SLA fire gunshots at protesters in Puthur, one civilian dead
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers fired several rounds of gunshots at a large group of Tamil civilians who were protesting in Puthur. A number of protesters were wounded, four were taken to the hospital and one man died after suffering severe injuries.
 Villagers began a full day of protesting after a SLA soldier entered the home of four women at 3:00 a.m. on 28 October. The soldier was accompanied by two other soldiers, all wearing civilian clothes. Following screams from the women, the soldiers were seen escaping to the Army camp nearby when the villagers chased them. Appalled by this incident, villagers began protesting outside of the SLA’s camp that the soldiers escaped to. 
From yesterday morning to evening, outraged protesters voiced their disbelief toward the horrendous actions of the SLA soldiers and demanded that the camp be removed. Protesters began burning tires and blocked roads surrounding the SLA camp, at the Puthur, Kanahampuliyadi junction. SLA soldiers retaliated and threw tear gas into the crowd and beat them with batons. As tension built up, Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and a few members of Parliament arrived at the site. SLMM officials were present at the time of the unrest, but did not suffer injuries. 
Among the women and elders who were injured, four who were treated for serious injuries were a woman named Iyankan Ponni (70), Niroshan (20), Christie Clemanto (33) and Sabapathy Nagalingam (36). Mr Nagalingam described his experience in an interview with Uthayan Newspaper. “In Puthur, a soldier entered my neighbor’s house when they were sleeping. They started shouting, so the other villagers and I gathered around the house. Then we went to the SLA camp and we demanded that the camp be removed. At 3:30 p.m., the villagers and I were talking to SLMM and at that time we heard the sound of a bomb blast coming from inside of the camp. Suddenly, the SLA began shooting at us and people ran away in different directions. I dropped to the ground, placed my hands together and pleaded, ‘don’t shoot!’ But they still shot at me and one bullet struck my fingers. The villagers who were with me took me to the hospital.” It is not known if any decisions or immediate steps were taken by the SLMM to handle the situation. In the meantime, several villagers have the fled the area.
29 October 2005
|
Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
Print this
Email this
more
