Michael Roberts
While mostly in agreement with the sharp critiques levelled at Shenail Waduge’s recent post,** my RESPONSE to Shenali Waduge’s strident claims is from a geo-political position in the clouds above.
A: Reading Sri Lanka’s geographical location at the tip of the Indian subcontinent and in a strategic spot in the Indian Ocean and its highways, it strikes me that any splitting of the island into separate nations would be seen as a danger and a disaster in the Indian Republic’s capital because it would encourage separatist moves in southern India.
B: The violent SL Tamil attempts to set up a separate state not only fostered severe internal conflicts within the Tamil populace, but also led to vicious assaults and actions (including mass evictions) against the Tamil-speaking Muslim Moor peoples resident in the north and east. These memories remain and constitute an unresolved problem.
The Tamil protests that their claim for a separate state & the LTTE uprising are/were only symptoms of a grave disease. We must go to the root causes and analyse. How many tributaries are flowing down from the hill country in all directions? The Mahaveli diversion goes right up to the Northern Province boundary and gets diverted. We, the Sinhala majority, must come out of the island mentality and get exposed to the world.
Michael, let me comment on your perceived “danger and a disaster in the Indian Republic’s capital because it would encourage separatist moves in southern India.” DMK’s separatist moves had been snuffed out in 1963, following the Indo-China war. As historian, I thought, you would be familiar with this aspect.
Also, why you conveniently ignore the separatist tendencies still prevailing in the East border (Nagaland), North border (Kashmir) and West border (Punjab Khalistan)?
As for your contention on ‘vicious assaults and actions (including mass evictions)’ on Tamil speaking Muslim Moors’, I’d state that it was NOT one-sided in the Eastern Province. Tamils were also targeted in large scale evacuation by Muslims, aided by SL state’s Muslim homeguards (Haven’t you heard of Jihad army?), IPKF army and STF gang. One shouldn’t cherry pick historical events to derive at conclusions which supports one’s favorite hobby horse.