Picketing in Nedunthivu enters nineteenth day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 December 2002, 16:26 GMT]
The picketing campaign by the villagers against the presence of para military members of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in Nedunthivu (Delft Island) in Jaffna entered nineteenth day Wednesday. The protesters demand immediate withdrawal of armed EPDP members from their village, sources said.

About 40-armed police personnel guard EPDP members who stay in the offices of the Divisional Secretariat and Pradeshiya Sabah, sources said.

The thirty-five square kilometer Nedunthivu Island has a population of 1649 families about six thousand eight hundred persons. Only one telephone and a solitary bus are in the village, civil sources said.

The Multi-purpose co-operative society operates a boat service, which is the only mode of transport for the islanders to travel to and from the Jaffna mainland. The Sri Lanka Navy is closely monitoring the entry point from where the boat service begins at Kurikadduwan to Mavilthurai jetty at Nedunthivu to prevent outsiders entering.

A group of Jaffna University students who were taking essential food stuff Wednesday to the villagers of Neduntheivu was stopped by the government troops stationed in the islet.

Meanwhile, the debate on the Nedunthivu issue in parliament was put off for Thursday on the request by the UNF government. Earlier the Speaker agreed to a debate on Wednesday. The Leader of the Opposition Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse said he has agreed to put off the debate for Thursday, parliamentary sources said.