Hundreds of people evicted

The opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, protesting against this action by the government told parliament that it was illegal.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the UNP and staged a protest in parliament and criticised the forcible eviction of people and transporting them to north and east.

Protest

Mano Ganeshan, MP for Western Province People's Front (WPPF) talking to Sandesaya said that he along with TNA MPs vehemently protested against the forcible eviction and prevented day's proceedings.

The Speaker, W.J.M.Lokubandara then called in a party leaders meeting to discuss the issue.

He said that TNA leader, R.Sambanthan, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauf Hakeem, government ministers and he discussed the issue.
The government ministers at this point said that police was probing only 25 people arrested by the police.

He said they did not accept this and demanded the speaker to get a full report from the Inspector General of Police.

Then the speaker told parliament that evicted Tamil people were being transported to Vavuniya in eight buses, and in two buses to Trincomalee and Batticaloa.

Parliamentary debate

Then we had a debate on the issue, he said.

Asked what the reaction of the Jathika Hela Urumaya was, Western Province People's Front (WPPF) MP, Mano Ganeshan said that they never changed from their earlier position and said that was how terrorism has to be tackled.

It seems that the government's contention is that the north and east is the motherland of the Tamil people; the present attitude leads up to a separation of Tamil people from others, he said.

Ethnic cleansing

"I and my party feel that we all Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people should live together in peace and harmony. But if the government's attitude is this that is ethnic cleansing", WPPF MP, Mano Ganeshan added.

Meanwhile, The Free Media Movement in Sri Lanka said the evictions were tantamount to ethnic cleansing.