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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