SLA stops Elilan at checkpoint from visiting Pulmoddai

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 2004, 10:14 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the east port town that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers stationed at the north of the district had prevented him from going to Pulmoddai village to carryout political work on Thursday, sources said.

Pulmoddai village is located in the Trincomalee district, about fifty km north of east port town.

According to Mr.Elilan, he and other LTTE political activists were stopped beyond Yan Oya ferry Thursday at about 1130 a.m. from going to Pulmoddai village. When Mr.Elilan told the SLA soldiers that he was on his way to the village to meet Muslim residents at the villagers' request.

But the SLA soldiers manning a checkpoint in the area did not allow him to proceed further.

SLA soldiers then contacted their superior officer and informed him of the situation. Thereafter SLA soldiers told Mr.Elilan that he could go to the village only with SLA escort.

Mr.Elilan refused to be escorted and returned to Trincomalee town Thursday evening without going to Pulmoddai village.

He later lodged a complaint with the SLMM in the east port, sources said.