Champika Ranawaka, a Sri Lankan parliamentarian and General Secretary of the Sinhala extremist Jathika Hela Urumaya, called for the “immediate supply of humanitarian needs” in Gaza and a “two state solution” between Israel and Palestine.
Five fold solution to Palestine-Israel war
— Patali Champika Ranawaka (@pcranawaka) October 18, 2023
1. Immediate supply of humanitarian needs and the basic needs of human beings such as water, food ,electricity, fuel and medicine to the entrapped civilians.
2. Immediate release of all hostages via international mediation. (1/3)
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, the hard-line Sinhala nationalist laid out his “five fold solution” to the “Palestine-Israel war”. He called for;
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Immediate supply of humanitarian needs and the basic needs of human beings such as water, food, electricity, fuel, and medicine to the entrapped civilians.
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Immediate release of all hostages via international mediation.
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Recognition and upholding of the "two-state solution " by all parties.
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Allowing the Palestine refugees all around the world which amount to 6 million to return to their homeland.
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Making Jerusalem the holy city a neutral city for all religions and worshipers under an international monitor such as the UN
His suggestions led to many users on the platform pointing out the hypocrisy of his remarks.
In 2007, Champika Ranawaka called journalists and human rights activists reporting on politics “white Tigers, media Tigers, leftist Tigers,” and said that
“If these treacherous bastards cannot be crushed by the law of the country, whatever possible method should be employed.
Of course, people will die. What can we do about it? Are you asking us to leave them alive? These are traitors to the nation!”
Even after the end of the war, he was known to make incendiary remarks. In 2012, Ranawaka responded to the calls for devolution from Tamil National Alliance leader R Sampanthan, by threatening,
“Does Sampanthan want to create 100 more Mullivaikkals.
One Mullivaikkal is enough. Don't try to get 100 more."
In 2013 he not only refuted war crimes but also downplayed the number of people who were killed in the final days of the Mullivaikkal massacres in conversation with the Japanese Envoy. He said,
“It is unfair that a massive campaign is going on against the country based on baseless figures of deaths during the latter part of the war. Had they [the armed forces] wanted to kill the Tamil people, over 11,000 hardcore combatants who surrendered to the forces could have been killed.
In the wake of the Aluthgama riots in 2014, Ranawaka told a reporter from Asian Mirror that “the Sinhala community will become a minority in Sri Lankan within a century". "It will take another 160 years to double the population of the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka,” he claimed.
Further, he echoed the misinformation that the Muslim population was rapidly increasing, which was actively being propagated during that time saying,
“The Muslims, who descend from Arab traders that settled in Sri Lanka, form the third largest ethnic group at 9.2% of the population and are mostly concentrated in urban areas in the southern parts of the country with substantial populations in the Central and Eastern provinces.”
In the wake of Israel's offensive in Gaza, in which thousands have been killed, several Sri Lankan politicians, including former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, have come out to express solidarity with Palestinians. Awantha Artigala’s most recent cartoon illustrates their hypocrisy when it comes to the Sri Lankan state's genocide of Eelam Tamils.
Cartoon courtesy of @awanthaartigala
