26 November - day of Patriots and Monsters

26th November is in many ways monumental to Sri Lanka. it was the day in 1818 the British crushed Sri Lankas first war of independence ( although somehow we were being taught to call it a 'Rebellion' by the same masters who re-wrote the history of Sri Lanka) , when they executed Monarawila Keppetipola , Dissawe of Uva. it was Keppetipola Dissawa who led the first war of independence against the British ,following the transfer of sovereignty to the British after the capture and the end of King Rajasingha II and the Kandyan dynasty.

where as the first monumental event was of a historical and national significance , the second monumental event is the birth of V.Prabakaran in the Jaffna Hospital. V.Prabakaran rose up to be the leader of LTTE, the Tamil terrorist organisation who for the last 30 or so years had been waging a war and reign of terror to curve out a separate state for minority Tamils in North and East of Sri Lanka.Prabakaran is nothing but a monster in human form , wielding a reign of terror , death and destruction not only in North and East of Sri Lanka , but also in every corner of the Island, beyond the seas in India and and many other un named , unknown places and at high seas.

not only Prabakaran had killed many hundred thousands of Sinhaleese and Muslims of Sri Lanka but he has a wiped out several generations of Tamils , including Tamil academics, religious and community leaders , elected representatives and politicians.The LTTE, under the leadership of Prabakaran has done more damages to the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils than any other .

The LTTE has sabotaged every attempt to a reasonable political solution to the ethnic problem of Sri Lanka. The sole aim of the LTTE is the establishment of a one-party fascist regime by the name 'Tamil Eelam' in the North-East of Sri Lanka.

hence , November 26 th is a monumental for Sri Lanka.

on one side there is Keppetipola Dissawa , a man who fought for the freedom of his people, who was killed in the hands of a colonial oppressor and then there is Prabakan who continues to kill people in the name of establishing a separate state for the Tamils of Sri Lanka.Prabakaran has hijacked the Tamil cause with his gun totting terror tactics.he leads an organization with a fascist tendency. Its only aim is to establish a fascist regime in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

Due to its fascist leaning, it has made a self-proclamation as the sole representative of the Tamils. To maintain the status-quo of the sole representation, it has eliminated all the democratic Tamil leaders or subjugated their parties through their terror tactics.

To name a few Tamil leaders, brutally murdered by the LTTE are, A. Amirthalingam MP and Tamil National Leader, V.Yogeswaran MP, A.Thangathurai MP , Mrs. Sarojini Yogeswaran Mayor Jaffna , Dr.Neelan Tiruchelvam MP and S. Sivapalan of Tamil United Liberation Front the TULF Mayor Jaffna , Kumar Ponnambalam of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress the ACTC, Sri Sabaratnam Leader of the TELO, K. Padmanabha Leader of EPRLF, Sam Tambimuttu MP and his wife Kala Tambimuttu of the EPRLF and recently Luaxman Kadiragama, MP and former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka.

The leaders who succeeded them were cowed down and compelled to be subservient to LTTE. it was Douglas Devananda MP , a Tamil from Norhtern Sri Lanka who once led a Tamil Separatist group against the Government of Sri Lanka, who denounced violence and joined the mainstream democratic politics ,who as a Minister of the current government went on record recently and said " in the four decades of confrontation, not a single Tamil leader has been murdered by the Sri Lankan security forces" .

There are only a handful of democratic Tamil leaders who have still escaped the LTTE death trap, him being one amongst them and one who had escaped at least four attempts on his life.

Prabakaran's reign of terror extended its tentacles to our neighbouring Indian soil and globally as well. In the Indian soil, they killed former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan Tamil leaders. They murdered those who opposed them in the European countries. For example, T. Sabalingam, one of the founder member of the Tamil militant movement in Sri Lanka, was murdered in France.

LTTE extort money from the expatriate Tamils by threatening that their kith and kin, living in Sri Lanka will have to face the consequences, if they do not meet their demand.They also assassinated President Premadasa and attempted on the life of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, who as a result, lost her sight in one eye.

Prabakaran thrives on the Tamil cause and has stood in the way of negotiated settlement within the frame work of united Sri Lanka, fearing, such arrangement would not give room for his fascist rule of law. LTTE aspire for a separate piece of land 'Tamil Eelam' to impose their fascist rule. As a result, the Tamils' aspiration for a power sharing arrangement in the areas of their habitation, remain unfulfilled to date. This is a vicious circle which the LTTE cleverly manipulates and thrives upon.

Further, the LTTE survives on the frustration of the Tamil people caused by the after effects of the war they initiate. In an environment of war, people undergo a lot of hardships such as; large scale displacements, non-availability of essential goods and services, black marketing, non-availability of proper educational, health and infrastructure facilities.

The LTTE capitalizes on this situation to win over the support of the Tamil people locally as well as internationally, This is also another vicious circle, the LTTE rides on.

so different to what Keppetipola Dissawa had envisaged , and ultimately brought to an end of his life.Keppetipola not only took personal responsibility for the acts of war and violence that we committed in the name of free Sri Lanka but also yielded to British use of terror tactics against the civilian populace of the Uva province in particular during the ensuring battles against forces of Keppetipola in 1818.

Keppetipola never used the collective suffering of his people to further his war , nor quelled dissension within his ranks.

his war was to attain freedom and restore rights and liberties of the common man of Sri Lanka and not curving out a separate state. it is sad that remembering Keppitipola Dissawa today , for somehow rests with the JVP and not the common man , while the so called 'Civil Society' of Sri Lanka and some pseudo 'free' media elements gather around to silently ( not so long a ago , very openly ) celebrate the birthday of Prabakaran , a monster of our times.

rest assured , come 26th November, next year I'm not going a write a word about V.Prabakaran nor about his LTTE , and way the things are going its also not sure if Prabakaran might make to the next years birthday , but will concentrate more on the first war of Independence and remember Keppetipola Dissawa and the rest of the patriots who had given life for a noble cause and not a cause that surpasses any myth.