
SLA denies livelihood to the Tamils in many ways
Livestock farmers unable to market large quantities of their ghee President of the Union of Livestock Farmers in Karaithuraipattruin in Mullaithivu, S Easwaran, lamented the inability of its members to market the large quantities of ghee they have produced hoping to send it to the rest of the island.
The blockade on lorry convoys placed by the SLA at the Omanthai checkpoint has made the transport of the ghee impossible thus denying these livestock farmers the badly needed income. The Union of Livestock Farmers lodged a complaint with the Mullaithivu Government Agent who promised to take the necessary steps to enable the transport of their ghee. However, to date no developments have taken place and the large quantities of bottled ghee sit in the farmers homes. Fishing in Vadamaradchi-Jaffna restricted to two hours by SLN The Sri Lanka Navy stationed in Vadamaradchi-Jaffna is permitting only two hours per day of fishing for the large fishing community in the area. Last week fishing was entirely banned for these fishermen for two days. Even prior to this fishing was permitted only for seven hours whereas the fishermen are used to fishing more or less 24 hours of the day depending on the season and the weather. The fishing restriction and other blockades on the Tamil fishing community have a long history that spans three decades and has been documented in a report by the North East Secretariat on Human rights. Tree climbers in Jaffna banned by SLA from gathering the tree produce SLA banned coconut and palmyrah tree climbers from Thenmaradchi, a large area in Jaffna, from gathering the produce from the trees. This is a traditional livelihood of the people. SLA banned this claiming that it is a security threat to their camps.
24 March 2008
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