SLA tightens security in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 December 2010, 15:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is employing new measures in the last several days to increase security in Jaffna, civil sources in Jaffna said. SLA has increased search operations during nights and has increased checking of motor vehicles including motor bikes. Passengers traveling in night buses are being subjected to delays as they searched in the proximity of four or five SLA camps. In addition, reports from Jaffna say SLA soldiers are constructing new earth bunds in the previously declared High Security Zones (HSZ) raising fears among families awaiting resettlement that return to their ancestral homes are going to be further delayed.

Well armed Sri Lanka Army soldiers have been stopping vehicles at points on key roads in Jaffna to subject the occupants to detailed checks, sources said. SLA is particularly harassing the Tamil civilians who have been displaced from Vanni and residing in Jaffna scrutinizing the identity cards and the belongings, sources from Jaffna added.

In the meantime, several hundred SLA troopers are building new earth bunds in several villages inside the demarcated HSZ in Valikaamam North, according to reports. SLA has previously announced that it will allow displaced Tamils from HSZ border villages of I'lvaalai North, I'lavaalai West and Viththakapuram to resettle. While the affected Tamils with houses in these three villages are clearing their lands in preparation for resettlement, SLA's new earth bunds in other villages of the HSZ are causing fears among all displaced Tamils.

Civil sources complain that even in areas the SLA has allowed resettlement, existing earth bunds have not been removed and the residents face severe inconvenience having to construct paths over the bunds to cross into other areas.

Jaffna-based Citizen Welfare Societies have written to the Jaffna Government Agent on their consternation over SLA's construction of new earth bunds inside the HSZ.

Jaffna civil society sources also complain that pilfering of marketable high quality stones from within the HSZ area continue unabated with the support of SLA officers.