Tamils to Observe Sri Lanka’s 75th Independence Day as a Black Day (Day of Mourning) to Highlight 75 years of Suffering

There will be total shut down of Tamil areas and huge protests are planned.

JAFFNA, SRI LANKA, January 26, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Tamil University students have announced that Tamils will observe Sri Lanka’s 75th Independence Day on February 4th as a Black Day (day of mourning) to highlight 75 years of suffering, discrimination and abuses Tamil community is facing since independence on February 4th, 1948.

There will be total shut down of Tamil areas and huge protests are planned. This announcement was made by the University students Union at a press conference held at the Jaffna University.

Since independence Tamils have faced several mass killings with the blessing of successive governments in 1958, 1977, 1983 and 2009 when tens of thousands of Tamils were killed, and hundreds of Tamil women were sexually assaulted and raped. To get justice Tamils are calling to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as recommended by a former UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights.

As soon as the independence was given in 1948, the first act of the government which was dominated by Sinhalese – Buddhist majority was to remove the citizenship of millions of Tamils and made them stateless. This was followed by government sponsored settlements of Sinhalese- Buddhist communities in Tamil areas to change the demography in favor of Sinhalese-Buddhists.

Several discriminatory laws were passed against Tamils, including Sinhala as the only official language of the country in 1956 and discriminatory university admission policy in 1970. These laws resulted in Tamils facing major hurdles to get jobs and pursuing higher studies.

All agreements to solve the Tamil conflict between the Government and Tamil leaders were unilaterally abrogated by the Sri Lankan Government. Even international mediation by India and Norway was not successful. Due to this Tamils are calling for an internationally conducted Referendum to solve the conflict.

Even after the war ended fifteen years ago, the Government is still maintaining huge military presence in Tamil areas. These same military are the one who were accused by UN and other international organizations for have committed atrocity crimes against Tamils.

Currently, Sri Lankan government, with the active support of the security forces, are building several Buddhist temples in Tamil areas where hardly any Buddhists live.

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