Kathiravan, 21 February 2011 in http://colombotelegraph.com/2012/02/21/victor-rajakulendrans-tirade-at-the-exposure-of-pirapaharans-admiration-for-hitler/ ***
As a self claimed ‘Historian’, will Michael Roberts agree that the Tamil people of the island of Sri Lanka have a distinct language, culture, value system, customs different to those of the Sinhal people and that they have livend in the island as a sovereign people governing a defined terriory in the north-east of the island prior to the advent of cololonial powers? Will he agree that the Tamil people in Sri Lanka have been subject to violations of their individual and collective rights including thieir right to life by a permanent Sinhala majority since the island gained independence in 1948 from the British? Will he agree that Tamils were subject brutal violence by Sinhala goon squads and the almost all Sinhala security forces even before the rise of Tamil militancy? Will he agree that the successive Sinhala dominated governments in Sri Lanka signed pacts with Tamil leaders to gain political power and dishonour the pacts immediately after?
Will Michael Robers agree that the Sinhala political establishment in Sri Lanka has systematically denied the Tamil people of all civilised avenues to raise their grievance – democratic, constitutional, judicial and non-violet that led to the rise of armed resistance in self-defence and restore their statehood based on their right to self-determination? Will he agree that at every parliamentary elections held in the north-east of the island since 1977, the Tamil people in spite of coming under the occupation of an ‘alien’ army had demonstrated their political will to exercise their right to self-determination. Leaving a side the LTTE which is an inevitable outcome of the brutal nation oppression of the Tamil people, will Michael Roberts agree that the Tamil people as any people aroung the globe are entitled to have a political view about their identity and their right to decide their political, cultural, economical and social future? The Tamil Diaspora at large have been and will continue to speak up for the legitimate rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and will be willing to invest in the Tamil homeland only when it regains the political authority to decide its own destiny.
Why should the ‘Historians’simply keep barking about terrorism and LTTE when the fundamental causes of the long drawn out conflict in Sri Lanka is yet to be resolved, the rule of law and true democracy for all in the island to be restored, alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are independently investigated (not by the alleged perpetrators) and genuine reconciliation achieved to bring peace to the island and the region?
I only hope that as a ‘Historian’ you will positively contribute towards achieving this nobel 9sic) goal.
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Courtesy of Colombo Telegraph: This is among the vibrant comments sparked by Michael Roberts: “Victor Rajakulendran’s Tirade at the Exposure of Pirapaharan’s Admiration for Hitler.” The latter cannot be comprehended without a reading of the folowing articles:
* Ganeshan Iyer: “Military Training in the German Nazi Mould amidst Internal Dissension in the early LTTE, late 1970s,” trans by Parames Blacker, in http://thuppahi. wordpress.com/2012/01/30/military-training-in-the-german-nazi-mould-amidst-internal-dissension-in-the-early-ltte-late-1970s/.
* Michael Roberts: “Inspirations: Hero Figures and Hitler in Young Pirapāharan’s Thinking,” inhttp://thuppahis.com/2012/02/13/inspirations-hero-figures-and-hitler-in-young-pirapaharans-thinking/
Few are those who believe in the existence of what I would like to call a post-war Sri Lankan identity. Indeed, most of us will identify themselves according to their ethnicity, some according to their religion, beliefs and aspirations and some according to their country of birth. Yet, the fact is that we do not belong to just one category or another. We are different from each other and at the same time we carry diversity within ourselves. Each of us is a unique combination of various identifications that are not equally significant to us. So how does one define the schizophrenic notion of identity? Continue reading 
