The first International Tamil Conference was held in London on 30th April and 1st May, 1988. This two-day Conference on "The Tamil National Struggle and the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord" was convened by the World Federation of Tamils and was sponsored by the Tamil Voice International.

Several Tamil Organisations in the U.K. including the London Tamil Forum and the Tamil Eelam Movement helped in organising and conducting the Conference. The Conference was followed by a public meeting on 2nd May in London, which was attended by a large gathering of Tamils.

About 250 delegates and invitees from more than 100 Tamil Associations from Australia, Africa, Brunei, Canada, Europe, Fiji, India, Malaysia, Middle East, Papua New Guinea, Phillipines, Sri Lanka, UK and USA participated. The speakers at the Conference included Mr. Justice Krishna Iyer, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Mr. A.P. Venkateswaran, former Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, Ms. Karen Parker, UN Representative for Disabled People's International and Human Rights Advocates, Mr. P. Nedumaran, President of Kamraj Congress, Mr. V. Gopalsamy, M.P. from the DMK, Mr. Aladi Aruna, M.P. from the AIADMK, and Professor A.J. Wilson, Political Scientist and Mr. Thilahan of the LTTE.

The Conference was held in four sessions: First session was presided over by N. Seevaratnam, Chairman of the Conference Committee, the Second session by Mrs. N. Murugiah, former chairperson of Tamil Information Centre, Third session by C.J.T. Thamotheram until recently of the Tamil Times and the last session by N. Satyendra, Conference Organising Committee and  a delegate to Thimpu. N. Sivanathan was the Conference Secretary.

PEACE AND JUSTICE

The theme of the Conference was the Tamil National Struggle and the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. Mr Justice Krishna Iyer expressed his grave concern at the failure of the Accord to secure peace and justice for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Mr. Venkateswaran said that the Accord was doomed to fail as it did not resolve the central issues of the Tamil struggle before calling upon the combatants to surrender arms.

The Conference expressed its sense of outrage at the genocidal situation that had developed in Sri Lanka

which had led to around 125,000 Eelam Tamils seeking refuge in India, more than 50,000 in Europe, and more than two hundred thousand in their own homelands in Sri Lanka - a genocidal situation which is itself a culmination of the continuing oppression of the Tamil people by successive Sri Lankan governments over several decades - an oppression which included the disenfranchisement of the plantation Tamils, state-aided colonisation of Tamil homelands, the downgrading of the Tamil language and the enactment of the Sinhala Only Act, discriminatory employment policies, the inexcusable allocation of resources to Tamil areas, the exclusion of the students from Universities, the refusal to share power in a federal constitution, and state-sponsored violence against the Tamil people as a way of intimidating them into submission.

PROGRAMME OF ACTION

Mr. Thilahar of the Political Committee of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who was a notable LTTE representative at the Conference stated that whilst that LTTE recognised India's regional security concerns, Indo-Sri Lanka Accord had failed to
address itself to the wishes and national aspirations of the Tamil people. He appealed to all Tamil

Associations around the world to implement a programme of action, viz.

1) To publicize the human rights violations and other atrocities committed by the Indian troops in Tamil Eelam;

2) To expose the undemocratic and totalitarian methods adopted by the Indian government to terrorise the Tamil civilian masses and to impose upon them, against their will, a political formula that is totally unacceptable to them;

3) To campaign for immediate cessation of hostilities and commence negotiations with the LTTE without preconditions;

4) To campaign for the establishment of an Interim Government as pledged by India;

5) To campaign for a political settlement based on the cardinal principles enunciated at Thimpu giving primacy to our struggle for national self-determination, and to support the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and to implement the programme it placed before the Conference.

The Conference resolved that the Tamil people as an oppressed people had the inalienable and inherent right to engage in armed struggle against that oppression and recognised their right to self-determination.

The key note of the Conference proceedings was the unanimous resolution recognising Velupillai Prabaharan and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as the true leader and only organisation respectively of the Tamil National Struggle and in this sense this International Tamil Conference performed an historic role. The Conference resolved that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are combatants in International Law, and have been recognised as such in the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord by both the Indian Government and the Sri Lankan Government.

FORCES OF REASON

The Conference called upon the Indian and Sri Lankan Governments, other member states of the United Nations, and non-governmental agencies with consultative status, to recognise the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as the true leaders of the Tamil national struggle.

The Conference called upon the Government of India and the Government of Sri Lanka to agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sri Lanka and to accede to the request of the LTTE for a cease-fire and commence unconditional negotiations with a view to reaching a political settlement on the basis of the recognition that in Sri Lanka today there are two nations - the Tamil nation and the Sinhalese nation - and that two nations may live together by force of reason but cannot be compelled to live together by force of arms. The Conference appealed to the Government of India to take every step to secure the physical safety of Velupillai Prabaharan who has today become the living symbol of Tamil Nationalism. It also urged the member states of the United Nations to refrain from returning Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka against their will.

Conferees Assail Lanka Accord
Tamils' London Meeting Insists Colombo Backtracked

About 200 people from around the world, 100 of whom were expatriate Tamils, were joined by Indian politicians, human right activists, political scientists and legal luminaries in a conference to thrash out issues facing Tamils in Sri Lanka in the wake of the Indian-Sri Lankan peace accord of last July' The conference was organised last week by the World Federation of Tamils'

The accord was vigorously condemned

The delegates felt that the Sri Lankan government had backtracked on earlier commitments to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and that the Indian government had done little to pressure Sri Lanka to honour those commitments' Some of the speakers asserted that contrary to the agreement, Sri Lanka had failed to set up an interim administration in the north and east, where Sri Lankan Tamils lay claim to a traditional homeland in which the LTTE would have a majority, that Colombo had failed to withdraw the Israeli secret services, Mossad, and Western mercenaries operating on Sri Lankan soil and that it had continued to `colonise' Tamil areas with Sinhala settlers.

Indian Betrayal Charges

The Indian government. once described as the 'friend of Tamil people' providing the militants with moral and material support in the form of arms and safe sanctuary for refugees had 'betrayed the Tamils some sneakers said' Amongst the guest speakers were A.P.Venkateswaran, former foreign secretary in the Indian government; N.Satyendra, a Tamil participant in t he 1985 Thimpu talks involving India and Sri Lanka: V.Gopalasamy. MP of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam: P.Nedumaran, president of the Tamil Nadu Kamraj congress: Thilakar, memher of the political committee of the LTTE: Karen Parker, ITN representative of the Disabled People's International and Human Rights Advocates'US: Krishna Iyer, former Supreme Court Justice: and Prof.A. J.Wilson, political scientist from Canada and Aladi Aruni

Topics of Discussion

Issues discussed in the two-day conference included the historical dimension of the Tamil struggle, the justification for the armed struggle. the significance of the 1985 Thimpu declaration - which called for a political settlement to the crisis on the basis of the recognition of Tamils' right to self-determination - the international framework of the struggle, and India's role as a regional power, the reasons for the accord and the consequences of its alleged failure for the Tamils'

The organisers said the conference was convened at a time when many political commentators had noted that the accord, which was hailed as a significant diplomatic achievement, had failed to bring 'peace and normalcy' to the island because it failed to satisfy the Tamils' hopes for an independent sovereign state'

Doomed From the Start

Venkateswaran said the accord was doomed from the start and that it had been entered into by 'two political leaders without the consultation of the Tamil people' He warned that the consequences of the accord, particularly charges that atrocities had been committed by the Indian peace keeping force, would have grave implications for Indian-Sri Lankan relations in the years ahead.

Similarly, Iyer declared that the accord had betrayed the collective rights of the Tamils, that it had been relegated to the 'dustbin' by both governments and that it had 'no legality to begin with' He said it was a national humiliation that over 100,000 Indian troops should be sent to Sri Lanka to seek out one man - Velupillai Prabaharan, the leader of the LTTE.

Delegates and speakers expressed anguish over the alleged atrocities of the Indian troops'

Western Nations Accused

Parker alleged that certain Western powers had an interest in keeping India embroiled in the problems of Sri Lanka. There is a conspiracy among certain nations to tarnish India's reputation as a non-aligned power in the world, she said' She also declared that the prospects of peace in Sri Lanka had been sabotaged both internally and externally. She said, various groups in Sri Lanka had been rearmed by foreign powers after they had agreed to lay down their weapons as part of the agreement. The purpose. she said, was to undermine and weaken the strength of the LTTE. Aruna suggested vet another purpose - that Sri Lankan President Junius R. .Jayewardene had 'convinced' Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi that if he supported the Tigers in their fight for a homeland, he might one day be confronted with the possibility of Tamil Nadu wanting to secede from the Indian union on similar grounds'

No Evidence, He Admits

Although he noted that there was no evidence to support allegations against Jayewardene, Aruna also added that he was for the unity and integrity' of India' However, he said that continued interference by New Delhi could lead to such a situation'

Venkateswaran said that the time had come for the international Tamil community to raise the consciousness of their brothers in Tamil Nadu. "This is the right time", he said, "for Tamils to carry the message to Tamil Nadu, to tell their brethren that they are being told a pack of lies'"

1985 Framework

Both governments of India and Sri Lanka were urged to agree to accede to the request of the LTTE for an immediate cease-fire, thus leading to all three parties agreeing on an `independent, impartial and acceptable cease-fire monitoring committee' leading to a political settlement within the framework of the 1985 Thimpu declaration.

Delegates also urged the price on the head of Prabaharan be lifted, and no country should send back refugees to Sri Lanka against their will.

The conference also resolved to set up an international secretariat to promote the political stand of the LTTE and to compile a dossier on human rights violations'