Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam's (TGTE) Special Parliament Session's Statement on August 5, 2020 Sri Lanka Parliamentary Elections

NEW YORK, USA, August 4, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ --

Transnational Government's Special Session of Parliament's Statement on the August 5, 2020's Sri Lankan Parliamentary Elections.

Even if the party of the Rajapakshes fails to secure two-thirds of the seats in Parliament from Wednesday’s elections, the Sinhala parties combined will nevertheless have a two-thirds majority.

History shows how this Sinhala super majority is used against Tamils. Sinhala rulers have succeeded in adopting the Citizenship Act, the Sinhala Only Act, the Anti-Terrorism Act, and many other anti-Tamil Acts, even while there were Tamil representatives in Parliament. Because of the numbers, Tamils were unable to stop them from passing.

Parliament’s domination by non-Tamils also trumps rank. There have been ministers from the Tamil community, and Tamils have twice been opposition leaders; Yet, they could do nothing in the interests of Tamils due to parliamentary makeup. Sidelines Tamil concerns, and Tamils cannot achieve anything by going to Parliament.

The UN Expert Panel on Accountability in Sri Lanka appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted in its report that the real or perceived exclusion of Tamils from the political process was one of the main reasons for the conflict.

Sri Lanka is not a democracy, but rather an ethnocracy. Its political institutions are rigidly entrenched with deep-rooted Sinhala Buddhist supremacism. Tamils have never been and could never be in a position powerful enough amid the parliamentary politics of Sri Lanka to achieve their rights.

In view of the above, the question arises as to why Tamils need to contest this election. While this question is legitimate, engaging in the upcoming parliamentary elections is necessary for two tactical reasons:

The first reason is that even though no solution to the Tamil national question can be found in the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Parliament can be used as a platform and forum to demonstrate Tamil political aspirations. The parliamentary floor and status as a Member of Parliament can be used to communicate the Tamil calls for international justice and freedom with the international community.

The second reason is if individuals/parties subscribed to the Tamil National Rights failed to contest the election, a situation will arise where the Sri Lankan Sinhala parties and their cronies will go to the parliament as Tamil representatives. This must be avoided.

Some political commentators have expressed apprehension that the coming election could cause division in the Tamil national landscape along the lines of religion and caste. We believe that Tamil national liberation politics will transcend all such divisions. Liberation politics is not vote bank politics.In 1985, the Tamil national question shifted past Colombo to Thimpu. It later shifted from Thimpu to Thailand, Geneva, Norway, Germany, and Switzerland toward the global political space. Therefore, Tamils should elect representatives who will take forth our national political aspiration as a principle and activity on the international plane.

These elected representatives should reflect the following Tamil political aspirations:

** The Tamil national question can only be solved through a joint referendum of Tamils residing in the Tamil Homeland and the Tamil Diaspora to assert the political aspirations of the Eelam Tamils. The fact that the above has been incorporated in the positions of Mr. Gajendrakumar’s Tamil National People Front and in the Tamil People National Front headed by former Justice, former Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran gives us hope and enthusiasm.

** The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam Parliament adopted a resolution in 2014 proposing a referendum as a mechanism for solving the Tamil national question and built a people’s movement, namely “Yes to Referendum” _People’s Movement in 2018.

++ Just this past June, an international experts group launched the international educational campaign “Stop Fighting Start Voting,” emphasizing that “The People have the right to self-determination and governments must respect this right…” and the critical role of direct democracy (i.e. a referendum) in exercising this right. The campaign features the plights of Tamils from Sri Lanka and the people of Hong Kong, among others.

++ The political and military leaders of Sri Lanka should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be tried for the offences of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

** In his report, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights characterized the international crimes committed in Sri Lanka as “systemic crimes”. These crimes were committed against Tamils by the State of Sri Lanka. Thus, the Tamil representatives should endeavor to bring the State of Sri Lanka before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the Convention on the Prevention of Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

** Tamil representatives should engage in activities on the international plane to strengthen the Tamil Liberation Struggle.

** Should be capable of building of Tamil Nation Structure, in the homeland.


POTENTIAL SCENARIOS AFTER THE ELECTION:

While domestically the Sri Lankan rulers would be trying to drown the Tamil national identity in the nomenclature of “a Sri Lankan,” internationally, they are likely to adopt a position of compromise in their foreign policy as a tactic in keeping international powers at bay.

The elected Tamil representatives will have an obligation to counter those tactics. Engaging with the international powers for our rights is not that awakening on who is asleep, but awakening one who is pretending to sleep. The Tamil representatives should act on this understanding.

The Tamil representatives, while demonstrating that they are aware of those powers’ positions, should have the diplomatic finesse in identifying a position where the interest of those powers and the Tamil national interests could meet, rather than sacrificing the Tamil interests in the name of “conciliatory politics.”

As the Tamil national leader said, for any political move, power is essential. Thus, the people should elect representatives who have the diplomatic skills necessary to engage in politics in the international arena and have the capability to mobilize the people’s power.

Once the election is over, the nation of Tamils ought to make giant strides forward in political activism. Without sinking our heads under the illusions of Sri Lanka’s poll politics, a broad Tamil national movement should be built up so that we may stand tall as a nation. The Tamil representatives should take the initiative in this direction.


ABOUT THE TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL EELAM (TGTE):

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is a democratically elected Government of over a million strong Tamils (from the island of Sri Lanka) living in several countries around the world.

TGTE was formed after the mass killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government in 2009.

TGTE thrice held internationally supervised elections among Tamils around the world to elect 132 Members of Parliament. It has two chambers of Parliament: The House of Representatives and the Senate and also a Cabinet.

TGTE is leading a campaign to realize the political aspirations of Tamils through peaceful, democratic, and diplomatic means and its Constitution mandates that it should realize its political objectives only through peaceful means. It’s based on the principles of nationhood, homeland and self-determination.

TGTE seeks that the international community hold the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Tamil people to account. TGTE calls for a referendum to decide the political future of Tamils.

The Prime Minister of TGTE is Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a New York based lawyer.

Twitter: @TGTE_PMO
Email: pmo@tgte.org
Web: www.tgte-us.org

BACKGROUND

Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka faced repeated mass killings in 1958, 1977, and 1983 and the mass killings in 2009 prompted UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to appoint a Panel of Experts to report on the scale of the killings.

According to UN internal review report on Sri Lanka, over 70 thousand Tamils were killed in six months in early 2009 and Tamil women were sexually assaulted and raped by the Sri Lankan Security forces. A report by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) published details of Sri Lankan Military run "Rape Camps", where Tamil women are being held as sex slaves. There are over 90,000 Tamil war widows and thousands of Tamils disappeared due the conflict.

According to this UN report, the killings and other abuses that took place amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Independent experts believe that there are elements of these abuses that constitute an act of genocide.

Members of the Sri Lankan security forces are almost exclusively from the Sinhalese community and the victims are all from the Tamil community. A Buddhist Monk shot and killed a Sri Lankan Prime Minister 1959 for having talks with Tamils.

Tamils overwhelmingly voted in a Parliamentary election in 1977 to establish an independent and sovereign country called Tamil Eelam. This Parliamentary election was conducted by the Sri Lankan Government.

Parliament
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)
+1 614-202-3377
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter