SLA suspends construction of new camps in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 May 2003, 11:55 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has suspended its construction work on new camps at Jaffna Fort, Mallakam old railway station and court buildings and at Chunnakam junction, civilian sources in Jaffna said. They added that no army personnel were seen at the sites selected for new camps since Saturday evening and that the heavy machinery used for putting up structures for new camps have been moved from the sites.

The Federation of Civil Organizations in Jaffna (FCOJ) district recently lodged a strong protest to the government against siting new camps in densely populated areas violating the ceasefire agreement signed by the government and the LTTE, sources said.

FCOJ President Mr. Cyril Solomon confirming the suspension of the construction works on proposed new SLA camps said Sunday his organization has not received any intimation from the SLA in this regard.

However he said that the FCOJ would launch a mass scale agitation against siting new camps if the SLA continued the construction work, sources said.