Sri Lankan adventure park apologises for programme named after site of Tamil genocide

by admin
Sep 23, 2024

An adventure park in Hanwella, Sri Lanka has apologised for naming a new paintball programme after a site of Tamil genocide.

After fierce criticism on social media, Che Adventure Park said it has made a mistake and has removed the post on all social media platforms. It said it “was shared with no intention of causing harm or offence to any race or religion”.

The paintball programme was named 'Nandikadal', which is a lagoon in Mullaitivu district, in the north of the island. It is the site at which thousands of Tamils were killed at the end of the armed conflict in 2009.

Even though the crassly named programme has been pulled, the undertones of Sinhala supremacy over Tamils prevailed in facebook comments to Che Adventure Park, with one suggesting anyone offended by the name ‘Nandikadal’ are terrorists - “If you are offended by the name Nandikadal, he is a terrorist. Don't you have a backbone?”- while another said “Dude if so they'll have to end all Video game franchises cause [sic] some snowflake is hurt cause [sic] of a reference to a location."

The Sri Lankan armed forces and police continue to suppress remembrance of the victims at Nandikadal and Mullaitivu, often intimidating and sometimes arresting Tamils under anti-terrorist legislations. In May 2022 Sri Lankan police threatened to shoot families who gathered near Nandikadal to commemorate their loved ones, with up to 25 police investigators then photographing those in the gathering.

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