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Hartal cripples North-East
A Tiger guerrilla backed hartal paralysed life in the Northern and Eastern provinces yesterday with burning tyres, black flags and mournful music.

Jaffna yesterday: Scene opposite the main Army garrison of the 511 Brigade as the LTTE-instigated hartal was unleashed. Pic by our Jaffna correspondent

The exercise aimed at protesting against the killing of seven persons by the Police Special Task Force in Kanchankuda on Wednesday and the killing of three people in Trincomalee on Friday left shops closed, streets deserted and transport at a standstill.

The day of mourning was called for by the LTTE through an announcement on the Voice of Tigers clandestine radio on Friday night but the hartal was organised in various districts by front organisations.

Reports from the Jaffna peninsula said the movement of security forces was virtually blocked with burning tyres and logs put across the access road to the main Palaly military complex.

The hartal paralyzed life in the Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar districts and the LTTE controlled Wanni region while in the east, all districts were paralysed, except for Trincomalee where an 18-hour curfew was lifted yesterday morning allowing shops and market places to open for business and buses also started running.

Reports from Trinco said the hartal and the day of mourning would be observed there today. The A9 road which links the Jaffna peninsula to the south was closed for traffic yesterday while the only buses which moved out from Vavuniya were those that came from other parts of the country.

Yesterday's protest was contrary to an assurance given by the LTTE earlier that it would not hold any hartals.

But Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Spokesperson Teitur Torkelsson said that although the LTTE and the Government promised not to instigate hartals a few months ago, they were apparently not able to exercise control when the people staged hartals.

However, reports said yesterday's hartal was clearly called by the LTTE. Reports from Mannar said shops were closed and streets deserted. The people there were also commemorating the death of senior LTTE member Victor who was killed at Adampan in Mannar in 1986.

TNA frontliner Joseph Pararajasingham said a peaceful hartal was held in Batticaloa district yesterday and would be continued today. He expressed the hope that the hartal would not harm the peace process.

Reports from Ampara which was rocked by Wednesday's killings said the hartal crippled normal life. Road blocks had been placed at the Karaithivu junction with barbed wire blocking the main road while similar blocks had been placed in other areas .

Our Trincomalee correspondent Sinniah Gurunathan reported that the town was limping back to normalcy yesterday following the lifting of the curfew. State and private buses ran yesterday but trains from Colombo were terminated at Kantalai, 24 miles from Trincomalee, as the track beyond that had been damaged.

Top Army and Police officers were also in Trincomalee to direct security operations and conduct investigations. The funerals of the three people killed in the Trinco violence on Friday will take place today at the Trincomalee Hindu cemetery.

TULF General Secretary and Trincomalee parliamentarian R. Sambanthan, while asking for a full probe, also sought compensation for the families of the victims.

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