Tamil residents and public servants in the Jaffna peninsula are making last minute preparations for a fourth Tamil resurgence convention to be held on Friday. Preparations are going ahead despite threats by the Sri Lankan security forces, who occupy most of the peninsula, against organizers and the public.
Several hundred pre-school teachers from Teachers Technical Colleges across Jaffna district met at the Thileepan Memorial near Nallur Kandaswamy temple last week to make village level plans for the forthcoming Tamil Resurgence Celebrations in Jaffna.
Earlier in the week, many other women, mostly from camps for the internally displaced across the Jaffna district, volunteered to assist with the organization of the event. More than a thousand women and female students attended a briefing by organizers at the Jaffna University Kailasapathy Auditorium. Committees including undergrads formed in the event Sunday began their village-level awareness campaign to promote the Jaffna Tamil Resurgence Convention.
The Sri Lankan military has stepped up the harassment of those it suspects to be involved in organizing the next Tamil resurgence event. SLA soldiers have also intensified armed patrols in the parts of the peninsula under military control.
On Monday, students from Jaffna Technical College on their way to publicize forthcoming Tamil Resurgence event were barred from entering Mandaitivu by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers. Even after intervention by international ceasefire monitors and Tamil parliamentarians, the students were not allowed entry.
Last week, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) arrested a student organizer traveling through a military checkpoint. He was released after other students and members of the public protested over the arrest and a Tamil parliamentarian complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) over the “intimidating tactics” of the Sri Lankan military in Jaffna. The soldiers warned the student not to participate in the forthcoming Tamil Resurgence rally.
“The success of the Tamil Resurgence Rallies in Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Kilinochi and Mullaithivu has alarmed Colombo, and that is why I think SLA has intensified its intimidating tactics to sabotage the forthcoming rally," parliamentarian Selvarajah Gajendran said.
The hostility by Sri Lanka’s armed forces comes in the wake of a series of successful Tamil resurgence events in other parts of the North-East.
The Sunday Times’ respected Defence Column said the evening Jaffna is focused to deliver a strong message to the international community and Sri Lanka’s Sinhala-dominated south. It points out that the rallies are taking place against “a backdrop of a protracted delay in peace talks, the non implementation of P-TOMS (Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure), demands for troop withdrawals from High Security Zones.”
Earlier this month tens of thousands of residents attended a similar resurgence event in Mullaitivu. The attendants appealed to the international community to recognize their right to greater autonomy from Colombo. “Extend your moral support achieve self rule with just peace and dignity in our traditional homeland. Help us to live in our homeland with Self Rule in peace with the Sinhala South,” the Mullaitivu declaration said.
Attendees at earlier resurgence events held in Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Kilinochchi have made similar appeals. Friday’s event is expected to be one of the largest such rallies.
Compiled from TamilNet and local press reports
Several hundred pre-school teachers from Teachers Technical Colleges across Jaffna district met at the Thileepan Memorial near Nallur Kandaswamy temple last week to make village level plans for the forthcoming Tamil Resurgence Celebrations in Jaffna.
Earlier in the week, many other women, mostly from camps for the internally displaced across the Jaffna district, volunteered to assist with the organization of the event. More than a thousand women and female students attended a briefing by organizers at the Jaffna University Kailasapathy Auditorium. Committees including undergrads formed in the event Sunday began their village-level awareness campaign to promote the Jaffna Tamil Resurgence Convention.
The Sri Lankan military has stepped up the harassment of those it suspects to be involved in organizing the next Tamil resurgence event. SLA soldiers have also intensified armed patrols in the parts of the peninsula under military control.
On Monday, students from Jaffna Technical College on their way to publicize forthcoming Tamil Resurgence event were barred from entering Mandaitivu by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers. Even after intervention by international ceasefire monitors and Tamil parliamentarians, the students were not allowed entry.
Last week, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) arrested a student organizer traveling through a military checkpoint. He was released after other students and members of the public protested over the arrest and a Tamil parliamentarian complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) over the “intimidating tactics” of the Sri Lankan military in Jaffna. The soldiers warned the student not to participate in the forthcoming Tamil Resurgence rally.
“The success of the Tamil Resurgence Rallies in Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Kilinochi and Mullaithivu has alarmed Colombo, and that is why I think SLA has intensified its intimidating tactics to sabotage the forthcoming rally," parliamentarian Selvarajah Gajendran said.
The hostility by Sri Lanka’s armed forces comes in the wake of a series of successful Tamil resurgence events in other parts of the North-East.
The Sunday Times’ respected Defence Column said the evening Jaffna is focused to deliver a strong message to the international community and Sri Lanka’s Sinhala-dominated south. It points out that the rallies are taking place against “a backdrop of a protracted delay in peace talks, the non implementation of P-TOMS (Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure), demands for troop withdrawals from High Security Zones.”
Earlier this month tens of thousands of residents attended a similar resurgence event in Mullaitivu. The attendants appealed to the international community to recognize their right to greater autonomy from Colombo. “Extend your moral support achieve self rule with just peace and dignity in our traditional homeland. Help us to live in our homeland with Self Rule in peace with the Sinhala South,” the Mullaitivu declaration said.
Attendees at earlier resurgence events held in Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Kilinochchi have made similar appeals. Friday’s event is expected to be one of the largest such rallies.
Compiled from TamilNet and local press reports
