Vaddukoddai Resolution
The Vaddukoddai Resolution ( Tamil வட்டுக்கோட்டைத் தீர்மானம் ) was a resolution adopted on May 14, 1976 at the first national congress of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in Pannakam ( Vaddukoddai District , near Jaffna in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka ). The presidium of this political congress was headed by SJV Chelvanayakam . The resolution played a central role in the conflict between the Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka and is considered to be the beginning of the movement for self-determination and independence for Tamils in Sri Lanka, 28 years after independence from British colonial rule.
preamble
The resolution begins with a brief historical overview. Tamils and Sinhalese have lived together on the island of Ceylon for many centuries . The Sinhalese inhabited the interior and the south of the island and the Tamils the north and east. The Tamil kingdom was then conquered in 1619 by the Portuguese colonial rulers , who were later replaced by the Dutch and British. When the entire island came under British rule , the British initially administered the Tamil regions separately from the Sinhalese, and it was not until 1833 that the island was administratively combined into a single unit. During the British colonial period, Tamils played a leading role in the independence and autonomy movement.
After independence in 1948, the Sinhalese, as the majority people, would have taken over all political power and systematically oppressed the Tamil minority. Sinhala has become the only and exclusive state language. With government support, Sinhalese have been resettled in previously exclusively Tamil areas. The ties between the Sri Lankan Tamils and the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have been systematically cut off. Tamils were systematically disadvantaged when it came to the allocation of jobs and training positions. There were arbitrary arrests, riots, torture and killings of Tamils.
Years of efforts by the Tamil political parties to achieve equality for the minority have been unsuccessful. The proposal of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) to establish an autonomous Tamil region within Sri Lanka had been rejected. All proposals and demands made by the Tamils when the new republican constitution was introduced in 1972 had also not been taken into account.
Final resolution
The above explanations end with a final resolution in which the demand for complete independence, i.e. H. the establishment of a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka is charged:
“The first National Convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front meeting at Pannakam (Vaddukoddai Constituency) on the 14th day of May, 1976, hereby declares that the Tamils of Ceylon by virtue of their great language, their religions, their separate culture and heritage, their history of independent existence as a separate state over a distinct territory for several centuries till they were conquered by the armed might of the European invaders and above all by their will to exist as a separate entity ruling themselves in their own territory, are a nation distinct and apart from Sinhalese and this Convention announces to the world that the Republican Constitution of 1972 has made the Tamils a slave nation ruled by the new colonial masters, the Sinhalese, who are using the power they have wrongly usurped to deprive the Tamil Nation of its territory, language citizenship, economic life, opportunities of employment and education, thereby destroying all the attributes of nationhood of t he Tamil people. "
“The first national meeting of the Tamil United Liberation Front in Pannakam (constituency Vaddukoddai) on May 14, 1976 herewith declares that the Tamils in Ceylon have the strength of their great language , their religions, their independent culture and heritage, their historical existence as an independent state in a demarcated area for centuries until they were conquered by the armed forces of European invaders, and above all because of their will to live in an independent self-governed community on their own land, a different and separate nation from the Sinhalese, and this convention Announces to the world that the Republican Constitution of 1972 made the Tamils a slave nation in their own land - ruled by the Sinhalese as the new colonial rulers, who use their ill-gotten power to the Tamil nation their country, their mother tongue, their economics to deprive their livelihood, work and training opportunities and thus destroy all national attributes of the Tamil people. "
And further:
“This convention resolves that restoration and reconstitution of the Free, Sovereign, Secular, Socialist State of TAMIL EELAM, based on the right of self determination inherent to every nation, has become inevitable in order to safeguard the very existence of the Tamil Nation in this Country. "
"This assembly resolves that the reestablishment and restoration of the free, sovereign, secular , socialist state of TAMIL EELAM , based on the right of self-determination that is inherent in every nation, has become indispensable in order to secure the existence of the Tamil nation in this country."
consequences
The open demand for independence and not just autonomy represented a radicalization of the Tamil positions. In response to this, the government led by the United National Party (UNP) passed the 6th amendment on August 8, 1983 . This added Article 157A to the Sri Lankan Constitution. This constitutional article made efforts to establish an independent state in Sri Lanka a punishable offense. Political parties were banned from pursuing this goal. Elected MPs from such political parties were threatened with losing their mandate and people who developed such activities were threatened with the loss of their civil rights and property. The members of the Tamil United Liberation Front in the Sri Lankan Parliament then refused to take the oath on the constitution. In the same year 1983 openly violent currents like the LTTE (“Tamil Tigers”) gained the upper hand among the Sri Lankan Tamils and civil war broke out openly. This civil war dragged on for 26 years (up to 2009), placed enormous economic burdens on the developing country Sri Lanka and cost an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 lives.
Web links
- Text of the resolution on sangam.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Frank-Florian Seifert: The right of self-determination of the Sri Lankan Tamils between secession and integration . Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07717-0 , pp. 394 .
- ↑ a b c d e THE RESOLUTION Unanimously adopted at the First National Convention of the TAMIL UNITED LIBERATION FRONT held at Vaddukoddai on May 14, 1976, Chairman SJV Chelvanayakam QC, MP (KKS). Retrieved September 13, 2015 .
- ↑ Amendments upto the Seventeenth Amendment. Retrieved September 14, 2015 .