Jaffna Hindu College Association voices for Tamil right to self-determination

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 22:24 GMT]
The Jaffna Hindu College Association (UK), on Wednesday, came out with a statement addressed to all political parties of Tamil Nadu and the Government of India to recognize the right to self-determination of Tamils as a nation in Sri Lanka. In the war-torn society of Eezham Tamils, the existing grass-root level democratic institutions are the alumni associations and village associations functioning from abroad. The Jaffna Hindu College is a 120 years old pioneering national institution that hosted Swami Vevekananda and Mahatma Gandhi when they visited Jaffna.

The statement signed by the president of the association, V.N. Jayasealan said this is a measure of priority and such recognition from the State of Tamil Nadu and the Government of India will help in a big way in checking war and achieving negotiated peace in Sri Lanka, besides inspiring the International Community in adopting an appropriate approach to the crisis.

Significantly, Eezham Tamil grass-root level institutions of non-political and non-militant nature are watching the developments in Tamil Nadu with great interest and are eager to convey what they think. A decision in this regard was taken in a meeting of several organizations in Canada recently.

According to Prof. R. Cheran, sociologist of Windsor University, Canada, more than 350 associations representing villages and a number of alumni associations of the educational institutions of Eezham Tamils operate in Canada alone.