By Dinasena Rathugamage
Former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mavai Senathirajah has called on the government to immediately stop non-essential excavations in the Northern province saying that the excavations carried out by the Archaeological Department under military protection in all parts of the North have caused great fear and grief among Tamils.
He said in a statement that the unnecessary excavations carried out by the Archaeological Department had disrupted the daily lives of the Tamil people in the Northern Province and that hatred was being instilled in them.
The former MP pointed out that due to this hatred towards the archeological officials, the Tamil people in the North could engage in conflicts with them in the future and would have to spend time in the police and courts as a result.
The former MP states that there is a great deal of animosity between archaeology department officials and Tamils in Mullaitivu, Kudiramalai, Jaffna, Nilavarai and Jaffna Kandarode provinces and that this should not happen at this time. “The Department of Archeology is naming places where there is a hill, a cave, a banyan tree and an eucalyptus tree as archeological sites.The people’s lands as being looted under a government contract.” he accused.