2ND LEAD

SLA warns temples in Jaffna not to toll bells on Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 18:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has instructed the temple authorities in Valikaamam not to toll the temple bells Saturday. The army thinks that it will be a way of people paying their homage to the Heroes who laid down their lives in the struggle for liberation, sources in Jaffna said. The temple authorities were instructed to drape the bells with cloth if the bells cannot be removed from their positions. Last year, on Heroes’ Day, people who were oppressed from observing the Day remembering their fallen kith and kin tolled bells in the temples in the evening defying the restrictions of the SLA.

SLA has strengthened security arrangements in Jaffna peninsula with road patrols, checking at the main junctions and cordon and search operations in many areas including Themaraadchi.

Meanwhile, the Tamil dailies in Jaffna peninsula had been threatened Thursday night not to cover Heroes’ Day observations in Jaffna peninsula. Warning letters had been issued to them threatening to burn the offices of the dailies which fail to pay heed to the warning.

Besides, SLA authorities have warned the people of the peninsula to limit going out on Saturday.

Chronology: