The Jathika Hela Urumaya, a key coalition partner of the government in power, has condemned the decision by the government to hold a "diaspora festival", saying that they would consider obtaining a court order against it.
JHU spokesperson Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera had no mandate to hold such an event, which would "gravely damage" national reconciliation and would strengthen those who still have an "Eelam mindset".
The spokesperson said the diaspora festival was not mentioned in President Maithripala Sirisena’s manifesto or in the government’s 100 day programme, and as such Mr Samaraweera had acted beyond his mandate.
He further said the UN Human Rights Council has already donated millions of dollars towards it.
“There were reports that the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has already donated over USD 3.2 million to hold this festival. It is highly questionable as to why they needed to allocate money in this regard,” he said.
“Who offers such amount of money for free? We cannot trust them because they had already taken action to file war crime charges against our country. The Diaspora Festival is very doubtful to the whole country,” he said.
The spokesperson further said Sri Lankans are still afraid of the word "diaspora", and questioned why the Tamil diaspora who supplied financial assistance to the LTTE during armed conflict would offer money for the development of the country.
The JHU earlier this month said it objected to talks with the diaspora and the festival, saying it would instigate “racism and terrorism”.
He said the festival would be a threat to national security and national unity.
UNP coalition partner blocks compensation to injured LTTE members and objects to diaspora talks (11 June 2015)