War budget bares Colombo's intent - Senathirajah

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2006, 01:09 GMT]
"This budget allows 140 billion rupees for defence which clearly exposes the intent of the Sri Lanka government to suppress the Tamils by waging war on them. Our people have been suppressed for the last 50 years by the successive Sinhala governments. Our youth were forced to take up arms because of such racist attitude," Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian said participating in the debate on budget Wednesday in the Sri Lanka Parliament, Colombo sources said.

"The government has closed the doors to peace and the international community knows this well. But EU, US and Japan keep blaming both sides, trying to accuse the Tamils too for obstructing the peace process. This has encouraged the government to opt for war, and this budget fully well indicates the real intent of the Sri Lanka government," added the MP in his speech.

"We extend our full support to the plantation workers in their agitation for wage increase and we urge the government to take immediate steps to help the plantation workers get fair wages," Mr. Mavai Senathirajah said.

"It is a pity that the lives of the plantation workers are miserable because of the low wage they get. When he was an MP, Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse published a treaty on safeguarding the workers. Now the very workers are being affected in his regime. Does the president neglect the plantation workers because they are Tamils?" asked the TNA MP.