SLA obstruction of travel, an act of oppression - Jeyanandamoorthy MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 21:51 GMT]
"Obstructing people in the North and East travelling to and from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas as retribution for a bomb blast in the Colombo Sri Lanka Army (SLA) headquarters is an act of outright oppression of the Tamils in the north and east," said S. Jeyanandamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) M.P for Batticaloa, in his statement to the press Wednesday.

"Travel ban only exposes the Sri Lanka Government's (GoSL) and its Armed forces' intention of harassing the Tamils. The LTTE, having faithfully observed the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) in the last years is always ready to resolve the national ethinc issue by engaging in the peace process," the statement said.

"I did contact the Batticaloa district SLA commander explaining the hardships experienced by the people of the district by the SLA obstruction of travel. But the SLA chief said that the ban has been placed on instruction from Colombo and that it will continue until further instructions are received,", told Jeyanandamoorthy.

"I have also registered my strong protest against the shelling from the SLA base in Vavunativu on Mankikattu and its surroundings, forcing residents to flee and seek refuge in Eechantivu school and have asked them to stop the attacks immediately," said the TNA parliamentarian.