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By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
The hartal has been called off temporarily. The grenades, hand bombs, dynamite sticks and
Molotov cocktails are silent. The targeting of minority civilians by majoritarian mobs has ceased.
Talks are on among concerned parties to diffuse the tension. The immediate cause of all the trouble
continues to sit on his pedestal amidst a tight barbed wire fence surrounded by a 24 hour armed
Police guard. It is indeed a telling sin of the times this. The flyby night Buddha guarded by armed
coppers.
This uneasy peace however is beguilin. The violence that plagued the town ever since May 15th
when a New and large Buddha statue was implanted surreptitiously and illegally in the heart of town
on Urban Council lands has ceased. The absence of violence however is only a state of
impermanence due to the Tamil sponsored hartal being called off. If a satisfactory solution is not
reached by June 2nd the hartal will be back on June on a much larger scale. When that happens the
violence too will surely follow.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has deployed additional security personnel to maintain peace.
This is an easy task now as there is no protest or demonstrations. The Tamil groups who sponsored
the hartal have called it off willingly in order to give peace negotiations a chance. If these fail and the
symbol of injustice imposed on Troncomalee town is not removed then the Tamil protests will surely
erupt again. If the security personnel who seem keener on guarding rather than removing an
illegality continue in this fashion then there will definitely be more trouble. Trincomalee is in a state of
tinder. It only requires a tiny spark for a grave inflammation.
The six day hartal that virtually paralysed the town was suspended initially by the Tamil Peoples
Forum to enable people observe and celebrate Wesak and attendant holidays. This provided a
temporary lull that was used adroitly by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. After sending additional
security personnel to Trincomalee she invited senior Parliamentarian from Trincomalee
Rajavarothayam Sambandan for confidential discussions on the situation. She had earlier sent
Defence Secretary Asoka Jayewardene and the service chiefs to obtain a first hand report. Now she
listened to the other side.
To his credit Sampanthan displayed some initiative and independence by accepting Kumaratungas
invitation. It may be recalled that he spurned a similar invitation six months ago when Kumaratunga
summoned him urgently for talks on Tsunami relief. The LTTE ordered him not to go then. One does
not know whether he got LTTE permission this time or not. In any case he did the right thing by
going for discussions. Thereafter Sampanthan accompanied a special delegation sent by the
President to Trinco.The delegation comprised Cabinet minister Maitripala Sirisena, Deputy minister
Dilan Perera and Presidential adviser Harim Peiris. Needless to say all three are trusted confidantes
of Kumaratunga.
A special meeting chaired by North - Eastern Governor Tyronne Fernando was held. Fernando who
once entertained hopes of being UN Secy - Gen was now mediating peace in Trinco. It was at this
palaver where Sinhala and Tamil representatives presented their sides of the story separately that a
temporary peace was arrived at. The Tamil side agreed to continue their suspension of hartal till
June 2nd. If a satisfactory solution was not reached by that date then the hartal will resume on June
3rd. Once again Sampanthan reportedly played a major role in effecting this compromise in the face
of defiance from Tamil hotheads.
Sampanthan and his fellow MP from the district Thurairatnasingham are to be congratulated for help
making saner counsel prevail on the Tamil side. Adopting a hawkish approach in a situation like this
is fraught with danger. The innocent civilians of Trincomalee should not be victims of violence again.
Members of one community throwing incendiary devices at helpless civilians of another community
and vice versa is by no means heroic. The consequences can only be tragic. Anyone engaging in
violence should be punished. People urging and encouraging such violence are contemptible. The
full force of the law regardless of their garb should be employed against them. The Tamil
parliamentarians role in adopting a flexible course and helping to avert an explosive situation is
commendable indeed.
Later a Trinco Tamil students union rebelled against this decision to postpone a hartal and issued a
leaflet calling for resumption of Hartal on May 29th till the controversial Buddha statue was removed.
Trincomalee tiger political commissar Elilan intervened and issued a statement condemning the
move. Elilan asked the people to be patient till June 2nd. Later a leading Buddhist priest from
Trincomalee met Elilan and explained to him that the move to erect an illegal Buddha statue in the
heart of Trincomalee town did not have the approval of the Sanga. This was done by two bhikkus in
association with racist elements the ven Indatissa Thero stated.
Whatever he explanations proffered the situation is yet tense because of the stubborn refusal of
some Buddhist Priests involved in erecting the overnight Buddha in town. On May 18th the matter
was taken up in court. Trinco magistrate and additional district judge Manickavasagar
Ganesharajah ordered that the Police negotiate with those responsible for erecting an illegal statue
and get them to remove it temporarily. He then instructed the Urban Council authorities to take steps
to remove all illegal encroachments including religious statues and places of worship on UC property.
When the Courts took up the matter again after a week on May 25th the Police had a "feeble"
excuse to relate. The Buddhist clergy responsible for erecting the statue had refused to comply with
court directives. These men in yellow robes werethreatening to self - immolate themselves if the
statue was touched. They adamantly stated that the statue would not be removed even if streams of
blood flowed in Trincomalee or elsewhere. Meanwhile in Colombo Bhikku MP's of the JHU also issued
racist, rabble - rousing statements over the Trincomalee situation.
Judge Ganesharajah instructed the Police to follow court directives strictly and take action. Since the
matter was sensitive Mr. Ganesharajah once again instructed Police to negotiate wuth the
concerned parties and get the statue "temporarily" removed peacefully. He also urged action against
all encroachments on UC property. According to Urban council sources another eight illegal
religious structures had been erected in Trincimalee. These comprised four Buddhist and four Hindu
places of worship.
So here is a tense and problematic situation. A court order is not being adhered to because some
members of the Saffron Brigade are threatening to set themselves aflame and let rivers of blood
flow. A politician in yellow robes flouts all convention and criticises a court decision in Parliament.
Terrorism is not necessarily confined to armed men in uniform or civils. It can be practised by people
in religious apparel too.
In order to help resolve a complicated situation a decision was taken at the Trinco confab presided
over by Tyronne Fernando that the Urban Council Special Commissioner seek the advice of the
Attorney - General KC Kamalasabeysan on this matter and proceed thereafter. The formal complaint
to courts over the statue is from the UC. This decision itself is controversial as it involves a court
directive and the offices of the Attorney - General. One supposes however that in view of the
desperate situation the AG's advice becomes a pre - requisite for any meaningful action.
Incidently the AG himself is no stranger to Trincomalee. Though schooled in Colombo
Kamalasabyson hails from Trincomalee. The AG was an eloquent debater during his schooldays at
St. Thomas's Mt.Lavinia. He headed both the Buck house and college debating teams in Tamil. This
column recalls that whenever in a tricky situation Kamalasabeysan had a knack of quoting a Tamil
proverb and wriggling out. Wonder which proverb will provide him wisdom in this situation?
Meanwhile the clock ticks on in Thirukkonamalai. It is to be hoped that all responsible people act
wisely and prudently. The crisis should be resolved permanently and not managed temporarily.
Justice should be done. Racist elements on either side of the defence should realise that ordinary
people have no religious animosity against each other. The intrusion of a statue should not be
allowed to disrupt harmony. Both sides must realise that violence cannot be the answer to any issue.
Communal discord leading to violence must be averted.
Some Chauvinist sections of Sinhala society are propagating a line that the Trincomalee Tamils led
by the LTTE are throwing grenades at a Buddhist statue and are opposing its construction. At the
same time LTTE propaganda makes out that there is some grand Sinhala conspiracy to inundate
Tamil areas with Buddhist statues. Both arguments are wrong. While violence is to be condemned
Tamil reaction to the statue affair has to be understood in proper perspective.
Tamil opposition is not to Buddhist statues being erected but in the manner they are being
constructed. There is also a history of Tamil and Muslim lands being usurped under the cover of
Buddhism. Bo trees and Buddha statues are very often the forerunners of Sinhala Buddhist
colonisation. In this case why was the statue constructed clandestinely overnight? Can members of a
particular religion defy the law and erect illegal statues on public property by invoking the "divine
majority right" argument? Can those belonging to a majority religion encroach anywhere illegally?
Sinhala sentiment must not let it be manipulated by racist rabble rousers in saffron and their fellow
travellers?
At the same time Tamils must no the tigers and their propagandists make them believe that all
Buddhists in Sri Lanka are part of a great conspiracy to flood Trincomalee and other Tamil towns
with Buddha statues. This is the work of a few. The overwhelming number of Buddhists do not
subscribe to this type of stunts. They cannot be held responsible for the acts of a few just as much
all Tamils cannot be held responsible for the barbarity of the tigers. If the silent majority of Buddhists
can speak out against these acts then the Saffron brigade will start reappraising their stance. The
Government however cannot shirk its responsibility. It must hold scales evenly. Justice must be done
over the illegal Buddha affair.
