Sri Lankan Tamil party accuses army of attacking its election meeting

Sri Lankan Tamil party accuses army of attacking its election meeting

2011-06-18 08:55:56 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAFFNA, SRI LANKA (BNO NEWS) -- Sri Lanka's major Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), said on Friday that the army attacked some of its members and disrupted an election rally in the country's north, the Colombo Page reported.

TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah told the media that more than 100 soldiers entered Alawetti College in Jaffna on Thursday night where the meeting was being held and said the party could not hold a meeting. The soldiers then allegedly forcibly removed the microphones and assaulted the participants, including police bodyguards of the legislators who had intervened.

Military spokesman Major General Ubhaya Madawela, however, said that he was not aware of such an incident. According to Sri Lanka police, two police teams have been deployed to probe the incident.

The aim of the meeting was to introduce the party's candidates for the forthcoming local government elections in Jaffna.

Sri Lanka was involved in a bloody civil war between the government and the Tamil Tigers from July 1983 until May 2009, killing as many as 100,000 people. Both sides have been accused of war crimes and other human rights violations.

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