2nd Lead (Adds photos)

Sinhala nationalists' convoy to LTTE camp turned back

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 11:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police Tuesday peacefully turned back a large convoy of vehicles in which activists of Sihala Urumaya (SU), an ultra Sinhala nationalist party, were travelling towards Kurankupanchaan Kulam in Southern Trincomalee, vowing to enter the camp of the Liberation Tigers, which Colombo claims to be in territory under its control. More than a hundred Buddhist monks and about three hundred SU activists began the drive to the LTTE's camp from Kantalai around 1 p.m. Tuesday with the slogan "The arms are yours, the land is ours".

Sinhala nationalist claim that Sinhala Buddhist are the sovereign owners of all Sri Lanka and that no one other than Sinhala Buddhists have any traditional right to land in the island.

The inflexibly unitary nature of the Sri Lankan constitution is ultimately based on this dogma, legal experts say.

Police stopped them at the barrier in Soorankal, a Muslim village near Kurankupanchaan around 4 p.m.

The leader of the SU, Mr. Tilak Karunaratna addressed the monks and activists who were in the convoy before returning from Soorankal, residents told TamilNet.

"There was no incident", Mr. M.C.M Sheriff, the Divisional Secretary for Kinniya said.

Thirty journalists from Colombo accompanied the SU convoy.