Colombo, Sri Lanka - A protesting Hindu group put off for a week plans to resume a strike to allow authorities time to resolve a violent dispute over a Buddha statue in Sri Lanka's troubled port city of Trincomalee, police said.
The Hindu Tamil People's Organisation, following talks with a group of senior officials, agreed to put on hold their strike action which shut down the region from Tuesday last week, a police official said on Thursday.
"The government will consult the state attorney general and take a decision," the official contacted by telephone said. "The main thing is that the strike has been put on hold and the situation is returning to normality."
A magistrate's court in Trincomalee, 260 kilometres (160 miles) north-east of here, made no ruling on the disputed statue over which Hindus staged a shutdown leading to bomb attacks that left one man dead and seven wounded.
An officer who attended court proceedings said they expected the newly-formed Tamil People's Organisation, and Sinhalese residents who are mainly Buddhists to hammer out a compromise.
The Hindus were due to resume their strike from Thursday unless the statue is removed. There was a four-day break in the strike from Sunday to allow Buddhists to observe a key anniversary.
Trouble broke out last week when ethnic Tamils, who are Hindus, strongly objected to the statue erected by Buddhist taxi drivers.
Tamils are the largest minority in Sri Lanka, accounting for 18 percent of the population. In Trincomalee Tamils and Sinhalese are almost equal in number.