The leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) G G Ponnambalam warned that Sri Lanka’s continued denial of Tamil rights would bring about further instability and “compromise your own sovereignty,” as he called for the recognition of the Tamil nation and Tamil rights.
Addressing parliament last month, the lawmaker said that “Sri Lanka has used its strategic importance since 1948 to try and undermine its own population or a section of its own population, particularly the Tamil people”.
In the 1980s, Sri Lankan president Jayewardene’s decision “to lean towards the United States” led to “the point where India very openly took the side of the Tamil armed struggle and the Tamil struggle for their rights,” said Ponnambalam.
“Again, under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime, with this sort of drunkenness to somehow prevent Tamil rights from being recognized and refusing to come to some sort of political settlement with the Tamil national struggle, Sri Lanka chose to align itself with China,” he added. “Sri Lanka had to tilt towards China to such an extent that again, today, Sri Lanka has lost its ability to take decisions on its own. That is the reality… You tilted to such an extent to China in order to prevent Tamil rights, your own fellow citizen’s rights. You would rather not accept that Sri Lanka is big enough for all of us to live as equals.”
Ponnambalam went on to state,
“You would rather not accept that Sri Lanka is big enough for all of us to live as equals. Sri Lanka is not only the homeland of the Sinhala Buddhists, by all means. It must be the homeland of the Sinhala Buddhists, but it is also the homeland of the Tamils and the Muslims.”
“There are several nations in this country. Tamils are not opposed to the Sinhalese. We do not deny the Sinhala nationhood. We do not deny that Buddhism has to be protected. We do not deny any of that. But, why are you denying other identities? It is that drunkenness and that need to deny so heavily that Sri Lanka is a plurinational country that made you compromise your own sovereignty to a point that you have to sell strategic assets to China today.”
“Therefore, Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to state this. For as long as Sri Lanka refuses to recognize Tamil rights and Muslims rights and insists that this country only belongs to the Sinhala Buddhists, for as long as you keep going down that path, you will have to play the geopolitical game and the more you play that game, you must remember, we would once again go into a polarized world. You will create enemies and when you create enemies, those enemies will look for leverage.”
“Tamil rights might be denied by you today; you might even colonize the North-East to a point that the Tamil nation might become a non-entity - that is called genocide, by other means - but one thing is for sure, that the geopolitical contestations that you are playing with today will also make sure that you get destroyed. Mark my words, it will make sure that you get destroyed. The day you begin to shed communalism and racism, the day you begin to recognize that the Tamils are as much owners of this land in the North-East as you are in the rest of the country, the day you begin to cooperate is the day that you play this geopolitical game in a proper way where all of us can benefit and it does not, in fact, become a zerosum game. Even though we might be willing to cooperate with you, for as long as you refuse to, it is you who will also be defeated ultimately. Make no mistake. That is not something that you can ever run away from.”
“Today, you are antagonizing, even though you might not formally accept it, India; you are antagonizing the United States. I am not saying that you should not work with China. By all means you must, but if you compromise your strategic assets, if the relationship becomes one of a strategic nature, which China has made itself into, then you are in this dangerous game and will spiral to a zero-sum game.”
“And you might deny Tamil rights, but you will also deny your own citizens of the sovereignty that you so proudly say that you stand for.”