The Public Administration Ministry has called for an urgent meeting with parliamentarians from the Eastern Province to resolve a fresh crisis over government plans to re-demarcate boundaries of Divisional Secretaries.
Public Administration Minister John Seneviratne said that, following complaints from political parties in the East, he had called for a meeting on Thursday to look into their grievances.
On Friday, former Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan’s supporters protested in Batticaloa against moves to merge Tamil majority areas in Koralaipattu South and Koralai Pattu with Muslim majority Koralaipattu West.
Mr. Chandrakanthan is currently an advisor to President Mhainda Rajapaksa. Arun Thambimuttu, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Chief Organiser for the Batticaloa District, said he had protested to the President against plans to merge Tamil majority areas with Muslim majority areas.
However, Muslim activists including those from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress on Friday held a separate protest calling on the Government to go ahead with the re-demarcation of boundaries. The protest was held in Oddamavadi, south of Batticaloa.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) also has lodged a complaint with the Minister of Public Administration, under whose purview the De-limitation Committee works. Similar issues have been reported from Trincomalee and Ampara.
Yesterday TNA leader R. Sampanthan met local council members of their party in Trincomalee to plan out moves to protest boundary changes. TNA politburo member K. Thurairethnasingham said his party was opposed to current re-demarcation proposals and would hand over its own proposals this month.
By Chris Kamalendran
ST
TMVP faction wants Batticaloa Tamils to observe shutdown against Muslim politicians
A faction of TMVP paramilitary in Batticaloa has instructed Tamil business owners and public servants to observe shutdown on Friday against the recent proposal from ‘Muslim politicians’ to annex Tamil villages from the Tamil dominated Koa’ra’laippattu North (Vaakarai) and Koa’ra’laippattu South (Kiraan) divisions with Muslim dominated divisions of Koa’ra’laippattu Centre and Koa’ra’laippattu West.
A section of the TMVP, which has been abetting and aiding the Colombo regime in its genocidal project against Eezham Tamils, is behind the leaflets that were issued on Thursday under the name ‘Batticaloa District Tamil Peoples Union’.
Commenting on the move by the paramilitary elements, the politicians of the Tamil National Alliance in Batticaloa said that the call for protest from the paramilitary had come while the TNA politicians had convinced the Muslim politicians not to succumb to the genocidal agenda of Colombo setting Tamils and Muslims to confront each other in Batticaloa.
The Colombo regime, on one hand seeks to create disputes between Tamils and Muslims, and on the other hand sets paramilitary and sectarian elements among Muslims and Tamils against each other to sustain a favourable condition for its genocidal maneuverings over both. Colombo’s agenda seeks creating new Sinhala administrative divisions and electorates in the East, political observers in the East said.
TN