Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa clan have dominated the island’s general elections this week, with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) sweeping polls on a staunchly Sinhala nationalist campaign and putting the party firmly in control of parliament.

Tamils across the North-East took to the polls amidst heavy Sri Lankan military presence today, as voting began in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections.

The Tamil homeland in the North-East has registered a sizeable turnout, so far, with all districts registering over 50% turnout as of 17.00.

Drawing on work by Sanjana Hattotuwa, we examine the hundreds of thousands of dollars that were spent on advertisements across the island and in the North-East, as recorded by Facebook. 

According to Facebook's Ad Library report, from May to August 2 alone, $478,545 was spent on 26,710 advertisements.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in its manifesto has again promised to spend the next parliamentary term demanding a federal political solution for the Tamil people and a re-merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces. Touching on key Tamil issues such as militarisation, land return, political prisoners and accountability, the TNA also warned that international pressure was needed now more than ever.

Political solution

On this day in 1957, Sri Lankan Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike and the leader of the Federal Party SJV Chelvanayakam signed a deal, that contained provisions for the recognition of Tamil as the language of administration for the Northern and Eastern provinces, which came to be known as the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact. 

However, hawkish Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalists railed against the pact, leading ultimately to the unilateral abrogation of the agreement. This was one of the earliest instances of failed negotiations and broken agreements that would eventually seal Tamil hopes of achieving a settlement through Sri Lanka’s political processes.

Selvarajah Yogachandran, referred to as Kuttimani, and Nadarajah Thangavelu, alias Thangathurai were the co-founding leaders of TLO (Tamil Liberation Organisation). The group consisted of student revolutionaries working for a common goal – a free Tamil Eelam. TLO was informally formed in 1969, in Valvettithurai. It then later became the centralised notion for Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO). It was rumoured that they robbed banks to fund their radical activities.

In 1976, Kuttimani’s name appeared on the list of 47 Tamil prisoners held without trial under Emergency Regulations. Martin Ennals of Amnesty International had constructed the Report of Amnesty International Mission (Jan 1975) in which it indicates that Kuttimani was a “prisoner whose case is under investigation by Amnesty International”. The report further discloses that Kuttimani was kept in Welikada and was arrested in August 1975. He was released in 1977.

On March 21st, 1981, Neervely’s Bank robbery of 8 million Sri Lankan rupees led the Sri Lankan police officials to accuse Kuttimani as the orchestrater. He was arrested on April 5, 1981 along with Thangathurai and Selvadurai Sivasubramaniam alias, Devan, while bidding to escape in a boat to Tamil Nadu. The following year, in August, Kuttimani and Jegan were served a death sentence by Colombo High Court, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Ganeshanathan Jeganathan, nicknamed Jegan was a political writer and one of the members of TELO. He hailed from Thondaimanaru. The abrupt death of TULF’s Vaddukoddai MP T. Thirunavukkarasu in 1982, allowed an open seat for Kuttimani. Despite a multitude of pressure to nominate Kuttimani as their sponsored candidate in the first Presidential election, the leader of TULF, A. Amirthalingam feared the wrath of Jayewardene.

Caving to the will of the people, Amirthalingam informed the Elections Commissioner of his decision to nominate Kuttimani as the new MP of Vaddukoddai. Still, Kuttimani would not be released from prison to take his oaths, and legally, he was disqualified from membership of parliament.

On November 2nd, 1981, the trials of Kuttimani, Thangathurai and Devan began under the Sri Lanka Prevention of Terrorism Act. The outcome of the trial was a death sentence. Famously, Kuttimani stated:

“I request that I should be hanged in Tamil Eelam… I request that my eyes be donated to some blind person, so that Kuttimani will be able to see through those eyes the reality of Tamil Eelam”.

Whilst their trials were still pending, Kuttimani and Thangathurai were brutally murdered in Welikada Maximum Security Prison. Kuttimani’s tormentors “gouged out” his eyes - an allusion to the request that he had made and Thangathurai’s tongue was cut off for his speeches of nonconformity. According to Amnesty International the Sinhala prisoners were offered alcohol and permitted to attack the Tamil prisoners.

Along with Kuttimani and Thangathurai, the Tamil prisoners who were massacred in Welikada on 25th July 1983 were:

Nadesathasan, Jegan, Alias Sivarasa, Sivan Anpalagan, A. Balasubramaniam, Surash Kumar, Arunthavarajah, Thanapalasingham, Arafat, Anpalagan Sunduran, P. Mahendran, Ramalingam Balachandran, K. Thillainathan, K. Thavarajasingham, S. Subramaniam, Mylvaganam Sinnaiah, G. Mylvaganam, Ch. Sivanantharajah, T. Kandiah, S. Sathiyaseelan, Kathiravelpillai, Easvaranathan, K. Nagarajah, Gunapalan Ganeshalingam, S. Kularajasekaram, K. Krishnakumar, K. Uthaya Kumar, R. Yoganathan, S. Sivakumar, A. Uthayakumar, A. Rajan, G. Amirthalingam, S. Balachandran, V. Chandrakumar, Yogachandran Killi, Sittampalam Chandrakulam and Master Navaratnam Sivapatham.

Today marks thirty-seven years since the horrors of the anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983, when thousands of Tamils were killed by Sinhala mobs backed by the then UNP government and state forces.

Armed with electoral rolls, Sinhala mobs targeted Tamil homes and businesses, looting and ransacking property. Driven from their homes, particularly in Colombo, over 3000 Tamils were massacred, whilst thousands more were effectively deported by the state to the North-East.

John Lewis, the venerable congressman of Georgia’s fifth congressional district and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom has died at age 80. Often dubbed “the conscience of the Congress”, Lewis was also a solid component of the Civil Rights Movement. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2019.

Former President Barack Obama and Martin Luther King III were amongst those who expressed their condolences and their gratitude for Lewis.

Obama on Lewis:

Former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has come out and backed the leader of the National Freedom Front and prominent Sinhala Buddhist nationalist Wimal Weerawansa, ahead of Sri Lanka’s general elections next month.

Muralitharan - arguably Sri Lanka’s most famous cricket player - is well known for his unwavering alliance with the Rajapaksa regime, and has himself denied that war crimes had occurred.

Uniformed Sri Lankan police officers pushed back Tamil mourners as they attempted to light candles to mark 25 years since the Navaly Church bombings in Jaffna earlier today.

Crowds gathered a memorial constructed for victims of the bombing were met with a heavy security presence, that included several armed and uniformed Sri Lankan army soldiers.