Colombo treating us like aborigines

Sri Lanka is treating people in its Tamil-majority northeast as ‘aborigines’, a Tamil delegation told a team of Indian officials in Colombo.

“It is very unfortunate that the (Sri Lankan) government does not allow people and officials of the north and east to manage their affairs as done in all other seven provinces,” they said in a memorandum given to National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.

“The government is treating these people like aborigines and goes on enforcing its own agenda without any consideration for their views,” said the delegation of Tamil leaders V. Anandasangaree, T. Sritharan and D. Sitharthan.

While Anandasangaree heads the Tamil United Liberation Front, one of the oldest political parties in Sri Lanka, the other two are leaders of former Tamil militant groups that are now political parties.

The three met the Indian delegation in Colombo on Saturday. Menon and Rao also held discussions with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse as well as other leaders.

They told the Indian team that “without allowing things to go out of control, the (Indian) delegates should explore the possibilities of persuading the Sri Lankan government to agree to the demands of the minorities”.

[Full Coverage]

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