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Sri Lanka president calls for outreach to Tamils
Sri Lanka's president called Wednesday for the island nation to unite in the wake of its long civil war and appealed to the military to reach out to the ethnic Tamil minority.
- Agencies
- Published: 09:01 June 3, 2009
Colombo: Sri Lanka's president called Wednesday for the island nation to unite in the wake of its long civil war and appealed to the military to reach out to the ethnic Tamil minority.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressed a military parade and victory ceremony that commemorated the government's defeat of the Tamil Tiger separatists last month after more than a quarter-century of warfare.
The government has held a succession of celebrations over the past two weeks, to the delight of the majority Sinhalese community. But many Tamils fear even harsher security crackdowns in the wake of the fighting and worry their historic appeals for a greater voice in the government will now be brushed aside.
Speaking in the Tamil language, Rajapaksa reached out to the minority group, saying the war was fought against the rebels, not against Tamils.
"Beloved soldiers now the war against the terrorists is over, you must now win over the hearts of our Tamil people," he said in Tamil. "You must protect the Tamil-speaking people and they must live without fear and suspicion. That is the responsibility of all of us."
The UN estimates tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed or wounded in the last months of fighting in the war, and nearly 300,000 are being held in overcrowded displacement camps in the north.
Rajapaksa's speech followed a parade of troops and military vehicles that presented a clear display of the government's might.
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