SL navy disrupts temple opening

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Kumbaphishekam of the reconstructed Shiva temple in Karainagar has been postponed due to the restrictions imposed on the transport of goods and because of the severe checking to which the Sri Lanka Navy subjects outsiders entering the island.

Members of the Karainagar Shiva temple's trustee board say that they had to postpone the Kumbaphishekam indefinitely after facing problems recently while taking the Naathasvaram group and the goods and equipment required for the ceremonies.

The navy guards had insisted that they should dismantle and check the Thavils (two sided drum) of the Naathasvaram group.

The musicians refused to comply with the order because the dismantling could permanently ruin the fine tuning of the instruments which they had achieved over the years.

The ComNorth of the SLN is located in the island of Karainagar. And the island is under the SL navy's control.

The SLN fears, following two lightning commando raids by the Sea Tigers on its radar installations in the islands off Jaffna, that the Sea Tigers have the potential to launch a major crippling attack on the ComNorth in Karainagar.

The SLN feels that the Sea Tigers could infiltrate their commandos into Karainagar and prepare for a major strike on the ComNorth base.

Hence it has imposed more than customary strictures on residents and on outsiders who wish to enter the island. This is why, say ex-Tamil militant sources in Jaffna town, the Navy was not too keen to open the Ponnalai causeway which links the island to the peninsula last week.

The SLN has also prohibited people from resettling in the villages of Palukadu and Thoppukkadu on the Karainagar island's coast for security reasons.

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