The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) have urged India to reject the 13th Amendment and instead support a federal solution that will allow the Tamil nation their right to self-determination as well as referring Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for the Tamil genocide.
In a letter to India's Minister of External Affairs, Subramanyam Jaishankar, the TNPF's General Secretary Selvarajah Kajendren stated that the amendment failed to prevent the Tamil genocide and that the political situation had become worse than it was when the amendment was first introduced.
The 13th Amendment was established in 1987 as part of the Indo-Lanka accord and created the system of Provincial Council, promising greater devolution of land and police powers to a merged North-East. However, Sri Lanka has failed to implement the accord.
“The ethnic problem remains unresolved, and the structural genocide against the Tamil nation has intensified,” the letter added.
Moreover, the TNPF highlighted that there have been over 30 judicial judgements by Sri Lanka’s courts which have determined that as long as Sri Lanka maintains a unitary state structure, Colombo “will be the sole repository of all powers and have specifically held against devolution.”
The TNPF also called on India to "take action" over the ongoing fishing disputes between Eelam and Tamil Nadu fisherfolk. In recent years, fishermen from the North-East have spoken of Indian trawlers encroaching on their fishing grounds in larger boats which are known to damage the seabed and are capable of carrying a larger catch, often exhausting the fishing reserves thus making it harder for Eelam Tamil fishermen obtain a sizeable catch.
Alongside the referral of Sri Lanka to the ICC, the TNPF called on India to take measures to appoint a country specific special rapporteur for Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council as well as establishing OHCHR field offices in the North-East to document ongoing human rights abuses.
The letter was handed to Jaishankar at meeting on June 20th with other Tamil politicians, where issues relating to devolution and development were discussed.
Read the full letter here.
