Eezham Tamils boycott ‘Sri Lanka’ Independence Day in North-East

ஞாயிறு, 7 பிப்ரவரி, 2016

Eezham Tamils boycott ‘Sri Lanka’ Independence Day in North-East

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 2016, 08:21 GMT]
“Tamils are being suppressed as ‘minority’ in this country. This so-called Independence Day is only for Sinhalese, ruling this country as majority. They celebrate this day with Kiribath [milk rice] in the South. We have not forgotten that they also celebrated the annihilation of thousands and lakhs of Tamils at Mu'l'livaaykkaal in 2009, serving Kiribath in the South,” a protesting mother in Mannaar, who joined the district wide protests of Tamils marking the so-called Independence Day of Ceylon, which has later become genocidal ‘Sri Lanka’, as a Black Day. In the meantime V.S. Sivakaran, a young Tamil activist in Mannaar said Tamils have no emotional attachment to the day and that they saw it merely as an Independence Day of a neighbouring country. Tamils marked the day as a Black Day in all the 8 districts of the Northern and Eastern provinces on Thursday.

February 04 Black flag protest in Vavuniyaa

Protesters in Vavuniyaa condemn M.A. Sumanthiran for collaborating with SL State

The day of February 04 also marked the number of years that have elapsed in the enslavement of Tamils at the hands of the Sinhala majoritarian State, which has been refusing to respect Tamils’ distinct right to their traditional homeland, their self-determination and nationhood, said Mr Sivakaran, who is a youth wing leader of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK).

The day was also marking that one-year has passed since the arrival of so-called good governance, which has gravely failed to deliver a responsible answer to the questions posed by the families of the missing persons in the North and East, he said.

February 04 Black flag protest in Batticaloa

The kith and kin of forcibly disappeared Tamils mobilised in large numbers in all the districts marking the day as a Black Day of Tamils.

Black flag hoisted at University of Jaffna on February 04 ‘Sri Lanka’ Independence Day

Black flags were also hoisted inside the University of Jaffna where SL police was deployed to block Tamils from doing so.

There was no public celebration in Tamil dominated areas except certain government offices hoisting the flag.

The SL military intelligence operatives were exerting pressure on Tamils in the past, especially under the Rajapaksa regime, to hoist the Lion flag of the Sinhalese. This year, although the Sinhala military was present everywhere, there was no intimidation to hoist the Sinhala Lion flag. As a result, the Tamil message of ignoring the SL Independence D

ay was clearly visible everywhere in the Tamil dominated areas of the North and East.

http://soundcloud.com/tamilnet