The 25th anniversary of the historic Pongu Tamil Declaration was commemorated at the University of Jaffna, as students and members of the Tamil community gathered to remember a defining moment in the political history of the Tamil nation.
The remembrance event took place within the university premises on Saturday, where students assembled before the Pongu Tamil memorial pillar to pay tribute to the declaration and the movement it inspired.
University students collectively lit lamps and offered floral tributes at the memorial pillar, which stands as a symbol of Tamil political aspirations and resistance.
In 2001, amidst the suppression by the occupying Sri Lankan military, the Jaffna University community organized a massive uprising event themed "Pongu Tamil."
Despite facing challenges, including security checkpoints and restrictions imposed by the Sri Lankan security forces, over ten thousand people, comprising university and high-school students, residents, and representatives of civil organizations, demonstrated on January 17th, urging the government to respond to the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and engage in negotiations. Thousands more people were turned away by Sri Lankan security forces at checkpoints set up along the major roads leading to the university, residents said. Reporters were not permitted into the university either.
Following this, there were mass protests and rallies held throughout the North-East, particularly in Vavuniya and Batticaloa in support of the Pongu Thamil rally in Jaffna. Hundreds of undergraduates of the Eastern University in Batticaloa and the College of Education in Vavuniya gathered for peaceful rallies urging the Sri Lankan government to start peace talks with the LTTE and to recognize the Tamil people's right to self-determination.
The rallies were later echoed in Tamil diaspora communities worldwide in 2008.
The monument on campus states:
"The aspirations of the Tamils namely: right of self-determination; traditional homeland; the Tamils as a distinct nationality; should be recognised."
