Dear Dr. Anna Neistat,
I came to know about you thru a story about
"US Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hear on Lankan crisis" that is scheduled for the 24th of February.
I realize that you have a very difficult job to do; finding a grain of truth among a web of lies and making the right decision with a clear conscience, knowing fully well that the words you speak can have profound impact on the life and hopes of millions. Mistakenly supporting the wrong idea can leave you with a guilty conscience, but supporting the wrong idea knowingly would be a far, far worse blow to your conscience. A story I have read has had a profound effect in my life, and I want to share that with you.
It is said that an enlightened Islamic mystic was to be put to death by stoning due to an unsubstantiated claim by the people. With each stone that struck his body, spilling blood, he started laughing louder and louder. Among the stone throwers was one that knew he was innocent, and threw a rose instead of a stone. At this, the mystic started crying. Seeing what had just happened, the king asked the mystic why he was laughing when stoned and started crying when a rose struck him, to which he replied; I was laughing because these people are stoning me because they are unaware of the truth, but when I was struck by a rose, I knew there is one among them that knows the truth. So I started crying for his soul. Your role is a similar role. Your testimony can stop a genocide or allow it to be continued. I know you know the truth, but will you speak the truth?
Yes, there is a genocide going on in Sri Lanka, but it is certainly not that of the Tamils by the Sinhalese! Sinhalese maybe a majority in the island, but if you look just over 25 miles to the North of the island, there is no doubt that Sinhalese are the
minority in the geographic region. The Tamil population of India has overflown into the tiny island nation and the Sinhalese have been the target of systematic eradication by the Tamil LTTE to the tune of the rabbit and the porcupine story.
LTTE has ruthlessly attacked, bombed and massacred people in public gathering places, cars, buses, trains, planes and even in sacred religious sites. It is such a ruthless group that is being protected by the Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch.Here are the facts from Wikipedia. The
Tamil population of India is well over 62 million people and overshadows the
Sinhalese population of 14 million by a factor of 4.
Any one claiming genocide of the Tamils by the Sinhalese is simply lying and twisting the truth. It is akin to the Moslems of the world claiming they are being genocide by the Jews! In addition, well over a half of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka lives in peace, harmony and prosperity in the government controlled areas, and have succeeded as successful businessmen in the Sri Lankan economy.
The civil war in Sri Lanka has been fought because the of the LTTE's selfish desire to divide up a country that has been called the "melting pot of Asia," out of
self serving greed of a few power hungry megalomaniacs that are NOT supported by the majority of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka. LTTE wanted a
large part of the country and about 70% of the coastal part of the island for less than 15% of the island's population. If the African Americans or Mexican Americans in the USA started a similar stunt, I don't think the rest of the country would stand idly by.
Sri Lanka has been doing just that; trying to make a UNITED COUNTRY FOR THE GOOD OF ALL ITS CITIZENS; nothing less, nothing more.Sri Lanka is a small country about the size of West Virginia and we cannot afford to be divided in to separate countries. We have to learn to live with each other, but that is not possible for as long as there is terrorism in the country. It took a modern, civilized country like The United States of America, a long time to over come racial tension and social equality. It wasn't too far off in history where the blacks were lynched by the whites for what would be considered minor offenses today. The Tamils of Sri Lanka has fared much, much, much better. There never existed any form of segregation in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan economy is mostly controlled by the minorities, including Tamils and Moslems and live in peace and harmony in the government controlled areas. Tamil have always had representatives in the government, and some of these courageous people were
assassinated by their own LTTE for supporting a UNITED Sri Lanka. I realize that we have to walk far in search of a solution.
When the peaceful negotiations are not honored by the LTTE and blows up bombs in populated civilian areas, why do you still defend them and ignore to speak of the LTTE atrocities, only pointing out what LTTE claims are those of the government? Are you so blinded by those that surround you, that you take their word instead of looking at it objectively? We are a small country about the size of West Virginia, and clearly there is no room for division and we have to learn to live with each other. However, this is not a reality untill we stand united as one nation.
Your actions are for nothing other than dividing up a country for the benefit of a few megalomaniacs. Could it have a hidden agenda, such as the discovery of oil???
I was born a Sinhalese, Buddhist, and my parents brought me up to do the right thing, to have the right thought, not to hate or be blinded by greed. Though I've had prejudices of my own, I have tried my best to over come most of it, and I try to treat each person as a person, not as Sinhalese, Tamil, Buddhist, Christian, Moslem, Black, White, Sri Lankan, American, Arab, Japanese, Chinese, etc, etc. Yet I see how people go on dividing themselves into subgroups for the benefit of their own subgroup without thinking about the others. Open your eyes and see it for what it really is.
The genocide going on is that of the Sinhalese by the Tamils, aided by the western world thru the Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch that has been misled by the LTTE propaganda. We are the ones without a voice. We are the ones that have no where else to go. The little bit of land we have in the form of an island is being looted from us by force, aided by the western world!
It is the life and culture of the Sinhalese that has been under attack throughout the centuries, and more recently thru the violence, pretense and propaganda of LTTE and its supporters. The threat of extinction of the Sinhala race/language is documented and is well known to the world, yet no one has chosen to speak for the Sinhala people; only against them. The culture, the language and religion of this endangered Sinhalese must be protected, lest the world may witness the slow genocide of these people by the LTTE Tamils under the blessing of the Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch and its supporters.
Oscar Wilde said, "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." The truth of which is quite apparent in the web of lies and propaganda surrounding the human rights issues of Sri Lanka, woven by the LTTE and its supporters. Finally, please dont forget, it is the one who knows, yet stands idly by, or worse, promotes the wrong doers, that is the worst kind of offender of his own self conscience and that of human justice. May you have the courage and the wisdom to speak the truth, whatever it may be, not out of self interest, but out of a clear conscience.
