The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) has questioned Sri Lanka’s motives for its recent proscription of Tamil diaspora organisations and individuals based on information which the government claims to have procured from LTTE officials five years ago.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, President, Mr Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam stated that the TNPF condemned the extensive ban and believed that there was no evidence or justification to support it.

Explaining what the TNPF believed to be the main motives for the ban, Mr Ponnambalam said:

“After a resolution critical of Sri Lanka was passed in Geneva, the government now needs to save face in the south. This ban is the government’s way of protecting its Sinhala nationalist credentials.”

“Since the Rajapaksa government rests on the laurels of having defeated the LTTE, it needs to reiterate this to its voter base, to counter the increasing humiliation Sri Lanka has faced internationally.”

Mr Ponnambalam also said that the ban would serve to impede any investigative mechanism from gathering the testimonies of Tamils living in the Northeast.

“The connection between Tamils living in the homeland and the Tamil diaspora would have aided in bringing forward testimonies while still protecting the identity of witnesses,” he said.

Expressing the view that international attitudes about reconciliation are misguided, Mr Ponnambalam said:

“Tamils are constantly being told to compromise, for the sake of reconciliation. However if the Sinhala nation is willing to delegitimise the Tamil diaspora – an essential part of the Tamil nation – it raises the question as to whether reconciliation through open and sincere dialogue can ever actually be possible.”

“The Sri Lankan government has made its views on reconciliation very clear, that is to say, that reconciliation can only happen on their own terms and that Tamil politics should adopt an entirely submissive form.”

“By depriving the Tamils in the Northeast of the assistance and aid so far provided by the diaspora, the government orchestrates a situation where the people will themselves have to renounce their homeland.”

Mr Ponnambalam concluded his statement imploring the international community to take appropriate action or else stand complicit in such attacks on democracy.

Regarding actions TNPF could take against the ban, Mr Ponnambalam said that there would be “very few chances to challenge this legally since the laws themselves exist to reinforce the suppression of the Tamil nation.”

Listen to the full press conference below (Tamil).