To the Tamil people

Violence breeds extremism. The power and violent hungry of the world want fanatics and extremism so that they can control us further, tell us what to do and what to believe. Scare us into thinking we need their protection, need them to make our daily rightful decisions for us. What we need is moderates - think about all the political killings we have witnessed in our lifetimes, who do they target? Who are they killing? Moderates. People who talk peace, compromise and keenness to stop violence. We need to encourage moderate views - not to be tricked through religion and morals, but the right to choice. I have grown up with a war all my life and I am sick of having to watch these extremists warp the life that I (and so many others) have the right to live.

"Children are tools to implement God's means" Taleban recruiter, Dispatches interview.

Look what we have done, look at what we have allowed in our short lifetime - take the Taliban out of Afghanistan, free the oil rich and regionally strategic land so that few may enjoy their lives in full. But then the Taliban move into Pakistan and turns it into a melting pot of extremism, so now we sit and watch as it turns on itself and it's own people. Once a strong contender as one of Asia's leading countries, now a tug of war tool between several hopeful parties.

We allowed that.

I have been feeling incredibly overwhelmed these past few months. I am torn between what to believe and what I should do. This war, our war, has got so completely out of control - there are people being brainwashed on all sides (2nd generation Tamils living abroad, Sri Lankans living in the south, Tamils in the East) I mean how are we supposed to find peace and resolution when we can't even get our hands on the truth? Why is something so crucially fundamental to our lives as humans on this earth, so unattainable? I won't even touch upon the devil's tool that is the media, and I am sick and tired of watching what few misguided individuals use as "news".

The fact is, we the innocent people of Sri Lanka - Sri Lankans all over the world (because that's what we are: irrelevant of Tamil, Muslim, Sinhala, Chetty) the fact is if we deplore apartheid and Rwandan genocide then we have to deplore the outrageous acts of violence against innocents in the north and east of our country, by BOTH the LTTE and the government.

I deplore the LTTE, I find that they are skewing the truth more so than most - they lie to their people and they shoot upon those who they are supposed to be defending. What kind of freedom fighters are they? I will never support them or their cause, because they are not true to their roots. I feel so sorry for the Tamil people, the real Tamil people who are caught in the middle, those who have just wanted nothing but to live a life that provides them with education, shelter, food, joy and freedom. Basic Human Rights.

The Tamil people in foreign lands, they have not asked these innocents what it is they really want - they are not for Eelam. They just want freedom. If the diasphora wanted peace (which they would if they would stop funding the guns that are shooting their own people) then they would fight for it another way. Instead they march to Westminster and put on a show of "solidarity" to shout about the genocide of the GOSL against their people. They wave the hideous flags of the Tamil Tigers but are they so blind? What word of their brother's and sister's who are shot by the emblem of these flags - the Tigers? I believe these protesters are just afraid, afraid that if this war ends, if the LTTE lose, then they will have to go back to their "beloved" land. And that is NOT part of their agenda.

I feel guilty. I feel sick to my stomach each day as I scour websites, news and hear from my friends and family back home - I feel this is my war, my fault that it is happening and my responsibility to change it. The Tamil people are my people. I am half Ceylon Moor, quarter Colombo Chetty and quarter Sinhalese - I am proud of my heritage and even though the history of my country is marred with violence and despicable acts of injustice against its' own people - I still stand as a Sri Lankan because as long as I am alive, I have the ability to change it.

We are not against each other - I am 29 years old and I know there are hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans around the world and at home who are in a similar age bracket, who all harbour a secret opinion about this ethnic conflict. We are the future, we are the ones who can make this all change. Let me send a question to the 2nd generation Tamil people - do you really believe all that you hear? Are you going to blindly accept what your parents, uncles and aunts tell you about who is right and who is the real enemy? Yes I agree with you 100% that people are suffering in our country and they should not be. And yes, you have a reason to feel badly done by - we have let you down.

But - BUT - do you honestly believe that the picture is so black and white? That "Sinhalese people hate you and want to annihilate you"? If you do, then you are too far gone and far too narrow-minded to want to change. Have you met real Sinhalese people? The Sinhala and Muslim and several other ethnic minorities (smaller than you!) do not want you dead and gone, we want to work together - we want to make it good again and leave behind all this death and destruction. Imagine what we could achieve if we decided to work together, as a team - to change the way our country worked.

I leave the ball in your court. I am ready to listen and want to work with you to make this change happen.