Canada’s Chief Government Whip, Mark Holland, has condemned the destruction of the Mullivaikkal memorial in Jaffna as an attempt to erase “erase the memory of thousands of massacred Tamils”.
On Twitter he stated:
A Mullivaikkal memorial at #JaffnaUniversity was dismantled this weekend. We can never erase the memory of thousands of massacred Tamils from the world, and must never erase a genocide from global history. I condemn the actions taken and stand with the Tamil community.
— Mark Holland (@markhollandlib) January 11, 2021
Holland joins a number of prominent Canadian politicians who have condemned the destruction of the monument at Jaffna university. Whilst the university administration has promised to rebuild the monument, Jaffna University students and staff and the wider Tamil community have expressed scepticism.
The memorial, unveiled in 2019, was designed and constructed by locals, including those who had lost family to the massacres of 2009. Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed during the Sri Lankan military offensive, led by the Rajapaksas.
