The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam held its 3 day inaugural meeting on May 17, 18 and 19 across three global locations.
87 of 115 representatives of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) already declared elected from 11 countries met in the
The Tamil Eelam flag was hoisted and a representative from each country addressed the public stating that the goal of the TGTE should be the formation of independent and sovereign state of Tamil Eelam in the North and East of the
The elected representatives resolved to draft the constitution of the TGTE within 3 months and set up an Interim Executive Committee (IEC) constituting 8 members.
Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran from
Gerard Francis, Janarthanan Pulendran, Mahinthan Sivasubramanium, Rudrakumaran Visuvanathan, Sam Sangarasivam, Sasithar Maheswaran, Selva Selvanathan and Vithya Jeyashanker were named as the members of the IEC.
Pon. Balarajan from
47 TGTE members (including 24 from
The TGTE members have discussed about setting up sub committees for Drafting Constitution, Education, Health, Sports and Culture in homeland, Economic Development in homeland, International Relations, War crimes and Human Rights in homeland, Women, Children and Elders in homeland, Business Development, Heroes' Families, Prisoners of War, Resource Protection in homeland and Youth Participation.
The exact composition of the sub-committees are yet to be finalised, reports said.
Reports said a conducive atmosphere was created in the 3-day session, despite earlier problems and allegations of disputes.
William Ramsey Clark, a former
82-year-old Clark, who was a prominent figure in the anti-Vietnam War movement, was the Election Commissioner of the TGTE elections held in the
"I need to tell you that your challenge is enormous […] Freedom is possible. But you have to work awfully hard at it. And you have to be right. You have to convince other people that you are right. […] You need to know your history. You need to persist your history and need to have your history understood that you were a uniquely different people than the Sinhalese on the same island,"
"Resolve your differences together openly and frankly wherever it occurs outright and quickly, and abide by the agreement that you reach," Mr. Clark said elaborating how the American nation was made possible with unity as an unprecedented force to achieve independence. "To divide and conquer a dispersed people is an easy thing to do," he warned.
Francis Boyle, a professor of international law, Domach Wal Ruach, the secretary general of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM)
Congratulating the members of TGTE, Domach Wal Ruach of the SPLM-USA said: "Although results are not seen overnight, I think what you have done now is a step towards right direction. We have been there and we are getting close to it now. The struggle is not easy. There are setbacks. But, you have to be steadfast. You owe it to the young generation. If you don't do it now, no-one else would do it and the entire generations would be lost."
"I want to tell you that, through collective work, diaspora is one of the component. Our leader commanded the largest single rebel groups ever. And yet, we were not able to win, militarily," he said and added: "The most important organic guarantee that you could always have, is your diaspora."
Explaining the history of the Sudanese struggle and how the SPLM organized the diapora in grass-root level, he claimed that the
Ms. Karen Parker, a Humanitarian Law attorney and an Advisory Committee member, addressed the Constitutional Assembly on its functions.
Professor N. Sriskandajarah from
The agenda for the three days, announced in advance, was: "The elected body will be transformed into a Constituent Assembly, an Interim Chief Executive and a small executive committee to manage this process elected, important themes for the Constituent Assembly discussed, agreed on and teams created, and a number of working groups for important and immediate tasks also elected."
Meanwhile, elections were held in NSW,
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.