SLA suspends issue of travel passes to Jaffna civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 09:49 GMT]
Citing security reasons regarding the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference scheduled to commence by the end of July, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers manning the civil administrative centres in the North have temporarily suspended the issue of passes for general public to travel out of the peninsula for the past three days, sources said.

However, since no official announcement has been made regarding the temporary interruption of the issue of passes, civilians from various parts of the peninsula unaware of the changing situation have been lining up outside these centres.

Meanwhile, SLA officials have told the general public that until further notice they will be able to issue passes only to those who are over 60.

In addition only the Government Agent (GA) as well as Heads of Government departments in the North will be permitted to travel out of the peninsula without any restrictions, informed sources said.

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