A Sri Lankan court has barred activists from holding a civil war commemoration near a monument to ethnic Tamil civilians killed in the fighting, in May 2009.
Anti-war activists plan to mark Friday’s eighth anniversary of the war’s end in Mullivaikkal village, where hundreds of thousands of civilians were trapped in May 2009 as Tamil Tiger rebels mounted their last stand against government troops. The UN report says that more than 40,000 Tamil Civilians were killed by Sri Lankan forces in Month of May 2009.
Police argued that events should not be allowed near a stone statue of a woman carrying a dead child, saying engravings could include the names of fallen rebels and pose a threat to peace and security. Most of the police are from Sinhala community which killed the Tamils in thousands in May 2009.
The Mullaitivu district court ruled Thursday to allow the commemoration at a nearby church, but upheld Wednesday’s ban on events at the memorial.
The Sinhala government celebrated the May 19th as its ‘Victory day’ in style around the country. The Tamil youths took arms to fight the Sinhala government accusing the government of discrimination since independence.
On February 4, 1948, Ceylon was granted independence as the Dominion of Ceylon by British. Dominion status within the British Commonwealth was retained for the next 24 years until May 22, 1972 when it became a republic and was renamed the Republic of Sri Lanka.
The successive Sinhala governments have repeatedly cheated the Tamils with false promises of a political package since independence for last 69 years and continue.