Sri Lanka's Tamils vie for leadership role

by lalith | May 26, 2009 at 12:41 am

553 views | 19 Recommendations | 18 comments

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Behind sandbagged walls, a driveway lined with metal spikes, a battery of security cameras and rifle-wielding bodyguards sits the man who would be the next leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil community.

Douglas Devananda, a former militant leader who bears the scars of nearly a dozen assassination attempts by the rival Tamil Tigers, tells the AP that with the rebels' defeat he is ready to assume the leadership of the minority group's struggle for greater political power.

"Now the path is clear, we want speedy action," said Devananda, a government minister who also leads a Tamil paramilitary group.

The death of Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran — who targeted government leaders and Tamil rivals with equal zeal — has left a huge void in the Tamil nationalist movement at a crucial moment when the government is promising to negotiate an end to the country's ethnic divide.

Among those vying with Devananda are a former rebel commander whose defection to the government side helped destroy the group, the Tamil Tigers' main ally in parliament and an intellectual critic of both the government and the rebels.

Nearly all say the path to peace lies in the government devolving authority to the provinces, which would give the Tamils more control over their own affairs in the north and east. But they differ on the degree of power sharing, with some demanding the provinces be essentially self governing and others saying control over social services would be enough.

The stakes for Tamil leadership are rising by the hour. Douglas Devananda a former member of terrorist Prabhakaran's group who defected to the Government after escaping an assassination attempt by Prabhakaran is one contender.

Kauna (Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan) and Pilliyan, former Tamil Tiger terrorists who have joined the Government may well think of leading the Tamils in the North and East Sri Lanka.

The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) whose leader is Anandasangaree, was shut down by Prabhakaran during the last elections. Anandasangaree is also a top contender for this leadership.

Another contender for the leadership mantle is Rajavarothayam Sambanthan, a lawmaker from the Tamil National Alliance, which has 22 seats in parliament and was closely allied with the rebels until the final days of the war when it suddenly disavowed the group However, he is considered as a LTTE sympathizer and supporter even now.

Over and above all these contenders, enter Kumaran Pathmanathan, a high level gun runner who is wanted by the Interpol and India. He purchased all the sophisticated weapons for the LTTE, but has never seen the war. Some Tamil groups think that the expensive western attire he likes to dress in, would carry him through. If this becomes the case, he will have to look after the Tamils from some hiding place in Europe.

To compete with Pathmanathan, we now have Castro (Veerakulasingham Manivannan) who dislikes KP, purely due to a protocol issue. now, we can see many prospective leaders form a spectrum of fields trying be number one among the Tamils.

The Tamils have serious political grievances, Devananda said, but the community should turn away from violence and calls for independence given the government's promises to negotiate. "If we can solve this amicably, what is the need for a separate state," he said in his cavernous, heavily guarded office.

It will be very interesting to follow the development and arrival at a final decision when it comes to selecting ONE leader for the Tamil people.

It will also be good to see the stand the Tamil Diaspora would take and how effective they would be in spite of having millions of unspent money collected towards the lost war.

Finally, let us hope that a leader to represent Tamils in Sri Lanka will be chosen peacefully and amicably.

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sudharaka

at 02:11 on May 26th, 2009

You forgot two distinguished statesmen of immaculate conduct.

Hon. Selvarasa Pathmanathan, Head of the (late) LTTE's international relations division
Hon. V. Manivannan, Head - Overseas Administration.

israeli.agent

at 03:08 on May 26th, 2009

Looks like a lucrative business..! What is the secret behind such and such magnetic attraction towards the tamil's leadership ? It is given that power is like opium. Other than that anything else is there?

.Agent.

Merry Rebel

at 07:07 on May 26th, 2009

Yes, power is like opium.

lalith

at 02:40 on May 26th, 2009

I didn't have enough space.

If I had to state the names of all who want to be the leader of Tamils in Sri Lanka, then I would not have had time to do anything else.

Merry Rebel

at 07:11 on May 26th, 2009

LOL

lalith

at 09:54 on May 26th, 2009

The latest is that one Dr. Brian Seneviratne from Australia who has been on the LTTE pay roll wants to be the leader of the Tamils. However, the Tamils may not like the idea.

Hiranya Malwatta

at 11:15 on May 26th, 2009

ha ha I watched one of his youtube videos and was almost literally ROTFLOL !!!!!!!!! :-D

israeli.agent

at 11:21 on May 26th, 2009

Hiranya Malwatta,

You can't be this selfish. Where is the youtube link..?

.Agent.

Hiranya Malwatta

at 11:28 on May 26th, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfCqVc9tz9c

(the words on the forwarded email were: "Watch this grandpa who must be really screwed up in his life or may be insane.") :-D

Tamiya

at 14:45 on May 26th, 2009

It is quite interesting to see the Sinhalese hooligans are deciding who should be Tamils' next leader, and the democracy has left the nation... in 1948... for Tamils.

israeli.agent

at 17:36 on May 26th, 2009

"...democracy has left the nation... in 1948... for Tamils."

$o the tamil$ who feel that way ju$t followed democracy to countrie$ like U$, UK, Canada etc $o that they alway$ can live with "free democracy". They don't want the war in $ri Lanka to end becau$e if the we$tern countrie$ they live under "free democracy" get convinced that the war i$ over, then their "freedom" too get$ over.

$o Bad...aaaaaa?

.Agent.

sudharaka

at 18:10 on May 26th, 2009

So who'$ ¥our ¢hoi¢€? Ju$t b€ing ¢uriou$.

lalith

at 19:06 on May 26th, 2009

When the time comes for the selection of the Tamils' leader, we can then see the real hooliganism starting.

Personally, I don't mind anybody being the leader of any organization or race group except for terrorists, gun runners, donation collectors for terrorist organizations.

gerrypopplestone

at 06:27 on May 27th, 2009

Well said, Tamiya!

Hiranya Malwatta

at 12:15 on May 27th, 2009

ooooooooooooooh well said, Gerry !

When the provincial council elections were held in Eastern Province, the Tamil and Muslim "Sinhalese hooligans" voted for the democratic party of their choice from the Eastern Tamil and Muslim "Sinhalese hooligan" leaders.

Well said indeed Gerry.

Hiranya Malwatta

at 12:19 on May 27th, 2009

බල්ලෙක් බිරුවට කන්දක් පාත් වෙයිද?

lalith

at 22:25 on May 27th, 2009

SINHALESE HOOLIGANS

Karthik-US (not verified)

at 17:00 on May 26th, 2009

I am really sad about the Tamilian people living over there. Besides, Everything we hear, read.. truly say if the Tamilian status in Srilanka is Ok in terms food, medicine, shelter. Please understand that i am not arguing or complaining, i just dont want to believe that there are too bad things happening for those people. What is the answer to the questions about the young women, girls are not safe, teen guys+ adults facing hard time with the army and that they are being killed? I am asking a genuine question to you because i assume that you live in SL right now. I am not a LTTE supporter or an SL gov supporter, just a supporter for those suffering people. I am from Tamilnadu, living in US. I know a coffee chain store which is run by Srilankan tamil which i visit 4-5/week since this past 5 years. Since i speak tamil and they speak too, sometimes they talk about their relatives in SL and recently they said that one of their members family completely washed out in this fight and he is only member left. I felt very hard and moved by the person's suffering. Those people are hard woking people, their kids, study and work.. wht to say, my heart is very heavy after that visit. Only since then i started to read about it over the net. What to say, i would like to hear, coz i have read some of your comments, some of those comments of Mr. Lalith seems genuine and caring for the people and though most are riddling.. i dont care wheher be it LTTE or SL gov. supporter. Just the status!

Thanks! I dont want to hurt or tuant anyone, just my genuine interest over this matter, say may be tamil over tamil. - Karthik