SLA renames Thaa'ndiyadi to Suniththapura

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 August 2007, 03:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials, giving Sinhala names to traditional Tamil villages in the areas captured in military offensives in Batticaloa district, are compelling residents resettled in the areas to use the new Sinhala name for all purposes, accused Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian, T. Ariyanenthiran, Monday.

Ariyanenthiran further said that according to complaints made to him by his constituents, SLA in Thaa'ndiyadi had summoned residents of the area to its camp and compelled them to use the name Suniththapura, the new Sinhala name given to Thaa'ndiayadi by the SLA, instead of the traditional Tamil name Thaa'ndiayadi, which means the locality of Than'ri (Terminalia bellerica) trees.

The heads of schools in the area too were called to the Thaa'ndiyadi SLA camp and directed to use the Sinhala name Suniththapura, Ariyanenthiran added.

Thaa'ndiayadi area, located 8 km from Vavu'natheevu in Batticaloa district, is the place where the Heroes Resting Home of the fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres stood.

The SLA captured this area from the LTTE in a military offensive in April.