A Buddha statue is being erected on Thalladi Main Street in Mannar.
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Construction work is being carried out to build the Buddha statue in front of Thalladi army camp. The soldiers were previously reported to have decorated the Main Street to celebrate the Buddhist festival of Poson.
Selvam Adaikalanathan, an MP for Vanni district, said that the sudden commencement of the construction was a means of inciting racial tensions.
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Mannar, like the rest of the Northern Province is virtually entirely Tamil. Arrests were made earlier this week after Tamil civilians in Mullaitivu protested against the illegal building of a Buddhist vihara on Tamil-owned land.
The Sri Lankan government was recently accused by a US think-tank of conducting a "silent war" through Sinhalisation, including by the building of Sinhala Buddhist temples in Tamil areas.
Photographs, Selvam Adaikalanathan MP