Pro-Tamil demonstrators hold a flags in Paris, during a protest Saturday, May, 23, 2009.

Even before the Sri Lankan conflict had reached finality, some in the Tamil diaspora have been attempting to revive the Vaddukkoddai Resolution that set the stage in 1976 for the creation of a separate state consisting of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. As in 1976, when the then Tamil leadership "…call(ed) on the Tamil nation in general and the Tamil youth in particular to come forward and throw themselves fully into the sacred fight…" to create a separate Tamil state, its survivors are today calling on a new generation to restart the process.

With the defeat of the LTTE the prospect of creating a separate Tamil state militarily is over. This defeat must be seen as a historical continuum to divide Sri Lanka over the millennia. As it was with past attempts the latest attempt too was to establish a separate Tamil state militarily but, with one significant difference. The difference this time was that the Tamil leadership wanted a moral underpinning for the creation of a separate state. With this in view the Tamil leadership calling themselves the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) contested the 1976 election for the creation of a separate state as its main platform.

Based on the results of this election the TULF has claimed and continues to claim even today that the Tamil people voted overwhelmingly to establish a separate state. That the TULF received an overwhelming mandate ONLY from the Tamil people of the Northern Province is a fact. In contrast, that an overwhelming majority in the Eastern Province which included Tamils, OPPOSED the mandate sought, is also a fact. Therefore, the TULF failed to secure a mandate to set up a separate state that incorporated both Northern and Eastern Provinces. This is "the whole truth and nothing but the truth".

From 1976 onward, members of the Tamil community have repeated over and over again on every platform and to every audience, the high point being when this misrepresentation was cited in a US Court of Appeal against the LTTE being designated a terrorist entity in the US, that they had received an overwhelming mandate to set up a separate state. What the TULF did NOT say was that the people in the Eastern Province OPPOSED the mandate sought.

While the Northern Province voted for a separate state, the voters in the Northern and Eastern Provinces taken together OPPOSED it due to the significant opposition from the overwhelming majority in the Eastern Province. What is most striking is that the overwhelming majority of Tamils in the district of Batticaloa which had a 71% Tamil population also opposed the creation of a separate state.

Based on the voting records which are cited below, the following conclusions could be reached.

1. 53% OF THE VOTERS (441,751 out of a total of 837,526) IN THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN PROVINCES TAKEN TOGETHER OPPOSED THE TULF.

2. IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE 73% OF THE VOTERS (316,247 out of a total of 433,729) OPPOSED THE TULF.

3. IN BATTICALOA WITH A 71% Tamil majority (1981 Census), 67% OF THE VOTERS (114,302 out of a total of 169,422) OPPOSED THE TULF.

Since the 1976 election results clearly demonstrated that the Eastern Province had opposed the creation of a separate state, the Tamil leadership began to pursue a course where annexation of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province in any political arrangement was not to be dependent on the consent of the people in the Eastern Province, but was to be arbitrary or imposed.

Attempts are being made to revive these fabrications. TamilNet of May 10, 2009 reports of an unnamed 'self-exiled Tamil politician of the pre-1977 times' as having stated: "It is time that the Tamils have to democratically test the validity of the political course democratically set for them in 1976 by the Vaddukkoddai Resolution and democratically tell the world what they want now". The report also states: 'The resolution was overwhelmingly endorsed by the people in the length and breadth of the Tamil homeland - Northern and Eastern provinces of the island, where the front (sic TULF) stood for the election. In fact, this was the last election the Tamils had a free say in expressing their opinion on this issue".

With the view to reviving the Vaddukkoddai Resolution, 67 grass roots organizations in France are reported to have met and endorsed the resolution, 100 percent. The process has been repeated in Norway as well. For senior members of the Tamil community living abroad to encourage the younger generations to believe in and disseminate what they fully know to be fabrications used in their propaganda since 1976 is to mislead another generation. This is shameful and cannot be condoned.

With the defeat of the LTTE, discussions are focusing on the need for reconciliation. Truth Commissions are being recommended as facilitating mechanisms. However, the first requirement of any reconciliation is to state, face and accept THE TRUTH. If TRUTH is supposed to set us free we have to accept the outcome of the 1976 election however unpalatable. The attempt to relive 1976 is to relive lies perpetrated over three decades ago.

RESULTS OF 1976 ELECTION

The information presented below is extracted from the Report of Commissioner of Elections. Sessional Paper IV. 1978. *Batticaloa electorate in Batticaloa District and Padirippu electorate in Ampara District were two member electorates. Hence the number of votes is more than the number of voters.