Jaffna islet families demand removal of pass system

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2004, 15:19 GMT]
Pungudutivu Division Civil Groups Consortium (PDCGC) Saturday wrote to Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to take immediate action to completely lift the residential pass system introduced for resettled families in Pungudutivu by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), civil sources in Jaffna said.

The resettled IDP families in Pungudutivu are ordered to carry these residential passes issued by the SLN when they travel to and from Pungudutivu. This has created fear among the IDP families who have returned to their houses and lands after the ceasefire agreement came into operation, PDCGC said in the letter to President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge.

PDCGC has pointed out in its letter that the SLN has warned the resettled IDP families that those failed to obtain residential pass would be subjected to harrasment.

Meanwhile, SLN authorities in Jaffna have imposed restriction on house owners in Pungudutivu who have rented out houses to IDP families that they should submit all details of tenant families, civil sources said.