V. Rudrakumaran
Rather Than Playing With Words Like Sri Lankan Constitution, Our Freedom Charter States “Tamil, Sinhala, and English shall be official languages of Tamil Eelam”
— V. Rudrakumaran
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, October 13, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — https://slguardian.org/interview-we-are-eelam-tamils/
Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran a New York based mostly Attorney who served because the authorized advisor to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, throughout the interview with Sri Lanka Guardian
Sri Lanka won’t grow to be an economically viable nation with no political decision to the calls for of Eelam Tamils, Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran a New York-based Attorney who served because the authorized advisor to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, instructed Sri Lanka Guardian in an unique interview.
While recalling the recollections of slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, he says that “his vision, his dedication, his determination, his passion, his resilience, are always with us.”
Rudrakumaran is the prime minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam which is a transnational organisation among the many Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora which goals to determine Tamil Eelam, within the North-East of Sri Lanka. This interview is part of our sequence of interviews with famous minds in Tamil Diaspora. The Government of Sri Lanka, lately, renewed its request wherein they invited members of the Tamil Diaspora for political and social cohabitation.
FOLLOWING ARE THE EXCERPTS OF THIS INTERVIEW:
1) Question: Rudra, it has been a very long time since we final communicated. Thank you for taking the time to take a seat with us. What newest updates are you able to provide us in your group TGTE?
Answer: Our principal political program is that the Eelam Tamils, as a definite Nation, have the fitting to self-willpower and they need to determine their political future via a referendum.
Today this imaginative and prescient is gaining acceptance within the worldwide neighborhood. As you understand, many former presidents, former UN undersecretaries and distinguished lecturers frequently take part in our features.
Our viewpoint can be discovering resonance amidst the Tamil home management, regardless of the oppressive navy setting and risk posed by the Sixth Amendment, which penalizes peaceable advocacy for an unbiased state. I additionally wish to spotlight the truth that in a letter despatched by the Tamil parliamentarians to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights dated August ninth, 2022, have referred to as for the repeal of the Sixth Amendment.
We will likely be quickly submitting papers with the registrar of the International Criminal Court acceding to the jurisdiction of the ICC within the state of Tamil Eelam. Our accession relies on the truth that the de jure state of Tamil Eelam exists. As you understand, the Tamils didn’t consent to the 1972 in addition to the 1978 constitution- our argument is premised on the worldwide authorized idea of reversion to sovereignty. In this connection, I’d additionally wish to state that the previous UN excessive commissioner Al Hussain referred to as upon the Sri Lankan state to accede to the Rome statute.
I wish to point out that the continued proscription by the Sri Lankan authorities of the TGTE, which is dedicated to determine the state of Tamil Eelam via democratic and diplomatic means, is testimony to our effectiveness within the pursuit of our objective.
2) Q: We heard that your father was a authorities servant who labored because the Mayor of Jaffna from 1979 to 1983 and handed away in 2020. What legacy did he go away so that you can pursue?
A: My father was not a authorities servant. He was a profitable legal lawyer. He firmly believed that Tamils can reside with safety and dignity solely in an unbiased Tamil state. He stop training regulation in 1983, since he refused to take oath expressing allegiance to the Sixth Amendment of the structure. I’d additionally wish to level out, when he was the mayor of Jaffna, he refused to obtain the then Prime Minister Mr. R. Premadasa. Honesty, sincerity, arduous work, dedication to the trigger, and dedication to the folks, are the hallmarks of his legacy.
3) Q: Do you acknowledge your self because the successor of slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran?
A: I don’t think about myself because the successor of the Tamil nationwide chief. I imagine that nobody generally is a successor to our nationwide chief. However, I really feel I’ve an ethical and political obligation to contribute successfully to the wrestle. The Tamil nationwide chief has elevated the Tamil wrestle to the worldwide airplane and made the Tamil nationwide query a world subject. His achievement/contribution and imaginative and prescient within the realization of Tamil aspirations for an unbiased state will information us in transferring ahead to the top. Our nationwide chief as soon as stated that the mode of our wrestle would possibly change, however not the objective. We will transfer ahead with democratic and diplomatic means to realize our objective. The incontrovertible fact that Sri Lanka continues to stay a racist, ethnocratic state solely strengthens our resolve.
4) Q: Do you miss him?
A: His imaginative and prescient, his dedication, his willpower, his ardour, his resilience, are at all times with us.
5) Q: Let us think about the preliminary doc ready by the Advisory Committee of TGTE the place you’ve gotten reaffirmed that Mr. S J V Chelvanayagam is “Eelam Gandhi”. Do you imagine in non-violence?
A: I strongly imagine in Peoples’ Power. As I discussed within the reply to the sooner query, we have now adopted a non-violent path to realize our objective. I wish to level out the custom of sacrifice by Thileeban and Annai Poopathi who additionally adopted a non-violent mode of wrestle.
6) Q: What errors did the LTTE make?
A: The LTTE was dedicated to the Tamil trigger that was not effectively matched with the curiosity of worldwide powers. It might be described as a geopolitical battle. Between the thirst of Tamils for an unbiased and sovereign state and the curiosity of the prevailing worldwide powers. The cause for the way in which the struggle led to 2009 was that the massive regional and international powers didn’t desire a new energy middle within the Indian Ocean. The powers didn’t need to make a change within the energy construction and stability of energy in South Asia and within the Indian Ocean. Given the current collusion between China and Sri Lanka, as demonstrated by the Hambonthota 99 years lease, the arrival of the Chinese submarine in 2014 and the arrival of Yuan Wang 5 final month, that place will certainly change within the days forward.
7) Q: The identical preliminary report of your Advisory Committee lamented the plight of Muslims in Sri Lanka and advocated a secular state. But we don’t see any Buddhist or Islamic representatives in your high committee of TGTE. Why?
A: distinguished Sinhala human rights activist, Dr. Brian Senewiratne who occurs to be a relative of the previous Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, has been a distinguished member of the TGTE Senate. In 2016, we acknowledged his contribution to the human rights of Tamils and gave him a “Lifetime Commitment Award”.
In our Freedom Charter, promulgated with the participation of greater than 100,000 folks, slightly than enjoying with phrases like within the Sri Lankan structure, we said in article 14 of the Freedom Charter that “Tamil, Sinhala, and English shall be the official languages of Tamil Eelam.
In the Freedom Charter, we explicitly recognized the distinct identity of the Muslims. Moreover, unlike Sri Lanka, which places Buddhism as the foremost religion, article 7 of our Freedom Charter states that Tamil Eelam shall be a secular state and no religion shall be given foremost place in Tamil Eelam. I must also say that a Sri Lankan Muslim academic also participated in the conference promulgating the Freedom Charter. We are also contemplating having a seminar with the Muslim community regarding our Tamil Eelam referendum campaign.
8) Q: You strongly believe that the only way Sri Lankan Tamils can protect their rights is to create a separate Tamil homeland. This position can be understood by assessing Sri Lanka’s past records that you have no real intention to solve the problems of the common men and women in the North East but lag behind the unrealistic goal. Correct us if we are wrong.
A: I would like to first categorically deny the identity of our people as “Sri Lankan Tamils”. We think about ourselves as Eelam Tamils and People of Tamil Eelam. Sri Lanka is a Sinhala, Buddhist, fundamentalist state that has systematically been engaged in structural genocide of Tamil folks. An unbiased sovereign Tamil state is the one resolution for safeguarding Tamil folks from the genocidal insurance policies and actions of the Sri Lankan state.
In reality, Ms. Michelle Bachelet, the previous UN High Commissioner for Human Rights , in her report issued 6 September 2022 expressed considerations about “the trend towards majoritarianism… former president Rajapaksha actively promoted a Sinhala Buddhist majoritarian ideology with the support of the military and Buddhist monks.”
As the East Timor president and noble laureate, Dr Jose Ramos Horta on the fifth Mullivaikal Memorial lecture on May 18th 2020, said “The ruling Sri Lankan state must ask themselves why Tamils are actively seeking a separate state and acknowledge what may be going wrong.”
The scuttling of the P-TOMS by the Sri Lankan judiciary and the utter failure of the provincial council clearly demonstrates that till a political decision is reached, financial growth can’t occur.
I additionally take subject along with your characterization that Tamil Eelam is an unrealistic objective. In reality, the continuation of Sri Lanka as an ethnocratic state, dominated in perpetuity by racist Sinhala elites is an unrealistic objective. The rising recognition of the very fact throughout the worldwide neighborhood that the Tamils had been subjected to genocide accelerates the method of realising our independence. Law and morality dictate that as a type of remedial justice as a way to guarantee “Never Again”, the formation of an unbiased state is the correct type of remedial justice.
I additionally wish to level out that given the truth that the island of Sri Lanka is located in a strategically vital place within the Indian Ocean, and it’s the Tamils who inhabit two-thirds of the shoreline, the evolving energy dynamics also needs to be famous on this connection. As you understand, since 1990, greater than 30 states have been established. We imagine that historical past is transferring within the course of Tamil folks reaching their highest political aspiration.
9) Q: Do you hate Sinhalese? When was the final time you communicated with a Sinhala Buddhist?
A: Neither I nor different Tamil leaders and the Tamil folks hate Sinhala folks. Our wrestle is in opposition to the chauvinistic and genocidal Sri Lankan state. I present authorized illustration for a lot of Sinhalese right here within the US. Some of my Sinhala purchasers even search my recommendation for his or her household issues. Some of my Sinhala purchasers have additionally said, throughout the present financial disaster, that the reign over the entire nation ought to have been given to Mr. Velupillai Pirabaharan. In their opinion he would have ruled the nation with honesty and self-discipline. I feel it is best to test my repute among the many Sinhala and Muslim working-class diaspora in New York metropolis.
10) Q: How do you learn in regards to the current financial meltdown in Sri Lanka?
A: The current financial meltdown is primarily brought on by the atrocity crimes dedicated in opposition to the Tamils and the continued navy subjugation of Tamils. The militarization of the nation contributes closely to the current financial disaster. The UN excessive commissioner, in her report dated September 6th2022, said that “the Defense Ministry was allotted – 354 billion Sri Lankan rupees (US $1.86 billion) which accounted for 15% of the full authorities expenditure making it the very best allotted sector in 2022″.
Coupled with the above, the disrespect for the rule of regulation for many years has enabled corruption to go so deep that it has destroyed the Sri Lankan economy. Another associated think about newer instances has been the reliance on China for top curiosity loans for ineffective tasks. The Covid pandemic and the struggle in Ukraine solely tipped over a totally rotten system.
11) Q: How are you able to help Sri Lankans to beat the present problem?
A: I take this query as how Tamils can help and overcome the present disaster. As we have now said earlier there first must be a political resolution to the Tamil nationwide query by holding a referendum to determine the political future of Eelam Tamils. I have to state right here that our present referendum marketing campaign doesn’t hinge the consent of the Sri Lankan state. A referendum for independence in Kosovo was held with out the approval of Serbia.
Sri Lanka won’t grow to be an economically viable nation with no political decision to the calls for of Eelam Tamils. Such an answer will carry peace and prosperity for everybody. It can even encourage the Eelam Tamil Diaspora to spend money on Sri Lanka additionally.
12) Q: The President has invited the Tamil Diaspora to be half of rebuilding Sri Lanka. We imagine it’s an excellent alternative so that you can put your ft on the bottom and do one thing substantive. Would you want to speak with the federal government?
A: I feel the solutions given to earlier questions are related to this query too. When I left Sri Lanka in 1982, my intention was to complete my one-yr grasp’s diploma and return to Sri Lanka. After the 1983 racial pogrom I felt that based mostly on my credentials, I might contribute to the liberation of our folks extra successfully by being outdoors. Given the very fact, there’s no house for Tamils for justice or to articulate their political aspirations totally, it’s crucial for me to proceed to remain outdoors the island. I’m certain I’ll return and put ‘my feet on the ground’ and that will likely be on the soil of an unbiased Tamil Eelam.
Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)
+1 614-202-3377
[email protected]
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