SLA suspends passes on loss of free fish

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2004, 14:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in coastal area of Kachchai in Thenmaradchi division Thursday withdrew passes from four fishermen of the Kachchai village for not supplying free fish to the SLA camps daily, sources said. Fisherman have been regularly providing free fish provisions to SLA camps in a 'mafia' style extortion arrangement by the SLA, residents of the village said.

KFCS President Mr.T.Amirthalingam said fishermen did not get any relief for representation made to the SLA officials located in the Thenmaradchchi division regarding this.

Fishermen in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district face harassment from soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) located in Kachchai village and other fishing hamlets nearby, according to a complaint lodged by the Kachchai Fisheries Co-operative Society (KFCS) with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna, civil sources said.