{"id":26633,"date":"2013-11-16T19:59:21","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T23:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=26633"},"modified":"2013-11-16T19:59:21","modified_gmt":"2013-11-16T23:59:21","slug":"jaffna-buddhist-association-launches-counter-demonstration-when-cameron-was-meeting-northern-idps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=26633","title":{"rendered":"“Jaffna Buddhist Association” Launches Counter Demonstration when Cameron was Meeting Northern IDP’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday assured politicians and people of Jaffna that he would take up issues such as devolution, freedom of expression and alleged land-grab by the army with the Sri Lankan government.<\/p>\n

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pic via: Channel 4<\/p><\/div>\n

Mr. Cameron\u2019s visit to the town garnered considerable attention amid the buzz around the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which was declared open in Colombo on Friday.
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\n\u201cI\u2019m the first PM or President to go to the north of Sri Lanka since 1948. I want to shine a light on chilling events there first-hand,\u201d Mr. Cameron tweeted. He flew into Jaffna soon after attending the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

Hours ahead of Mr. Cameron\u2019s arrival, a sizeable number of people, all relatives of those who had disappeared, gathered near the Jaffna Public Library. Each of them had a chilling story to tell.<\/p>\n

Their demonstration was rather peaceful until a counter protest with people carrying placards saying \u2018We are Sri Lankans,\u2019 \u2018Don\u2019t interfere in our country\u2019s prosperity\u2019 and \u2018Don\u2019t put us into trouble for political mileage\u2019 was spotted right outside the library gate. <\/p>\n

This group, which identified itself as the Jaffna Buddhist Association, was later seen near a camp for displaced persons that Mr. Cameron visited as well. \u201cThere is no problem in the north now, all Tamils and Sinhalese live peacefully,\u201d said Sapuma Jayasena, association coordinator.<\/p>\n

Demanding that they also be given close access to the library \u2013 like the association members \u2013 some members of the group highlighting the issue of disappearances tried to force themselves forward. The following moments were tense with the police denying access to them, some of them tripping and being stepped over, and others mobbing a couple of vans that were following the Prime Minister\u2019s convoy. By then, Mr. Cameron had left. courtesy: The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Meera Srinivasan British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday assured politicians and people of Jaffna that he would take up issues such as devolution, freedom of expression and alleged land-grab by the army with the Sri Lankan government. Mr. Cameron\u2019s visit to the town garnered considerable attention amid the buzz around the Commonwealth Heads …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘“Jaffna Buddhist Association” Launches Counter Demonstration when Cameron was Meeting Northern IDP’s’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26633"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26636,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26633\/revisions\/26636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}