Sinhala nationalists launch de-merger campaign in Trinco

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 July 2003, 19:52 GMT]
The "Sinhala Sanvidhanaya," a Sinhala nationalist movement Monday launched a signature campaign in Trincomalee to urge the de-merging of the North and East. The first signatory of the memorandum was the president of the organization, Venerable Dehiowitte Piyatissa Thera, sources said.

The signature campaign was launched at the clock tower junction, close to bus stand and general market in the heart of Trincomalee.

A spokesperson of the movement said the temporary merger now in force since 1987 under the Indo-Sri Lanka accord should be cancelled and two provincial councils should be established, one for north and the other for east.

The spokesperson added that the signature campaign would be extended to other districts of the eastern province, Batticaloa and Ampara shortly.

The aim of the movement is to collect one hundred thousand signatures from Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people and to hand over the memorandum to President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe and leaders of other political parties, spokesperson said.




Sinhala nationalists participate in signature campaign in Trincomalee demanding de-merger of northeast province (click for a larger picture)