Anuradhapura:
Air Farce Reflects
By Satchi Sithananthan
23 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Dependency on shoot-outs will
never solve the ethnic chaos and crisis. Why is a federal solution –
now the only hope left for the country - unacceptable to the tiny minority
of racists who are holding Sri Lanka to ransom? And why is President
Rajapakse consulting with such elements from his inner circle of governance
in respect of the ethnic issue?
And now Anuradhapura! The same old story re-enacted; sorties and reconnaissance
seem all a farce and helter-skelter. This is no comedy hour on TV. This
is very serious business. The LTTE is certainly having the Sri Lankan
forces in a spin and at what cost? Are there some maneuverings and machinations
behind this attack that serve the arms cartels with the support of corrupt
elements within the government?
Lives perish and very heavy loss of equipment too and there seem no
end of this fanatical farce of a government pushing for an end to the
country’s ethnic crisis that has virtually broken the guts and
grit of the country and the will of the people to be citizens at peace
with each other.
While the solution is marked and manifest and plainly discernible why
has it become essential for successive Sri Lankan governments not to
understand the simple truth that every citizen of the country must enjoy
rights equal to that of the other whether one is Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim,
Malay or Burgher?
In recognizing certain traditional factors, why should the will of the
majority have special considerations which should actually be the other
way, and why cannot the Tamils be accepted as having rights for special
preferences such as their traditional homelands?
Unfortunately no such special considerations would be needed if the
government accepts the reality that every citizen enjoys equal rights
in a country where the state is secular and freedom of faith, thought
and democratic political action are entrenched in our constitution.
This can be easily enabled through a system of decentralized political
and administrative facility which will give people of each province
to be fully involved in the country’s development process, each
as an interdependent interacting unit for the greater good of the Sri
Lankan nation.
Why is this impossible?
Why is a federal solution that has worldwide acceptance and fully caters
to the ideals of a democracy unacceptable for Sri Lanka? Who are the
political pundits holding the country to ransom? When it comes to seeking
solutions why are rabid racialists given the right and prominence to
assert themselves as the ones ordained to help in the solution process?
Are they the frontline cover ups – the FDLS – for the corrupt
elements to thrive in the chaos that has come to prevail in the country?
A perfunctory look at the Rajapakse Government, how it has been constituted
with all and sundry that have gathered around him and the prevalence
of inevitable corruption shows the destructive spectre that haunts Sri
Lanka today.
Sri Lanka is a country that should be on the frontline of the developed
nations of Asia but the rot began with that nefarious Sinhala Only legislation;
it became the foundation of rank racism that never solved anything in
the country except to keep the communal fire alive all because certain
types of racial and religious bigots kept telling the majority community
that they are endangered by the minority Tamils.
While no such thing had any credence, it turned out to be in the interests
of those seeking political clouts to seed racism and religious intolerance
in the country, so much so, even Buddhist monks very much in conflict
with Buddhist principles went on the rampage and now even inside the
debating chamber of the country’s Parliament. This would be anathema
to authentic Buddhism.
What is the net result of these today?
Thousands of Sinhalese women and girls have to seek slave labour in
the Middle East in unbelievable conditions of exploitation by cruel
and mean employers and job agents all because the country has not developed
economically to provide them with employment opportunities. The blame
for this must entirely be on the racist politicians.
It is a shame on Sri Lanka that they are the biggest source of foreign
exchange earnings for the country that is feeding the armament mills
of the developed world to procure weapons that destroy its own people.
This is considered essential because the country cannot slake and satiate
decision makers especially the politicians who seek only millions for
themselves with rights and privileges denied to the common people.
Sri Lanka should never forget the southern massacre of the early 1970s
when thousands of Sinhala youth were consumed by gunfire.
As long as this loathsome and shameful quest continues and presidents
and government think that the country can be saved through piling up
arms freely unloaded by such powers as the US, UK, Norway, Japan and
others, the tragic farce will continue. Sri Lankans, irrespective of
which community they belong to have been becoming increasingly destitute
across the whole face of the country.
Yet the government is bent on fighting a racist war where racism in
real sense of the word has no foundation but only in the minds of the
wicked and mean who propagate it only for their own good.
At this stage and all morals and ethics of politics shattered to shreds,
the only solution that is available to the country is a federal system.
The Tamils cannot accept anything less than a truly federal system of
government. The government must pursue it; not purse against it.
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