Tamilnadu is concerned for the welfare of
tamils in
Sri Lanka
. Recently, TN Chief Minister Ms.J Jayalalithaa
has strongly urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to instruct officials to send
back two Sri Lankan defence officers undergoing training in Tamil Nadu. The CM is right in urging the PM to take a
policy decision that Lankan armed personnel will not be trained in
India
till a satisfactory resolution of human
rights violations against the Tamils in
Sri Lanka
is arrived at, and
illegal attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy on Indian fishermen stop.
There are many political parties which try to
strengthen their base on srilankan sentiment………not all know the deep history of
our neighbouring country…. Do you know Gal Oya, a river in
Eastern
Sri Lanka
…….. and its connection to the suffering of tamils in
Lanka ??
With so much of political tension in
Tamilnadu, it had its impact on IPL too. The political fallout of the issue led
to the DMK, a Tamil Nadu-based party, pulling its ministers out of the federal
coalition government in
New Delhi
and threatening its future. There were
no Lankan players in matches at Chennai, though Pak Umpires, Commentators and
Coaches were there in all parts of IPL World…
getting back, Sri Lankan Tamils
issue rages in many political platforms
but not many could trace its origins and may not know anything about the Donoughmore Commission which suggested
creation of Provincial councils in 1928 much before the Nation became
independent. In 1940 the Executive
Committee of Local Administration chaired by
S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike considered these
proposals which were approved by legislature.
The stamp of approval by the Tamil parties, then who were only seeking
federalism, came when in July 1957 S.V.J.Selvanayagam –Bandaranaike pact was signed. It advocated the creation of a series of
regional councils in
Sri
Lanka
as a means to giving a certain level
of autonomy to the Tamil people of the country, and was intended to solve the
communal disagreements that were occurring in the country at the time.
Gal Oya, is the river rising in the hill country east of Badulla and flows
north and east past Inginiyagala to the Indian Ocean 10 miles (16 km) south of
Lalmunai. The Gal Oya river is the main source feeding the Gal Oya scheme, a
government program that dammed this and smaller rivers to create Senanayake
Samudra—the largest tank (reservoir) in Sri Lanka, at Bintenne. The project opened
up 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) of land to the cultivation of paddy,
sugarcane, chilies, potatoes, and other crops. The Gal Oya National Park
(founded 1954) has an area of 198 square miles (512 square km) and a wide
variety of wildlife, including bear, elephant, and leopard.
Sadly, none of these would inspire the Tamils
but Gal Oya would only bring melancholic memories to the Tamils for it is
associated with the massacre of tamils
in
Ceylon
.
The Gal Oya riots or Gal Oya massacre were the first ethnic riots that targeted
the minority Sri Lankan Tamils in post independent Sri Lanka…….the riots
occurred in June 1956. Local majority Sinhalese colonists and employees of the
Gal Oya Development Board commandeered government vehicles, dynamite and
weapons and massacred minority Tamils. It is estimated that over 150 people
lost their lives due in the violence.
During the British colonial period, when
Sri Lanka
was known as
Ceylon
, most
civil service jobs (roughly 60%) were held by minority Sri Lankan Tamils who
comprised approximately 15% of the population. This in some ways was
attributable to their penchant for westernized education. The overrepresentation of Tamils was used by
populist Sinhalese politicians to come to political power by promising to
elevate the Sinhalese people. The pro-Sinhalese nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom
Party came to power in 1956 promising to make Sinhala, the language of the
majority Sinhalese people the sole official language. The so called Sinhala
only policy was opposed by the Sri Lankan Tamil, Federal party which conducted
a nonviolent sit-in protest on June 5, 1956 in front of the parliament in
Colombo
, the capital
city. About 200 Tamil leaders and politicians took part in this protest. But
the protestors were attacked by a Sinhalese mob that was led a junior
government minister. The same mob, after
listening to a speech by populist Sinhalese politicians urging them to boycott
Tamil business, went on a looting spree in the city.
Gal Oya settlement scheme was begun in 1949
to settle landless peasants in formerly jungle land. The riots in this
settlement area took place 57 years ago, on this day… in the evening of June
11, 1956 whence properties owned by
Tamils were looted and burned down. The woes of tamils in the island Nation
have continued, have been exploited by many political parties but their welfare
has not been taken care of though….. sad is their plight.. !!
With regards –
S.
Sampathkumar
11th June 2013.