A non-violent campaign to effect the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces, and other issues raised at the recent Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi convention, will be conducted if the Sri Lankan government does not address them by the end of the year, said Tamil National Alliance MP MA Sumanthiran in an interview to the Sunday Leader.

The MP said “deliberate state sponsored colonisation” was ongoing, with a view to “change the ethnic demography of the area”. Sumanthiran said that the northeast is the “historic habitation of Tamil-speaking people, and “systematic state-sponsored colonisation of Sinhalese” has been ongoing in the east.

“Sinhala settlement growth rate in East was several times higher than the birth rate of Sinhalese in the country,” he said.

“It is unethical and deliberate alteration of the demography. This has been a historic issue.”

Sumanthiran said that the TNA will carry out protests if the issues which were addressed at the recent ITAK convention are not addressed by the end of the year.

“We will certainly carry out non-violent protests. These issues that we are raising about are related to resettlement of people and who have lost their original settlements,” the MP said.

The MP also questioned whether the Sri Lankan state will be able to provide protection to witnesses who may testify against it.

“[I]t is the state authorities who are tasked with giving protection to the witnesses and victims of crime. We are at a situation where state is accused of many crimes. So the question arises whether the state, being in the accused end, would be able to provide protection to witnesses who might testify against the state,” Sumanthiran said.

Autonomy needed to protect Tamils says new ITAK leader Mavai (13 September 2014)

ITAK ‘threat’ needs to be neutralised – Gotabaya (12 September 2014)

ITAK calls for 'maximum possible devolution to merged North-East' (10 September 2014)