NorthEast to shutdown as Colombo fails to withdraw troops from Trinco

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 19:16 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, Representatives of Trincomalee District Tamil People's Forum (TDTPF) and other Tamil civil groups, in a meeting held Thursday, decided to hold a one-day general shut down in NorthEast protesting the continued presence of Sri Lanka troops in Trincomalee town despite the assurance given by the Ministerial team that troops will be withdrawn by Thursday, TNA sources said.



(R-L) Parliamentarians Ms Thangeswary , Mr.Sivanathan Kishore, Mr.Jeyanandamoorthy and Mr.Ariyanethran.

Parliamentarian Ms Padmini Sithamparanathan sepeaking at the meeting. Seated (l-r) parliamentarians Mr.Kanagasabai, Mr.Thurairatnasingham and Mr.Mavai Senathirajah.

Parliamentarians Mr. Pathmanathan, Mr.Sivasakthi Anandan and Mr.N.Raviraj seen in the front row.

Mr.Mavai senathirajah speaking at the meeting. Seated parliamentarians Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan (l) and Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham.

More than fifteen hundred troops and policemen are deployed in Trincomalee town since the Buddha statue controversy started, sources said.

The meeting was presided by Parliamentarian Mr.Mavai Senathirajah.

Mr.V.Vigneswaran, President of the TDTPF told media persons after the conference that the Government ministerial team, which held discussion Wednesday gave an assurance to Tamil representatives that additional troops deployed in the east port town will be withdrawn by Thursday night. But the promise has not been kept. Hence the meeting decided to hold a one day general shut down on Friday throughout the northeast province demanding immediate withdrawal of troops, Mr.Vigneswaran added.

Mr.Vigneswaran further said that TNA parliamentarians and representatives of TDTPF will again meet in Trincomalee to decide the course of action to be taken if the government fails to remove the controversial Buddha statue before June 15 as promised by the government ministerial team at the Wednesday discussions, sources said.

Parliamentarians Messrs Suresh Premachandran, Selvam Adaikalanathan, K.Thurairatnasingham, M.Kanagasabai, S.Pathmanathan, Sivasakthi Ananthan, N.Raviraj, S.Jeyananandamoorthy, Kishore Sivanathan, S.Ariyanethiran, M.K.Sivajilingam, K.Sivanesan, K.Thangeswary, Padmini Sithamparanathan, M.K.Eelaventhan and Mavai Senathirajah participated at the discussion held in Trincomalee New Silver Star Hotel Wednesday till two p.m.

Parliamentarians R.Sampanthan, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, S.Gajendran, Joseph Pararajasingham, S.Kanagaretnam, and Vino Noharathalingam did not attend the meeting due to other commitments, sources said.