With an aim of giving independence to Ceylon, when the Soulbury Constitution was introduced in 1945, the Tamil leader G.G. Ponnampalam demanded a parliament of equal representation (50:50), to prevent ethnic domination of state. The British and the Sinhalese rejected the demand.
Three years later, a Sinhalese leader, D. S. Senanayake, assuring the Tamils and the other minorities that they would not be suppressed under a majority Sinhala rule, requested them to support the proposal for independence based on Soulbury constitution.
On February 4th 1948, when the British left Ceylon, the power to rule the country went to Sinhalese who were the majority.
One of the first acts of independent Ceylon was the disenfranchisement of the Up-Country Tamils on Indian origin in 1949. The act almost halved the political representation of Tamils.
The political governance in the years that followed shows that democracy, after independence, was not based on political majority, but was constrained by considerations of ethnic differences.
It became an ethnic majority oriented rule, which began to suppress Tamils.
The Sinhalese majority started projecting Tamils, who had lived in their traditional homeland for millennia, as invaders from South India.
The nature of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism that evolved during colonial times based on Orientalism was a main reason for this attitude. This nationalism was shaped by the acceptance a chronicle of mythology called Mahavamsa, as history.
Majority democracy was always used against the Tamils in violating rights. The phrase ‘tyranny of the majority’ was experienced in its true meaning in Ceylon.
The Unitary State in Sri Lanka strengthens the ethnic majority. All efforts to negotiate for a federal constitution that could have solved the issue at the very outset, have miserably failed.
The constitution of the country became Sinhala-Buddhist in 1972.
The Tamils, who were a majority themselves in their traditional homelands in the north and east, and the Tamils working in the tea plantations, including the Tamils of Indian origin, were suppressed politically, economically, socially and culturally.
Ever since independence, the Sinhala government began colonizing strategic Tamil areas, especially along the borders and in the East, in order to de-link the contiguity of the homeland.
Colonization is carried out under the name of development projects with aids and loans from the Western countries. This is aimed at demographic genocide.
Genocide does not involve in physical killing of a group of people with the intention of annihilating them. It is also about other kinds of systematic violence, psychological as well as physical.
In 1956, Tamil language, which is one of the classical languages of the human civilization, was denied official status. Sinhala language was made as the only official language of the country by the enforcement of the so-called Sinhala Only Act. This is one of the examples of the cultural genocide in Sri Lanka.
Tamils in the south had to live in constant fear. Meanwhile, Tamils in their own homeland in the north and east, had to face constant harassment by the state military and police. The Sri Lanka Army is 99% Sinhalese and the Tamils see them as an occupying force. This is psychological genocide of the Tamils.
Peaceful protests of the Tamils were met with violence from the Sinhalese police force already in 1956 when the Tamils launched peaceful demonstrations against the Sinhala Only Act.
State support to anti-Tamil riots took place in 1958. More than 300 Tamils were killed while thousands of them became refugees in the south of the country. Tamils had to flee to the north and east seeking safety in their traditional homeland.
These riots and the systematic oppression on all fronts were based on ethnic identity, which is defined as genocide in International law.
There is a clear intention of ethnic cleansing of the Tamil nation; the Sinhalese state and political parties had a hand in organizing these riots on many occasions.
As far as Sri Lanka is concerned it is not just some persons but the entire state system is responsible for the genocide, throughout the years and it is carried out in a sophisticated manner.
Many attempts of negotiation were made and agreements entered upon between the governments and Tamil representatives, but every one of them was reversed by Sinhalese leaders.
Banda-Chelva Pact in 1957 and Dudley-Chelva Pact in 1965 are two examples of this.
The so-called standardization in the admission to universities imposed in 1971 has penalized the Tamil students. A student from Tamil area defined by the Sinhalese government as ‘developed area’ should obtain higher marks than those who come from Sinhalese areas. Sinhalese areas were defined as ‘under-developed’. But in reality, the Tamil areas were hardly developed.
Capital catered-around only Colombo. All commercial developments were only found in the south and the Tamils had to study Sinhala to get a job in the south. Institutions in the Tamil areas were systematically destroyed. The systematic destruction of infrastructure, economic and educational institutions, is structural genocide.
In 1972 a new republican constitution came into effect, scrapping even the filmy safeguards for ethnic minorities found in the previous constitution. Sinhala was the only official language and Buddhism became the state religion under this constitution. The country was named Sri Lanka.
The Tamils have not mandated this constitution.
Therefore in their mind, Sri Lanka is not their state. It is a state that has confiscated the political sovereignty of Tamils and has colonised their territory.
After pacts were abrogated and a number of attempts to negotiate failed, the Tamil leadership took an important decision in 1976, which is known as the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution.
This resolution declared that the Tamil people seek their right to self-determination.
The decision came nearly after 28 years of peaceful efforts to achieve federalism not only failed, but was met with violence and genocide.
In the 1977 general elections the Tamils gave an overwhelming mandate, endorsing the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution and a separate state, as the solution for the north and east.