Jaffna University under military siege closed 

till December 1

 November 26, 2014

The University of Jaffna has officially been closed from today till December 1, after Sri Lankan army stepped up its presence and pressure on the university community, aiming to prevent any effort to mark LTTE Heroes’ Day commemoration which falls tomorrow.

According to reports from Jaffna, several hundreds of heavily-armed military personnel have taken full control of both the entrance of the university and ordered the entire students to vacate, even from their hostels. The military has also increased their foot patrol and random road checks in the area.

Having been informed of the reports that the students have, somehow, celebrated the 60 th birthday of the Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran today, hundreds of soldiers in military motorbikes entered the university premises and carried out a thorough search operation.

As tension grew, the University administration announced a week-long vacation for all the faculties from Wednesday till December 1.

“The University administration, unable to prevent the military from interfering with the academic activities of the students, have announced a week-long vacation for the entire units. Even the hostel students have been asked to vacate with immediate effect,” a Jaffna University staff told Colombo Mirror via phone.

“The University is out of bounds for the students and the staff. The military has taken full control of the area. Some soldiers have even got into the buildings in the neighbourhood and are monitoring the activities of the students in and around the area. The entire area looks like a battle-zone,” he said on condition of anonymity.

On Monday, hand-written posters carrying death threat against Jaffna University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) president Rajakumar and four students named Nivas, Thamilselvan, Ainkaran and Britto were found pasted in the vicinity of the university.

One poster in Tamil slang said “Will kill Nivas, Thamilselvan, Ainkaran, Britto and Rajakumar” while the other read “These people are reviving the LTTE. We will kill them. We will not allow Heroes’ Week commemorations”.

The LTTE Heroes’ week is annually commemorated on November 27. The Sri Lankan Security Forces in the past threatened, attacked and arrested several students activists for commemorating the LTTE’s Heroes’ Day.