Flame lit at LTTE war dead memorial in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 March 2002, 20:49 GMT]
More than a thousand people, Jaffna University and students undergraduates Friday gathered at the memorial for the LTTE's war dead in Kopay in Jaffna to clean the site and light the 'flame of sacrifice'. In 1996, the SLA destroyed and levelled with bulldozers Kopay war memorial, the largest built by the Liberation Tigers in the northeast. The SLA was criticised at the time for violating universal military norms on monuments for the war dead.

memorial for the LTTE's war dead (Library photo)

Around noon, villagers in the vicinity of the memorial and undergraduates of the Jaffna University began clearing the shrub and undergrowth which had covered the site and its destroyed memorial structures.

Local school students also joined the work. The 'flame of sacrifice' was lit around 3 p.m.

Several persons spoke at an ad hoc meeting at the site after the flame was lit.