Mahinda 'dividing' Sri Lanka
Rights activists have accused of President Mahinda Rajapaksa of working on an agenda to divide Sri Lanka between ethnic lines.
Protesting the eviction of hundreds of Tamils from the lodges in Colombo, they said Sri Lankan citizens should have the right to live where they like irrespective of their ethnicity. Siritunga Jayasuriya, chairman of Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC), told BBC Sandeshaya that Sri Lanka authorities are trying to alienate Tamils community in Sri Lanka. War on terror President's Rajapaksa's administration, he said, is working on an agenda similar to that of President Bush's War on Terror. Jayasuriya accused the authorities of trying to divide Sri Lanka. "President Rajapaksa has put the first step towards dividing Sri Lanka into separate countries," Jayasuriya told bbcsinhala.com. Not against security measures The protest was called by a group of human rights organisations against the move by the police to evict hundreds of Tamils to north and the east. The protesters insisted they were not against moves by the security forces to safeguard the capital against terrorism. Madampagama Assaji thero of National Anti-War Front (NAWF), said any Sri Lanka citizen should be able to live any where in the country without any hindrance. "This is a move that would strengthen Prabhakaran's hands," the thero told BBC Sandeshaya. 'Helping' LTTE The Tamil Tigers, led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, are fighting for a separate state for Sri Lanka's Tamils. Human Rights activists have described as the eviction of Tamils from Colombo on Thursday "ethnic cleansing". The protesters said the government was trying to sway criticism saying the lodgers voluntarily left the capital. "Minister Keheliya Rambukwella was lying," Siritunga Jayasuriya said. World War II The leader of the Left Front, Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne, questioned under which regulations authorities decided to deport Tamils from Colombo. He compared the eviction of Tamil lodgers to the eviction of Jews by the Nazzis during the second world war. "The Tamils were taken away like animals without offering any food or water," Dr. Karunaratne said.