Canadian Tamil Political Forum
Bay Street M5G 1C9 Toronto, ON, Canada

#STATEMENT: PEARL is deeply concerned about the ban of commemorations of #MaaveerarNaal, the #Tamil National Remembrance Day, across several districts in the No...rth-East. This is a disturbing escalation in the state’s repression of #Tamil memorialization. Last week war-crimes accused Shavendra Silva said last week that #MaaveerarNaal commemorations would be prohibited, citing #COVID19 restrictions and threatening legal action against those who resisted the order. Since then, organizers observing social distancing measures, who attempted to prepare the locations of LTTE cemeteries for commemorative events, were obstructed by the police. Security forces have also set up check posts in close proximity to the cemeteries across the North-East. While #COVID19 restrictions are used as a pretext to justify the bans, the continued targeting of individuals reveal the state's intent to suppress #Tamil memorialization activities for what they are acts of defiant remembrance and resistance to the majoritarian narrative. We are particularly disturbed at the targeting of members of the protesting Families Of The Disappeared. PEARL has seen court documents naming individuals involved in these long-running protests and banning them from attending commemorations. In September, PEARL warned that abuses of legal processes will lay the groundwork for further bans, arrests and intimidation including around #MaaveerarNaal on November 27 and Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day on May 18. Unimpeded memorialization is inextricably linked to healing and honoring those lost in the war. PEARL urges the international community to send an unequivocal message that banning #MaaveerarNaal commemorations is an unacceptable transgression of Tamils’ right to remember.

https://www.change.org/p/home-secretary-and-prime-minister-

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