Woman MP leads Jaffna rape protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 March 2005, 12:24 GMT]
Ms Pathmini Sithamparanathan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) sole woman parliamentarian in the Jaffna district led protest march held in Jaffna town Monday condemning the attempt to rape a sixty three year old Tamil woman of Neerveli on Thursday by a soldier of the Sri Lanka Army on Thursday when she was alone in her home. The protest march began Monday morning from Nallur Kandasamy Temple area and concluded in front of the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), sources said.

Messrs Mavai Senathirajah, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, and K.Sivanesan and several leading women activists participated in the protest march, civil sources said.

Organizers of the march later handed over a memorandum to the district head of the SLMM calling the SLMM to ensure permanent peace take immediate steps to remove Sri Lanka Army who are located amid the civilian population in the Jaffna district . This demand made to the SLMM reflects the aspirations of Tamil people based on human values and human rights, the memorandum said.

Building up the confidence of Tamil people with regard to finding permanent peace depends solely on the resumption of normal life of Tamil people. This is the objective of the SLMM too. But the Government of Sri Lanka is acting in a way to harm the interests of Tamil people. But the government would not succeed in its attempt, the memorandum added.

The attempted rape incident by a government soldier on an elderly woman shows the low mentality of Sinhala occupational army in the Tamil dominated Jaffna district, the memorandum said.

Hence we request that the Sri Lanka Army should quit from sentry points and camps located in the Jaffna district immediately, the memorandum said.