{"id":48660,"date":"2016-09-25T01:08:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-25T05:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=48660"},"modified":"2016-09-25T02:08:58","modified_gmt":"2016-09-25T06:08:58","slug":"when-asked-about-wigneswaran-led-tpc-rally-in-jaffna-tna-and-opposition-leader-sampanthan-says-people-are-entitled-to-their-democratic-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=48660","title":{"rendered":"When Asked About Wigneswaran Led TPC Rally in Jaffna, TNA and Opposition Leader Sampanthan Says “People are Entitled to their Democratic Expression”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

By<\/p>\n

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

Thousands of Tamils on Saturday participated in a rally in Jaffna, led by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran.<\/p>\n

Thousands of Tamils on Saturday participated in a rally in Jaffna, led by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, drawing attention to \u201cSinhala colonisation\u201d and \u201crampant militarisation\u201d of Sri Lanka\u2019s North and East.<\/p>\n

The rally, titled Eluka Tamil [Rise, Tamil!], was organised by the Tamil People\u2019s Council (TPC), an organisation that Mr. Wigneswaran heads. A host of Tamil political parties, including some constituents of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), participated.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In a message to Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans on the eve of the rally, Mr. Wigneswaran had said that while the government in Colombo made big promises to the international community, it was yet to meaningfully devolve powers to the Provinces.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we remain silent just because a new Constitution is being written, they will let us down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The TPC, in a declaration released after the rally, put forth a host of demands, including a call for federalism, return of land in the Army\u2019s control, release of political prisoners and addressing of concerns relating to missing persons.<\/p>\n

Further, it highlighted challenges facing Northern Tamil fishermen.<\/p>\n

Some political leaders and participants reportedly compared the Eluka Tamil rally, which described itself a \u201cTamil nationalist political event\u201d, to the pro-LTTE Pongu Tamil (Tamil Rising) rallies during the ceasefire period from 2002 to 2004.<\/p>\n

A section of Tamil intellectuals were concerned by the apparently explicit Tamil nationalist rhetoric. Rajan Hoole, a retired academic from the Jaffna University, said the Sinhalese involved in the \u201ccolonisation\u201d were among the poorest who were given false hopes. \u201cIt is counterproductive to treat them as the enemy and we must give the government some time\u2026 that is why the TPC making this an issue of confrontation will not do the Tamils any good.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Jaffna University, where the demonstration began, has many Sinhalese students. \u201cThe University is a good place to form common bonds and take up rights issues in a way that would ensure success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior TNA politician and Leader of Opposition R. Sampanthan, whose party ITAK did not participate in the rally, said: \u201cPeople are entitled to their democratic expression. While the new government has taken positive steps, many Tamils are discontented with the inadequate progress\u201d, he told The Hindu. \u201cBut we should also be careful so the process as a whole is not sabotaged.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

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

By Meera Srinivasan Thousands of Tamils on Saturday participated in a rally in Jaffna, led by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran. Thousands of Tamils on Saturday participated in a rally in Jaffna, led by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, drawing attention to \u201cSinhala colonisation\u201d and \u201crampant militarisation\u201d of Sri Lanka\u2019s North and East. …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘When Asked About Wigneswaran Led TPC Rally in Jaffna, TNA and Opposition Leader Sampanthan Says “People are Entitled to their Democratic Expression”’ »<\/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\/48660"}],"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=48660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48661,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48660\/revisions\/48661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}