DISMANTLE SINHALA SETTLEMENTS
(99 Mar 31)
Five Tamil racist parties, some of whom claim that they are moderates, have decided to agitate against what they
call "massive state aided colonization projects" in Thirikunamalaya. This decision has been taken at
a meeting, held in Kolomba, of representatives of the TULF, EPDP, PLOTE, TELO, and the EPRLF. These parties have
been represented by Messrs. Raviraj, Douglas Devananda, D. Siddharthan, A. Adaikalanathan and Suresh Premachandrqan
respectively.
The massive state aided colonisation projects are nothing but settlements of Sinhala people who first went there
in the beginning of the century voluntarily and then the settlements by the government in the fifties. In any case
there is no ground for objection to any kind of settlement of Sinhala people anywhere in the country and especially
in the present eastern province.
The regions that come under the present eastern province have always been under the Sinhala kings until they were
occupied by the Europeans. Even during the Dutch period except for a few places in the eastern coast the rest came
under the Mahanuwara kings. It was only after the defeat of the 1817-18 Sinhala independence struggle by the British
massacring the Sinhala population in the Uva Wellassa region that the colonial rulers changed the demographic pattern
of the present eastern province by settling Tamils mainly along the coastal region. The Sri Lankan government is
not bound by the demographic patterns established by the British and the government has every right, if they want,
to settle Sinhala people in the eastern province. Anybody against any Sinhala settlement is only upholding the
policy of the British imperialists who baptised and nurtured Tamil racism in Sri Lanka, and is denying the rights
of the Sinhala people. This incident exposes once again the racism of the so called moderate Tamil parties.