Tamil training for Sinhala police

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 September 2005, 19:29 GMT]
"Majority of the people in the Trincomalee district are Tamil speaking. The police serving in the district should learn Tamil language to promote better understanding with Tamil speaking people and to discharge their duties effectively," said Mr.Raja Collure, Chairman of the Official Languages Commission of Sri Lanka, when inaugurating the Basic Tamil Language Training Programme for police personnel in the district Saturday.

"Of about 64 thousand police personnel currently serving in Sri Lanka, about 17 thousand have been posted to the northeast province. There are very few Tamils in the police service. As Tamils are not willing to join the Sri Lanka Police Service it is the duty of Sinhala police personnel to serve Tamil speaking people by learning Tamil," Mr.Raja Collure added.

The Sinhala only legislation brought in by the Sri Lanka government in 1956 was the root cause for the current crisis in Sri Lanka. Now the Official Languages Commission is taking action against those officials who fail to implement the Official Languages Act passed in 1987, making Sinhala and Tamil as official languages of Sri Lanka, said Mr.Raja Collure.

Sinhalese must be aware that Tamils live in India, Malaysia, and Singapore and in South Africa. Tamil Buddhist scholars have written several Tamil books in ancient days, he added.

Mr.H.N.B.Ambanwela, Senior Superintendent of Police presided.