Navy soldiers assault fishermen in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 January 2005, 11:25 GMT]
Two fishermen Wednesday lodged complaints with the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) that they were assaulted by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) while fishing in Pannai Sea Wednesday afternoon around 2 p.m., close to Jaffna town, sources said.

Complainants said navy soldiers had assaulted them saying the fishermen had strayed into the high security zone, HRCSL sources said.

Earlier the SNL put up red flags identifying the high security zone on both sides of the Jaffna Pannai road. Later those red flags disappeared from the sites. Hence fishermen worked without the benefit of flags demarcating the boundaries of HSZ in Pannai Sea, sources added.

As the officer-in-charge of the Police Station located close to Pannai Sea refused to entertain complaints against navy assault, the injured fishermen represented the matter to the HRCSL office in Jaffna, sources said.