COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: A debate in Sri Lanka's Parliament on Tuesday on regulations under the Foreign Exchange Act turned into a dispute over the Tamil Tigers, with two lawmakers from Jaffna District taking opposing positions in the chamber.
S. Shritharan used his speaking time to raise the removal of a bust of Thileepan, a political leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who died on a hunger strike in 1987. He called for the ban on the LTTE to be lifted and accused the government of pursuing policies hostile to Tamils.
When he finished, Archchuna Ramanathan, an independent lawmaker also elected from Jaffna District, rose on a point of order and asked that the speech be removed from Hansard, Parliament's official record.
"Making statements in this Parliament in a manner that creates problems among ethnic communities is a violation of our Constitution," Mr. Ramanathan said. "This speech will create divisions among ethnic communities. Therefore, I request that his speech be removed from Hansard."
Chanaka Madugoda, a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna lawmaker who was presiding over the chamber, did not order the entire speech removed. He directed parliamentary officials to examine it and delete any portions that promoted the LTTE.
"If his speech contained matters that promote the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, I request the secretariat to remove those portions from Hansard," Mr. Madugoda said.
The ruling leaves parliamentary staff to decide which parts of the speech amount to promoting a banned organization. Parliament did not say on Tuesday how it would make that decision or when it would publish the revised record.
Mr. Shritharan told Parliament that the removal of the Thileepan bust had caused anger and concern among Tamils, and that the government would need to address longstanding Tamil grievances if the country was to achieve lasting peace and reconciliation.
"If ethnic reconciliation is to take root in this country, end ethnic oppression," he said. "Allow Tamils to live with their identity."
As Jaffna Monitor previously reported, the bust was installed and later removed by the police. No Tamil nationalist party has publicly claimed responsibility for installing it, amid concerns that those involved could face arrest. The bust remained in police custody for several days before it was handed over to the court.
Thileepan, whose birth name was Rasaiah Parthipan, was an LTTE political figure in Jaffna. In September 1987 he began a hunger strike, refusing food and water, to press a series of demands on India, whose peacekeeping force had arrived in Sri Lanka that year. He died after 12 days.
