Statement from the Coordinator of the PFHRGD sponsored Conference of Sri Lankan All Tamil Parties held in New Delhi on 22 & 23 August 2011

The conference of the Sri  Lankan Tamil Parties organised by the Parliamentary Forum for Human Rights for Global Development (PFHRGD) was held on 22 &23 August 2011 at the Constitution Club Hall, New Delhi.  It was to serve as a forum to discuss all the issues relating to the Sri Lankan Tamil problem and to ascertain the opinion of the Sri Lankan Tamil leaders on how the Indian government could facilitate an early resolution.  It was further aimed at providing an opportunity for the Sri Lankan Tamil leaders to present their consensual views to the Indian Parliamentarians in helping them set out a framework of action required to be taken by the Indian government in its continued endeavour to find a lasting resolution to the Sri Lankan Tamil problem. 

 Invitations to the meeting were sent by the Convenor Dr.E.M.Sudarsana Natchiappan, Member of Parliament and President of PFHRGD. Logistical support for the conduct of the conference was provided by members of Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF). Mr. Vaseekaran functioned as the Event Secretary and attended to the delegates.    Nine registered political parties were invited for the conference and eight parties attended the two day meeting.

The following represented the eight political parties:

Akila Ilankai Thamil Congress:  Gajendrakumar G Ponnambalam

                                                       Selvarajah Kajendran

Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi :      Mavai Senathirajah

                                                      M.A. Sumanthiran

Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front:   Suresh Premachandran

                                                                                       Nadesu Sivasakthi

Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front:  G.Gnanasekaran

                                                                                   S.Raveendran

Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation:    Selvam Adaikalanathan

Tamil United Liberation Front:  V.Anandasangari

Pathmanabha Eelam People’s  Revolutionary Liberation Front :  T.Sritharan

                                                                                                                  Thurairetnam

Democratic People’s Liberation Front:  Kandiah Sivanesan

                                                                      Benedict Thanabalasingam

Convenor Dr.Natchiappan opened the conference with a welcome address. After explaining the purpose of the conference he urged the delegates to arrive at a consensus decision on the resolutions to be presented to the Indian Parliamentarians.

After lunch break the conference opened its first session under the chairmanship of the conference Coordinator Mr Selliah Nagarajah. 

Delegates expressed their serious concerns on the present situation of the Tamils in North Eastern Sri Lanka and unanimously decided to approve the following resolution on matters of immediate concern.

Resolution     

The intense war between the Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came to an end in May 2009.  During the final months of the war the entire population of two whole districts and parts of three other districts had to flee their homes and were displaced from their original places.  Together with others who were previously displaced due to the war around half a million Tamil people were displaced.

Over 200,000 displaced persons have still not been permitted to be resettled in their original places.  Many areas have not been released for de-mining by the military.  The main reason for not resettling people is the unreasonable demands and prescriptions of the military.  Several areas are demarcated as ‘High Security Zones’ or ‘Restricted Zones’.  These are being used for the construction of military cantonments.  Many housing and other constructions have already come up using Chinese pre-fabricated building materials.  Even those who have been allowed to go back to their villages are still living in temporary shelters without any house being built yet and do not have any provision made for them to restart their lives immediately.

The military interferes in all affairs in the North and East.  Civil officials have to take orders from the military.  They even get involved in Election propaganda for the Government.  No meeting can take place without the permission of the military, making normal civilian life impossible.  The Army is operating canteens all over the place, named roads in Sinhala, built Buddhist temples all over the occupied territory to remind its dominance, give protection to new Sinhala settlers who forcibly occupy the lands of the Tamil people.  Many new Sinhala fishermen are brought to the North-East and permitted to live and do fishing in areas hitherto owned and used by the Tamils.

A new circular has been issued, applicable only to the North and East, which is per se discriminatory.  Committees comprising of military personnel are authorised to determine land rights.  Those living abroad are required to register their lands within two months in order to continue to exercise ownership depriving those living as refugees in India and elsewhere.  Many lands have been grabbed in the guise of tourism and setting up Buddhist temples.

There are between 5,000 and 6,000 persons in detention without any charges.

There are over 200,000 refugees still living in India.  They are unable to return because of the continuing deplorable conditions.

Therefore we request the following must be done as a matter of urgency:

1.       The so-called takeover of lands by army under the guise of High Security Zone etc. must be dismantled promptly.

2.      The army must be withdrawn from the North and East immediately.  

3.      All ‘land-grab’ schemes must be halted.

4.      All political prisoners must be released forthwith.

5.      Conducive atmosphere must be created in the North and East of Sri Lanka for the refugees in India to return and restart their lives in their original places.

6.      Along with lifting the state of emergency, other similar provisions in other laws and the Prevention of Terrorism act also must be repealed.

The delegates thereafter took up for discussion the issue of the deplorable situation of the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India.  Mr.G.Gnanasekaran, President of Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front, explained in detail the difficulties experienced by the refugees and their deplorable living conditions.  It was resolved to include this issue in a separate note.     

The next item on the agenda, namely, “Finding a permanent settlement of the Sri Lankan Tamil problem” was then taken up.  The first day’s session ended after hearing the views of Mr.Suresh Premachandran on this agenda item.  

Proceedings on 23 August 2011

In continued discussions on the question of permanent settlement of the Tamil problem, the conference heard the views of all the party representatives represented at this conference

Mr. V.Anandasangari, President of the Tamil Liberation Front proposed a federal system of government on the lines of the Indian model.  Mr.G.Gnansekaran, President of ENDLF proposed the re-activation of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord of 1987 and the related settlement proposals agreed to by India and Sri Lanka.

Since there was no consensus for either of these two proposals, the delegates agreed to decide on the basic principles that would govern any future permanent settlement of the Sri Lankan Tamil problem. Mr.Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and Mr.Sumanthiran were asked to draft the principles with input from other delegates.

Mr.Ponnambalam presented the following draft:

The Tamil People have been negotiating with the Sri Lankan State the terms by which they could share in the Governance of the island since the end of western colonial rule in 1948. Several successive negotiations and even agreements reached ended in failure, whereby, through the use of its majority, the Sinhala polity would not even accommodate a devolved scheme of sharing governmental power.  This sixty year experience has been repeated all over again even in the last one year. 

Since the end of the war in May 2009, the Government of Sri Lanka has intensified its agenda of decimating the distinct identity of the Tamil People.  This is done with the use of the presence of the military in the North-East which actively aids in the destruction of the Tamil, linguistic, cultural, social and religious identities and economic life, and by the forcible occupation of the Sinhala people in the North-East, even on private properties owned by the Tail people to which they are prevented from returning.  The ultimate objective of this program is to nullify the existence of t he Tamils as a distinct People.

In this background, we are of the firm opinion that the recognition of the Tamil People in the island of Sri Lanka as a distinct Nation entitled to the right to self-determination is necessary to ensure the continued existence and protection of the Tamils as a People.    Only then would any negotiations with the Sri Lankan State be meaningful.  We therefore call upon India and the international community to recognise these rightful claims made by the Tamil Nation and emphasise such as the basis for any solution within one country.

Conference delegates had no objections in accepting the first two paragraphs of this draft resolution. However, several delegates objected to the inclusion of the first two sentences of the third paragraph and to the use of the term ‘Tamil Nation’. The Chairperson suggested the dropping of the first two sentences from the third paragraph and inclusion of the third sentence after changing the term ‘Tamil Nation’ to ‘Tamil People’     

ENDLF delegates presented the following alternative to the third paragraph:

We request that in the current climate and matters we have expressed the Indian government and the people of India should immediately ensure mechanisms to arrest he deterioration of the situation of Tamils to guarantee the protection of their distinct identity recognised by the international community.

As no consensus could be reached on the original draft or the proposed changes, it was decided to proceed to the next item of the agenda.

With the Indian Parliamentarians arriving for the meeting with the conference delegates, it was agreed to continue the discussions after the meeting with the Indian Parliamentarians.

In the absence of the Convenor Mr. Natchiappan, the Chairperson opened the meeting with the Indian Parliamentarians with a brief historical summary of the Sri Lankan Tamil problem.  Convenor Mr.Natchiappan joined the meeting a short-while later and introduced the Indian Parliamentarians to the conference delegates and the delegates introduced themselves to the Parliamentarians. Mr.Sumanthiran of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi and Mr.Suresh Premachandran of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Left Front explained to delegates the plight of the Tamils in North-East Sri Lanka and the need for the settlement of the Tamil problem with meaningful devolution of power without further delay. Conference delegates answered the queries of the Indian Parliamentarians on various aspects of the Sri Lankan Tamil problem.  Twenty-seven Parliamentarians from both Houses of the Indian Parliament attended this meeting.

After the conclusion of the meeting with the Indian Parliamentarians, delegates met again to take up for discussion the remaining agenda items. At this stage, Mr Kagendran and Mr Ponnambalam, delegates of the Akila Ilankai Thamil Congress, wanted the conference to pass a resolution calling for an international investigation into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Chairperson objected to the inclusion of a new item in the agenda at this late stage as he had no mandate to deviate from the agenda.  Several delegates suggested that it could be taken up as an added issue under matters discussed under the topic “Immediate Concerns” earlier. The conference reopened the agenda on “Immediate Concerns” and agreed to include the following as item 7 of the matters requiring urgent action:

7.      An independent international inquiry into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity should be conducted                               

Delegates thereafter took up for discussion the issue of formation of joint action group incorporating all the Tamil parties attending the conference in finding a settlement of the Tamil problem . Delegates did not arrive at any decision on this matter as there was no consensus on this issue.

Formal sessions of this two day conference of Sri Lankan Tamil Parties concluded with thanks from the chairperson.

An informal session of conference delegates was held after the dinner hosted by the ENDLF President Mr Gnasekaran. Delegates of the Akila Ilankai Thamil Congress did not participate. This informal session was held to re-discuss the question of establishing a joint action group. This informal session ended without any agreement on the re-discussed issue. 

New Delhi                                                                                                                   

Selliah Nagarajah

26 August 2011                                                                                                         

Coordinator (Chairperson)