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Growing protest over re-demarcation in East
View(s):By Chris Kamalendran
The Public Administration Ministry has called for an urgent meeting with parliamentarians from the Eastern Province to resolve a fresh crisis over government plans to re-demarcate boundaries of Divisional Secretaries.
Public Administration Minister John Seneviratne said that, following complaints from political parties in the East, he had called for a meeting on Thursday to look into their grievances.
On Friday, former Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan’s supporters protested in Batticaloa against moves to merge Tamil majority areas in Koralaipattu South and Koralai Pattu with Muslim majority Koralaipattu West.
Mr. Chandrakanthan is currently an advisor to President Mhainda Rajapaksa. Arun Thambimuttu, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Chief Organiser for the Batticaloa District, said he had protested to the President against plans to merge Tamil majority areas with Muslim majority areas.
However, Muslim activists including those from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress on Friday held a separate protest calling on the Government to go ahead with the re-demarcation of boundaries. The protest was held in Oddamavadi, south of Batticaloa.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) also has lodged a complaint with the Minister of Public Administration, under whose purview the De-limitation Committee works. Similar issues have been reported from Trincomalee and Ampara.
Yesterday TNA leader R. Sampanthan met local council members of their party in Trincomalee to plan out moves to protest boundary changes. TNA politburo member K. Thurairethnasingham said his party was opposed to current re-demarcation proposals and would hand over its own proposals this month.
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