Revised Nov 29
Our liberation struggle has reached a new historical turning point and entered into a new developmentalstage. We are facing a new challenge. We have ceased armed hostilities and are now engaged in a peacefulnegotiating process to resolve the ethnic conflict. Our sincere and dedicated commitment to the peace processhas falsified and demolished the propaganda campaign carried out by Sinhala chauvinists that we are enemies ofpeace.
Even on the issue of cease-fire, we took the initiative. We declared a unilateral cease-fire and calledupon the government to reciprocate. The new government, which assumed power with a mandate for peace,reciprocated positively to our declaration of cease-fire. The mutually agreed cessation of hostilities cameinto effect on 23 February under the supervision of an international monitoring team. This cease-fire has beenin force for the past nine months. There have been several provocative attempts by certain elements of thearmed forces and anti-peace racist forces to disrupt the peace process. There were incidents in which severalinnocent Tamils were killed. Nevertheless, we maintained a rigid discipline and observed peace. This is aclear demonstration of our genuine commitment to the path of peace.
If a reasonable settlement to the Tamil national question could be realised by peaceful means we will makeevery endeavour, with honesty and sincerity to pursue that path. Our political objective is to ensure that ourpeople should live in freedom and dignity in their homeland enjoying the right of self-rule. If this politicalobjective could be realised by peaceful means, we are prepared to adopt that method.
We have never shown any disinclination to win the political rights of our people through peaceful means. Wehave participated in peace negotiations at different places, at different times in different historicalcircumstances i.e in Thimpu, in Delhi, in Colombo, in Jaffna and now in Thailand. All previous attempts to anegotiated political settlement ended in fiasco. These failures could only be attributed to the hard-lineattitude and deceitful political approaches of previous Sri Lanka governments. Now, the government of Mr RanilWickramasinghe is attempting to resolve the problems of the Tamils with sincerity and courage. Furthermore,the current cease-fire, built on a strong foundation and the sincere efforts of the international monitoringmission to further stabilise it, has helped to consolidate the peace process. The capable and skilfulfacilitation by the Norwegians has also contributed to the steady progress of the current peace talks. Aboveall, the concern, interests and enthusiasm shown by the international community has given hope andencouragement to both parties. The ideal approach is to move the talks forward, systematically, step by step,standing on a strong foundation of peace and building mutual confidence.
As a consequence of the brutal war that continued incessantly for more than two decades, our people faceenormous existential problems. The social and political infrastructures of the Tamil nation are in ruins. Thecities, towns and villages have been razed to the ground. Houses, temples and schools have been destroyed. Anancient civilization that stood on our lands for centuries has been uprooted. It is not possible for ourpeople to rebuild their ruined social and economic structures. It is a monumental humanitarian problem. Wehope that the international community will view the problem sympathetically. We are relieved to learn thatinternational governments have come forward to assist the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war damagedTamil nation.
Though there is peace in the Tamil homeland, conditions of normalcy have not been restored. Under the coverof ‘high security zones’, the Sinhala armed forces are occupying residential areas and social, economicand cultural centres. Forty thousand troops are occupying Jaffna peninsula, which is a tiny geographicalregion with a dense population. The military occupation is suffocating the civilian masses and causingtensions. Jaffna, which is the cultural heartland of the Tamil people, has turned into an open prison. Theoccupying forces are using the civilians as their protective shields. As several villages, houses and roadsare entrapped by occupation several thousands of internally displaced are unable to return to theirresidences. Unless this problem is resolved there is no possibility for normalcy and social peace to berestored to Jaffna.
It has always been our position that the urgent and immediate problems of our people should be resolvedduring the early stages of the peace talks. The former government of Sri Lanka rejected our position. As aresult the peace talks broke down. There was a misconception on the part of the former regime that we werehesitant to take up the fundamental political issues and insisted on the resolution of the immediate problems.But the present government has been taking concrete actions redressing the urgent and immediate problems ofour people. This is a positive development.
The objective of our struggle is based on the concept of self-determination as articulated in the UNCharter and other instruments. We have always been consistent with our policy with regard to our struggle forself-determination. Tamil homeland, Tamil nationality and Tamils’ right to self-determination are thefundamentals underlying our political struggle. We have been insisting on these fundamentals from Thimpu toThailand. Our position is that the Tamil national question should be resolved on the basis of these coreprinciples. Tamils constitute themselves as a people, or rather as a national formation since they possess adistinct language, culture and history with a clearly defined homeland and a consciousness of their ethnicidentity. As a distinct people they are entitled to the right to self-determination. The right toself-determination has two aspects: internal and external. The internal self-determination entitles a peopleto regional self-rule.
The Tamil people want to live in freedom and dignity in their own lands, in their historically constitutedtraditional lands without the domination of external forces. They want to protect their national identitypursing the development of their language, culture and economy. They want to live in their homeland under asystem of self-rule. This is the political aspiration of our people. This constitutes the essential meaning ofinternal self-determination. We are prepared to consider favourably a political framework that offerssubstantial regional autonomy and self-government in our homeland on the basis of our right to internalself-determination. But if our people’s right to self-determination is denied and our demand for regionalself-rule is rejected we have no alternative other than to secede and form an independent state.
Racism and racist oppression are the causative factors for rebellions and secessionist politics. TheSinhalese people should identify and reject the racist forces if they desire a permanent peace, ethnic harmonyand economic prosperity. They should support, wholeheartedly, the efforts to find a political solution bypeaceful means. The Sinhalese people should not oppose the Tamils’ aspirations to manage their own affairsunder a system of self-rule in their own homeland. It is the politics of the Sinhala nation that willeventually determine whether the Sinhalese could peacefully co-exist with the Tamils or to compel the Tamilsto secede.
We are pleased to note that the talks between the government and the LTTE are progressing forward under theconditions of mutual trust and goodwill. We are encouraged by the interest shown by the internationalcommunity in the peace process and their willingness to offer assistance to rebuild the war damaged economy ofthe Tamil nation. It is our deepest desire that the current peace talks facilitated by Norway should succeedand all the communities living in the island should co-exist in harmony. If the Sinhala chauvinistic forces,for their own petty political reasons scuttle this peace effort which has raised high hopes and expectationsand gained the support of the international community, the Tamil people will be compelled to pursue the pathof secession and political independence
