Mission of the Tamil Political Leadership

10 June 2012 06:30 pm

By Dhammika Mendis
If the mission of the Tamil political leadership is fulfillment of the genuine aspirations of Tamil speaking people in this country as professed by senior Tamil speaking politicians, its actions and strategies should be designed to realise that goal. Hence political leadership has an obligation to conduct itself in a responsible manner to ensure that its role would not be misconstrued by the majority of this country and its political representation, since past experience shows that it was acting as a proxy of the vanquished armed movement.

  It is an undeniable truth, that the unprecedented military success accomplished by the current regime has given everyone in the government ranks and otherwise the direct access to north and east that were in the clutches of terrorists for nearly three decades. Those who drastically critiqued the military campaign and its progress too have been reaping the benefits of the enviable victory today by moving about freely in areas which were cut off from the rest of the country to engage in their political activities. The unrivalled victory achieved much to the chagrin of the diasporas and its international cohorts has given all of them and the Tamil political leadership an opportunity to once again visit their so-called traditional homelands that were made out of bounds to them by their own.

The pressing need of the hour and what is expected of Tamil political leadership at this critical stage where the country is at political cross roads is to grab the unprecedented opportunity to work towards their stated aims within an undivided Sri Lanka where all communities could live in peace and harmony in beneficial co-existence. It is no doubt that the path ahead is not going to be easy. It is replete with many an obstacle and they are bound encounter strong headwinds in the forward march. Not only for them, the difficulties are more or less the same or more even for the regime in power. With the destructive war that threatened everyone’s existence becoming a thing of the past, peace loving people should demonstrate the unbending resolve and commitment to face up to whatever challenges that may be posed by the evolving scenario of the political developments. What is expected is not mere rhetoric to appease radical sections or the Diasporas, but concrete progressive actions to tackle the issues of priority.

 Moreover, the Tamil speaking political leadership carries an enormous responsibility to inculcate confidence in the majority that its agenda is not tainted with secessionist designs. This is the only way that it could create a positive impact and muster support to its cause in the current political scene where post war reconciliation is treated as an issue deserving top most priority. It should vividly demonstrate that, it does not have a sinister hidden agenda to achieve what the armed rebellion failed at a huge cost of lives and limbs, the dreamland of Tamil Eelam.