NUTA chastises Jaffna Uni over Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day involvement

The National University Teachers’ Association (NUTA), in a letter to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna, expressed dismay at the university’s commemoration of Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day and urged it to stop functioning as the “unofficial private army of the Chief Minister of the Northern Province”.

In the correspondence to Vice ChancellorProf. Ratnam Vigneswaran, NUTA Secretary Prof. Channa Jayasumana rebukes the university’s students for attending the commemorative event for Sri Lankan Tamils who died in the final stages of the country’s bitter ethnic conflict. 

Jayasumana labels the students’ behaviour illegal and says “that they are being misguided by crafty racist politicians such as Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Vigneswaran, who himself never studied in the North”.

“He is sending the intelligent youth of the North and East to the dungeon while his family members are safe abroad or in Colombo. Our understanding is that recent incidents create an unsavoury picture about the University of Jaffna among the majority of Sinhala and Muslim people in the country,” Jayasumana states.

The following is an excerptof the letter.

Dear Prof. Vigneswaran,

Jaffna University-do not let racist politicians destroy the future of Jaffna youth and the university.

We, as responsible university academics in Sri Lanka, have noted with dismay the involvement of the Jaffna University students during the recent so called “Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day” observances.

While the general population of Jaffna was mostly uninvolved, the Jaffna University students were acting like an unofficial private army of the chief minister of the Northern Province C. V. Vigneswaran and transgressing the law of the country by commemorating members of a banned terrorist organisation. People in the South hold the intelligent youth of the Northern peninsula in high esteem. However, their recent behaviour showed that they are being misguided by crafty racist politicians such as C. V. Vigneswaran, who himself never studied in the North. In fact, not a single member of the Chief Minister’s family has studied in the North. He is sending the intelligent youth of the North and East to the dungeon while his family members are safe abroad or in Colombo. Our understanding is that recent incidents create an unsavoury picture about the University of Jaffna among the majority of Sinhala and Muslim people in the country.

End of the internal armed conflict widened the path for the young people in North and East to obtain university education. Otherwise, they would be conscripted by the terrorists and living in a bunker, suffering immense difficulties under the command of a thug. Those misguided youths should be thankful to the political leadership and Sri Lankan forces that ended the armed conflict and made it possible for them to reap the benefits of higher education freeing them from battlefront.

We observe that greedy politicians are pushing the misguided youth to another reckless program. Further, we feel that they are abandoning the golden opportunities presented to them by the people of Sri Lanka. We do hope that you would take our letter seriously and discuss this matter with the senior responsible academics of the University. Offer guidance to Jaffna University students and teach them reconciliation and harmony.

Thank you.

National University Teachers’ Association Secretary Prof. Channa Jayasumana.