As I commented the other day on the Senator Casey's message in this website everything is very clear now.

From the last two paragraphs of this press release we can see that we are not going to achieve anything from this exercise. We are going for a head on collision with Rajapaksa which so far has created enormous suffering, countless difficulties to our people in Sri Lanka. The GTF has resolved that it should continue with the same path. This is just like "begger's wound". If the wound heals, he will not be able to earn a living". We are parroting that there are problems, discrimination, persecution etc etc facing our people and asking for help. From whom we are asking help?

We are seeking assistance from an arrogant, selfish, egoistic bunch of Western politicians. Can they help or have they been able to help? Both questions have one answer. It is "no". They have failed and they will fail. We have to understand a few ground realities which have been extensively discussed in the recent ICG report. So, I hope these celebrities will have some rational thinking to understand that most importantly digest a bit of that, at least conclusions of that report.

The GTF may be trying to persuade the UK or USA create a Kosovo type State in Sri Lanka. But there is a problem just 20 miles away from the Northern tip. India will never ever allow this to happen. They are grappling with increased activities of Maoists throughout the so called Red Corridor. They have a precarious Pakistan and Afghanistan. With the definite failure in both Iraq and Afghanistan the West will transfer more problems to India in the next couple of years.So why didn't the organisers invite the Indian High Commissioner in London for this "sacred" event.

There are some hillariuos stuff. This is sheer British arrogance. PM Brown has read chunks from a letter that he had sent to Rajapaksa to the invited delegates! My heavens, what is this? My humble feeling is that when two leaders from sovereign States exchange communications they are considered as "privileged". Now it has come to the public. A lesson on how Brown preached Rajapaksa on conducting elections. Can he do this to Manmohan Singh? We now know Brown's erstwhile friend in Afghanistan took over the control of the election commission of that country. No reprimands.This is just to tell the world that Rajapaksa is not the man we like. We do not want him to be the President of Sri Lanka. A tit for tat to summoning their Actg. High Commissioner in Colombo. Funnily enough I read in Sri Lankan websites that British High Commission spokesman had told that PM Brown had not attended the GTF but gone to Parliament to meet his "parliamentary colleagues" who were at the event! He might not have met them for ages. But I saw all of them on that Wednesday in the main chamber when PM Brown attending customary Prime Minister's questions!

Then Brown talks about taking Tamil problem to international forums, like EU. He is correct here. EU is the only forum that they can take the problem. They failed miserably at the UN both in New York and Geneva. So, we must thank him for being honest. At the EU UK has been very successful and was able to persuade all others to suspend GSP+ to Sri Lanka.

And the release also says that contrary to "usual protocol" PM Brown and Foreign Secretary Miliband have sent messages to the souvenir. What is the difference between "usual" and this "unsual protocol". Cannot comprehend. All what I can say is that patronisation of this entire event is wrong as this will not solve problems but aggravate.

The ANC has done the trick again. The South African Foreign Minister went to Sri Lanka last year and praised Rajapaksa for the "facilities" given to IDPs. The South African Rep. in Geneva said "no" to the resolution moved in at the Human Rights Council last year by the Western countries against Sri Lanka. I read in the Tamilnet that this person specially came to London for 6 hours only to attend the GTF conference!

I see one positive point here. It is the entire congregation has held "one minute silenec" to commemorate those who perished during the war. I presume this included the following main categories among others:

i. Those innocent Tamils who were killed, maimed and raped by Sri Lankan military;

ii. Those innocent civilians who were slained by the LTTE at various times since 1976;

iii. The children who were conscripted and died or maimed during the conflict;

iv. The Tamil politicians and intellectuals who bravely defied the LTTE and got killed.

"Foreign Secretary Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP was presented with an inauguration plaque by the Forum."

This reminds me of the Srilankan saphhire and diamond encrusted Tiger Eellam brooches presented to Solheim by Prabakaran for his untiring services to the Tiger movement.

Millidand must be joking if he thinks he can dictate to the current Srilankan government how to run its affairs.

These buffoons treat Srilankans exactly the same way their forefathers did centuries ago.Nothing has changed.

Just imagine changing the constitution of a sovereign nation to their whims and fancies. Besides how can they be so ignorant to ask for constitutional changes knowing that it is not an easy process in a democratic country.

ITF lead by the well known Tiger supporters may have given standing ovations to Milliband,and will cast their votes to him at the election,but it is not going to have any impact on Srilanka.

Under the current President Srilanka is safe from rabble rousers both local and international.In fact Milliband and the ITF will be a nice election slogan for the ruling party when the campaigning starts in earnest, the same as the Sampathan factor at the presidential election.

Keep up your good work friends.

“..The Forum called for a worldwide economic boycott of Sri Lanka, by avoiding the purchase of Sri Lankan made products, investment and engagement in any economic activity that promotes the Sri Lanka regime against Tamils..”

Here we go again. Back to square one. In reality, this way of thinking will not take us anywhere!

The main focus should be helping our people back home to rebuild their economy.

How are we going to achieve it if we are not even ready to talk to the current security guard at the entrance?

The then, Britain's junior foreign minister Peter Hain visited Colombo in November 2000 and said,“The LTTE, like the IRA, need to acknowledge that, whilst a Tamil kingdom constitutionally split from the rest of the island will not receive recognition by Europe, the USA or indeed India, the principle of self-determination and control over most if not all the key policies affecting the daily life would be supported by the international community.” How come within 10 years it turned around into genocide of Tamils.

Very positive step towards uniting the Global Tamils in pressing for real change in Srilankan politics and minority rights.

Hope GTF would stay clear of LTTE diaspora groups and their over ambitious VKR and TGTE plans. Hope GTF would be more focused on re-developing the Tamil Homeland rather than self-centered Diaspora driven agends.

This is the first time the West have took notice of the Tamils. This could have been done last year, if not for the LTTE diaspora groups, who insisted on flying the Tiger flags and Prabakaran photoes.

Hope GTF would take a bold step in acknowledging the wrong-doings of the LTTE in public, as suggested by the UK parliamentarians. This is the next genuine step towards international recognition of the GTF.

"This is just like "begger's wound". If the wound heals, he will not be able to earn a living".- Mr Kanagalingam,

This is exactly how the Sinhalese described the pre Rajapaksa leaders with regards to the fight against terrorism.That Sinhala song( sorry I cant remember the name or the singer)which describes it is a gem.

Thank you Mr Kanagalingam for your forthright thinking and vision for the poor Tamil brethren who are in Srilanka.This is the thinking and action their leaders should follow if they are genuinely interested in the welfare and future of the people there.

GTF organizers and participants will shake hands with the white fellas,rub shoulders over a few glasses of wine and retire to their million dollar mansions,The white fellas will be back at work with pleasant thought that they have scored a fair few vital votes at the up coming election.

Poor Tamil people will be struggling to get their lives back after the 30 year long suffering.

Very many comments have no substance or are unaware of what Tamils have gone through the brutal attacks of the Sinhala governments, even against the wishes of kind and loving Sinhalese citizens of the country - all for power grabbing. They conveniently forget the past prior to the British rule, when the Tamils lived as an independent nation.

Have any one even thought of the attacks on Tamils during their very peaceful struggles for nearly 20 years under the guidance of the Tamil national leader SJV Chelva? When all these acts failed that the only unfortunate alternative of "forced separation" was taken up.

If any one of you hope that the Sinhala politicians, not the average citizens, will originate any peaceful political solution, they are very sadly mistaken!

GTF should stay clear of criticising LTTE.
That would only start internal arguments.

Their non violent path is more then enough to
attract wider support.

Stay focus on enemy, who still continuing its atrocities against Tamils.

We need these war criminal brothers hanged
and make sure Tamils will never suffer in sri lanka.

It is quite evident that the Tamil terrorists mantle is now taken over by the GTF, even though they claim otherwise. The demand for a boycott of Sri Lankan goods is nothing but evil.
The propaganda blitz carried out prior to the demise of the Tamil terrorists by this same group of people is despicable, especially after they were educated free of charge by the poor villagers of Sri Lanka. They came to the West seeking a better quality of life, and have worked to disadvantage Sri Lanka at every stage. The falsehoods that they used in the past to achieve better social position, are now the "truth". Sri Lanka should have nothing whatsoever to do with them, and in fact should bar them from ever visiting the island again, since they are no longer Sri Lankans.

The Sinhalese and some other Sri Lankans will not like this.
But get one thing straight. You are part of this problem. By continuosly blaming the LTTE for everything and using them as a scapegoat for all the ills of the country, you have not helped at all in a real sense.
There was no good side or bad side in this war. The GOSL started killing tamils from the 1950s.
1970s some tamils said enough of peaceful protests and pick up weapons and formed the LTTE. Then it became a civil war until 2009.
You cannot point at one group and claim they are the good and the other is evil. This is utter stupidity.
The general behaviour of the Sinhalese in 2009 was extremely disrespectful and left a very bad taste in my mouth (lighting firecrackers, mocking the tamil community etc).
But now they are watching in shock as their war heros are fighting amongst themselves. Their beloved General being beaten and dragged out of his house by their beloved president. Election violence etc Dear oh dear. What happened?
Dont worry about developing the North and East. The tamil people are not lazy like the Sinhalese and are naturally a much more enterprising community. Global economic competition suits them very well.
Sinhalese are better at 'Kaapalla Beepalla Jolly KerrePalla' and thus development in Sinhalese areas will be slower.
If you dont believe me, watch how it unfolds in the years to come.
I do agree that the tamil communit will continue pressing for proper equal rights and keep the political stuggle going. Its not about Eelam but to make sure the GOSL keeps its promises. The Tamil people will always need to have their own political groups and spokespersons. You cant entrust that to anyone else, especially not the Sinhalese, who despite all their fake talk about unity, do not like non-buddhists in the Island. As long as Mahavamsa racist books are being published, the tamils always need to be weary and watchful.
It will be interesting to see the future.
I am optimistic that it will be good for tamil people globally.

"You may be aware that High Security Zones in densely populated areas are operating with the sinister motive of using innocent civilians as shields for security cover, a notorious method that cannot be justified under any theory of balance of forces."- Letter to the head of the CFA monitoring mission.Anton Balasingham 27 Dec 2002

I wonder how Balasingham would have reacted to VP holding 300,000 civilians hostages?

Mr Milliband the humanist on the other hand made desperate attempts to save VP and his hostage takers.

So how can Milliband have any credibility in the eyes of the majority Srilankans to demand that Rajapaksa make constitutional changes to satisfy him and his diaspora.?

A

Ram2009,
Your position does not acknowledge the reality that many of those you want barred from ever visiting the island were forced off by events like Black July. Did these people ever get to see Cyril Mathew, Minister of Industries and Scientific Affairs, put on trial? No. He kept his 'good' name. Sinhalese students will never know what Tamils accused him of doing and will never read about it in a school text book. [I hope I'm wrong about this]

The aftermath of any conflict or traumatic event is best remedied with a bit of Truth & Reconciliation whether it be on a small scale such as family rifts regarding how an elderly relative was treated before their demise or on the large scale of ethnic conflict. Sri Lanka's legacy of judicial impunity makes a 'homegrown solution' seem sinister. A U.N. administered Truth & Reconciliation commission is the best hope for resolving this issue & if you disagree with that, you had best reconcile yourself with the island being the target of 'bad press' reports.

It is heartening to note the comments of many who clearly oppose confrontation as advocated by GTF and press for constructive engagement. It demonstrates to Sinhalese that there are rational thinking Tamils with whom they can engage in finding common ground. They would support GOSL to engage with those rational minded people who demonstrate a genuine desire to be part of a prosperous Sri Lanka with equal rights.

However there are still a significant section of influential Tamils who are hell bent on confrontation and punishing the Sinhalese. They forget the physical & psychological suffering that the Sinhalese endured in order to withstand the challenge they faced to their very own survival. Sinhalese now know they can withstand any pressure and the historical struggles that have been taught to them in fact might have actually happenned (judging by the last 30 years of experience).

Few Western politicians and their Tamil cohorts are not going to frighten the Sinhalese. They will make sure that their govt will stand up to those nosy imperialist Westerners.

The so-called Black July events were precipitated by the killing of 13 unarmed soldiers in Jaffna by the Tamil terrorists, an unprovoked event.
Today nearly half of the population in Colombo is Tamil, and they live peaceably among the others as they used to in the previous millenia. The terror events are now wiped out, and those Tamils who gloated in UK and elsewhere when Karthigamar and other decent Tamils were killed by the terrorists have now formed the GTF, and attempt to influence events. They must not be allowed to succeed.

tmorgan,

You may not be aware that the Tamil migration to the West started long before “Black July”, in the 70's. During some years most of the output of the medical schools and the like disappeared from the country without ever having served the compulsory 5 years in government service, but on arrival in West pretended that there was discrimination against them in Sri Lanka. The gullible among the the Westerners bought into this story. The Tamils who started this lie now believe it themselves after having repeated the story so often.

In the year 1974-5 some 2000 new passports went missing from the Passport Office, having been stolen by an employee. This year saw many Tamil doctors “disappear” from the island even during their internship.

The arrest of 8 LTTE activists in Germany, is an indication that some Europeans are getting cold feet over the resurrection of the of the LTTE in different formats like the Trans national Tamil Eezaam and the Global Tamil Forum.

The fact that these two organizations are sanctioned by Norway and Britain in particular ,the two countries that made desperate attempts to save VP must be causing alarm among the nations like Germany which wants good relations with a rising nation like Srilanka which has had friendly and cordial relations for a long time.

The Sinhala community in Srilanka,especially opposition supporters must take notice of these open support of British government to undermine the peace and stability of the country that was achieved with enormous sacrifices of Sinhala lives.

V Kanagalingam ,
every comment you make in Tamil name. stop making any more nuisance