When Britain granted independence to Sri Lanka on 4th February 1948, it failed to provide a federal arrangement for both Tamil speaking and Singhalese speaking people of the island to share political power and enjoy equality.  This paved the way for the permanent Sinhala majority in Sri Lanka to systematically and consistently discriminate and brutally oppress the Tamil people. This led to the Tamil struggle for federalism through non-violent, constitutional and parliamentary means. The violent reaction of the majority to the peaceful struggle lead to the Tamil polity resolving to restore their statehood based on their right to self-determination.  The Sri Lankan state’s genocidal attack on the Tamil people in 1983 lead to a 26  year long armed conflict that ended on 18 May 2009 with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The victorious Sri Lankan President Rajapakse, before resettling and rehabilitating the 300,000 internally displaced Tamils, advanced the Presidential election by 2 years to exploit his popularity amongst the Sinhala majority to secure a second term of six years.  Although President Rajapaksa secured a comfortable victory through whatever means, the voting trend in the Tamil homeland in the north-east reveals that the two sovereign peoples in Sri Lanka are further polarised.  While the majority of the Singhalese speaking people have voted for President Rajapaksa, majority of the Tamil speaking people have voted against him.  Dr. Jehan Perera, the executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, who is a Singhalese, summed up the results thus: ''The problem in our country is that majority rule also translated into ethnic majority rule…. It is permanent majority rule that can also become a tyranny of the majority.''

Opposition Presidential candidate has alleged that there were serious violations of the election law and has called on the election commissioner to annul the voting.  European Union, US and Norway in their congratulatory messages have urged the president that these allegations be investigated in accordance with Sri Lankan law and the country’s  “democratic’’ traditions.

While the victorious President is waiting for the independence-day celebrations to announce the dissolution of parliament and holding general elections, he has already openly expressed his desire to suppress any opposition to his way of running the country.  Police closing down an opposition news paper facility, disappearance of journalists, government’s attempt to deport a Swiss journalist for revealing the truth (that she saw President’s brother walking out of the election commissioner’s office ) and sending 12 army officers on compulsory retirement are some of the post-election actions of the government worthy of mention here. The president instead of taking positive steps towards reconciliation with the Tamil people and developing a just political solution to the long standing conflict, he has been calling for constitutional changes to strengthen Sinhala rule over the Tamils to assimilate their very national identity.

Under these circumstances Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Tamil Diaspora will continue to mourn Sri Lanka’s Independence Day.

AFTA calls on the International community and the Australian and New Zealand governments in particular to urge President Rajapaksa to restore normalcy in the Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka and find a political solution that addresses the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people.

AFTA strongly urge all the independent media to bring these facts to the attention of the public.