TMVP Political statement released at the first national conference

Introduction
Socio-political historical notes of the Eastern Province
Formation of the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers
Goal of the party
Party's views and positions on internationalism
Immediate Employment programmes
Structures and functions of the intra-party democracy

Introduction

The prolonged thirty years of civil war in Sri Lanka is over. The armed liberation struggle that started in the Northern and Eastern provinces has turned into a civil war and left a deep scar in the country. This freedom struggle was commonly known as the national liberation struggle of the Tamils.
The reality behind the struggle was different. The liberation struggle budged their focus on protecting the particular set of people rather than the Tamil-speaking people living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.The Jaffna-Mettukudi approach that led to this struggle failed to build a strong sense of Tamil nationalism by overcoming the internal divisions among the Tamil-speaking population. At the same time, it deepened the internal divisions among the Tamils.

The struggle engaged in racial bias by turning Tamil-speaking Muslims into enemies. By entering the border villages and the southern part of Sri Lanka, it carried out mass genocides against the Sinhalese people. Not only these, but the revolutionary acts were held across the country, the fratricidal massacres within the Tamil community, the denial of freedom of expression and the human rights abuses, all damaged even the slightest justification for this struggle.

All our common people have paid a heavy price for this struggle, but they have all been wasted. In particular, the Eastern Province contributed a lot more than it deserved for this struggle. But the reality of the Eastern was ignored. Due to the dominant attitudes of Jaffna, the people of the Eastern Province were marginalized and deceived.

Due to the struggle, the Great Eastern Division was splitted in 2004. In the beginning, the split may appear within the LTTE, later it is evident that the split appears in the LTTE's homeland itself. As a result of this division, the people of the Eastern Province had the opportunity to abandon separatism and violence in Tamil Eelam and lead the path of democratic system. This has created an opportunity to reunite with our country. In addition to that the Eastern Partition also laid the groundwork for ending the horrific war that the Sri Lankan people have been facing continuously. The thirty years war has only created a culture of violence and racism all over the places in Sri Lanka. More than one million people consisting of young men and women were uprooted and their properties were destroyed. A sign of great relief is felt amongst the people of Sri Lanka immediately after the end of the war.

Even though the war is over, everyone has the question: How are we going to face the future challenges in the country? No one can refute the fact that the Political perspectives with racist attitudes are responsible for the past devastation in which Sinhala nationalism and Tamil nationalism play an equal role in the nation.

The Tamil nationalism that claims to have emerged as anti-Sinhala chauvinism has deteriorated into racism and terrorism fight back. Also, we cannot ignore the fact that this struggle on the whole arose out of issues of power. In the same way, armed struggle broke out in the southern part of Sri Lanka in the early 1970s and late 1980s. Moreover, this is an expression of the lack of national equality on the issue of power in politics.

Although we cannot welcome racist demands for power, we cannot question the inequality in politics that is widespread throughout our nation. In short, the history of northern and southern Sri Lanka teaches that the majority of our people do not accept that powers are concentrated in one place, regardless of whether they are Tamils or Sinhalese. It is the right time that the general demands of the people of our country for the decentralization of powers must be taken into account. The inhabitants of our country have been ravaged by war and racism. People have to work together to unite the country and build a unified Sri Lankan nation. Our party will work to unite the Sri Lankans who have been ravaged by war and racism and to build a united Sri Lankan nation.

At this point of time, the new nation building can be made sure only by involving a lot of people in the socio-political democratic system. The system of devolution to Provincial Councils is the only feasible way to democratize the country today.

In order to protect the sovereignty and unity of Sri Lanka, every citizen of Sri Lanka will be intuited to sense the patriotic feeling of being a Sri Lankan. Also, to overcome the ethnic and religious differences in Sri Lanka, political apathy should not be a stumbling block.

The diversity of this country must be recognized through political practice. At the same time, the political system must pave the way for upholding national equality on the basis of race, religion and language. It is also very important that the constitution of our country must be linked with such transformation.
Only through these changes we can build a new political scenario for our future generations towards a life of equality without racial, religious or linguistic discrimination. It is on this basis the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers entered the democratic system.

Immediately after the arrival of our party a significant role has been played in bringing about a democratic recovery in the Eastern provision of Sri Lanka. This happens due to the commitment of our leadership to democratic politics and the massive commitment of our party members. At the same, our party has also attained significant success in eradicating a culture of violence.

However, we have publicly and honestly recognized the diversity of culture in the Eastern Sri Lanka and have succeeded in making this social reality mutually acceptable by all ethnic groups living in our province. Also, we call on the public to extend their fullest support to our activities and ask all sections of our community, working people, intellectuals, students and women to come forward to join hands with us.
On this basis, we will overcome all the racial, religious and linguistic differences and evolve in a mass movement in Srilanka. Our party moved toward this new path by arranging its first political and national congress together. By doing so, we put forth our political policy statement before the people.

Socio-political historical notes of the Eastern Province.

Ancient history

The Eastern Province of Sri Lanka has a long history and at the same time, the tradition and social harmony of the land is the oldest in the Eastern Province. The region has its historical traces of the epic dating back to prehistoric Ramayana. In which one could find traces of Ravana's reign in Trincomalee and Ukandai hills. At the same time, the Eastern part of Sri Lanka is a home to a variety of religions and ethnic groups. The inscription on the history of the Eastern Province is found only in the temple. We could find Cheppadu Manuscripts only in Kokkadichcholai and manuscripts on historical references have been preserved in various temples.

Looking at the historiography of Sri Lanka, it is evident that the arrival of Vijayan in 543 BC refers to the Mahavamsa. It is also significant to note that the Eastern province talks about the history of Vijayan who landed at Thampan and settled with his 700 comrades at Kadiragalamalaisaral.

Researchers point out that due to Vijayan's settlement, the aborigines in the east migrated westwards to Vindana and north to Puliyanthivu, kaluwankerny and Verukal. Later, these ethnic groups in the East evolved into various groups as Vadras, Tamils and Mukhs.based on their jobs. Similarly, the Mahavamsa significance of the Buddha's visit also talks about 'Theegavavi'. It is noteworthy that the 2500 year old gigantic 'Thigavavi' statue is found in the Eastern Province.

The most ancient geographical maps in the world date back to 147 BC. The map was drawn by Ptolemy which depicts Sri Lanka and the port of Kalmunai.It also shows that the Eastern Province has been a landing place for Greek and Persian merchants since BC that highlights the importance of the Eastern Province in international trade.

During 145 BC, the landing of Ellalan in the city of Trincomalee, is also a remarkable history of Sri Lanka. Ellala ruled Sri Lanka for 44 years, but he was defeated by Dutugamnunu Deegawavi who commanded a huge army in which most of the Batticaloa Tamils were involved. All these historical notes were mentioned before 2000 years which underscores the fact that the East has a territorially united political and social tradition to eradicate racism.

Since pre-Christian era, the Eastern Provinces have been a part of the Thekavavi, Magama and Uruguna kingdoms and have played an important role in their political and economic activities. Although the Sinhalese were the kings of these realms, the Tamils have also ruled the eastern regions as short-reign monarchs to maintain the uniqueness of the Kings. They are also known as the Seven Types of Vannimai
Approximately until BC 800, the eastern regions have been part of the Principality of Ruhuna. After that, a large part of the East had to go under the monarchy with Anuradhapura as its capital. When the whole of Sri Lanka was conquered by the Cholas in the 10th century, the eastern region also came under direct control of foreign domination. Reports have also stated that the demolition of the Karawak (Kalmunai) Muhaidin School during the Chola invasion shows the presence of Muslims in the East dates back to 1000 years till now.

After 50 years of Chola rule, the kingdom of Polonnaruwa developed again. Meanwhile, large parts of the East became part of Polonnaruwa. However, Tamil kings like Dinasinghe ruled the self-governing states of Batticaloa under Polonnaruwa. Many Tamils in Batticaloa were involved in the Jain religion during the reign of Dinasinghe.

Following the frequent Indian invasions of Sri Lanka, Makone from Kalinga invaded Sri Lanka in 1225. He ruled the whole of Sri Lanka for 30 years. At these times, the sub-kingdoms of Makone were Karavaku, Palukamam, Manmunai, Kottiyaram and so on. It is noteworthy that Kulakkottan and Thisali Bodi were the Uparajas of Trincomalee and Karavaku respectively.

During the reign of this Makone, several Vegan Temples were renovated. Due to this, Vannimas and their litigations were formed by Makone to manage the temples. Citizenship, caste, and so on were tightened and amalgamated with the temple administrations. At the same time, farmers and their tribesmen were brought from the land of Kalinga and settled in temples. After the reign of Makone, the eastern armies again became a part of the Uruguayan Empire. This situation lasted until the European colonial rule.

Focus should be given to all the above historical references

East Sri Lanka has a long-standing history of over 2500 years.
Apart from Chola, Pandya and Kalinga dynasties, Eastern Sri Lanka has been a part of the Urugunai Empire for most of the period. At the same time, the uniqueness and administrations of East Sri Lanka were preserved by sub-kings and vassals.
Although, most of the people who lived here use Tamil as their mother tongue, they have been following various religions like Shaivism, Jainism, Buddhism and Islam.
The people of the Eastern Province have no ethnic or religious differences and they have become a land of great social harmony.

Colonial Period

When the Portuguese set foot in Sri Lanka in 1505, forts, Kandy and Jaffna were considered as a triangular Kingdom. Eastern Province was a party of the Kandy kingdom. At the same time there were four types of fortifications such as Kottiyaram, Batticaloa, Barugamam and Panamai. The fort kingdom and the Jaffna kingdom were captured by the Portuguese in 1597 and 1619 respectively. In connection with this, in the southern part of Sri lankans nearly 4000 Muslims were expelled by the Portuguese and they were resettled on the east coast by the King Senarathan of Kandy in 1605. Subsequently, a treaty was made with the king of Kandy in 1639 allowing the Portuguese to trade only on the east coast. Later in 1639, many Portuguese slowly established their trade and habitat in the coastal areas of Batticaloa, especially in the frontage and Landing areas.

The descendants of these are the ‘Dutch’. Even though the Dutch Ceylon conquered Sri Lanka they could not triumph over the Kandyan kingdom. Yet the Dutch succeeded in subjugating the east coast and built the new fort (kachcheri) in Batticaloa district. Finally, in 1796, the Britishers set foot in Sri Lanka and captured the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815. Hence, the whole Sri Lanka comes under the direct control of the Europeans.

Thereafter, with a view to weakening the strongest Kandyan Kingdom, British divided Sri Lanka into 09 provincial units. In connection with the same, in 1932, they divided the Kandyan Kingdom on the basis of Language used by the people and formed a separate province at the East Coast for the Tamil inhabitant. Based on the socio-cultural traditions of the people of the Eastern Province, the Triumvirate Act of 1876 was compiled and based on that, the Eastern Province was governed by the British.

Freedom

In 1948, Sri Lanka became independent from the British. At that juncture, the influence of the Jaffna Tamils was incredible in the administrative and political life of Sri Lanka. Following the independence of the country, all such influences of the Tamils began to decline. In order to prevail over the decline, the elite people in Jaffna carried out the politics of racist mobilization.

These marshalings took place not only in the North of Tamil Congress, Tamiarasu Party and Tamil Liberation alliance but also in the Eastern division of the Tamil-speaking people.
Collaboration with the above parties, M. Rajamanikkam, Rajavarodayam and Rajathurai have had great success in instilling Tamil political sentiments amongst the people of the Eastern Province
Formation of the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers

The year 1976 was an important year in the history of Sri Lanka. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) passed the 'Vadduk Kottai' resolution stating that the youth to be armed to form a separate Tamil Eelam and thereby secede from Sri Lanka. This led to the emergence of several extremist movements in the North East of Sri Lanka. One of the extremist movements is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The movement was led by V. Prabhakaran. Although, The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued to wage war, it became a terrorist organization that denies the culture of denial of freedom, assassination and the use of child fighters. At the same time, they acted as representatives of the Jaffna hegemony that had been taking place for centuries. The massive military victories of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came from the dedication of thousands of Eastern Province militants. But the number of cases of deception in the Eastern Province continued to rise. The domination that began with the treacherous assassination of Kalladi Michael Prabhakaran, one of the founders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and it continued until the end. Even the chief member Ranjan was killed in public and other superior members were sidelined.

As soon as the liberation movement Relo was banned, the leaders of the movement and the majority of Eastern fighters were killed. In the year 1985, Basher Kakka, who was in charge of Ampara, Batticaloa district left the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam movement (LTTE). Following the written treaty with Sri Lanka in the year 2002, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) appointed 32 departmental secretaries for the North East administration. Out of 32 secretaries, none represented the Eastern Province that shaken the Eastern militants.In addition during the armistice, the Eastern militias were denied essential facilities that had been provided to the northern militias. At the same time, policies were made to move thousands of armed forces from the east to the north. This created disapproval amongst the parents of the Eastern militants. The Order received from the headquarters was rejected by the Batticaloa-Ampara District Commander Karuna Amman.

Nearly, 10 lakh Tamils in the Northern Province with the support of the Western countries decided to wage a war again. The economical support from those countries was the backbone of the movement. In this situation, the struggle for the existence of the Tamils and the sacrifices of the youth of the Eastern Province were uncovered to the people.It was one of the forms of oppression that was prevalent in the Eastern Province of Jaffna. In order to come out of the clutches of domination, the idea of forming a separate politics away from the northern leadership was strengthened amongst the people of the Eastern Province. In connection with this, the eastern division was put forward on March 3, 2004. Through this division, nearly 6,000 armed eastern militants set themselves free to the path of democracy.

But the LTTE did not accept the partition. Hence, the army attacked the Eastern Province. Consequently, 210 militants were massacred overnight on Good Friday, April 10. Not only that, but the female militants Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also staged a riot in which most of the female militants were rape and mutilated.

In connection with the riot, mass murder started happening throughout the Eastern Province. Many ex-combatants, civilians and intellectuals who supported the Eastern Partition were executed. To avoid becoming the next victims of an unrelenting killing, many important commanders and militants fled not only from the Eastern Province but from Sri Lanka itself. Even Karuna Amman also had to leave the country.Amidst all the misery, a smaller group of militants had the courage to stand up against the LTTE. In particular, 'Bhuvanesan, Pillaiyan' took on the historic duty of leading and guiding the militants. Thereby, they were known as the People's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.Gradually, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) developed into a movement capable of expelling the LTTE from the Eastern Province. Finally, they changed their name as the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers. Subsequently, they opened the first political office at Batticaloa on 10.04.2006.

Meanwhile, the LTTE headquarters was opened at Colombo in August 2006 and the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers movement was registered as a political party on 23.01.2008. Its official leader was Kumaraswamy Nandagopan who was well-known as Raghu. Karuna Amman who was abroad from 2004 to 2007 returned to the country. He was accepted as the psychic leader of the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers and taken to Vavuniya by Pillaiyan which was a great delight to all the senior commanders.
A few months later, Pillaiyan was ousted from the LTTE's center of power and so the majority of LTTE commanders, militants and even Pillaiyan, i.e., nearly 301 people, were marooned in Trincomalee for seven months. Due to this leadership problem, internal armed conflict occurred with the party. The great combatants such as Sindhujan, Bhagirathi and Dileep, who played a key role in the formation of the party, were killed. Karuna Amman who went to Londaon was imprisoned there. During that time, Pillaiyan again assumed the responsibility of leading the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers. Meanwhile, on 08.03.2008, the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers faced their maiden election. Election held for 08 Local Governments and Municipal Councils for the Batticaloa District (for Tamil territories). The Tamil People's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (TPLTL) won all the seats in the election.

After the glorious victory, the Eastern Provincial Council election was held on May 15, 2008. At that juncture, 'Pillaiyan' he himself contested in the election. He won that election also and as the LTTE's leading candidate; he accepted the historic task of becoming the first Chief Minister of the Eastern Province. As soon as Karuna Amman returned to the country after the provincial council elections in 2008, the problem of becoming the official LTTE leader arose again. More than that, Raghu, the official leader of the party, was shot dead in Colombo on 14.11.2008. Chief Minister Chandrakanthan, who went to the spot, confirmed the traces and told the journalists that the killing was not carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Following the assassination of leader Nandagopan, Karuna Amman was ousted from the leadership by a majority of members of the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (TPLTL). Subsequently, he joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) on 14.11.2008.

The objective of the party

Our party has historic responsibilities to fulfill the long-standing political vacuum of the people of the East. Our party members have a genuine love for our people and the democratic rights of the people. As a result, hundreds of members have lost their lives since the formation of our party.
Our party has developed its goals from the consensus of all the thoughts and political aspirations of our members.

Our party will strive to protect the sovereignty and unity of Sri Lanka.
Our party will work for the equal rights of the ethnic minorities living in Sri Lanka.
Our party will preserve the unique political freedom and ethnic harmony of the Eastern Province
Our party will strengthen the national economy of our nation and thereby improve the lives of the working people.

All the above said goals will be implemented and the objective of our party will be achieved by eliminating racial, religious, linguistic, caste, gender, class and regional differences and make Sri Lanka a secular country and Sri Lankans an egalitarian society.

Based on our objective, our party is committed to work with all political parties that oppose all forms of oppression and hegemonic ideology faced by the people, progressive groups, social organizations, and the asylum community of our country.

International position

The non-aligned policy of our country will be appreciated and the national policy of our country will be accepted. In the same way, our party is grateful to accept the close ties that our country has with our neighbour India. India is a historical country which has been the source of religions such as Buddhism and Shaivism that are being followed by the majority of the people in our country, and is closely related to our cultural heritage. In that sense, our party considers India as the foremost ally of our nation.

Due to the last 30 years of war, our country is currently facing a huge financial crisis. Attributable to this, our country has to act upon the conditions of trade and international financial resources dominated by the imperialist countries. These conditions tend to get in the way of the independent political and economic activities and the sovereignty of our nation. In this regard, our party strongly expresses disapproval to such intrusion.

Our party will make every effort to protect and nurture the self-economy of our motherland. Also, our party will strongly support the political forces that are working to protect our country’s sovereignty and national economy. In this regard, we support all the efforts taken by the current government in bringing firm international standards in our country. Based of the policies of liberalization and globalization, our party will work together to stop the imperialist finance capitals that exploit the national resources of our country.
Immediate Employment Plans Society / Community

Our party will work together in a way to establish a strong unity amongst the four races, viz., Tamils, Muslims, Sinhalese, Parangiyars and the so-called Veddah, the aborigines living in the Eastern Province and help them recognize language, religion, culture and unique treasures of the Eastern Province. Our party will also take initiatives to create mutual understanding of the diversity of all peoples.

Economy

The Eastern province of our nation plays an important role in developing the national product of the country. The long coastal areas, long flowing rivers and other water bodies enriched the Eastern Province. Also, the vast fields have added significance in considering the Eastern Province as the rice bowl of Sri Lanka. But all our productive capacities were wasted due to the prolonged war. As the war has come to an end, efforts have been taken to reestablish our province in the fields of fisheries, agriculture and tourism. Our party considers it as the primary duty to promote and nurture this initiative. Also, the mission of our party is to transform the East as a province capable of producing and delivering maximum products and services to the country.

Politics

In order to fulfill the aspirations of our people of the East, an alternative political tradition without any discrimination on racial and linguistic identity will be established in our country. Moreover, general agreements will be made with political forces that accept individual, political, and multi-ethnic communities. In addition to the above statements, our party will strive to promote a healthy political formation mobilizing of all Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala based political parties, organizations, institutions, small groups, literary and political activists, intellectuals, students, women, and so on at all levels in the Eastern Province to raise our political strength.

Rehabilitation

Due to the disasters of war, the livelihoods of our people have been disrupted. Even the percentage of people who have lost their dwelling place and the poverty rate of the country were also very high. Also, a major part of our today's children, the future generations of our country have lost their parents and guardians.At the same time, a large section of women have lost their husbands. At this critical juncture, our party is deeply concerned about the resettlement, rehabilitation and carryout reformation activities of our people. In addition, as a matter of importance, our party will take painstaking efforts to create educational opportunities and development programmes for the underprivileged children, women, and so on.

Art and culture

Cultural values play an important role in the development of a community. Our Eastern Province holds a long traditional cultural treasure. Even the long-established Dravidian art forms of our country are still preserved today. But our cultural platforms have been severely affected due to the effects of the past war disaster and the art literary critics have lost their individuality and they have been paralyzed by the denial of freedom of expression on art forms. In this situation, our party will carry out various projects to save the art literary cultural forms from its destruction, innovate its activities and will take steps to operate them independently. Our party will also be committed to give priority in developing the modern art literary endeavors amongst the culture of working people.

Development of women

Due to the three decades of war, women are considered the most and multiply exploited sections of our country. As the longest war comes to an end, several economic development projects are being implemented for women who were affected by the war. However, the impact of patriarchal thought that justifies gender inequality remains a major obstacle for the progression of our women. Even the system of social oppression in the name of culture, tradition and morality continues to suppress women. These are the ongoing violence against women that are prevalent in our society. Efforts will be taken to encourage women to raise awareness about these forms of oppression at the community level and create awareness about women's emancipation within the party. Also, political awareness will be provided to all the members of our party. Our party will fight to develop Centers of employment, promotions, and centers for the political system. It will also put-in strenuous efforts to provide equal opportunities for women in all sections such as financial allocations as well as emphasize feminist views in administration and in the judiciary sectors.

Caste Oppression

Understanding the importance of the Tamil community, our party will take all essential steps to overcome caste differences and oppression. All these caste-based domination is equal to racism and apartheid. Our party will work hard to eliminate all these caste differences. In addition, our party will extend its fullest support to all kinds of struggles for the liberation of the Dalit (Panchamar) caste-based oppression.

Farmers / Workers

The working class occupies a central role within the total population of our country. Likewise, farmers and workers contribute a lot and produce all the essential things for the Eastern Province. Amongst the workers, small farmers and wage laborers in paddy and food production and fisheries contribute a great deal for the people of the community.As well as urban workers are now on the rise. It is noted that the living standards of these working classes are very low. Hence, the primary mission of our party is to identify and eliminate the factors that hinder the economic development of the working class.

At the same time, the lack of mobilization of the agricultural labourers in our province on cooperative and trade union grounds is a major drawback. It is through such mobilizations that the working class can fight for and secure rights and defend them. Therefore, our party is very much concerned about implementing basic work plans for the benefit of the working class.

Therefore, our party will take immediate measures in establishing the standard cooperatives for the benefit of the peasants and workers of the East. Also, our party will mobilize and strengthen the working class on a trade union basis for the sustainable development of the community.

Structures for Intra-Party Democracy and its Operation

In order to protect the intra-party democracy, our party will act on the principles of unity, entitlement and individuality on the basis of the structures enshrined in our party's official constitution.