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Suppression of the Tamil
People and their Rights, including the right to self-determination.
BACKGROUND
"Two different nations, from a very ancient period, have divided between them
the possession of the Island: the Sinhalese inhabiting the interior in its
Southern and western parts from the river Wallouwe to Chilaw, and the Malabars
(Tamils) who possess the Northern and Eastern Districts. These two nations
differ entirely in their religion, language and manners." - Sir Hugh Cleghorn,
British Colonial Secretary, June 1879
"As to the qualification required in the knowledge of the native languages, the
Portuguese and Sinhalese only being mentioned excludes one which is fully
necessary in the Northern Districts as the Sinhalese in the South. I mean the
Tamil language, commonly called the Malabar language, which with a mixture of
Portuguese in use through all the provinces is the proper native tongue of the
inhabitants from Puttalam to Batticaloa northward inclusive of both these
districts.. Your Lordship will therefore, I hope have no objection to my putting
Tamil on an equal footing of encouragement with the Sinhalese" - Sir Robert
Brownrigg, Governor of Ceylon, 1813 Dispatch to the British Colonial Secretary
of State, Reported in the Tribune, 12 January 1956)
The island of Sri Lanka has historically been divided into two territories. In
the South there were one or more Sinhalese Kingdoms and in the Northeast the
Tamil Kingdom. These Kingdoms co-existed peacefully till they were conquered by
foreign colonial powers like Portuguese, Dutch and British in that order.
The Tamil people of the island of Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) constitute a
distinct nation. They form a social entity, with their own history, traditions,
culture, language and traditional homeland. The Tamil people call their nation
Tamil Eelam.
60 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE FOR SINHALESE BUT SLAVERY FOR TAMILS
1. Sri Lanka celebrated its 60th Independence Day on February 4th which
coincided with Tamils losing their basic rights and freedom to the Sinhalese
majority exactly 60 years ago.
2. Not surprisingly, while Sinhalese celebrate
their independence Tamils observed February 4th as a black day at home and in
Diaspora.
3. Sixty (60) years of oppression of Tamils forced
almost a million Tamil people to flee Sri Lanka and live in Diaspora LIKE
Canada, America, Australia, Europe, India and many other countries in the world.
About half a million Tamil people are internally displaced and live in temporary
shelters with limited access to food, medicine, healthcare, education in
Northeast of Sri Lanka.
4. Sri Lanka obtained independence in 1948, when
the British handed power to the majority Singhalese and left the Tamils' fate in
the hands of the Sinhalese. Since then all successive Sinhalese governments have
gradually and systematically reduced Tamils to second-class citizens in their
country of birth.
5. The enactment of a myriad of discriminatory and racially motivated
legislative acts since independence (1948) has made Tamils second class
citizens.
6. In the very first year of independence, a
million strong Tamils of Indian origin were deprived of their citizenship and
franchise rights.
7. In 1956, 'Sinhala Only Act of 1956 was enacted
by the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranayke making Sinhala the only official language.
Tamil was relegated to “Reasonable Use Only” status.
8. During the 1970 s university admissions were
standardized in terms of Universities Act No.16 of 1978. This Act effectively
shut the door to Tamil students aspiring for university education. The cut-off
marks for entry into Universities was reduced for Sinhalese students and
increased for Tamil students.
9. During this period, several pacts signed
between Tamils and Sinhalese were un-ceremoniously torn off by Sinhalese
politicians. The 1957 Bandaranayake-Chelvanayakam Pact was abrogated due to
opposition by Buddhist monks and the main opposition United National party led
by J.R. Jayewardene.
10. In 1965, Dudley Senanayake, Prime Minister and
S.J.V. Chelvanayakam leader of the Federal Party signed a pact popularly known
as the D-C Pact, which was never implemented and was abrogated in 1969.
11.A new Constitution drafted and adopted in 1972
removed the only constitutional safeguard for the minority communities
incorporated in the Soulbury constitution.
12.The 13th Amendment effected following the
Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement signed in 1987 became dysfunctional in the Northeast –
the very province it was meant to serve.
13.The legitimate liberation struggle of Tamils in
Sri Lanka is being manipulated by the Sri Lankan government as part of ‘Global
War on Terror' and brand the LTTE and LTTE supporters as “terrorists.”
14.Unfortunately, labeling of the LTTE as a
terrorist organization by Canada, US, EU and others have embolden the Government
of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to declare war on Tamil people under the guise of fighting
“Terrorism.”
15.LTTE has been fighting for the self
determination right of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. One cannot equate the
international terrorism and the Tamil people's liberation struggle. LTTE has
been fighting to ensure the self-determination rights of Tamil people in terms
of Convention on International Human Rights. This is not terrorism.
16.Sri Lanka is being governed by use of emergency
laws almost continuously since 1983 and the Tamils have borne the brunt of worst
forms of human rights abuses like abductions for ransoms, disappearances,
extra-judicial killings, shelling, bombing, cordon and search arrests, torture,
ethnic cleansing, sexual harassments and physical attacks.
17.The GoSL under President Mahinda Rajapakse is
relentlessly pursuing the military option despite pleas by the international
community that there is no military solution to a political problem. The
abrogation of CFA (Ceasefire Agreement) has plunged the country into a full
scale war. Sinhala racism – the claim the Sinhalese – Buddhists – are chosen
people of Buddha - is the underlying cause of the ethnic conflict.
18.For three decades the Tamil people worked
towards equal rights through the process of non-violent demonstrations, as
taught by Mahatma Gandhi and other ambassadors of peace. But their nonviolence
was directly answered with military force by Sinhalese dominated regimes.
19.Successive Sinhalese dominated governments
organised anti-Tamil riots on a regular basis in an attempt to subdue the
Tamil's struggle for equal rights. These state sponsored riots took place in
1956, 1958, 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1983. In 1983 the government organised a
massive anti-Tamil pogrom that finally ended in having an ethnically divided
country. Over 3,000 innocent Tamil civilians died at the hands of government
aided and abetted Sinhalese mobs, for no other crime than belonging to the Tamil
race.
20.Since the nineteen eighties over 80,000 Tamil
civilians have been murdered by the Sri Lanka’s armed forces. Scores of Tamil
cities and villages have been reduced to dust and rubble through constant
shelling and aerial bombardment.
21.In February 2002 the LTTE and the GoSL signed a CFA leading to peace talks.
The peace efforts, with Norwegian facilitation and with the blessings of the
international community, took place in the capitals of various countries from
Oslo to Tokyo.
22. Like all previous Sinhala regimes, the
Wickremasinghe regime dragged time without implementing the clauses in the CFA
and the agreements reached at the talks. The armed forces failed to move out of
people’s homes, schools and hospitals and instead declared these vast areas of
land as High Security Zones (HSZs) out of bounds for Tamil people. The
sub-committee for De-escalation and Normalization became dysfunctional. The
sub-committee created to solve immediate humanitarian needs of the people also
became defunct due to planned sabotage by the government.
23. The Sinhala government has imprisoned the
Tamils in their own land after closing its main A9 supply route. Having removed
their freedom by restricting their movement and constrained their lives, it is
inflicting great suffering on them. It has split the Tamil homeland, set up
military camps, bound it with barbed wire, and has converted it into a site of
collective torture.
24. Thousands of Tamils mostly in the east have
been forced out their homes and are languishing with disease and hunger in
refugee camps. More than 4,000 families in around Sampur have been driven out of
their homes to create High Security Zones.
25. The Sinhala government has unleashed a two
pronged war, military and economic, on the Tamil people. Tamil people are
subjected to unprecedented assaults. Arrests, imprisonment, and torture, rape
and sexual harassment, murders, disappearance, shelling, aerial bombing, and
military offensives are continuing unchecked. At the same time our people are
subjected to an inhuman economic embargo on essential items including food and
medicine.
26. A government that denies food and medicine to
the Tamil people and shows no compassion cannot be expected to give them their
political rights.
27. Globalization and monumental growth in
knowledge is taking humanity into new frontiers. Ideas, views and philosophies
are changing in tandem is resulting in changes in society. Yet, within the
Sinhala nation is refusing to broaden its thinking and take a new approach. The
Sinhala nation remains mislead by the mythical ideology of the Mahavamsa and
remains trapped in the chauvinistic sentiments thus created. Unable to free
itself from this mindset, it has adopted Sinhala - Buddhist chauvinistic notions
as its dominant national philosophy. This notion is spread in its schools,
universities and even its media.
28. The domination of this Sinhala Buddhist
chauvinism is preventing its students, intellectuals, and writers from stepping
out of and thinking free from its domination. This, unfortunately, is preventing
the Sinhala nation from undertaking a genuine attempt at resolving the Tamil
national question in a civilized manner.
29. Each time the government changed, the dove of
peace moved from one cage to another but it was never able to fly freely.
Stabbed many times, the dove is now struggling for its life.
30. When the LTTE submitted its proposal for an
Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA), President Chandrika Kumaratunge
government took over the reins of power citing threat to national security. The
Kumaratunga regime failed to implement even the Joint Mechanism (PTOMS)
agreement signed by her regime for tsunami rehabilitation. The Supreme Court,
unable to step outside the Sinhala chauvinistic notions, rejected this purely
humanitarian focused agreement citing the unitary constitution.
31. After 6 years of fruitless talks failed to
change the mindset of the majority Sinhalese. The CFA failed to deliver
dividends of much promised peace to the Tamil people. A just and reasonable
solution to the national question remains as distant as before. And on January
16, 2008 the GoSL mindlessly and unceremoniously buried the CFA. Since the
abrogation of the CFA at the instance of the Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP),
the floodgates have been opened. The country is now witnessing a full-scale war
(Eelam War IV) has broken out between the LTTE and GoSL.
32. The Rajapakse regime now hopes to decide the
fate of the Tamil nation using its military power. It wants to occupy the Tamil
land and then force a dictated peace to the Tamil people. Towards this goal, it
has escalated attacks from land to sea and air. It has given a free hand to the
paramilitary groups to kill at will. It has captured the east driving out
several thousands of Tamils from their homes. It is using heavy firepower and
launched large scale offensives to bring Tamil lands under its control.
33. The political accommodations and trust
building necessary to generate an acceptable political solution do not fit well
with prosecuting the war against the LTTE to a finish.
34. The Rajapakse regime, while perpetuating
genocide of the Tamils, is portraying the legitimate struggle of the Tamil
people as terrorism.
35. To improve his posturing as a peace dove,
President Rajapakse staged a deceptive ‘All Party Representative Committee’. The
Sinhala leaders have practiced this infamous political tradition of initiating
commissions of inquiry, parliamentary select committees, all party conferences,
or round tables to procrastinate whenever it is unable to face up to a situation
and wants to drag time until attention is diverted. Finally on the orders of
President Rajapakse the APRC proposed the full implementation of the 13th
amendment which is already there in the constitution. This tantamount to
prescribing aspirin for 20 years old terminal cancer.
36. It is now crystal clear that the Sinhala
leaders will never put forward a just resolution to the Tamil national question.
37. The uncompromising stance of Sinhala
chauvinism has left the Tamil people with no other option but an independent
state for the people of Tamil Eelam based on the right to self-determination.
A list of showing glaring human rights violations committed by the GoSL is
annexed (Annexure 1) to this submission.
ANNEXURE 1
(1) On July 09, 1995 St. Peter's Church, St. Peter's School and the adjoining
residential houses were bombed by Sri Lankan air-force fighter planes during
operation "Leap Forward". The bombing took place on the very first day of the
military offensive and 3 miles away from the theatre of war. One hundred and
twenty four (124) people were killed in the mindless bombing, including 65 women
and children some less than 6 years of age. The tragedy is all the more weird
when it was the Sri Lankan army that exhorted the people to take refuge in
churches and schools.
(2) On 22 September, 1995 Nagarkovil Central
School in the Jaffna peninsula was bombed during school’s lunch break by Pucara
planes killing 25 school children and 15 Tamil civilians on the spot. Of the 25
children 12 were between 6-7 year olds. Nearly 200 others were injured, most of
them students of the same school. Elsewhere in the area, 15 other civilians were
also killed in the course of the bombing raids. The scene of the attack was
visited by the ICRC. Pieces of human flesh were strewn around the area including
tree branches, making identification impossible. The total death toll later
increased to 71.
(3) On October 01, 1995 8 people were killed and 5
houses destroyed in Mannar when the SLAF planes bombed the area.
(4) On October 02, 1995 6 people killed and
another 55 seriously wounded by Artillery Shelling at Valkamam when SLA fired
artillery shells in the Valkamam area.
(5) On October 04, 1995 16 Tamil civilians killed
and more than 60 wounded in the Jaffna district. At least 8 Tamil civilians were
killed and 30 seriously wounded by artillery shelling from SLA camp in
Thenmaratchi. Another six killed in Valikamam and other two people killed and
more than 30 wounded in Vadamaratchi. On October 05, 1995 eight Tamil civilians
were killed and many houses destroyed at Thenmaratchi. Many Tamil houses were
looted and artillery fire continued to rain down on the 4th day of Military
operation "Thunder" in the Thenmaratchi area.
(6) On October 13, 1995 two Tamil civilians were
killed by artillery shelling in Vadamaratchi when the SLA fired artillery shells
in the Vadamaratchi area.
(7) On October 19, 1995 fifty-four Tamil civilians
killed and several others wounded by aerial bombing and artillery shells fired
by the SLA in the Jaffna district. 20 of those were killed in Valikamam and
another 15 in Inuvil.
(8) On October 27, 1995 twemty-five Tamil
civilians were killed 23 wounded at Ariyalai by repeated aerial strikes by
Supersonic planes! A couple married 3 months just 3 months before among those
killed.
(9) On September 7, 1996, soldiers and police
raped and murdered of Krishanthy Kumaraswamy, murdered her mother Rasamma
Kumaraswamy, brother Kumaraswamy Pranavan and neighbour Kirupamoorthi
respectively in Chemmani, Jaffna Although crimes like rape and murder committed
by men in uniform against unarmed and defenseless Tamil civilians were common
during the Northeast war, the rapists and killers of Krishanthy displayed naked
barbarism that surpassed all previous crimes. On October 03, 1996 Rajani
Velayuthapillai, aged 23 years was detained by the SLA personnel at Kondavil
military check-post on her way back from Maanippaii. She was gang raped by
soldiers on duty and her body dumped in a pit of an abandoned lavatory near the
Kondavil military check-post.
(10) On November, 1996 Thenuka Selvarajah, a 5th
grade student at Atchuvely Mahavidyalayam, was abducted and gang raped by army
personnel attached to Puttur army camp. Fortunately, the sexually abused and
psychologically tormented child escaped her abductors to tell her story to the
school principal.
(11) On May 17, 1997 Mrs. Murugesapillai Koneswary,
mother of 4 children, of Central Camp, Amparai District was raped and killed by
an unknown number of armed men in uniform at her home. The soldiers exploded a
hand grenade placing it on her private part apparently to destroy all evidence
of gang rape.
(12) On March 17, 1997 Velan Rasammah (38) a widow
and her sister Nalliah Dharshini (28) were raped by four army soldiers at
Thannamunai, a village 6 km north of Batticaloa.
(13) On March 22, 1997 the police opened fire at a
middle-aged couple in Batticaloa. Mrs. Mervyn Ockerz (52) who was shot in the
head died on the spot. Her husband Kingsley Ockerz (55) was seriously wounded.
(14) On April 1999, Thambiaiyah Suntheralingam,
23, was arrested and taken into custody by the army at Navatkuda. The Batticaloa
JMO who examined Suntharalingam on July 12, 1999 said in his report submitted to
the court on August 02, that the youth had been beaten up severely and hung
upside down and that his head had been covered with a plastic bag containing
petrol and chilli powder during his detention at the military intelligence camp
located in the former tooth powder factory building at Lake Road 2 in Batticaloa
town. The DMO also stated in his report that the youth's head had been banged
repeatedly on a wall for ten days while he was held at the camp of the Counter
Subversive Unit (CSU) in Batticaloa town and that as a result his eardrums had
burst and bled severely.
(15) On July 13, 1999 Sithamparapillai
Kanakanayakam, 27, of Kokkaddicholai, 16 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa, was
arrested by the army while he was visiting relatives in Kallady, a suburb of
Batticaloa town. He too was detained at the same military intelligence camp and
later at the CSU camp. He was then transferred to Batticaloa and Kalutara
prisons.
(16) The Assistant JMO for Colombo
Dr.S.Sivasubramaniam who examined Kanakanayakam on December 15, 1999 states in
his report to the court that the youth had been beaten up severely with wires
and plastic pipes and his head had been covered with a plastic bag containing
petrol fumes and chilli powder and that his head had also been repeatedly
submerged into water and held until he choked.
(17) On December 28, 1999 Sarathamabal, 29, was
gang-raped and murdered in Punguduthivu in Jaffna by Sri Lanka Navy personnel.
The CID last week said that there was no evidence to continue the case.
(18) On 12 July 1999 a young woman, Ida Kamaleeta,
21, was raped and murdered in Pallimunai, a suburb of Mannar town by SLA
soldiers. Seven soldiers were accused and the case is still pending.
(19) On March 9, 2000 Thirumeni Sunthararajah (24)
and Suntharaligam Subendran (23) were shot dead by the Vellaveli STF lying in
ambush. when they were going to Mandoor to bid farewell to their relatives
before they travelled abroad for employment. The government falsely claimed that
both of them were members of the LTTE.
(20) On May 03, 2000 the day the new emergency
regulations were gazetted 45-year-old Thangaiyah Sivapooranam from Wattala,
Colombo was taken away by three people in civil dress who identified themselves
as officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the police. Following
day, his body was found at Kadawatha, together with three other bodies, whose
identities remain unknown. There were five gunshot injuries, including one to
his forehead, suggesting he may have been summarily executed. Between June 21 -
27, 2000 Yogalingam Vijitha a 27-year-old Tamil woman from Kayts, Jaffna was
tortured and raped with a plantain tree flower (hard cone-like, approximately
8-inch long) while in detention at the Negombo.
(21) On June 24, 2000 Velu Arshadevi, a Tamil
woman of Indian origin, who was living in a boarding house in Colombo, was raped
by three policemen.
(22) On July 19, 2000 the Batticaloa High Court
released two Tamil youths who had been tortured by the SLA while in detention
under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The state counsel said that the Attorney
General is withdrawing the cases against them and another youth as Senior
Superintendent of Police, Bandula Kumara, the chief witness had died.
(23) On May 9, 2000 a 70 year old woman Poomani
Saravanai of Neerveli, Jaffna was raped by soldiers of the SLA in front of her
32 year old son. The woman wrote a letter to Joseph Pararajasingham, MP
narrating her ordeal at the hands of the thugs in khaki uniform. The MP read out
the letter in Parliament and took the opportunity to inform Parliament that
about 1, 500 Tamils arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act are still
languishing in prisons without trial.
(24) On June 24, 2000 (Saturday), two men from
Kalmadhu refugee camp in Valaichenai, who were on their way to go fishing in
Punaanai lagoon early morning, were killed when Sri Lanka Army soldiers opened
fire, said survivors of the incident. Witnesses said an SLA ambush unit hiding
behind bushes fired at them, killing their two colleagues, Sinnathamby
Selvarajah, 28 and Kanthavanam Mangalan, 30.
(25) On 13th July, 2000 a student named
Somasunderam Sanjeevan schooling at Jaffna Hindu College was shot dead by the
armed forces. Sanjeevan was returning home after playing football at the college
grounds. The armed forces claimed that the deceased was a suspected Tiger and he
was collecting funds for the LTTE. The parents have strongly refuted these
frivolous charges.
(26) On July 14 (Monday), 2000 Palanithamby
Sambasivam, 16, and Thevaraj Gnanaesh, 16, both from Naasevanthivu were
returning home from the annual festival of the Maylankarachchai Mariamman
temple. They were shot dead by soldiers who were lying in ambush at Kaddumurivu,
according to villagers. Kaddumurivu is a hamlet situated between
Maylankarachchai and Naasevanthivu.
(27) On July 15, 2000 a female student from Alvai
in the Jaffna peninsula was gang raped by two soldiers attached to the Gajabahu
regiment. She was later admitted to Manthikai hospital.
(28) October 25, 2000 Sinhalese mob stormed the
detention facility at Bindunuwewa close to Bandarawela. In spite of the presence
of armed police, the mob killed 27 of the inmates, hacking and clubbing them to
death. Some victims were burned to death. The remaining 14 detainees were
seriously injured.
(29) More than 61 schoolgirls were killed and 150
wounded when Sri Lankan Kfir jets bombed a children's home compound in
Mullaitivu district Monday morning where schoolgirls from Mullaithivu district
were attending a two-day residential course on first aid. Officials of the
Liberation Tigers’ Peace Secretariat, briefing reporters in Kilinochchi,
described the attack as “a horrible act of terror” by the Sri Lankan armed
forces. They condemned the “deliberate, cold-blooded and inhumane” targeting of
the schoolgirls compound by the daylight air raid. Liberation Tigers called upon
the UN’s child agency, UNICEF, and international truce monitors to visit the
scene of the carnage.
(30) On January 29, a claymore-mine attack by the
army’s Deep Penetration Unit (DOU) killed at Paalamadu in Mannar killed 20
school students returning from a sports meet and injured 20.
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