Jaffna Students attacked by Sri Lankan military during peaceful protest

Global coalition of Tamil youth groups in solidarity with Jaffna uni students

Global coalition of Tamil youth groups in solidarity with Jaffna uni studentsFacebook logo

by Global Tamil Youth League on Thursday, November 29, 2012

November 29, 2012

For Immediate Release

Students from Jaffna University were attacked by the Sri Lankan military as they were peacefully protesting outside their university campus. The peaceful protest by the students was a display against Tuesday’s intimidation and harassment by the Sri Lankan military inside the Jaffna campus during Tamil Remembrance Day, preparations and proceedings.

The peaceful rally outside the university was conducted with banners and slogans expressing the student’s aversion against military presence within campus grounds. Along with many other valid statements, the banners read; ‘Military personal! Who allowed you within our campus?’, 'You may suppress us using your weapons, but you cannot suppress our emotions’, ‘Does reconciliation mean that you suppress our emotions?’ , and ‘Do I not have the right to freely express my emotions in a democratic state?’.

The Global Tamil Youth League (T-League) strongly condemns this act of violence against the Jaffna University student’s freedom to protest and demonstrate, as well as their right to freely commemorate Tamil Remembrance Day. As fellow students and youth, we support and stand with our brothers and sisters in Jaffna in demanding that their rights be respected and their safety is ensured and accounted for. This attack follows other similar attacks by the Sri Lankan Military including the attack on Paramalingam Tharsananth, the Student Union Secretary of Jaffna University during the May Massacre Remembrance event, and the recent Trincomalee attack against students at the Eastern University of Sri Lanka.

These attacks and acts of violence are clear indications that the “democratic state” of Sri Lanka is only democratic on paper, and has failed to allow for genuine freedom of expression. The Sri Lankan military and government personal have proven to meet such expressions with violence and punitive actions over and over again.

Tamils have always valued and honoured the sacrifices of heroes. Soldiers are held in high regard and their sacrifices are respected through commemorative ceremonies worldwide. The Sri-Lankan Government’s attempt to destroy and destruct the memory of such highly esteemed individuals through intimidation and violent measures is shameful, and shows immense disrespect for the sacrifice soldiers make for their country in any state.

The violations of Tamils’ right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly further validate Tamils aspirations for self-determination and the failure of the Sri-Lankan state. The Global Tamil Youth League (T-League) advocates that Tamil self-determination is the only permanent resolve to the systemic cultural and physical genocide of the Tamils in Sri-Lanka.

T-League’s member organizations include: Voice of Tamils, Australia (VOT); Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance (CTYA); Tamil Youth Network, Germany (TYN); Giovani Tamil, Italy; Tamil Youth Organisation, Norway (TYO-Norge); Tamil Youth Organisation, Switzerland (TYO-Swiss); Tamil Youth Organisation, UK (TYO-UK); Tamil Youth Organisation, New Zealand (TYO-NZ); Tamil Youth Organization, USA (TYO-USA).