Leave It in the Ground

A Message to Copenhagen From Big Mountain

By Brenda Norrell

(December 14, Washington, Sri Lanka Guardian) As snow covers the land on Black Mesa, Louise Benally, Navajo resisting relocation on Big Mountain, sends a message to Indigenous Peoples and world leaders gathered at the Climate Change Summit 2009 in Copenhagen. Speaking to global leaders, Benally urged world leaders to reconsider fossil fuel and coal mining. Pointing to the destruction by Peabody Coal on Black Mesa, Benally said the said the coal mining has depleted the groundwater and continues to result in suffering and disease for the people.

"Right now this whole planet is being contaminated by fossil fuel development," Benally said, urging alternative energy. "Reverse the greed for natural resources that are fossil fuels and apply pressure toward renewable energy," Benally said in her message to Copenhagen, broadcast live on Censored News Blog Radio. Peabody's coal mining continues to pollute the air, land and water, especially in cold weather when respiratory problems increase.

Benally said there is no such as clean energy from coal or uranium. There is no safe place to put nuclear waste and uranium mining has caused generations of death and disease for Navajos. "Leave it in the ground."

Benally described how global warming is obvious on Big Mountain. Last summer's squash were unable to cross pollinate and the corn popped inside its husk. "This indicates to me there is a big imbalance in nature and the heat is extreme." On Big Mountain, vegetation is now burnt by the sun.

While Navajos resisting relocation on Black Mesa continue to be abandoned by their own Navajo Nation government, Benally thanked Clan Dyken and friends for the Thanksgiving food boxes they brought to the people.

Benally described the ongoing harassment by Hopi BIA Rangers. Livestock are being confiscated and Navajos resisting relocation have to buy back their sheep, goats, cattle and horses. The suffering continues for the people who depend on their livestock for survival on Black Mesa, where it is a 130-mile drive to a grocery store.

Benally described her recent visit to the Arctic Circle. At Point Hope, the people were very concerned about the melting ice and the vanishing resources for survival.

With the Arctic facing more mining and drilling, Benally said corporations target Indian territories. "These people have no mercy and these people will not fix problems they create," she said of mining corporations.

Benally remembered the animals in the Arctic who will have no place to survive if their ice homeland melts.

Benally recently testified in Washington DC before the UN Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Raquel Rolnik. Benally described the desperate need for housing on Black Mesa, where people are unable to repair their homes under federal law. Apartheid has continued on Black Mesa since 1974, she said, referring to when Peabody Coal orchestrated a so-called land dispute in order to seize Black Mesa for coal mining. Benally encouraged Indigenous Peoples gathered in Copenhagen, the Indigenous Environmental Network, AIM West and other Native peoples, to continue to advocate for the people back home and a green future.

(Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter covering Indian country and Mexico for 27 years, serving as a staff reporter for Navajo Times, Lakota Journal and Indian Country Today. She served as a stringer for AP for five years and USA Today for seven years, covering the Navajo Nation and federal courts. She was censored and terminated by Indian Country Today in 2006 and created Censored News.)

-Sri Lanka Guardian Read more...

Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon

Havasupai Make a Stand

By Brenda Norrell

(September 07, Washington, Sri Lanka Guardian) Indigenous Havasupai people held a gathering to stop uranium mining in the Grand Canyon and protect ancestral Havasupai Territory, at the south rim of the Grand Canyon, in July of 2009. Indigenous peoples and activists came from the four directions, from Arizona Hopi land and from as far away as Hawaii, to participate with sacred songs and ceremonies.

For four days, Havasupai elders gathered on sacred Red Butte and listened to the legacy of uranium mining on Indian lands. They heard directly from the victims of the trail of death and cancer left behind by uranium mining corporations that were never held responsible on Pueblo and Navajo lands in the Southwest United States. They also listened to the promise of solidarity from the hundreds who gathered here to stand with them: Navajos from Big Mountain, Hualapai, Hopi, Kaibab Paiute, Paiute, Aztecs, and other American Indians from throughout the Americas.

The Havasupai Nation, with the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, and Grand Canyon Trust, sponsored the gathering to halt uranium mining on Red Butte, July 23-26, 2009. Supai elders gave testimony for official U.S. records in their Havasupai (Pai) language and in English. Supai traditional singers sang as a camp was established on this mesa where Toronto-based Denison Mines is threatening to reopen a uranium mine.

Recent congressional legislation protects the Grand Canyon from new mining claims, but does not deter mining under existing claims held by Denison and others. When the price of uranium increased in recent years and new interest in nuclear power grew, mining claims exploded in Arizona, even in the pristine region of the Grand Canyon. Supai Waters, Havasupai Keeper of the Water Songs, said his people are the Guardians of the Grand Canyon. He said uranium mining here is not just a threat to the Colorado River and tourists who come to see the Eighth Wonder of the World, but to Supai drinking water, underground aquifers, and drinking water in Southwest cities.

Speaking of the Supai responsibility to protect the land, water, and air here from the poisons of mining, Supai Waters said, "If we do let this happen, we would be the murderers of the world. We cannot let that happen." He said that protection of the Grand Canyon also affects the weather patterns and climate of the earth.

"My people have lived in the canyon since time immemorial. The canyons contain power points and vortexes. If there is tampering or pillaging, the earth will not be the same. There are places where we guard. These sacred places have to do with the weather, the wind, the sun, the celestial movements. That is why we are here protecting it," Supai Waters said.

Matthew Putesoy, vice chairman of the Havasupai Nation, said the Grand Canyon is a national treasure, inviting 5 million people every year to explore and be inspired by its beauty. "To the Havasuw 'Baaja, who have lived in the region for many hundreds of years, it is sacred. As the 'guardians of the Grand Canyon,' we strenuously object to mining for uranium here. It is a threat to the health of our environment and tribe, our tourism-based economy, and our religion."

Putesoy thanked Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar for announcing a two-year moratorium on new mining claims in the 1 million acres of lands around Grand Canyon National Park. However, Putesoy said existing claims, such as those pursued by Canadian-based Denison Mines Corp., still threaten the animals, air, drinking water, and people of the region. Denison, which has staked 110 claims around the Grand Canyon, is seeking groundwater-aquifer permits that would allow it to reopen the Canyon Mine, near Red Butte, as well as two other mining sites, Putesoy said.

"Here, mining could poison the aquifer, which extends for 5,000 square miles under the Coconino Plateau, and serves as drinking water for our tribe and neighboring communities. As I told Congress recently, if our water were polluted, we could not relocate to Phoenix or someplace else and still survive as the Havasupai Tribe. We are the Grand Canyon.

"Most importantly, Red Butte, where Denison Mines intends to reopen a mine, is a traditional site sacred to the Havasuw 'Baaja. Located in the Kaibab National Forest, Red Butte is know n as Wii'i Gdwiisa, meaning 'clenched-fist mountain'."

Putesoy, quoting longtime Havasupai leader Rex Tilousi, said, "'Red Butte is the lungs of our Grandmother Canyon.' My people have used these traditional Havasupai religious areas for centuries. Instead of allowing the destruction of our national treasure, we are asking the federal government to work with the Havasupai Tribe to protect Red Butte and all of the lands on and around the Grand Canyon from further mining activities. This natural wonder is irreplaceable and demands our shared action and protection for those living now, and those yet to be born," Putesoy said.

Pueblo and Navajo Uranium Victims Panel

Pueblos and Navajos gave oral testimonies during the Uranium Victims Panel. Introducing the panel, Carletta Tilousi, Havasupai, said, "When I heard their stories, it changed my life forever." Tilousi said the people will stand united to fight for sacred places, water, land, air, and people.

Manuel Pino, Acoma Pueblo, said his people have lived with a 50-year legacy of uranium mining, living in the heart of the Grants uranium belt in northwest New Mexico. There were numerous uranium mines, and the Jackpile Mine, in neighboring Laguna Pueblo, was the largest ore producer in the United States.

Laguna Pueblo housed the Jackpile Mine for 30 years. The mine was located only 2,000 feet from the Laguna village of Paguate and 24 million tons of ore were mined. Over 90% of the ore went to one source: the U. S. Department of Defense for weapons of mass destruction.

"Not only were we tearing up the earth, but the ore was going to weapons that the United States now has stockpiled all over the world and have not been decommissioned or taken care of," Pino said during the panel. One of the heroes of this movement honored was Dorothy Purley of Paguate village in Laguna Pueblo, an ore truck driver at Jackpile Mine and cancer victim who became a founder of the current Native American movement against uranium mining. Pino said Purley was a victim of lymphoma and passed to the Spirit World in the year 2000, just months after receiving the international Nuclear Free Future Award. She was an inspiration to the Native American movement that now battles uranium mining and educates others.

Pino praised the efforts of Phil Harrison, Navajo from Red Valley, who served on the panel at the Supai gathering. Harrison was instrumental in the congressional passage of the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which compensates victims of the nuclear fuel chain, mainly uranium workers, atomic veterans, and those living downwind from atomic text sites.

Today, Harrison helps Navajo and Pueblo victims file claims and serves as a Navajo councilman. Harrison said his father died at 45 from lung cancer and many of his other family members died. For 30 years Harrison has fought this battle. He said uranium mining brought no benefits to the Navajo Nation. Harrison questioned where the promised high s chools and parks are.

"What do we have? We have lung cancer, various illnesses, and birth defects." There is also leukemia and kidney failure. In the hard-hit communities of Cove and Red Valley in the Four Corners region of the Navajo Nation, he said Navajos stopped farming because they feared the radioactive contamination flowing down the mountain with the streams.

Harrison said the companies got off free and were never held responsible because the companies mined the uranium for the U.S. government. He said attempts to file suit against the corporation were met with the response that the uranium was being mined for the U.S. government and nothing could be done. Harrison said that meanwhile the radioactive waste from the nuclear industry winds up back on Indian lands. He said while Native Americans live with the radioactivity, cancer, and death, the corporate owners of mines live in the clean cities, free from contamination.

Larry King, Navajo panelist from the Eastern Navajo Dine' Against Uranium Mining, recently helped organize a 30-year commemoration of the devastating Church Rock, NM spill, whose victims were Navajos. Pino said the Church Rock spill on July 16, 1979, was the largest amount of radiation emitted at one time in the history of the nuclear fuel chain in the United States. Now, 30 years after this nuclear catastrophe, the federal government still has not restored this area where Navajos make their homes, Pino said.

Pino spoke of the Navajo and Pueblo mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, uncles, and aunts who have died or who are now dying of cancer. "It is not a happy story," Pino said. "We are here to stop this nuclear nightmare. As Indigenous Peoples, we are the last ones to be served." Today, there are 550 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation that have not been cleaned up. "We are a low priority when it comes to the federal government cleaning up these nuclear catastrophes."

Pino said this would never happen if radioactive tailings were strewn in the nearby cities of Albuquerque, Phoenix, or Flagstaff. "Because we are indigenous people, still traditional based and advocating our traditional based-knowledge, we are sometimes considered obstacles, because of our traditional world view to protect Mother Earth."

Carletta Garcia, daughter of Dorothy Purley, told the gathering that she grew up in Paguate, home of the world's largest open-pit uranium mine. She grew up with the deafening sounds and jolts of the constant blasts to loosen the ore. It shook the whole mesa and the radioactive dust would be sprinkled on the eating tables. "We ate it with our lunch."

Garcia said in 1975 her mother began driving an ore truck. The only safety equipment was a safety hat, goggles, and a flashlight. The workers were never told of the dangers of uranium. The tribe thought the mine would bring revenues and wealth. It brought wealth and death. Lagunas did not realize what would happen 30 years later. Garcia's moth er was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993. "We cried, I hugged my mother, I told my mother we are not going to let this take over us, we are going to fight."

"My mother was a real trooper." But her mom also began realizing that other Pueblo people were dying all around her. Her relatives were dying. It was stomach cancer, leukemia, childhood leukemia, and other cancers. Garcia remembered the first day her mother began losing her hair. She took off her red scarf. "Her hair began fluttering with the wind. We cried."

Still, her mother traveled and fought the battle to halt uranium mining and educate other Native Americans. Then one day, Garcia said, "She said it was time to go." Garcia's husband, who grew up in the village, was also diagnosed with a rare skin cancer. Her husband died in 1995, twelve days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was 50 years old. Now, Garcia is a widow, and her health is beginning to fail; she said, "I am afraid for my children, I am afraid for your children. We don't need this uranium."

"All of these children here are so precious. I keep watching the children and hoping they will never get sick and never face what I had to, and hoping you young ladies will never be widowed," Garcia told the gathering.

"In Numbers, There is Strength"

During the panel, Larry King, Navajo from Church Rock, NM, told the gathering how he worked for the United Nuclear Corporation from 1975 to 1983 as a n underground mine surveyor. King said he has lived all his life in Church Rock and still raises his cattle on the land where he grew up. Now, a community activist, he said Navajos in the communities of Church Rock, Pinedale, Coyote Canyon, and Iyanbito, NM, have suffered greatly from uranium mining.

At Church Rock, the break in the dam at the tailings pond was the largest uranium spill from the United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) tailing pond, with 94 million gallons of contaminated water flooding into the Puerco wash (arroyo or stream), which wraps around his grazing area, and flows through Navajo communities, before it meets up with the Little Colorado River.

UNC installed pumps at the operation and for more than 20 years, from the 1960s through the 1980s, the contaminated underground water was pumped into four ponds. Those ponds were unlined and unprotected against seepage, King said.

"This water was eventually released into several unnamed washes, which meet up with the Puerco wash. So even prior to the UNC spill of July 16, 1979, there was already untreated water being released into the Puerco wash for more than 20 years."

"Every time you walked up to the wash, you could smell the real bad smell that used to emit from the wash and the yellowish slime that would collect along the stream bed." Today, the uranium contamination has seeped deeper into the ground, a fact that is revealed when Navajos install water lines for their homes. King smelle d the stench when his water line was dug and saw the yellowish color.

"Our community continues to suffer from the mining operations." There are 20 un-reclaimed uranium mines in his community. He said the uranium was used for weapons of mass destruction. Navajos knew they lived in a contaminated community, but in recent years the extent of the serious contamination of the water, land, and air has become obvious. The mining companies in the Church Rock, NM region included Phillips Petroleum Company, UNC, and Hydro Resources Corp. (HRC). HRC, which left behind a waste pile, now has a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to mine uranium there again. The targeted land borders the Navajo Nation land where uranium mining is now halted, but the mining could poison the aquifer and destroy the water supply of Navajos. Navajos at ENDAUM are now fighting HRC's plan to mine.

King said Navajos were never told of the dangers of exposure to uranium or the health effects in years to come. He said many of his coworkers died from cancer. "As an underground worker, the only safety equipment we were given were hard hats and rubber boots, nothing else."

The workers were never told that breathing the dust and drinking the water exposed them to radiation, he related. In the mines, there were downpours underground of contaminated waters. They were never told that eating their lunches underground would contaminate them. King said UNC was able to appear in compliance when OSHA (U. S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration) inspectors came because the company was informed in advance and knew the inspectors were coming. Suddenly, ventilation fans were rerouted and barricades would go up. OSHA would give a passing grade, but the next day it would be business as usual in the tunnels, where there was no ventilation.

King, like other Navajos, is now suffering from asthma, respiratory problems, and arthritis. He is fighting Hydro Resources Corporation's new plan for in situ uranium mining. King said Navajos have already been warned about Hyrdo Resources' false promises by victims in Texas and elsewhere. "We need to make a stand and say, 'No more.' We have to think about our future and our water."

In situ uranium mining uses injection wells, which inject chemicals and make the ore into a liquid. Then centrifugal force in the production well brings the ore to the surface. Pino said the process is a great threat to the water of the Grand Canyon, where the aquifers are like underground rivers. In situ uranium mining could poison the entire watershed.

Dennis Banks: Solidarity

During the gathering, Dennis Banks, Ojibwe from Minnesota and cofounder of the American Indian Movement, opened his talk with these words, "We are all Havasupai when it comes to this struggle.

"Whatever our roots are, whenever there is oppression, whenever people are being hurt, whenever there are mining companies that are destroying our land, we have to stand up," Banks said.

Banks said Native people are born into struggle. "It will never go away." Banks urged everyone in the struggle to give it their all, since the mining companies are ready to seize the land and water. "They don't want part of our land—they want all of the land."

Banks said his own Ojibwe Council is trying to negotiate away land to a corporation for millions of dollars. But the grassroots people are saying no. "Not one more inch, not one more acre, not one more tree, not one more blade of grass are we going to give up for these people exploiting our land."

Banks warned that companies tear away at the culture, which is "the very fabric of who we are." He said Indian people must never forget that they were once hunted down like dogs and chased down by men on horseback. The language, too, should be held sacred; the traditional languages stolen from so many when Indian children were ripped from their parents and put in boarding schools. Banks said acre after acre of fertile land has been destroyed and Indian people are sick and tired of these mining companies. At Red Butte in Havasupai Territory, he said the fragrant sage growing wild here would be replaced with the "stench of mining" if any corporation were allowed to mine.

Louise Benally and her brother John Benally came from their home in Big Mountain, to show their support for the resistance to the uranium mine. The Benallys have spent their lives in the resis tance to the relocation of Navajos in Arizona. They came with the message of solidarity of struggle.

During two days of meetings, following two days of ceremonies, Roland Manakaja said the Havasupai are not only battling the desecration of uranium mining, but they are also battling the desecration of another point considered part of the sacred geography—the San Francisco Peaks. There, developers have announced a plan to make snow out of sewage water for tourism at the Snowbowl ski resort. If this happens, Manajaka affirmed, the Snowbowl will be known as "the toilet bowl," and the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Grand Canyon, will become known as the "Eighth Blunder of the World."

"Make no mistake, mining company," he said. "We will be there in your face every day!"

Tiny Hanna, Supai elder, told of the time when Havasupai were at home in the canyon, before it was claimed as the Eighth Wonder of the World. It was a time when Supai grew their crops below the mesa of Red Butte, in the canyon, before tourists from around the world began pouring in. Seated around the dinner tables, Supai elders told of their lives now in the canyon, southwest of here in the Grand Canyon at Supai, accessible only by foot, mule, or helicopter from the rim above.

New Ways to Get the Word Out

During the gathering, Hopi, Navajo, Yavapai, Aztecs, and other traditional singers shared their songs with the Supai. The sounds of traditional Birdsongs filled20the four days, along with the modern sounds of some of the best Native American singers in the music industry: Keith Secola, Casper and the 602 Band, Burning Sky performing with John Densmore of the Doors, Clarence Clearwater, Summit Dub Squad, and others, shared reggae, folk, and hip hop.

Earthcycles grassroots radio, broadcast for four days, all day each day, live on the Internet globally, and portions of the days were broadcast locally on the FM radio. The testimony of the elders was recorded for hearings and Congress, with the audios preserved in public files and now available for listening at www.earthcycles.net.

Govinda Dalton has a passion for grassroots radio and believes in providing a vehicle for the voices of the people. He drove in from California in his bus, equipped with solar power and a satellite. The solar panels provided electricity for the gathering, including powering the sound system, and the satellite provided Internet service for broadcasting.

Earlier, Earthcycles broadcast live for five months across America on the Longest Walk in 2008 and at the Indigenous Border Summits of the Americas in 2006 and 2007 in Arizona. Dalton views grassroots radio as a means of social change and a mechanism for a new evolving consciousness for humanity. He said it is essential to air the voices of the people since the media is heavily controlled and censored.

Speaking of the corporations who have contaminated this regio n for decades, Pino said, "Why would they want to mine uranium in one of the natural wonders of the world like the Grand Canyon? If they will mine uranium here, they will mine uranium anywhere. They have no heart, they have no soul."

Brenda Norrell is a freelance writer and Americas Program border analyst, www.americaspolicy.org. Her blog can be found at http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/.
-Sri Lanka Guardian Read more...

The British demarcation of Tamil Homeland

Towards a Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Sri Lanka - Part 4
________________

By Arular Arudpragasam

(August 18, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) The British inheritance of the Dutch possessions of Ceylon which was mainly an incident of political exigencies that took place in Europe and the transfer of power was more of a political process than military conquest. In the beginning the English, like the Dutch before them, adopted a friendly attitude to the Kandyan Kingdom. The military operation of the British forces to take over the Dutch possessions of the North East started on the 18th August 1795 by taking Trincomalee, followed by Batticaloa, Point Pedro, Jaffna and Mannar, and was complete by the end of the year.

The initial administration of the maritime areas by the officials from Madras administration, marred by administrative ignominy and corruption, soon brought the Maritime areas into a state of revolt.

The Madras administration came to an end and the Maritime areas became a crown colony to be ruled from London in 1802 and a Governor was appointed by the British Crown. The Governor reverted to the system adopted by the Dutch which was closely aligned to the native authority structures and divisions of earlier times.

The maritime divisions now called collectorates as in India, were divided into Colombo. Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Magampattu, Chilow, Batticoloa, Trincomalee, Vanni, Jaffna and Mannar.

Soon a slow evolutionary programme was set in motion based on the ingenuity of the British officers who took great interest in local conditions.

Subsequently collectorates were abolished, and were divided into 13 Provinces including those of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Mannar.

The Formation of the Five Cardinal Provinces During the Early British period.

Since the decision of the British to fuse the political divisions of the Island into a unitary state under the British Crown, the British colonial rulers have attempted to recognise the existence of the earlier political divisions in various ways. The recognition and accommodation of the existing political divisions has remained important in determining the unit of administration at lower levels since such divisions are distinguished by factors of uniformity that permits rationalisation and effectiveness in government.

The British, since the initial failure in 1803, succeeded in conquering the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815, after which the whole island was reorganised into territorial, administrative and Judicial divisions merging earlier divisions and the five cardinal Provinces were established through the Proclamation of 30thSeptember 1833.It is well apparent from the proclamation that the new territorial divisions of the five cardinal provinces come about by the merger of already existing political divisions.

In constituting the five provinces, the breakdown of the Kandyan Kingdom came up along the lines of principalities that existed earlier known as Kandyan Provinces whose union was the Kandyan Kingdom.

When the proclamation regarding the establishment of the five provinces came up in 1833, the British have gained sufficient knowledge of the rights and claims of the Kandyan Kingdom as well as other political divisions that existed through the length and breadth of the country. The provinces did not come into existence by arbitrary drawing any line or territory. Though administrative considerations were an important factor, the provinces came about by effecting mergers of existing divisions of principalities and these were not arbitrary demarcation of areas made from the consideration of physical conveniences of the British officers as it is often claimed.

From Five to Nine

To put an end to the claims and confusion caused by the Tamil Sinhala divide that had now set in after the Kandyan conspiracy and with a view of further rationalising the boundaries of the division of five provinces so as to improve the effectiveness of the administration of the island , the British embarked on a laborious survey and investigation which took considerable energy of the British administration before arriving at the present boundaries of the nine provinces. The first change to the boundaries came about in 1837, and the final change in 1910 giving rise to the nine provinces from the original five. The extensive stretch of boundaries were surveyed and claims gone through in detail as regards the historical boundaries. The period between 1880 and 1910 saw the survey of every piece of boundary of the 9 provinces.

The cardinal five provinces were Western, Central, Northern, Southern and Eastern.

The Western province as constituted in 1833 comprised the Maritime portion of what is now known as North Western Province, the Districts of Ratnapura and Kegalle as well as what is now the Western Province. The Central Province included its present area and a major part of the present province of Uva.

The Northern Province included Nuwarakalaviya, now part of the North Central Province and the areas included within the present Northern Province.

The Southern Province included its present area, the Alupotha District of Badulla comprising Wellassa and Kandukara.

The Eastern Province included Thambankaduwa of the present North Central Province and Bintenne of the Badulla District and all land which presently consist the Eastern Province. In 1837, Bintenne which was part of the Eastern province was ceded to the Badulla District in the Central Province.

In 1845, the 6th province, the North Western, with the capital at Puttalam was constituted by annexations from the Western and Central Provinces.

In 1873, a 7th province was created in the name of North Central Province by bringing together Nuwarakalaviya of the Northern Province and Thambankaduwa of the Eastern Province and Demala Hatpattu of the North Western Province. In 1875, Demala Hatpattu was reattached to the North Western Province.

In 1886, the 8th Province Uva was formed by the detaching of the District of Badulla from the Central Province.

In 1889, the Districts of Kegalle and Ratnapura were severed from the Western Province and the Province of Sabragamuwa was constituted.

In 1870, the capital of the Eastern Province was transferred from Trincomalee to Batticaloa. The Vavuniya District was constituted in 1881 as a separate assistant agency and subsequently absorbed as such in 1900 and remained part of Mullaitivu District.

This evolution was made necessary not only from the standpoint of administrative convenience and effectiveness, but there were serious political compulsions in creating nine provinces. This was effected by merging and demerging traditional divisions where the natural alliance stood.

Though substantial areas which considered Tamil arrears were given away as Sinhalese provinces to meet the Sinhalese claims, to a very great extent, wherever these boundaries were distinguishable, the boundaries of the provinces went along the boundaries of the earlier principalities.

It is noteworthy that there were serious differences within the Sinhala provinces with regard to historical and traditional claims. The Provincial boundaries came about after consideration of various representations made regarding the historical boundaries.


Map 1 The boundaries of the initial cardinal five Provinces. Land Maps and Surveys, R.L. Brohier .

Map 2 The boundaries of the nine provinces and the year when the survey of the boundary was completed. Land Maps and Surveys, R.L. Brohier .

The extent to which the British went in delimiting the boundaries when disputes arose is seen in the Bell’s memorandum on the dispute over Thammankaduwa -

Boundary between Tamankaduwa and the Eastern Province.

The "bone of contention" is the Egoda Pattuwa, or the Eastern- most division of Tamankaduwa on the further side (Egoda) of the Mahaveliganga. The question has been argued;

(i) historically, (ii) ethnologically, (iii) on administrative grounds (Fiscal, judicial and Registration), (iv) from the point of the desire and convenience of the inhabitants; and (v) as regards "natural boundary."

Serious differences arose regarding the claims over Adams Peak between Sabragamuwa and the Central Province. After protracted deliberations, the territory was left with Sabragamuwa and the boundary was accordingly proclaimed in 1915.

When going through these records, one understands the difficulties and virtual impossibility of merging the Sinhalese provinces, such is the nature of claims and antagonism that existed on either sides of the boundaries.

The Territory and Boundaries of the North East Tamil Provinces

However, the British, after conceding all claims of the Sinhalese from the earlier Northern and Eastern Provinces determined the boundary the two provinces as Tamil Provinces after conceding all Sinhalese claims. The Sinhalese claims and the British accommodation were very much conditioned by the perception all Kandyan territories were Sinhalese which it was not, as well as there was a Sinhala Buddhist Aryan civilisation in Sri Lanka which was a product of realm of imagination but purported to be real. This imagination was the foundation of establishment of North Central province. Much of the territories that were ceded from the cardinal North East as well as the creation of North Western Provinces included substantial territories that were well recognised Tamil and Veddha territories that have stood there for many centuries.

The name Tamil Province being used to indicate the two provinces of the North and East are apparent from the paragraph found in the Ceylon Manuel :-

With the other Tamil Province (Northern Province), the Eastern Province shares the honour of being the richest timber producing portion of the Island.- Ceylon Manuel 1910: Page 313.

The recognition that the territory of these two provinces were Tamil is further evident from the paragraph of the Ceylon Manuel :

The Sinhalese & the Tamil districts - Ceylon is also divided into the Sinhalese district and the Tamil district. The former comprises the Western, Southern, Central, North-Western and North Central Provinces, with Uva and Sabragamuwa and the latter the Northern and Eastern Provinces. In the former the Sinhalese race and language predominate, and in the latter the Tamil. - Ceylon Manual - 1908 - Page 34.

The initial territorial boundaries of the Northern and Eastern provinces were determined by considering Jaffna and Trincomalee as their administrative capitals, taking into consideration the influence that these two centres of economic and political activity had over the respective areas.

Map 3 Territory ceded to the Sinhalese between 1833 up to 1910.

Trincomalee was part of the Kingdom of Jaffna and at times an independent principality. Its importance as a centre of religious and political activity emanates from the existence of the natural harbour as well as the great religious centre of Koneswaram. The villages in the Trincomalee District are linked to the temple of Koneswaram through their servitude.

Writing on the history of the present boundaries of the Northern and Eastern Provinces; Mr. R.L. Brohier states:

(c) The Northern Province

This Province included according to the 1833 Proclamation, the maritime territory known as the "Provinces" of Jaffna, Mannar, the Vanni and the Island including Delft, together with the Kandyan territory known originally as the Disavany of Nuwarakalaviya.

The Province assumed its present limits by the exclusion of Nuwarakalaviya in 1873. The survey of a section of the boundary, from the point on the coast near Kokkilai, the South of Mullaithivu, was undertaken in 1890. The survey was to fulfil two objects: the first, to settle a disputed forest tract of the boundary, and the second, to obtain more information than was at the time available regarding the surrounding of the famous abandoned tank called Padavia, the bund of which had for long been accepted as a feature which fell on the Province boundary.

When the survey was eventually plotted, and the boundary was defined, Padavia tank was found actually to be several miles south of the proclaimed limits of the Province.

The Province boundary West of the North road was not taken up for survey until 1897. The section from Boragasveva which crossed the Mannar-Madavachiya road near the 44th mile post and contacts the Malvatu Oya, was surveyed by A.J. Whacker and the remaining section to the Moderagam Aru, by J.E.M. Ridout. The survey of the latter is supplemented by a specially well-documented report describing every feature along the boundary. The "historical boundary" between the Vanni and the Sinhalese territory lay in this belt of country. Consequently place, name and features acquired both a Sinhalese and a Tamil rendering. Ridout has entered both versions in his report, writing them in the respective vernacular scripts of which he seems to have had a good knowledge. This survey completed the definition of the boundary of the Northern Province.

(d) The Eastern Province

The Eastern Province consisted in 1833, of the maritime belt known as the "provinces" of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, together with the Kandyan territory called Tamankaduva and parts of the Bintanna extending South into what is today the Uva Province. The Uva Bintanna was transferred to the Central Province in 1837 and Tamankaduva was exercised and included in the North-Central Province in 1873. The province was consequently in its present form when Boundary Surveys were initiated in 1897 proved to be, in the words of the Surveyor General; "The most interesting of the Province Boundary Survey taken up." It followed the Yan Oya for a considerable distance.

Three years later another section starting from the point where the boundaries of three provinces meet at the Mahaveli Ganga, and terminating at the starting point of the section described earlier, was surveyed and defined. These two boundary surveys incidentally completed the definition of the boundaries of the North Central Province.

The survey and definition of the boundary abutting on the Disavany of Uva was done in 1894-96, and is discussed in the description of limits of the Province of Uva".

Though the British took the initiative to fuse the political divisions of the island into a unitary State, the British Colonial rulers attempted to placate the existence of the political divisions in various ways to reduce the tensions and apprehensions that arose in the process of assimilation. Competing claims for territory have existed not only between the two communities but also among the Sinhalese divisions from time immemorial.

However the boundary line that divides the Northern and Eastern Provinces in the Mullaitheevu do not represent any political divisions. The strip which has become weakened as a result of misappropriation of territorial area of Padavil Kulam to the North Central Province, do not have any serious difference or antagonism on either side of territory. If the division would have been carried out along any historical boundary it would have been the boundary between two principalities under the Padavil Kulam which do not justify a division between them.

Mullaitivu was part of the Trincomalee district during the earlier division of Eastern province as well as during the Dutch period. Trincomalee was part of Jaffna during earlier times. These principalities ruled by Vanniahs on either side of the boundaries have maintained close political, economic and religious relationship.

Territorial Misappropriation in need of Reconsideration: Padavil Kulam Thamban Kadavai and Gal Oya.

The failure of the British Administrators to reinstate the boundaries over the Padavil Kulam has caused immense difficulties to the Tamils. The argument whether Padaviya, as it is now called, was part of Jaffna or not, came up during the Dutch period. In deciding the territory between Kandyan Kingdom and Dutch, the Kandyan claim to Padavil Kulam was rejected. The Dutch who were now versed in the schemes of the Kandyan Kingdom called in the Chiefs of Jaffna.

Map 4. The Du Perron's Map of Ceylon A.D. 1798 showing Padavil Kulam and the adjoining principalities. The current boundary ( black line) showing the extended Sinhalese territory that now cuts the Padavil Kulam area as well as the division between the North East drawn without any basis and disregarding the traditional boundaries of Tamil principalities. Land Maps and Surveys. R.L. Brohier.

The Padavil Kulam bund which was a historical land mark in the southern boundary of the territories of the Kingdom of Jaffna was left as part of the Northern territory. The territory beyond, between the boundary of the Principality of Anuradhapuram including the catchment area of the Padavil Kulam Tank, was a well recognised Veddha Territory that can be seen in all the maps showing divisions of principalities.

As revealed in Du Peron’s map the boundaries of the various principalities under the Padavil Kulam such as Melpattu, Karikattumoolai, Thennamaravadi initiated and radiated from the bund of the Pathavil Kualm Tank. However the present boundary of the Northern Province cuts these principalities in half, violating the traditional norms and historical boundaries.

One has to look to reasons other than the petty claims of the Sinhalese, for British failing to reinstate the traditional boundary even after it was known that it has been misappropriated.

On the western side, the historical boundaries between Vanni and Sinhalese territory in reality went along the boundaries of Demala Hatpattuwa which is now in the North Central Province. However, this too was ignored and the boundary was made to start from Moderagam Aru.

Considerable debate and representations took place regarding Thamban Kadavai (Thamankaduwa) East which is also known as Egodapattu and was inhabited by Tamils and Veddahs from ancient times. According to the Portuguese, Thamban Kadavai was peopled by Tamils who were converted to Christianity. The historical boundaries went along the Mahaweli river.

Bell’s memorandum on Thammankaduwa reveals the issues that were considered in deciding the boundary between Eastern and North Western Province. The British have also adopted the straight line boundary separating Thamban Kadavai from the East, a principle not known in Sri Lanka, revealing the boundary as not the historical boundary of any principality or political division based on traditional boundaries.

One can clearly see that the British went out of the way in annexing these two areas of Padavil Kulam and Thamban Kadavai to the Sinhalese territories. Apart from the fact that they have attempted to please the majority Sinhalese in improperly annexing these areas from the North East Province, there is no doubt that the British have narrowed the linkage that existed between the districts of Trincomalee with Jaffna and Batticaloa as they had their own designs on Trincomalee.

Added to this is the refusal of the British to develop linkages through these land strips such as roads etc. that kept the Trincomalee district away from the Tamils of Jaffna and Batticaloa. It is also seen in shifting the capital of the Eastern Province from Trincomalee to Batticaloa in 1870.

There is also another reason why the British have gone out of the way in demarcating traditional Tamil areas as Kandyan and Sinhalese areas. That was the need to indemnify the appropriation of Kandyan Royal Lands after the expulsion of the Kandyan Royalty to Vellore in India and the banishment of Tamils from the Kandyan Kingdom, which was to be used for their plantation economy.



Map 5. The misappropriated areas of Padavil Kulam, Thamban Kadavai and Gal Oya.

Appropriation of such large tracts of land encompassing the North Central and North Western Provinces over which the Kandyan Kingdom had a feeble control for a short period also enabled the British to demarcate the Nuwra Eliya district as a area for the plantation Tamils on the hill country. This area was thick impregnable jungle during the time of Kandyan Kings which the British opened up for plantation with the help of up country Tamils. .

The Importance of names of villages

It is important to note that when the boundaries become untraceable, the principle that was adopted to mark the boundaries of the Tamil province was by identifying the Tamil names of villages. The boundaries were drawn leaving, on one side the Tamil villages and on the other side, the Sinhalese sounding village names which in most cases was Veddha villages. The middle path along which the boundary went was found by linking villages which had names in both languages where people were in some form of cultural, linguistic flux, subject to social, political and economic influences from both sides. Most of what was given away as Sinhalese areas was in fact Veddha territories.

The adoption of this principle is relevant even today when serious disputes have arisen with regard to claims of territories and an attempt is made to carve out more territory using the Sinhalese who have been recently settled.

The prevalence of this tradition of identifying whether a Village is Tamil or Sinhalese from the name also explains why the Sinhalese are so desperate to create Sinhalese sounding village names in the North East. Turning a Tamil village into a Sinhalese village can be carried out by two ways. Either the name came be twisted by the tail to make it sound Sinhalese name or are translated into Sinhalese.

The traditional right of the Tamil people over the North East emanates from the traditional right of the Tamil villages. These rights include their rights over seas, forests and water.

The customary rights of these villages have been in practice as long as these villages have been in existence and were recognised by the sovereign process.

The Veddha Territory of the East

Substantial territory of the Eastern Province known as Bintenna was ceded to the Sinhalese when the North Western Province and Uva Province were created. A part of the Veddha principalities of Wewagam Pattu and Bintenne Pattu were left with the Eastern Province. This was mainly due to the fact that the Veddahs who lived in these areas maintained close economic, cultural and religious relationships with the Tamil principalities and paid tributes to the chieftains of these principalities.

Today as a result of the Sinhalese schemes, the claims of the Veddhas of Bintenne whose territorial right over Bintenne was recognised during the Kandyan period, have completely disappeared. Only Sinhalese fugitives were banished to these areas during the Kandyan times.

Much of the area that has been developed under the Mahavali Project was the Veddhas principality of Bintenne. Considerable area of the Amparai district was Veddha territory which had close links to the Tamil principalities of the East.

The Veddhas of the Eastern Province have suffered considerably as a result of Sinhalese settlements and schemes.

The Veddas live off the Jungles like the fisherman live off the seas. The natural endowment of the jungle provide them with livelihood. The marauding Portuguese could hardly recognise them. The interior jungles kept them away from the Dutch and the British. But before the arrival of these interlopers, the Veddhas led a life as a recognised community. The Veddhas are not used to a settled cast based village life, as their migratory habit is very essential for their livelihood, without which their survival is not possible. The villages of the surrounding areas depend on the Veddhas for the cultivation of the jungle produce like hony and venison. Before the arrival of the Europeans there existed a very useful and complementary economic relationship between the Tamil principalities and the Veddha principalities.

Today the chauvinist schemes have completely swallowed up the Veddhas and their way of life and most of the Veddas have taken refuge in the Tamil villages of the East and have become Tamils and Tamil villages. Another section has also been assimilated as Sinhalese.

Commenting on the extent of the Vedda territory C.G.Seligmann who did extensive research about the Veddas during the early part of this century says;-

The Veddah country at the present day is limited to a roughly triangular tract lying between the eastern slopes of the central mountain massive and the sea. This area of about 2400 square miles is bounded on the west by the Mahaweli Ganga, from the point where, abandoning its eastern course through the mountains of the Central Province, the river sweeps northwards to the sea. A line from this great bend passing eastwards through Bibile village (on the Badulla - Batticaloa road) to the coast will define the southern limits of the Veddah country with sufficient accuracy, while its eastern limit is the coast.

So defined it includes the greater part of the Eastern Province, about a fifth of Uva and a small portion of that part of the North Central Province known as Tamankaduwa, and is traversed by a single high road capable of taking wheeled traffic. This runs from Badulla , the Capital of Uva, lying at the foot of the central mountain mass of the island, to the coast a few miles to the north of Batticaloa, the capital of the Eastern Province.

Here flows the Mahaweli Ganga, soon to be hidden in the great sea of forest-clad lowland stretching away to the north, from which rise Kogkalle and other hills, the traditional homes the Veddas, like rocky islands in the distance. To the east tower the Uva mountains, stretching onwards in a diminishingseries towards the uplands of Nilgala. In Bintenne, including in this term parts of both Uva and the Eastern Province, the jungle consists of a forest of great trees without much undergrowth, occasionally interrupted by open spaces, covered with coarse grass, which, however, does not grow much higher than the knee. These open patches are more numerous in the Eastern province than they are in Uva Bintenne (which is traversed by many small streams) and it is generally supposed that there are sites of ancient cultivation; there are comparatively few streams in this country though swamps and small water holes containing stagnant water are common.

Northward in Tamankaduwa (a division of the North Central Province) the great trees give place to poorer growth and scrubby jungle is found. On the east of the Badulla-Batticaloa road lie the Nilgala hills, the best of the Veddas domain and the most pleasing country in Ceylon. Here, broad valleys lie between jungle-clad ranges of much weathered gneiss, among whose rocky crags and rounded domes, bambara, the rock bee (Apis indica), builds its combs.

The coastal zone north of Batticaloa inhabited by the coast Veddas is flat and sandy, and the vegetation though dense is often less tall and less abundant than in other parts of the country.

Formally the Veddas country is known to have embraced the whole of the Uva, and much of the Central and North Central Provinces, while there is no reason to suppose that their territory did not extend beyond these limits. Indeed there is no reasonable doubt that the Veddas are identical with the "Yakkas" of the Mahavamsa and other native chronicles.
-The Veddas. C.G.Sligmann & Brenda Z.Seligmann, page 1-4

The Veddhas have become part of the Tamil villages and have risen to important positions among the Tamil community. Lately the Veddha youth have joined the ranks of Tamil militant groups, were members of the North East Provincial council and have risen to become ministers in the government. These youths were often cause for the raid into Sinhalese settlements in the East.

The Sinhalese Sounding Villages of the East

Historically, there are five types of villages that have Sinhalese sounding names in the East.

(1) The Veddah Villages that are part of the erstwhile Batticaloa district mainly from the Bintenne Pattu and Wewagam Pattu;

(2) The Sinhalese refugees villages before the Kandyan period;

(3) The Sinhalese village settlements that came along the pathway that was allowed to the Kandyan Kingdom by the Tamil principalities by granting the right of passage to the East coast;

(4) The villages of the Kandyan Sinhalese seeking refuge from the British take-over and repression against the Kandyan rebellions;

(5) The villages that came about as a result of State aided colonisation in recent times.

These are the so called Sinhala settlements in the Eastern Province which have become the basis for carving out new territory by the Sinhalese today. The Sinhalese settlements were known by the name Kudies, a peculiar clan tradion of Batticaloa and were an integral part of the socio political structures of the Tamil principalities.

The Political Status of Muslim Villages in the East.

From very early times the dominant Mukkuvas of Batticaloa and the Muslims seems to have a peculiar relationship between them. The early settlements of the Muslims appear through the Muslims marrying Tamil women in the East. Due to the persecution of the Muslims by the Portuguese and Dutch in cinnamon producing areas of the South, and decline of Muslims influence in trade and commerce, a considerable number of Muslim villages appeared in the East. Added to this was the Kandyan habit of not allowing the Muslim to take refuge in the Kandyan territory but allowing them to go through the Kandyan Kingdom and settle in villages of the East through the back door some of which had become depopulated as a result of Portuguese and Dutch repressive measures.



Map 6. Ethno territorial divisions that appeared in the Ceylon Manuel 1905 and Census of 1911.

There is no history of any Muslim principality or a territory over which the Muslim held political authority in the East or the North. In subsequent days during the Dutch period smaller divisions such as Sammanthurai Pattu were recognised as Muslim divisions.

When the territorial demarcation of various communities appeared along with the division of principal nationalities during the early part of this century the maps do not show any Muslim division in the East. The fact that these maps appear in many official documents shows that this demarcation was not an accidental event. A territory is demarcated and shown as Muslim territory only in the Puttalam district of North Western Province even though the Muslim population is shown to be only thirty percent during the beginning of the last centaury. This has come down to 12 percent due to Sinhalese schemes in recent times.

This territorial demarcation of the Muslims in the North Western Province has come about as a result of the existence of historical rights of the Muslim community for the territory and it is not affected whether the Muslims are a minority there or few in number. This territorial division of Puttalam as a Muslims territory has come into existence, like the Mukkuva settlement of Batticaloa, during the period of Kingdom of Jaffna as Portuguese have fought wars with he Muslim chieftains of the area. What remains as territorial demarcation of Muslims which was once ceded a Muslim territory by the Tamils should remain as such and there is no need to reclaim it as Tamil area.

Kudy names of Muslims

The British civil Servant Mr Hugh Neville Esq. who took great pains to record the socio political conditions of the East between 1860 and 1880 records nearly 21 Muslim Kudy (clan) in the Batticaloa District.

The Muslims taking the name Kudy or Clan is indicative of them accepting the political norms that were prevalent in the Tamil principalities of the East where they have come to take refuge and settle down. Added to this is the cultural and literary interaction that has existed as a result of sharing a common heritage of language and culture.

The Muslims and Tamils have lived side by side and shared the economic life of the East. Only after the advent of divisive democratic politics and rise of fundamentalism in Muslim political life there arose discord among the Tamil and Muslim communities in the East. The intricate relationship the Eastern Muslims have developed with the Tamils starting from inter marriage has led to a peculiar love hate relationship between the two communities and their demographic spread in the east is such making any demarcation between them either territorial or otherwise is impossible.

Though Muslim politicians in Colombo who have little understanding of the situation in the East or Jaffna Tamils who have difficulty in comprehending this intricate relationship have done little to help in reducing the tensions that prevail between the two communities. However, the problem of congestion that is found in the East can only be solved through expanding the space and opportunities though the permanent merger of the North East.

From very early times the dominant Mukkuvas of Batticaloa and the Muslims seems to have a peculiar relationship between them. The early settlements of the Muslims appear through the Muslims marrying Tamil women in the East. Due to the persecution of the Muslims by the Portuguese and Dutch in cinnamon producing areas of the South, and decline of Muslims influence in trade and commerce, a considerable number of Muslim villages appeared in the East. Added to this was the Kandyan habit of not allowing the Muslim to take refuge in the Kandyan territory but allowing them to go through the Kandyan Kingdom and settle in villages of the East through the back door which had become depopulated as a result of Portuguese and Dutch repressive measures.

Muslims and Tamils of the East are divided only by religion. Ethnologically. linguistically, economically , territorially and culturally they are so integrated, a separation is virtually impossible.

The Territorial Divisions of Principal Nationalities

The further recognition of the merged Northeast as Tamil Homeland appears in the Ceylon Manual as division of the Principal Nationalities showing the three territorial divisions of the Principal Nationalities namely those of Kandyan Sinhalese, Low Country Sinhalese and Tamils.

Map 7. The Territorial Division of Principal Nationalities, Tamil. Kandyan and Low Country Sinhalese as it appeared in the official documents of Government of Ceylon during early part of last century. .

The basic difference in the classification of a community as a nationality rather than a minority lies in the existence of a history of having lived on a defined territory and held power distinguished by its congruent authority structures apart from the common identity factors such as language, religion, culture and race. A minority community, though is distinguished by a common language, religion and culture, for its survival, it depends on another community as a dependent community. Minorities are not distinguished by a history of their territory and political authority structures and a history of self government.

In identifying the principal nationalities and minorities during the early days of the formation of the Ceylonese nation, which can be seen in the demarcation of territories of principal nationalities, and ethnological maps. all important historical and political considerations were taken into account.

The Durbars of Native Chiefs

Further recognition by the British that these two provinces of North and East constituted one political unit of Tamil Homeland, came in the Durbar held for the Provinces of North East together during the early period of this century.

The Governors address to the Legislature on the August 26 1908 had this vital reference indicating the political foundations of the Durbars.

There is one other point I should like you to discuss before you dissolve, as to the desirability and as to the advisability of carrying out an idea which has occurred to me - an idea which, I believe is not new in this Colony, although it has not been carried into effect for a large number of years. That is, to have before long a Durbar of Native Chiefs - of the principal ruling headmen of the country in order to discuss with them subjects of interest to ourselves and Government and also of interest to themselves, and to learn personally from them their ideas in a Durbar.

Time did not admit of the subject being discussed at the Conference, but after consultation by letter with the Government Agents I eventually decided hold three Durbars, one at Kandy for Kandyans, one at Colombo for Low-country Sinhalese, and later on one probably at Jaffna for Tamil headman. This course is, I think, preferable to holding one big durbar, which , though it would undoubtedly be more picturesque and imposing, would probably result in less practical discussion, while it would simultaneously denude all parts of the Island of important links in the chain of supervision for several days at a time.

The first two durbars have already been held, the first at Kandy in May and the second at Colombo in July. At both meetings the Government Agents of the Provinces concerned attended, in addition to representative chiefs from each Province. Among the subjects discussed at Kandy, where the experiment proved especially successful, were the illicit sale of arrack and toddy Sinhalese labour for estates, stray cattle on roads, and protection of fresh water fish. Of these, the first three were also discussed in Colombo. At the latter durbar I also sought to ascertain the views of the Mudaliyars as to whether there was any feasible plan for mitigating the perennial evils arising from the infinitesimal subdivision of undivided shares in land.The subject was freely discussed and various suggestions made, but I regret to say that the only result was to prove beyond doubt that the matter is not ripe for any action at present"

The merger of the provinces into territories of principal nationalities has come to signify the existence of uniformity of authority structures provided by the kingdoms of Jaffna, Kotte and Kandy. The most striking anomaly in the whole exercise is the bifurcation of the North Western Province into Kandyan and Low Country areas and the respective chiefs taking part in the Durbar of Kandyan Chiefs and the Durbar of the Low Country Chiefs. (See map 6).

The Kandyan claims to a part of the North Western Province which was not ceded to the Dutch was upheld and duly this territory was made part of the Kandyan territory and the Native Chiefs of these areas were allowed to take part in the Kandyan Durbar.

It is also evident from this event that if the Kandyans would have had any claim to any part of Eastern Province this too would have come up for deliberation and these areas too would have been brought under the Kandyan territory. However such a demand was non existent during this period or anytime after since the demarcation of the present Northern and Eastern provinces.

The Durbars were held between 1908 and 1912. The Durbars of North East were held In Colombo in 1908, Jaffna in 1910 and Batticaloa in 1912.

The Durbars of the territory of the Low Country Sinhalese were held in Colombo and the Durbars of the Kandyan Territory were held in Kandy.

The Council of Durbars seems to have come to an end with the departure of Governor McCallum (1907- 1913), who has exhibited unprecedented vision not found in any other British Governor in initiating and conducting the Durbars. The trend set by Governor McCallum was not pursued by the Tamil leadership which was more interested in promoting the idea of Ceylonese Nation and impressing the white man with their silver tongued oratory and losing sight of their own people and their homeland. The event was soon overshadowed by the chase of the wild goose in the search of a stable constitution which has not come to an end even after 100 years.

The realistic foundation laid by Governor McCullum came to be buried in the over growth of the cancerous chauvinist agenda to which the Sinhala race came to be hooked on by the scheming politicians and the duly recorded and printed Proceedings of the Durbars have disappeared even from the Archives of Sri Lanka.

Providing for political realities

The divisions and demarcation that came up during the British period that lasted for nearly 150 years of their rule are important and has to be adhered to if Sri Lanka is to be a peaceful nation. These are not arbitrary divisions as some claim. In spite of their short comings, a united Sri Lanka we know is an achievement of the British. Since the Proclamation of 1833 bringing to existence the united Sri Lanka, there has bee an relentless pursuit by the British authorities, spanning for over 120 years, to harmoniously integrate, Sri Lanka and to leave behind a peaceful united Sri Lanka.

Any united rule of the earlier period belongs to the Kingdom of Jaffna that lasted from the 13th century to the 16th century. The rule of Kingdom of Jaffna was based on highly autonomous principalities. To discard the contours of divisions and anchor Sri Lanka on the foundation of historical claims based on an illusionary Sinhala Buddhist state that never existed in history will eventually bring about collapse to the Sri Lankan state due to its unrealistic and unsustainable nature.

The contradiction between a plural unitary state and a Sinhala only Buddhist state where minorities will be subject to discrimination has become the major contradiction of the political history of independent Sri Lanka. These two verities of state are not one and the same and no one will succeed in selling the two ideas as combatable. Whereas as freedom of Sri Lanka is the freedom of all her citizens, the freedom of the Sinhalese is the freedom from other communities especially the Tamils so as to be in an exclusive Sinhala Buddhist state. It is this freedom Sinhalese have sought in the united Sri Lanka.

The nature of the fascist totalitarian grip of chauvinist state over the Sinhala mindset is such, it has become impossible for them to engage honestly with the Tamil leadership or consider the accommodation of historical and self rule rights of Tamil people over their own territory. ‘Everything is ours’ has been the arrogant contention throughout. To achieve this Sinhalese would like to see all Tamils killed or banished from Sri Lanka. The desire of the Tamil people to share Sri Lanka has been turned into a cause of their annihilation.

Sometimes in the past the Sinhalese leaders expressed their chauvinist mission by declaring that there is no ethnic problem. This has now been extended as there are no minorities in Sri Lanka by which they express their desire that they would like to be all alone in Sri Lanka and would like to see all the Tamils killed off or banished from Sri Lanka. It is an existentialist issue. Can the Sinhala race idea survive outside the unifying mission of Sinhala chauvinism by which it hopes to take possession of all of Sri Lanka? If the answer is no, then separation is the rational solution for the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka.

The opportunity which parliamentary democracy provided for usurpation and pursuance of the chauvinist ideal at the expense and the abuse of the unitary pluralist ideal brought ruin to the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. The exclusion of Tamils from the state process by the implementation of the Sinhala Only Act, the Sinhalese communal violence against the innocent Tamils or the conspiracy to drive them out of the country by occupying an oppressing the Tamil areas has been important features of Sinhala chauvinist agenda. Through the exclusion from development and dishonouring agreements that would uphold the rights of Tamil people Bt advancing a genocidal programme against the Tamils in the name of fighting terrorism, the Sinhalese have taken the Chauvinist agenda to its near conclusion.

Finding peace in Sri Lanka has become compounded by issues of international concerns and schemes which cannot be entirely avoided. The past history of colonialism teaches, the holding on to the absolute ideal of taking possession of all of Sri Lanka, which violates the rights perception of vast chunks of Sri Lankan people and failure to resolve the ethnic problem will continue to be a cause for the gradual decline of an independent sovereign nation and its eventual demise. Due to her strategic placement, Sri Lanka will always be converted by powerful external forces. Past experience should be a lesson for choosing to exploit these external forces for local political gain and play into their schemes.

Buddhism in Sri Lanka went into decline and ruin many times in the history. It declined with the decline of Anuradhapura civilisation in the first century which was mainly due to natural calamities. It revived again in Anuradhapura after a few centuries to decline again by the 6th century, it saw another decline until its revival in Polonaruwa in the 13th century. This again saw the end with the overrunning of Polonaruwa by Kalinga Mahan and Hinduism rose to pre-eminence with emergence of Kingdom of Jaffna. The last of banishment of Buddhism came in the period of Sitahwaka Rajasinga I in the 17th century after which Buddhism completely disappeared from the scene. Every time Buddhism went into ruin, as in India, the main cause of its decline and demise has been its own unsustainability and its rejection by the people and the burden it imposes on the state.

The decline of Hinduism, which is the historical religion of Sri Lanka, came not from Buddhism but from the Portuguese who first arrived in Sri Lanka in 1515 and established a firm foothold by 1530 and who like the Buddhism of today, dreamt of converting the whole of Sri Lanka into a Catholic country. The Portuguese systematically went about destroying all the well endowed Hindu temples that stood throughout the length and breadth of the country and converting the people into Catholicism. This continued until their expulsion from the island in 1658. The Dutch who followed them were mainly concerned with banishing the Portuguese and the ‘popish gang’ as they called the catholic priests, and prosecuted the Catholics, though did not forcefully engage in conversions to their religion of Calvinist Christianity, during which time Hinduism recovered but never to its original glory.

Though King Kirthsiri reintroduced the Siamese sects in middle of 18th century, the opportunity for its further revival came in the 19th and 20th century after the success of Kandyan Conspiracy in 1815, which ended the Hindu sovereignty of Sri Lanka when the opportunity for the revival of Yellow Buddhism ( Siamese sects among the higher casts and Burmese sects among the lower casts ) became possible. This has been taken to new height in the independent Sri Lanka. The revival of new variant Buddhism called ‘Sinhala Buddhism’ which never existed in history, intensely linking the two ideas with a claim for the whole of Sri Lanka based on the prevalence of Buddhist ruins and imaginative historical misrepresentation in a way that never existed in Sri Lanka .

However, Hinduism never in history of Sri Lanka went into ruin and both version of Hinduism, the agamic Brahminical version as well as non Brahminical Dravidian version have remained vibrant throughout the history of Sri Lanka. Both Tamil people and Sinhalese people have followed the two versions without any difficulty and they continue to do so to this day. Almost all the sovereigns of Sri Lanka has been Hindus, though occasionally they supported Buddhism. Very often they took stern action against Buddhist sects when their actions became detrimental to the exercise of sovereignty over Sri Lanka and their institutions unsustainable.

As Tamil people in the North East were not under any Sinhalese rule at any time in history except in the world of historical concoction and misrepresentation and the period before the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century, the whole of Sri Lanka has been under the Tamil rule for nearly three century, the reassertion of Tamil sovereignty was a historical imperative in an independent Sri Lanka. This became more important in the face of the emergence of chauvinist Sinhala Buddhist national ethos as a unifying ideology of the Sinhala race in the independent Sri Lanka. Without providing for the freedom and opportunity for the articulation of the free will of two people within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, a peaceful, sustainable Sri Lanka that can progress without further facing disintegration and subjugation is not possible.

Te resurgence of the Sinhala nation at the expense of a plural Sri Lankan with the opportunity for majoritarian usurpation was predetermined. The opportunity for it revival was enabled by the democratic process with all its flimsy projections into the historical past and racial reorientation as Aryan Sinhala Buddhist, that saw the antagonism between the two communities multiply many fold in the independent Sri Lanka, in a way that never existed earlier periods. As the state process and the constitution remains subordinated the chauvinist agenda that threatens the very existences of the Tamils, providing for the self preservation and national well being and coexistence of the Tamil nationhood and Sinhala nationhood within one nation has become inescapable reality.

The idea of plural society and the Sinhala Buddhist state are incompatible. The projection and promotion of a Sinhala Buddhist state has been a national obsession of the Sinhala race in the independent Sri Lanka. Starting from individual Sinhalese to institutions and all the Sinhalese political parties subscribe to it and are under the siege of the chauvinist mission. The mindset disposition and orientation of the Sinhala race and its institutions cannot be dismantled in favour of the plural idea any more. Attempts to coax the plural unitary state over Sinhala Buddhist unitary state is akin to pulling up the trousers on shit. Without trying to deceive and dupe ourselves, what has to be faced is the reality that the unitary state in Sri Lanka will be a Sinhala chauvinist state and a solution has to be found for the unity of Sri Lanka outsider the idea of Sinhala chauvinist unitary state.

Though united Sri Lanka remains a rational idea raising emotions in the minds of perhaps everyone, let these passions and emotions not blind the contours of reality and rationality. Global barbarism and yellow imperialism would like to see Sri Lanka turned into its outpost and would like to occupy Trincomalee at the earliest. But the way forward for this is not through killing off all the Tamils or agreeing to mutilate the Tamil homeland to be on the good books of Sinhala chauvinists in order to take possession of Trincomalee. The genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka which started with the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century, has continued to this day. Only a political arrangement that enables the Tamil people to care for themselves can end this.

Tamil people have come a long way on a path of separation as the Sinhalese have been going down the chauvinist path. The tragedy of current situation is both sides cannot engage themselves in a solution that can provide for the coexistence of both people within one nation. In a way both sides are sick. Such is the nature of entrenchment of the situation, a workable and realistic formation will remain a bitter medicine for both sides at least for sometime and it may not emerge from within Search for a home grown solution without a will to break out of the chauvinist mould and overcome its dictates will a recipe for fooling around. This makes it imperative substantial external support is necessary to see Sri Lanka stabilised on the three platforms, that of Sinhala Ratta, Tamileelam and centrally binding common platform of a united Sri Lanka, which currently does not exist, so that she can emerge as a united prosperous and sustainable nation.

To achieve this, the Sinhala nation should become more realistic give up its illegal claim over the territory of Tamil homeland by ending the exhibition of perverted patriotism and culture of usurpation, limit the agenda of Sinhala Buddhist State to the seven provinces of Sinhala Ratta, adopt a resolution that they will seek a solution to the national problem based on the principle, ‘Tamileelam belongs to Tamil people, Sinhala Ratta belongs to Sinhala people and Sri Lanka belongs to all Sri Lankans’ assure the rights of minorities within each statehood and begin the process of reconciliation by dissolving the Eastern Provincial Council, which is a farce and handing over Tamil homeland to Tamil majority rule through the establishment of an interim administrative council that is representative of the people of the North East without delay and pursue the process of devolution of power in a dignified and honourable manner.

Related Link: Dutch and the Tamil Homeland (Part O3)

The author is the Director General of the programme Global Sustainability Initiative and he can reached through email by: globsustain@live.co.uk

-Sri Lanka Guardian Read more...

With the Supai in the language of love

By Brenda Norrell

(July 29, Red Butte, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sometimes it is hard to put into words the beauty, grace and love. That is the case of being with the Supai elders from the canyon as we gathered at sacred Red Butte. The gathering was to oppose uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, but it was so much more. The people spoke with the language of love and carried out their ceremonies with the assurance of things that are to come that are now unseen.

In my 27 years as a journalist, I've covered about every kind of event, but never one like this. A heartfelt thank you to the Supai elders for sharing their lives with all of us. We broadcast live Thursday through Sunday on www.earthcycles.net and most of the time on the FM radio as well at the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Govinda brought the solar powered bus/radio station in from northern California.
Thank you to all of those who came, Louise Benally from Big Mountain, Anna Rondon, Navajo, Petuche Gilbert and Manny Pino from Acoma/Laguna Pueblos, Dennis Banks and the Hopi, Yavapai, Paiute, Zuni, Apache, Lakota, Tohono O'odham and all the others from so many nations. Some came from as far away as Hawaii, others brought their cultures from the south, like the Azteca dancers from Tonatierra. They all assured the Supai that they are read to stand with them and fight. The cooks in the camp prepared some of the best food ever. Thank you to the Havasupai Tribe for providing so much for everyone.

In this pristine and beautiful setting, we listened to Keith Secola, Casper and many other musicians, who as always sang with their hearts. There were dancers and singers from Hopi, Navajo and many other Indian Nations. Many thanks as well to the Supai leaders and organizers for this event, and the Sierra Club for helping bring Earthcycles radio.

The audio archives can be listened to at www.earthcycles.net (click Havasupai and scroll far down the page to listen or download.) Radio stations are encouraged to rebroadcast anywhere in the world. Many audios are already available in the permanent file and others will be soon be posted.

Thank you to all the organizers, the Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust and everyone who supported this event.

Special thanks to all those who labor and sacrifice in this cause of love to protect Mother Earth and the Grandmother Canyon from disease and destruction.
Photos and brief videos at Censored News: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Thanks to the UN OBSERVER & International Report at the Hague http://www.unobserver.com/ for spreading the word.

RED BUTTE: LUNGS OF GRANDMOTHER CANYON
by Matthew Putesoy
Vice Chairman Havasupai Tribe

The Grand Canyon is a national treasure, inviting 5 million people every year to explore and be inspired by its beauty. To the Havasuw 'Baaja, who have lived in the region for many hundreds of years, it is sacred. As the "guardians of the Grand Canyon," we strenuously object to mining for uranium here. It is a threat to the health of our environment and tribe, our tourism-based economy, and our religion.
Thank you, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, for announcing a two-year moratorium on new mining claims in the 1 million acres of lands around Grand Canyon National Park. But existing claims, such as those pursued by Canadian-based Denison Mines Corp., still threaten the animals, air, drinking water and people of this region.Denison, which has staked 110 claims around the Grand Canyon, is seeking groundwater-aquifer permits that would allow it to reopen the Canyon Mine, near Red Butte on the South Rim, as well as two other mining sites.

Uranium mining has been associated with contamination of ground or surface water.
Here, mining could poison the aquifer, which extends for 5,000 square miles under the Coconino Plateau, and serves as drinking water for our tribe and neighboring communities.

As I told Congress recently, if our water were polluted, we could not relocate to Phoenix or someplace else and still survive as the Havasupai Tribe. We are the Grand Canyon. Thanks to Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva for introducing the Grand Canyon Watersheds Protection Act.

We urge U.S. Sen. John McCain to introduce it in the Senate.

Additionally, air and water pollution and the development associated with mining operations could deter tourists, the lifeblood of our economy. Visitors come here to hike, camp, relax at our lodge and enjoy the Havasu, Mooney, Beaver, and Navajo falls, which are among the best-loved and most-photographed waterfalls on Mother Earth.

Most importantly, Red Butte, where Denison Mines intends to reopen a mine, is a traditional site sacred to the Havasuw 'Baaja. Located in the Kaibab National Forest, Red Butte is known as Wii'i Gdwiisa, meaning "clenched-fist mountain." As longtime Havasupai leader Rex Tilousi says, "Red Butte is the lungs of our Grandmother Canyon."

My people have used these traditional Havasupai religious areas for centuries. Instead of allowing the destruction of our national treasure, we are asking the federal government to work with Havasupai Tribe to protect Red Butte and all of the lands on and around the Grand Canyon from further mining activities. This natural wonder is irreplaceable and demands our shared action and protection for those living now, and those yet to be born.

For more information go online to: http://www.arizona.sierra/club.org/
Matthew Putesoy is vice chairman of the Havasupai Tribe.
-Sri Lanka Guardian Read more...

Censorship and the dying rags

By Brenda Norrell

(March 27, Washignton, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is becoming popular to moan the death of US newspapers. Americans like to be romantic, nostalgic, when things pass on. But the truth is newspapers are not just dying because of the Internet, shrinking advertising and dismal profits.

US newspapers are dying because they became the prostitutes of commercialism and stopped telling the truth. Many people stopped buying newspapers because they became the rags of a corrupt industry. Too many journalists swallowed their pride, ignored their integrity and did what they had to do to pay the mortgage. They followed the marching orders of editors and publishers who forgot, or never knew, what journalism was intended to do.

Television news became entertainment, a boiling sea of lies and half truths. It focuses on a few murders to hypnotize Americans. It sensationalizes and fuels the inherent racism. When it comes to promoting the war and warmongering corporations, no one does it better than television news, regurgitating US press releases as if those were truth.

For readers of newspapers, it became too hard to tell the wag-the-dog spin of the press releases of politicians and corporations from real news and real truth. For corporations and politicians, it became too easy to take their lush profits and threaten a lawsuit whenever the real truth was exposed. The corporations and politicians learned how to kill off the good journalists, whether it was with the threat of a million dollar lawsuit, a bloody murder on the backroads or streets of Mexico or an explosion in Iraq. Other reporters, along with the activists who revealed the truths, were quietly "suicided" or overdosed with drugs.

How many newspapers today have articles on the Serb death squad leader who was a top CIA agent, or the chemical spraying planned for the border? (Seize the land and kill off anyone and anything that remains seems to be the agenda.) How many newspapers are pointing the finger at the US for the drug war in Mexico? The people in the US are buying the drugs and creating the demand for the drugs. It is the US that is supplying the weapons, running those south. The US even trained the most notorious killers in the drug war, the Zetas, as US special forces. The Zetas later broke away and became the most savage killers.

How many newspapers reported that the FBI had to halt a sting in the Tucson area because so many US soldiers in the Army, Marines, Airforce and National Guard were smuggling cocaine from the border at Nogales, Arizona, to Phoenix?

How many newspapers are investigating the number of assaults, rapes and murders by US Border Agents that are concealed? Where are undercover reports of US Border Agents smuggling drugs from the southern border, with their "spotters" positioned along the route. Where are the reports of the people killed by US agents, including Tohono O'odham? Where are the reports in print newspapers from Mexico on how US dollars, disguised as fighting the drug war, are really used to silence activists, such as in Guerrero? (Articles are at Narco News online: www.narconews.com )

Where are the news reports on what the Zapatistas really represent? The Zapatistas stood up for integrity, honor, Indigenous autonomy and self-rule, not for the trendy fashions of tourists and boring intellectuals. How many print newspapers publish the issues exposed by the Mohawk editors, Mohawk grandmothers, at Mohawk Nation News http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

Are any newspapers analyzing the number of power plants, coal mines, uranium mines, oil and gas wells, nuclear dumps planned for American Indian lands and borderlands? How many reporters are following the pro-nuclear trend, disguised as green, with no thought of where to put all the nuclear waste. Perhaps they could dump it in the EPA officials' backyards or have a toxic dump in DC, between the Capitol and the White House. Are any reporters investigating the global scam and fiction of carbon credits, along with the role of the World Bank and the corporate seizures of Indigenous lands in the carbon trading scam?

Are any US newspapers analyzing why the US refuses to support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Have any US newspapers published those rights, including the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their own aboriginal territories? How many print newspapers have exposed the violations of human rights of imprisoned migrants, including women and children, at private US prisons.

Which newspapers are publishing the rights of the Western Shoshone in the Treaty of Ruby Valley and how the New York Times was pimping for Barrick Gold in Nevada. The federal court and New York Times agree that the heart of Western Shoshone territory, and the region of sacred Mount Tenabo, should be cored out for a gold mine. It is a gold mine that President Bush, Sr., made possible in Nevada.

Are news reporters exposing the murders and rapes of villagers by Barrick Gold around the world? Have print newspapers reported on the assassinations of Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala who oppose mining or the cancer clusters around mines in the First Nations territories in Canada? Are reporters exposing the mass graves of Indian children in church residential schools in Canada or how the US plans to exploit the natural resources of First Nations?

Are there any US newspapers pointing out the fact that most elected Native American tribal councils are "puppets" of the US government, designed and created by the US to sign leases to exploit Native American land, air, water and resources?

Which newspapers are holding Bush and Cheney responsible for torture and war crimes? Which newspapers are holding Israel responsible for the use of white phosphorus? Who is demanding that leaders responsible for violating the Geneva Conventions be held responsible? Who is exposing the hazards of depleted uranium? (See articles online at http://www.unobserver.com/)

Journalism will survive, but let's celebrate the death of the whore houses, those shacks that still have the word "news" swagging on their storefronts.

-Sri Lanka Guardian

Read more...