Presence of Tamils in Colombo and the issue of demography

– the Sudar Oli Editorial

(September 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapkse in an interview with a Colombo based English weekly Lakbima stated that due to the arrival of a large number of Tamils in Colombo the demography of the area changes.

He further added that it looks like, that an organized thing was happening and that it had been going on for some time.

Several people point out that this discrimination on ethnic basis is similar to the injustice caused to the Jews all over the world during the 2nd world war. Citing the call for Tamils who have arrived in Colombo to call over at the nearest police station with all members of their families and register, they say it was one such move.

It is obvious that Tamils from these areas come to Colombo due to fear and threats following a cruel war and the attacks on them by para military groups.

Any treatment which is discriminatory against a particular community would mean that they are not recognized as citizens of this country. Any observation that it could change the demography of the area is a serious one. It is communal to say so.

Every successive government of this country had changed the demography of thee Tamil homeland by deliberate state aided colonization by the majority community.

It is relevant to quote an observation made in an English weekly:-

“ as a wag said that during the crack down on the JVP insurrection in the 1980’s , were the Sinhalese in the South, who came to Colombo, identified as a security threat because JVP was dominant in that area and bussed back or placed in a separate location? If that was the case Mahinda and Gothabaya Rajapkse too would have been bussed back”

(An English translation of the Editorial in the Sudar Oli, a Tamil daily based in Colombo.) - Sri Lanka Guardian