Bin Ladan & Vigneswaran

‘Bin Ladan, Prabhakaran - Now Vigneswaram: Last episode will be televised soon’ said one placard in an evident reference to telecasting the dead bodies of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin and Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran after being killed by state military.

The protesters from Six Sinhala villages in Vavunia took to the streets in opposition to a mass Tamil campaign led by the Northern Chief Minister on Saturday (24) calling for greater autonomy within a federal constitution and demilitarisation of the Tamil north and east.

The Tamil mass campaign launched in the weekend in the northern capital Jaffna with thousands attending was in protest against militarisation, Sinhalisation and Buddhistisation.

'Dissolve NPC'

Sinhala Buddhists gathering in Vavunia with the participation of Sinhalese settled by the military called for the arrest of CV Vigneswaran while demanding to dissolve the elected northern provincial council and for the Colombo government to take over its powers.

They urged the government not to remove military camps or the Sinhala settlements in the north and east.

“If Vigneswaran carries on with his campaign, we will smash the head of this racist, venomous snakes,” said Buddhist Brigade leading monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara addressing a cheering crowd.

'This is only the beginning' threatened the monk who revealed that Sinhala settlers from six newly established villages were involved in organising the protest.

(by Kithsiri Wijesinghe - jdslanka.org)