Indian Tamils to protest against SL Minister's ethnic slur

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 August 2005, 04:12 GMT]
Tamils of Indian Origin from upcountry estates are to protest against the ethnic slurs directed at their community by Sri Lanka's Deputy Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, Mr. Mervyn Silva, during arraignment of the Minister's son Malaka Silva for his alleged confrontation with Police, sources in Nuwara Eliya said. The protest planned by the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) is to take place in front of the Fort Railway Station Colombo on 8th August.

P Chandrasekaran, UPF parliamentarian, has invited members of Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), other Tamil Organizations and Progressive Sinhala parties including Vikramabahu Karunaratne and Vasudeva Nanayakkara requesting them to show solidarity with the upcountry Tamils during the protest.

The verbal abuse by the Deputy Minister was initially directed against the Sirasa, Swarnavahini television jouranalists and news paper reporters who were at the Colombo Fort Magistrate Courts to cover a case, and later turned against the Tamils of Indian origin, sources said.

The case was filed by the police Narcotic bureau against Malaka Manoj Silva, the son of Mervyn Silva, for attacking a group of police men at a five star hotel when they entered to check on drug users.

Mervyn Silva denied that his son was involved in any fight with the raiding Police. He accused the Police and the media of targeting his son.

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