The village level Rural Development Societies (RDS), which have started functioning again, especially in the agricultural areas of Vanni mainland, have been subjected to harassments by the occupying SL military in recent days. On the one hand, the Sri Lankan authorities have gone on record as if they were encouraging the re-emerging RDS societies, and on the other hand, the SL military is curbing the activities of the rural development organisations. The SL military has instructed the RDS societies not to conduct any meeting without securing permission in advance from the nearby military camps. In the meantime, female members of the families of former LTTE cadres and even the temple deities face sadistic treatment from the occupying Sinhala military, say civil sources in Ki’linochchi district.
Recently, a Sri Lankan military commander dispersed a meeting by the RDS of Pa’n’nan-ka’ndi (Pannangka’ndi) village in the Karaichchi division of Ki’linochchi district, stating that prior permission to conduct the meeting had not been secured by the RDS representatives. The SL soldiers photographed each of the attendees of the meeting on the spot, civil sources in Karaichchi told TamilNet. The organisers of the meeting were later summoned to the camp and threatened.
Even the Saiva deities in the temples need advance permission from the occupying Sinhala military to be taken around the outer perimeter of the temples during festivals, civil sources said, citing a recent episode at Ira’naimadu temple where the festival was interrupted and the deity was ordered to be taken inside the temple.
Former LTTE members, who have been released by the SL military after custody, are being harassed for a long time. Some of them have been abducted and the families are instructed not to give away details of such abductions.
But, in a new development, the wives and family members of the former LTTE members who are still detained at undisclosed locations, are being repeatedly summoned to SL military camps and are being harassed in the name of questioning. Their frequent visits forced by the occupying military also cause social stigma to them, the sources further said.
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