M. Satthivel laments the plight of plantation workers who have been enslaved for 150 years

Social justice activist and coordinator of the National Organization for the Release of Political Prisoners, Rev. M. Satthivel, has stated that challenges to the existence of Tamils continue to arise even after the armed conflict. He stated this in a media statement issued today (27.06.2026). Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism The statement he issued further states that Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism in Sri Lanka has been operating freely as a strong structure with the protection and support of state terrorism since their independence day (1948.02.04). The indigenous Tamils of the North and East and the hill Tamils have been experiencing the ravages of this chauvinism for many decades. We advise, as a necessity of the times, that as oppressed races who have faced genocide and genocide in various forms, they can only travel towards their political goals by collectively pursuing their political aspirations and their political goals. In the North-East and the Highlands, Sinhala-Buddhist settlements, Buddhist symbols, and the construction of temples are continuously being occupied, both directly and indirectly. We know that by continuing to keep these areas as undeveloped and unemployable, the background for people to leave their homes on their own is being created and the population density is being destroyed. The hill Tamils, who live as landless people, have unleashed communal violence from time to time against the Tamils of the North East and the hill Tamils, and we know that ethnic cleansing continues in various forms even though the direct war in the Tamil homeland is being continued and the armed war with genocide is being silenced. We know that in a situation where the hill Tamils are developing themselves as a national race, their ethnic identities are being systematically destroyed and unbridled ethnic cleansing is being staged against them in various forms by state terrorism. In the Tamil homeland, the military and government departments have seized the people's lands and state lands and are planning to seize their lands. In addition, in order to keep the Tamils in the hills landless, they have given large areas of the hills to plantation companies on long-term leases and when the people ask for their lands, what is the justification for the government to request a deed of sale to give the plantation lands it owns to multinational companies? Recently, the Minister of Plantations announced that 500 tea plantation villages will be created. But in the hills, people with more than 150 years of experience in the tea industry are being kept as slaves in the plantations. The Chemmani Burial Ground The Tamil homeland was not only a war zone, but also a military camp, a torture chamber and a place of execution for genocide. The mass graves discovered so far bear witness to this. In that regard, the ongoing excavation of the Semmani mass grave is currently witnessing shocking revelations every day. Amnesty International has recently released shocking information through a two-year field research report that Hilly Tamil workers are being held as slave laborers in plantations and small farms in southern Sri Lanka. The government has also not accepted the Amnesty International research report that states that the current rulers, like the Sinhala Buddhist rulers who claim that genocide, genocide and war crimes have not occurred in the country, are also holding Hilly Tamil workers as slave laborers. The fact that Hilly Tamil workers are held as slave laborers is also another form of genocide. The unity of communities undergoing genocide is a testimony to the fact that the Semmani mass grave is a testimony to the buried, and the Hilly Tamil workers are a testimony to those who are to be buried, according to the Amnesty International report. In this situation, it is necessary to accept that the Tamil MPs in the North and East and the Tamil Nadu MPs in the Uplands have been forced to travel together for the political interests and survival of the people, both inside and outside the Parliament. Similarly, it is important for civil society and political organizations to continue their discussions among themselves. We would also like to say that political goals can be achieved only by uniting as ethnic communities facing genocide with their own political identities and their uniqueness. It is also mentioned that we should not forget that such unity existed in the 1970s.