In what is seen as retaliation for Channel 4 broadcast Tuesday, the genocidal SL Army occupying Jaffna brutally attacked TNA parliamentarians, journalists and public in Jaffna on Thursday, causing injuries to an unspecified number of people, according to initial reports. The blatant attack by SL Army in uniform took place when the TNA politicians held a meeting at A’laveddi in Jaffna, inaugurating their political campaign for the forthcoming civic elections. Tension prevailed as SL Army was deployed in the area and the public that came for the meeting sought asylum in the nearby houses. “British diplomats satisfied with Army’s role in Jaffna,” said a website of the occupying Army on Tuesday, after the visiting Deputy High Commissioner of UK announcing ‘reintegration’ of ex-LTTE combatants in detention through the occupying Army.
The Attack took place around 6:30 p.m., when Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr. E. Saravanabhavan was addressing the public meeting held at Chaiva Mahajana Chapai Hall at A’laveddi.
TNA parliamentarians Maavai Senadhiraja, A Vinayagamoorthy and S. Sridharan were also present on the occasion.
Around 15 SLA soldiers in uniform entered the hall and attacked the participants with rifle butts and batons.
Photographer of Uthayan, and staff reporter of Thinakkural were among the injured, while senior staff reporter of Uthayan narrowly escaped.
Unconfirmed reports said TNA paraliamentarian Sritharan was beaten by the SL soldiers, but the TNA sources declined to confirm whether any of their parliamentarians were subjected to attack at the meeting.
The crowd dispersed seeking refuge in the neighbouring houses.
A large number of troops were deployed in the area to search the houses. The occupying Army, using the registry it conducted on families in Jaffna, identified outside public that found refuge in the neighbouring houses, and took them away.
Journalists at the site requested not to contact them over mobile phone.
Meanwhile, TNA MPs rushed to the SL Police station in Thellippazhai to lodge a complaint on the episode. They were seen picketing the police station.
The SL Police on Wednesday harassed the Chaiva Mahajana Chapai for providing the hall for the meeting.
Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, the commander of the occupying SL Army in Jaffna had recently told Mr. Saravanapavan MP that he was not worried about TNA MP Suresh Premachandran’s complaint at SL Parliament seeking inquiry over alleged threats by Hathurusinghe.
The SLA commander had claimed in an interview to a local media that Suresh Premachandran MP was attempting to provoke uprising among the people and had come with a veiled threat that the SLA was prepared to arrest Mr. Premachandran. Later, his assistant Ramesh was attacked allegedly by the SLA.
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