Who Is Going To Protect The Lives Of Tamils In Sri Lanka?

By Kumarathasan Rasingam –MAY 19, 2019

Kumarathasan Rasingam

The Easter Sunday serial bomb blasts in the Churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa took away the lives of 253, most of the affected victims are Tamil Christians because it was targeted during the Mass in Tamil Language in the three Churches.

Even though the Sri Lankan Governments Police high ups were well informed in advance by the Indian Intelligence no one took this matter seriously, the Government ignored it perhaps intentionally because it knows the victims are going to be Tamil Christians. Now the President is blaming the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister is blaming the President and the leader of the opposition is blaming both.

Now the police and military are given more powers under Emergency Law, the alien Sinhalese Police and military will do havoc to the Tamils in the North and East and will terrorize the Tamils and may take revenge against the protesters who protested against the military who are occupying their lands. The draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act and newly implemented Emergency Laws, impunity to the Armed forces will give a free hand to terrorise the victimised Tamils who are protesting and agitating for justice and accountability. The arrest of the leader and the secretary to the University Students Union in Jaffna is going to make the situation worse in the North of Sri Lanka.

It is to be noted that the Tamil youths in the North took arms after peaceful talks, non-violent protests, and adding fuel to the fire the Standardization in education Law IN 1971 where Tamils students denied admission to universities. In addition, the burning down of the Jaffna Public Library in 1981, which was one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th century. At that time of its destruction the library was one of the biggest library in Asia containing 97,000 books and rare manuscripts.
The state sponsored pogroms against the Tamils in July 1983 [BLACK JULY] where Tamils were targeted and all over the island and their properties looted and burnt.

The Government of Sri Lanka will definitely delay the implementation of the UNHRC Resolutions citing this as an excuse leaving the victims of war with growing pain and frustration.

The Sri Lankan government’s refusal to negotiate seriously with Tamil leaders or otherwise address legitimate Tamil and Muslim grievances is increasing ethnic tensions and damaging prospects for lasting peace. The administration, led by the United National Party  has refused to honour agreements with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), broken promises to world leaders and not implemented constitutional provisions for minimal devolution of power to Tamil-speaking areas of the north and east. Militarisation and discriminatory economic development in Tamil and Muslim areas are breeding anger and increasing pressure on moderate Tamil leaders.

The de facto military occupation of the Northern Province and biased economic development policies appear designed to undermine Tamils’ ability to claim the north and east as their homeland. For many Tamils, this confirms their long-held belief that it was only the LTTE’s guns that placed their concerns and need for power sharing on the political agenda. In the face of the government’s resistance to a fair and negotiated settlement, TNA leaders have come under increasing pressure from their constituencies to adopt more confrontational language and tactics. Growing demands for the right to self-determination for the Tamil nation and hints that separatist goals have not been permanently abandoned have, in turn, provoked harsh reactions and expressions of distrust from Sinhala leaders.

The Tamil struggle for rights and freedom is likely to succeed only when the broader national struggle for the restoration of democracy and the rule of law, including the de-politicisation of the judiciary and the police.

The Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact of 1957, and later the Dudley Senanayake–Chelvanayakam Pact of 1965 intended to resolve the festering inter-ethnic disputes between the constituent Peoples of the country through legislation that recognized and preserved the linguistic and cultural identity of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. However, under pressure from an extremist fringe within the Sinhala community, the first of these agreements was abrogated while respective Prime Ministers did not implement the second.

In 1972, a new Constitution that formally sanctioned policies targeting the Tamil speaking people was promulgated. This Constitution entrenched the unitary character of the state, conferred on Buddhism the foremost place in the Republic, and gave constitutional primacy to the Sinhala language. This was enacted without the consent or participation of the Tamil people. The 1972 Constitution also dispensed with the salient minority safeguards found in section 29(2) of the ‘Soulbury Constitution’. In fact, the Privy Council, the apex court until 1971, described the minority safeguards in section 29(2) as representing “the solemn balance of rights between the citizens of Ceylon, the fundamental conditions on which inter se they accepted the Constitution: and these are therefore unalterable under the Constitution.”[Lord Pearce, Bribery Commissioner v. Ranasinghe (1964) 66 NLR 73, at 78].

The repeal of this historic compact, the very basis on which the constituent Peoples of Ceylon accepted the ‘Soulbury Constitution’, which in turn led to independence, heaped scorn on legitimate Tamil aspirations. The 1978 Constitution followed in the footsteps of the 1972 Constitution and entrenched the foremost place given to Buddhism, continued to give primacy to the Sinhala language, and by entrenching the unitary character of the State, excluded the Tamils from the democratic exercise of political power. A disturbing feature of Sri Lanka’s post-independence history was that of organized violence in the form of racial pogroms being periodically unleashed on the Tamil People in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1977, 1981 and 1983. These attacks were a direct response to the articulation of their political aspirations by the Tamil people…The consistent democratic verdicts of the Tamil people since 1956, expressing their political aspiration for substantial self-rule in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, were denied under the above two constitutions. This factor, together with the discriminatory policies pursued under these two constitutions, particularly in education, employment and economic opportunities, the state-aided Sinhala settlements in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and the anti-Tamil racial pogroms gave birth to armed resistance by Tamil youth.

International concern that followed from the massive anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983, led to the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. While this established Provincial Councils and devolved a measure of legislative power to the Provinces, it fell far short of meaningful power-sharing. Nevertheless, it represented an initial minimal step towards devolution of power to the Provinces. A significant provision of the Indo-Lanka Accord – an international treaty – providing for the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces has since been violated for spurious reasons.

Although public officials, members of the judiciary and elected representatives swear or affirm to uphold the Constitution, the Thirteenth Amendment has not been fully implemented. Even the limited provisions relating to the devolution of land and police powers to the Provincial Councils are deliberately violated. Moreover, commitments made both domestically and internationally with regard to a political solution have not been honoured. Similarly, commitments made relating to human rights and accountability have been routinely dishonoured.

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