- Reign of State Terror in Sri Lanka
International Federation of Tamils
18 Rue des Paquis,1201 Geneva,
Switzerland tel/Fax 00 41 22 7320 831
[email protected]
Urgent Media Release
The
International Federation of Tamils (IFT) strongly condemns the
Reign Of Blind Terror imposed by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces on the
Academic Community in Jaffna, in which theVice
Chancellor of the Jaffna University, Deans of Faculties, Senior
Lecturers and Student Council Leaders were shot at, brutally
assaulted, and trampled on as they were peacefully heading
towards the office of the Peace Monitoring Commission on Monday, 19
December, to hand over a memorandum protesting against the recent
army and paramilitary atrocities perpetrated on the student
population and the civilians in Jaffna within the last two weeks.
The Member of Parliament for Jaffna, Mr Gajendran who was with
the marchers was also severely wounded in the army assault. Prof.
Perinpanathan of the Faculty of Humanities and Kandeepan, the
President of the Medical Students
Union were admitted to the hospital with gunshots. The bullet aimed
at the Vice Chancellor, Dr Mohanathas, whistled past, as he was
quick to fall flat on the ground along with the other marchers, at
the sight of impending danger.However, he and Prof Sivachandran were
severely butt-assaulted and subsequently rushed to hospital for
treatment along with many others.
The march from the university campus commenced at 10.30 in the
morning and progressed peacefully when the SL Army suddenly charged
at them without any warning or provocation, violating the civilian
right of ordinary citizens meeting with the Monitoring Commission
officials.
During the last two weeks, the Sri Lanka Armed Forces had organised
a round-the-clock watch on the Student Council Office in the
University, and threatened those who visited it. National Identity
cards, the Tamils are expected to carry wherever they travel in the
country, were confiscated by the troopers from students and
destroyed. Women students were threatened and harassed.
The situation in the Jaffna Peninsula was also deteriorating. There
were sporadic army assaults on civilians, attacks on auto-rickshaws
and sexual violence committed by them. A girl in her early teens,
was redeemed in time from a soldier, at the entrance of an army
camp, by an angry civilian crowd. Two women had been raped and
murdered.
The latest was a 20 year old girl, at Pungudutivu, an islet off
Jaffna on Saturday, 17 December. Her body was recovered from a
well outside the navy camp. The incident had provoked tension.
Relatives and friends travelling from Jaffna to attend the funeral
were waylaid and assaulted by state forces. Mourners at the funeral
service were also attacked.
The state military and paramilitary men had gone berserk in a
number of islands off Jaffna.
There have been night raids on Tamil homes in Colombo and other
Sinhala towns and hundreds, reason being Tamil, have been arrested
and detained without charges.
The IFT wishes to draw the attention of the International Community
to the gross violations by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces perpetrated on
the Tamil people. The IFT asks the IC to condemn the atrocities
committed by the Sri Lanka Forces.
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