Tamil Progressive Alliance Supports Northern and Eastern Blackout Strike Demanding Justice and Troop Reduction

13-Aug-2025

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Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader Mano Ganesan announced support for the full shutdown ("hartal") planned on August 15, demanding a “fair investigation” and “withdrawal of additional military forces from the North and East.”

He stated:
Five Tamil youths were taken by soldiers on August 8 from Muttayan Kattu military camp and reportedly escaped. One escapee, Kapilraj, was found dead on August 9 in Mullai Muttayan Kattu pond. The other four allege they were brutally tortured by the military.
It is not difficult to guess what happened. Based on this, the Sri Lanka Tamil State Party demands a fair inquiry and reduction of military presence in the North and East and supports the hartal.
President and Defense Minister Anur Kumar Dissanayake should immediately arrange investigation and legal action and take steps to reduce military presence in the North East.

The hartal’s message is to reduce military oppression. The wartime military cannot remain idle; ethnic tensions persist among troops. Bringing them to southern Sri Lanka for normal activities like farming and business could reduce tensions.

Those who deny past incidents or insult critics should be silenced. The government said it came to bring change, but if it repeats old mistakes, the opposition will resist.

The Tamil Progressive Alliance welcomes and supports the Tamil State Party’s call for a full shutdown across all northern and eastern districts on August 15.