Muslims in Potthuvil to go on hunger strike

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 10:27 GMT]
Muslims in Poththuvil will go on a protest hunger strike Monday in front of Poththuvil Prethesa Sabai, demanding the immediate release of the 30 Muslim villagers arrested by Special Task Force (STF) six months ago when they went to collect firewood in the jungles in Poththuvil police division in Ampaa’rai district, M. P. Mallika Umma, leader of the committee of the affected people said.

The arrested 30 Muslims are held in detention for more than six months without any trial or inquiry.

The detainees are brought to the magistrate court and then again taken back to be detained, Mallika Umma said.

Though this matter has been brought to the notice of the authorities concerned and local politicians nothing has happened while the families of the detainees suffer without the income from selling the firewood their men collect.

The hunger strike will continue until the 30 Muslims are released, she added.

STF commandos lying in ambush in the jungles of Poththuvil have shot and killed Muslims in earlier instances, Poththuvil residents said.