New Year’s celebrations in Jaffna

14 April 2013 The Sri Lankan military “celebrated” the Tamil and Singhalese new year by organising a festival for Tamil civilians in Iyakkachchi near Elephant Pass. Although the region is nearly exclusively Tamil, the Army reported that “a range of Sinhala and Hindu traditional sports had been organized for civilians”. According to the army-run Civil Military Coordination website, local people “really enjoyed the programme”. “People in Iyakkachchi and surrounding areas, especially young crowd, had fun dancing and singing to the tune of the 12th Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment beat group who sang popular Sinhala, Tamil and English songs for the entertainment of the crowd.” the website reported.