Photograph by Dominic Sansoni - www.dominicsansoni.com
The Jaffna public library was burned in 1981 by the Sri Lankan
government; It has been rebuilt over the past few years and was
to be opened on February 14th but as the news item below notes,
its re-opening has been embroiled in controversy.
Council members in Tamil town in Sri Lanka resign to protest rebel
threats
Associated Press, Thu February 13, 2003 11:39 EST . JOE ARYARATNAM
- Associated Press Writer - JAFFNA, Sri Lanka - (AP)
All 23 members of the town council in Tamil-dominated Jaffna resigned
Thursday alleging they had been threatened by Tamil Tiger rebels
seeking to postpone the reopening of a public library torched
by anti-Tamil mobs nearly 22 years ago. The library was scheduled
to reopen Friday, but it was unclear whether it would happen on
time. The Tigers argue that reopening the library, whose cherished
Tamil texts were destroyed in the arson, should wait until more
books are collected and until after an additional wing is built
with material explaining the building's history and the effects
of its destruction. The arson in 1981 disillusioned many young
Tamils, prompting them to join militants fighting against the
Sinhalese-dominated government.
The militants say Mayor Sellan Kandian is rushing to reopen the
library during his term, which ends Monday. Council members, who
are mostly Tamils, alleged that Tigers had threatened them in
order to block the opening, but did not elaborate on the threats.
``As democratically elected members, we are resigning, protesting
the obstacles placed against our democratic rights,'' said a statement
signed by the councilors. ``We are resigning under pressure,''
councilor Sebastian Iruthayaraja told The Associated Press Thursday.
``We don't want to see a bloody scene during the opening ceremony
tomorrow.''
The library was renovated at a cost of 120 million rupees (US$1.26
million). It lost its entire collection of 97,000 books and about
150 centuries-old Tamil scripts on herbal medicine when the original
two-story building was destroyed in June 1981. ….The government
began renovation work on the library in 1999 and the new library
has about 25,000 books in the Tamil and English languages. The
French government earlier this week donated 800 books.
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