Soldiers harass widow, daughter - MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 1999, 13:25 GMT]
Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham, MP for the Batticaloa District appealed to the Sri Lankan government authorities yesterday, to safeguard a Tamil widow and her teenage daughter of Peythaalai in the Valachchenai area from being sexually harassed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers.

Mr.Pararajasingham informed the government's Anti-Harassment Committee in writing, that Mrs Ponnambalam a widow and was living with her teenage son and a daughter.

On September 19, the SLA arrested her son. Thereafter, some soldiers had gone to her house and tried to harass her and her teenage daughter sexually. As they could not open the doors of the house, the soldiers eventually went away, according to the MP.

Mr. Parajasingham says the soldiers now harass the woman and her daughter whenever they go out to buy provisions. The son of the woman is still in the army's custody.

The MP says the soldiers had separated the son from his mother in order to pressure her and her daughter, sexually.

Mr. Parajasingham, in his letter, called on the Anti-Harassment Committee to take immediate steps to safeguard the mother and the daughter from the activities of the SLA soldiers.

The Anti-Harassment Committee was appointed by the Sri Lanka President to inquire into the difficulties faced by the Tamil speaking people in the island due to activities by Sri Lanka's security forces.