Minority Tamils irked over Lanka anthem row

Colombo: Sri Lanka's minority Tamils were irked over reports that the government was set to scrap the rendering of the country's national anthem in their language.

In the absence of a clear government position following a media report yesterday that the cabinet decided to scrap the Tamil version of the anthem, several ministers were issuing contradictory statements.

According to media reports, housing minister Wimal Weerawansa hailed President Mahinda Rajapakse for the move while Tamil minister Douglas Devananda said there was no such decision.

The government information department and the President's office did not comment on the media report even as the main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), said they were deeply troubled by the reported move.

"A day has passed without the government contradicting The Sunday Times report (on scrapping Tamil rendering of the anthem) and we have to assume that this is true," TNA MP Suresh Premachandran said.

He said he was urging the government to roll back the decision.

Premachandran said his own sources within the government suggested that the cabinet has not taken a formal decision in the wake of opposition from leftist ministers in the government.

Karunanidhi slams Sri Lanka for scrapping national anthem in Tamil

"I do not know which is correct," he said.

Sri Lanka's Sunday Times newspaper in Colombo reported that the cabinet last week decided that only Sinhala should be used for the anthem.

Sri Lanka's constitution sets out the anthem in Sinhala, but official government text books issued to students have a Tamil version.

The Sinhala version is widely used across the country except for the north and east where a majority speaks Tamil.

Sri Lanka's drawn out Tamil separatist conflict finds its roots in language discrimination which Tamils say prevented them from getting jobs and higher education.

The LTTE had launched their armed struggle in 1983 to create an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamils to protect them from discrimination at the hands of the ethnic Sinhalese majority.

The decision to scrap the Tamil version of the national anthem at official and state functions is likely to further alienate the ethnic Tamils in the country.