The Tamil nation of the north and east of Sri Lanka once existed as an independent kingdom before European colonization. Without Tamil consent, the British unified the island in 1833 under a single administration and, in 1948, handed power only to the Sinhalese elite. This denied the Tamil people their right to self-determination guaranteed by the United Nations Decolonization Resolution of 1960. Because independence was granted without restoring the Tamils’ pre-colonial sovereignty, the Tamil question remains an unfinished act of decolonization. Restoring that sovereignty is not rebellion, but a legitimate historical and legal right.
Historical Basis for Tamil Sovereignty
Before European colonization, the island of Ceylon consisted of three independent kingdoms: the Tamil Kingdom of Jaffna in the north, the Kandyan Kingdom, and the Kotte Kingdom in the south. Each had its own administration, language, culture, and sovereignty. The Portuguese (1505–1658) and Dutch (1658–1796) occupied coastal areas mainly for trade but never unified the island under a single government.
The British Unification Without Tamil Consent
When the British took control in 1796, they forcibly merged the Tamil and Sinhalese regions under one administration in 1833, following the Colebrook–Cameron Commission. This was done without consulting the Tamil people or their traditional rulers. That act destroyed the long-standing Tamil sovereignty in the north and east, which had existed for centuries as the independent Jaffna Kingdom. From that moment, the island’s administrative unity existed only by colonial decree, not by mutual agreement between Tamil and Sinhala nations.
The 1948 Independence and Violation of Self-Determination
When Britain granted independence in 1948, it transferred power entirely to the Sinhalese elite, maintaining the same unitary system created by the British. No referendum or negotiation was ever held with the Tamil nation to consent to that arrangement. This violated the spirit of the United Nations 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Resolution 1514), which recognizes that all colonized peoples have the right to self-determination and sovereignty once colonial rule ends. Therefore, the post-1948 transfer of power from Britain to a single Sinhalese-dominated administration was not true decolonization—it was a continuation of colonial control under a new local majority, leaving Tamils colonized within their own homeland.
Why Tamils Have the Right to Restore Sovereignty
The Tamil Kingdom existed as an independent sovereign entity before colonial occupation. The British unification of the island was an artificial act, done without the consent of the Tamil people. Upon decolonization, Britain failed to restore the pre-colonial political status or recognize Tamil self-rule. Under international law, particularly the UN’s decolonization principles, a people whose sovereignty was lost through colonial conquest have the right to reclaim or restore that sovereignty. The continued denial of equal power-sharing and repeated suppression of Tamil political autonomy since 1948 prove that the unitary structure is inherently discriminatory and cannot deliver justice to both nations.
Conclusion
The historical record clearly shows that the Tamil people were sovereign before colonization, forcibly unified without consent, and denied restoration of their nationhood during independence. According to international law and moral justice, the Tamil nation therefore retains the right to restore its lost sovereignty—a right rooted not in rebellion, but in the unfinished process of decolonization.
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Tamil Diaspora News,
November 01, 2025