Sri Lanka: Thousands of Muralitharans under detention - JVP

Monday, 03 December 2007

JVP spokesperson Wimal Weerawansa says that last weekend's "unusual" arrest of thousands of upcountry Tamils of Indian origin has led to thousands of Muralitharans being under detention. He made the comment as cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan, an upcountry Tamil of Indian origin, set a world record in the sport. Muralitharan became test cricket's leading wicket taker when he bowled England's Paul Collingwood in Kandy on Monday.

Upcountry Tamils are descendants of Indian labourers brought in by the British, during colonial times, to work in the tea and rubber estates in the hilly region of central Sri Lanka.

Millions of them were disenfranchised and sent back to India when the British relinquished power to the Sinhalese. Some stayed , but remain the island's most economically deprived community, according to the latest census report.

There are wide spread speculations in Colombo that the upcountry Tamils are carrying out espionage for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

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