In the responses there is misundertandings and error. The disenfranchisement of the migrant Indian labour in the estates was done as they were a migrant population, many returning to India after a period of 5 years stay. It was done with the support of the Tamil MPs and Ministers in parliamant.

There was no ethnic angle in it, rather it was done for the national interest of Ceylon. However, the any staged repatriation was not attempted during the early years when such opportunity existed, as the UNPs dominion government was still holding onto the tailcoats and wanted to look after the remaining British real estate interests. However, India itself became a republic as early as Jan 1950, whilst Ceylon took another 22 years to do so. Transient Indian labour in Ceylon was a fact of life and the British Raj’s railways were geared for it, and tickets could be purchased at any railway station in Ceylon right upto Madras.

It appears Sirimavo and Felix’s ‘haal polla’ had actually been more favourable to the the north and the east, as Nathan was allowed to transport 10 measures of rice. My Sinhalese friends in the south have been hounded off CTB buses and trains and locked up for merely carrying over two measures of rice. But, for this blatant discrimination, there was no ‘ethnic discrimination’ they could yell around the world for.

Siva also has graduated from a Sri Jayawardenapura University and come up in life away from the north and the east claimed Tamil homeland, and says that Ireland is prospering.

The Ireland he has referred to as prospering is the Irish Republic, and not the Northern Ireland that was in conflict.
The case in Ireland is one of unification not a separatist struggle in any case. This is still apart of the UK. The Irish paramilitairies (mostly Roman Catholics) were fighting to unify their island whose north -east was grabbed by the pro – British when the Irish Free State was created in 1922.

Irish Republic has been a peaceful but a relatively poor sovereign country, independent of Britain like any other European nation.

Those Sinhala hardliners and Tamil apologist, should understand this.

” This was the last chance we missed in settling the ethnic problem”

this statement reminds Tarzi Vitharchi’s statement

” The terror and the hate that the people of Ceylon experienced in May and June 1958 were the outcome of that fundamental error. What are we left with? A nation in ruins, some grim lessons which we cannot afford to forget and a momentous question: Have the Sinhalese and the Tamils reached the parting of the ways?”

I am sure since those days , we have seen some of the worst state sponsored terror further reinforcing Vithachi’s statement. Have we seen a change in the Sinhala thinking …a big NO, except a few of us, who have seen and lived through all the sad history…what can I say ?. The world is changing fast around us ..but Appe Lanka is frozen in MahaVamsha time.

I think it is like pouring the water on the outside of the bottle to keep going on about Federalism…that time has gone…Tamils need their own country to show the world what they are capable..maybe then Sinhalas will open their eyes and change their politics from corruption and plundering while the vast mass of the Sinhalese are living in abject poverty.

Sirimavo won the election due to her promise of two measures of free rice to all. An english daily’s banner headline was “Election in the Cooking Pot”. Almost all housewives thus voted for her – and all of us,including the affluent, got two free measures of rice, each and every week !

CBK won the election mostly due to tamil voters who implicitly beleived her promise to settle the language/ethnic problem with justice to all. They also had admired her husband who visited jaffna and emphathized with tamils and their problems.

During the October 1982 presidential election, the vote of the contender Hector Kobbekaduwa was impersonated – a “first” in any presidential election anywhere !

JRJ who ruled for twelve years with a five sixth majority
never wanted to give equality to tamils. He quoted the Dhammapada “Hatred ceases not by hatred but only through love” at the post WWII San Fancisco conference of Allied Powers, but did not have the same sentiments towards the tamils. He waited and watched his own party supporters – as he admitted later at the meeting in the RKM Hall, Wellawatte – carry out the planned pogrom, for six days during July 1973, before declaring an emergency. His minister Lalith Athulathmudali came on television and told the tamils “not to lose heart” ! – not a word of sympathy/apology.

The Millenium City “debacle” was carried out by Udugampola all by himself – and the Commission findings were ‘buried’ – so, why blame Ranil.

Again CBK abolished Ranil’s regime by takeover of vital ministries but lost to Mahinda – now Ranil says this was due to a secret pact between MR & Prabakaran !

It is too much to hope that Mahinda Rajapakse will take an “apolitical” stand on the national conflict.

Meanwhile, State Terrorism goes on the the northeast – yesterday a former jaffna university student leader was called out of his home in jaffna and shot dead, during curfew hours, by motorbike riders in civvies who could be none other than military/paramilitary personnel.

Look at the settlements in Sri Lanka and the enthnicity of these settlements.

What is happening is an outright arrogance, outside intereference with a hidden agenda.

Savimon, don`t talk of denial rights to Indian Tamils. It was the responsibility of the British to recognise them as British Nationals Overseas.

Forget all the pacts upto now, tamils are living among the majority community after the 1983 communal violence in the south. They do not care for these pacts and all they need is to live, work, study and own property. They are not denied.

You come with some eloquent english but totally missing the present climate. It is the tigers who do not want peace or to live in peace and those overseas diaspora who are funding them in order for them get recognition and make a living.

A Catholic

Problem in Sri Lanka is not ethnic. The entire problem can be divided in to two. Main one is the Power hungry politicians who never wanted to solve problems of the people who elected them. They only tried to empower themselves and all promises made before coming in to power are forgotten once get elected. That is the only reason why even Sinhalese just like Tamils had to take arms against the governments in 1971 and 1988.

However Sinhalese uprising in the south was stopped by bloody crackdown by the government with all blessings of the International Community. But Tamil uprising was in fact sponsored and labeled as an Ethnic problem. It should be noted that Tamil uprising has now matured into an Terrorist problem as they has no clear demand of empowering people. Instead now every demand they made are clearly intend to make a separate state while suppressing all norms of Democracy, Justice and Pluralism.

If Sri Lanka has to progress as a country it has no option but to first destroy terrorism and restore democracy in entire country then provide a viable solution acceptable to all ethnic groups based on Equality. In other wards, Sri Lankan should be made a country that treats every one as equal irrespective of Social, Economic, Political or Religious status.