There has been a significant increase in search operations and the harassment of civilians by Sri Lanka’s security forces in and around the Northwestern town of Mannar, according to local community organizations. Residents have complained that Mannar has turned into a ‘garrison town’ with increases in arbitrary detentions, road blocks, cordon and search operations and the blockade of essential items.
The Mannar Citizens’ Committee (MCC) last Friday complained to the local Government Agent of the district that their town has become heavily militarized with the deployment of several hundred additional government troops and establishment of new checkpoints and sentries. Civilians are harassed by troops at roadblocks, it said.
After 10 pm Sri Lankan troops routinely enter the premises of private residences in the town, scaling over the boundary walls and creating panic among the occupants. Even the residence of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mr Vino Noharathalingam was searched on Thursday by the Sri Lankan military. The TNA is a coalition of Sri Lanka’s four main Tamil parties. It is a closely allied to the Liberation Tigers’ of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Selvam Adaikalanathan, TNA parliamentarian for Vanni, said that rising tensions are an inevitable consequence of escalating threats and harassment of district residents by SLA soldiers.
Soldiers conduct cordon and search operation in the middle of night directing the occupants to come out of their houses. Residents are experiencing untold hardships and are forced to spend sleepless nights, the MCC told the GA.
The security forces also increased surveillance of the Mannar district by establishing several roadblocks and sentry points in several key roads and junctions in the town’s environs. Residents of complained of the increasing roadblocks and the severe body checks passing through newly set up roadblocks and checkpoints. The soldiers said the increase in checks were as a result of direct orders from Colombo.
Apart from searches of homes and persons at checkpoints, arrests and detentions of residents have also increased dramatically in the recent months.
Last month, fifteen Tamil girls were arrested in a combined search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy, Army and Police in the village of Thullukuddiruppu in Mannar district. They were later released. The police said they had been arrested on ‘wrong information’ received by the Navy. The girls were not produced in court.
A fourteen year old boy and a local man were also arrested in two separate incidents last month. No reasons were given.
Recollections of past abuse by Sri Lanka’s security forces fuels the sense of fear and anxiety amongst the local population amid heightened activity by the military
The girls’ arrests, for example, came on the same day that three Sri Lankan police officers and nine soldiers of the Sri Lanka Navy are indicted in the Anuradhapura High Court for the rape and torture of two Tamil women Sivamani Weerakone and Wijakala Nanthan of Uppukulam, a suburb of Mannar town four years ago.
Oone of the two women complainants in the rape incident, Ms Ehambaram Wijakala, was this week reported to be missing and the other, Ms Sinnathamby Sivamani, has received threats that she will be killed if she gives evidence in Anuradhapura.
A blockade on essential items has also been implemented on parts of Mannar. On August 31, Sri Lanka Police arrested two employees of Talaimannar Village Fisheries Co-operative Society with 2100 liters of fuel, which was taken in a society lorry to be supplied to member-fishermen. The police said they had not “obtained permission from the relevant authorities” to transport fuel. The fuel was confiscated.
But Talaimannar Village Fisheries Co-operative Society supplies fuel to about eighty-five fishing boats in the area on daily basis. About 250 fisher families live in the village. With the confiscation of 2100 liters of fuel, the society is struggling to supply their members fishermen to ply their trade in the Mannar Sea.
Goods are also being restricted from entering LTTE held areas. Construction work on new buildings in two schools in the LTTE controlled areas of the Mannar district has come to a halt due to the ban imposed by the Army on the transportation of building materials through Uyilankulam and Madu road army checkpoints.
The reconstruction works of the two schools, Palampiddy Government Tamil School and Thadchanamaruthamadu Government Tamil School in the LTTE held areas began in March this year with the financial allocation of Asian Development bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration Project (NECORD). The NECORD allocated about 2.7 million rupees each for the reconstruction of these schools.
Contractors who undertook to construct these new building first attempted to transport building materials through the Uyilankulam army checkpoint. Soldiers manning the checkpoint refused to allow the building materials through their checkpoint.
Community groups met with the international ceasefire monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) last week to complain about the rising harassment and interference by the Sri Lankan security forces.
They also appealed to the appealed to the SLMM to take steps to ensure the return of LTTE political cadres withdrawn from government controlled areas and to provide necessary support in enabling the LTTE to recommence political activities.
The LTTE withdrew their political cadres in the region after attacks by suspected paramilitary organizations associated with the Sri Lankan military and the increasing harassment of political cadres by Sri Lanka’s security forces.
Tamils in Mannar district are anxious over the withdrawal of LTTE political cadres, local residents told reporters. The local LTTE offices provided a point of support amidst harrasment by the security forces as the cadres there could readily access the SLMM, they said.
Compiled from TamilNet reports
The Mannar Citizens’ Committee (MCC) last Friday complained to the local Government Agent of the district that their town has become heavily militarized with the deployment of several hundred additional government troops and establishment of new checkpoints and sentries. Civilians are harassed by troops at roadblocks, it said.
After 10 pm Sri Lankan troops routinely enter the premises of private residences in the town, scaling over the boundary walls and creating panic among the occupants. Even the residence of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mr Vino Noharathalingam was searched on Thursday by the Sri Lankan military. The TNA is a coalition of Sri Lanka’s four main Tamil parties. It is a closely allied to the Liberation Tigers’ of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Selvam Adaikalanathan, TNA parliamentarian for Vanni, said that rising tensions are an inevitable consequence of escalating threats and harassment of district residents by SLA soldiers.
Soldiers conduct cordon and search operation in the middle of night directing the occupants to come out of their houses. Residents are experiencing untold hardships and are forced to spend sleepless nights, the MCC told the GA.
The security forces also increased surveillance of the Mannar district by establishing several roadblocks and sentry points in several key roads and junctions in the town’s environs. Residents of complained of the increasing roadblocks and the severe body checks passing through newly set up roadblocks and checkpoints. The soldiers said the increase in checks were as a result of direct orders from Colombo.
Apart from searches of homes and persons at checkpoints, arrests and detentions of residents have also increased dramatically in the recent months.
Last month, fifteen Tamil girls were arrested in a combined search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy, Army and Police in the village of Thullukuddiruppu in Mannar district. They were later released. The police said they had been arrested on ‘wrong information’ received by the Navy. The girls were not produced in court.
A fourteen year old boy and a local man were also arrested in two separate incidents last month. No reasons were given.
Recollections of past abuse by Sri Lanka’s security forces fuels the sense of fear and anxiety amongst the local population amid heightened activity by the military
The girls’ arrests, for example, came on the same day that three Sri Lankan police officers and nine soldiers of the Sri Lanka Navy are indicted in the Anuradhapura High Court for the rape and torture of two Tamil women Sivamani Weerakone and Wijakala Nanthan of Uppukulam, a suburb of Mannar town four years ago.
Oone of the two women complainants in the rape incident, Ms Ehambaram Wijakala, was this week reported to be missing and the other, Ms Sinnathamby Sivamani, has received threats that she will be killed if she gives evidence in Anuradhapura.
A blockade on essential items has also been implemented on parts of Mannar. On August 31, Sri Lanka Police arrested two employees of Talaimannar Village Fisheries Co-operative Society with 2100 liters of fuel, which was taken in a society lorry to be supplied to member-fishermen. The police said they had not “obtained permission from the relevant authorities” to transport fuel. The fuel was confiscated.
But Talaimannar Village Fisheries Co-operative Society supplies fuel to about eighty-five fishing boats in the area on daily basis. About 250 fisher families live in the village. With the confiscation of 2100 liters of fuel, the society is struggling to supply their members fishermen to ply their trade in the Mannar Sea.
Goods are also being restricted from entering LTTE held areas. Construction work on new buildings in two schools in the LTTE controlled areas of the Mannar district has come to a halt due to the ban imposed by the Army on the transportation of building materials through Uyilankulam and Madu road army checkpoints.
The reconstruction works of the two schools, Palampiddy Government Tamil School and Thadchanamaruthamadu Government Tamil School in the LTTE held areas began in March this year with the financial allocation of Asian Development bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration Project (NECORD). The NECORD allocated about 2.7 million rupees each for the reconstruction of these schools.
Contractors who undertook to construct these new building first attempted to transport building materials through the Uyilankulam army checkpoint. Soldiers manning the checkpoint refused to allow the building materials through their checkpoint.
Community groups met with the international ceasefire monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) last week to complain about the rising harassment and interference by the Sri Lankan security forces.
They also appealed to the appealed to the SLMM to take steps to ensure the return of LTTE political cadres withdrawn from government controlled areas and to provide necessary support in enabling the LTTE to recommence political activities.
The LTTE withdrew their political cadres in the region after attacks by suspected paramilitary organizations associated with the Sri Lankan military and the increasing harassment of political cadres by Sri Lanka’s security forces.
Tamils in Mannar district are anxious over the withdrawal of LTTE political cadres, local residents told reporters. The local LTTE offices provided a point of support amidst harrasment by the security forces as the cadres there could readily access the SLMM, they said.
Compiled from TamilNet reports
