The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi passed a series of resolutions this week, condemning the Sri Lankan government's genocidal actions and calling for the maximum possible devolution of power to a merged North-East province.
On the 15th National ITAK Convention held last week, a series of 15 resolutions were passed condemning Sri Lankan government land grabs, the pillaging of natural resources from Tamil areas and the abuse of women and children, amongst others.
One of the declarations stated that,
“This convention reiterates that this country’s national question can be resolved only through maximum possible devolution of political power to the merged North-East province.”
The first resolution passed by the ITAK, a constituent party in the Tamil National Alliance, said,
“We assure our people that we will take forward our struggle until we achieve the objective of autonomous rule in the North East based on the principles of self-determination and shared sovereignty within a united, undivided Sri Lanka.”
Another went on to say that,
“This convention condemns this agenda of the government which obliterates the ethnic, cultural and religious identities of the Tamil areas and abuses state power to colonise the Tamil areas with the military and people of the majority community. This is intended to make the necessity for a political solution redundant. We appeal to India and the entire international community to take urgent steps to halt these genocidal actions of the government and to stop the erosion of the Tamil community from the Tamil homeland.”
The convention also passed a resolution on the United Nations-led international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka, stating the ITAK was ready to assist “in all possible ways”, and thanking both the United States and the diaspora for passing a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
See full text of the resolutions passed in English here.
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