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Tension in north, east

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Tension gripped north and east on Wednesday as the proLTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) sought to enforce a bandh to protest the recent Supreme Court judgment ruling the temporary merger of the two provinces as invalid.

Independent reports suggest that while life was affected in areas under Tamil Tigers control, in the east there were sporadic incidents of violence.

Shopkeepers were caught between the pro and anti-bandh activists. TamilNet claimed that the "entire districts of north-east" came to a standstill following the bandh. "Very few vehicles plied the streets, shops remained closed, businesses and private institutions remained closed and the Tamil towns in Sri Lanka Army-controlled areas, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna were deserted, despite the threats by the SLA and paramilitaries," it said.

The military said it had "little to report" on the ground situation in view of the relative peace during the last 48 hours.

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