Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran called on the Tamil people to join the "Elunga Tamil" (Tamil People Arise) protest organized in Jaffna on Saturday.

The protest, organized by the Tamil People's Council led by Wigneswaran, has been organized to demand a stop to the construction of Buddha statues and Buddhist temples in areas in the Northern Province where there are no Buddhists, and the systematic settlement of Sinhalese in Tamil areas.

The demonstrations will ask foreign powers, particularly India and the US, to mount pressure on the Sri Lankan government to meet the longstanding demands of the Tamils.

In a letter published yesterday, Wigneswaran said that backlashes against the Tamil people in 1958, 1961, 1974, 1977 and 1983 took Tamil youth towards armed resistance. Despite this, Tamil people's grievances are yet to be addressed, the letter also said. 

The TPC alleges that the Sri Lankan government has deliberately settled more than 10,000 Sinhalese families in Navatkuli, Murunkan, Mullaitivu, and Vavuniya where previously there were no Sinhalese.