Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Sri Lankan intelligence officers remove banner at renovated Thileepan memorial

Sri Lankan intelligence officers have removed a banner that was erected at the Thileepan memorial in Jaffna, following a decision by the Jaffna Municipal Council to declare it a “holy site”.

The site, located in Nallur, Jaffna, had been destroyed by the Sri Lankan military. Earlier this year, the Jaffna Municipal Council decided that they would renovate it, with plans that the monument will be rebuilt to its former design, which originally included a 23-foot pillar.

This week, photographs of Lt. Col. Thileepan had been placed at the site, alongside a banner in Tamil, English and Sinhala, explaining his 1987 hunger strike. However,  Sri Lankan intelligence personnel had removed the banner early on Thursday morning.

Construction workers  who were putting up a fence around the destroyed memorial were harassed by intelligence officers earlier this month, as security forces attempt to stifle plans to commemorate Lt. Col. Thileepan’s fast next month.

Lt. Col. Thileepan, a political wing leader of the LTTE fasted to death, appealing to the Indian government to honour pledges made to the Tamil people. He died on 26 September 1987 while on hunger strike.

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.