Tamil north still not free in Sri Lanka

(May 25, 2012) In Sri Lanka's predominantly Tamil north, religious celebrations are restricted, freedom of association is violated and the traditional culture is being undermined, Catholic priests from the southern part of the country have alleged. The priests are members of the Christian Solidarity Movement (CSM) that promotes justice, peace and human rights. At a meeting in northern Jaffna province, local prelates spoke about the need for a political solution so that the Tamil people are recognised as part of the nation. In the island's eastern region, serious problems also persist, especially for war widows. For almost 30 years until 2009, the island nation was the scene of an ethnic civil war between the Sinhalese-dominated government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil of Elam (LTTE), a rebel group fighting for an independent state in the northern and eastern provinces of the country, where a majority of the population is Tamil. The rebels were crushed in 2009. Since the end of the war, religious leaders and national and international NGOs have denounced on several occasions the situation in which Tamils still find themselves. "There are attempts to ‘Sinhalize’ Tamil areas," the southern priests told AsiaNews. They said Buddhist statutes are put up in places where there are no Buddhists and Sinhalese physicians are brought in even though they cannot communicate in Tamil language.