Tamils are commemorating the 41st Tamil Black July Pogroms with no solution in sight.

Tamils are commemorating the 41st Tamil Black July Pogroms with no solution in sight.

Veluppillai Thangavelu

On February 4th, 1948, the 2.2 million Ceylon Tamils exchanged their white masters (British) for the brown sahibs – the Sinhalese. Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, would not have gained independence from Britain without the support and consent of the Tamil people. In fact, it was Tamil leaders like Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan (1851-1930) and Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam (1853-1924) who fearlessly spearheaded the struggle for constitutional reforms that led to independence from the colonial yoke.

However, the Ponnambalam brothers in their evening of life realised that the Sinhalese politicians had taken them for a ride to advance the interests of the majority community at the expense of the Tamil people. Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan foresaw that the democratic principle of one person one vote in a heterogeneous society would ultimately lead to tyranny of the majority. In a speech to the Legislative Council during the debate on the Donoughmore Reforms, Mr Ramanathan appears as the precursor of Tamil’s demand for a sovereign state of Tamil Eelam.

“Why did the (Donoughmore) Commissioners not study Ireland, which is next door to them? They (Irish) said that we are one lot and you are another. We cannot work together. We must have separate governments. Then I ask what happened in the Dominion of Canada. The officials concerned said, it is an impossible situation…. Let us give these French descendants one form of government and let us give the other people another form of government – forms of government suitable to the interests of each of these great big communities. Why did the Commissioners think of that?”

It was Sir Arunachalam Ponnambalam who first (1923) exhorted the Tamils that –

“They should work towards promoting the union and solidarity of what we have been proud to call Tamil EELAM. We desire to preserve our individuality as a people, to make ourselves worthy of inheritance. We are not enamoured about the cosmopolitanism which would make us neither fish, fowl nor red-herring.”

D.S.Senanayake, the first Prime Minister of independent Ceylon, gave the following solemn promise to the Tamil and other minority communities “Do you want to be governed from London or do you want, as Ceylon, to help govern Ceylon? On behalf of the (Ceylon National) Congress (founded by Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam in 1919) and on my behalf, I give the minority communities the sincere assurance that no harm need you fear at our hands in a free Lanka.” He was speaking in the State Council in October 1945 when all the Tamil members had unanimously voted for the acceptance of the Soulbury constitution in a White Paper.

But in 1948, the very year of Independence, D.S.Senanayake blatantly went back on the promise and bared his true colours as an unrepentant champion of Sinhala chauvinism by depriving one million Tamils of their citizenship rights.

The Citizenship Act No.18 was unique in that it denied citizenship to a person born in the country before or after 1948 unless, at least, his father was born in or was a citizen of Sri Lanka. The following year, the same Tamils were deprived of their franchise rights by a simple amendment to the Parliamentary Elections Ordinance which said only citizens have the right to vote in elections. This reduced Tamils representation in Parliament from 33% in 1948 to a mere 20% in 1952.

The Citizenship Act No. 18 of 1948 opened the floodgates to further legislative and administrative acts of discrimination, which robbed Tamils of their language, educational, and employment rights. It might be informative at this stage to recapitulate the history of the National conflict between the Tamils and the Sinhalese.

THE MAHAVAMSA MINDSET

The Tamils and the Sinhalese are divided based on territory, language, religion, and culture. The enmity between the Tamils and the Sinhalese goes back to at least two centuries before Christ.

The Mahavamsa, a Buddhist chronicle written in the 6th century AD by a Buddhist monk portrays the Naga King Dutu Gemunu as the National Hero who defeated the Tamil King Ellalan and unified the whole of Ceylon for the sake of Buddhism. Though Buddhism infinitely values human life as being the one and only condition from which nibbana (salvation) could be attained, Mahavamsa made a virtue of killing in defence of Buddhism. This 5th-century AD chronicle has been used to raise the cry of Race, Land and Faith by the Sinhalese-Buddhist chauvinistic forces during the last hundred years or more.

The Mahavamsa has perpetuated the myth that Sinhalese-Buddhists are the chosen people with the special mission of preserving the Buddhist faith in Sri Lanka. Dr. Walpole Rahula, a scholar monk, wrote “for more than two millennia the Sinhalese have been inspired that they were a nation brought into being for the definite purpose of carrying the torch lit by Buddha.” For the record, there were no Sinhalese before two millennia. All the Anuradhapura monarchs were Nagas including Duttu Gemunu, Devanampiya Tissa and others. It took at least 10 centuries for the Buddhist Nagas to take the identity of Sinhalese. At the same time, the Hindu Nagas metamorphosed as Tamils. The many place names in the North bear evidence of the transformation.

In Mahavamsa tradition the Tamils are considered unbelievers, villains and invaders. It is the Mahavamsa theory that the Island as a whole belongs to the Sinhalese Buddhists only and that there is no place or even second-class status for Tamils. This Mahavamsa tradition is the root cause of the present conflict between the Tamil Nation and the Sinhala Nation.

Those who wish to see an end to the national conflict would have to take into consideration the Mahavamsa mind-set. For it is the Mahavamsa mode of thinking which has influenced all the rulers, especially the governments of post independence Ceylon. The Mahinda Chinthanaya is another version of Mahavamsa mind-set.  Champika Ranawaka, one time cabinet minister, and leader of the extremist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) went further and opined that “the Sinhalese are the only organic race of Sri Lanka. Other communities are all visitors to the country, whose arrival was never challenged out of the compassion of Buddhists … What is happening today is pure ingratitude on the part of these visitors.”

After the war ended on 18, May 2009, the former Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka in an interview to the National Post (23rd September, 2008) that the Sinhalese accounted for 75% of the population and ,therefore, they have the right to rule and the minorities should realize this and desist making undue demands.

The planned state-aided colonization of Tamil traditional Homelands, the Sinhala Only Act, the recognition of Buddhism as the state religion, the lion flag as the national flag, the national anthem and the stubborn insistence on a unitary constitution are manifestations of the Mahavamsa mind-set deeply embedded in the Sinhalese psyche.

BROKEN PROMISES AND PACTS

The Tamils have tasted numerous betrayals by successive Sri Lankan governments since independence. They include the pacts between the leaders of the Sinhalese and the Tamils, which were torn up under pressure from Sinhalese-Buddhist extremists: 1. Bandaranaike – Chelvanayakam Pact (26 July 1957) 2. Senanayake – Chelvanayakam Pact (24 March 1965) Under both these pacts, a certain degree of autonomy was to be vested in the administration of Tamils traditional homeland (Northern and Eastern Provinces.)

COLONISATION

Through a systematic state-aided Sinhalese colonisation of the traditional homelands of the Tamils, the demographic profile of the Tamils has been drastically altered. In the Eastern Province, the once majority Tamil community (48.75 % in 1946; 39.7 in 2012) has been reduced to a minority, whereas the percentage of Sinhalese rose from 8.4% in 1946 to a staggering 23.15% in 2012. The state-aided Sinhala colonization which robbed the Tamils their traditional lands amounted to structural genocide of Tamils.

The United Nations Genocide Convention, which was established in 1948, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such” including the killing of its members, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately imposing living conditions that seek to “bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”, preventing births, or forcibly transferring children out of the group to another group. Tamils have undergone and are continuing to go through physical, structural, and cultural genocide which is designed and executed by successive Sri Lankan governments.

In 2022 the Parliament of Canada unanimously adopted the motion to mark May 18 Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. Speaking in support of the motion Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said ” In October 2022, we joined our international partners in adopting a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution that calls on the Sri Lankan government to address the human rights, economic, and political crises in the country. Canada has been a global leader in the adoption of other UNHRC resolutions calling for freedom of religion, belief, and pluralism in Sri Lanka – essential elements to secure peace and reconciliation in the years to come – and we will continue our work to safeguard human rights across the world. And in January 2023, our government-imposed sanctions against four Sri Lankan government officials in response to human rights violations on the island.

REJECTION OF CONSTITUTIONS

The Tamil people and their leaders rejected both the Sri Lankan Republican constitutions of 1972 and 1978. With Sri Lanka becoming a Republic, sovereignty reverted to both the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The Sinhalese are able to exercise their sovereignty through the state of Sri Lanka, but they deny Tamils their right to exercise their sovereignty through a de jure state of Tamil Eelam.

CONTINUING VIOLENCE AGAINST TAMILS

The continuing displacement of several thousand persons who either continue to be confined in transit camps or have been compelled to take shelter with host families in Valigamam North in the Jaffna Peninsula. The forcible occupation of agricultural and occupational lands belonging to the Tamil people by the armed forces and by Sinhalese. No action has been taken to remedy these blatant violations. According to an army spokesperson, 9543.18 acres of land in the 5 districts in the northern province remain occupied by the tri-forces.

The allocation of state land in the Northeast without any public notification exclusively to Sinhalese persons purportedly for development purposes continues. Persons from outside the Northeast are being settled in different parts of the Northeast and more recently, in the coastal areas of Mullaitheevu and  East to change the demographic composition of those areas and create new administrative divisions.

The destruction and desecration of Hindu and Christian places of worship and other cultural sites like the historical  Agathiyar Sthaapanam in Kanguveli and the Hot wells in Kanniya, to transform the religious and cultural identity of the said historical areas.

Despite tall claims by the government that it has repealed emergency regulations and restored normalcy in post-war Sri Lanka, the government chose to retain emergency-era powers through the promulgation of Regulations under the PTA. These Regulations ensure the seamless continuation of emergency rule, replete with the grant of extraordinary powers to the armed forces and police to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.

In a Joint Statement, President Rajapaksa and the Secretary-General agreed that ‘addressing the aspirations and grievances of all communities and working towards a lasting political solution was fundamental to ensuring long-term socio-economic development.’ President Rajapaksa also ‘expressed his firm resolve to proceed with the implementation of the 13th Amendment, there has been no progress to implement those referred to in the joint statement. In fact, 13 A+ has now been reduced to 13A-.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the President of Sri Lanka on 21st July 2022.  He promised to resolve the Tamil issue and achieve meaningful reconciliation before the February 4, 2023, deadline. He said he would make an announcement in Parliament of this position if a solution could not be found by the 75th Independence Day. The 75th Independence Day had come and gone but he remains dead silent. 

Tamils are commemorating the 41st Tamil Black July Pogroms – one of the darkest chapters of Sri Lanka’s history – with no solution in sight.

“The cost of freedom is always high, but our people always paid it. One path we shall never choose is the path of surrender or submission.” (John F Kennedy (35th US President)