SLA said occupying 274 temples in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2002, 05:17 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army continues to occupy two hundred seventy four Hindu temples in the Jaffna district, according to initial estimates, sources in the Ministry of Hindu Affairs said Sunday. The Sri Lanka army should have vacated 'places of religious worship' by 26 March 2002 under the terms of the cease-fire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers. The SLA continues to occupy hundreds of temples and churches in other parts of the northeastern province despite the lapse of 46 days since the deadline set by the agreement for vacating them.

The largest number of temples occupies by the Sri Lankan military is in the Tellipalai Division.

Many of them are within the high security zone of the sprawling Palali military base in the northwestern part of Jaffna.

The cease-fire agreement says: "Places of worship which are situated in "high security zones" shall be vacated by all armed personnel and maintained in good order by civilian workers, even when they are not made accessible to the public".

Officials said that the SLA has chosen to ignore the cease-fire agreement in this regard.

The list of the Hindu temples occupied now by the SLA in the Jaffna district is given below on divisional basis: -

• Jaffna Division - 05
• Nallur - 03
• Chankanai -04
• Point Pedro - 09
• Maruthankerni- 05
• Karaveddy - 02
• Sanidilipay - 03
• Chavakachcheri - 60
• Tellipallai - 172
• Uduvil -03
• Kopay -01
• Kayts -07