Fresh allegations of Sinhalisation of Mannar district in Sri Lanka, which predominantly holds Tamil population, surfaced again with a Tamil group stating it has a leaked document that exposes alleged ethnic cleansing.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, coordinators of May 17 Movement Thiru Murugan, Arul Murugan and Umar claimed a leaked official document signed by government agent or district secretary of Mannar M Y S Deshapriya lays bare the alleged intentions and actions of the Sri Lanka government.
“The document directs the officials to take immediate and effective action within a week to identify 500 Sinhalese families for the explicit purpose of relocation to the traditional Tamil area of Mannar. This is ethnic cleansing and structural genocide in no uncertain terms,” said Thiru Murugan while releasing the document to the press.
The document was released at a time when United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay is on an official visit to Sri Lanka at the invitation of the Sri Lankan government.
A factsheet released by Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation on July 22, 2008 had noted that 7,650 Tamil families (approximately 32,000 people) from Mannar were forced to flee to Killinochi by the Sri Lankan army.
At the end of the war, the released figures revealed that only 471 Tamils are being held in internment camps.
“The fate of 98.5 per cent of Tamils who had lived in the de facto state of LTTE is unknown,” Thiru Murugan said.
They also demanded an independent investigation on the issue.