![]() ![]() And lo and behold, the 1958 blood bath – a pre-meditated pogrom against the Tamils, instigated by Buddhist priests, carried out by Sinhala hoodlums, erupted throughout the island. Bandaranaike but warned that this abrogation may indeed still lead to a blood bath. ![]() Chelvanayakam in his inimitable style, smiling, told Stanley Soyza that he regretted the plight of Mr. I stand as testimony to this historic incident. The abrogation of the pact must have pricked the conscience of SWRD Bandaranaike he wrote a letter to Chelvanayakam apologizing for his predicament of succumbing to the pressures brought on by the Buddhist clergy. His letter to Chelvanayakam was delivered by Stanley De Soyza, then Finance Minister in his cabinet. SWRD Bandaranaike, in 1957 was nullified even before the ink was dry. I worked with Chelvanayakam very closely, and I was witness to what followed after the abrogation of the pact. Yet he was magnanimous enough to compromise the concept of federalism for regional autonomy and even went as far as accepting even regional councils and district councils. And quite rightly he felt deeply at that time it was indeed the panacea for the malady facing the country. SJV Chelvanayakam in his total sincerity and political vision stood for a Federal constitution. The failures of the “Pacts” between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, is a case in point, which I will proceed to elaborate below, to prove that the Tamils have come a full circle and are at a crossroads once again and if a meaningful and satisfactory end goal is not achieved, a parting of the ways is surely in the cards. This is typical of the Mahavamsa mindset and the root cause of all the political ills facing the island. ![]()
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