Why a common Tamil candidate from North & East is needed in the Sri Lankan Presidential election?

Siva Parameswaran

With the filing of nominations closed for the presidential election to be held on the 21st of September 2024, the campaigning by the candidates has gathered momentum. The incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe is contesting again his onetime protégé and foe now Sajith Premadasa, left-wing leader Anurakumara Dissaanayaka, and the heir apparent of the Rajapaksa clan Namal Rajapaksa.

However, the war-affected Tamils from the North and East have a Tamil Candidate contesting the election. Former MP from Batticaloa Packiaselvam Ariyanethran backed by some Tamil parties and civil society organizations from the North and East is contesting as an independent on the conch symbol.

Ariyanethran commenced his campaign after lighting a lamp and paying tributes at the Mullaivaikkal memorial and organizing his maiden public meeting at the Senthamizh playground at Vatrapalai in Mullaitivu district on August 18th. Speaking amongst the Tamils assembled at the playground said none of the President elected so far has resolved the issues faced by the Tamils and he is contesting the elections to impress upon the international community and the Sri Lankan government about it.

“No ethnic issue in North and East is still not resolved. We have voted for eight presidents in the past and have been cheated by all eight. We are not prepared to be deceived in this Presidential election. Our rights issue hasn’t been resolved. Hence, this effort is taken to tell the international community and the Sri Lankan government that it has to be resolved”.

The common Tamil candidate, a former MP from the former Tamil National Alliance representing the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi(ITAK)-Packiaselvam Ariyanethran says his intention to contest the election is not to occupy the President’s chair, and he is in the fray because it is an issue related to the rights of the Tamil people. It’s ‘symbolic’ he emphasized further.

“I am not contesting to become the President of the Democratic Socialistic Republic of Sri Lanka. On the contrary, I am contesting symbolically to project the lost rights of the Eelam Tamils have not been restored”.

Packiaselvam Ariyanethran recalled that no results were achieved despite discussing with three Presidents to solve the issues of the Tamil people.

“The unity among the Tamil people at this time would be an opportunity to touch the consciousness of the international community. We are united. After the Mullaivaikkal war ended, for the past 15 years we are without any rights. We have spoken to three Presidents. They have not offered any solutions. Hence, we are not prepared to vote for them. We would like to be ourselves in this country. We have a responsibility to reclaim our rights in the combined North and East”.

He further pointed out the main reason for a common Tamil candidate in the Presidential election is because the successive Sinhalese Presidents who came to power from the South have continuously cheated the Tamil people.

“During the time of the LTTE, we were cheated by five Presidents and then by three Presidents. The outcome of that is the common Tamil candidate now”.

A prominent Tamil party from the North, Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) has called upon the Tamils to boycott the Presidential poll. TNPF- a Tamil Nationalist Party says their boycott call is due to the reason the President elected from the majority community serves only them under a unitary state.

The party functionaries including its Secretary General and Jaffna district MP Selvarasa Kajendran are going around the Tamil areas in the North and East distributing leaflets justifying their call to boycott the ensuing Presidential election.

However, the ITAK to which the common Tamil candidate Packiaselvam Ariyanethran belongs, has not yet commented on its official position. The party has sought an explanation from him for contesting as the candidate without discussing it with the party and taking formal approval. A decision to seek his views was taken at the central committee meeting of ITAK held in Vavuniya on the 11th of August. He has not yet responded to the party’s notice seeking his explanation.

Even within the ITAK the opinion to support a common Tamil candidate is divided. While its leader elect and Jaffna MP Sivagnanam Siritharan favours such a move, his colleague and another MP from Jaffna M.A.Sumanthiran has openly opposed the common candidate proposal in his social media post. Even senior leaders like the former chairman of the Northern Provincial Council and CVK Sivagnanam are not in favour of the proposal.

Although Tamil parties like the TELO led by senior MP Selvam Adaikkalanathan, PLOTE led by Dharmalingam Sitharthan and the C.V.Wigneswaran led Tamil People’s National Alliance and the Democratic Crusaders Party-a party formed by former LTTE cadres voiced their support for a common Tamil candidate, most of them were absent when a decision on the candidate was made and announced.

However, Suresh Premachandran former MP and leader of the EPRLF, and Ponnuthurai Aingaranesan, President of the Tamil National Green Movement were present along with former MP and leader of the Tamil National Party and attorney Nallatambi Srikanta when Ariyanethran’s name was announced in Jaffna.

In the past former MP from Jaffna M.K.Sivajilingam too contested as a Tamil candidate in the 2o10 Presidential election but secured less than 10,000 votes. The maximum votes secured by a Tamil candidate was by late Kumar Ponnambalam father of TNPF leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam in the 1982 Presidential election who secured 173,934 votes.