8/14/2019 Tamil Eelam-Why Independence

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19TAMIL GUARDIAN Wednesday July 02, 2008

COMMENT

But within eight years of indepen-dence, the Sinhala majority, using theprinciple of 'one-person, one vote' chosea government that made Sinhala theofficial language, instead of English.For example, Tamils had to learn Sinhalato get jobs, especially in the state.

Since then, the two largest parties(which are Sinhala-dominated) in theisland have competed for votes bypromising more and more Sinhalachauvinist policies (so called ethnic'outbidding').

In the late sixties and seventies,

university admission for Tamil youthwas sharply reduced, by declaring ourdistricts as 'privileged' and thus requiring

Since the Tamil armed strugglebegan in the early eighties, as a form ofresistance to racial domination andsubjugation, the island has been at war.

The way the Sinhala-dominated statewages its war to destroy the Tamil Tigersshows how it views the Tamils.

Against areas the government doesnot control, it uses indiscriminate, massaerial and artillery bombardment,blockade of food and medicine resultingin widespread starvation and suffering.

In areas the governmen controls, ituses abductions, executions, torture, rape.

The targets are Tamil politicians andparty workers, journalists, civil societyactivists, aid workers, etc.

The Tamils have been told by theinternational community that instead ofseeking independence by exercising ourright to self-determination, we shouldseek a solution within Sinhala-dominatedSri Lanka.

But the Tamils have had a long historyof being oppressed; sixty painful years.Our efforts to be accommodative, toshare power with the Sinhalese have beenrejected and we have suffered ever morerepression and violence.

The demand for an independent stateemerged in 1976 when the Tamil parties

united into the Tamil United LiberationFront (TULF). In 1977, the TULF won allthe seats they contested in the Northeastby a landslide, receiving a resoundingmandate for an independent state.

We have never abandoned our desireto be independent.

In 2001, the four major Tamil parties(which included the TULF and those mili-tant groups which gave up arms) againunited into the Tamil National Alliance(TNA). In 2001 and 2004, the TNA con-tested elections on a platform supportingTamil independence and won with land-slide again.

Since the mid-nineties, Tamils havesought refuge from the oppression and

the brutal war of the Sinhala-dominatedstate and fled to Europe, Canada andAustralia. In all these places, TamilDiaspora has continued to demand inde-pendence.

In short, the demand for independentTamil Eelam has broad, enduring sup-port.

With every passing decade, despite theferocious violence and repressionunleashed by the Sinhala state with inter-national support, our determination to befree, to rule ourselves as equals withother peoples of the world, has grownstronger.

In the name of equality and justice, weask for your support.

Why Tamils demand independence

The Tamil people are struggling fortheir right to self-rule in an independentstate, Tamil Eelam.

Our demand for independence is nomere whim; it has emerged as a directconsequence of a specific, prolongedhistory of racially-motivated oppressionand violence by the Sinhala-dominatedSri Lankan state.

For over sixty years since the Britishgave the island independence as a singleentity, the Sinhala-dominated state hasimplemented a series of racist laws,including a constitution (in 1972 and

1975) that places their language andreligion as 'first and foremost'.

Our demands for equality have beenmet by state violence and state-backedmob violence. For three decades, ourpeaceful demonstrations, civil protestsand hungerstrikes were met by policeand army violence, racial riots andever-more discriminatory laws.

It was only after three decades ofpeaceful agitation, that armed resistanceto Sinhala domination began.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka form a nationof people. We are an ethnically distinctpopulation with our own language,culture, traditions and history.

The Sinhalese of Sri Lanka also

constitute a nation with their ownlanguage, culture, traditions and history,distinct from us. We therefore considerthe Tamils and Sinhalese as distinct andequal nations. We do not considerourselves superior or inferior to theSinhalese.

The traditional Tamil homeland is inthe Northeast of the island of Sri Lanka.The Sinhala homeland is in the south ofthe island.

Until colonial rulers arrived, therewas no single form of united rule overthe island. It was only under the Britishcolonial rule that the different parts ofthe island were turned into a singleadministration, based in a capital in the

south - Colombo.The single state of (Ceylon, later

renamed) Sri Lanka which was givenindependence in 1948 is therefore acolonial construction. It is as 'fabricated'as those other countries which receivedindependence from colonialism withruler-straight borders and artificialgovernments.

As we are a distinct nation, with ourown homeland, we have the right to self-determination under the UN principlesestablished to end colonial rule.

Though as a nation entitled to self-rule, we initially did not seek ourindependence, but sought accommodationwith the Sinhalese in equality and justice.

Tamil students to score higher marks foruniversity entrance than students fromSinhala areas.

In 1962, the military began keepingTamils out, the beginning of an 'ethnicallypure' army: Sri Lanka's military is99% Sinhala. The army's regiments arenamed after Sinhala kings, which in theirmythology, defeated Tamil kings. Themilitary's rituals are Buddhist.

Five times since independence, therehave been big state-organized Sinhala mobviolence against the Tamil people: 1956,1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983. Thousands ofpeople have been massacred, many torturedand raped.

The most extensive was in July 1983,when at least three thousand people diedwhen Tamils in the south were ethnicallycleansed and driven to the north.

The consequence of sixty years of oppression by the Sinhala state

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please spend few valuable minute to know the REALITY of EELAM Tamils and their hardship.

Once you read this truth you will come know the real face of SRILANKAN Government. Thanks for your time and support. - EELAM TAMILAN -

Tamil Guardian