Sinhala Buddhists supremacists’ celebrate their 73rd “Independence Day” while Tamils mark it as “Black Day”

The Sri Lanka political leaders elected solely by the Sinhala Buddhists supremacists’ votes celebrate their 73rd “Independence Day.” Simultaneously, the Eelam Tamils continue to suffer under a  heavily militarized occupation with strict orders to remain indoors.  Eelam Tamils have always marked the February 4th as the “Black Day,” symbolizing the oppression they have been experiencing for decades.  Every day the Eelam Tamils are seeing their centuries-old historic places of worship being destroyed only to be supplanted by Buddhist Temples based on “fiction.” While human rights organizations worldwide are beginning to see the Eelam Tamils’ real plight and censuring the Sri Lanka Government, it has accelerated its efforts to erase the Tamil identity in the island.  It is amply supported by military occupation, promoting land grab to build Buddhist temples followed by Sinhala colonization assisted by the armed forces.  On February 20, 2021, it will be four years since the mothers and siblings started the roadside protest demanding any information about their loved ones.  In the 21st century, no country should be allowed to annihilate another nation taking cover under “sovereignty” to avoid international scrutiny.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was proclaimed in 1948 by the UN General Assembly Resolution 217A as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations.  The UDHR was meant to protect vulnerable populations, like Eelam Tamils, against oppression and mass atrocities by authoritarian regimes. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which is tasked with ensuring that the countries worldwide abide by the UDHR, has failed miserably to protect the Eelam Tamils.   It is time the UNHRC take tangible action to stop the ongoing Tamil Genocide by hauling the criminals responsible before an independent, international, investigative mechanism.

When the non-violent struggle from 1948 till 1983 by the Eelam Tamils was met with a series of pogroms leading to the massacre of thousands of unarmed men, women, and children, the armed phase of the struggle began as a way to ward of the genocidal onslaughts orchestrated by successive Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist governments.  Unfortunately, the post 9/11 political climate in the West allowed consecutive Governments of Sri Lanka to cloak their genocidal attacks as a fight against “Terrorism.”  The global powers failed to see the “Sinhala-Buddhist supremacists” pervert the “war on terror” to carry on with their genocidal massacre of tens of thousands of innocent Tamil men, women, and children herded into government announced “no-fire zone.”   The monument remembering these victims located on the University of Jaffna was destroyed last month on the orders of the government is an obscene attempt at cover up.  The Tamils placed their faith in the UNHRC to deliver justice and stop the ongoing genocide with no tangible results, so far, on the ground.  The oppression of Tamils today is far worse than the conditions that led to the armed struggle in 1983.

Seventy-three years of unbridled support of politicians elected to power by fanning the Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist ideology has created a political climate that is incompatible with the multi-nation and multi-religious makeup of the island.  Unless the UN intervenes to stop the genocide of Tamils, there will be no peace on the island and stability in the Indian Ocean.  We strongly appeal to other nations with a conscience to intervene on the island and stop the ongoing genocide of Tamils.