The failure of the Tamil ‘liberation’ movement is the failure to understand how the Tamil problem should be reviewed and tackled in today’s context. To me, the first issue is to understand if the Tamils consider their minority status a de facto reality. If they do, then they have to work within the limitations imposed by their minority status in society. This, they must understand in all its implications.

It is true that this nation has a majority Sinhalese population and minority Tamil, Muslim, and Burgher populations. These minorities are defined by their relatively smaller numbers in comparison to the majority; but this demographic factor should not pose any impediment to the concept of their equity placement vis-à-vis the people of Sri Lanka as defined in the law of the land guided primarily by the Constitution.

 Reconciliation is the need of the hour

This should be a time for reflection. The state, at great cost to life and property, has successfully put down Tamil terrorism. It is, however, time for the leadership to rethink the strategies that have been followed, during and after the war. At a time of violence damage to life and property will and did happen. Kith and kin disappeared but what is in contention is why no attempt is made to track down the victims of war in order to give redress to their relatives. Instead, if celebrations of the war victory continues and homage is only paid to the armed forces as war heroes without any strategy for reconciliation, discontent will prevail among the defeated.

To formulate strategies to overcome past problems would be one obvious way to resolve or perhaps narrow the divide that exists today in our society. At least it would serve as a demonstration of goodwill to a grieving population. It is true that the Tamil community was responsible for the outbreak of violence but it must be added that they were also acting under grave provocation. Bringing Sinhala-only legislation provoked the Tamils who had previously, on their own initiative, introduced Sinhala as a subject in the school curriculum.

Education is a subject close to the heart of the Tamils as their livelihood was dependent on securing government jobs. Other sources of earning income were limited in the North. Therefore, when the government introduced standardization it angered many who considered this an act of discrimination against them, adding fuel to the existing fire within the community.

No land, no jobs, no income.

Poverty levels have always been high but since the conflict many households have lost their male earning members; consequently these households are headed by women. There are many thousands of widows in the province; their husbands have perished in the war. Many of the lands as well as some lucrative businesses have been taken away from the residents, leaving them without recourse to their traditional sources of employment and income. True some lands have since been returned. But many languish without title to their previously owned property and this leads to much heartburn and resentment.

Jobs are not forthcoming in this atmosphere of negativity, and wealth creation in the Northern Province has reached an all time low, especially now with the COVID pandemic raging. Hitherto, the relief for the poor, especially those without security to offer lenders, has led to loans taken at extortionate interest. Microfinance has been tarnished as the worst among the loan sharks and branded an unsuitable source of relief to the needy. Some women approached an NGO and requested a minimal Rs. 5,000 to start a lunch delivery home industry and another indicated that if she had a sewing machine she could be self-sufficient. Unfortunately, that NGO had ceased to be in operation soon after and could not be of further assistance. With no hope for relief, the poor are left with no recourse.

This is one of the reasons why it is said that the Tamil leaders have let the people down. These leaders who have been elected in the hopes of offering avenues of assistance to their constituents, do not seem to have an agenda or a plan setting out methods of ameliorating the poor living conditions of the people. It is in this context that one despairs about funds granted to the chief minister to help the people of the North had been returned unused to the Treasury.

The politicians seem to be mostly fighting for power, ignoring the needs of the people whom they are expected to uplift by identifying needs by interaction with the needy and the grant of seed money to help start-up projects by the poor. Tamil leaders failed to perform this service, instead permitting the armed forces and commercial interests to occupy that space.

Credit was granted at offensively high interest rates which the recipients could not cope with and the people were in a worse plight than earlier. Consequently, there is an attack on micro financing as a poor relief enabling system. This reading is a result of the misunderstanding of micro -financing methodology.

Despite the multiple tragedies the Tamils are facing, the leadership continues in their one track pursuit of power and in the process endangering democracy within Tamil society. To stay in power the local leaders use a ‘divide and rule’ tactic not only among themselves but also within the TULF, their parent body. The Chief Minister of Jaffna has broken links with them and resorted to building his own base seeking to exclude the leaders who introduced him to the Northern Province. Whether this will enable the desired results or not, the future will unfold. But at the recent elections Tamil parties suffered losses to the benefit of the SLFP in what would have hitherto been a very hostile atmosphere.

There has been a significant impact by the introduction of military personnel to civilian positions both in the center and the provinces. Responsibility for this has to be cast on the political leadership that has fiddled while Rome burnt. Clearly, the Tamil and Sinhala politicians are not providing the necessary leadership vital in this context. Instead they are playing ‘cheap’ politics of invoking fear by making military appointments to certain positions previously occupied by civilian administrators who successfully discharged their responsibilities until the emasculation of democratic administrative systems. Or they are pitching one group against another causing greater turmoil among the people.

As a result of poor leadership and poor management of administrative affairs the rift in racial relations has surfaced again despite the example of the consequences of the LTTE’s war with the State. This time around it seems to be the minority Muslims who are at the receiving end.

The LTTE leadership was hostile to the Muslims living in the North for generations. Hostile being a rather harsh word to use, it may be better said that the Tamils did not engage with the Muslims culturally and there was a tendency by the upper caste Tamils to look upon them unfavorably. Could it have been due to the desire to be rid of the Muslims in order to make the peninsula a Tamil only place? This will remain a matter of conjecture for a long time.

In the meantime, the Sinhala majority with its penchant for getting rid of all minorities got into a tangle for a while with the Muslims until it exploded into the Easter Sunday bombings. Since then, there has been no open Sinhala-Muslim hostile engagement s. Violence ceased but there has been no strategies or policies for reconciliation.

 Provincial Council?

In this context reference has to be made to the provincial councils even if this be unpalatable to some. The PCs were created as administrative/political institutions that will have more powers to guide the destiny of the people in the North. But the NPC has become irrelevant because of the preoccupation of civil society and other leaders with widening its powers rather than prioritizing strategies to consolidate its present position and produce a viable work plan for the North. It is essential to device a program of action to ameliorate or at least reduce minority grievances and help the Northern Province to identify with the nation state.

It was with this in mind, and also the need for a uniform system of administration that the PCs, originally meant only for the Tamil provinces, was implemented countrywide. They have become white elephants merely replicating existing local government institutions sometimes less efficiently. The PCs have become training grounds for politicians aspiring to enter Parliament. Should the country carry such colossal expenditure to support a system such as this? In all honesty it must be said that at the beginning there was no demand for provincial councils except in the Tamil areas. But the system was replicated in all other areas for the sake of uniformity. Or as Minister Lalith Athulathmudali said long ago, “you can’t give Jaffna what you won’t give Hambantota.” Since the system was implemented,, Tamil areas in the North and the East have been demanding more power for the Chief Minister and to the councils.

For any system to function efficiently there has to be sincerity in the conduct of national affairs. For relative peace to be established it would be necessary to have PCs as envisaged by their initiators – to be a via media between the central government and the periphery. Instead it has been transformed into an instrument through which more and more powers are demanded without utilizing the powers in hand for the benefit of the people. The impression created in people’s mind is that there is an unquestionable thirst for more and more power and that the Councils are becoming combative vis-a-vis the central government.

In the midst of all this mayhem it is refreshing to learn that an army officer, Maj. Gen. Dias (retd), had requested the relevant authorities to permit interested Tamils to commemorate their dead the same way it is done in the South. This, he says, will be a just and equitable strategy to adopt which will also stop those who wish to benefit from such denial to gain increased political support. The fact that he has proposed a method of removing misunderstandings and ongoing persistent hostility between the army and Tamil civilians is commendable. The general by merely making this observation has helped clear the air and pave the way for communal harmony.

He had said that in an emergency in predominantly Tamil areas, requests for an ambulance, water bowser or a generator is directed to the army. This makes clear the existence of a relationship of trust between the army and the people in these areas. This friendly vibe must be used to create better relations between the people and the forces. This will certainly contribute to some extent to usher peace in the country and the much needed amity among its people.

There is also a possibility of PCs being able to request and secure additional powers. Powers to do what? That is the relevant question. When nothing is clear, would it then not be better to depend on the cost effective alternative of using existing local government institutions to address social problems? This strategy, if adopted, will put the nation on the road to better social relations and contribute to building sustainable economies in the provinces and the country as a whole.