Ethnic cleansing and genocide target Tamils not just in the north, but in the upcountry plantations as well, and both should unite and fight together for their rights, says a catholic priest.
Fr. Marimuttu Sathivel, advisor to the movement to protect plantation people, made the call on May 28 at a function in Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna to mark 200 years of history of upcountry Tamils.
He said the Sirima-Shastri pact of 1964 that gave 300,000 Tamils of Indian origin the Sri Lankan citizenship, while sending back others 525,000 to India was an instance of ethnic cleansing.
Other examples he cited were the denial of voting rights for plantation Tamils and the Black July of 1983.
Fr. Sathivel accused Tamil politicians of not representing their people, and called for a people’s movement to take up the fight.