The Theory of a Traditional

Tamil Homeland

in the Eastern Province is a Hoax

 

by

 

K. H. J. Wijayadasa

Secretary to the Prime Minister and

Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka (1984-1994)

 

 

 

 

1.0  The Fallacy of Tamil Eelam

 

1.1    The Tamil claim for self determination in an exclusive so called traditional homeland of theirs consisting of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka had originated in precise terms at the Federal Party (FP) convention held in Trincomalee in 1951.  This incongruous Tamil claim for approximately 1/3 of Sri Lanka’s territory and 2/3 of her coastline for just 2.25million (12.5percent) of the total population of 18million had been further elaborated in the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Election Manifesto of 1977 as follows:

 

 

1.2    “The entire island of Ceylon was ruled by the Tamil King Ellalan or Elara (2nd Century B.C.).  Thereafter, the island was ruled by Tamil Kings at times; and by Sinhalese Kings at the other times; for over a thousand years.  As a result of these alternation fortunes a Tamil sovereign kingdom called Tamil Eelam emerged as a clear and stable political fact at the beginning of the 13th Century.  The territory from Chilaw through Puttalam to Mannar and thence to the North and from there covering the East stretching to Kumana in the sough through Trincomalee and Batticaloa was firmly established as the exclusive homeland of the Tamils.  This is the territory of Tamil Eelam.  The prortuguese, the Dutch and the British captured it in turn and each power ruled it as a separate country till in 1833 the British amalgamated it with Sinhala land for administrative convenience.  In 1948, the British granted independence to the Sinhala land and the Sinhalese but not to Tamil Eelam and the Tamils.”

 

1.3    This is fiction of the most hilarious type.  Any student of Sri Lanka history will know that these are absolute falsehoods.  The objective of this paper is to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the Eastern Province was never the traditional homeland of the Tamils; but on thae countrary it has always been the traditional homeland and heartland of the Sinhalese.  The present day Sinhalese who constitute 74 percent of the population are the proud heirs of an ancient Sinhalese – Buddhist – Agrarian Civilization dating back to 2600 years of minutely recorded history.  Civilization is the supreme advancement of a people in the spiritual and material sphere to create verities of lasting excellence.  Many great Sinhala Buddhist civilization replete with magnificent Buddhist edifices, massive an intricate irrigation systems, marvels of architecture and city planning, highly advanced language, literature, paintings and other forms of art and sculpture.  It is this Sinhala civilization that provided the spiritual and materialistic advancement of the people of this resplendent island in perfect harmony with nature and culture; covering every aspect of life and every inch of land spreading from North to South and East to West and certainly not one of Dravidian or Tamilian orign as fraudulently claimed by the Tamil separatists.

 

1.4    May I invite any of the present day heirs to this so called great Tamil Hindu civilization of Sri Lanka to establish with authentic historical, archaeological, epigraphical, literary, linguistic, cartographic or any other acceptable evidence the names of the Tamil Kings who built Hindu Shrines or Hindu Temples comparable to the great Stupas and Monasteries in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa or the architectural wonders of the like of Sigiriya or massive irrigation works comparable to the Parakrama Samudra, or Minneriya reservoirs.  Further, according to many Tamil scholars “Eelam” means “The Land of the Sinhalese” having derived from the word “Seehala.”  So, Tamil Eelam means  “Land of the Sinhalese claimed by the Tamils.”  Incidentally or coincidentally, the Tamil name of the Federal Party happened to be “Illangkai Thamil Arasu Kachchi” meaning “Sri Lanka Tamil State Party.”

 

 

2.0  Why Create Exclusive Tamil and Muslim Ethnic Regions?

 

2.1    It is said that the solution to the ethnic problem is contained in the Government’s proposals for Constitutional Reform of 14th October 1997.  These proposals should be rejected outright by all Sri Lankans who are in their proper senses whether they be Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher or Malay on three fundamental issues which are irreconcilable and inalienable; hence totally unacceptable.  (a) Firstly, the Unitary State of Sri Lanka is to be abolished in favour of the creation of 9 Federal States to satisfy the greed of certain Sinhala politicians and the egoism of Tamil racists. (b) Secondly, this type of ultra federalism will destroy the unity, territorial integrity, Sovereignty, the long-term economic viability and the environmental sustainability of our small island nation. (c) Thirdly, the most dangerous and irrevocable step envisaged is the certain of two pure ethnic, linguistic and religious federal states in the North and East for Tamils and Muslims.

 

2.2    The proposed Federal Constitution disguised as a Devolution Package envisages the dismemberment of the Eastern Province and linking with the Northern Province.  In the Eastern Province the Muslims and Sinhalese constitute the vast majority of the population (58.6 percent).  Up to the British conquest the Sinhalese were the majority community and are even today occupying 52 percent of the total land area.  Appointing this ancient traditional homeland of the Sinhalese to the proposed pure Tamil and pure Muslim ethnic states together with the Sinhalese people who constitute 25.8 percent of the population in the Eastern Province, is a very serious matter indeed.

 

2.3    Article 127(2) of the proposed Federal Construction envisages the holding of a Referendum in the Administrative Districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa to enable the electors of these two districts to decide whether these two districts should be merged with the 5 districts of  the Northern Province, namely; Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavunia, Mannar and Mullaitivu, which have now been ethnically cleansed of Muslims and Sinhalese by the Tamil terrorists.  This is a conspiracy against the Sihnalese and Muslims of Sri Lanka who constitute 82 percent of the population (nearly 16 million); because the composition of the Tamil population which is only 40 percent in the Eastern Province, will under this ruse increase the Tamil population to 55 percent (in the Trincomalee and Batticaloa Districts) thus, ensuring the endorsement by the people of the merger at a Referendum.

 

2.4    Further Article 127(3) and (4) of the proposal Federal Constitution provides for the establishment of a separate Muslim Federal state for the newly created South East Region consisting of the electoral divisions of Kalmunai, Samanthurai and Pothuvil.  Inadvertently or deliberately or through ignorance of demographical, geographical and historical factors; Panam Pattuwa AGA Division which is 89 percent Sinhala has been tagged on to the proposed South Eastern Muslim Region simply because it is part of the Potuvil Electoral Division.  What a heinous crime this is?  It is nothing strange for 700,000 Sri Lanka Tamils; 1.2 million Estate Tamils of recent Indian origin and some 800,000 Muslims to remain permanently resident in the 7 Sinhala majority provinces.  At the same time it seems perfectly normal for Tamil and Muslim separatists to surreptitiously manipulate the power hungry Sinhala politicians to agree to the creation of pure ethnic, linguistic and religious federal states in the North and East.

 

3.0  Evidence from Recorded History

3.1  According to the Mahavamsa (The Great Chronicle) and amply corroborated by other historical evidence; Sinhala Kings ruled Sri Lanka from the 6th Century B.C. to the 11th Century AD from Anuradhapura and thereafter up to the 14th Century form Polonnaruwa.  Two of the biggest claims of the Tamil Eelamists are that two Indian traders Sena and Guttika ruled in Anuradhapura in the latter half of he 3rd Century BC for a period of about 20 years and that King Elara did the same from Anuradhapura for 44 years during the 2nd Century BC.  It should be understood that in the early Anuradhapura period there were 3 separate Sinhala Kingdoms located in Anuradhapura, Kelaniya and Magama and whenever South Indian invaders seized power in Anuradhapura the Sinhala Kings withdrew inland, regrouped, obtained reinforcements and chased out the enemy.  In the 1200 years from the annihilation of Elara to the beginning of the 11th Century there were only 5 South Indian invasions resulting in the seizure of power.  The aggregate period of South Indian occupation was not more than 100 years.  Therefore, the Tamil separatist claim that Sinhalese Kings and Tamil Kings took turns in ruling the country for one thousand years is nothing bur fiction amounting to fantasy.

 

3.2    In the 10th Century South Indian invasions became ever so frequent and Anuradhapura was ransacked and plundered many times.  Royal treasures and priceless Buddhist Relics were removed to South India and much of it never came to be recovered.  Intensive rivalries among the royalty became the order of the day.  In 1017 the Chola Emperor Rajaraja conquered Rajarata and ruled form Pulasthipura or Polonnaruwa while the Sinhalese Kings held power in Ruhuna.  King Vijayabahu I (1056-1111AD) vanquished the Cholas, reunited Sri Lanka and developed Polonnaruwa as the medieval capital.  After the demise of King Vijayabahu I, once again there was international conflict and signs of political disintegration.  However, the emergence of King Parakramabahu the Great (1153-1186AD) saw the reunification of the country and the ushering in of the golden age of medieval Sinhala civilization; hitherto battered by fierce and ruthless South Indian invasions.

 

3.3  This prosperity and peace lasted only till 1215 AD when one of the most blood thirsty plunderers from South India; Magha of Kalinga invaded the island with a large Stupas, Temples and Monasteries in their thousands and distributed Sinhala lands to the Chola followers.  A serious situation arose.  The Sacred Tooth Relic and the Bowl Relic were hidden in Kotmale.  Bhikkus began to disperse.  The tyrannical rule of Magha lasted 21 years (1215-1236 AD).  It was regained in 1244 AD.  Polonnaruwa was finally abandoned in the early part of the 14th Century and the capital shifted to the South West; being centered at Dambadeniya, Kurunegala, Yapahuwa, Panduwasnuwara, Gampola, Kotte, Sitawaka, Raigama and Kandy at different times.

 

3.4  The Portuguese under Don Lorenzo de Almeida arrived in Sri Lanka on 15th November, 1505.  From the early 16th Century internal conflicts and disunity in the royal family led to the disintegration of the Sinhala dynasty.  The Portuguese who embarked on a career of conquest ravaged and plundered the coastal areas.  King Rajasinghe II sought help from the Dutch to get rid of the Portuguese and finally the Portuguese capitulated in 1656.  Meanwhile the Dutch were involved in a war with Great Britain in Europe.  It spread to the East and finally  the Dutch capitulated to the British in 1796.  The Kandyan Chieftans and the British began plotting for power.  The King became unpopular.  Finally, on 2nd March 1815 the entire island was annexed as a Colony of the British Empire.

 

 

4.0     The Dismemberment of the Kandyan Kingdom

           

4.1  The Dutch maritime possessions in Sri Lanka were transferred to the British in 1796. 

In 1801 the British colonial government replaced the regional administration of the Dutch with 3 Collectorates  made up of a network of 13 Provinces.  In 1815 when the Kandyan Provinces were annexed by the British the colonial government continued to administer them separately and their boundaries remained unchanged.

 

4.2  The Colebrooke and Cameroon Reforms of 1833 resulted in the redemarcation of the

Island in to 5 provinces; namely, Northern, Eastern, Western, Central and Southern.  These provinces were divided in to Districts each consisting of several Headman’s Division.  There was no rationale behind these redemarcations.  They were arbitrary to say the least, fraught with ulterior motives and supportive of the repressive British colonial policy of divide and rule.  The most calamitous feature of these Administrative Reforms as far as the Sinhalese were concerned was the excising of large chunks of land from the outlying territories of the Kadyan Kingdom and their annexation to the narrow coastal areas earlier held by the Dutch.  For instance the major part of the present day North Central Province (NCP) then known as Nuwara Kalaviya (because it encompassed the Nuwarawewa, Kalawewa and adaviyawewa); the centre of the magnificent an unparalleled Sinhala Buddhist civilization for well over 1300 years from the 3rd Century BC to the 10th Century AD was annexed to the Northern Province; lock stock and barrel.  The present day Polonnaruwa District of the NCP then known as Tamankaduwa, which formed the hinterland of the great Sinhalese medieval capital of Pulasthipura or Polonnaruwa was annexed to the Eastern Province along with large chunks of land from the Kandyan Dissawanies of Bintenne, Uva and Panama.  Likewise, while the Western Province was made to extend well in to the Kandyan territories on the western flanks of the central highlands; parts of Sabaragamuwa and Uva were incorporated in to the Southern Province. 

           

4.3  According to Professor Kodikara “the new arrangement amounted to a dismemberment of the former Kandyan Kingdom.”  In the words of Mills it was “intended to weaken the national feelings of the Kadyans.”  Over the next few decades as population and economic activities expanded; new provinces were carved out of existing ones bringing the total to 9 by 1889.  Consequently, the North Western Province was created in 1845, North Central Province in 1873, Uva Province in 1889.  It should be noted that these arbitrary provincial demarcations as they existed in 1889 have by and large remained unchanged for very nearly 110 years (MAP III).  However, intra-provincial boundary changes have been made from, time to time increasing the number of Districts in the island from 19 in 1889 to 25 today.  Thus, it will be seen that the British provincial demarcation of the 19th Century were not based on a ethnic, religious or linguistic basis or or to recognize such differentiations in administrative or political affairs of the country; but, purely for administrative convenience and to weaken the unity and the social integrity of the Sinhalese, while furthering the British policy of divide and rule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.4  Professor G. H. Pieris an authority on the political and administrative evolution of The Eastern Province has made the following observations which shows that it was yet another historical accident and nothing further than that.  “However, in demarcating provinces and districts, hardly any attempt was made to draw from history or to accommodate the geographical realities such as natural lines of access, composition of the population and the development prospects of the different parts of the country.”  He continues; “In practical terms the main rationalization appears to have been the use of the best fortified coastal urban centers of Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and Batticaloa left behind by the Dutch and Kandy the capital of the subjugated Kandyan Kingdom, mutually linked by roads, as a means of gaining control over territory.  In establishing a uniform administrative system over the entire island and in sub-dividing it into provinces the British moved away form tradition as means of consolidating their hold over the country.”  The “Tamilisation” of the Eastern Province in the 19th Century BC to the 19th Century AD is an irrefutable fact.  It should indeed provide an eye opener to the Tamil separatist terrorists who are making a valiant effort to grab the lands which the British took over from the Sinhalese in 1815.  In fact the only agglomeration of the Tamils that has the semblance of corresponding to a provincial demarcation is found in the Northern Province.  Even there, the ethnic homogeneity of the Tamil population has been brought about by shameless and violent ethnic cleansing and the forced out-migration of the Muslim and Sinhalese population of over 120,000.

 

4.0  The History of Sinhala, Settlements in the North and East

         

          5.1There is overwhelming historical, archaeological, epigraphical, anthropological and

                 literary evidence to prove that the entirety of Sri Lanka including the Jaffna

                 peninsula was inhabited by the Sinhalese for well over 1600 years from the 6th

                 Century BC to the end of the 10th Century AD. In this regard Professor Karthigesu

                  Indrapala, Professor of History of the Jaffna University in his article on “Early Tamil

                  Settlements in Ceylon”  published in the Royal Asiatic Society Journal of 1969,

                  Vol.XIII makes 4 important statements which are as follows:- (i) “But, considering

                  he number of Tamil invasions and the number of occasions when Tamil mercenaries

                  re enlisted, it appears that  more Tamils came to Ceylon as invaders and hired

                  ldiers than as traders” (Page 47) [Note: that there is no reference what so ever to

                  Tamil Settlers]; (ii) “There is no reliable evidence in the chronicles to say that there

                  are Tamil Settlements either in the pre-Christian period or in the early Centuries of

                  the Christian era.” (Page 53); (iii) “Looking back on the whole body of evidence that

                  is available to us, we have to conclude that there were no widespread Tamil

                  settlements before that tenth Century.” (Page 54); (iv) “However, the majority of the

                  settlers appear to have migrated to that region (i.e., to the Jaffna peninsular and no

                  to the Eastern Province) in the latter half of the 13th Century”(Page 60).

 

5.2  According to the “Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon” by the 16th Century Portuguese Historian De Queyros (Book I; page 101) when the Portuguese first came to the island in 1505 AD it was divided into 5 sub-kingdoms; “that of Cota (Kotte) to which all others were tributary (subordinate) acknowledging the King as Emperor.”  One such Sub-Kingdom with a Sub-Ruler was Jaffnapatnam.  However, what is significant is that not one single inch of the present day Eastern Province belonged to this sub Kingdom of Jaffnapatnam.  Further, according to De Queros (Page 754) “the Portuguese expelled the Moors from their territories in 1626.  Senarat King of Kandy settled them in his Kingdom; 4000 were settled in Battcaloa alone by the idolatrous king” (much worshipped or most venerated.)  This was the origin of the large Muslim (Mukkuwa) population in the Eastern Province.

 

5.3  Phillipus Baldaeus, a Dutch missionary accompanied the Dutch forces which took the Principality of Jaffnapatnam in 1658.  He lived and worked there as a missionary for eight years till 1665.  We are indeed a fortunate to have an accurate an derailed description complete with a map of aJaffnapatnam by Baldaeus.  He says “Jaffnapatnam is divided into four provinces and is very thickly inhabited.”  The four provinces were Beligamuwe (Weligamm during time of Sinhala Kings and now Valikaman);  Tenmarachi (now Tenamarachi); Waddemarache (now Vadamarachi) and Patchiarapalle (now Pachchirapalli).  In addition, “the adjacent isles” and the “island of Mannar belonged to the Kingdom of Jaffnapatnam.  That was all.  The Vanni (save a strip along the Nothern and North  Western Coast) i.e., modern mainland Mannar district; most of Kilinochchi district, Vavunia districtas as well as Mulaitivu District and the whole of th present day Eastern Province were parts of the dominions of the Sinhala Kings.  Incidentally, “Jaffnapatnam” is derived from the Sinhalese name “Yapa Patuna:” Yapa meaning high ran king official and Patuna an entrepot.  Professsor Sinnappa Arsaratnam, a Tamil Historian in his study on “The Kingdom of Kandy; Aspects of its External Relations and Commerce; 1658-1710” (CJHSS Vol. 3 No.2, page 109) says “when the Dutch replaced the Portuguese in 1658 as the Maritime European Power the Kandyan Kings yet had on the West Coast, Kalpitiya and Puttalam and on the East Coast, Trincomalee, Kottiyar and Batticaloa.  Each of these ports served as the entrepot of separate areas of the Kandyan Kingdom.”

 

5.4  According to Phillipus Baldaeus (1660 AD); the King of Kandy at the time; Rajasinghe styled himself as Emperor of Ceylon, King of Kandy, Kotte, Sitawaka, Dambadeniya, Anuradhapura, Jaffnapatnam, Uva, Matara, Denawaka, the 4 Korales, the 7 Korales Matale, Kottiyar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Wellassa, Bintenna, Dumbara, Pansiypattu, Hewaheta, Puttalam etc.”  This is further borne out by the fact that Robert Knox an Englishman was capture by the soldiers of the King of Kandy at Kottiyar Bay in Trincomalee in 1660 AD as related by him in his book “An Historical Relation of Cerylon.”  So, we have enough testimony from a Portuguese, a Dutchman and an Englishman to the effect that the Eastern Province up to the 17th Century wsas under the Kings of Kandy.  Obviously, these foreigners had no reason to lie; for in any case they were not paid or intimindated by the Tamils of Jaffnapatnam to write fiction.  If there were “great-big” Tamil settlements in the Eastern Province at that time they would have referred to them in a fair and just manner.

 

5.5  The Dutch Governor Ryckloff Van Goens (has reported to the Dutch Authorities in 1663 that “the country between Waluwe (River Walawe in the deep South) and Trinquenemale (Trincomalee in the North East) mostly stretches East and South East as far as Jale (Yala National Park) and turns to the North and North East up to Trinquenemale. I have not been able to visit this District as it is entirely inhabited by the King’s people”.  Surely, King Rajuasinghe’s people were not Tamils they were obviously Kadyan Sinhalese.  103 years later in 1766 the Dutch Governor Flack with a mighty army behind him, forced King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe of Kandy to sigh a Treaty ceding to the Dutch a coastal strip 4 mile in breadth alone the whole of the coastline of the Eastern Province as well as parts of the Western  Coast.  So there is no question of the Eastern Province ever having been part of an independent Tamil Kingdom or a Traditional Homeland of the Tamils.  It has always remained (for 2500 years) a part and parcel of Sinhalese territory, the traditional homeland of the Sinhalese and the heartland of the great Sinhalese civilization.

 

6.0             The Origin and Expansion of Tamil Settlements in the Eastern Province

 

6.1  The origin of the Tamil settlements in a narrow coastal strip of the East can be traced back to early British times some 150 to 175 years ago.  Up to the end of the 18th century, the Mukkuwrs of the Moors said to be fisherfolk form South India lived amicably with the Sinhalese under Sinhala rule without discrimination.  It is an outrage that the tolerance and the hospitality of the Sinhlaese is now being exploited and Sri Lanka history distorted to annex the Eastern Province in which the Tamils are only 40 percent, to the Northern Province.

 

6.2  Percival in his book “An Account of the Island of Ceylon” written in 1805 has stated that “there were more foreigners in Jaffna than those who were native to Jaffna.”  These “foreigners” are the people who were brought from the Coromendal coast in South India; some of them as slaves to grow tobacco.  In fact, legacy of the tobacco boom in Jaffna is reflected in the 80,000 odd wells that are being used for irrigation in the Jaffna peninsula to this day.  The tobacco boom did not last long and these “foreigners” were encouraged to migrate to Batticaloa District.  This is the genesis of the Batticaloa Tamil (estate labour and tobacco labour) who are to this day considered to be inferior to the Jaffna Tamils.

 

6.3  Professor Kingsley de Silva, Historian in his book “The Rebellion of 1848” refers to a dispatch by Governor Torrington dated 11th August 1884 to the British Colonial Secretary, recommending that the Tamils who assisted the British in quelling the 1848 Rebellion be settled on lands in the Eastern Province.  This was repeated in his depatch of 13th October 1848 and was approved for implementation by the Colonial Secretary.”  (Pages 98 to 101; 111;112 and 115).  It is well known that the restoration of the abandoned irrigation network belonging to the great Sinhala Hydraulic Civilization  (which was destroyed by South Indian Invaders) by British Governor Ward in 1856 was primarily intended to settle Tamil families brought from South India as estate labourers for coffee cultivation and as agricultural labourers for tobacco cultivation.

 

6.4  It will be appropriate to place in record here that the Tamil separatist dream of a Tamil Eelam encompassing the Eastern Province dated back to 1885.  Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan has gone on record that the Muslims are ethnically Tamils and since he represented the Tamil community there was no need for a Muslim Representative in the Legislative Council.  His argument was that the Muslims are ethnic Tamils and that they were divided only on the basis of religion as Tamil Hindus, Tamil Christians, and Tamil Muslims and therefore constituted one ethnic group.  Muslim leaders notably Siddi Lebbe and M. L. Abdul Azeez objected to Sri Ponnambalam Ramanathan’s statement.  They wrote an article on the “Ethnography of the Muslims of Ceylon”  and established that they were of Arab and Moor origin and had nothing to do with ethnic Tamils of South India.

 

6.5  Knowingly and willingly and aided and abetted by the British colonial administration the deliberate policy of Tamilising the traditional homelands of the Kandyan Sinhalese was continued throughout the 19th Century which changed the ethnic composition in favour of the Tamils (55 percent) in the Trincomalee and Batticaloa Districts.  The Lushington in his Administration Report for the year 1898 (Ceylon Administration Report 1898, Part I, Page F-7); gives a graphic description of the unfortunate plight of the Sinhala villagers of the Eastern Province with particular reference to Kaddukulam Pattu Chief Headman’s Division;which today covers Gomarankadawala, Morawewa and Padaviya Siripura AGA Divisions; as follows:

 

6.6  “Kaddukulam Pattu Chief Headman’s Division; This part of the District is inhabited by Sinhalese villagers of Kandyan descent forming an outlying community which is; I fear rapidly dying out or becoming effaced.  The District is most interesting, being dotted over by numerous village tanks; some of which are restored and others abandoned.  The villagers retain many of the primitive customs of Kandyans; but, they are becoming rapidly Tamilized which is a great pity.  They are inter-marry with Tamils, and many of them speak Tamil as well as they speak Sinhalese.  Even the  government School Master is Tamil, and only that language is taught in the only school, and unfortunately in some cases the Sinhalese villages have been bought out by Tamils who now own all the paddy lands of some villages.  The Sinhalese have even given up their patronymics (names derived from their ancestors)  and have adopted the Tamil custom of prefixing the fathers name instead of the usual patronymic; and even the names of the villagers are assuming a Tamil dress.  This is perhaps no to be wondered at when the interpreters of the Court and the Kachcheri, the Petition Drawers, and all through whom the villagers have access to government officials can speak nothing but Tamil.  I must say, I regard this as a  great misfortune.  I should like to see a strong Sinhalese Headman acquainted with English appointed as Chief Headman of the District (later called Ratemahatmaya of DRO or AGA) and I should like to see the Tamil School abolished.”

 

 

6.7  The great humanitarian aspirations of this true blooded Englishman were fulfilled shortly after the 1901 Census when Kaddukulam Pattu Was divided into East and West and Kaddukulam Pattu West consisting of a large Indian Forest Service made the following observations (certainly not bribed or prompted by the Sinhalese) in Sessional Paper 43 of 1882 under the heading “Forest Administration of Ceylon”  (Chapter I Page 2).  The gradual spread of the Tamils down the coast especially in the East and the fact that nowhere except in the Northern Province and in Tamankaduwa (old Tamankaduwa stretched to the North East coast), do they form more than coastal settlements, are both striking.  Wherever the Tamil or the Mohomendan comes to settle, the Sinhalese is driven back to the forest where he earns a precarious existence by chena cultivation and by hunting.”  This is further corroborated by a candid statement found in the 1921 Census Report by S. O. Kanagaratnam, Mudliyar of the Batticaloa Kachcheri (obviously a Tamil gentleman) which is as follows: “The whole of the District (Batticalola District) was under the Kings of Kandy.  Sinhala Villages were dying out.” In fact it was to prevent this purge of the Sinhala Villages that a new Sinhala Division called the Bintenne Pattuw was created.  I do not think any further evidence is necessary to prove that the entirety of the present day Eastern Province had remained part and parcel of  the Kandyan Kingdom up to 1815 form time immemorial and that from the beginning of the 19th Century under British Rule the Sinhalese were driven out of their traditional homelands to the interior jungles and their lands forcibly colonized by Tamils.

 

6.8  Under the above circumstances who are these Tamil settlers of the eastern Province?  There is ample evidence to establish that there were no Tamil settlements in the Eastern Province other than a few coastal settlements up to early British times.  The British in pursuance of their policy of “divide and rule” and victimization of the Sinhala people deprived the Kandyan Sinhalese of their ancient traditional homelands inhabited by them from time immemorial.  The British encouraged and assisted Tamil settlements in the Eastern Province form the beginning of the 19th Century.  These Tamil settlers came from the Estate areas (Indian Tamil Estate Labour) and form the Jaffna peninsula )South Indian Tobacco Labour.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.0     Cartographic Evidence

 

7.1  In refuting the bogus claim of Tamil separatists that the Eastern Province constituted the traditional homeland of the Tamils; the most convincing and conclusive evidence is contained in the maps of Sri Lanka prepared by foreign Cartogrophers.  The oldest available map of Sri Lank, then known as Taprobane was by Claudius Ptolemey (CC150AD) (Map I Dennis N. Fernando version).  He divided the then known world into different Continents and Asia in to 12 Sections o which Taprobane comprised the 12th.  In his map Ptolemey has given the co-ordintes of 9 points and described them which included ports and citied, the 5 major rivers with their forests and mouths and several important landmarks such as Sri Pada.

 

7.2  Mr. A. Dennis N. Fernando in his analysis of the map of Taprobane (RAS Journal Volume XXXI of 1987) states that today’s Jaffna was not important enough even to be named in the map excepting the existence of an un-named peninsula at the northern most point of the island.  Further in Ptolemey’s map there is no reference whatsoever to the existence of independent kingdoms or political units in any part of the island. Also there is no reference to the Jaffna peninsula even in the maps of subsequent and 12th Centuries AD); even though the physical features of the rest of the island are well represented in them.  This gives credence or to the fact that there was nothing very much politically, economically or culturally significant happening in and around the Jaffna peninsular up to about the 14th Century when there are records of the emergence of a Sub-Kingdom or Principality in this area for about 200 years; over which the Sinhalese Kings exercised suzerainty at all times.

 

7.3  The map of Sri Lank of 1560 AD by Spanish Catrographer Cypriano Sanchez indicates that in the 16th Century there were 9 Principalities under the overall supervision of the Emperor of Kotte.  These 9 Principalities according to Sanchez were under the Imperial King of Kotte and Rulers of Sitawaka, Kandy, Jaffna, Seven Korales, Chillaw, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Yala.  All these Rulers were subservient to the overall authority of the Emperor of Kotte and paid tribute as determined by him.  This information regarding political boundaries is fully corroborated by the map of French Cartographer Sieur Sansen of 1652.  The first detailed map of the Jaffna Principality is that of Phillipus Baldeus of 1672.  This map (MAP II) gives clear proof of the fact that the sub-kingdom of jaffna was confined to the peninsula, the adjacent islands and a narrow strip of land from the mainland. 

 

8.0     The Hydraulic Civilization of Sinhalese in the East

 

8.1  There is universal acceptance of the fact that the Sinhalese are the heirs to a great hydraulic civilization unparalleled in the ancient, medieval or modern world.  The Mahavamsa of the Great Chronicle of the Sinhalese Kings who ruled Sri Lanka, continuously from the 6th Century BC to the 14th Century.  There is evidence to establish that the first reservoirs or tanks were constructed in Anuradhapura in the 5th and 6th Centuries BC.  According to H., Parker, (Ancient Ceylon, Page 318), Dighavapi (Diga; Long and Vapi; Tank)  meaning the long tank (located in the Eastern Province ) may have existed during the time of Lord Buddha some 2552 years ago.  King Pandukabhaya (437 BC) built Jayavapi and Abhayavapi and King Devanampiyatissa the Tissavapi all in Anuradhapura (245 BC).  King Vasabha (67-111AD) and King Mahasen (275-301 AD) were two of the greatest tank builders during the early Anuradhapura period.

 

8.2  J. E. Tenent in his book “Ceylon” – 1860; (Page 349) wrote; “but whoever may have been the original instructor of the Sinhalese………they attained a facility unsurpassed by the people of any other country.”  Tenent has further stated; that (page 430) “The stupendous ruins of reservoirs are the proudest monuments which remain of the former greatness of this country…No similar construction formed by any race, whether ancient or modern exceeded the colossal magnitude of the stupendous tanks in Ceylon.”  The Tamil separatists are fooling the whole world into believing that the Tamil invaders an plunderers too have played a role in these achievements.  This tradition of tank construction gathered further momentum during the time of King Dhatusena (438 AD) and King Parakramabahu I (1153-1186 AD).  According to C. W. Nicholas; (University History of Ceylon; Volume I, Part I, Page 355) “Surveys made in modern times for the restoration of ancient works have disclosed that the instruments they used were capable of the same precision as modern instruments.  Their contour leveling was exceptionally accurate because the fall in the ancient canals was generally one foot in a mile, though in some sections it was as small as six inches in a mile.”

 

8.3  The present day Eastern Province is dotted with thousands of village tanks, over a hundred major reservoirs, canal systems and transbasin diversion schemes lift by the flourishing agrarian civilization of the Sinhalese.  The lengths of canals taken off from the Mahaweli Ganga an Ambanganga alone in the East of the island are 132 miles and 197 miles respectively.  Each of the major rivers other than the Mahaweli (which was diverted at several places), namely; Gal Oya, Yan Oya, Maduru Oya, and the Ma Oya has been dammed and large reservoirs constructed by Sinhalese Kings; all of which have now been restored or reconstructed while improving their storage capacity as well.  It is an irrefutable fact that the South Indian invaders, who plundered our riches, ransacked our temples and destroyed our irrigation systems never cared to restore the abandoned irrigation works or to construct any new irrigation works.  The invasion of Magha of Kalinga in 1245 was the most venomous an destructive of all South Indian onslaughts.  Dr. Nandadeva Wijesekera in his book “Heritage of Sri Lanka” (page 52) describes the eventual destruction of this great Sinhala civilization in the Northern an Eastern plains of Sri Lanka as follows: “After the 12th Century the island lost a strong Ruler.  The vast sums of money spent on development began to weaken the strength of the land.  The invaders from Chola country drove the Sinhalese population away from their lands.  The dams that were destroyed remained neglected.  The situation was further complicated by malaria began to take heavy toll of the lives of the people.  Once populated an flourishing kingdom relapsed in to jungle which in course of year covered the monuments and destroyed the irrigation works”.

 

8.4  These great irrigation systems in the Eastern Province which went into disuse were restored systematically from the beginning of this century.  Among the major irrigation schemes, which have been so restored and rehabilitated under the able guidance of D. S. Senanayake, the Father of the Nation are: Padaviya Wahalkada, Morawewa, Kantalai (Gantalawa), Allai (Seruwawila), Rugama, Unichchai, Namal Oya, Kondawatuwana, Rurus Kulam, and Jayanthi Wewa.  In addition tow major rivers the Gal Oya and the Maduru Oya have been dammed and harnessed for irrigated agriculture.  These lands in the Eastern province owned and occupied by the Sinhalese for over two millennia have been converted to flourishing farmlands largely by the sweat and toil of the Sinhalese.  Therefore, the question of handling them over to the Tamil separatists on a platter does not arise.

 

 

9.0            The laws of the Land Cannot be Faulted

 

9.1 only a very few people are aware of the fact that the often quoted

Thesavalamai” Law or “The Customary Rules of the Locality” as codified by the Dutch in 1707AD are applicable only to the then Dutch occupied province of Jaffna which covered approximately an area to the North of a line joining Mannar and Malaittivu and not, I repeat not, to the Tamil inhabitants of the Eastern province.  This is clear proof of the fact that the original Tamil settlers of the Kadyan Sinhalese Eastern seaboard (a narrow coastal strip of the present day Eastern province) were of recent origin and were not the descendants of the Jaffna Tamils.  This is why they have always been and are even today subject to the Roman Dutch Law and not the “Thesawalamai” Law.  Moreover, the Moors of the Eastern Province are governed by their own “Mukkuwa” Law.

 

9.2 Even though some Tamil historians have made an attempt to trace their history to the

time of Tamil invaders such as Elara (2nd Century BC); the Long Title of the Thesawalamai Regulation No. 18 of 1806 clearly reveals; the not so ancient or even medieval origins of the Jaffna Tamils.  It reads as follows: “The Thesawalamai or the customs of the Malabar Inhabitants of the Provinces of Jaffna as collected by order of the Governor Simons in 1706 and promulgated by the Dutch Government of Jaffnapatnam or Eelam).”  So, the naked truth is that there was never ever a Tamil Kingdom of the South Indian Dynasty of Arya Chakravarti’s is any part of  the Eastern Province; the Tamils of the Eastern Province are not the descendants of the Jaffna Tamils; the Tamil settlements in the Eastern Province are not more than 150 years old and that these Tamil settlers from South India are occupying “Traditional Sinhalese Homelands” which had been inhabited by the Sinhalese for well over 2500 years.

 

9.3            Another diabolical falsehood that has been perpetuated by the Tamil separatists

is that during the time of the British colonial administration only Tamil Divisional Revenue Officers were appointed to administer DRO’s to these Divisions in the Eastern Province.  From the inception of the DRO system in the 1930’s there were three distinct types of DRO’s; namely, Kandyan Sinhalese, Low Country Sinhalese and Tamil speaking (to include Tamil speaking Muslims).  At that time there were 4 predominantly Kandyan Sinhalese DRO’s Divisions in the Eastern Province, namely Kaddukulam Pattuwa (where the Sinhalese population was over 90%) occupying around 52 percent of the total land area of the Eastern Province.  British colonial administration appointed only Kandyan Sinhalese DRO’s to these Divisions.  By 1981 these 4 DRO’s Divisions had been redemarcted and the number increased to 9; namely Gomarankadawala (99.6% Sinhalese); Morqwewa (55% Sinhalese); Kantale (85% Sinhalese); Seruwila (58% Sinhalese); Bintenne North (99% Sinhalese); Bintenne South (99% Sinhalese);Wewgampattu North (97% Sinhalese); Wewgampattu South (98% Sinhalese); and Panama Pattuwa (89% Sinhalese).  These DRO’s Divisions were redesignated twice as AGA’s Divisions and Divisional Secretary’s Divisions.  But, up to this day they are administrated by Sinhalese Divisional Secretaries and not by Tamil or Muslim Divisional Secretaries.

 

9.4             Not only that, the fragility of the territorial claim made by the Tamil separatists to

grab the Eastern province is further exemplified by the specific provisions contained in the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance of 1931 an the Kandyan Marriage and Divorce Act of 1954.  In terms of Section 7(2) of the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance all Divisional Assistant Government Agents (AGA’s), the Basnayake Nilames of all Devalas  situated in the Kandyan Provinces and all Trustees of Temples (subject to a n income qualification); form themselves into an Electoral College to elect the Diyawadana Nilame or the Chief Custodian of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy (a World Heritage Site which was partly destroyed by the Tamil terrorists in January 1998).  To this day the AGA’s of the 9 Kandyan Sinhalese Divisions enjoy this privilege.  This is one of the few birth rights of the Sinhalese preserved to this day; and I am sure no Sinhalese will ever want the Tamil separatists to take that away.

              

9.5             Also the Kandyan Marriage and Divorce Act of the 1954 provides for the

registration of marriages between persons subject to the Kandyan Law.  For the purposes of this Act the Kandyan Provinces and areas as described in the schedule there to include the large majority of the land area of the Eastern Province (52 percent to be exact).  Therefore, the Tamil separatist claim for an “Exclusive Tamil Homeland in the Eastern Province;”  is one of the most astounding and diabolical falsehoods of our time, and can only be compared to the Nazimyth of the “Greater German Homeland.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.0       Further Irrefutable Evidence

 

10.1        There is and abundance of archaeological, epigraphical and such other

irrefutable evidence as found in local place names and published works of foreign travelers to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the Tamil claim to the Eastern Province is an absolute falsehood.  The Archaeological Map of Sri Lanka of 1982 prepared by the Department of Archaeology lists 143 major archaeological and religious sites of the Sinhalese Buddhists stretching from Puhulmote (now Pulmuddai) in the extreme North East to Kudumbigal near Panama in the South Eastern extremity. The ancient City of Gokanna mentioned in the Mahavamsa and in Sinhalese an Pail literature is present day Trincomalee.  The ancient Gokanna Buddhist Vihare was located on the rock overlooking the harbour.  According to the Portuguese Historian De Queyors; Constantine de Sa; the Portuguese tyrant had demolished Gokanna Vihare to build the Portuguese excavations done by the Archaeological Department have revealed the existence of a Monastery Complex with Buddha Statues etc., dating back to the 8th Century AD, in the Fort Fredrik area; built by King Aggabodhi V. The Bodhi Tree of the ancient Gokanna Vihare which stood right in front of the present day Kovil was completely destroyed in 1964.

 

 

10.2        C. W. Nicholas, Historian and Archaeologist in his book.  “Historical

Topography of Ancient and Medieval Ceylon”  makes reference to the  great Sinhala Buddhist civilization that flourished in the entirety of the island including the North and the East from the 4th Century BC to the 12th Century AD.  Many are the cave, rock and slab inscriptions which refer to Cave Temples dedicated to the Maha Sangha, the great Stupas such as Somawathiya, Seruwila, and Dheegavapi, and the Monastery complexes such as Thiriyaya, Wwlgamvehera, Rajagala, Buddhangala and Dheegavapi.  However, the most disappointing piece of “non-evidence” as far as the Tamil separatists are concerned is that archaeological excavations in the Eastern Province have not revealed any traces of a Tamil or Dravidian Civilization that is said to have existed from the 2nd Century BC (Elara) to the modern day other than some small Kovils and Devales of very recent origin and the Shiva Devales of Polonnaruwa of the 11th Century a remnant of the Chola conquest of the Rajarata.

 

10.3  According to Dr. Karthigese Indrapala, Professor of History of the University of Jaffna, “the earliest Tamil inscription discovered in the Jaffna District is by a Sinhala King namely Parakramabahu I (1153to 1186).”  This inscription was found at the entrance to the Nakapusani Amman Temple in Nainativu or Nagadeepa and contains Trade Regualtions concerning wreckages off the Port of Uratturai or Kayts.  This goes to prove that the Sinhalese Monarchs were in complete control of the northern most region of the island an also substantiates the volume of shipping that passed via the Palk Strait.  There are a few Tamil inscriptions in Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee Districts wuch as the famous Welgamvehera Slab inscription;  but they belong to the South Indian Chola rulers who forcibly occupied the Rajarata in the 11th Century AD.  Among the well known Sinhalese inscriptions in the Eastern Province are: Lahugala rock inscription of King Dappula IV (934 AD) in Ampara, the Kadarodai inscription by the same king, and the Tiruketeeswaran Pillar inscription by King Sena II (835 AD).

10.4  According to students of place names, they (place names) reveal the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  Some of the very common endings of Sinhalese place names are; hena (chena); ploa (place); gama (village); vila (lake or pond); para (road); yaya (rice fields); and vella (sand).  In the Northern and Eastern Provinces; how the original Sinhalese place names have been Tamilized can be seen in the cases of: Thiriyaya (now Thiriyai); Valashena (Valachchenai); Potuvila (now Potuvil); Malwatta (now Nilaveli); Thambalagama (now Tampalakamam) etc.  According to B Horsburgh; CCS(The Ceylon Aantiquary, Vol. II, Part I,Page 24); the Sinhalese word Kalapuwa meaning lagoon has been Tamilized to read as Kalappu such  as in Madakalapuwa (now Mattaikalappu or Batticaloa).  Also, “gama (village) is derived from “grama” (in Sanskrit) and when Tamilized became Kamam or Kiramam.

 

10.5  Fortunately for the Sinhalese, successive Portuguese, Dutch, French and British travelers to Sri Lanka from the 16th to 19th Centuries have left indelible records to the effect that the Sinhalese Kings exercised suzerainty over the entirety of the present ay Eastern Province.  Moreover, these records do not speak of any Tamil settlements or Tamil homelands or Tamil empires anywhere in the Eastern Province.  For example, the Dutch Admiral Jois Van S;ilbergen landed in the Sinhalese Port of Batticaloa in 1602 AD and was taken to the Court of King Wimaladharmasuriya in Kandy via Mahiyangana and Medamahanuwara. Robert Knox an Englishman who landed at Kodiyarama in 1660 AD (Koddiyar Bay in Trincomalee) was taken prisoner by the Dissawa of Tambalegam (Tambalagama or Tampalakamam) and produced before the Sinhalese King in Kandy.

 

 

10.6  Another mission that landed in Trincomalee was that of the French Admiral de La Haige in March 1672.  Captain Nunclair de Lanerolle was sent on mission to Kandy by the French Admiral and the King sentenced him to a prison term for being arrogant and he later settled down in Kandy.  The Venerable Joseph Vaz considered to be the Apostle of Sri Lanka by the Catholics; who traveled widely in the Eastern Province has clearly stated that in the Eastern seaboard only the Forts were held by the Dutch and the rest of the area was Kandyan Sinhalese land.  Likewise, the British Mission of John Pybus of 1762 went from Trincomalee to the Court of Kandy with a view to negotiating a Treaty.  In fact “An Historical Relation of Ceylon” has described Sri Lanka as the land of the Sinhalese Buddhists from time immemorial and the religious fervour and patriotic feelings of the Sinhalese Buddhists, as most remarkable.  Strangely enough he has not spoken about any Tamil Hindu civilization or for that matter any Tamil settlements in the “King’s Territories.”

 

 

11.0       The Demographic Realities

 

11.1  Table I, Ethnic Composition of the Provincial Population of Sri Lanka – 1981; places on record the ethnic composition of Sri Lanka’s population as per the 1981 Census on a national an provincial basis.  The Sinhalese constitated 74 percent of the total population after being battered by repeated South Indian and European invasions, Wars, epidemics, famines an above all recent massacres of Sinhalese by Tamil terrorists of unprecedented magnitude and ethnic cleansing by Tamil terrorists.  The Sri Lanka Tamils constitute 12.7 percent, Muslims 7.3 percent and Indian Tamils 5.5 Percent of the population.  In the Southern, Western, North Western, North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces the Sinhalese constitute more than 85 percent of the population, while the Sri Lankan Tamils constitute more than 85 percent of the population in the Northern Province an now after ethnic cleansing it should be around 95 percent or more.  The Central Province and the Eastern Province display a  greater ethnic mix with 66 percent Sinhalese and 41 percent Tamils in these two provinces respectively.

 

11.2  Another factor worthy of note is that out of a total Sri Lankan Tamil population of 2.25 million as at 1996; 50.7 percent were living in the Northern Province, 21.2 percent in the Eastern Province and the balance 28.1 percent were living the 7 Sinhala majority provinces.  According to the Catholic Encyclopedia some 700,000 Sri Lankan Tamils are living abroad in the guise of political refugees; which means that the Sri Lankan Tamil population living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces has been reduced to around 800,000 or 32 percent of the total Sri Lankan Tamil population.  The point to be noted here is that the Tamil separatists are trying to grab nearly 1/3 of Sri Lanka’s land area and almost 2/3 of her coastline for some 5 percent of her total population now living in the North and the East.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

Table I – Ethnic  Composition of the Provincial Population in Sri Lanka – 1981

 

 

 


                                                                                                % of Total

 

 


            Province             Total              Sinhalese          Sri Lankan        Indian       Muslims    Others

                                                                                       Tamils           Tamils

 

 


         Western                3,919,807      84.7                    5.8                1.5           6.9              1.1

         Central                  2,009,248      65.6                    7.5                  19           7.5              0.4

         Southern                1,882,661      95                       0.8                1.3           2.7              0.2

         Northern               1,109,404      3.2                     86.3               5.7           4.6              0.2

         Eastern                     975,251      25                     40.9               1.1           32.5            0.5

         North Western      1,704,334      89.9                   2.8                 0.5           6.6              0.2

         North Central           849,492      91.2                   1.6                 0.5           6.9              0.2

         Uva                          914,522      76.2                   4.7                 15.1         3.7              0.3

         Sabaragamuwa       1,482,031     85.4                   2.3                 8.8          3.4              0.1

 

         Sri Lanka           14,846,750     74                    12.7                5.5           7.3              0.5

             

*Others” include Burghers, Parsis, Veddas and a small number of various other permanent residents

Source: Department of Census & Statistics, 1991

11.3       In the 1981 Census the Eastern Province had a population of 993,335 of which

255,843 of 25 percent were Sinhalese; 800,000 or 40 percent Sri Lankan Tamils; 320,120 or 32 percent Moors and the rest “others.”  This shows that nearly 60 percent of the population in the Eastern Province is made up of Sinhalese and Muslims.  However, the Eastern Province is predominantly Tamil speaking because the Moors with their origins in South India are Tamil speaking.  The Moors are a separate ethnic (Mukkuwas) and religious (Muslims) group and have consistently dissociated themselves from the Sri Lanka Tamils.  In fact the Muslims of the Eastern Province fear that in the event of a merger victims of the ethnic cleansing programme of the Tamil separatists which befell some 121,000 of their brethren in the Northern Province together with some 20,000 or more Sinhalese.  However, the Muslim extremists who are now demanding a separate Muslim Region should remember that some 70 percent of Sri Lankan Muslims are living outside the so called South Eastern Muslim Region and that you cannot have the cake and eat it.

 

11.4  The total land area of the astern Province is 9633 square kilometers.  There are 27 AGA Divisions.  According to the 1981 Census there were 9 Sinhala majority AGA Divisions covering a total land area of 4988 square kilometers or 51.8 percent of the total land area of the province.  The distribution of the AGA Divisions and the land area on an ethnic basis was as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Ethnic Majority                      AGA                            Land Area in

                                             Divisions               Sqr/ Km and Percentage

 

 


Sinhalese                                  09                                4988 or 51.8%

  

            Tamil                            08                                2999 or 31.0%

 


            Muslim                         07                                910 or  9.6%

 


            No Ethnic Majority                   03                                736 or  7.6%

 


            Total                                       27                                9633 or 100%

 

 

 

 

 


11.5  Three clear deductions can be made form the above statistics.  Firstly, there are 9 Sinhala majority AGA Divisions in the Eastern Province covering nearly 52 percent of the total land area of the province; without taking into account the lands occupied by the Sinhalese in the “no ethnic majority” AGA Divisions.  Secondly, there are 8 Tamil majority AGA Divisions covering 31 percent of the total land area of the province and of these 6 AGA Divisions where all three communities are found in almost equal mumbers.  The fact that the Sinhalese who constitute only 26 percent of the population of the province are spread out in more than 50 percent of the land area shows that for centuries the Eastern province has been the Traditional Homeland of the Sinhalese.  Also, in the Trincomalee District out of 9 AGA Divisions only Town and Gravets AGA Division has a Tamil majority (54%) covering 5.6 percent of the total land area of the District.  In the Ampara District, out of 12 AGA Divisions only Tirukovil has a Tamil majority (98%) covering 4 percent of the total land area of the District.

 

11.6  The only Tamil ethnic concentration of population of any significance in the Eastern province is found in Batticaloa District.  Also, it is only in Batticaloa District that the Tamil settlements have proliferated up to around 20 miles inland.  In the Trincomalee an Ampara  Districts, the Tamil settlements do not extend beyond 5 miles from the coast (MAP IV).  This corroborates historical evidence that these Tamil settlements on a narrow strip of land in the Eastern seaboard emerged in the 19th Century and the settlers were not Jaffna Tamils proper but brought form South India.  The unkindest cut of all as far as the Sinhalese are concerned is the proposed “gifting” of Panama Pattuwa AGA Division with an absolute Sinhalese majority (89 percent) and a land area of 954sq. km (which is 48 percent of the total land area of the Muslim Region) to the South Eastern Muslim Region.

 

11.7  The Tamil claim for a separate ethnic region covering the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka is founded on two false premises; namely that the entirety of the province constitutes the traditional homeland of the Tamils (brushing aside the irrefutable evidence that the Eastern Province has been and continues to be the traditional homeland as well as the heartland of the Sinhalese} and that this traditional home land of the Tamils has been colonized by the Sinhalese in recent times.  The 1921 Census has clearly brought out the fact that Kaddukulum Pattu West in Trincomalee istrict (present day AGA Divisions of Gomarankadawala – 99.6% Sinhalese); Morawewa (55% Sinhalese); and Padaviya Siripura (99% Sinhalese); Bintennepattu North (99% Sinhalese) and Bintennepattu Noth (99% Sinhalese); Wewgampattu North (97% Sinhalese); Wewgampattu South (98% Sinhalese)and Panamapattu (89% Sinhalese) of Ampara District were inhabited in their entirely by the Sinhalese.  The 1921 Census data affords conclusive proof of the fact that the large land mass of the interior of the Eastern Province was the domain of the Kandyan Sinhalese and a narrow stretch of land in the eastern coast had been inhabited by the Tamils and Muslims.  MAP V shows the location of Tamil settlements in the Eastern Province in 1921 (note the thin spread along the coast).

11.8  There is no denial of the fact that appreciable changes in the ethnic composition of the population in favour of the Sinhalese have taken place in two areas of the Eastern Province; namely in the AGA Divisions of Wewagampattu North and South in Ampara district and Kantale, Seruwila, and Tambalagama AGA Divisions of Trincomalee Districts.  All these AGA Divisions were and are exclusive traditional homelands of Sinhalese.  A comparison of Maps IV and V will show that the Sinhalese have not encroached in to the predominantly Tamil or Muslim AGA Divisions.  The major state sponsored settlement schemes that brought about these changes were the Gal Oya scheme in Ampara District.  The relevant demographic data shows that all these areas were either uninhabited or inhabited by the Sinhalese prior to the establishment of these schemes.  A comparison of the spatial distribution of the 3 ethnic groups as recorded in the Census of 1921 and 1981 respectively shows that there had been hardly and displacement of the Tamils and Muslims form their population concentrations in the intervening 60 years as a result of the establishment of these settlement schemes.  In fact a large number of Tamils and Muslims have been settled under these schemes.

 

 

12.0       Conclusion

 

12.1 The so called devolution Package aimed at resolving the ethnic problem,

ending the Eelam war and bringing about peace and harmony and contained in “The Government’s Proposals for Constitutional Reform” of 14th October 1997; will only aggravate the ethnic problem, prolong the Eelam war and create further ethnic, religious and linguistic divisions in the country.

 

12.2  What is contained in these proposals is not devolution by any stretch of imagination but plain and simple federalism; and federalism of a most virulent type at that; and to my knowledge not practiced any where else in the world.  These proposals are a carbon copy of the Federal Party Demands which have been roundly rejected on 3 occasions in the 1950’s, 1960’s and the 1980’s.  the PA nor the UNP has sought nor received a mandate to convert Sri Lanka’s Unitary Constitution to a Federal Constitution. 

 

12.3  What is being so brazenly said over the State media regarding the magical results expected of the new Constitution; especially that the war will be over; defence expenditure will be eliminated and a new era of peace and harmony, economic development and prosperity will dawn; amounts to building castles in the air.  In effect, if this new Constitution is promulgated it will divide the county in to 9 warring federal states, aggravate the ethnic problem, usher in a near of economic chaos and lead to political disintegration and ultimate separation.

 

12.4  Article 127 of the proposed Constitution provides for the merger of the Tamil majority districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee with the Northern Province, the creation of  Muslim majority South Eastern Region and a Sinhala Majority Ampara Region or a merger  with Uva province after conducting Referenda.  Sinhalese an Muslims constitute 60 percent of the population in the Eastern Province.  The Eastern province was ruled throughout history by Sinhalese Kings excepting for brief periods of occupation by South Indian, Portuguese and Dutch invaders.  There are thousands of Buddhist archaeological sites, Sinhala inscriptions and numerous irrigation works of Sinhalese Kings in the Eastern Province which will invariably be lost forever.  There is ample evidence to prove that during Dutch and early British periods there were some Muslim settlements in the Eastern seaboard; but the vast interior of the Eastern province was dominated by Sinhala Purana (Traditional) villages.

 

12.5  As far as the Sinhalese who constitute 74 percent of the population of Sri Lanka are concerned, the biggest threat lies in the proposed merger of the districts of Trincomaled and Batticaloa with the Northern Province thus creating a Tamil Ethnic Region and leading to the creation of a separate Muslim Ethnic Region.  On the one hand the Sinhalese, the Muslims and a large majority of the Tamil people living in Sinhala areas do not want federalism because they understand its dire consequences.  On the other hand historically demographically, archaeologically, epigraphically and cartographically, the theory of the Tamil homeland which may to some extent be valid in the area North of Wanni (i.e., North of a line joining Mannar and Mullaitivu) can in no way be extended to the Eastern Province.  Unfortunately this imaginary concept of a traditional Tamil homeland in the Eastern Province was pushed down the throat of President J. R. Jayewardene by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

 

12.6  Declaration of exclusive homelands whether they be ethnic, religious or linguistic will necessarily bring about tragic consequences.  If what we reap is what we sow; then the ethnic segregation we are advocating today will lead to ethnic separation, partition and even genocide tomorrow.  The two nation principle (Sinhalese and Tamil) that has been advanced by the Tamil separatists is a crude generalization.  In fact Sri Lanka has always been and is even today the land of the Sinhalese; because the vast majority of the population (74%) is Sinhalese while only a small minority of the population (12.5%) of the population is Sri Lanka Tamil.  The Sinhalese are heirs to a 2500 year old indigenous Sinhala Buddhist civilization while the Sri Lanka Tamils are heirs to an imported South Indian Hindu Culture.  In any case how can 12.5 percent of the population force its will on 74 percent of the population?  Moreover, Sri Lanka has provided refuge to people of many races; Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors, Malays, Burghers etc; If England were to accede to a traditional homeland for Italians living in that country on the grounds of ethnicity and religion an the fact that Roman invaders had occupied certain parts of England many moon ago; then, Sri Lanka may have to give consideration to the Tamil claim for a traditional homeland for Tamils in the Eastern Province.

 

12.7 A dangerous principle enshrined in the Tamil claim for a separate homeland is the principle of apartheid. It is the doctrine that racial groups must be segregated and must develop independently with out mutual integration or interaction. It should be remembered that there are over 70 million Tamils living in different part of the World of whom nearly 60 million are in the Tamilnadu state in India; said to be the original homeland of the Tamil race. The Tamils like the Jews , who created Israel are in search of a homeland to establish their pure Tamil state of Eelam. For our bad luck the Tamil Diaspora has chosen the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka is a very  fertile ground for establishing Tamil Eelam because of sharp ethnic, religious, Linguistic and political divisions; weak governments dependent on minority support; and the lack of human and material resources to match the flow of foreign aid to the Eelamists from the  Diaspora. Therefore the whole world should teat this separatist claim with the abhorrence it deserves.

 

12.8  The need of the hour is not to aid and abet disintegration but to provide for further integration. We must set in motion centripetal forces as against centrifugal forces. We must abhor all “divisive” forces and embrace only “uniting” forces. This is the only way in which we can achieve unity, amity, harmony and prosperity. My prediction is that if this Federal Constitution is thrust on us; before long all Sinhales and Muslims will be chased out of the new North East pure Tamil Region and all Tamils and Sinhalese will be chased out of the pure Muslim South East Region. The seven Sinhala majority regions will have to accept hundreds and thousand of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim refugees ,house them, feed them and  clothe them and look after them until we free those areas from Tamil and Muslim racists, abolish the federal Constitutional and revert Unitary Constitution.

 

12.9  It will be appropriate to state here that the final recommendation of the Mangala Munasinghe select committee of Parliament made firm recommendations on the merger of the North and East and devolution of power which reads as follows: “On the 11th of December 1992, Members of your Committee representing the UNP, SLFP, SLMC, CP, LSSP and independent Members Mr. K. Srinivasan, Member for Jaffna District, and Mr. Basher Segadawood, Member for Batticaloa District reached agreement on (a) the establishment of two separate units of administration for the Northern and Eastern Provinces; (b) to adopt a scheme of devolution on lines similar to those obtaining in the Indian Constitution; and (c) to devolve more subjects that are in List III (Concurrent List) or to dispense with the List.”

 

12.10    Thus, it will be seen that the dismemberment of the Eastern Province and the creation  of two Tamil and Muslim pure ethnic Federal States will not solve the vicious terrorist problem nor the imaginary ethnic problem.  It will only aggravate ethnic disharmony and pave the way for disintegration of the country.  In my view the most sensible solution to this problem is spelt out in page 11 of the UNP Election Manifesto of 1994 which reads as follows:  “It is our view that the political solution should not be detrimental to the sovereignty and territorial intergrity of Sri Lanka.  We reject the demand for permanent merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces or treating both provinces as one on communal grounds.  It is our position that the whole of Sri Lanka is the homeland of all the communities inhabiting her and also oppose the redemarcation of the country.  We support the broadest from of devolution, subject to land ownership and land use policy, defence, maintenance of law and order, administration and control of harbours and airports continuing under the purview of the government.”  This is the only way in which we can preserve a united and unitary Sri Lanka.  At the same time greater power sharing at the centre would maintain the equilibrium between the divisive “centrifugal” forces and the uniting centripetal forces.