TGTE says Government very generous with promises

The V. Rudrakumaran led US based Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam issued a Statement on 03 June 2015 responding  to the statement by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera,  at the 28th Session of Human Rights Council.

Citing the Report of the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, the Statement emphasized that international crimes, namely war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, have been committed against the Tamil People by the Sri Lankan State itself, acting like a cultural warhead of the Sinhala-Buddhist majority community. The Statement also stated that it is the state of Sri Lanka that is a party to the Four Geneva of 1949 and Genocide Convention, thus transition of governments is legally irrelevant.

The Statement, quoting the memorandum of the Jaffna University Teachers Association, noted the mischaracterization of Eelam Tamil votes during the last presidential elections as votes for the current president.

Highlighting that the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister’s speech was full of “promises and good intentions”, the Statement stated that the Sri Lankan political history reveals that the Sri Lankan government is very generous when it comes to promises. It points out the unfulfilled promise made by the Sri Lankan government to the UN to bring the perpetrators to justice following the 1983 racial pogrom.

Noting the wishful thinking of some quarters that if the current regime is seen as promising too much to Tamils now, they could lose the forth-coming parliamentary elections, the Response pointed out the requirement of a referendum for anything more than the power mentioned in the 13th Amendment and posed the question of what will cause the Sinhalese people to be more amenable to meaningful power sharing after the election? Exploring an alternative basis for legitimacy, the Statement questioned how a mandate can be obtained without discussing the measures prior to the election.

The Statement concludes that there is no fundamental change in relations between the Sinhalese and Tamils envisaged, either before the elections or after.

Pointing to the lack of a political environment and political will demonstrated by the statement of the Deputy Minister of Justice of Sri Lanka that the former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is safe as long as he is in Sri Lanka, the Statement called for a referral of Sri Lanka to the International Crime Court or the establishment of a Sri Lanka War Crimes Tribunal.

The Thirst Of Tamils Is Tamil Eelam.

However, the Britain based Global Tamil Forum (GTF) led by Rev. Dr S.J. Emmanuel issued a statement on 05 March 2015 welcoming the democratic transition process initiated by the new government under the leadership of President Sirisena, which includes the increased space presently available for freedom of expression and rule of law. The 100 day program initiated by the government that aims to crystallise the new governance norms through constitutional amendments is of huge significance for the long term future of Sri Lanka. The appointment of civilian governors for the Northern and Eastern Provinces is a very important step in the right direction. The demand for these appointments was consistently ignored by the previous regime. It is our belief that these positive developments, if garnered properly, will provide stepping stones to resolve the long standing Tamil national problem in Sri Lanka.