Nainativu residents protest military restrictions

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 April 2002, 22:57 GMT]
Residents of Nainativu, an islet in the Jaffna peninsula, are struggling without a bus service as the Sri Lanka Navy has banned any vehicle movement along the main road where the Naga Vihare Buddhist temple is situated. A bus delivered to Nainativu has been parked unused for over a month due to this ban, residents said.

In the meantime the SLA personnel allow Nainativu residents to travel to other places in Jaffna only on the production of national identity cards, they protested.

The government hospital in Nainativu has been closed down for want of a medical officer, they added.

They however expressed relief that the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) closed down its camp in Nainativu last week.