Hartal in Trincomalee called over arrest of LTTE women cadres

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 14:36 GMT]
The Consortium of the Peoples' Organizations in Trincomalee (CPOT) Saturday called for a hartal (general shut down) in the east port town on Monday protesting the arrest of two women cadres of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) when they were engaged in political activities in Sampalthivu, a village about 10 km north of Trincomalee, sources said.

The two LTTE women cadres should be released immediately and that if a release is not forthcoming before Monday, a hartal (general shut down) will be observed in Trincomalee on Monday, CPOT said in a statement released today.

The CPOT sources said that LTTE women cadres are engaged in political activities in Trincomalee district according to the ceasefire agreement signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. The arrest of two LTTE women cadres when the ceasefire agreement is to reach one-year completion next week has to be considered as an act of sabotage of the peace process, CPOT sources added.

The Uppuveli Police arrested the two LTTE women cadres Friday evening and produced them before the Trincomalee Magistrate the same day on a 'B' report that they were engaged in recruiting underage girls.

The Magistrate ordered them to be placed in remand for two weeks, legal sources said.