Mahinda Rajapaksa: 'This is all propaganda'

Sri Lanka's president discusses a recent UN report accusing him of pushing the country into an authoritarian direction.

The report paints a grim picture of the country: The military is dominating Sri Lanka's life in many areas; critics of the government are abused, silenced or killed; and minorities such as Buddhists, Christians and Muslims are attacked, the report stated. All under the watch of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was elected in 2005 and re-elected by his people three years ago - a man who is pushing the country, the UN says, in an authoritarian direction. These accusations have been vehemently dismissed by the government and its supporters in a war of words suggesting the report is coloured by the personal background of its responsible official, Navi Pillay, the chief UN officer for human rights whose own ancestors trace back to Sri Lanka. According to reports, some Sri Lankan officials were even resorting to name calling labelling her the "Tamil Tigress of the UN" - remarks Pillay calls offensive.

The Tamils presently living in the northeast of the country were brought to Sri Lanka by the East India company from southern Indian state of Tambu-Nadal as source of cheap labour. The descendants of those labourers still live in Sri Lanka. In 1956 the government passed and enacted Sinhala Only Act making Sinhala the official language while outlawing English. The act also failed to give official recognition to the Tamils. 1977 riots in Sri Lanka

After the independence and especially after the 'Sinhala only act" of 1956, Tamils parties were asking for more power for North and east of Sri Lanka where Tamils are the majority. Some have gone further asking for a federal system. There were many agreements (at least two) with the Prime ministers, but nothing implemented. Finally, the desperate Tamil leaders decided that there is no point in co-existence and only solution is a separate state. In 1974, all major Tamils parties representing Tamils in the North east tamils came under one forum (named as Tamil United Liberation Frunt - TULF) and in 1976 they adopted a resolution at their party convention in Vaddukoddai, Jaffna calling for a separate state (Tamil Eelam). In the election of 1977 happened on July 21 1977, the Tamil districts voted almost entirely for the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF)[citation needed], a political party in Sri Lanka to openly advocate separatism of the Tamil regions of the country. For some years, there had been sporadic attacks on army and policemen in the Jaffna region, by militant Tamil youth groups which consited a handful of members advocating separation through violent means. The new prime minister, Junius Richard Jayewardene, was convinced there was a link between the TULF and the militants, and wanted to suppress both.