Diaspora group 'sceptical' about Sri Lanka census

A Tamil Australian community group says it is sceptical about a Sri Lankan government survey into the death toll from a decades-long civil war in the country.

By Michael Kenny

A Tamil Australian community group says it is somewhat sceptical about a Sri Lankan government survey into the death toll from a decades-long civil war in the country.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse says a six month census will see some 16,000 officials travel across the island to conduct a survey in more than 14,000 villages.

However, despite the resources being poured into the survey, a spokeswoman for the National Tamil Congress, Dr Sam Pari, is questioning the motives of the Sri Lankan government.

“The Sri Lankan government and Sri Lankan officials are known to be corrupt. They are known to swindle a lot of money and they are known to manipulate numbers and statistics to serve their own purpose,” she said.

Dr Pari believes the results of the census will not be trustworthy unless it is monitored by an independent body. 

“Sri Lanka has a history of saying a lot of things and even doing a few things just for a bit of a show. But whether it is genuine, whether the intention behind it is actually to bring perpetrators to justice, is yet to be seen,” she said.

“At the end of the day we have to look at Sri Lanka’s track record, we need to look at who is really in charge of this and whether there is an independent body monitoring it.” 

The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 people were killed during the civil war which ended in 2009, but the Sri Lankan government believes the death toll has been exaggerated.

 (Click on the audio tab above to hear the full interview)