The advice offered by Dominick Chilcott, the British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka is out of place and out of turn. He sounds ignorant of the country's history; and his lack of understanding of the present situation is but too obvious. Whether his word will make any serious impact with anyone is doubtful.

It is Britain that is accountable to the present plight of Sri Lanka. It was the British imperialist policies that led to the communal strife here in this country. The British Rule committed aggression in the South East Asian region for exploitation.

It was British rule that unified under one administration the two Kingdoms, -Tamil and Sinhalese – with two distinct cultures, two distinct languages, two distinct life styles and two distinct traditions in two contiguous territories in the same island.

But the tragedy is when the British left the island granting it independence, they invested the sovereignty of the Tamils within a unitary Ceylon. Life of the minority Tamils is at peril today because their sovereignty was invested in a unitary political structure in which the Singhalese are in a permanent majority. Thusthe present tragedy of confrontation was caused by the lack of foresight of Britain. This is our inheritance from the British rule.

Let us quote the High Commissioner, ”LTTE must put away its weapon and its attachment to violence and join the family of civilized, democratic peoples who sort out their differences through negotiations, not terror. It must try to attain its political aspiration through the democratic institutions of the state, not through bombs and bullets.”

On reading his address in newspapers, we are tempted to ask whether he is aware of the political history of this country; whether he is aware that the Tamil people fought for their legitimate rights through the Parliamentary democratic means; whether he is aware their non-violent democratic struggles for three decades were suppressed by oppressive measures of every successive Sinhala government; whether he is aware that it was when these non violent struggles failed and when state terror was unleashed on innocent Tamils civilians that the Tamil youths had to wage an armed struggle to save their community from annihilation and to realize their rightful aspirations. This in brief is the crux of the issue.

It is pity the High Commissioner preaches a sermon to the Tamil people without knowing either the facts or the history. It is unfortunate that the High Commissioner doesn’t realize that the island is struggling to unravel the knot the British Imperialists messed us in.

Britain is not on the Bench to deliver a judgement; rather it is in the dock!

An English translation of the Editorial of Sunday Uthayan, a Tamil National Weekly, based in Jaffna 25 June 2006

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