Exercising their right of free expression, 67 registered social welfare organisations of diaspora Tamils in France, took a pioneering democratic step of secret ballot on Saturday, 18 April, and unanimously declared support to the independence war of Eelam Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, said Ki Pi Aravinthan in Paris to TamilNet.
The Paris declaration read that in supporting the cause of Eelam Tamils, it has infallibly adopted the will and spirit of the Vaddukkoaddai Declaration of 1976 that was overwhelmingly mandated by Tamil voters in 1977, and was in line with the ideology behind the declaration of American independence, the Republic of France in 1789 and the UN human rights declaration of 1948.
Two representatives from each of the organisations participated in the deliberations. Each organisation had a single vote.
The secret voting was presided over, counted and declared by three local government dignitaries, Mr. Serge Setterahmane, Adjoint au Maire (Deputy Mayor), Clichy la Garenne, Mme. Mireille Gitton, Adjoint au Maire (Deputy Mayor), Clichy la Garenne and Mr. David Fabre, Conseiller, Savigny sur Orge.
Mr David Joseph of British Tamil Forum and Edward Sebastiampillai, a former Member of Parliament of Sri Lanka were special observers for the occasion.
The results of the deliberations and the declaration will be sent to the President of France and to the ministries of foreign affairs and home affairs, the organizers said.
Talking on the significance of the mandate and the declaration, Mr. Aravinthan said that it democratically marks the phase of a new synthesis of components of the independence war: the will of the concerned people, the will of their diaspora and the armed struggle ensuing as a consequence of failure of all other means.
The Eelam Tamil diaspora rightfully has a say in this matter, as they are largely people who were forced to leave due to events followed the Tamil-rejected constitution of 1972 and the Tamil mandate for self-determination in 1977, Aravinthan said.
No democratic space was provided to Tamils by any government after 1977 for the free expression of their will on the national question. All subsequent elections took place under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of 1979 and after the Sixth Amendment to the constitution in 1983, both banning secession, he observed.
As one cannot foresee any free elections taking place for Tamils to express their will for nationhood in the current scenario of the island, the stakeholders outside have a duty in upholding space for free mandate, through transparent democratic means, verifiable by the international community, Aravinthan said.
In his observation, the Paris meet of registered organisations in France for a secret ballot supervised by neutral observers was in a way an experiment in the line of electoral colleges.
The diaspora has to creatively adopt credible and democratic ways and means to mobilise the will and free expression of Eelam Tamils all over the world. It is something that we ought to pass to the next generation, said Aravithan, a former militant of 1970s and the only surviving associate of Sivakumaran, the pioneer of Tamil militancy.
