Mannar town, suburbs under strict SLA surveillance

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 September 2005, 17:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police instituted strict surveillance of Mannar district by establishing several roadblocks and sentry points in several key roads and junctions. Residents of Mannar town were perturbed Saturday morning when they were subjected to severe body checks passing through newly set up roadblocks and checkpoints, residents said.

SLA said the special security arrangements in Mannar follows directives from defense higher-ups in Colombo.

SLA soldiers and policemen, residents said, man all checkpoints and roadblocks.

Pedestrians are stopped at every checkpoint, asked to produce their National Identity Cards and are subjected to severe interrogation.

SLA at chechpoints now routinely stop vehicles, direct the passengers to alight from the vehicle and interrogate the passengers. Every item carried is then examined by the soldiers, residents said.

Women police and soldiers are deployed at all checkpoints to check women civilians, sources said.