Physically Eliminated but
Politically very much alive
G.G.Ponnambalam (Jr.), General Secretary, All Ceylon Tamil Congress.
I have not had the occasion t
o meet the late Mr. K.Pathmanabha personally nor to speak to him. Therefore, this appreciation of Mr. Pathmanabha is. for that reason, limited.Mr. Pathmanabha was the leader of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front, a recognised political party of this country, which is fighting for the rights of the Tamil speaking people. Even though politically we might have our strong differences of opinion with the party which Mr.Pathmanabha was a leader. We say that no party can claim, even for a moment, to be the sole representatives of the Tamils. We do not subscribe to Divine Right to Rule Theory.
We, the refore, appreciate all the good efforts made by Mr. Pathmanabha and his party for the liberation of the Tamils from oppression.
Any party which has entered the democratic process has a right to voice its opinion, and nobody has the right to silence that opinion with a gun. Anybody who chooses the gun to silence political opinion or opposition only proclaims to the World his own lamentable inadequacy and bankruptcy to eliminate his opponent politically. To this extent, therefore, it could be said that though Mr. Pathmanabha has been eliminated physically, politically he is very much alive.
