Jaffna village asks SLA to open access road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 12:02 GMT]
Men, women and children from Koilamanai, a farming village near Kodikamam in Jaffna, sat in protest at the entrance of the Thenmaradchi Divisional Secretary’s (DS) office in Chavakachcheri Thursday demanding that the Sri Lanka army should vacate a camp blocking the only access road to their area. Koilamanai residents say that since the SLA completely blocked off the road in 2000, they have been using a footpath through private properties. This footpath has to be closed soon because owners of the properties are now resettling there, they say.




“We have been petitioning the military and DS since October 2003 to no avail," a spokesman for the protesting villagers told TamilNet.

The villagers who began their sit in protest at 6. 30 a.m. prevented the opening of the DS office until 10.30 a.m. when a civil affairs officer from the SLA’s 52 Division spoke with them for an hour regarding the camp blocking the road. The Koilamanai protestors left after the SLA officer, Lt. S. Jayantha, reached a temporary agreement that he would discuss a solution to the problem with them on Friday at the Koilamanai community centre in the presence of the DS.


A section of the protestors sitting at the DS office entrance