The National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) strongly condemns the removal by Sri Lankan police of the memorial statue of Thiyaga Theepam Thileepan in Nallur, Jaffna, on September 27, 2026.
The statue was removed one day after Eelam Tamil people gathered in Nallur and across the North-East to mark the 39th anniversary of Thiyaga Theepam Thileepan's fast unto death in 1987. He remains a deeply significant figure in the collective memory of the Eelam Tamil people for his ultimate sacrifice and their struggle for political rights, justice and self- determination.
The Eelam Tamil people have the fundamental right to remember and mourn their dead, commemorate and memorialize those they choose to honour, and preserve and transmit their collective memory and history to future generations. The Sri Lankan state has no right to deny or suppress the Eelam Tamil people's exercise of these fundamental rights.
The removal of Thiyaga Theepam Thileepan's memorial statue must not be viewed as an isolated incident, but as part of a broader and longstanding pattern of denial, destruction, disruption and interference by the Sri Lankan state in the Eelam Tamil people's remembrance, commemoration and memorialization. Such systematic suppression of the Eelam Tamil people's remembrance and destruction of their memorials cannot erase their history, collective memory, identity or aspirations, and must be understood within the broader context of the ongoing genocide against the Eelam Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state.
NCCT calls for the immediate return and restoration of Thiyaga Theepam Thileepan's statue at the Nallur memorial.
NCCT further calls upon Canada and the international community to defend and uphold the Eelam Tamil people's right to remember, mourn, commemorate and memorialize those they choose to honour, and to impress upon the Sri Lankan government its obligation to respect these rights without interference, intimidation or suppression.
Thank you,
National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT)