The Sri Lankan army has obstructed a group of Tamil activists laying the groundwork to commemorate the war dead by clearing the path to a cemetery in the North.
According to the provincial reporters, the road in front of the Kopai burial ground, Jaffna, was cleaned by volunteers on Wednesday, November 2, in order to mark the Tamil Heroes’ Day, which falls on November 27.
When a group of people including the deputy leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), and Member of Parliament Selvarajah Kajendren, were engaged in clearing the overgrowth in the midst of rain, soldiers have demanded they stop the work.
At the same time, photojournalists in Jaffna have filmed the army soldiers installing Buddhist flags on the road in front of the cemetery.
After police visited the site following a complaint by the TNPF to the Kopai police station army officers who arrived at the scene had asked the soldiers to leave the place.
A few years ago, during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime the Kopai Tamil Heroes cemetary was buldozed and a huge army base was built upon it.
Thereafter, commemorations were held on a private land in front of the Kopai army camp every year. Last year, security forces also had obstructed a group of people who were getting ready to mark the Tamil Heroes’ Day (Maveerar Naal).
The people who participated in the cleaning also said that army soldiers tried to intimidate the people who were clearing the area around the cemetery by filming the volunteers with their mobile phones.
According to the local residents of the Theravil area in Mullaitivu, the military behaved in the same intimidating manner when family members and villagers gathered at the Theravil Maaveerar Cemetery where about 7000 slain ex-LTTE members are buried.
