The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) and certain Tamil groups operating overseas have slammed the organizers of the Jaffna Kite Festival for inviting government representatives to the Festival this year which will be held in LTTE Leader V. Prabhakaran's home town in the north, saying this was going against the Tamil norms. 

 

The Jaffna Kite Festival is being organized this month in Valvettithurai, in the hometown of Prabhakaran and it is learnt that this year, organizers had partnered with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs, led by Namal Rajapaksa to expand it into an international event. 

 

Namal was expected to attend the event while foreign journalists and diplomats were also expected to be invited in order to attract global publicity. 

 

TNPF Leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, however in a statement said this move to invite government representatives to the Jaffna Kite Festival this year, for the first time, could never be justified.

 

Ponnambalam said the organizers of the event were engaged in a move to hold the event with the participation and leadership of 'anti-Tamil forces' and this should be condemned.

 

"This Kite Festival has taken place in Valvettithurai for a long time. But, unusually this year, the organizers of the event were engaged in a move to hold the event with the participation and leadership of anti-Tamil forces. It is a move to destroy the Tamil Tradition," he said.

 

He said if this event was organized, this would be recorded as an incident of black mark in Tamil history.

"We request the organizers not to be a part of a historical mistake of this nature in this Kite Festival which is a traditional event in Tamil history," he said.

 

"The Sri Lankan government has completely neglected the issue of Tamil People's accountability. Relatives of the disappeared are still taking to the streets demanding justice.The gradual Sinhalisation is taking place continuously in the Tamil motherland. In a situation where lands of the Tamils were being taken over forcibly, inviting government representatives as guests can never be justified," Ponnambalam said.