Sri Lanka's government has rejected a recent report by the Oakland Institute, which said a "silent war" through the military occupation of Tamil land in Sri Lanka continues to seek “Sinhalese domination in former Tamil homelands".
Deputy foreign affairs minister Ajith Perera said to media the government "strongly rejects" the report published last week.
The Long Shadow of War: Struggle for Justice in Post War Sri Lanka highlighted that at least 160,000 military Sinhalese soldiers remained in the Tamil North-East of Sri Lanka, with the military involved in processes that seized land from local populations and “systematically” suppressed Tamil culture and history.
Noting demographic changes in the eastern provinces, the report found that some areas had seen the Tamil population halve due to state actions.
Commenting on post-conflict “Sinhalisation” of the North-East the US think-tank found that Sri Lanka had used anti-terrorism to justify the destruction of memorial sites for ex-LTTE cadres and the “ongoing militarisation of the North and takeover of Tamil lands.”
Between December 2014 and January 2015 the Oakland institute carried out research and fieldwork to document the state of land conflicts and displacement.
Silent war against Tamils through Sri Lanka's military occupation finds US think-tank
(28 May 2015)
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