The Eastern Province- to merge or de-merge ?
By A. Paul Raj
[Colombo 3]
This refers to the article written by Mr.K.Godage and published on December 14 on the above subject, in the Daily Mirror.
KG stated that the expert panel groups A&B do not have any sensitivity on the issue regarding the merger of North & East for a period of ten years and wants to have a referendum now. This panel he stated has not felt the pulse of the people of Eastern Province and the feeling of 90% of the people of this country.
It appears that KG wants to have a referendum now so that he could achieve his aim of the de merger as a large number of Tamils have left the area and are living in South India as refugees and still others within and without Eastern Province as internally displaced people.
Therefore any one will agree that no referendum can be held now when there is intense fighting going on in the East. Even if a referendum is to be held after normalcy is restored, the issue should not be decided by East alone but by the North & East together. For example if the parents want to get their daughter or son married both the bride and the bridegroom must agree for the union. Similarly North &East must awe the merger.
The feeling of 90% of the people down South of course may be against the wishes of the Tamils for the merger. But the majority Sinhalese must understand it was this kind of policy that brought this country into pieces and remains as a poor state due to the ‘Sinhala Only’ policy adopted by the majority of the (almost 95%) Sinhalese in 1956. What is wanted is justice and fair play and not always depend on numbers.
Though Muslims belong to a different ethnic group they all speak Tamil and are Tamil speaking Muslims. Just because Tamils call N&E as their homeland, it does not mean that it is not the homeland of the Muslims. TNA leader and M.P. Mr.Sampanthan has addressed an SLMC meeting recently and stated that East is the homeland of the Muslims too.
It does not matter if the Tamils call N&E as their homeland as no harm will be done to any other communities. Look at Tamil Nadu in South India. Earlier in the 1 950s Annathurai of DMK fought for a separate state but finally accepted a federal state and named it as Tamil Nadu (Tamil Nation) where there are millions of Muslims also. The Central Govt. of India never objected to naming it as Tamil Nadu nor did they say that it will lead to division of the country. Now TN Govt. is a close ally of the Central Govt. of India.
KG then brings a new story quoting one Percival and says that Indian Tamils were brought in from S.India as labourers for tobacco cultivation in Jaffna and later on sent out to Eastern Province and Vanni when tobacco boom ended. I have worked in Batticaloa district for about 5 years and have known them very well. They are not of Indian origin as seen from the way they speak Tamil and are unlike Indian Tamils in the Central Province, are well educated and very large number of Jaffna Tamils are married to Batticaloa Tamils.
KG states that there is no justification for the merger of N&E. The need arises since the Tamils are a minority community and therefore do not want them to be further divided into small enclaves. Further Tamils and Muslims living in the N&E speak the same language - Tamil .Therefore the administration of N&E could be conducted in Tamil.
Finally KG states that all communities should be able to live as equal citizens with dignity and in security wherever they live. But did the Govts. in the past as well as the present treat all communities equally? If it was so there would not have been a Prabahkaran today. Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said many times that Tamils have grievances and even the US representative Richard Boucher made similar comments recently.
[A Letter to the Editor, published in the dailymirror.lk]
