TNA protests against 'new Sinhala majority settlements'
Sri Lanka's main Tamil party TNA today staged a protest in northern Vavunya town to highlight alleged new Sinhala majority settlements being pushed by the government in the country's northern and eastern regions.
The sit-in protest was also to bring to focus other land related issues concerning the Tamil minority community in the two areas.
The TNA alleged that the government was creating new Sinhala majority settlements in the northern and eastern regions against wishes of the Tamil community.
However, the government has denied the allegations.MK Shivajilingam, a former MP and a senior TNA member said that the protest held between 7 am to 4 pm in the northern town of Vavunya was meant to highlight land issues concerning the Tamil minority in the northern and eastern areas.
The TNA also said the new settlements are unreasonable and the war displaced civilians need to be resettled in their original lands.
The government has started a key process of direct talks with the TNA since January to find a solution to the political aspirations of the minority ethnic community after the end of a three-decade civil war in May 2009.
The former LTTE-proxy party has been demanding quick resolution of the problems facing the Tamil minority community, their resettlement and expeditious settlement of legal process against the former members of the LTTE.
The LTTE waged a bloody three-decade civil war for a separate state for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, alleging discrimination against the minority community at the hands of the majority Sinhalas.
The Lankan military crushed the rebels and ended the ethnic conflict that killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people.
