Tamils of Sri Lanka_BTF presentation_part1

© PROJECT ENLIGHTEN

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SRI LANKA 60 YEARS OF OPPRESSION ON TAMILS 04 - February - 1948 to 01 - May - 2008

Photo: The Sunday Times Online


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The Aanaikkoaddai Seal Found in the context of a Megalithic burial at Aanaikkoaddai in the Jaffna peninsula in 1980,

the seal, which is inscribed in Megalithic graffiti in the first line and early Brahmi in the second line, is datable to pre-Christian times. The readable Brahmi text 'Koveta' in Tamil/

proto-Dravidian means 'the king's'. The steatite seal(1.7 x 1.5 cm) which was found

along with traces of copper fragments and kept in a Black and Red Ware bowl at the side of the

skeleton, was probably part of a signet ring that belonged to the deceased of noble lineage.

Evidence for Early Presence of Tamils in Ceylon


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Three Sovereign Regions In The Island of Ceylon – 18th Century Map

The Traditional Tamil Homeland


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In 1833, The British Unified The NorthEast With The Rest Of The

Island For

Administrative Convenience.

"Two different nations, from a very ancient period, have divided between them the possession of the Island: the Sinhalese

inhabiting the interior in its Southern and western parts from the river Wallouwe to Chilaw, and the Malabars (Tamils) who

possess the Northern and Eastern Districts. These two nations differ entirely in their religion, language and manners."

(Sir Hugh Cleghorn, British Colonial Secretary, June 1799)


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Hill Country (Indian) Tamils Disenfranchised!

No Citizenship! No Voting Rights! One Million Tamils Made Stateless

Soon after British Left the Island People who Spilt Blood and Sweat for

200 years for the prosperity of Sri Lankan Economy left to die in poverty!

COMMUNITY 1947 1952 1956 1960 1960

% of seats % of seats % of seats % of seats % of seats

Sinhalese 63 73 73 78 77

Ceylon Tamils 13 12 12 11 11

Indian Tamils 7 Nil Nil Nil Nil

Muslims 6 8 7 6 7


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Sinhalese National Flags No Room For

Indigenous Tamils & Muslims

60 Years of unchanged extremist Mindset: Sinhalese are the Dominant Race! Buddhism is the State Religion!

(Sri Lankan National Flag – Another Proof of Exclusion)

Sri Lankan Sinhalese flag: The threatening posture towards the Tamils & Muslims represented by the Orange and Green colours respectively, and the

yellow boundary clearly explains the Sinhalese non inclusive mind-set.

Buddhist Flag (on his left) to represent him

as the President of Buddhist Sinhalese

only!

While Hundreds of Churches and Temples

in NorthEast are bombed and destroyed and in the south they

are set Fire.

Sri Lanka is the Land of Sinhala Buddhist


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1956 Anti Tamil Pogrom

Tamils’ vehicle burnt down in front of Hindu Temple in Colombo by Sinhalese Thugs

First Anti-Tamil Riots in the Post Independent

Ceylon


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Bandaranaiake - Chelvanayakam Pact - 1957

On 9 April 1958, Mr. Bandaranaike, under pressure from extremist Buddhist monks, unilaterally abrogated the pact

Agreement was signed between the Sinhalese Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike and the Tamil leader SJV Chelvanayakam, on 25 July 1957.


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1958 Pogrom

'Gentlemen, if any of you have an idea that this was a spontaneous outburst of communalism, you can disabuse your minds of it. This the work of a master mind who has been at the back of people who have planned this carefully and knew exactly what they were doing. It was a time bomb set about two years ago which has now exploded.'...

Governor General says (Oliver Goonetilleke )

attacks carefully planned


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1971 - Language Based Standardization In University

Admissions Denied Tamil Students Opportunities For

Higher Education

'The murders (of Tamils) are said to have been committed by police either acting without orders or with the connivance of the police' - Sir John Foster Q.C., David Astor, Robert Birley, Louis Blom-Cooper, James Fawcett, Dingle Foot & Michael Scott; - The London Times 20 September 1977.

Students peaceful protests were brutally crushed with barbaric killings

First Student Rebel Against Standardization

Mr Sivakumaran


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1961 Non-Violent Protests By Tamils Brutally Crushed

The gun culture was introduced to Jaffna in 1961, when Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike first sent the army to disrupt the non-violent Satyagraha agitation of Tamil nationalists.

"Shoot if you must and I am ready to die" the young student tells the soldier who threatened him with death, if he did not

move away. Source - S.Ponniah, Satyagraha and The Freedom Movement of The Tamils in Ceylon, 1963 [see also

Sinhala Army Attacks Tamil Satyagrahis - 1961]


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1977 Pogrom Against Tamils


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1981 Pogrom Against Tamils


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Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act - 1979

(A Law Enacted in Response to Tamil Revolt Against Oppression)- A Draconian Law

"No legislation conferring even remotely comparable powers is in force in any other free democracy operating under the Rule of Law... such provision is an ugly blot on the statute book of any civilized country“

International Commission of Jurists (1984) Sri Lanka: A Mounting Tragedy of Errors; Paul Sieghart

The very first victims of the PTA -Two Tamil youth (Inpam & Selvam) of the six who disappeared in the mid 1979 were executed by Brigadier Weeratunge (Nephew of President J.R. Jayawardene). The bodies of the youth were found near Jaffna with gun shot & torture wounds.

Introduction of Emergency Regulation (ER 15A) which legitimized the practice of the Sri Lankan armed forces burying/cremating the dead without an inquest.

This Prevention of Terrorism Act is still in force and so far an

estimated 70,000 Tamil civilians have been killed by the Sri Lankan armed forces


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"Clearly this was not a spontaneous upsurge of communal hatred among the Sinhala people - nor was it as has been suggested in some quarters, a popular

response to the killing of 13 soldiers... It was a series of deliberate acts, executed in accordance with a

concerted plan, conceived and organised well in advance."

- Paul Sieghart; 'Sri Lanka: A mounting tragedy of errors'; International Commission of Jurists Report,

March 1984

1983 Genocide of Tamils


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Pre-meditated Murder of Tamil Political Prisoners by their Jail Guards

"Selvarajah Yogachandran, popularly known as Kuttimani, a nominated member of the Sri Lankan Parliament...,one of the 52 prisoners killed in the maximum security Welikade prison in Colombo two weeks ago, (on July 25) was forced to kneel in his cell, where he was under solitary confinement, by his assailants and ordered to pray to them. When he refused, he was taunted by his tormentors about his last wish, when he was sentenced to death. He had willed that his eyes be donated to some one so that at least that person would see an independent Tamil Eelam. The assailants then gouged his eyes...He was then stabbed to death and his testicles were wrenched from his body. This was confirmed by one of the doctors who had conducted the postmortem of the first group of 35 prisoners.“

(Madras Hindu, 10 August 1983)


Mr Selvarajah Yogachandran alias

Kuttimani

Mr Thangathurai

“We are not lovers of violence nor victims of

mental disorders, We are honest fighters belonging to an

organization that is struggling to liberate

people.”


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not speak the language fluently to pronounce, people were tested by being made to pronounce these words. The mobs were also demanding to see identity cards to establish whether or not people were Tamils...

People identified as Tamils as a result of the questioning were told to get out of their cars and their cars were set alight... In cases where any resistance was

offered, killings were likely to take place... It was reported by many people that in some instances

students from Buddhist schools followed on behind the first rioters and that some Buddhist monks were seen

amongst the gangs'' - Patricia Hyndman, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of New South Wales and Secretary, Lawasia Human Rights

Standing Committee Report -Democracy in Peril, June 1985

''Eye witnesses and victims reported that

on the streets cars were stopped by gangs and the

people inside were asked whether they were Sinhalese or

Tamil. Some Sinhalese words are extremely difficult for people who do



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"Mobs of Sinhala youth rampaged through the streets, ransacking homes, shops and offices, looting them and setting them ablaze, as they sought out members of the

Tamil ethnic minority."

- London Daily Telegraph 26 July 1983

"... a mob attacked a Tamil cyclist riding near

Colombo's eye hospital, a few hundred yards from the

home of Junius Jayawardene, the nation's 76

year old President. The cyclist was hauled from his bike, drenched with petrol and set alight. As he ran

screaming down the street, the mob set on him and hacked him down with

jungle knives..." - London Daily

Telegraph; 26 July 1983



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Tamil boy stripped naked and later burnt

to death by Hate-filled Sinhala Thugs who danced around

him

"I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people... now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or

their opinion... the more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here... Really if

I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy."

- President J.R.Jayawardene, Daily Telegraph, July 1983



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UK Paper Clippings On 1983 Genocide Of Tamils

In Sri Lanka ''A tourist told yesterday how she watched in horror as a Sinhala mob deliberately burned alive a bus load of Tamils... 'A mini bus full of Tamils were forced to stop in front of us in Colombo' she [Mrs.Eli Skarstein] said. A Sinhalese mob poured petrol over the

bus and set it on fire. They blocked the car door and prevented the Tamils from leaving the vehicle. 'Hundreds of spectators watched

as about 20 Tamils were burned to death'.

- London Daily Express, 29th August 1983

"The violence was vicious and bloody. But what distinguished it from many other communal Asian riots was the way that the mob singled out specific business

premises…groups of rioters hit only at shops and factories, as well as homes owned by Tamils. Their

careful selectivity is apparent now…Troops and police (almost exclusively Sinhalese) either joined the rioters or stood idly by. The events were so well organised no

one doubts that there was a master list of targets."

- Financial Times, 12 August 1983


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· "An impartial international commission should be set up to inquire into the violence against the Tamils in July 1983, including the killing of 53 Tamil

detainees held in custody by the government. · "The Prevention of Terrorism Act should be repealed and the powers

given to the security forces which facilitate arbitrary killing of civilians and disposal of their bodies without inquest or post-mortem should be

rescinded. · "The use of torture and incommunicado detention in violation of Sri

Lanka's obligations under International Covenants should be discontinued. · "The rights of nationality, citizenship and franchise to the Tamils working

in the plantations should be restored. · "The Sri Lankan government should repeal the sixth amendment to the

constitution and take meaningful steps to arrive at a political solution to the country's ethnic problem by the granting of the legitimate rights of the

Tamil people of Sri Lanka."

Signed by: David Alton MP, Paddy Ashdown MP, Norman Atkinson MP, Tony Banks MP, Prof John Barrett, Kevin Barron MP, Gerry Berningham MP, Alan Beith MP, Sydney Bidwell MP, Prof Tom Bottomore, Malcolm Bruce MP, Dale Campbell-Savours MP, Dennis Canavan MP, Alex Carlile MP, Tom Clarke MP, Bob Clay MP, Anne Clwyd MP, Harry Cohen MP,

Jerome Corbyn MP, Ron Davis MP, Eric Deakins MP, Alf Dubs MP, Prof Michael Dummett, Darek Fatchett MP, Mark Fishery MP, Martin Flannery MP, Michael Foot MP, Roy Hattersley MP, Simon W H Hughes MP, Lord

Jenkins, Russell Johnston MP, Robert Kilroy-Silk MP, Ted Knight, Sir David Lane, Terry Lewis MP, Bob Litherland MP, Ken Livingstone, Tony Lloyd MP,

Weddle Loyden MP, Max Madden MP, Joan Maynard MP, Willie Mckelvey MP, Bill Michle MP, Dr Paul Noone, Bob Perry MP, Alan Roberts MP, Ernia Roberts MP, Allan Roberts MP, Aubrey Rose, Ernie Ross MP, Steven Ross

MP, Clare Short MP, Dennis Skinner MP, Prof Peter Townsend, Jim Wallace MP, Garath Werdell MP, Dafydd Wigley MP, and many others.

1983 Pogrom: UK Parliamentarians Condemn Sri Lankan Government

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How Tamil Homeland Was Colonized by Sinhalese Aided by the Government

Systematic Land Grabbing In Progress

Sinhala vagabonds and a Buddhist monk with

guns.

This Buddhist Monk, who calls Sri Lanka

'The Sinhala Dheepa' (The Sinhala Island), has publicly

exhorted Sinhala people to terrorize Tamil

people into fleeing the island.


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Colonization - Land Grab Ceylon’s First Prime Minister Stated:

"Witnesses also confirmed allegations made to us that whole (Tamil) villages have been emptied and neighborhoods have been driven by the army from their homes and occupations... We can say, without

doubt, that the Government is driving Tamils from their homes and does intend to settle Sinhalese people in these areas..."

- Robert Kilroy-Silk MP and Roger Sims MP

UK Parliamentary Human Rights Group Report (1985)

The following excerpt from a speech attributed to Ceylon’s first Prime

Minister, D.S.Senanayake, addressed to colonists in Padaviya, is

self‑explanatory: “Today you are brought here and given a plot of land.

You have been uprooted from your village. You are like a piece of driftwood in the ocean; but remember that one day

the whole country will look up to you. The final battle for the Sinhala people

will be fought on the plains of Padaviya. You are men and women who will carry this island’s destiny on your shoulders.

Those who are attempting to divide this country will have to reckon with you. The country may forget you for a few years, but one day very soon they will

look up to you as the last bastion of the Sinhala.”

Ceylon’s first Prime Minister. D.S.Senanayake


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“Thimpu Talks” -1985

Joint statement made by the Tamil Delegation on the concluding day of Phase I of the Thimpu talks on the 13th of July 1985 It is our considered view that any meaningful solution to the Tamil national question must be based on the following four cardinal principles: The Thimpu Declaration 1) Recognition of the Tamils of Ceylon as a nation 2) Recognition of the existence of an identified homeland for the Tamils in Ceylon 3) Recognition of the right of self determination of the Tamil nation 4) Recognition of the right to citizenship and the fundamental rights of all Tamils in Ceylon

While Talks was continuing, hundreds of Innocent Tamils were Massacred by the Sinhalese colonists in the East of Sri Lanka.

TAMIL DELEGATION CONSISTED OF EPRLF, EROS, PLOT, TELO, TULF AND LTTE


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THE 1987 INDO-SRI LANKA ACCORD Temporary Merger of North and East

Provinces to Single Administrative Unit.

Signed on July 29, 1987 in Colombo between Mr. J.R. Jayawardene the president of Sri Lanka and Prime

Minister of The Republic of India, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi.

President J.R. Jayawardene with his political guile managed to lure India to be involved in the Tamils Struggle, by assuring its Regional and Strategic Interest.

Mr Varatharaja Perumal announced an unilateral

declaration of Independence after failing

to secure adequate powers for the Council.

He is currently exiled in India.

Chief Minister Varatharaja Perumal 1987 - 1990


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President Chandrika Kumaratunga LTTE Peace Talks: 1994/1995

Peace talks with Chandrika Kumaratunga were not effective as

the delegation did not have any Executive decision making

authority.

The GOSL failed to create normalcy to the people of

NorthEast and did not lift the economic embargo on the Tamils.

Chandrika was not able to put forward an appropriate devolution package and the one she proposed later was watered down even

before it was submitted to the Parliament.


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CFA Agreement : Between LTTE and the GOSL on the 22nd February 2002

Agreement on a ceasefire between the Government of the

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri

Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers

of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the 22nd February 2002 was mediated by the

Norwegian Government.

Despite serious condemnation from

the International community including

UK, GOSL acted irresponsibly endangering

innocent Tamil Civilians

President Mahinda Rajapakse inspecting a Fighter Jet of Sri Lankan Air force.

President Rajapakse Ready for an All Out War on Tamils

GOSL unilaterally withdrew from the

CFA on the 16th January 2008.


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Killing of Leading Tamil Politicians

Kumar Ponnampalam

T Maheshwaran N Raviraj

A. Amirthalingam

Joseph Pararajasingham

Chandra Nehru

An onslaught of the Tamil

Leadership - A price paid by the

Tamils. V Tharmalingham

V Vigneswaran

The List Continues with hundreds of Names…………


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Joseph Pararajasingham MP Killed in the Church during Christmas eve mass (2005)

by Sri Lankan Army

Not a word of Sympathy or Condemnation From the

International Community or the Churches !


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Raviraj MP was Killed (2007) In the High Security area of

Colombo in broad daylight in just 24 hours after this protest

Nadarajah Raviraj, 44, Jaffna District Tamil parliamentarian ,a lawyer turned politician. He was

an outspoken defender of Human Rights who voiced against extra-

judicial killings and forced disappearances perpetrated by Sri

Lanka State


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Leading Tamil Politician and Ex-Minister T Maheswaran MP

Assassinated in a Hindu temple in High Security area of Colombo on

the New years Day (2008)


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Tamil MP is killed

Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian, K. Sivanesan, was killed in a Claymore attack carried out by the Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit [TamilNet, Thursday, 06 March 2008]

Photos: Tamilnet

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Tamil Political Negotiator S P Thamilselvan Assassinated by

GOSL Air Raid on the 02nd November 2007

The Assassination of S P Thamilselvan was the major set back to the Cease Fire Agreement signed in February 2002 and the ongoing Peace Negotiations between GOSL and LTTE

The Sri Lankan State killed many Tamil Leaders during Cease Fire Agreement and Peace Negotiations


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Sri Lanka : Embargo on its Own Citizens

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said on a visit to Sri Lanka last week the island had one of the worst records in the world for humanitarian aid worker safety. He said almost 30 aid workers had been killed over the past 18 months

NGOs and International

media are forbidden from

Tamil Homeland

Many Essential Items are banned from Tamil Homeland.

There is an Embargo on Food, Medicine, Fuel, Batteries, Building Materials, School books……..


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Economic Embargo Leading to Starvation

A World Food Programme (WFP) survey found at least a quarter of children entering school in the north-east of the island suffered from acute malnutrition. (Source :BBC) The above survey was done during

ceasefire period!!!!!!! If then....... at present??? Source :BBC


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Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure - PTOMS

PTOMS drafted with the help of international donor countries was subsequently turned downed by the Sri Lankan Supreme court due to the influence of the extremist and chauvinistic attitude of the Sri Lankan coalition Govt.

Aftermath of tsunami


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Destruction of Civil Infrastructure in the

Tamil Homeland

Systematic Approach by the Sri Lankan Sinhala State Apparatus to drive Tamil

speaking people from their Homeland.


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Destruction of Civil Infrastructure

continues…..

Jaffna Bus Depot: Bombed and Destroyed

Jaffna Rail Station: Bombed and Destroyed

Tamils of Sri Lanka_BTF presentation_part1

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