Trincomalee suburbs tensed as SLA builds new sentry

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 January 2006, 15:59 GMT]
Tension prevails in Anpuvallipuram and Abeyapura, suburbs of the Trincomalee town located off about 2 km northwest along Trincomalee-Kandy highway following attempts by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to set up a new sentry since Friday afternoon. Tamils live in Anpuvallipuram and Sinhalese reside in the adjoining suburb Abeyapura. The new sentry near the junction, which leads to Anpuvallipuram has drawn the opposition of Tamil families, civil sources said.

SLA soldiers fired in air to disperse Tamils who gathered Friday morning at the site to protest against the construction.

SLA arrested five Tamil youths during the protest, residents said.

Members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) led by its Trincomalee head Mr. Arthur Tveiten tried to rush to the scene on hearing the mounting tension but could not reach the site due to firing, sources said.

However they contacted the SLA authorities and succeeded in getting the arrested youths released, sources said.

Later Tamil residents of Anpuvallipuram complained that SLA soldiers accompanied by Sinhala home guards had conducted a house-to-house search.

Tamil residents further alleged that home guards were rude and intimidating, sources said.

On receipt of this information Mr.R.Sampanthan, Trincomalee district parliamentarian promptly contacted the SLA General Officer Commanding (GOC) in Trincomalee Major General Tissa Jayawardene and requested him to stop erecting new sentry. He also requested the GOC to take immediate steps to defuse the tension.

Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district parliamentarian also contacted Major General Tissa Jayawardene and informed him of the alleged intimidation by home guards to Tamil families in Anpuvallipuram. Mr.Thurairatnasingham brought to the notice of the army authority that several Tamil families in the village will be forced to vacate their homes if this trend continues, sources said.

SLMM is closely watching the developing situation there, sources said.