| by Tamizh Prabakaran
Translated by : L. Annadoure
Translated by : L. Annadoure
[ The indictment levelled against Tamizh Prabakaran, the reporter of Junior Vikkaden is that he has taken photos of Sri Lankan Army camps and he has been found talking to women on whom forcible sterilisation operation have been done. The Member of Parliament Mr.Sridharan and the Provincial Council members who happened to be with the reporter came to be arrested by the Army and they have been handed over to Jayapuram Police station where the Member of Parliament and other Provincial Council members who after having been interrogated as to the accusation have been released. The Reporter has been subjected to a gruesome interrogation both by the Army and the Police. Thereafter the reporter has been taken to Fourth Floor where he has been subjected to interrogation throughout the night and when he requested water the interrogators who instead of giving water just pointed at a bottle containing petrol and when the jib of his pant failed to jib they have refused to procure him another pant to wear.
The reporter has stated in part I that there are 4,00,000 Army personnel stationed in the North. Reverend Father Rayappu Joseph has stated that there are 40,000 troops in Jaffana alone. Mahinda Rajapakshe has lied by stating that there has been an extensive reduction in the strength of troops stationed in the North and that there are only 12,000 army personnel at present but his secretary Lalith Weeratunge has contradicted him as to the number of troops deployed in the Northern Province and he would say that there are 80,000 Army personnel in the North as of October 2013.Why should they be afraid of photos being taken of army camps even if such allegation of having taken photos be true and if their version happened to be correct then they themselves should have led the reporter and Member of Parliament to the camps to see for themselves the actual strength of troops.
Tamils are always tolerant of other religious faiths and they not religious bigots like some belligerent monks who recently led a violent mob of 300 to demolish the Assemblies of God and Calvary Churches in Hikkaduwa, Galle District. And in fact 227 Muslim places of worship,103 Christian churches have come under attack in 2013 alone and as many as 367 Hindu temples have been demolished so for. Lord Buddha did not preach his disciples and followers that they have to demolish Hindu temples, Muslim and Christian places of worship and he did not inculcate that Hindu deities should be replaced with his image and the 20,000 Buddha statues which have been donated by Thailand have been used either to replace the Hindu deities which are already existing in Hindu temples or install statues anew in places where there are no followers and that is the Sri Lankan way of converting people to Buddhist faith. We may recall to mind as to what Mahinda Rajapakshe has laid down in his Mahinda Chintana in the year 2005.He has assured that’ “action would be taken to ensure that places of Hindu worship with cultural values would be preserved and declared as national places of worship”. He has avowedly stated that he would create a virtuous state, a disciplined society and he has categorically stated that steps would be taken to prohibit consumption of alcohol and drugs and now it is very much apparent that the persons who are very close to him are engaged in smuggling drugs into Sri Lanka and import ethanol. A word about Norochcholai power station. It is being reported that second hand machineries have been installed by the Chinese contractor and the power plant broke down 26 times between the time of inception to the end of 2013 and once again it has now come to a standstill and it has been decided by Government to seek requisite assistance from India to make the plant operative and functional. Now we will see what Mr.Tamizh Prabakaran has got to say.]
( February 4, 2014, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka is an earthly paradise. Human race may live a contented life in that beautiful place. But it is not a fit place to live in at present. Racist policies and racist tendencies have altered that Paradisiacal land into a desolate place, a burial ground.
A journalist once observed that a self respecting man cannot live there with dignity and humaneness in him!
What has been stated above not alone applies to the Tamils but to the Sinhalese as well.
I set my foot on such a beautiful land in the morning of Deepavali festival day. we are celebrating Deepavali since the mythical vicious demon Naragasuran came to be quelled and destroyed. It is ironic that I should go there to know about the plight of Eelam Tamils.
I disembarked at the Bandaranaike International Airport.
Sri Lanka exempts tax on gems like ruby and allows free flow of foreign currencies and so for the foreign tourists who visit Sri Lankan are concerned tax exemptions are given in order to boost Tourism.
Under the garb of Tourism the Sri Lankan Government protects itself from being pried into by the international community.
Since I hold an Indian Passport and since I am visiting Sri Lanka for the first time I have not been subjected to a through immigration checks.
With a Tamil friend welcoming me,I have come out of the airport. I see a white statue of Lord Buddha. The statues of Lord Buddha could be found installed in every street. ‘After the war, Thailand has donated 20,000 Statues of Lord Buddha which have been installed all over Sri Lanka’, said my friend.
The distance between the Air port and Colombo is 34 klms. I went to a bookstore at Colombo fort in search of availability of books on Mahavamsa and on the history of Buddhism and I made enquires about those books to the Sinhalese lady who has been in charge of the book store and she told me that some books are available. She then has started enquiring about me with suspiciousness and she questioned me ‘whether I am attached to Red Cross and which country I have come from’. Everyone is enquiring about every other.
‘The Army men will come and enquire as to who are all the persons who have purchased books here. That is why she is enquiring about you’, said my friend.
Here in Sri Lanka every one is taken for a tiger. A Tamilian who dissents and speaks against Government is said to be a Tamil Tiger and if the person who opposes the Government happens to be a Sinhalese then he is said to a Sinhalese tiger.
‘Apt examples of persons who have been branded as Sinhalese Tigers are the journalists like Bashna Abivartne and Fredrica Jones who have escaped from threat of dire consequences to their life and person and they are living in self exile abroad for having criticised the fascist policies of the Government.That is why they see every one suspiciously and with mistrust.
‘Is not India friendly nation to Sri Lanka and whether those coming from there would be treated with respect ?’, I put the question to my friend.
‘Perhaps India may say that Sri Lanka is its friendly Nation. But the real position is not so. I tell you one example. Sri Lanka is going to create a hurdle in the importation of cars from the Indian manufacturers.
At present, the price of simple NANO car is 16 Lakhs in Sri Lankan Rupee. Do not gasp in surprise and gulp your saliva! In Sri Lanka tax on imported Indian cars is 200%.They are going to raise tax especially on Indian manufactured cars.
And on the contrary they are going to reduce the tax on imported cars which are manufactured in Japan. The Sri Lankan Government in itself has brought about a car manufacturing unit there.
As a consequence of which a heavy blow is going to land commercially on Indian car Manufacturers and on Indian Government. The friendly Sri Lanka is going to act in this way!’ said my friend’.
I am walking on the Colombo fort road. I have taken some photos. I tried to cross a moving bus. Its conductor ordered me to stop in Tamil. I blinked. ‘It is a city, here you should not take photos, foreigners and journalists alone are allowed to take photos in the areas where people congregate in large numbers’, said he.
I have been to the beach on the next day morning. On the way, there are the old parliament and the residence of Mahinda Rajapakshe.
On either side of the road there are sand bags piled in a stack to some height. I thought at first that these sand bags are meant as a precautionary steps against Tsunami. Later I learnt that these sand bags have been placed there preparatory to a car race.
Mahinda Rajapaksh’s son Namal Rajapakshe who has been awarded by India as the best International youth for the year 2012, has introduced the car race there and he is taking part in such car race.
I am walking on the Galle Road which is situate in High Security zone. Construction activities are going on in respect of Shrilinga star Hotel which is situate near the old parliament. The Hotel Shrilinga has Hong Kong background and the Hotel is about to be declared open in 2015 and it has a political importance, they say.
Generally speaking of Sri Lanka and more particularly of Colombo it is slowly falling into hands of China and coming under its control and under the garb of investments in trade and commerce India’s rival, the Octopus China is sending its tentacles deep into Sri Lanka.
The said Hotel is being constructed in an area of 10 acres and the land has been purchased from Sri Lanka in the year 2011. A Chinese business concern has invested 408 Million Dollars for constructing the said luxury hotel.
Likewise they are about to open a guest house which is constructed in an area of 115 acres in Ambanthotta and 120 Million Dollars have been allocated for it. These apart, the Sri Lankan Government has sold away a great expanse of its territorial waters to Chinese Government.
Chinese workers are alone engaged in all these construction activities. Sri Lankan labourers are not at all employed in such construction activities. Soon Sri Lanka will metamorphose into a little China. It is being said that China has made all arrangements in that regard.
Sri Lankan journalist who met me at the Colombo sea shore has informed me about it in detail. The war with the Tigers is over and done with in 2009. The plight of Tamils who having been bereft of their basic rights and orphaned as they are now , does not concern Sri Lanka or bothers it in any way.
But, within a few years there is going to be waged a great war. That will be a commercial war. There will not be any loss in human lives. Such a war cannot be prevented or averted and no body can prevent Sri Lanka from slipping away from the hands of Sinhalese themselves.
China standing on one side and America on the other are poised to cause destruction to Sri Lanka. Recently China has entered into as many as 16 commercial and business agreements with Sri Lanka.
Already China is engaged in the construction of Ambanthotta Air Port, Sea port, Norochcholai power station, Colombo port extension work, revamping works of railways.
When India objected to these jobs being given to China and when it came forward to undertake to do those jobs, some other works have been assigned and entrusted in its hands. Construction of Sampoor power station, Kanagesanthurai Port, Palali Air port and some development work in Northern Sri Lanka are some of the works done by India. Sri Lanka is fleecing money from China under the garb of doing development work at one time by feigning that it is aligned with India and then at another time fleecing money from India by showing that it is aligned with China.
At this juncture, America is trying hectically to enter into Sri Lanka.
To do oil exploration in Sri Lanka, America is going to enter into Sri Lanka soon. When that proposal or decision materialises then there would be direct confrontation between China and America. The very purport of bringing resolutions against Sri Lanka in United Nations Human Rights Council by America is to threaten Sri Lanka.
Although Sri Lanka would boast of having destroyed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and installed triumphal monuments it seems it has not yet realised of the immanent dangers that are to befall it.
‘As a consequence of entering into the aforesaid international contracts, a family very close to the Sri Lankan president has been given kick backs to a tune of many thousand Crores and without realising the danger they are nodding their head in assent and are assigning these works’ , said my friend. Whoever questions or criticises the Government is branded as enemy of the state and the Sri Lankan Government does not discriminate between the accusers and criticizers whether he is a Sinhalese or Tamil and Mawbima Janatha Party’s president Hemakumar Nanayakkara once said, ‘The State Terrorism which was let loose in the time of erstwhile President Premadasa is being let loose now in the present reign of President Rajapaskhe. Against the persons who criticise and mount pressure on the Government the State is terrorizing them and youths in the North and people in the Judiciary are subjected to state repression.
Premadasa who during his president ship used to say repeatedly that he did not know anything of the acts and allegations of State Terrorism. My friend said to himself concernedly ‘whether Rajapakshe himself is going to say the same thing?.
These are the realities of the present day Sri Lanka.
Everything is subservient to the State. The State is subservient to Rajapakshe and this is the only current policy of the Government.
Since the Judiciary is not found amenable to such a policy of the Government the Sri Lankan state has now resorted to acts of bringing the Judiciary under its control so as to make it to act at its beck and call. Rajapakshe is taking staunchest steps to bring Judiciary under the control of parliament.
If that happens then the Sri Lankan Judiciary will be vulnerable to undue influence and control by politicians.
While speaking about political influence on the Judiciary, the General Secretary of JVP Mr. Tilvin Silva has said the following, “ Sri Lankan people have not given 2/3rd majority to Rajapakshe in the parliament and the present Government has purchased 2/3rd majority by paying sumptuous price. And it is true that if the Government uses the Judiciary to suit its schemes and designs then the international community will not be a silent spectator”. This is an example to indicate that the Sinhalese people themselves are very angry with the Government.
On the next day morning, I started my journey by boarding a bus bound for Jaffna. As the midnight is fast approaching, I see the picture of Mahinda Rajapakshe depicted on a bill board on the way with a red turban draped about his neck which seemed to welcome me by saying ‘May you live long’!
