Tamil Nadu Government Denied Permission for TGTE’s "200 Years Tragedy of Malaiyaha Tamils" Seminar in Chennai

Denying Political Space for 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu to Discuss the Plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka Violates Rights to Free Speech & Freedom of Association

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, October 19, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) condemns the action taken by the Tamil Nadu government in India that denied permission to the TGTE's seminar entitled "200 Years Tragedy of Malaiyaha (up country) Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka," which was organized by the Tamil Nadu members of the TGTE and scheduled for the 15th of October. This undemocratic denial of permission violated Tamils’ rights to both free speech and freedom of association.

As Mahathma Gandhi stated, free speech is “absolutely necessary for a man to breathe the oxygen of liberty.”

Two hundred years ago, the United Kingdom, then a colonial power, brought Tamils from Tamil Nadu, India to Sri Lanka and guaranteed them that their rights would be protected in Sri Lanka to work--initially in coffee plantations and later in tea plantations.

Starting in 1948, immediately following the independence, the Government of Sri Lanka through the 1948 Ceylon Citizenship Act, the 1949 Indian Pakistani Residential Citizen Act, and the 1949 Ceylon Parliamentary Elecions orders in Council Amendment Act, Sri Lanka violated the UK's guarantee by disenfranchising more than 10 million Malaiyaha Tamils and making them stateless.

In 1958, 1977, 1981, and 1983, Malaiyaha Tamils were subjected to racial pogroms by Sinhalese and the targets of racial violence. Still today, the socioeconomic and living conditions of Malaiyaha Tamils in Sri Lanka, who are the backbone of the Sri Lankan tea industry, which is the dominant income-generating industry bolstering the Sri Lankan economy, is subhuman.

TGTE's seminar was intended to discuss ways and means to uplift the lives of the Malaiyah Tamils in Sri Lanka. The conference was to be chaired by retired Tamil Nadu Justice Hon. Hari Paranthaman.

The confirmed speakers included Mr. V. Suresh, All India General Secretary of Peoples Union of Civil Liberties, Mr. Gobi Naiyanar, Film director, Professor Saraswathi, member of the TGTE senate, Mr. SS Balaji, a member of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Mr. U Thaniyarasu Ex M.L.A, President of Konku Youth Association, Mr. Sankara Subbu, Senior Advocate, Madras High Court and Advocate T.M. Johnson, Tamils Lawyers Association, as well as Indian members of the TGTE and other Tamil Nadu-based speakers.

The Tamil Nadu authorities who denied permission for the TGTE's indoor seminar have not given any reason for their denial of the permit, which TGTE sought more than 1.5 months ago, in writing.

Rule of Law is the axis of democratic governance. The denial of permission for the seminar is a blatant violation of freedom speech and freedom of association. It also denies the political space for the 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu to discuss and deliberate the plight of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka and ways to help them.

When the TGTE sought permission in 2019 to be an intervener in the proceedings pertaining to the extension of ban of the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in India, TGTE argued that the ban on the LTTE has a chilling effect on the TGTE's political activities in India. Based on the Indian government's submission, the Tribunal stated that there was no legal impediment for the TGTE to engage in political activities in India.

The Tamil Nadu members of the TGTE, Mr. T. Thamizhinian, Mr. Mugesh Thangavelu, Mr. G. Pavendhan and Professor. Saraswathi are making preparations to legally challenge Tamil Nadu Government's ban on the "200 Years Tragedy of Malaiyaha Tamils" seminar in the Indian judiciary.

* ABOUT THE TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL EELAM (TGTE):

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is a democratically elected Government of over a million strong Tamils (from the island of Sri Lanka) living in several countries around the world.

TGTE was formed after the mass killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government in 2009.

TGTE thrice held internationally supervised elections among Tamils around the world to elect 132 Members of Parliament. It has two chambers of Parliament: The House of Representatives and the Senate and also a Cabinet.

TGTE is leading a campaign to realize the political aspirations of Tamils through peaceful, democratic, and diplomatic means and its Constitution mandates that it should realize its political objectives only through peaceful means. It’s based on the principles of nationhood, homeland and self-determination.

TGTE seeks that the international community hold the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Tamil people to account. TGTE calls for a referendum to decide the political future of Tamils.

The Prime Minister of TGTE is Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a New York based lawyer.

Email: pmo@tgte.org
Twitter: @TGTE_PMO
Web: www.tgte-us.org / www.tgte.org

Visvanathan Rudrakumaran
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)
+1 614-202-3377
r.thave@tgte.org
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