JVP backed anti-NE merger campaign begins in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 16:55 GMT]
A new campaign ''Awakening East'' organized by a Sinhala nationalist group and backed by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a constituent of the ruling minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, demanding the de-merger of the northeast province was held Wednesday in Kalmunai Town Hall in Amparai district in the eastern province. The meeting was attended by mainly Sinhalese and by a few muslims, media sources said.

Supporters of the JVP, mainly Sinhalese from Trincomalee, Kantalai and other parts of the neighbouring districts of the east were transported by vehicles to Kalmunai to attend the campaign meeting, according to sources.

This was the first campaign launched by a JVP backed Sinhalese nationalist group against the merger of the NorthEast province. The campaign speeches propagated the theme that the eastern province was forcibly merged with the northern province, sources said.

Organizers of the campaign demanded that the eastern province should be demerged from the NorthEast and should be administered as a separate entity, sources said.