Hartal Brings Vavuniya to Standstill

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Vavuniya town came to a standstill today due to a hartal called by the PLOTE. All shops were closed, the Kachcheri did not function as staff kept away from work, there was no public transport and the morning train from Colombo returned empty soon after it arrived.

Sources close to the PLOTE in Vavuniya said that the hartal was a complete success.

The hartal was organised by the PLOTE to protest over five issues. The organisation demanded:

1. that people from the north unduly detained in the Vavuniya transit camp should be allowed to leave
   
   
2. that the severe restrictions placed on the issuance of passes for temporary stay in Vavuniya should be lifted
   
   
3. that action should be taken on the question of the people who were arrested by the army and went missing in Jaffna.
   
   
4. that indiscriminate arrests and detention of Tamils in Colombo should stop.
   
   
5. that the Soosaippillaiyar Kulam cemetery and the school play ground taken over for the expansion of the Vavuniya airforce base should be given back forthwith.