SLA soldiers remanded for firing at Jaffna civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2003, 16:30 GMT]
The Jaffna additional Magistrate, Ms Srinithi Nandasekaran, Wednesday ordered remand till December 23 for three soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army when they were produced by the Jaffna Police in connection with the shooting incident that had taken place in Jaffna bus stand Tuesday evening, causing injuries to civilians, legal sources said.

The Police arrested the 3 SLA soldiers Wednesday following directives from the superiors in connection with the incident when one soldier fired at a newspaper seller when he was engaged in the sale of "EELANATHAM," a Tamil daily published in Kilinochchi. In that incident, the paper seller had escaped unhurt but a bus conductor at the scene was hit and seriously wounded, sources said.

Meanwhile, the International Students' Association of Thamileelam (ISAT) Wednesday in a statement condemned the Jaffna Police for providing security to army soldiers who have been engaged in committing atrocities against civilians in the Jaffna district.

The Jaffna police had failed in its duty to provide security to civilians on Tuesday when the army soldiers fired at civilians. Instead, the police had rushed to the site and escorted the soldiers who fired at civilians to a safe place. The police had joined the soldiers in attacking the civilians with batons and other weapons, the ISAT in its statement alleged.

The people of Jaffna district would not condone the atrocities of the Jaffna police any more in the future. The consequences would be serious if the police continued their partisan approach towards civilians, the ISAT statement warned.