SL State-owned paper refuses to publish condemnation issued by Hindu Congress

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 September 2019, 13:24 GMT]
Colombo-based Attorney-at-Law, Pranavan Neelakandan, has said that the SL State (Lake House) owned English daily, the Daily News, had refused to publish a statement, which was issued by the All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) on Friday. The paper declined to publish it even as a paid publication. The statement was about the recent “degrading act of cremating the remains of a Buddhist Monk within the premises of the Holy Semmalai Neeraviyadi Pillayar Kovil in Mullaitivu.” Meanwhile, protests continued on Friday in Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa against the conduct of the monks and the SL Police at Neeraaviyadi in Mullaiththeevu earlier this week.

The Daily News editorial board told the ACHC that the legal department of the paper had advised holding the publication.

“We have asked them to send us a formal email stating the same, which has still not been received,” Mr Neelakandan said in an email sent to Tamil activists with the copy of the statement on Friday.



“Hindus consider it a sacrilege to cremate the remains of the deceased in the vicinity and within the places of worship and other places that they deem sacred,” the ACHC statement said.

This incident also demonstrated that the racial discrimination, marginalisation and harassment faced by the Tamils and the minorities in the island since the independence, the statement said.

“It has to be realised that no one including Buddhist Monks and the Police are above the law and that no one is immune from legal accountability to the Courts. The Police and relevant authorities must take full responsibility for the said incident. The perpetrators who have violated the Order of Court must be held accountable for Contempt of Court and punished, and the authorities must take appropriate action to implement law and order,” it further said.

The ACHC statement also noted that the history of Hindus and Tamils are “systematically and surreptitiously erased using several state tools” and that many places of worship of Hindus are being grabbed under the pretence and guise of “Archeology” and Buddhist Temples are instead being constructed in such places sacred to Hindus.

Chronology: