Travel restrictions to be reviewed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan minister of defence agreed to review the ban on the movement of vehicles out of the eastern province following a strong protest by Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala MPs and ministers from the east today.

The matter was taken up while the Parliamentary consultative committee on defence was in session this morning.

Ports, shipping and rehabilitation minister M.H.M Ashraff spoke on behalf of all the MPs of the east.

He told the government that it is branding the people of the east as terrorists by sealing off all the access roads to the province as it did earlier in the case of Jaffna.

The minister said that the ban will make prices of consumer items in the region shoot up and that this will turn the people of the east against the government.

He warned that the people of the eastern province will have to come out on the streets to agitate against the ban.

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