LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                23. June 1997

PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM
                                           
SLAVE LABOUR BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
	Human rights groups in Batticaloa have protested against STF
	commandos who are forcing Tamils as young as 16 to carry out
	(without pay) menial jobs at military camps. All males living
	near STF camps are summoned daily and allocated tasks - cleaning
	the compound, sweeping the yard, washing clothes and scrubbing
	soldiers' toilets. Any males failing to turn up at the assigned
	time each day are usually severely beaten. Even Tamil government
	employees and schoolboys are part of this "workforce". The
	practice of slave labour here is known of and approved by the
	Batticaloa police department.
	
	To hide human rights abuses against Tamils the Government of Sri
	Lanka bans the media from the Tamil North/East. It is worth
	mentioning that the so-called civilised world has not challenged
	this clear-cut and unambiguous violation of human freedom, even
	after two years of its implementation.
	
TAMIL NATIONAL DRESS TARGETED
	The all-Sinhala military occupying the wholly-Tamil Jaffna
	peninsula has banned Tamil men from wearing their Verti above the
	knee in their presence. An army order states that Vertis - part
	of Tamils' national dress - must be worn down to the ankles as a
	show of respect to Sinhala forces. While going for walks, it is
	more comfortable to wear the garment above the knee but this is
	no longer permitted in Jaffna. Thalaipa (or traditional Tamil
	head-cloths) are also banned when passing Sri Lankan military
	officers. Sinhala authorities say a bare head is also a sign of 
	"respect" towards the armed forces. Tamil school children are not
	exempt from this rule - they too must remove caps when passing
	soldiers. When travelling past army checkpoints, cyclists must
	dismount and remove head-gear, even if the checkpoint is empty,
	the military says.
	
DEMOLITION OF PULIYANKULAM ALMOST COMPLETED
	Sri Lankan troops at Omanthai fired artillery at the deserted
	entirely-Tamil town of Puliyankulam. The intention is quite
	clearly to wreck the town and make it uninhabitable so that the
	military can progressively corner the Tamil people. We remind
	observers that this tactic amounts to a contravention of the
	humanitarian law of armed conflict where Tamil civilians, their
	property and their livelihood have become the targets of Sri
	Lanka's indefensible military strategy.
	
SIX CIVILIANS INJURED IN TEMPLE-SHELLING
	Sri Lanka's army has shelled Tamil civilians attending a temple
	festival in Manal Aru, injuring six. The shells were fired from
	the army's Kent and Dollar camps. The six are now in hospital in
	a serious condition. The deliberate targeting of Hindu temples is
	another indication of the underlying racist component of Sri
	Lanka's strategy. A stagerring 600 Tamil-Hindu temples have so
	far been demolished by Sinhala forces since the
	Chandrika-government's military operations began.
	
SORRY PLIGHT OF TAMIL WOMAN IN COLOMBO JAIL
	Tamil mother of four Seevaratnam Ranjinimala (35) has been
	languishing in a Colombo jail since November last year. It was
	not until mid-January that she was produced before a magistrate.
	Two of her children - aged 11 and 5 - are imprisoned in a
	separate jail. Her two youngest - aged 4 and 9 months - are in
	the same cell as her. Her husband is in Kalutara prison. Mrs.
	Ranjinimala was arrested under Sri Lanka's archane Emergency
	Regulations, but even the procedures relating to these
	regulations are not being observed properly. She has filed a
	court case asking for the release of herself and her family. She
	also accuses the Sinhala prison authorities of carrying out
	torture.

Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road,
London E6 1BU, United Kingdom.  Tel:0181- 503 4294)