2ND LEAD

SLA sets Students Association Jaffna building, office of Jaffna MP on fire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 May 2006, 01:55 GMT]
The International Students Association of Tamileelam (ISATE) building which also contains the office of Tamil NationalAlliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr Gajendran located close to Parameswara College in Jaffna Palaly Road was set on fire Friday night at 11.30 p.m., according to sources from Jaffna.

An armed paramilitary group that arrived in motorbikes from Urelu side doused gasolene and set fire to the building while Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from the field motorbike unit provided security, local residents said.

SLA soldiers stationed at Palaly Road, blocked the fire-brigade and the locals from approaching the building to extinguish the fire.

The Student building contained a well equipped library. Computer training classes, and supplementary education classes for backward students were also conducted in the building.

The building is located less than 300 meters from the main campus of Jaffna University.

The Student Association building has a history of being ransacked and searched by the Sri Lanka Army soldiers.



On December 19, 2005, SLA troopers opened fire at a peaceful demonstration march by Jaffna University students and staff, wounding at least seven demonstrators, including Professor C. Mohanadas, the Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University, Prof. R. Sivchandran, Dean of Arts, Prof. N. Perinpanathan, a Senior Lecturer, S. Kajendran, the Jaffna TNA MP, and a student leader of the medical faculty.

Recent pattern of violence instigated by the Sri Lankan soldiers in Jaffna, imitates the pattern of violence carried out by paramilitaries in Batticaloa in the East, a commentator attached to a Jaffna weekly said.

"Newspapers were silenced, movement of parliamentarians threatened, even the vacated offices of the LTTE were smashed and motorbike riding gunmen were sent from the Intelligence camps to carry out the missions. Jaffna is being turned into Batticaloa," the commentator who did not wish to be named, told TamilNet.

Two newspaper employees at Uthayan daily were shot and killed allegedly by SLA Intelligence opeatives in Jaffna on May 02.

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