The newly appointed Chief Minister of the Eastern Province has admitted that members of his organisation are responsible for recent kidnappings in Eravur.
Speaking to BBC Tamil Service, Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, known as Pillayan, admitted that the person accused of abducting two Muslims in Eravur is a member of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP).
"The person who was involved in the abduction has been handed over to police," CM Pillayan told LR Jegatheesan of BBC Tamil Service.
TMVP leader Pillayan insisted the accused is "not directly involved in this incident" quoting reports received by Chief Minister's office.
“However we will not permit anybody from our organisation to take law into their hands and as such we have handed him over to the police” Chief Minister Pillayan said.
Two other Muslims have gone missing in Eravur since 22 May.
The Chief Minister said that he has no information about the two missing Muslims but expressed hope that they would be found soon.
“So far no confirmed news in this regard has been received” added Chief Minister Pillayan.
The National Muslim Council (NMC) in a statement to media said the TMVP should be disarmed to create normalcy in the east.
The Sri Lanka government has not been taking any concrete steps to stop killings and abduction of Muslims by the ‘Pillaiyan group’, the NMC accused.
"NMC condemns Pillaiyan group for using arms against Muslim people while saying that they have accepted democracy,” they said in a statement.
"It is a coward act to abduct three Muslim traders and later kill them in retaliation to the killing of two cadres of the Pillaiyan group in Muslim dominated Kaathankudy Action should be taken immediately to stop another conflict between Tamils and Muslims," NMC statement said.
Meanwhile, a woman was shot dead by police on 26 May as police and Sri Lanka Army tried to disperse crowds in Eravur who took to the streets to protest as news spread that another person gone missing.
The person had reappeared within hours as his bicycle needed to be repaired but the situation in Eravur remained tense, journalists said.
Separately, Pillayan, was elected Chairman of the “Chief Minister’s Forum” on 31 May in Badulla.
The forum discusses issues related to devolution of powers to the provinces. Though the system of provincial government came into vogue in 1988 after the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, following the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, various provisions have not been fully implemented.
Pillayan’s election for a period of four months was being projected in the context of the claims by President Mahinda Rajapaksa regime’s that polls in the east were a ‘triumph of democracy’.
The next meeting of the Chief Minister’s Forum is scheduled to be held in Batticaloa.
A conference organised by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) earlier this week maintained that despite the misgivings about the 13th Amendment, the original objectives of establishing the Provincial Councils were the resolution of the ethnic conflict and the creation of a provincial-level tier of government to address regional development.
“Why did neither of these objectives come to fruition? The consensus among elected members and officials of Provincial Councils is that there are common issues affecting all provinces as well as other issues that pertain uniquely to some provinces,” it said.
The newly appointed Chief Minister of the Eastern Province has admitted that members of his organisation are responsible for recent kidnappings in Eravur.
Speaking to BBC Tamil Service, Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, known as Pillayan, admitted that the person accused of abducting two Muslims in Eravur is a member of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP).
"The person who was involved in the abduction has been handed over to police," CM Pillayan told LR Jegatheesan of BBC Tamil Service.
TMVP leader Pillayan insisted the accused is "not directly involved in this incident" quoting reports received by Chief Minister's office.
“However we will not permit anybody from our organisation to take law into their hands and as such we have handed him over to the police” Chief Minister Pillayan said.
Two other Muslims have gone missing in Eravur since 22 May.
The Chief Minister said that he has no information about the two missing Muslims but expressed hope that they would be found soon.
“So far no confirmed news in this regard has been received” added Chief Minister Pillayan.
The National Muslim Council (NMC) in a statement to media said the TMVP should be disarmed to create normalcy in the east.
The Sri Lanka government has not been taking any concrete steps to stop killings and abduction of Muslims by the ‘Pillaiyan group’, the NMC accused.
"NMC condemns Pillaiyan group for using arms against Muslim people while saying that they have accepted democracy,” they said in a statement.
"It is a coward act to abduct three Muslim traders and later kill them in retaliation to the killing of two cadres of the Pillaiyan group in Muslim dominated Kaathankudy Action should be taken immediately to stop another conflict between Tamils and Muslims," NMC statement said.
Meanwhile, a woman was shot dead by police on 26 May as police and Sri Lanka Army tried to disperse crowds in Eravur who took to the streets to protest as news spread that another person gone missing.
The person had reappeared within hours as his bicycle needed to be repaired but the situation in Eravur remained tense, journalists said.
Separately, Pillayan, was elected Chairman of the “Chief Minister’s Forum” on 31 May in Badulla.
The forum discusses issues related to devolution of powers to the provinces. Though the system of provincial government came into vogue in 1988 after the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, following the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, various provisions have not been fully implemented.
Pillayan’s election for a period of four months was being projected in the context of the claims by President Mahinda Rajapaksa regime’s that polls in the east were a ‘triumph of democracy’.
The next meeting of the Chief Minister’s Forum is scheduled to be held in Batticaloa.
A conference organised by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) earlier this week maintained that despite the misgivings about the 13th Amendment, the original objectives of establishing the Provincial Councils were the resolution of the ethnic conflict and the creation of a provincial-level tier of government to address regional development.
“Why did neither of these objectives come to fruition? The consensus among elected members and officials of Provincial Councils is that there are common issues affecting all provinces as well as other issues that pertain uniquely to some provinces,” it said.
