Though the Deputy High Commission Office of the Sri lankan Government in Chennai denied media reports that it was shifting its operations from Tamil Nadu, there are strong indications that it is on it’s way to Trivandrum in Kerala.
The continued attacks on Sri lankan establishments in Tamil Nadu, especially the DHC office, offices of Sri lankan Airlines and Bank of Sri lanka in Chennai has upset the Government in Colombo. last week saw the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government calling back SSP Rohan Dias, the military attaché attached to the DHC for discussions to Colombo. If media reports from Colombo are to be believed, the federal Government is in the look out for a building in Trivandrum.
The last fortnight saw even innocent Budhist monks from the island nation coming under attack by Tamil chauvinist groups. Sri lankan pilgrims to the churches in Thanjavur and Velankanni have been attacked many times and they had to hastily return to their country.
According to Sunday Times, a popular English daily in Sri lanka, Rohan Dias has told the External Affairs Ministry in Colombo that he was founding it difficult to discharge his duties in Chennai. The paper has quoted a senior EAM official as telling that Dias has told his government that he was being harassed by anti-Sri lanka activists in Chennai.
The move to shift the decades old DHC office from Chennai is seen as a set back to Tamil Nadu. The State of Tamil Nadu was been a transit point for Sinhala and Tamils alike. “Way back in the sixties we had the Pentangular Football championship featuring Madras, Hyderabad, Mysore, Kerala and Ceylon. There was the annual Gopalan Trophy Cricket Championship between Madras and Ceylon. Those are things of the past because of the ethnic Tamil issue,” said Sundar Das, writer and sports buff.
The Chennai airport is considered as the alternative to Colombo International airport during emergencies. When the lTTE terrorists attacked Colombo airport in 2001, all international and national flights were diverted to Chennai because it was the nearest point to Colombo. The Sri lankan Government has issued a note to its citizens asking them to keep away from Tamil Nadu because of the continued attacks on them by anti-Sinhala activists.
Students and Reseach Scholars in PondicherryUniversity , had a harrowing time last week when anti-Sinhala activists tore down the Sri lankan flag in the Centre For South Asian Studies. ‘Wee have 18 post graduate and research students from Sri lanka and they were upset over the development. But the security given to the University saved the situation,” said Santhosh Mathew, assistant professor.
The Aurobindo Ashram too came under the attack of Tamil chauvinist elements over the reported comment by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who observed the other day that the Centre should not be hold to ransom by State governments on foreign policy issues. Activists of pro-Eelam groups gate crashed into the ashram and ransacked the office which upset the Ashram inmates.