Responding to a meeting between British South Asia Minister, Lord Ahmad, and Tamil National Alliance spokesman, M.A. Sumanthiran, C.V Wigneswaran has called on the British Minister to recognise Tamils as a sovereign nation.

“The Indo-Sri Lanka Accords of 1987 has recognised the North & East as places of historic habitation of the Tamil speakers. They are the majority in their areas” he stated on Twitter.

He further highlighted that it was under British rule that the country was unified in 1833 whereas before there was a separate kingdom for Jaffna. He added:

“In terms of international covenants, Tamils are a Nation, not mere minorities. The conflict continues as the State continues to grab lands of Tamils, attacking Tamil speaking people, and destroying the cultural identity of Tamils”.

“We had a number of pogroms killing Tamils and drove them from their residence long before the armed conflict. Hon’ Minister must cease looking upon our problems as a mere human rights problem. The North-East Tamils are a Sovereign Nation”.

Wigneswaran follows meetings between the TNA and the British High Commission, the British Foreign Office, and meetings with the US State Department. During these meetings, the TNA and Global Tamil Forum (GTF) have called for a more proactive role in Sri Lanka and to “address the root cause of conflict and human rights violations”.

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