Bishop protests SLA closure of Madhu Shrine access road

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2003, 12:40 GMT]
In a meeting at the Mannar Secretariat Friday on issues related to forthcoming festivals at Madhu shrine, Mannar district Bishop Rev.Rayappu Joseph said that the continued closure of the road to Madhu shrine by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is a human rights violation, reports in Jaffna daily Uthayan said.

Additional Secretary to the Sri Lanka Ministry of Local Government, Ms. Rose Fernando, Mannar district Political Head of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Amitab, Commander of SLA's 214 brigade, Rajapakse, Mannar District Commissioner of Sri Lanka Police, Shantha, Commander of Thalladi SLA camp, Col. Jeyakody and others participated in the meeting according to local reports.

Bishop said, "the SLA opens the road only during festival days. Residents and devotees are unable to use the road on other days to go to the shrine for their daily prayers. This amounts to violating basic human rights of people and the SLA should take actions to open the road permanently," reports added.