SL Archaeology, Police continue to disturb Tamils’ right to worship at Vedukku-naa'ri hilltop

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 October 2019, 21:50 GMT]
The Sinhala Police stationed in Nedungkea'ni in Vavuniyaa North has stepped up its harassment of selected members of the trustee board of Vedukku-naa'ri Sivan temple. The SL Police, citing a case lodged by the ‘Sinhala Only’ SL Archaeology Department against the use of ladder during the recent temple festival, has asked the selected members to appear at the station for investigations. The SL Police was already harassing the organisers of the festival against the use of loud-speakers playing Saiva devotional song and issued instructions to remove the ladder, specifying deadlines for the removal.



The court has already allowed the organisers to access the temple for worship.

Instead of approaching the courts to clarify whether the use of ladder during the festival was allowed or not, the SL Police was acting belligerently, the Tamil devotees complain.

74-year-old Vairamuthu Poopalasingam is one of the members of the trustee board, who were summoned for investigations at Nedungkea'ni Police Station on Friday. He said the police had postponed the ‘investigation’ to Sunday.

The people were having immense difficulties in accessing the hilltop without a ladder, especially during the festival, he said. Such postponements are interpreted as a routine of the SL Police harassment.

The SL Archaeology Department did not care about protecting the hilltop from facing destruction when a private company from South was about to destroy the locality with the backing of the SL Government in 2010 and 2011. It was only the Tamil villagers who opposed it and protected the hilltop, he said.

Now, the SL Archaeology Department wants to Sinhalicise the heritage site and opposes the Saiva worship that has been going on for decades before the times of war, he told TamilNet.

Chronology: