Lanka sets up language hotline aimed at national integration

"Citizens could dial 1956 now to seek solutions to all their problems relating to the use of the languages", Vasudeva Nanayakkara, the minister of languages and national integration said.

The call centre would become operational from tomorrow, Nanayakkara said.

Callers could bring to notice any issue with regard to the use of languages, such as non-compliance of official languages policy.

The ministry would act as an arbiter, Nanayakkara said.

The language issue between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils has been at the core of widening ethnic tensions in the Sinhala-majority country.

The LTTE used the discrimination of Tamil as a language to launch their separatist campaign for a Tamil homeland in the north and east.

The use of 1956 to be the hotline number is ironic as it was in 1956 when the then government took the decision to recognise Sinhala as the only official language.

In 1958, the first anti-Tamil riots took place as Tamils took to the streets against the Sinhala-only policy.

After the 1983 anti-Tamil riots, Tamil came to be officially recognised as a state language in 1990.

However, Tamils still complain that the state does not follow the policy.