Picketing villagers bring Trinco-Vavuniya traffic to standstill

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 June 2003, 13:41 GMT]
Vehicular traffic between Trincomalee and Vavuniya through the Trincomalee-Anuradhapura trunk road came to a standstill Thursday when a group of Sinhalese villagers held a sit in protest across the road, demanding the release of a villager alleged to have been abducted by unidentified persons, police sources said.

Fifty-year-old villager, W. Appuhamy of Morawewa, was allegedly abducted last Monday when he was on his way home in motorbike from his paddy field. Thereafter, he and his motorbike were reported to be missing, according to a complaint made by relatives of Mr. Appuhamy at the Morawewa Police, sources said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has told the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission that it is not involved in the abduction, SLMM sources said.

Meanwhile, SLMM monitors in Trincomalee Thursday morning went to the site of the protest and spoke with the protestors, sources said.

According to the police, as a result of the protest, buses and other vehicles to and from Trincomalee and Vavuniya that would normally use the Trincomalee-Anuradhapura main road are using the Vavuniya--Habarana road through Maradanakawela to reach their destination.