A MESSAGE FROM THE TAMILS OF COLOMBO

There is a Tamil Problem in Sri Lanka. It is a political issue which has matured over the past 50 years. This has been acknowledged by the Sinhala people and by their political leadership in pacts, agreements, election manifestos, conferences of political parties and select committees of parliament. Yet no solution has been found. Meanwhile Tamils in Sinhala majority areas were repeatedly attacked in pogroms, beginning in 1956.

Hostilities have been raging in the North-Eastern Province (NEP) for the last 10 years. Thousands of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala youth have been killed or maimed. Property worth millions damaged or destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of Tamils have become refugees in their own country and in other lands.

Most Sinhala political parties still refuse to put forward political proposals to resolve the Tamil problem. Even worse, some of these parties have dishonestly retreated from previously agreed positions. Tamils DEPLORE this intransigence and duplicity of Sinhala politicians.

A more sinister trend has emerged during the past one year. Sections within the Government and Opposition are peddling the baseless view that there is NO Tamil problem; but that there is ONLY a "terrorist" problem. Tamils CONDEMN this crude attempt to re-write the history of protest, struggle and sacrifice of Tamils as a transparent justification for pursuing State terror against Tamils to the exclusion of a political solution.

Tamils also STRONGLY CONDEMN the blatantly racist and provocatively rabid anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim statements made in recent times by the Head of State. For example, it was said that:

A diabolical DISINFORMATION campaign is also being mounted that 50% of Tamils in the NEP have been driven out of their traditional homeland by "terrorist" activities of the LTTE, and that those Tamils are living "happily" among the Sinhalese under the "protection" of the Government.

In fact, the NEP is a "war zone" and the Tamils are fleeing the NEP in large numbers to escape ongoing military operations, aerial bombardment and a crippling economic strangulation by the Government.This has led to scarcity of essentials and lack of basic health, educational and other facilities. Some of those who remain there are living in refugee camps amidst undescribable filth and squalor. Tamil youth in the NEP are picked up for no reason. Some disappear. Others are kept in detention for long periods without trial and denied access to relatives. They are tortured. Confessions are manufactured in respect of every Tamil picked up.

Tamils in Colombo are a people under siege. They come from the NEP, up-country and other parts of Sri Lanka and are living on borrowed time. They PROTEST strongly against the arbitrary arrest, detention, extortion, unrelenting harassment and humiliation meted out by the security forces and their Tamil allies. They undergo untold social and economic difficulties. Some live in refugee camps under horrific conditions.

In the past Tamils in Colombo have depended on one or the other major Sinhala party to remedy their political grievances. But their hopes have been cruelly shattered in every instance. Dangerous attempts are now being made to not only humiliate Tamils but also to put back the political clock in Sri Lanka. Tamils in Colombo are firm in their belief that rights of Tamils can be established only through coordinated and concrete action. They resolve to organize themselves politically and to take action in solidarity with Tamils in the rest of Sri Lanka.

It is inevitable that Tamils in Colombo do not any longer expect most Sinhala political parties, left on their own, to deal with the Tamil problem with any degree of honesty or sincerity. Therefore we now appeal to the Sinhala people.

As a first step, Tamils in Colombo call upon the Sinhala people:

(1) The recognition through their political leadership of the inalienable right of self-determination of the Tamils.

(2) To place, forthwith and publicly, their proposals for the resolution of the Tamil problem through their political leadership.

(3) Their political leadership begin negotiations immediately for a political solution to the Tamil problem.

Dr K Velayuthapillai (President)
Dr S Sathananthan (Secretary)
3 May 1994