A comment on Mr.R.Sabmanthan's recent interview

By: Dr.Rajasingham Narendran

(May 12, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I wish the journalist who interviewed Mr.Sambanthan had asked him what the short, ‎medium and long term needs of the peoples in the north and east are. Mr.Sambanthan ‎has very happily played the old gramophone record in answer to the rather irrelevant (at this juncture) ‎political questions.‎

I wish Mr.Sambanthan and the TNA will propose solutions to resolve the immediate ‎problems of the war affected people, especially the widows, orphans and the maimed.‎I wish the basic human needs of these people- food, water, shelter and opportunity to ‎work- a fundamental human right, are given the consideration they require. I wish the ‎rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced to their original habitations gets equal ‎consideration. I wish the education and health needs of these people are also ‎prioritized. I wish they will lead teams of volunteers to help these unfortunate people. ‎I wish they would use their duty free vehicle allowances to buy tractors and ‎ambulances for these people!‎

I wish Mr. Sambanthan and the TNA will spearhead the effort to resettle the ‎Muslims and Sinhalese displaced from the north. I also wish they would, by word ‎and deed, work to heal national wounds and open a new chapter in our history. I wish ‎they will mobilize skills and funds from the Diaspora to support the rehabilitation, ‎rebuilding and development effort. I wish they will discourage further migration of ‎Tamils and encourage the return of the thousands who have already done so.‎

I wish they will discuss with the government projects to bring Mahaweli waters to ‎the Vanni and the Peninsula. I wish they would demand the Elephant Pass salterns ‎and the KKS cement factory are re-established. I wish they will demand from the ‎government to open industrial parks in the north and east. I wish they will demand ‎that the railway to the north is quickly restored. I wish they plan for the development ‎of the north and east in its many dimensions and demand support from the ‎government.
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We have to first demand our rights to live with dignity, in terms of food, water, ‎shelter, health, education and self-reliance. Beggars on handouts will not have the ‎dignity they deserve as humans. We are humans first and Tamils second. We are ‎hanging with our fingernails on the edge of a deep abyss. Let us find the means and ‎tools to climb out of this abyss. Let us not put the cart before the horse. If we set our ‎priorities wrong, we will fall deeper into the abyss and beyond recovery. I hope ‎Mr.Sambanthan and the TNA are intelligent enough to perceive realities and act ‎wisely.‎

Mr. Sambanthan's interview does not give me much hope. He is yet acting the part ‎of a lawyer in a provincial Magistrates court!‎