The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) urged the Catholic Church to reverse its call to commemorate between November 21 to 27 all those who died in the war of liberation - including civilians, during a week usually reserved for remembering the sacrifices of Tamil liberation fighters.
In a statement released earlier today, the TNPF said that the Church’s act to link other deaths during the war with the “sacrifices of those who put the foundation for the liberation of the Tamil nation has caused great displeasure amongst the parents of the martyrs, their relatives and those with a Tamil nationalist yearning.”
The title of the press release read “We solicit the cooperation of all to preserve the sanctity of the Maaveerar month,” indirectly calling on the Church for support.
The statement also called the Church’s move an “unhealthy” one and said that “in the midst of restrictions imposed by the Sri Lankan government,” the best thing for the Catholic priests to do is to ring the Church bell across all churches in the Tamil homeland at 6:05 PM like usual.
The TNPF ended its statement by requesting the Church to reconsider its move and take back its call for a parallel commemoration.
Read the full statement in Tamil here.
The letter comes as several Sri Lankan government-aligned Tamil paramilitary groups have reportedly been trying to appropriate the Maaveerar Naal commemoration as a date to remember their cadres, according to sources in Jaffna.
Maaveerar Naal or Great Heroes' Day, is a day in which those who sacrificed their lives in the Tamil struggle for liberation are commemorated. The date - November 27th - is the day that the first Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadre was martyred.
