Suppression of Kanniyaa protest, yet another lesson for Tamils: Trinco councillor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 July 2019, 14:15 GMT]
The discrimination meted out to the peaceful protesters at Kanniyaa in Trincomalee on Tuesday was yet another lesson for Tamils, says elected Piratheasa Chapai (PS) Councillor Vipooshan Chandirarajah, who was reflecting upon the level of SL injustice he witnessed during the occasion. The way the SL State's security and justice system chose to deal with the rally has exposed the inherent militarised nature of the state apparatus. The system advances the chauvinistic Sinhala-Buddhist agenda as its foremost interest. The deployment of more than five hundred Army and Police personnel with riot control and STF commandos was uncalled for at a peaceful protest, he said. Five busloads of Sinahal goons had been brought into the venue in advance, and how could they be allowed to enter Kanniyaa heritage site while a restriction was in force limiting tourism to the ‘archaeological’ place, he asked.







Armed commandos and masked military men were among the SL military and police.

Furthermore, the SL military was blocking the participants to the rally at every check post, attempting to delay and stop the people from attending the protest. There were also complaints of soldiers puncturing the tires of buses transporting Tamil participants to the rally, he said.

Manipulating information that Tamils were destroying a [Sinhala] Buddhist temple, violent Sinhala youth were mobilised to confront the Tamils. Even the argument put forward to the Acting Judge to secure interim order, Mr Vipooshan said.

Furthermore, the SL Police was not acting against those who poured hot tea on the Saiva priest and the trustee mother.

The SL Police was there and they knew very well who the culprits were. But, they didn't act. Even when the protesters demanded action, the response was in the negative, he said.

Although the TNA claims that it opted to back the SL Government led by Ranil Wickramasinghe which was facing a no-confidence motion, only after securing support favourable to the Tamil position on Kanniyaa, the unfolding events in Kanniyaa have raised severe questions on such ‘understanding’, he said.

None of the two Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians from Trincomalee were present at the protest disappointing the Tamils, he said.

Vipooshan belongs to Annamalai Varatharajah Perumal's Social Democratic Party of Tamils (SDPT).

Varatharaja Perumal, widely seen as an agent of Indian Intelligence, was the former Chief Minister of the Northeast Provincial Council during the Indian invasion. In 1990, when the Indian army began withdrawing from the island, Perumal fled to India.

After years of exile in India, under the protection of Indian intelligence agencies, he returned to Jaffna in 2010.

Perumal was urging the Tamils to strive to win the hearts of the Sinhalese when he returned to politics in the island.

However, his party members, openly exposing the modus operandi of the Sinhala chauvinism in the island are condemning the TNA politicians who extend unconditional support to the Sinhala rulers in the South.





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