 | Ceylon
Citizenship Act No. 18 of 1948
The Act designed to
deprive over a million Tamils of recent Indian origin... "2.(1) With effect from the appointed date, there shall be a status to
be known as 'the status of a citizen of Ceylon' (2) A person shall be or become entitled to the status of a citizen
of Ceylon in one of the following ways only...
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| Official Language Act No. 33 of 1956
Despite earlier promises to
have both national languages as official languages of the country, the
Sinhala leadership consisting both major parties jointly enacted this
law. Sinhala was made the only official language for the entire
country by this act...
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| Bandaranayake-Chelvanayakam
Pact (1957).
Following Tamil agitation over a
million Tamils being stripped of citizenship and Sinhala being made the only official
language, the Sinhala Prime Minister SWRD Bandarnayake entered into a pact with Tamil
leader SJV Chelvanayakam. As evident, the Tamil leaders compromised tremendously for the
sake of peace. This pact was unilaterally abrogated by the Sinhala PM.
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| Senanayake-Chelvanayakam
Pact (1965).
Another Sinhala PM, Dudley
Senanayake, entered into a pact with the Tamil leader SJV Chelvanayakam in 1965, with
fewer concessions to the Tamils than even the Bandaranayake-Chelvanayakam Pact. This pact
too was unilaterally abrogated by the Sinhala PM.
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| Tamil United Front Plea
to Commonwealth Nations (1974).
Having failed, through decades of
peaceful & democratic efforts to realize equality for the Tamil people in the
national, political and social life in a united Ceylon (Sri Lanka), all Tamil political
parties unitedly made this last minute plea to the Commonwealth Nations in 1974.
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| The Vaddukoddai
Resolution (1976).
The peaceful pleas of Tamils went
unheard. Finally, the Tamil United Front, representing all Tamils, adopted a resolution,
on 14 May 1976, to secede from the state of Sri Lanka.
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| The Tamil United Liberation Front Election Manifesto (1977)
All Tamil political parties contested the general Elections of 1977, under the common banner of The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). This the election manifesto of the TULF.
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| Thangathurai Statement from the dock (1983)
Nadarajah Thangathurai, one of the
earliest Tamil Freedom Fighters of Thamileelam, was arrested by the
Sinhala government of Sri Lanka. He and five others were sentenced to
life imprisonment on 24 February 1983. Extracts of his statement from
the dock.
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| The Thimpu
Declaration (1985).
A Joint statement made by the Tamil
delegation at the Indian brokered peace negotiations on 13 July 1985 in Thimpu, Bhutan.
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| The
Indo-Srilanka Accord
(1987).
Rajiv Gandhi, the Prime Minister of
India, intervened, but the priorities were not restoration of lost rights of the Tamil
people.
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| A Proposal for the
Resolution of the National Conflict in Sri Lanka (1997).
A compromise proposal by Bates,
Wells & Braithwaite (A London based constituitonal law firm) on behalf of the
International Peace Support Group.
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| LTTE Appeal to President Nelson Mandela
(1998)
We appeal to President Nelson
Mandela and his Government who hosts thisgreat forum and to the leaders of the Third World
to recognize the collective aspirations of our people for national identity and self
determination. We call upon you to use your good office to impress upon the Government
ofSri Lanka to abandon its aggressive military policy and seek a negotiated settlement
based on the principles enunciated at Thimpu talks.
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| Tamil National
Alliance Election Manifesto (2001)
The
parliamentary elections scheduled for 5th December 2001 will be an
important landmark in the political history of the Tamil nationality.
It is imperative that the present situation of drift and uncertainty
be ended and that the Tamil national question be addressed with all
the seriousness and urgency it deserves. A brief reiteration of the
political experiences and history of the Tamil nationality in the past
fifty-two years since independence would be relevant...
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| Agreement
on a ceasefire between the Government of the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (2002)
The
overall objective of the Government of the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka (hereinafter referred to as the GOSL) and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (hereinafter referred to as the LTTE)
is to find a negotiated solution to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri
Lanka...
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Text] |
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