Army forced to remove erected Buddha statue overnight

Objections raised by the public forced the Army to remove a Buddha statue it had erected near one of its camps in Jaffna.

The Buddha statue was placed under a Bo tree near the Nilavai camp in Achchuveli on the night of February 23.

On the following morning, Tamil people complained to the police and Valikamam East Pradeshiya Sabha against it, noting that the area had no Buddhists.

TELO Jaffna district leader and Chairman of the PS Thiagaraja Nirosh and the police met the Army officials, after which the Buddha statue was removed.

Tamils accuse the military of moving to build temples and settle Sinhalese in their areas in an attempt to change the composition of the population in the north and the east.