This is what Captain Robert Percival wrote about the people who lived in Jaffna as late as 1805 A.D. in his book entitled an 'An Account of the Island of Ceylon' (1805). Even as late as 1805 A.D. the Tamils and the other minority communities who had settled in the Jaffna peninsula have been referred to as 'foreigners'. While giving an account of the population of Jaffna he states that the inhabitants of Jaffna consist of a collection of various races. The greatest number are Malabars of Moorish extraction, and are divided into several tribes known by the names of Lubbahs, Belalas, Mopleys, Chittys, Choliars and a few Brahmins; they are distinguished by wearing a little round cap on their close shaven heads. There is also a race of Malabars found here somewhat differing in their appearance from those of the continent. These different tribes of foreign settlers greatly exceed in number the native Ceylonese in the District of Jaffna (pp. 71).

The Honidus map of Ceylon below is on page 2 of “Fatal History of Portuguese in Ceylon” by George Davison Winius. This map was a work of CYPRIANO SANCHEZ (c 1560 A.D.). This map indicated that there were nine principalities in Sri Lanka with only one of them indicated as "emperor"- Imperio de Cota or Emperor of Kotte. These nine principalities were; Imperio de Cota (Imperial King of Kotte), Reino de Ceitaabaca (Ruler of Sitawaka), Reino de Candea (Ruler of Kandy), Reino de Jaffnapatnum (Ruler of Jaffna), Reino de Setra Coralas (Ruler of Seven Korales), Chilao Reino (Ruler of Chilaw), Reino de Triquilemale (Ruler of Trincomalee), Reino de Baticalou (Ruler of Batticaloa, Reino de Yala (Ruler of Yala).

This map is supported by the French Cartographer Sieur Sansen's map of 1652. This is a clear indication that during the Portuguese era, the Jaffna kingdom was under the Emperor de Cota, and ruler of Jaffna is merely a chieftain or Vanniyar in that area under the Sinhalese emperor.This paragraph below is from 'The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon' by Father Fernao de Queyroz, a much quoted contemporary Portuguese historian. According to Father Fernao de Queyroz, local Tamil leaders had ruled that region not as independent rulers but as vassals of Sinhala kings.

As long as Rajapura (Anuradhapura) was the capital of Ceylon the whole island was subject to one king; but after the inundation of the lowlands and after the city of Cota (Kotte) became the metropolis, there were in the island 15 kinglets, subject to the king of Cota, who therefore was considered to be Emperor, and the same title is in these days claimed by the king of Candea (Kandy). The kinglets were, he of Dinavaca, Uva, Valave, Putelao (Puttalam), Mantota, Tanagama, Muliavali, Triquilimale (Trincomalee), cutiar (Kottiar), Batecalou (Batticaloa), Paneva (Panama), Vintena (Bintenna), Orupala, Mature (Matara), Candae(Kandy) and of the point of the North Jafanapatoa (Jaffna peninsula) which together with the kingdom of Cota makes 16 (De Queyroz I, p.101).

The following statement in his book confirms that the official language of Sri Lanka in 1560 was Singalese and not Tamil during handing over of Jaffnapatam to Portuguese. "These terms written in the Portuguese and Chingala languages were signed and authenticated." (Queyroz p.371). He further states about the Jaffnapatam that “It remained under the Portugezen sway for upwards of 40 years, wrested from the Emperor by Philippo d'Olivero when he defeated the Cingalezen forces near Achiavelli (Achuvely) by the great pagoda” Which is clear evidence that Jaffnapatam was captured by Portuguese from Sinhalese forces.

'An Historical Relation of Ceylon' by Robert Knox confirmed the authority of the Sinhalese King in Kottiar bay in the east of Sri Lanka where he says that he and his companions were taken into custody by men of Sinhalese King and not by men of Jaffna ruler.( pp.189-192).

This is what the inscription found in Medavala Rajamaha Vihara in Kandy district indicates about a treaty between the king, Vickramabahu III, and an Aryacakravarti named Martanda (Sin ai Ariyan) of Jaffna. In this inscription while Vikramabahu III is referred to there as "Cakravarti Swaminvahanse' (the Universal Lord), the Ariyacakravarti is referred to as ‘Perumalun vahanse’ only. This fact and the fact that it is dated not in the regnal year of Ariyacakravarti but in that of Vikramabahu III indicate that the dejure right of that king to the sovereignty over the whole island is recognised by Martanda Singai Ariyan by this treaty.

Jaffna Tamils also take advantage of the Thesavalami law (codified by the Dutch in 1707 to protect Mohammedans in Jaffna). The right of pre-emption among co-owners is derived from Muslim customary law personal to Mohammedans in India and unknown to Hindu customary law.This is what written in the thesis by Dr Indrapalan, a Tamil professor of History in Jaffna University, submitted to the University of London in 1962 (Unpublished S.O. 15.1. 84) about Tamil invasion of Sinhalese area in the North, which they claim to be their homeland. This is very true and you can still see some of them.

“But monumental remains of a different type attest to the destruction wrought by the invaders and the conversion of Buddhist institutions into places of saiva (Tamil) worship, effected by the new settlers, thus confirming the statements in the Sinhala sources. The many scattered ruins of Buddhist monasteries and temples all over the vanni region preserve the memory of the Sinhalese Buddhist settlements that once covered these parts. Several of the pilimages (image houses) attached to the monasteries in places like Kovilkadu, Malikai, Omantai, Kanakarayan-kulam, Iracentiran-kulam, Cinnappuvaracankulam and Madukanda were converted into Saiva temples, often dedicated to Ganesa. Buddha images or inscribed slabs from the Buddhist structures were used to make the Ganesa statues”

“The gold plate from Vallipuram reveals that there were Buddhists in that part of the peninsula in the second century A.D. At the site of this inscription the foundations of a Buddhist vihara were uncovered. These foundations are in the premises of a modern Visnu temple. There is little doubt that the Visnu temple was the original Buddhist monument converted in to a Vaisnava establishment at a later date when Tamils settled in the area. Such conversion of Buddhist establishments into Saiva and Vaisnava temples seems to have been a common phenomenon in the peninsula after it was settled by Dravidians. In the premises of another Visnu temple at Moolai were discovered some ‘vestiges of ancient remains of walls’ and a broken sedent Buddha image. Again in a Saiva temple at mahiyapitti a Buddha image was found under a stone step in the temple tank. A lime-stone Buddha image and the remains of an ancient dagaba were unearthed at Nilavarai, in Navakiri. Among the debris were two sculptured fragments of shaped coral stones with a stone railing design. According to D.T. Devendra, who conducted the excavation at this site, the dagaba can be dated at least to the tenth century A.D. Near these ruins are the foundations of an ancient building and in the middle of these is a modern Siva temple. It has been conjectured, and rightly so, that the old foundations are those of the vihara attached to the ancient dagaba. Buddha images have also been discovered in Uduvil, Kantarodai and Jaffna town. Kantarodai has yielded very important Buddhist finds, which prove the existence of an important Buddhist establishment in the region in early times. Such artefacts as the glazed tiles and the circular discs discovered here have helped to connect the finds with those of Anuradhapura. Sinhala Nampota, dated in its present form to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, preserves the names of some of the places of Buddhist worship in the Jaffna peninsula. Kantarodai is mentioned among these places. The others are Nagakovila (Nakarkovil), Telipola (Tellippalai), Mallagama (Mallakam), Minuvangomu Viharaya (Vimankamam), Tannidivayina (Tana-tivu or Kayts), Nagadivayina (Nakativu or Nayinativu), Puvangudivayina (Punkutu-tivu) and Karadivayina (Karaitivu). Of the Buddhist establishments in these places only the vihara and Dagaba at Nakativu has survived to this day. It is justifiable to assume that the Nampota list dates back to a time when the Buddhist establishments of these places were well known centres of worship. This was probably before the thirteenth century, for after this date the people of the Jaffna peninsula were mainly Saivas. The foregoing evidence points to the inevitable conclusion that in the Anuradhapura period, and possibly till about the twelfth century, there were Buddhists in the Jaffna peninsula. Although it may appear reasonable to presume that these Buddhists were Sinhalese like those in other parts of the island, some have tried to argue that they were Tamils. While it is true that there were Tamil Buddhists in South India and Ceylon before the twelfth century and possibly even later, there is evidence to show that the Buddhists who occupied the Jaffna peninsula in the Anuradhapura period were Sinhalese. We refer to the toponymic evidence, which unmistakably points to the presence of Sinhala settlers in the peninsula before Tamils settled there. In an area of only about nine hundred square miles covered by this peninsula, there occur over a thousand Sinhalese place names, which have survived in a Tamil garb. (page 270)

This is what DR Indrapalan wrote about people who try to re-write history of Jaffna. “It may be recollected that several writers on the history of Jaffna, basing their studies on the traditional legends found in the late Tamil chronicles, have put forward certain theories claiming the establishment of Tamil settlements in Jaffna in the period of the Anuradhapura rulers. These theories are not accepted by serious students of history as they are not based on trustworthy data. Many of these have been convincingly dismissed by scholars in recent years. It is therefore, not our intention to analyse these theories and take serious notice of writings which at best could be described as popular.” (page 266)

Dr Indraplan further explains the word ILLAM as follows

"Presumably it rests on the fact that Ilam is now used only in Tamil as a name for Ceylon. But the origin of this name, far from indicating that the island was occupied by the Tamil speaking people in ancient times, shows that the people from whose name Ilam is derived were Singhalese."

Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar of the Madras University writing on 29.8.1926 the Foreword to ‘Ancient Jaffna’ by Mudaliyar C. Rasanayagam says: "The attempt of the author to derive the name Ilam does not appeal to us as quite successful; Ilam to us seems to be directly derived from the Pali word Sihala, which in Tamil would be Singalam or even Singanam, but a strict Tamilising would make it Ilam...."(Ancient Jaffna by Mudaliyar C Rasanayagam (Foreword p. v.)

Further, these extracts are from page 382 of a well-biased "Ancient Jaffna" by Mudaliyar C Rasanayagam (1926) to prove that we are a well mixed up nation may be distant relatives killing each other in this unwanted war. (Note: Sankili was a chieftain in Jaffna and I could not find any historical evidence, which indicates that he was a king. I shall be grateful to any historian who can show me where I can find an inscription or epigraph which indicates that he was a King therefore I will refer to him as a chieftain)

"After the massacre of the Christians, Sankili's insane fury longed for more victims and he fell upon the Buddhists of Jaffna who were all Sinhalese. He expelled them beyond the limits of the country and destroyed their numerous places of worship. Most of them betook themselves to the Vanni's and the Kandyan territories (as per Yalpana Vaipava Malai by Mailvagana Pulavar translated by C Brito.), and those who were unable to do so became the slaves of the Tamil chieftains and are now known as 'Kovia', a corruption of the Sinhalese word ' Goviya' or 'Goiya' and that their original status was equal to that of the Vellalas can be inferred from customs which are still in Vogue in Jaffna. The 'Tanakaras' and the 'Nalavas' of Jaffna should also be considered Sinhalese remnants in spite of the fanciful derivation of the word 'Nalava' given by the author of the Vaipava Malai. The Nalavas were perhaps originally the Sinhalese climbers and received the Tamil name on account of their peculiar way of climbing trees. They too became the slaves of the Tamil chieftains. The Tanakaras were the ancient elephant keepers and those who supplied the necessary fodder to the stables of the king. ( Sinhalese: Tana=grass). They perhaps on account of the service rendered by them were not expelled from the country and later became inseparably mixed with the Tamils among whom they had to remain.........the fact that the Kovias, Tanakaras and Nalavas were originally Sinhalese can be seen from the peculiar dress of their women who wear the inner end of their cloth over the shoulders in a manner quite strange to the genuine Tamils.”

When Robert Knox landed in Trincomalee his party was arrested by the King of Sri Lanka and not by the Ruler of Jaffna, when the Dutch landed in Batticaloa they were received by the King of Sri Lanka and not by the Ruler of Jaffna. When Muslims were chased out by Portuguese they were resettled by the King of Sri Lanka in Batticaloa and not by Ruler of Jaffna. Although there are treaties between Emperor of Sri Lanka with Dutch, Portuguese, and English, I would like any historian to tell me where I could find any such treaty with so called chieftain of Jaffna.

In spite of all this evidence, Tamils say that Sinhalese people are encroaching Tamil areas. But the truth is that Tamils have completely taken over Sinhalese Traditional Homeland. I do not think Sinhalese have a problem with that as long as Tamils do not tell lies about the history of Sri Lanka and allow peaceful co-existence without ethnic cleansing.

History of the terrorism in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s population is about 74% Sinhalese, about 12% Tamils (known as Ceylon or Sri Lankan Tamils), 6 % Tamils of Indian origin who were given citizenship after independence and the balance 8% consists of Muslims, Malays and descendants of Europeans. Most of the Tamils of Indian origin brought to Sri Lanka by our British masters to work in tea plantations do not live in the North and East of Sri Lanka which Tamils claim as their traditional homeland without any historical evidence. None of the Tamil leaders cared about the Tamils of Indian origin when they promoted Tamil Nationalist Movements.

The racist extremist Tamil movement started long before our independence in 1948 from the British. It started in 1939 with G.G. Ponnambalam attacking the Sinhalese in a virulent speech, resulting in the first Sinhala Tamil Riot. Then Tamil leaders wanted 50% 50% representation in our legislature. I have not heard of any form of representation by Tamil Leaders to the British, asking for a separate state or forwarding any historical evidence of a separate Tamil kingdom. These Tamil leaders even voted to disenfranchise Indian Tamils. Then these racist extremist Tamils started singing the discrimination song to the world, though the 12 % population of Ceylon Tamils in Sri Lanka had the major share in education, jobs, business and the economy in Sri Lanka. Even The Soulsbury Commission appointed by the British observed this fact much before independence in 1948. I fail to understand why the Indian Tamils now blame the Sinhalese for their problems, which were created because our British masters abandoned them. At no stage did these racist extremist Tamils leaders say that there was a separate Tamil Kingdom in Sri Lanka and ask for a separate Tamil State because at that stage they had not had enough time to destroy all historical evidence of the Sinhalese Buddhist civilisation in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Jaffna is the capital of the northern province of Sri Lanka, which even today has more number of high schools than the entire southern province of Sri Lanka. Southern province has about 20 times the population of Jaffna.

Even as late as 1982, Tamils held a disproportionate number of positions in the public services, private sector, university admissions and business in Sri Lanka, which is the case even today. Please see the statistics I found about employment in 1982.

In these terms Sri Lanka is a good example to countries in the developed world like Australia and the USA, compared to their treatment of Aboriginal and African-American people respectively.

I have copied a few following paragraphs from the Soulsbury Commission for every one to read and understand what Tamil leaders represented and how racist they were.

Education

172. "Jaffna has benefited for over a century from first-rate secondary schools founded and endowed by missionary effort of various denominations. But the complaint was made to us that despite the immense increase in the education vote since 1931, a negligible provision of State schools had been made for those parts of the Jaffna district which did not enjoy the benefit of English elementary and secondary education".

173. "... as in the case of agriculture and health, we are more disposed to attribute the discrepancies in expenditure and disproportionate allocation of public funds of which complaint is made, to the government's desire to redeem certain localities and communities from the neglect of past years than to any deliberate partiality towards racial interests. Education among the Muslims, for instance, has in the past, for various reasons, been relatively backward. We were much impressed by the efforts of the minister for education, himself a Sinhalese and a Buddhist, to promote the educational advance of this community".

Public Appointments

174. "We received from the All-Ceylon Tamil Congress complaints of discrimination against the members of their community in regard to appointments in the Public Services. This matter provides a common source of dissension between majority and minority communities.But in this case the complaint did not, as might have been expected, disclose that the proportion of posts held by the Ceylon Tamils was smaller than the size of their community would justify. On the contrary, the Ceylon Tamils appear, at any rate as late as 1938, to have occupied a disproportionate number of posts in the public services".

175. "... The Tamil witnesses maintained that in order to improve the chances of Sinhalese candidates, various small changes in examination syllabuses and conditions of entry have been made as a result of the intervention of Sinhalese Ministers, who have also endeavoured in various ways to use their influence, e.g. with Selection Boards, to favour candidates of their own race..."

176. "It appears to us that there have been minor instances of this kind of discriminatory action by the Sinhalese... but it would not in our opinion be right to regard the Sinhalese challenge to the predominant position of the Tamils in public appointments as based on such small acts of discrimination; rather it is the natural effect of the spread of education and of the effects being made to bring other portions of the island up to the intellectual level of one portion of it..."

“In this connection, we cannot help recalling a period in our own history when, as a result of the superior educational facilities and better teaching prevalent in Scotland, a minority was enabled to secure a larger share of administrative and executive posts in the United Kingdom than could have been justified on any proportional allocation. Since then the English have made strenuous and not altogether unsuccessful endeavours to redress the deficiencies of their past".

Racist extremist Tamils and some expatriates play the same tune today and destroy beautiful Sri Lanka. All the Tamils have had their education and employment experience in Sri Lanka. 75 % of the cost of that education was borne by the Sinhalese tax payers. The Sinhalese tax payers pay today almost 100% of the cost of education of Tamils in the North where Prabhakaran collects all taxes. While children of expatriates who send blood dollars to LTTE are having a good life in Western countries, poor Tamil children are killed in thousands by using them as the first wave in attacks, cannon fodder and as suicide bombers.

Sri Lanka never sent back the Tamils like the Germans did to Turks nor did the Sinhalese, with 75% of the population, enact Bumiputra laws like in Malaysia. Nor carpet-bombed north and east like the Americans in Afghanistan or Iraq, even after 2/3rd of suicide bombings in the world were proved to have been done by Tamils in Sri Lanka.

What happened after Independence in 1948

Unfortunately after independence the natural effect of the spread of education and the effects by governments to bring other portions of the island up to the intellectual level of the north where Ceylon Tamils enjoyed first-rate secondary schools founded and endowed by missionary effort of various denominations were quoted by racist extremist Tamils as discrimination against Tamils.

Then Mr SWRD Bandaranayake, who was a descendant of a Tamil named Nilaperumal (http://www.lankalibrary.com/cul.html#15) became Buddhist and broke away from the United National Party. He became the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1956. His government introduced Sinhalese as the official language of Sri Lanka. Had not the government done that and improved education facilities in the south, thousands of poor Sinhalese like me would not have ever gone to university and may be still in the jungle, while 12% of the population (Tamils) enjoyed first-rate secondary schools. However, Mr Bandaranayake’s action made Tamil political parties king makers in Sri Lanka. The way Sri Lankans voted made it impossible for one party to form a government. All parties had to go behind Tamil parties to form a government. Every time Tamil parties joined the government their demand for a separate state grew little by little. Sinhalese leaders made use of this to hoodwink Sinhalese people in order to come to power, and Tamil leaders use this to mislead Tamil youth for their political advantage.

Another bad practice started by the successive government was to appoint friends, supporters and relatives to government positions and jobs. I can remember early days when there were competitive exams to select people for the clerical and other public services jobs. Suddenly the government started a chit system, which continues even today. Sinhalese Ministers and Members of Parliament started giving jobs to their supporters and Tamil and Muslim ministers follow the same practice. This created a real unrest especially among university graduates and other educated youth of all nationalities. Youths including myself were taken for a ride by the socialists in the country who taught us more destruction through revolution than the development of Sri Lanka. For example, had Sri Lanka started many private medical, engineering and other universities and technical colleges, probably there would be no requirement of standardisation of university admissions, which Tamil leaders alleged affected Tamil youths very badly. Further, today Sri Lanka could save millions of dollars our children spend to go to study even in so called socialist countries like USSR and CHINA. Our socialist leaders still object to start private universities. It was only when I migrated to Australia that I realised that better socialism exists in capitalist countries.

Mr Bandaranayake, Mr JR Jayawardena, the last king of Sri Lanka and many Tamil politicians elected in Sinhalese dominated areas are good examples that Sinhalese people have no problem in selecting descendants of other nationalities who integrated with Sinhalese as their leaders. I have no doubt that had the LTTE spared Mr Kadirgamar’s life, Sinhalese people would have selected him as their leader. He surely won my heart and vote.

Even though Tamil extremists go around the world singing the discrimination song today and try to justify their terrorism, Tamils who comprise 12% of the population of Sri Lanka still enjoy a disproportionate percentage of educational, employment, and business advantage. If any one can give me statistics of another country in the world where a minority has more privileges than the majority, as Tamils do in Sri Lanka, I shall be grateful to them. I do not think the majority of Sinhalese people have a problem with that, as long as Tamil people join hands with the other nationalities and develop Sri Lanka.

Towards the late 1970s, Tamil nationalist extremist leaders were misleading Tamil youth to take up arms against the government. During 1976, by the Vadugoda resolution (Vadugoda became Vadukkodai in the same way Weligama became Welikamam) racist extremist Tamils decided to make their claim for an independent homeland. Tamils used unauthenticated Cleghorn notes, which say Tamils occupied the land from Walawe river in the south east to Chilaw, to support this claim.

TULF went to the 1977 general election asking for a mandate for a separate Tamil state but they polled only 47% (Source: Election Department) of the votes, although TULF won 18 seats. That means in the north of Sri Lanka TULF did not get a simple majority to ask for a separate state.

After the 1977 election there were no fair elections in the North. In 1977 there was a UNP government under Mr JR Jayawardena, and he became the President of Sri Lanka. Mr Jayawardena and his UNP party started antagonising the Indian ruling party on many occasions.

Indian Connection

In the late 1970s Mrs Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India and India was becoming a regional power in the Indian Ocean with the USSR. India also started building a big Submarine base in Vaisakpatnam from where USSR nuclear submarines could operate in the Indian Ocean.On the other hand the only way to stop any country becoming a regional power is to break that country into pieces. India had a lot of breakaway struggles in the north, allegedly supported by Pakistan with the knowledge and assistance of US intelligence. But there was no breakaway struggle in the South India.

The 1977 government of Mr JR Jayawardena in Sri Lanka allowed a Voice of America transmission station in Puttalam, and was negotiating with the US 7th fleet contractor to hand over Trincomalee oil tank farm which would have increased US navy traffic to the east coast of Sri Lanka. This would allow the US Navy to monitor very closely movements of nuclear submarines other naval ships belonging to USSR operating in the Indian Ocean.Therefore Mrs Indira Gandhi approved RAW to fund training in India and supply arms to small Tamil nationalist extremist groups like PLOTE, LTTE, TELO, EPRLF, EROSE etc to wage war by proxy against the government of Sri Lanka purely to de-stabilise the JR Jayawardnae’s government.

Indian intelligence RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) suspected that the US was trying to establish a high tech spy station in the guise of Voice of America transmitting station in Sri Lanka. Later there was a suspicion that the US was also funding LTTE leader Prabhakaran to start a Tamil nationalist struggle to establish a Tamil homeland, originally in Sri Lanka, with the ultimate goal of breaking South India from India to weaken India, on the pretext of making an Independent Tamil homeland for 50 million South Indian Tamils who do not have a country of their own. Then the RAW modified its objectives of proxy war with an additional objective to destroy LTTE leader Prabhakaran who was trying to establish a Tamil homeland in South India.Unfortunately ill-equipped Sri Lanka Army and Navy were fighting with terrorists trained, armed and financed by the two superpowers. Sikh extremists assassinated Mrs Indira Gandhi. When her son Rajiv Gandhi came to power he agreed to send Indian troops to Sri Lanka to end terrorism in Sri Lanka but he wanted Trincomalee oil tank farm to be given to an Indian company and RAW to be allowed to examine all equipment that will be installed in Voice of America transmitting station. Unfortunately LTTE members infiltrated as TELO, PLOTE, EROSE members and made it very difficult for the Indian Army to eradicate terrorism in Sri Lanka, instead they got the Indian Army to chase out a lot of Sinhalese who lived in the north and east.

Then it is alleged that US Intelligence, once again with the assistance of President Premadasa, provided the LTTE with massive stocks of arms and ammunition to hit back at the Indian Army. The LTTE uses this supply still to hit at Sri Lankan armed forces and civilians using suicide bombers. Although I do not have any evidence of US involvement, this is my analysis from information I gathered mostly from my Tamil informants. We know for a fact that RAW of Indian defence trained and armed Tamil terrorist groups in Sri Lanka though they deny it. We know now that Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had given orders to IPKF to kill Prabhakaran and destroy the LTTE. We now know that Trincomalee oil tank farm was given to an Indian company. We know now that Premadasa provided arms and ammo to LTTE to fight IPKF. We also know that LTTE assassinated Rajeeve Gandhi and Premadasa. I leave the rest to US intelligence to deny.

There is no communal problem initiated by the Sinhalese. All communal problems were initiated by extremist Tamils starting from 1939. Unfortunately, there were very bad reactions by hooligans to these communal problems initiated by extremist Tamils. Some Sinhalese leaders misled Sinhalese people to react in a bad way to innocent Tamil people. In 1983, LTTE murdered 13 Army personnel in Jaffna. When their bodies were brought to the homes of the soldiers a lot of gossip spread that Tamils are attacking Sinhalese people in the north.
Unfortunately hooligans in the south started attacking innocent Tamils and looting from businesses belonging to Tamils and also other nationalities. In the north and east Sinhalese were attacked by Tamils and their businesses were looted. This is what Mr Thondaman said about the 1983 communal problem in the Parliament:

“There are many people who claim that these disturbances are a further manifestation of the Sinhala uprising against the Tamil people. But I do not share that view. The vast majority of the Sinhala people condemn these atrocities on these innocent Tamil people and have shown sympathy and understanding. Many have been brave and given shelter in their own homes in spite of intimidation and threats. In those circumstances, to say this is an uprising against the Tamils is absurd.”

On the other hand I was present myself in Jaffna during communal problems. I have not met any Tamil leader in Jaffna who came to help poor Sinhalese who were attacked and chased out of Jaffna. Sinhalese helped all the Tamils to return back to the Sinhalese areas and live happily. Some made use of this opportunity for economic migration to developing countries. No Tamil or Tamil leader wanted to help the Sinhalese or Muslims who were chased from the North to come back and start their businesses again in the north. Historically I have proved that it was their homeland long before Tamils arrived.

My experiences

I want to write a few of my experiences in the navy relevant to the current problem in Sri Lanka and why actions of UNP leaders allowed it to become a problem beyond control, allegedly supported by two super powers namely India and the US.

In the navy there were two Tamils among 16 of us, who did the Sub Lieutenants course in India in 1971 and 1972 with me. Both are very good friends of mine. One was a direct entry officer who joined with me and was my roommate during training and who later became an Admiral. I was made to understand that he stills works for the Government after retiring from the navy. The other always complained about discrimination. Even when he got a slightly older jeep for his travelling he complained that it was because he was a Tamil. I am sure had he remained in the Navy he would have reached the rank of Admiral. But he later ran away to Canada. I have served under a number of Tamil navy officers and at no stage did I get any advantage over a Tamil officer by being a Sinhalese.

In the Navy, being a Sinhalese I did not get any special privileges or promotions over the Tamils. There were a lot of Tamil officers and sailors in the navy. Although I have seen preferential treatment to favourite officers from senior officers irrespective of race, I haven’t seen any Sinhalese officer getting preferential treatment over their Tamil counterparts certainly I did not get any.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, the Navy was completely neglected by successive governments. No recruitments were done for about 10 years. No Patrol crafts were purchased. Therefore during late 1970s, apprehensions of smugglers, illicit immigrants etc between India and Sri Lanka were reduced to a great extent. In 1977 I analysed and wrote a paper to the Navy command that this was directly due to reduction of sea hours by patrol boats between India and Sri Lanka to about 40% compared to sea hours in early 1970. Only six cheveton class Patrol boats purchased were not sufficient to supplement frequent breakdowns of old thonycroft fleet. Repeated requests by northern command to purchase boats were ignored by Navy high command and UNP government in power. Trial to build boats in Colombo Dockyard Limited took its time to produce acceptable craft, but by the time these crafts were deployed smugglers had more advanced faster crafts.

During 1977 communal problems, I was coordinating providing of boats for the disembarkation operation of all the Tamils from Colombo transferred in Shipping Corporation ships to KKS harbour. Many Tamils lost their jewellery during the voyage from Colombo to Jaffna. We were fortunate to recover every piece of jewellery lost when every one disembarked. There was one point of disembarking, therefore it was very easy to search and recover and stolen items. The jewellery was robbed by Tamils who took passage in the ships. As all the jewellery was recovered, Mr Amirthalingam and TULF members who were personally present there did not want us to hand over the culprits to the Police to charge the culprits. In Mr Amirthalingam’s words he said that they have suffered enough. But I am sure the story would have been different if the jewellery was robbed by Sinhalese people. Probably it would be headline news in all developed countries, Amnesty International and Red Cross. For a few years I used to get Christmas and New Year cards from the Tamils who lost jewellery in this voyage to Karainagar navy camp, which I have shown to a few navy people.

It was very hard to convince the Navy command and the UNP government of the importance of having an effective naval blockade between India and Sri Lanka. However, when the naval command realised necessity for this requirement in 1984, the naval command and UNP government came up with this funny mothership daughter craft concept to accommodate the purchase of 3 container cargo ships MV Fransisca, MV Carenia and MV Delicia laid up in Trincomalee harbour. Unfortunately I was one of the first commanding officers appointed when these ships were commissioned as surveillance command ships. It took me around 55 hours to bring these ships from Trincomalee to Colombo for refitting accommodation for around extra 50 sailors who were going to man the daughter crafts these ships were going to carry. The concept was to use the 40 ton crane in the ship to unload the daughter crafts when a terrorist boat was sighted so that the daughter craft can chase and apprehend the terrorist boat.

Then National Security Minister Mr Lalith Athulathmudali and Admiral HA Silva who decided to purchase the 3 container ships came on board my ship SLNS Wickrama with a TV crew from Rupavahini to show this concept to poor Sri Lankans. Only then did the navy high command and Mr Athulathmudali realise that a 40 ton crane can only be used in calm waters inside the harbour, it stops working out at sea when the ship rolls and pitches as a safety precaution. The crane stoped working when we tried to unload a boat outside the harbour due to roll and pitch and the boat got almost crushed banging on the ships hull. But to hoodwink the people of Sri Lanka, a lifeboat of the ship was lowered inside the harbour and shown in the Rupavahini (around March / April 1984) that fast boats were purchased to apprehend terrorists. Believe me, the speed of that fast boat shown in the TV was less than 5 nautical miles per hour.Mr Jeff Long, Engineering Superintendent of Sea Containers London Limited, who hosted all navy officers for a dinner at Hotel Oberoi when the ships were handed over, told us that a 0.5 million US dollar commission was paid to sell the 3 container ships to Sri Lanka. I wrote to then President Mr JR Jayawardena about this and he wrote back to me informing that the matter was referred to Ministry of Defence for further inquiry, though I did not hear about any more Inquiries.

Then the navy purchased 3 more Kota class scrap ships from Singapore for this mother ship daughter craft concept. These six ships became navigational marks for terrorist groups going to India for training and escaping after attacks in Sri Lanka. They also created a massive human resources problem for Sri Lanka Navy. I have written to the commander of the navy that the efficiency or the KPIs of the surveillance zone in 1984 and 1985 was less than 5%. This efficiency was calculated by finding out the percentage of terrorist boats apprehended and destroyed by sighted terrorist boats taken from situation reports from all units in the surveillance zone.To apprehend terrorists crossing between Sri Lanka and India as we were trying to do, by deploying 12 boats and ships stationed in the northern surveillance zone, was very similar to placing 12 police cars stationed between Colombo and Galle and trying to catch dogs crossing as the distance between Talaimannar to Point Pedro is similar. Of course this could have been done if we had state of the art detection capabilities and destruction capabilities.In 1985 I personally told Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe on one occasion out of three occasions I met him to beg a school for my son before I took him to supreme court for violation of my son’s fundamental human rights by not giving him a government school, that the Indian Army trains the terrorists and if the governments does not give the navy adequate crafts to stop terrorist traffic between the two countries, Sri Lanka will have a lot of problems from terrorists. He laughed at me. I passed this information to Mr Lalith Athulathmudali and also wrote to President JR Jayawardena.After leaving the navy I tried to publish these facts in newspapers but only Ravaya newspaper on 25th August 1991 published my discussion on how we could create an effective naval blockade to prevent gun running by terrorists. Had the UNP listened and acted on my advice we would not have this problem today. Therefore before Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe starts calling Mr Gotabhaya Rajapakse or anyone else a traitor he should go before a mirror to see the biggest traitor of Mother Lanka ever produced. Further, only a traitor would sign a cease fire agreement with a terrorist group fighting against a democratically elected government and give world wide recognition.Unfortunately the UNP government, which was in power, was only interested in making money out of defence procurements as I mentioned earlier. UNP government’s failure to provide equipment capable of stopping terrorist traffic between India and Sri Lanka, to prevent terrorists being trained and armed by RAW of Indian defence on instructions by then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, created this unresolvable problem in Sri Lanka.Now I want write about my experience of political victimisation in Sri Lanka. I had to take Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe, the present leader of the Opposition (then minister of education) to Supreme Court for violation of my son’s fundamental human rights by failing to offer him a school to study in 1985. At that time I was the Commanding Officer of SLNS Jayasagara, which was deployed in the North Surveillance Zone as a task group commander. The very next day after filing the case, the Defence Ministry sent me on compulsory leave (probably on Mr Ranil Wickramsinghe’s instructions). My navy identity card was taken and I was thrown out of the navy camp. I had to catch a fish lorry to come to Colombo. I had to run away from Sri Lanka to protect my family from thuggery and intimidations my family had to face with Mr Wickramasinghe’s circle of thugs (with his knowledge or not) even after withdrawing the case. Somebody almost kidnapped my son from the school. I was compelled to retire from the Navy. I was found fit for senior appointments before the case, but after the case it was a different story. I was not given CDC, which was a requirement to find a job in the Merchant Navy. I was not given the medal given to people who worked in the Surveillance Zone though I was the first Commanding officer SLNS Wickrama started the surveillance zone. My request to grant my pension as I was politically victimised was turned down by the Ministry of Defence. We were not allowed to live peacefully in Sri Lanka by Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe’s circle of thugs (with his knowledge or not) because I produced to the Supreme Court an admission of a child of a relative of this thug from Kiribathgoda to support my case. I was not paid my legitimate reward money for apprehensions done in the north. My request to Admiral Ananda Silva to include my name for an apprehension done in the surveillance zone was refused. I had to transfer everything I had to my wife as I was told by Admiral Ananda Silva that he is going to recover nearly Rs 400,000.00 reward money already paid to me for the apprehensions done in the north. Mr Nimal Siripala de Silva was the lawyer who wrote the transfer deed.I am grateful to the Australian government for allowing my family to migrate to Australia. I had to study again for a new profession start my career all over again in Australia.

My understanding of Tamil aspirationsTherefore my understanding of aspirations of racist extremist Tamils (not all the Tamils) are as follows. If they think I am wrong I would like them to correct me with evidence it is not so.1. Tamil Extremist Leaders want exclusive right to North and East of Sri Lanka and only Tamils should live there.2. Tamils should have the right to work in all other parts of Sri Lanka. But they do not want any one else to come to the North and East to work or do business. LTTE has achieved this in the North. Probably would have achieved this in the East had the government failed to take control of the East.3. Tamil Extremist Leaders want the right to wage a war against the government of Sri Lanka and destroy everything, but they also want the Sri Lanka government to provide all facilities, pay wages to government servants and spend money to reconstruct what they destroy.4. Tamil Extremist Leaders want Tamils to study in all universities in Sri Lanka but do not want any Sinhalese student to study in Jaffna University. The last Sinhalese student is still in a wheel chair after being attacked.5. Tamil Extremist Leaders wants Tamil doctors, engineers and other professionals to pass out from university to work in all parts of Sri Lanka where Sinhalese (74% of the population of Sri Lanka) live but do not want to learn the Sinhalese language to work there. They want 74% population of Sri Lanka to learn Tamil for them to work.6. When these professionals get experience they should have the right to migrate to affluent western countries and say loud and clear that they are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese. Even Tamils who reach the level of Attorney General or ambassadors do that.

My appeal to TamilsAt no stage I am trying to say that Tamils did not live in Sri Lanka in the past. All I am saying is that according to the available historical evidence there was no Independent Tamil Kingdom in north or east of Sri Lanka. Majority of the Tamils migrated from South India and integrated with the Sinhalese like Mr Bandaranayake’s great grandfather. Our Royal families also got married to Tamil royalty. Even our last king was a Tamil. Therefore I want to appeal to all the Tamils to read following history books written by Portuguese, Dutch, English and Tamil Historians so that you will know that Sinhalese and Tamils lived in the north under the Sinhalese Emperor of Sri Lanka (and on a few occasions a Tamil Emperor like Elara who invaded Sri Lanka). There were occasions that chieftains or vanniyars in Jaffna disobeyed the Emperor and tried to take control. Sunkilli was one such vanniyar.1. “A true and Exact description of great island Ceylon” by the Dutch priest Baldaeus in 1672.2. Fatal History of Portuguese in Ceylon” by George Davison Winius3. 'The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon' by Father Fernao de Queyroz4. 'An Historical Relation of Ceylon' by Robert Knox5. 'An Account of the Island of Ceylon' (1805) by Captain Robert Percival6. “Ancient Jaffna” by C. Rasanayagam7. “Laws of Ceylon” by K. Balasingham8."Thesis for the Ph.D.” by Dr. Karthigesu Indrapalan, submitted to the University of London in 1962 (Unpublished S.O. 15.1. 84).9. Buddhism Betrayed by D. TambiahTherefore my appeal to Extremist Tamils and migrated professionals who fund LTTE and try to destroy Sri Lanka and to all developed foreign countries including India that were taken for a ride by LTTE:1. To think about Jaffna in the 1970s and to bring that glory back to Jaffna. Please do not send your money to buy arms and ammunition but send money to start universities and technical colleges for Tamil students to qualify and have a decent life or migrate to affluent western countries if they wish, rather than spending their time in bunkers defending no brain leaders.2. Not to create more and more angry generations of Tamil and Sinhalese by writing fiction about history without any historical evidence but to educate them about peaceful coexistence.3. To start integration by forcing organisations like TRO to let all Sinhalese and Muslims who lived and did business in Jaffan to come back and start their businesses in the same way that majority Sinhalese looked after Tamils and helped them to come back and start there lives in other parts of Sri Lanka.4. To understand that once the LTTE disarms, Sri Lankan forces will go back to do their normal duties such as anti smuggling and anti illicit immigrant duties in the north. As there will not be any fear among every one in Sri Lanka about suicide bombers and car bombs, all the road blocks will disappear and searches, arrest and registration of Tamils on suspicion will cease. I am sure in the 1970s we did not have these problems.5. To remind Tamils who live in Western countries and fund LTTE that they should elect a leader who will not destroy Tamils in Sri Lanka like the present Mr Prabhakaran. If these Tamils who fund LTTE want to fight for a separate state, please send their children to Sri Lanka to fight but please don’t fund to get poor Tamil children in north and east of Sri Lanka to fight and die.6. To all missionaries of all denominations to help all other poor people in Sri Lanka by providing the same facilities that they provided to Jaffna Tamils.7. To British Government to provide assistance with housing and educational facilities to the Indian Tamils they abandoned.8. To all Western developed countries to stop blood dollars flowing into hands of LTTE through accepting refugees. These governments should understand that refugee traffic could be minimised to a greater extent by controlling LTTE refugee traffic.Finally I want to appeal to Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka not to blame the Sinhalese for the problems they are facing because our British Masters abandoned them, and for them to consider class action against the British government for compensation similar to French compensation to Libya.

Source (re-produced from Sri Lanka Guardian):
Part I - URL http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2008/10/rights-to-reclaim-part-one.html
Part II - URL http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2008/10/right-to-reclaim-part-two.html
Part III - URL http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2008/10/right-to-reclaim-part-three.html
Part IV - URL http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2008/10/right-to-reclaim-part-four.html
Part V - URL http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2008/10/right-to-reclaim-part-five.html