{"id":118166,"date":"2021-09-15T16:48:25","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T23:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=118166"},"modified":"2021-09-21T16:47:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T23:47:12","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-19c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/15\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-19c\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 19C"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

REVISED\n18.9.21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamil Separatist\nMovement was not crushed by the Eelam defeat. They knew it was going to happen\nand were ready for it. The Movement created two new organizations after the war\nended, \u2018Transitional government\nof Tamil Eelam\u2019(TGTE) and the\n\u2018Global TamilForum\u2019 (GTF). TNA is the local representative in these two groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transitional\ngovernment of Tamil Eelam<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Transitional government of Tamil Eelam\n(TGTE) was set up May 2010 in the US.  It\nis a government in\nexile<\/a> set up by\nthe Sri Lankan\nTamil Diaspora<\/a> who wish\nto establish Tamil Eelam<\/a>. TGTE said that that like the Jews, the Tamil\ncommunity was a transnational population, no longer confined to a single nation.\nA community like that needs a transnational government. Therefore, a government\nin exile was be set up. However, analysts said that the world will not take the\nTGTE seriously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The advisory committee of the TGTE recommended    that aTransnational Constituent Assembly of Tamil Eelam be formed\nconsisting of 135 members. Of these, 115 would be elected and the remaining 20\nshall consist of delegates selected by the elected assembly to represent\nregions where elections aren’t feasible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The distribution of the 115 elected\nrepresentatives is: Australia 10, Benelux 3, Canada 25, Denmark 3, Finland 1,\nFrance 10, Germany 10, Ireland 1, Italy 3, New Zealand 2, Norway 3, South\nAfrica 3, Sweden 1, Switzerland 10, UK 20 and USA 10. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The distribution of the 20 appointed delegates\nis: Caribbean & South America 1, India 5, Malaysia 3, Mauritius 1, Middle\nEast 2, Oceania 1, Rest of Africa 1, Rest of Asia 1, Rest of Europe 1,\nSingapore 2 and South Africa 2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elections were held in May 2010. Working\ngroups were established in countries with significant Diaspora communities to organize\nelections. The inaugural assembly met between 17 May 2010 and 19 May 2010 at\nthe National Constitution Center<\/a>\nin Philadelphia<\/a>,\nUSA. Visvanathan\nRudrakumaran<\/a>,\nformer international legal advisor to the LTTE was appointed Prime Minister .Rudrakumaran is the son of\nthe former Jaffna<\/a> Mayor Rajah Viswanathan.\nHe is a US citizen and lives in New York City. TGTE established offices in all the European\ncountries where there is a significant number of Tamil Diaspora. It has held\nthree sessions in USA in   2010 and 2011.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TGTE is committed to an independent sovereign\nstate of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka\u2019s north and east. On\n19 May 2013, the TGTE unveiled its Tamil Eelam Freedom Charter, which seeks to take\nthe Vaddukoddai Resolution forward. The Charter said, inter alia, that the\nNorth and East of Sri Lanka are the traditional homelands of the Tamil people,\nthe people of Tamil Eelam have an inherent right to self-determination, and the\ncreation of an independent and sovereign State of Tamil Eelam remains the only\nviable option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Maitripala\nSirisena faced protests by supporters of the TGTE when he visited London for a\nCommonwealth Summit meeting in 2018. TGTE launched a campaign titled\n“#GoBackMY3” . The British government turned a blind eye to TGTE\ndisplaying LTTE flags at the Commonwealth Summit,  observed Shamindra Ferdinando. This was the\nfirst time that LTTE flags were displayed at protests against a Sri Lanka Head\nof state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TGTE also\ndisplayed banners. Banners declared \u2018Sri Lanka President wanted for genocide\u2019, \u2018Tamil\nEelam is the only solution\u2019, \u2018UK stop protecting genocidal Sri Lanka\u2019, \u2018Let\nTamils decide referendum now\u2019,\u2019 Justice delayed justice denied, \u2018Tamils want\naction not words,\u2019 We don\u2019t want a Constitution,\u2019 final solution is Tamil\nEelam,\u2019 where are the surrendered? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TGTE urged the\nCHOGM to suspend Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth, until Sri Lanka fully\nimplemented the recommendations made by the UNHRC. TGTE said that Sri Lanka\nshould be referred to the International Criminal Court and a UN conducted\nReferendum was needed for the Tamils to decide their future and to ensure a\npeaceful, permanent political solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TGTE is a make-believe organization formed by\nan immoderate attorney who has nothing else to do. If he had been a competent\nattorney, he would have had a lucrative practice and little time for\ncampaigning for an imaginary Eelam, said Kanthar Balanathan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Tamil Forum<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Tamil\nForum (GFT) was started in 2010 and is headed by Fr S.J.Emmanuel, former Vicar\nGeneral of Jaffna, now in Germany, said Rohan Guneratne in 2010. Global Tamil\nForum  consists of 14 Tamil Diaspora\ngroups, including ATC Australia, BTF\nUK, DFTA Denmark, NCET Norway, NZTC and WTS New Zealand, STF Sweden, TRF\nMalaysia, USTPAC US, ETU Europe, TEMP France, CTC Canada, TCF+KV Netherlands,\nMT Mauritius, STF Switzerland, and GT Italy, said Shanaka Jayasekera in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Tamil\nForum grew out of the British Tamil Forum, (BTF) which had been established in 2006 to\ninfluence British opinion. BTF has a strong presence in UK and did\nconstituency based lobbying, influencing British politicians. \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 BTF funded the setting up of the\nGTF Secretariat in London. Global Tamil Forum (GTF) was \u2018inaugurated\u2019 in the\nHouse of Commons in February 2010. All\nmajor British political parties were represented at the inauguration, reported\nShamindra Ferdinando. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GFT  soon became an influential grouping with\naccess to British and US administration. GFT\nrepresents influential Tamil Diaspora groups in Europe Australia, US when\nnecessary, said analysts.   GTF has\ncalled for the creation of an \u2018autonomous Tamil region\u2019 in merged north and\neast.  <\/strong>The 13th Amendment was too weak and fragile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GTF worked\nclosely with the TNA. GTF spokesman, Suren Surendiran said that among the\nissues they worked closely on was the accountability issue. They had joined up with TNA to push for full\nimplementation of the Geneva Resolution 30\/1, inclusive of foreign judges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GTF stated that all concerned Tamil\norganisations had met  in 2012 [ probably\nin London] to  discuss  Tamil genocide, destruction of Tamil peoples\nidentity, oppression, threat to Tamil claim to north and east, and legitimate\naspiration of Tamil people through negotiated political solution. This discussion continued in Berlin in\nJanuary 2013.  Participants included\nTGTE, GTF, and International Council of Eelam Tamils. The Sri Lanka\ncomponent consisted of Tamil National Alliance, Tamil National\nPeoples Forum, and Tamil civil society representatives. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British Tamil Forum organization a two\nday conference in the UK In 2014 to censure Sri Lanka. One session was\nscheduled to take place in the House of Commons and a delegation of the TNA had\narrived from Sri Lanka for this conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014,  in response to Sri Lanka\u2019s action of March\n2014  the Global Tamil Forum  urged the UK to intervene on its behalf at\nthe UN Security Council to prevent Sri Lanka government exploiting UN Security\nCouncil Resolution 1373 of 2011 ( UNSCR 1378) to attack 16 Diaspora groups as\nwell as 424 individual.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015 GTF welcomed the UNHRC report that\nstrongly indicated war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Eelam war IV. GTF\nrecommended an international special court for criminal prosecution. GTF is in\nfull agreement with the report and supports a hybrid court.     It must include substantial participation\nof international personnel at each stage of the investigation and trial process,\nsaid GTF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The\nviolations reported are   serious crimes of\nconcern to the international community as a whole, continued GTF.  It made harrowing reading, indicating the\nhorrific  level of abuse  suffer by the Tamil civilians at the hands of\nthe Sri Lanka armed forces, including indiscriminate shelling, extrajudicial\nkillings, enforced disappearance, denial of humanitarian assistance, ill\ntreatment of IDPs torture and sexual violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 GFT welcomes the Geneva resolution (34\/L 1) of\n2017 co-sponsored by Sri Lanka, which  reaffirmed full implementation of the 30\/1. The\nGTF said it cautiously welcomes the unanimous adoption of the resolution and\nthe fact that it was sponsored by forty seven   countries. Twenty\nseven countries spoke at the Interactive Dialogue on Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a\ncomprehensive, time-bound implementation strategy was urgently needed.  The victims and their families from the Tamil\ncommunity have very little faith in the government, and any belief that justice\nis possible is entirely due to the assurance of international involvement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The role played by major international powers\nand their trust in the impartiality of the UNHRC processes, has been very\nimportant in preventing them from descending into a state of despair.  GTF the GTF would like to reaffirm its\ncommitment to a process that will lead to true accountability and a sense of\nclosure to the trauma experienced by the surviving victims., the statement\nconcluded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A GTF delegation\nled by Suren Surendiran met with President Sirisena at the Hilton in Park Lane\nin 2015. The goodwill was so great, they even took a dinner of string hoppers, kiri hodi, <\/em>and pol sambol for Sirisena and his entourage,\nreported Sunday Times. He was thrilled. Also present was then Foreign Minister\nMangala Samaraweera. They talked passionately about resolving the issues before\nthem through dialogue. That did not go far said analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

THE\nPARK LANE HILTON IN MARCH 2015 \u2013 The then President Maitripala Sirisena with a\ndelegation from the Global Tamil Forum (GTF). Seated on his left is Suren\nSurendiran, now GTF spokesperson. On his right is Father S.J. Emmanuel and\nseated next to him is the then Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n2016 a delegation of\nthe GTF, representing US, UK, Canada, Australia and\nGermany met USA\u2019s Assistant\nSecretary of State, Nisha Biswal and Assistant Secretary for Human\nrights, Tom Malinowski at Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A joint delegation of Tamil organizations went to New York in\nMarch 2018 and held talks with UN, US and Norwegian officials in the US. The delegation\ncomprised Jaffna District MP and TNA spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran, GTF President\nRev. Father S. J. Emmanuel resident in Sri Lanka, United States Tamil Political\nAction Council (USTPAC), Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC), Norwegian Tamil Forum\n(NTF), Australian and the United Kingdom organizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visit was part of GTF-TNA continued engagement with the\ninternational community to ensure that Yahapalana government fully implemented\nthe 2015 Resolution. Suren\nSurendiran, who had been a member of this delegation, told Island that\nthe mission discussed ways and means to\nensure a time-bound implementation plan for two\nResolutions and the requirement for UNHRC monitoring and\noversight over Sri Lanka beyond March 2019. Resolution 34\/1 covers the period\nup to March 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Island<\/em> asked,  why did they want\nUN oversight and monitoring of Sri Lanka even beyond 2019, Surendiran said that\nin case the current government couldn\u2019t fully implement the 2015 pledges,\ncontinuous international oversight was needed over the next government that\ncomes in.  Constant watch was needed until\nthe full implementation of the 2015 Resolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GTF said\nthey were able to secure key appointments with the highest levels of authority\nat the UN, US Administration and Norway. The\ndelegation had met United Nations under Secretary General for Political Affairs\nJeffrey Feltman and Director for Asia and Pacific Division Ms Mari Yamashita at\nthe main UN building in New York. The delegation also met Senior Republican\nCongressman Bill Johnson and senior staff of the Foreign Relations Committee at\nCapitol Hill. The GTF said that Ambassador Alice J Wells, Principal Deputy\nAssistant Secretary for South and Central Asia had promised to take up their\nconcerns with US missions in Geneva and Colombo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deputy US\nPermanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Kelley E Currie, who is also the\nRepresentative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, met the\ndelegates at the US Mission at the UN Plaza, 1st Avenue. Ambassador\nCurrie has reiterated US commitment for the full implementation\nof Resolution 30\/1 and promised to discuss points of concern with the\nmissions in Geneva and in Colombo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The delegation also met Norwegian Permanent Representative to the UN Tore Hattrem, at one time Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo. Hattrem had assured the delegation that Norway shared their\u00a0concerns. Norwegian Mission in Geneva and the Norwegian government in Oslo\u00a0were interested in a time-bound implementation plan, with benchmarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Top\nUN official Feltman (fourth from left) with TNA and GTF delegates (Rev Fr\nEmmanuel-third from left, MP Sumanthiran-fifth from left) and\nSurendiran-extreme right)<\/strong>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GTF in a post\npublished by the Canadian Tamil Congress in 2020 said the Tamil people\u2019s\nstruggle for democratic rights in Sri Lanka has a long history and since\nindependence the desire of Tamils to live as a free people has not been\ndiminished by the many setbacks and the tests of endurance faced by Tamils in\ntheir onward march for justice, dignity and equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the\nfangs of the majoritarian state unfairly target minority communities, even the\ntheoretical possibility of legal recourse can be significant. So, it is vital\nthat Tamil, Muslim and Christian communities study their electoral options and\nact wisely, said GTF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021 Suren\nSurendiran, gave an interview to Island<\/em>\nwhere he said that the Tamil community did not believe in commissions appointed\nby the government of Sri Lanka to address post-war reconciliation issues. In an\ninterview with the BBC Sinhala service, Surendiran said that the Tamil community\nlooked to the UNHRC to address their grievances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GTF complained\nthat Government of Sri Lanka falsely claims that these resolutions are against\nSri Lanka and her people. Instead of dealing with issues like any mature\nprogressive country will and should, the government of Sri Lanka creates a\nfalse narrative that these resolutions are undermining the sovereignty of Sri\nLanka and that the international community, especially the powerful western\ncountries are undermining Sri Lanka and her people and their war heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GTF issued a\nstatement when the government of Sri Lanka rejected Resolution 30\/1 .GTF said\nthe government of Sri Lanka had rejected this resolution, but even all the\nneighboring countries\u201d did not support that position. The countries voting in favor\ncover all regions across the globe and several countries who would have\ntraditionally voted against such a resolution recognized the criticality of the\nsituation in Sri Lanka and decided to abstain. Tamils are grateful to the US\nAdministration that initiated the original process of promoting reconciliation\nand accountability in Sri Lanka in 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike in the\nprevious years when the outcome at the UNHRC was eagerly sought by the Tamil\ncommunity, the interests and expectations this year were much more widespread,\nreported the media. The Muslim community, which was openly victimized through\nforced cremations and expected bursa ban; the Christian community which is\nhighly disappointed with the dishonest approach towards Easter bombing\ninvestigations, and indeed the majority community which is increasingly\nbecoming unsettled with the authoritarian and militarized trajectory the\ncountry is adopting. . The Government of Sri Lanka, by rejecting this\nresolution, is undoubtedly isolating itself from the international community,\nsaid GTF. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third  \norganization \u2018International Council of Eelam Tamils\u2019, was\nset up by the \u2018Nediyawan faction in Norway. The movement started\nin 2009 immediately after the war. It was\nled by Perimpanayagam Sivapalan, known as Nediyawan, a hard core LTTE.  Nediyawan is only a figure head, the matter\nis controlled by a group of pro LTTE activists said one analyst.  Nediyawan faction objected to the appointment\nof Rudrakumaran as head of TGTE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This movement controls more than 150 Tamil\nschools in Europe. These schools are used to inculcate Tamil nationalist\nsentiments and hatred toward Sinhalese in the mind of the younger generation of\nTamils said an analyst. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders of these three groups\nare interested only in building their personal and political power and\nfinancial strength, said Rohan Guneratne in 2011. These leaders and their\nchildren are   very well off in\nEurope. (Continued)\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS REVISED 18.9.21 The Tamil Separatist Movement was not crushed by the Eelam defeat. They knew it was going to happen and were ready for it. The Movement created two new organizations after the war ended, \u2018Transitional government of Tamil Eelam\u2019(TGTE) and the \u2018Global TamilForum\u2019 (GTF). TNA is the local representative in these two […]<\/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-118166","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\/118166","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=118166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}