No Federal, One National Anthem

No Federal, One National Anthem – Rear Admiral Sarath Weeraekera

Posted by admin On August 12, 2016 0 Comment

(Interview with Daily Mirror)

 Rear Admiral Sarath Weeraekera had been the Chief of Staff of the Sri lanka Navy and the first Director General of the Civil Defence Force. He was one of the five Heads felicitated by the nation for winning the war. He was the Deputy Minister Labour and Labour Relations during the previous government. He was the Director and the script writer of the film Gamani  (which shows the ruthlessness of the terrorists ) which received 17 film awards including the best film, best Director and best script writer of the year. He is also the President of the newly formed National War Heroes Front. Here are some excerpts of his interview with the Daily Mirror.

Q1. You have been very critical of this government policies as seen in your recent articles to the news papers. What is your main concern?

1. I don’t want to discuss about the disaster in the economy we are in, but my main concern is of course about the national security and the war heroes. We have fought the war for 3 decades , sacrificed immensely to defeat Terrorism, and ensured the unitary nature of the country. Twenty nine thousand men were killed, fourteen thousand critically wounded and others fought and survived to make it happen. But this government , from the time they came to power, are jeopardizing the national security, paving the way for LTTE to re organize, and hell bent on pushing our war heroes to International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes. That , is my concern.

Q2. That, is a very serious allegation against the government, can you elaborate it, not as a politician but as a senior military officer?

1. Well, you can’t deny the fact that I am already a politician, but let me tell you this with great responsibility. Our government, after winning the war, took very important measures to prevent LTTE from reorganizing. We strengthened the Intelligence units and were able to crush three attempts by LTTE to come up again between the years 2009 and 2014. We banned INGO’s like Global Tamil Forum, under UN charter 1373, which supported LTTE directly and also banned Tamil Net web which constantly pollute the minds of the Tamil youth against the Sinhalese. Maximum possible lands and houses were released keeping the most important to ensure security.This government,  remanded a very efficient group of Int. officers no sooner she came to power, on a false murder charge,  thereby demoralizing all other Int. officers . They lifted the ban on all pro LTTE NGO’s and the Tamil Net, released strategically important land without a proper military study, and released hardcore LTTE’rs from prison. The NGO’s are now freely moving about  in North, preparing a data base of all the 11,000 rehabilitated LTTE cadres and 4000 hard core LTTE’rs not surrendered to the Army. With a very strong Int. unit if we were able to detect the reemerging of LTTE on three occasions can you just imagine how well they must have organized by now with no Intelligence and with pro LTTE NGO’s operating freely?
   The Taminet is again in full swing and the Chief Minister is giving leadership to commemorate the dead terrorists. A suicide jacket , ammo and explosives were detected a few weeks ago just by accident! Wigneshwaran is passing resolutions in the PC demanding federal state and the government is keeping mum. What the LTTE could’nt achieve militarily, Wigneshwaran, TNA and the Diaspora are trying to achieve by other means with the blessings of the government. This of course nothing but treason.
   Q3.   You said the government is trying to push the soldiers to ICC. During the war, many excesses may have happened. If a soldier has done something unacceptable, are you telling that we must ignore it just because they won the war?
   
   

1. No. If a soldier has violated the law, done something wrong, then he should be tried and punished as per the prevailing law of the country. You can’t have special courts with foreign judges sitting in judgment of our men. In our country, according to the constitution, everyone, including the soldiers are supposed to be equal before the law. If there is a special court only for the soldiers that means soldiers are not equal before the law in our country. Is’nt it hilarious ? Is this the way to treat our men who have sacrificed their entire lives for the country? The government is going to the extent of even amending the constitution to allow foreign judges, Is’nt it contemptuous? If the Office of the Missing Personnel ( OMP ) bill is passed in the parliament, it is the last nail of the coffin of all those who fought the war.

Q4.  OMP is for the benefit of the missing people during the war. Issuing death certificates, paying compensations etc. are all done things after a war. How can it be a last nail of the coffin of the soldier?

1. I am glad that you asked that question. I will explain very briefly and you will be surprised to learn how this government is prepared to let down the entire nation in the name of accountability, just to satisfy the separatist  Tamil Diaspora, TNA and the West.  Anyone can challenge in courts what I say. This bill equals the terrorist who massacred the innocent civilians and the soldier who sacrificed his life to save the nation. Compensations will be paid to the next of kin of both the terrorists and the soldiers. This office could sign agreements with foreign companies, receive foreign funds, recruit foreigners without government approval. They can visit any tri Services camp, police, CID  at any time of the day ,demand and get any top secret document. Refusal would amounts to contempt of court.

            They can get evidence from video conference from abroad, accept it, even such evidences are not acceptable    in our courts according to the Evidence Ordnance. The most funniest thing is that, if a missing person is found to be alive in any country, it can be revealed ONLY with that person’s consent. For example, our In.t officers are in remand for more than 320 days for the Ekneligoda missing/murder case. If Ekneligoda is found to be alive somewhere you are not supposed to tell that unless Ekneligoda agrees. If he does’nt, then our men will be in jail for ever whilst Ekneligoda’s wife will continue to receive compensations given for the NOK’s of missing personnel. This clause has been included for the benefit of the terrorists who have fled the country and on record here as missing. Is’nt this amounts to cheating?

This office, with those who are against our soldiers in the staff, can prepare any type of false report against our Generals, Brigadiers, and men, or the former Defence Secretary or the former Commander in Chief, and send it to the UN security Council directly and it goes as a report prepared by an office legitimately approved by the parliament of Sri Lanka. Wigneshwaran’s resolution on Tamil genocide , which the government has not denied, already sent to UN. Then as Mangala Samaraweera (our government) has already agreed to submit our country  to the Universal law, it will come to a situation where our people will be arrested abroad and tried in any country. Is’n t it a last nail on the coffin? This kind of betrayal is never heard of in any country in the world.

Q5. The Tamil politicians demand a federal state to the North to meet the aspirations of the Tamil people. Are you against devolution of power? Don’ t you think that the Tamil people have a genuine problem?

1. Im not against devolution of power but the center must be in control. If a Chief Minister of a PC tries to do something against the constitution of the country, the center/parliament  should be able to intervene and stop it. If not how can the parliament be supreme?I heard Mr.Wigneshwaran making a statement in radio about federalism and Tamil aspirations. Wigneshwaran should be reminded that out of the Tamil population in the country only 49% live in the North and more than 50 % of the Tamils live in other parts of the country amongst Sinhalese  and Muslims. If federalism  is to meet the aspirations of the Tamils  in the North what about the aspirations of the Tamils living outside? Does that means Wigneshwaran is not concern about those Tamils or is he convinced that their aspirations are already met/fulfilled? My frank opinion Sandun is, that people like Wigneshwaran, Sumanthiran, Sivajilingam have no right to talk on behalf  of the Tamils, let along their aspirations.
   Q6. That statement of course needs further elaboration.
   
   

1. I repeat that those politicians have no moral right to talk about the welfare of the Tamils but we, as forces, have more right than them. During the last stages of war, when the LTTE were forcibly taking away  school children aged 10 – 12 yrs and sending them over concertina wires in the battle field to be killed  so that the fighting cadre can step on to their dead bodies and get inside and when the LTTE were firing point blankly at the innocent Tamils running into the hands of the Army, instead of asking /or appealing to LTTE to stop it, Sumanthiran ran to Europe asking for assistance for LTTE. That was their concern about their own people.After the war , when our valiant soldiers , risking their lives, were removing 495,000 AP mines and 5125 AT mines laid by LTTE, to enable the displaced Tamils to resettle, Wigneshwaran never had the decency to come and offer even a cup of plain tea. When our soldiers, using their own money were building 8000 houses for the displaced Tamils, Wigneshwaran or Sumanthiran never donated even a roof tile for that project. When 295,000 Tamils were being resettled giving all the facilities they never came and offered even a cup of yoghurt to a Tamil child.
   During the last days of the war, when Prabakaran was keeping around 300 innocent Tamils as a human shield inside the Nandikadal lagoon and planted a large number of mines around him to deter soldiers, we could have easily fired artillery and killed Prabakaran along with all the civilians. Instead of resorting to that type of action our men walked over the heavy mine field, knowing that they would lose their lives/limbs just to save the innocent. More than half of the men who walked on that day are now in Ranaviru hospital without legs and about 30 – 40 died on the spot. That was the concern of our soldiers towards their Tamil brethren and Wigneshwaran, who demands withdrawal of the Army  from the North after doing sweet nothing when “ his people” were in great danger, should  hide in shame.
   Q.7 The Northern Province has passed many resolutions in the recent past and many have their own reservations, how do you view that ?
   
   

1.   Yes, the Chief Minister Wigneshwaran, as I said before, seems to be very active in passing resolutions specially after this government came into power. In fact he prevented submitting the Tamil genocide bill during the last government and passed it during this government, and that is hypocrisy. Passing that type of resolutions and sending them to Geneva is a part of the conspiracy to separate the North as all such reports would be considered during their final push for federalism.He studied at  Royal college amongst Sinhalese, entered Law College with the Sinhalese, became a Magistrate, High Court Judge, Judge in the Court of Appeal and promoted to a Supreme Court Judge. So much for the discrimination against Tamils by the Sinhalese. He lived 65 years with the Sinhalese and, has the audacity to say that Sinhalese do not have a right to live in the North. His both sons are married to Sinhalese women but he shamelessly pronounce that the Tamils should not marry Sinhalese. That is his contribution to the so called “reconciliation”.
   In my 35 years of service in the navy I have served many years in Jaffna and we have donated blood to the Tamil brothers and sisters on many occasions. We are happy that our blood is mixed in our Tamil friends. I am sure Wigneshwaran or Sumanthiran never have donated even a single drop of blood to “their people” to date.  If they are Vellalas, they would never even dream of donating blood to the Tamils in other casts. Before talking about equal status with the Sinhalese, he must first look into the extreme discrimination prevalent in the Jaffna Tamil society against low cast innocent  Tamils by the so called high class Tamils.
   Q8. You have made a mark in parliament during the last government. You were the only one who opposed the 19 A and also you were the one who was vehemently against the National Anthem being sung in Tamil.  Tamils could understand the meaning instantly when it is sung in their mother tongue, so what is wrong in it ? Do you still think that you were correct in that regard?
   
   

1. I have always acted according to my conscious to date. First, about the 19 A.  Now only people realize  why I voted against the 19A. The constitutional council ( CC )is the one which appoints people for all the important appointments in the country. It has nine members, ie The Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition ( LOO), 5 members appointed by PM and LOO, one member appointed by the President and one from a party other than the two major parties. So the PM and the LOO always have 7 votes out of 9 in the  CC  and their decision always  prevail. The President has only one vote. So as per today, persons for all important appointments such as Chief Justice, IG, AG, Governor of Central Bank etc. are decided by Sambanthan and Ranil Wickramasinghe and not by the President. The President is elected by the whole country and Sambanthan/Ranil represent only two districts. The executive power of the President is taken away from him and given to Sambanthan and Ranil.  Is’nt it ridiculous? That’s not what Ven Sobhitha wanted although he was the main pillar behind it but that was what has mainly happened with 19 A. .

Singing the National Anthem ( NA )in Tamil is a  blatant violation of the Constitution and I have showed  very clearly in TV debates. Leave aside violation of the constitution, I strongly believe that a country should have only one NA. It is used as official patriotic symbol which strengthens the nation’s resolve which is not supposed to be pampered at the whims and fancies of corrupt politicians. NAs are rarely noted for their musical quality or for their texts. It’s the patriotic fervor that matters.  So the argument  of “understanding the meaning” does’nt blend with the true spirit of the NA.

There are 70 million Tamils in India together with other communities such as Muslims, Hindus, Marati, Gujarati, Panjab etc. but the NA in India is one and only Jana gana mana abhi nayaka jayahe bharatha bagya vidhatha….written in Bengali by Rabindranath Thagore. I have seen even the eyes of a Marathi man filling with tears when the NA was sung at the Indian National Day in New Delhi.. He was not suffering from conjunctivitis but it was the “feeling for the country “ which had brought tears into his eyes. No separatist in India would dare to demand that  the NA should be translated into his respective  language because it is a known fact that the Indian Cabinet, although comprised of people of different communities, always act patriotically, not as spineless cowards who would do anything to remain in power,  when it comes to aspects effecting the sovereignty of the nation . NA is about the social cohesion of the people and can it ever happen in a country with two NAs allowed based on ethnicity? It will not bring communities together but separate them further. 

Even the Intelligent Tamil people realize that allowing to sing NA in Tamil is not a holy act to create reconciliation. It is yet another cowardly act to fulfill another underhand promise given to separatist Tamil Diaspora, just like appointing Sambanthan as the LOO ,by forming a national government.

Q9. Any final comment?

1. Frankly speaking as I said before, people like Wigneshwaran, Sumanthiran etc who were never to be seen when the Tamils were really suffering, have no moral right to  appear on behalf of the Tamils now. Their antagonizing/ communalist comments and behavior is a disgrace to the intelligent decent Tamil society. Tamils and Sinhalese  live happily as friends as seen in everywhere in the country and only the separatist politicians want to bring them apart to achieve their malicious aim. We have sacrificed a lot for the past 2500 years to keep this country in one piece and this time 29,000 died and 14,000 wounded to make that happen. Such a sacrifice would be in vain if we allow our country to be broken into pieces. We are ready to do anything to prevent federalism. Janani Janma Bhoomischa Swargadapi Gareeyasi, The Mother who gave you birth and the Motherland you cherish are both supreme than the Swarga/Moksha  or heaven. All those who try to change the constitution, pass resolutions etc. to separate this country would one day be charged with treason.  Treason, if proved beyond any reasonable doubt in courts, is an offence punishable by death.