Up Country Tamils: Charting a New Future in Sri Lanka democratic and structured, it is debateable whether these reports bring the demands of Up-country Tamils into mainstream discussions. However, despite these concerns, representatives of Up-country Tamils served in both the CTFRM and the PRCCR. The British facilitated Tamils’ migration from South India as bonded labourers, starting in the 1820s (Lawrence 2005 and Jegathesan 2013). Since then, they have faced many issues, such as low wages, unstable income, health issues, chronic diseases, etc. Up-country Tamils became stateless through the Citizenship Acts of 1948 and 1949 after Ceylon gained independence in 1948. Following the “Sinhala Only” Act in 1956, Up-country Tamils were also targeted during communal riots. The ‘Sirima–Shastri’ Pact of 1964 and the ‘Sirima–Gandhi’ Pact of 1974, facilitated the “repatriation” of approximately 40 per cent of the estate Tamil population to India, and the balance 60 per cent stayed in Sri Lanka. The problem of statelessness remained fully unresolved until the introduction of the Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin Act No. 35 of 2003. Many Sinhalas and Sri Lankan Tamils did not consider Upcountry Tamils to be Sri Lankan, as they had migrated recently from South India. There was constant discrimination against Upcountry Tamils at both political and social levels. For instance, when Up-country Tamils lost the right to vote in 1948, many Sri Lankan Tamil politicians at that time did not oppose it. Therefore, Up-country Tamils are a minority who are marginalised within the minority Tamil community. The concerns of Up-country Tamil women, especially in relationship to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, have been even further marginalised. 54