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| A passport issuing counter at Department of Immigration and Emigration Colombo. File pix |
If there is one political comment by a Tamil journalist that has grabbed the attention of the Tamil media in recent times, it is the comment made by the editor-in-chief of the Colombo Daily 'Thinakkural' Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, at an event in Jaffna last week about the large-scale migration of Tamils.
Thanabalasingham was speaking as the chief guest at a function organised by the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) at the Thanthai Selva Kalaiarangam in Jaffna to commemorate the memory of the Tamil prisoners who were massacred in Welikada Prison in the Black July of 1983. Although he commented on the political developments from Black July to today, the main focus was on the threat to the political life of Tamils at home due to the migration of Tamils from Sri Lanka to the West, especially from the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Thanabalasingham questioned whether the Tamil politicians, who are constantly raising their voice to protect the Tamil homeland, have the courage to ask the Tamil people in the north and east not to migrate.
"Due to the continuous migration of Tamil people, the Northern Province in particular has become the least populated province in Sri Lanka today. As a result, the parliamentary representation of the Tamil regions is also declining. For example, the Jaffna electoral district, which once had 11 seats in Parliament (comprising the two administrative districts of Jaffna and Kilinochchi), now has 6 seats.
"The number of seats in Jaffna district has come down from eleven to first nine and then six as the population of eleven seats has been gradually reduced. Although war-related deaths are one of the main factors of population decline, migration also contributes to it to a large extent.
The Sri Lankan Tamils, who migrated in large numbers to India, Western Europe, North America and Australia after the Black July pogrom unleashed under the auspices of the then government against the Tamil people, are scattered like modern Jews. Even after the end of the three-decade-long civil war, the Tamil Diaspora did not relent.
"If this trend of migration continues, there will be no people to protect the 'Tamil soil." The political representation of the Tamils will also be severely reduced. So, do Tamil politicians have the courage to ask the Tamil people not to migrate? " Thanapalasingham questioned.
There is no doubt that he raised the question out of concern about the threat to the political strength of the Tamil people from their unabated migration. But we do not know the response to his question from any of the Tamil politicians so far. This may be due to the fact that many of their families live abroad.
Migration has become a common phenomenon in today's world. People are migrating for various reasons such as job opportunities, higher education and security. This is also unavoidable.
In the case of Sri Lanka, not only Tamils as before, but also people of other ethnicities, especially Sinhalese as a majority, are going abroad in large numbers. The 'invasion' of foreign countries has intensified in the wake of Sri Lanka's unprecedented economic crisis in its modern history that occurred three years ago. The government is also promoting it.
But one does not have to be a political expert to understand that immigration does not pose a threat to the political strength of the majority. But the dangers of unabated migration are already visible in the case of minority communities, especially the Tamils in the north and east, who have suffered massive upheavals and destruction of property as a result of the civil war.
Tamils also go abroad for higher education and career opportunities. However, there are a large number of Tamils who prefer to go abroad as they no longer have a future in Sri Lanka. Today, if we conduct a survey among the people in the North and East, we can find out the number of families who are struggling to migrate or send their children abroad.
Sixteen years after the end of the civil war, the Tamil people in the north and east have not fully recovered from the effects of the war. There is no political solution to the ethnic conflict. Even the new government does not seem to be interested in finding such a solution in the near future. Therefore, it is natural for Tamils, who are worried about their future, to migrate in search of a better life.
If the Tamils in Sri Lanka are to have hope for the future, it is primarily for the Government to show a sincere interest in finding a political solution that can win the confidence of the Sinhala people and meet the legitimate political aspirations of the minority communities.
But it is imperative that the Tamil political parties to abandon the utopian rhetoric that the Tamil people have lost hope and adopt practical political policies and approach that are relevant to the present situation. If the National People's Power has been able to capture a substantial vote bank in the North and East, it is largely due to the Tamil people's disgust and boredom with the approach adopted by the Tamil political parties over the past sixteen years.
It is, therefore, our firm belief that Tamil political parties should pursue politics that can give the Tamil people the confidence that they and their generations to come will have a better future if they continue to live in their own land. ( English Translation of the editorial of Tamilan newspaper published on 2 August 2025)
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| Senior Tamil journalist V. Thanabalasingham |
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