Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03COLOMBO1789
2003-10-09 01:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Colombo
Cable title:  

Ending a long-standing dispute, Parliament

Tags:  PGOV PHUM SOCI PREL CE IN LTTE 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001789 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, DRL; NSC FOR E. MILLARD

DEPARTMENT PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10-15-13
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI PREL CE IN LTTE
SUBJECT: Ending a long-standing dispute, Parliament
grants citizenship to thousands of tea estate Tamils

Refs: (A) FBIS Reston Va DTG 090153Z Oct 03
- (B) Colombo 1466

(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Deputy Chief of
Mission. Reasons 1.5 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001789

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, DRL; NSC FOR E. MILLARD

DEPARTMENT PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10-15-13
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI PREL CE IN LTTE
SUBJECT: Ending a long-standing dispute, Parliament
grants citizenship to thousands of tea estate Tamils

Refs: (A) FBIS Reston Va DTG 090153Z Oct 03
- (B) Colombo 1466

(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Deputy Chief of
Mission. Reasons 1.5 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Sri Lanka's Parliament passed a bill
granting citizenship to over 160,000 tea estate Tamils
on October 7. The bill ends a decades-old dispute that
pitted the majority Sinhalese community against the
wider Tamil community and involved the GSL in years of
tense negotiations with India. Local observers lauded
the passage of the bill. Against the background of the
ongoing peace process, the constructive way the
citizenship bill has been handled is a positive sign for
ethnic reconciliation writ large. END SUMMARY.

===================================
Parliament Acts on Citizenship Bill
===================================


2. (U) On October 7, Sri Lanka's Parliament passed a
bill presented by the government granting citizenship to
over 160,000 tea estate Tamils. The bill passed
unanimously, with all 172 MPs present voting in favor,
and all parties -- government and opposition -- in
support. The bill, which is called "Grant of
Citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin Act," accords
"the status of citizen to any person of Indian origin
who has been a permanent resident of Sri Lanka since
October 30, 1964 or a descendant of any such person."
To become law, the bill now needs to be signed by J.M.
Perera, Speaker of the Parliament, who has indicated
that he will do so soon. Once it is signed, the tea
estate Tamils affected by the bill will be able to apply
for Sri Lankan national identity cards, a process the
government will coordinate.

==============================
End of a Long-standing Dispute
==============================


3. (U) The bill ends a decades old dispute that pitted
the majority Sinhalese community against Sri Lanka's
wider Tamil community and involved the Sri Lankan

government in years of tense negotiations with India.
The tea estate Tamil community (also known as "Indian"
or "hill" Tamils) represents about 5.5 percent of Sri
Lanka's total population. While members of the same
Tamil ethno-linguistic group, tea estate Tamils are
considered distinct from Sri Lanka's long-established
"Jaffna" and eastern Tamil communities, who represent
about 13 percent of the population. Ancestors of
today's tea estate Tamils were brought by the British
from southern India to Sri Lanka starting in the 19th
century to work on the tea plantations located in the
central highlands. In one of the first salvos in the
ethnic confrontation that would divide the country and
eventually lead to armed conflict, Sri Lanka's
Parliament passed an act soon after independence in 1948
that explicitly excluded tea estate Tamils from Sri
Lankan citizenship. Reflecting Sinhalese majoritarian
views, the Parliament took this action out of concern
that the addition of hundreds of thousands of tea estate
Tamils to the electoral roles would buttress the
strength of the country's Tamil community. Due to the
1948 Act and those subsequent to it, almost one million
tea estate Tamils were effectively rendered stateless.


4. (U) With the Sri Lankan government threatening to
expel the tea estate Tamils en masse to Tamil Nadu,
tensions quickly came to a head with India. After years
of negotiations, then-prime ministers Sirimavo
Bandaranaike and Lal Bahadur Shastri agreed in 1964 that
Sri Lanka would grant citizenship to roughly one third
of the affected Tamils while India would grant
citizenship to the remaining two-thirds. It took years
and much controversy, but Sri Lanka and India generally
fulfilled their parts of the bargain, with India
repatriating thousands of tea estate Tamils. Two
segments of the tea estate Tamil community remained
stateless, however: those eligible to be repatriated to
India who chose not to return and those who tried to
return but were not accepted by India. These two Tamil
groups and their descendants, numbering around 160,000
people in total, were the beneficiaries of the
citizenship passed by Sri Lanka's Parliament on
October 7.

======================
Observers Enthusiastic
======================


5. (C) Local observers lauded the passage of the bill.

K. Vivekanandan, a well-known human rights lawyer and a
tea estate Tamil, told poloff October 15 that the
passage of the bill resolved the citizenship problem
once and for all for the tea estate Tamil community.
With the passage of the bill, he noted that all tea
estate Tamils now have all the basic rights guaranteed
other Sri Lankans, including the right to vote and to
own property. Vivekanandan cautioned that after years
of discrimination tea estate Tamils still have far to go
until they are fully integrated into Sri Lankan society,
however. That said, the citizenship bill should help in
the integration process, he remarked. In an October 14
conversation with polchief, Taranjit Sandhu, political
counselor at the Indian High Commission, stated that he
thought the Sri Lankan Parliament's vote had been a very
positive step. While the issue of the tea estate Tamils
had ceased to be an irritant in Indo-Sri Lankan
relations many years ago, Sandhu said the final closure
of the whole matter was satisfying and highlighted an
increased level of inter-communal acceptance in Sri
Lanka.

=======
COMMENT
=======


6. (C) As noted above, the matter of how to handle the
citizenship of tea estate Tamils was the seminal issue
that set the stage for the friction (over language,
access to employment and educational opportunities,
etc.) between Sinhalese and Tamils that was to overwhelm
Sri Lanka and eventually lead to war. The fact that the
long-standing dispute over citizenship has now finally
been resolved in such a responsible way seems to be a
positive sign for ethnic reconciliation between
Sinhalese and Tamils writ large. As such, the
Parliament's passage of the bill seems to be good news
for the fragile peace process. END COMMENT.


7. (U) Minimize considered.

LUNSTEAD