Three Tamils, including singer Kokulan, the son of late musician S.G. Santhan, have been summoned to the occupying Sri Lankan police station in Kopay to provide statements, after the security forces abruptly halted a song performance midway at a musical event held in Urumpirai, Jaffna.
The incident took place during a performance by the “S.G. Santhan Music Group”, where officers attached to the occupying Sri Lankan police force in Kopay intervened whilst a song relating to Eelam was being performed.
According to witnesses, Sri Lankan police officers entered the venue during the performance, instructed organisers to immediately halt the song and warned against continuing with what they described as “LTTE-related” content.
Video footage circulating on social media appears to show the performance being abruptly stopped following the police intervention.
Sri Lankan authorities continue to treat almost any Tamil artistic or cultural expression connected to the armed conflict period as “terrorism”-related activity, regardless of lyrical content or artistic context.
The incident has intensified concerns regarding the continuing surveillance and criminalisation of Tamil cultural expression in the Tamil homeland, particularly artistic works linked to collective memory, war-time experiences and Tamil political identity.
S.G. Santhan remains one of the most influential Tamil nationalist musicians of the armed conflict era. His songs, which explored themes of homeland, grief, sacrifice and Tamil identity, continue to resonate deeply amongst Eelam Tamils across the North-East and diaspora.
Critics note that many songs from the conflict period, though fiercely Tamil nationalist, also reflect on displacement, loss, love, philosophy and the lived experiences of war-affected Tamils.
Nevertheless, Tamil artistic works continue to face scrutiny under Sri Lanka’s security framework, with musicians, writers and artists increasingly subjected to surveillance, questioning and censorship.
Kokulan Santhan expressed his discontent in his Facebook page saying,
“Greetings relatives. During yesterday’s musical event, while we were singing our father’s songs, the police created disturbances at the instigation of certain individuals and told us not to sing those songs, warning that the event would be stopped if we continued.
I immediately explained to them that we were only singing remembrance songs carrying our pain, as well as philosophical songs released during that period. I also told them that we were not singing any songs that incited separatism, violence or hatred.
I asked them who had told them that all songs released during that time were movement( Tamil armed movements) songs.
There are hundreds of songs connected to our community from that period, including devotional songs, love songs, folk songs and philosophical songs. Are we not allowed to sing any of them?
After I questioned them in this manner, they allowed the event to continue.Today, our songs are freely played on all stages everywhere. Here, the issue is not the songs themselves. The issue is that it is us who are singing them 💥🙏⭐️✌🏽”
The latest incident comes amidst broader controversy surrounding the treatment of contemporary Tamil writers and artists on the island.
More recently, Eelam Tamil writer, poet and novelist Theepachelvan Piratheepan faced scrutiny after Sri Lankan authorities confiscated copies of several of his books due to their focus on the Tamil armed conflict and war-era experiences.
Authorities alleged that some of the publications threatened “national harmony”, whilst writers, rights activists and civil society organisations condemned the move as an attack on freedom of expression.
The continued targeting of Tamil music, literature and artistic expression have been further examples of how the Sri Lankan state is attempting to suppress Tamil historical memory and criminalise forms of cultural and political expression connected to the Tamil national struggle.
The summoning of Kokulan and others by the occupying police force has further renewed concerns amongst Tamil artists and activists over shrinking space for Tamil cultural expression in the North-East.