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Local Tamils in a Vavuniya village took to the streets early this week protesting against a statement made by Dileepan, an Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) parliamentarian, who they claimed insulted the village at a recent meeting of the provincial coordination group.
Dileepan, an MP from the Aachipuram constituency, reportedly stated that Aachipuram is a village ‘rife with drug abuse’.
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This statement struck the residents of Aachipuram as demeaning and dozens demonstrated against Dileepan demanding that he apologise to the people who elected him.
Placards with messages such as ‘Don’t insult us poor people,’ ‘People’s representative! Apologise to the Aachipuram people!’ written on it were exhibited in the protest.
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Other slogans included,
‘How dare you insult those who voted for you?’ ‘Are we a pawn in your political project?’
One placard read,
‘Have you forgotten the history of your party?’
The EPDP, a government backed paramilitary organisation, has been accused of a litany of crimes including assassinations, abductions, running prostitution rings and extortion.
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