Navy threatens Kayts businessmen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 11:45 GMT]
Sri Lankan Navy personnel Thursday threatened Tamil businessmen in Kayts who had joined residents in the rest of the Jaffna peninsula in observing a general strike (hartal) on Wednesday to protest the armed forces failure to implement the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers. Navy personnel visited the businesses in a pickup truck and warned the owners that they should not close their establishments “based on newspaper stories,” the Sudar Oli reported Friday.

The Navy is said to have told the businessmen that they could close their establishments only if ordered to do so by the Navy or on religious holidays and special temple festivals. The Navy personnel have told the businessmen, “if you close your business for any hartal in the future, they will remain closed the next day.”

The Navy group making the threat was headed by the Navy’s regional commanding officer for Kayts-Velanai, Lt. Commander Nihal Chandrasiri, the paper said.