| The Tamil National Alliance yesterday claimed that attempts were being made to crimp its campaign in the Kilinochchi district after the authorities clamped stringent security restrictions on their movements in the area.
The TNA’s Suresh Premachandran alleged that while candidates from other parties, including those from the UPFA were allowed a free hand in the area, his party was treated differently.
He claimed that there were clandestine moves by interested parties to disturb the TNA campaign in the area, since it has a strong support base and the opponents are aware of this.
He added that the TNA had already made strong representations to the Election Commissioner’s office to no avail.
According to Mr. Premachandran, military permission has to be sought each day to enter the area for campaigning and this takes much time owing to red tape and formal procedures.
“However this is not the case with the other parties who have even pitched camp in the area to carry out their election campaign. It is a clear case of victimization,” Mr. Premachandran said.
Military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe said that since this was a political issue he was not free to comment on it. “However should the Elections Commissioner makes representations in this regard then we could look into the matter,” he added. Keerthi Tenakoon with the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) confirmed the TNA problem in Kilinochchi adding that Elections Chief Dayananda Dissanayake had been notified.
He said that similar situations existed in other parts of the country as well where certain candidates and parties had given up campaigning owing to threats and intimidation. He cited Nawalapitiya as the worst affected, where even senior ministers are not been allowed to campaign in the area by a person from the same party.
“Other affected areas are Kurunegala, Galle and Matara”, Mr. Tennakoon said.
Meanwhile some 70 election-related incidents including violence, intimidation and the abuse of state resources have been reported since the close of nominations on February 26, he said.
The bulk of the incidents involved clashes between supporters of candidates belonging to the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), he further said. |
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