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Court imposes ban on Maaveerar Naal commemoration in Jaffna University

File photograph: Maaveerar Naal marked at the University of Jaffna in 2018.

Following an injunction filed by Kopay police, the Jaffna Magistrate Court imposed a ban on the commemoration of Maaveerar Naal by members of the University of Jaffna on Friday.

The ban order was issued to the defendants of the injunction earlier today. Amongst those mentioned in the ban include the President and the Secretary of the Jaffna Students Union and members of the college administration. 

The court cited the possibility of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the event of mass gatherings for commemoration as the reason behind its ban. 

Army troops and the police have been heavily deployed in the vicinity of the premises of Jaffna University in order to prevent any commemoration from taking place. 

This move is the latest in a string of orders by Sri Lankan courts banning the remembrance of the Tamil soldiers who lost their lives in the struggle for an independent state.  

Court orders have been complemented with an inordinate deployment of military troops in civilian areas in an attempt to obstruct all remembrance ceremonies and intimidate the Tamil population. 

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