[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2015, 13:09 GMT]The Tamil political parties or alliances who fail to confront in
their election manifestos the Article 157A of the Constitution of Sri
Lanka, which was brought through the Sixth Amendment in 1983, are doomed
to fail the Eezham Tamils in their future struggle, commented Eezham
Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island in the wake of
UNP releasing its 5 points manifesto for the ‘United National Front for
Good Governance’ in South at the presence of Sinhala Buddhist Maha
Sangha on Thursday. As the Southern polity is preparing for the fourth
conjuncture of ‘state formation’ in the island through bringing a new
Constitution to ‘Sri Lanka’, it is critical for the Tamils to articulate
their refusal to accede their sovereignty once again. This time, it is
more important than ever to make it perfectly clear to all the
stakeholders in the affairs of the island, the activists said.
Tamils have a history of losing sovereignty to Portuguese colonial
conquest, followed by the Dutch and the British and not regaining it by
the end of European colonialism.
It was the British who
fundamentally violated the territorial integrity of the Tamil homeland
by merging the three units of rule in the island in 1833 (Colebrooke
Cameron Commission).
The nation of Eezham Tamils, which had lost
its sovereignty to external colonialists were made a ‘minority’ in the
unitary construct of Ceylon and later ‘Sri Lanka’.
The
constitutional reforms brought forward in the British Ceylon and the
succeeding unitary Constitutions of Sri Lanka brought by Sinhala parties
without the consent of Tamils paved the way for the protracted genocide
against Eezham Tamils in the island.
There were three
conjunctures of state formation in 1948, 1972 and 1978. And in all
three, the nation of Eezham Tamils in the North-East refused to accede
their sovereignty, on the grounds that the Sinhala nation was only
intent on establishing a unitary system of government that would
concentrate power over the affairs and wealth of the island solely in
its hands.
Again in 2015, the UNF's 5-points manifesto is
talking about “introducing a new Constitution” with “maximum use of the
devolution of power with everyone’s consent under a singular state”.
The UNP calls it a “5-points programme to create a new country in 60
months”.
A section of the TNA has already succumbed to this
‘non-descript’ agenda as evidenced in the ‘10-point Singapore
principles’ of 2013. These ‘principles’ also uphold the flawed Article 9
of the Sri Lankan Constitution giving ‘foremost place’ to Buddhism, a
clause that also has a direct implication in the structural genocide
committed against Eezham Tamils in their homeland as evidenced after
2009.
Eezham Tamils should also note that the international
backers of the UNF regime have been advocating a ‘non-descript’
solution. They have also been steering the affairs in Geneva,
particularly avoiding international investigations on genocide and
passing the blame on both the parties and by allowing time and space to
the Sri Lankan State to complete the structural genocide against Eezham
Tamils.
At this juncture, it is up-to the creativity and the
political wisdom of the grassroots centric sections of Tamil National
Alliance (TNA), the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) or any
individual candidate within or outside these alliances to demonstrate
the position of Eezham Tamils as the late leader of the S.J.V
Chelvanayakam did it by rejecting the SL Constitution of 1972 and making
the point in the by-election for KKS 1975.
The choices Eezham
Tamils make in the upcoming SL elections, whether to participate or
reject the election, or on the choices they are going to make with
regards to the candidates contesting the elections, should be based on
rational thought on the principle of Tamil sovereignty rather than being
oriented on emotional factors, the activists of alternative politics
said.
The outside forces intervening in the affairs need to be
told that they are not going to gain anything until they subject the
so-called ‘territorial integrity of the Sri Lankan State’ a matter of
condition based on the recognition of the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of the nation of Eezham Tamils in the North-East.
The
Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) and the Chief Minister of NPC Justice
C.V. Wigneswaran have been talking about the ‘minimalistic’ Thimphu
principle of 1985.
It will not be adequate to talk about Thimpu
principles without demanding the equal status to Eezham Tamils in any
constitutional framework. The prime hurdle in this regards is the Sixth
Amendment, which violates the territorial integrity of the nation of
Eezham Tamils, the activists for alternative politics said.
The
‘acid test’ being faced by the TNA, TNPF and other actors claiming to
represent Tamil interests will not be based on how they repeat the terms
‘Right to Self Determination’, ‘Nation’ and ‘Homeland’ in their
election manifesto, but how they defend the Tamil sovereignty and how
they oppose the Article 157 of the Sri Lankan Constitution.
* * *
The principle of Tamil Sovereignty as expressed in the Tamil Sovereignty Cognition of 2011:
Historical Sovereignty: The Eelam Tamils are a nation in the
island since the times of the earliest known documentary evidences,
culminating into having their historically and geographically defined
homeland, distinct language, culture and collective consciousness. They
have a history of losing sovereignty to Portuguese colonial conquest,
followed by the Dutch and the British and not regaining it by the end of
European colonialism. They have a continued history of democratically
struggling to share sovereignty with the Sinhala nation for 30 years
since the independence of Ceylon, the failure of which culminated into
the historic declaration of independence in 1976, endorsed by mandate of
the people of the North and East in the 1977 elections.
Earned Sovereignty:
At the failure of democratic means, another 30 years of militant
struggle impelled by state oppression, culminated into Eelam Tamils
earning sovereignty in a de facto state that was tacitly recognized in
an international-backed peace process in 2002. The Tamil political body
identified by the de facto state winning the elections in 2004 shows the
endorsement of Eelam Tamils to the de facto state that came into being
by Earned Sovereignty.
Remedial Sovereignty: The tilt of
balance against the de facto state ending in genocide is now indirectly
acknowledged by the UN panel report and Norway’s evaluation report of
the peace process, even though the word genocide is not used. An
explicit, intense, intended and accelerated process of structural
genocide in the North and East is now marked by occupation and rule of
the Tamil homeland by ethnically Sinhala military of the Sri Lankan
state; by military-backed Sinhala colonization for demographic changes
and deliberate gerrymandering of Tamil constituencies and by total
socio-economic-cultural subjugation of the Tamil homeland caried out by
various state agencies. This impels evoking the Right to Protect the
Eelam Tamil nation from annihilation. The principle of Remedial
Sovereignty is therefore applicable to the Eelam Tamils claiming
independence to protect them from genocide and structural genocide.
* * *
Thimpu Declaration - 13 July 1985:Joint statement made by the Tamil Delegation on the
concluding day of Phase I of the Thimpu talks on the 13th of July 1985:
It is our considered view that any meaningful solution to the Tamil
national question must be based on the following four cardinal
principles:
- recognition of the Tamils of Ceylon as a nation
- recognition of the existence of an identified homeland for the Tamils in Ceylon
- recognition of the right of self determination of the Tamil nation
- recognition of the right to citizenship and the fundamental rights of all Tamils in Ceylon
Different countries have fashioned different systems
of governments to ensure these principles. We have demanded and
struggled for an independent Tamil state as the answer to this problem
arising out of the denial of these basic rights of our people. The
proposals put forward by the Sri Lankan government delegation as their
solution to this problem is totally unacceptable. Therefore we have
rejected them as stated by us in our statement of the 12th of July 1985.
However, in view of our earnest desire for peace, we are prepared to
give consideration to any set of proposals, in keeping with the above
mentioned principles, that the Sri Lankan Government may place before
us.
* * *
Article 157A of the Constitution of Sri Lanka:Prohibition against violation of territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.
