Home > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Democracy, Sri Lanka Style > Sinhala Policeman Assaults Hindu Pilgrims at Kathirgamam in Southern Sri Lanka Democracy Continues, Sri Lanka Style... Multi Ethnic Plural Society?
Sinhala Policeman Assaults Hindu Pilgrims
at Kathirgamam in Southern Sri Lanka - Monday 30 July 2007 Reported in the Sinhala owned Sri Lanka Daily Mirror, 3 August 2007 : "A large group of people were shocked when a police constable assaulted people with a wooden pole when they went into the Menik Ganga to drink water and fill their vessels immediately after the water cutting ceremony on Monday. About 10 people were subjected to this assault and some who were hit fell into the water. A majority of those who were beaten are devotees who came from North East through Yala forest in a Pada Yatra. It is customary for devotees to drink and carry water home after the water cutting ceremony. They treat it as holy water. After it was announced that the water cutting was done on the upper portion of the Menik ganga by beating drums, devotees who were about a kilo metre downstream started getting into the ganga chanting ‘Haro Hara’. At that moment the police constable started his assault."
"..The profound suffering of our people, the tragedies they faced in the form of death and destruction, the tears of blood they shed from their anguish, have not touched the compassion of the Buddhist nation..." Velupillai Pirabaharan, Leader of Tamil Eelam, Mahaveerar Naal Address, 1992... "...What are we struggling for? We aspire to live peacefully with freedom and dignity, without the interference of anyone, in our own soil; in our Motherland where we are born and bred; in our own historical homeland which belongs to us. We too, are human beings..." Velupillai Pirabaharan, Leader of Tamil Eelam, Mahaveerar Naal Address, 1998
 [see also  முருகாஆஆஆ..... at முத்தமிழ் மன்றம்
முருக பக்தர்களுக்கு மிருக அடி at Yarl.com Marvels of Law Enforcement at Kataragama in the Sri Lanka State Controlled Sunday Observer of 22nd September 1991 "Over the years, police officers assigned to Kataragama have learned to accept a low profile and to show the same humility and respect as other pilgrims... While disturbing incidents have not been entirely lacking, the enlightened policy of officers ...has insured that patience, restraint and understanding take the place of unreasonable brutality. At last year's festival there were still a few instances of pilgrim-suspects (!) receiving harsh treatment from police within the sacred area...]
|
