The uniform of the Jaffna task force.
Jaffna’s Municipal Council task force will take to the streets wearing blue uniforms once more, announced the mayor of Jaffna after a case against him was dropped last month.
As the Nallur Temple Thiruvizha is underway and set to conclude with a grand chariot festival this week, Jaffna Mayor V Mannivannan said the blue uniforms that he was arrested over will be seen in public at the festival.
Manivannan was initially arrested by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) in April 2021, who claimed the uniforms worn by the task force were similar to those formerly worn by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tamil Eelam Police and were thus an attempt to resurrect the LTTE.
The uniform of the Tamil Eelam Police.
The arrest sparked global outrage at the time, with voices from around the world condemning it and all charges were dropped against him last month.
The task force which was formed with the aim of improving sanitation and to enforce penalties against environmental infractions will assist in monitoring the road rules and conduct activities to avoid traffic jams, as thousands of people are expected to attend the temple festival this week.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
