The situation in Sri Lanka is deteriorating

By Nesan Shankar Raji
Writers from London

(November 20, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The situation in Sri Lanka is deteriorating day by day, month by month. Young children are suffering from malnutrition in the IDP camps and resemble the same children suffering in regions such as Darfur in Sudan and Somalia.

Unless or otherwise the North-East of Sri Lanka is re-merged, under the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, the IDP’s in Vavuniya and other areas are released, and the citizenship rights of the upcountry Tamils is resolved no lasting solution can be implemented in Sri Lanka.



The Government cannot continue to fool our people and the international community any longer. The entire international community knows what’s happening on-ground but is hesitant to do something about it because of countries such as China and India.

A lasting solution for our people is simple and that is the implementation of the Thimpu Principles that we and other members of the Eelam National Liberation Front (ENLF) which included the LTTE declared in 1985. For those readers who are unaware of what the Thimpu Principles are, they are listed below:

1. That the Sri Lankan Tamils be recognised as a distinct nationality;

2. That an identified Tamil homeland and the guarantee of its territorial integrity be recognised;

3. That the right of the Sri Lankan Tamils to self-determination be acknowledged; and

4. That the citizenship rights of the Tamil plantation workers be recognised.

The 13th Amendment of the Indo-Lanka signed in 1987 has not been implemented in Sri Lanka by successive Governments (UNP and SLFP) including the present administration in power. The Thimpu Principles above is by far the only means of achieving lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. No solution can be brought upon in this Island of two nations (Tamil Eelam and Sinhalese Ratta) unless the Government of Sri Lanka also grants equal citizenship rights to the up-country plantation Tamils.

The Government has failed to implement any of the above for the last 24 years since the declaration of the Thimpu Principles at the peace talks of 1985 in Bhutan. We do not foresee our people giving up these fundamental demands.

Regarding the situation of our people from Sampur in the Trincomalee district who have been systematically displaced by the present Government, and India (for its own strategic and economic greed) we will not bow down and give into foreign governments who wish to displace our people from their traditional homelands and we will do everything we can to ensure that our people from Sampur go their original place of abode. The entire town of Sampur being designated as an Economic/Military Zone is not negotiable. Our people stuck in refugee camps need to go back to their homes in Sampur and the time is now! This includes the IDP’s in Vavuniya, Jaffna and other parts of Trincomalee. All of our people need to go to their original place of abode.

We had given all our trust to the Indian establishment prior to the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 so that the Government of Sri Lanka will see sense and implement what is right to meet the demands and aspirations of our people and till date nothing is being done, decades after we begun peace negotiations. India has betrayed us and so has successive Governments in power. Thousands of Eelavar Tamils have sacrificed their lives for our Eelam struggle and the right to be recognised as a distinct national entity.

If the Government of Sri Lanka fails to implement the Thimpu Principles and the 13th Amendment under the Indo-Lanka Accord then ultimately this will lead to another arms struggle one way or another as our community are getting frustrated by the day….

The Government needs to think carefully about its next step and put a stop to the colonisation of lands (Sinhalese settlements) owned by our people in the North-East and its programme of building thousands houses for armed force personnel in Killinochi and other areas otherwise our nations (Eelam and Ratta) will have to be divided and not united and our people will be faced with no other alternative but to strive for the independence of Tamil Eelam from the Sri Lankan state.

-Sri Lanka Guardian