Rejoinder to: “Sri Lanka Tamils: Give them the Ballot; Give Them Their Rights”

The article titled “Sri Lanka Tamils: Give them the Ballot; Give Them Their Rights” by Jay Surier (Democratic Voice, Feb. 2009) is nothing less than the propaganda of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a banned terrorist group notorious for using suicide bombings and child soldiers in its mad quest for a separate Tamil state. This is not surprising, considering Surier’s close affiliation with the Tigers: he provided computers to the terrorist group by setting up an outfit called Vanni Tech’ in the territory held by the Tigers. Vanni Tech was the front used by Suresh Sriskandarajah, a Canadian arrested by the FBI and now facing trial for money laundering and smuggling goods – such as military software – into Sri Lanka.

Surier’s article presents a fictional ‘Tamil homeland’ and a fictional ‘Tamil kingdom’ indicating that the minority Tamils live in this ‘homeland’ in the north and east while the Sinhalese occupy the rest of the country. The fact is that 56% of Tamils live outside the north and east, mostly in the south among the Sinhalese.

His reference to ‘successive Sinhalese dominated governments,’ taken straight out of LTTE propaganda leaflets, is an indictment which makes as much sense as accusing the US of having ‘successive Anglo-dominated governments.”

The allegation of indiscriminate attacks on Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan armed forces is totally false. In 1983, after years of terrorist acts by the Tamils, inflammatory, racist propaganda by Tamil politicians, and the killing of 13 soldiers by Tamil militants, a race riot, led by political elements, erupted in Colombo. An estimated 400 Tamil persons were killed, not ‘thousands’ as Surier states. A contrite Sri Lankan government paid restitution to the families of these victims and rebuilt all the homes that were destroyed. Since then, despite Tamil provocation by way of hundreds of suicide bombings, the assassination of the Sri Lankan president and countless political leaders, there has never been an organized riot or attack on Tamils. And, yes, thousands of Tamils have sought asylum abroad, most for economic gain, many trafficked by the LTTE.

Surier’s version of the 1977 election where he says 82% of the Tamil people endorsed a separate state is as fictionalized. In that election, only 69% of the Tamils in the Northern province voted for the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) which at the time did seek separatism. In the Eastern province the TULF got a pathetic 32.9%. The LTTE, has been using that election as its crutch to justify resorting to terror to fight for a separate state. What Surier does not mention is that after 1977 the TULF moved away from separatism towards mainstream politics. The LTTE then murdered the TULF leader Appapillai Amirthalingam and several other TULF members and forced the people in areas under its control in the north, under gunpoint, into voting for its own proxies, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). That is the bloody genealogy of the TNA, the party that Surier speaks of with pride.

As for the title of the article and the suggestion that the Tamil people have been deprived of voting rights, again, nothing but a downright lie! All Sri Lankan citizens, including women, have enjoyed universal suffrage and the right to stand for election since 1931, without restriction. This is a major contrast to many other countries, including the US, where property ownership, race, and other impositions have prevented one or another group from voting.

In calling for foreign intervention in Sri Lanka, Surier reveals his true objective: saving the LTTE from ultimate defeat and humiliation. Giving the lie to international punditry about this war being ‘unwinnable,’ the Sri Lankan military has successfully defeated the LTTE, cornering it into a 20-square kilometer of land. Concern for the safety of civilians being held hostage by the LTTE is the only factor stopping the military from reclaiming this last patch of territory. LTTE operatives and front groups in the Tamil diaspora are now frenziedly lobbying for international intervention conjuring up charges of ‘genocide’ in the desperate hope that the remaining LTTE cadres, including its leader Vellupillain Prabhakaran, can be rescued from certain defeat.

Considering the extent of Surier’s fabrications, the Democratic Voice has displayed an utter disregard for the truth, disrespect for the many Sri Lankans who live in the US, and, as bad, let itself be co-opted into the LTTE’s desperate endgame.

Hassina Leelarathna