{"id":118108,"date":"2021-09-13T16:44:13","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T23:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=118108"},"modified":"2021-09-21T16:39:33","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T23:39:33","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-19-b2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/13\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-19-b2\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 19 B2"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Revised 18.9.21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA became the dominant Tamil separatist party\nonce the LTTE was eliminated at end of Eelam war IV. It is remarkable how quickly the Tamil\nNational Alliance moved into this new phase, said Chandraprema. The war ended in May 2009 and by the end of\nthat year, the TNA had taken the lead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA then   embarked on an aggressive new strategy in\ncollaboration with Tamil parties abroad. \nTNA linked with Global Tamil Forum, which had its headquarters in\nLondon. Canadian Tamil Congress said it had worked closely with TNA and its\nspokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran at the United Nations Human Rights Council\n(UNHRC) in Geneva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA supported Sarath Fonseka in the 2010\nPresidential election. TNA welcomed the Darusman report of 2011.  <\/strong>TNA welcomed the US resolution against Sri Lanka at UNHRC\nin 2012. TNA wanted Sri\nLanka taken before the\nInternational Criminal Court for war crimes committed in Eelam war IV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA welcomed\nthe charges against Army commander Shavendra Silva. The TNA issued the\nfollowing statement:”Shavendra Silva, the Commander-in-Chief of the 58th\nDivision, should be held accountable for the crimes committed against humanity\nby the war crimes committed during the latter stages of the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA became active at the UN Human Rights\nCouncil. A TNA delegation went to Geneva in 2015 to meet the members of the\nUNHRC. TNA welcomed the  2012 US backed resolution against Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, too, the TNA sent a separate delegation\nto the UNHRC sessions and this delegation stayed back after the sessions to\nattend meetings organized by the Tamil Diaspora in Geneva, including some with\ninternational representatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA was especially\nactive in the UNHRC Resolution 30\/1 of 2015. \n M.A. Sumanthiran stated at the US\nCongressional Caucus for Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka, on June 14,\n2016,   in Washington, that the\nYahapalana   government, the US and the\nTNA    had come to a tripartite agreement\non including foreign judges    into the   UNHRC Resolution 30\/1 of October 2015. Sumanthiran\u2019s\nstatement was released in Sri Lanka by Sampanthan\u2019s office. Otherwise Sri Lanka\nwould not have known of this agreement, observed Shamindra Ferdinando.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sumanthiran\nhad told the Caucus “I was personally involved in the negotiations, with\nthe United States of America also participating in that particular process.\nThere were some doubts created, as to whether the Constitution of Sri Lanka\nwould allow for foreign nationals to function as judges and we went into that\nquestion, clarified it, and said yes they can and that is how that phraseology\nwas agreed upon. TNA had settled for a hybrid model though they had originally\nasked for an international inquiry. The agreement on foreign judges was not\nnegotiable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this Caucus Sumanthiran had urged Samantha\nPower, US Ambassador to the UN,   to\npressure the Sri Lanka government to implement the UN Resolution. Without the\nhelp of UN and USA the resolution will not be implemented. The UN and US should\nalso ensure that a long term solution is achieved to enable the Tamil speaking\npeople of Sri Lanka to live with respect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Washington\nCaucus is an initiative launched by the United States House Representatives\nBill Johnson of Ohio and Danny Davis of Illinois, in November, 2013.  The Washington event was moderated by\nSadhananda Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think\ntank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The UN\nHigh Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on Sri Lanka at 46th session\nof the Human Rights Council in 2020. (Report of OHCHR on promoting\nreconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka (A\/HRC\/46\/20). TNA\nsaid:\nWe welcome the report from the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner.\nMany would have noticed that the report reflected some issues we raised in the\ncollective letter we sent earlier to the office of Human Rights Chief. That is\na coincidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Pohottu government\u2019s withdrawal from\nResolution 30\/1 was a blow to the TNA. When Sri Lanka withdrew from\nco-sponsorship of Resolution 30\/1, TNA protested. You need the consent of the\nconcerned country to do this. When the State fails to comply, it escalates to\nother steps such as referral to the International Criminal Court  urge other member states to apply universal\njurisdiction, travel bans and freezing assets, howled TNA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This matter\nis now vested with the Human Rights Council with the submission of the report by\nthe Panel of Experts in 2011, continued TNA. But from the recent interviews\ngiven by the Foreign Secretary, it seems the Government is still continuing the\ndenial mode even after ten years. We need to take a harder position now as the\ninternational community also realized after giving ten years for the Government\nto achieve wartime accountability and it failed to do so, continued TNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M.A.\nSumanthiran said that the government cannot pull out of international\ncommitments. . You cannot\nwithdraw from an act that is already done.\u201d \nIn the international system, these obligations are taken seriously.  Ladduwahetty replied, the international law\nprovides for sovereign States to withdraw from commitments made by\nirresponsible members of  a State under\nArticle 46 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US and UK\nwere working together to introduce a fresh UN resolution against Sri Lanka\nduring the 46th Council meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, March\n2021.  Media reported that   in December 2020 that there was a sudden\nmeeting between US ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz and Spokesperson\nof Tamil National Alliance (TNA) M.A. Sumanthiran at the residence of the\nambassador. Mr. Sumanthiran assured the support of the TNA to the initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 TNA has\ndecided to focus on foreign intervention, to get their Eelam. TNA cultivated UN\nagencies.During Yahapalana rule, TNA met the \nUN  specialists  sent by the UNHRC such as Pablo  de Greiff, United Nations Special Rapporteur\non the promotion of truth, justice reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.\nTNA had complained about release of lands belonging to civilians, missing\npersons and political prisoners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNA has also \nrun to sympathetic foreign countries asking them to help create Eelam. When\nIndia\u2019s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar\u2019 visited Colombo in January\n2020 TNA met him. TNA thereafter held a media conference at Indian High\nCommission. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We\ndiscussed in detail issues that are critically important to the Tamil people. The\nIndian External Affairs Minister had \nalso made it clear to the Government of its commitment to implement the\n13th amendment and go beyond that to resolve the ethnic conflict as promised to\nIndia in the past.  Both parties have decided not to publicize the things\ndiscussed but I assure you that all the critical issues faced by the Tamil\ncommunity were taken up,\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

after that\nSampanthan\u2019s office issued a s tatment. :”Visiting Indian Foreign\nSecretary Dr. Jaishankar met the TNA delegation at the Indian High Commission\nin Colombo. At the meeting, the TNA delegation apprised the foreign secretary\nof some pressing issues faced by the Tamil people including the lack of\nprogress in relation to the release of lands held by the military in the North\nand East, disappearances, and Tamil political prisoners.”The TNA also\nupdated Dr. Jaishankar on the new constitution, stating that the process had\nnow stalled. The foreign secretary assured the TNA that he would raise these\nissues during his meeting with His Excellency the President and the Honorable\nPrime Minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sampanthan\nannounced in July 2020 that the international community and Indian Prime\nMinister Narendra Modi are “standing behind us “.   With reference to External  Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar\u2019s visit to Colombo\nimmediately after the Presidential election of 2019 and  the Presidents and Prime Minister\u2019s  visits to New Delhi thereafter , Mr.\nSampanthan said India had, on all three occasions, emphasized the need to\nsettle the Tamil question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2021\nSampanthan met Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay at his official residence,\nIndia House for a discussion.TNA was  seeking a one-on-one meeting with Indian Prime\nMinister Narendra Modi. Sampanthan briefed the Indian envoy on the need to find\na solution for the ethnic conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TNA leader also\nsent an invitation to Prime Minister Modi through  ambassador Baglay, to  come and take part in the opening ceremony of\nthe Rs 1.2 billion funded Jaffna Cultural Centre . High Commissioner Baglay\nassured the TNA leader that he would take up the issues they discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indian High\nCommission issued a statement on the visit. A five member Tamil National\nAlliance (TNA) delegation led by R. Sampanthan, Member of Parliament called on\nthe High Commissioner Gopal Bagley. The pre scheduled meeting took place on 17\nJune 2021 at India House. Leader of Ilangai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) Mavai\nSenathirajah and TNA Members of Parliament Dharmalingam Sithadthan, Selvam\nAdaikkalanathan and MA. Sumanthiran were present during the meeting. The High Commissioner\nreiterated India\u2019s support for devolution within the framework of a united Sri\nLanka on the basis of full implementation of the 13th<\/sup> amendment\nwhich would be in line with Tamil aspirations for equality, justice, peace\n& reconciliation and would strengthen Sri Lanka.\u201d ( continued in B3)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 18.9.21 TNA became the dominant Tamil separatist party once the LTTE was eliminated at end of Eelam war IV. It is remarkable how quickly the Tamil National Alliance moved into this new phase, said Chandraprema. The war ended in May 2009 and by the end of that year, the TNA had taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}