Cremation of monk staged in Jaffna by SL military draws flak from Tamils

Ven Meegahadure Gnanarathana Thero, was the chief incumbent of Sinhala Buddhist Sri Naga Vihara in the city of Jaffna and was ‘Chief Sanganayaka’ of Northern Province. He passed away due to illness in Colombo on December 19. His body was taken to Jaffna by the SL military and cremated at the public venue of Muttave'li on December 22 amidst opposition from various Tamil quarters. The Tamil people regard the venue as a memorial site of Tamil victims of one of the first massacres carried out by the Sinhala police on the final day of the Fourth International Conference of Tamil Research in 1974. In addition to being a memorial venue, Muttave'li is also home to Muniyappar temple. TamilNet Report: http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=38907 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4Od0q8yTF8