Tamil Eelam

This note was prepared for the participants
at a consultative meeting on Sri Lanka
on 1st August 2006 at Chennai
by Maravanpulavu K. Sachithananthan,
65, Pantheon Road,
Chennai 600008
email: tamilnool@rediff.com
Sri Lanka – Tamil Eelam

area – around 66,000 sq. km. area;
(40,000 sq. km. Sinhala homeland, 26,000 sq. km. Tamil homeland – 1948 situation).
population – just crossed the mark of 2 crore persons, (estimates, 2006), (74% Sinhala speaking, 25.2% Tamil speaking and 0.8% others - 1981 census, proper census of population not held thereafter).

Looking back……A. D. 1505 to 1947

1505 - Portuguese arrived in the island - which had 3 kingdoms, viz.: Upcountry Sinhala Kandyan, Low country Sinhala Kotte and the Tamil Kingdom stretching from Waikkaal Aru above Negombo in the northwest to Kumbukkan Aru in the southeast.
1505 – Portuguese conquest of the Kotte Sinhala Kingdom.
1619 – Portuguese conquest of the Tamil Kingdom
1656 – Dutch conquest of the Kotte Sinhala Kingdom
1658 - Dutch conquest of the Tamil Kingdom.
1796 – British took over the 2 Kingdoms, ruled them separately through the East India Company Governor from Madras (Chennai).
1803 - Ceylon became a British colony with its own Governor in Colombo.
1805 – British occupation of Tamil Wanni (chieften Pandara Wanniayan)
1815 – British occupation of the Kandyan Sinhala Kingdom.
1823 – Tamil labourers for the hill country plantations started arriving from Tamil Nadu.
1833 – Colebrooke reforms, unifying the 3 different administrative systems into one: seeds sown for a UNITARY political cum administrative structure.
1883 – Anti-Christian uprising by the Buddhist bikkus at Kotahena, Colombo.
1888 – Anti-colonial revolt in Kandy.
1909 – Tamil Association convened in Jaffna by James Hensman (who taught English to Silver tounged Srinivasa Sastri at Kumbakonam) sought independence for the Tamils from the British.
1915 – Sinhala – Muslim riots.
1917 – Arrival of labour for the Colombo harbour from Kerala.
1919 - Founded the Ceylon National Congress with Arunachalam as president.
1921 – Manning reforms
1921 – Arunachalam resigned from the CNC in the wake of Sinhala extremism within the CNC, to form the Ceylon Tamil League.
1924 – Jaffna Youth Congress convened.
1925 – Kandyan national forum – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike sought a federal form of government with 3 states: Kandyan state, Tamil state and the Kotte state – the pre 1833 status of political cum administrative structure.
1925 – June 28th: Mahendra Pact between Tamils and Sinhalese; subsequently abrogated unilaterally by the Sinhalese yielding to Sinhala extremism.
1931 – Tamil Mahajana Saba convened.
1931 – Donoughmore reforms. UNITARY constitution promulgated. Universal franchise introduced.
1931 – Elections to the state council – Jaffna Youth Congress boycott.
1936 – Second elections to the state council.
1937 – Sinhala Maha Saba convened by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike.
1939 – A. K. Gopalan visited Colombo to contain the anti-Malayalee wave; the visit was a failure; his May 1st meeting at Colombo was disrupted by Sinhala extremists. Malayalees returned to Kerala in batches.
1939 – Legislations enacted (a) to prevent plantation Tamil workers from acquiring lands in the Sinhala homeland; (b) to prevent plantation Tamils from state employment; (c) to deport a batch of plantation Tamils to India; (d) to prevent further arrival of labourers from Tamil Nadu.
1939 – Jawaharlal Nehru visited Colombo to contain this anti-Indian wave, convened the Ceylon Indian Congress; July 26th public meeting where Jawaharlal Nehru spoke at the Galle Face Green was disrupted by Sinhala extremists.
1944 – All Ceylon Tamil Congress convened by G. G. Ponnambalam.
1944 – Soulbury Commission sittings.
1944 - Sinhala and Tamil to be the official languages – state council legislation discussed.
1947 – Soulbury (UNITARY) constitution promulgated. Section 29 provided safeguards for the minorities.

Looking back…… A. D. 1948 to 1977

1948 – February 4th; British handed over power to the Sinhalese majority parliament; dominion status (independence) granted to Ceylon by the British crown.
1948 – December Ceylon Citizenship Act - deprived nearly a million plantation Tamils, their citizenship. Non-violent protesters led by S. Thondaman beaten up by Sinhala hoodlums, an example of state sponsored terrorism.
1948 – December: Federal Party was convened by S. J. V. Chelvanayagam. Policy: Two linguistic states, one for the Tamils in their traditional homeland; another for the Sinhalese in their traditional homeland; a federal government at the centre, (citing Swiss model) as the minimum arrangement under which Tamils will agree to be part of a unified Ceylon. If the Sinhalese will not agree, the Tamils will opt to form their sovereign state, resurrecting what was lost to the Portuguese in 1619.
1949 – Indian and Pakistani (Residents) Citizenship Act confirmed the previous position with regard to the citizenship of the plantation Tamils.
1948 – 1952 State sponsored colonization by the Sinhalese of the most fertile portions of the traditional Tamil homeland in the north-east, imposing demographic changes favourable to the Sinhalese.
1954 – Prime Minister Kotalawela announced at a public function in Jaffna to make Sinhala and Tamil official languages; later he withdrew his statement at his Kelaniya (UNP) convention yielding to Sinhala extremism.
1956 – Tamils elected Federal Party as their principal political voice in the General election.
1956 – Sinhalese only Act. Sinhalese became the official language. Non-violent protesters led by all the Tamil leaders beaten up by the Sinhala hoodlums, an example of state sponsored terrorism.
1957 – Bandaranaike - Chelvanayagam pact provided for Regional Councils. Unilaterally abrogated by Prime Minister Bandaranaike yielding to Sinhala extremism.
1958 – Mayhem with genocidal intent; an example of state sponsored terrorism; Tamils anywhere attacked mercilessly, their properties looted, their business houses burnt, many thousands killed, injured and internally displaced. India provided ships to transport Tamils to safety.
1960 - Tamils elected Federal Party as their principal political voice in the General election.
1961 - Sinhalese army plagued non-violent sathyagrahis in Jaffna; an example of state sponsored terrorism. Tamil leaders placed under house arrest. Tamils had the taste of an invading army for the first time since 1619. Entire Tamil homeland had never witnessed any army presence or action during the British occupation (except 1. to subdue the defiant Pandara Vannyan during early part of the nineteenth century; 2. a British left over base in Trincomalee, and 3. second world war years).
1964 – S.J.V. Chelvanayagam led a massive non-violent pada yathra across the Tamil homeland to demonstrate the unwillingness of the Tamils to accept Sinhala over lordship.
1964 – Srimavo – Sasthri pact led to in the deportation of about 400,000 plantation Tamils to India.
1965 - Tamils elected Federal Party as their principal political voice in the General election.
1965 – Dudley – Chelvanayagam pact provided for district councils. . Unilaterally abrogated by Prime Minister Dudly Senanaike yielding to Sinhala extremism.
1970 - Tamils elected Federal Party as their principal political voice in the General election.
1971 – Standardization of marks obtained at competitive examinations for entry to professional courses at University level favouring Sinhala students. The cream among the Tamil literate resorted to violent means of meeting the situation; that was the budding of today’s active militancy.
1972 – Brirtish Dominion Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka through an illegal assertion and transfer of power; Tamils boycotted the constituent assembly proceedings; burnt a copy of the 1972 constitution; S. J. V. Chelvanayagam resigned his seat in the parliament, threw a challenge to the government to defeat him in a by-election; in 1975, S. J. V. Chelvanayagam won the by-election defeating the government’s candidate who lost his deposit; the electorate gave a verdict with a paradigm shift from federalism to the establishment of an independent sovereign state of Tamil Eelam.
1974 – 1976: Kachativu agreement gave unbridled power to the trigger happy Sinhala naval force to gun down many hundreds of Tamil fisher folk from Tamil Nadu in the Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar.
1974 – Government banned the organizing of the 4th International Conference Seminar on Tamil Studies in Jaffna; defiant Tamil academics and organizers went ahead and conducted the academic sessions; Sinhala police opened fire to kill 9 innocent Tamils on the last day of the meet; an example of state sponsored terrorism.
1976 – S. J. V. Chelvanayagam, G. G. Ponnambalam and S. Thondaman teamed up to form a pan-Tamil coalition named Tamil United Front; resolved at its first session at Vaddukkoddai to work for the creation of a sovereign, independent democratic, socialist, secular republic of Tamil Eelam.
1977 – Tamil United Front, renamed Tamil United Liberation Front contested all the parliamentary seats in the traditional homeland of the Tamils; sought and received the mandate from the electorate by winning almost all the parliamentary constituencies with massive lead votes to proceed towards the implementation of the Vaddukoddai resolution, viz., to work for the creation of a sovereign, independent democratic, socialist, secular republic of Tamil Eelam.