Tamil politicians should reject constitution that doesn't recognise Tamil homeland - Tamil Lawyers Forum

by Abi
Dec 21, 2017

Tamil parliamentarians should reject the proposed new consitution for Sri Lanka as it does not recognise the North-East as the Tamil homeland, Tamil lawyers have urged.

Having been elected both in Northern Provincial Council elections in 2013 and parliamentary elections in 2015, on the basis of campaigns which clearly stated that the North-East was the inseparable and indisputable homeland of the Tamils, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) should not act against the people's mandate, Tamil Lawyers Forum said in a statement on Wednesday.

"If Tamil leaders express support for a consitution which weakens Tamils by dividing their homeland, this will send out the false message that Tamils are satisfied with the current political situation in Sri Lanka," the forum said.

This would be another obstacle in the Tamil struggle for a just and lasting political solution, and would also make it more difficult to fight for accountability for the genocide of Tamils, for demilitarisation and land-release, for the release of Tamil political prisoners and for answers about the thousands of forcibly disappeared.

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button