Worsening HR situation in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 July 1999, 12:31 GMT]
Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna has been receiving increasing number of reports from all parts of the peninsula on human rights violations committed by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) troops, said sources.

Residents of Varani, a village in the Thenmaradchi region, have informed the HRC that increasing number of youths, mainly students, have been joining the Liberation Tigers due to harassment by the SLA troops.

In a memorandum submitted to the HRC, the villagers said 35 youths joined the Liberation Tigers in one day due to such harrassment.

The memorandum, signed by several villagers, also named some of the SLA officers involved, and appealed to the HRC to take appropriate measures to transfer the officers.

Elsewhere in the eastern Batticaloa district, two drunken SLA soldiers had tried to harass a woman at Naavaladi junction, near Valaichenai, last night sources said.

The soldiers had gone to the Muslim section of Naavaladi and tried to harass the woman at her home. The two drunken soldiers fled when the relatives shouted for help.

The woman's relatives complained to the 23-2 Brigade about the harassment.

Army sources there said, that the two soldiers have been arrested and are being questioned.

Meanwhile, The Sri Lanka Army has again called on the Jaffna youths to join the army. The SLA has called for walk in interviews to be held at Chavakachcheri and Ariyaalai camps, between August 9 and 31, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In May, the SLA made a similar recruitment drive, but no one appeared for the interviews.

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