SLA increases its control in Ki'n'niyaa town after ‘grease devil’ episode

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 09:50 GMT]
Ki'n'niya with a population of over one hundred thousand people, ninety nine percent of them are Muslims has been reeling under the repression of the Sri Lankan armed forces since they successfully got the release of civilians arrested by the Sri Lanka Army last week over the ‘grease devil’ scare. Hundreds of people held hostage the District Government Agent Ranjith de Silva and SLA Commander of East, Maj. Gen. Boniface Perera, inside the Ki'n'niyaa Divisional Secretariat building till they obtained the release of 24 civilians.

Everywhere in Ki'n'niya, which is a densely populated town in the Trincomalee district, the Sri Lanka Army has put up sandbanks at key junctions and has

started checking everyone irrespective of age. One sand bank is seen at Buhari Mosque junction in front of the residence of Abdul Majeed Abdul Najeeb, a former parliamentarian of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and now its district organizer.

Every junction in the town is now manned by minimum of ten soldiers of the SLA. They walk along the roads in night patrolling.

Such militarisation of Ki'n'niyaa would not have been possible without SLA creating the ‘grease devil’ scare, residents say.

Buses and other vehicles plying between Ki'n'niya to Moothoor are stopped by the SLA soldiers at several check points and passengers are checked.

Leading citizens in Ki'n'niya say even during the height of war no such checking was carried out in their town by the Sinhala forces. They also feel that the SLA has been ‘punishing’ the people of Ki'n'niya after their protest against the Sri Lankan forces.

Meanwhile the Kinniya branch of the All Ceylon Jammaiuthulmal Ulama Council has appealed to the people of Kinniya to pray for every five hours in Mosques in their areas seeking the assistance of the Almighty to remove the tense situation after the SLA strengthened the security in the town.

Chronology: