Heroes’ Day commemorations which take place during the 25th of 27th of November every year in Tamil-dominated North and East of Sri Lanka have been banned by court orders, “Tamil Guardian” reports.
Police have requested to ban the commemorations because of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Jaffna High court has confirmed the ban by dismissing four petitions challenging the prevention of commemoration events.
Kayts court imposes ban on Maaveerar Naal commemorations
An order was issued by the court yesterday evening under the Covid-19 Isolation Act after
Kayts police filed a case to ban any commemoration events. The police said they had received information that arrangements were being made to observe Maaveerar Naal in Velanani and Pungudutivu.
This follows a series of court bans across the North-East prohibiting Tamil people from taking part in Maaveerar Naal commemorations.
Mannar court imposes ban on commemorating Maaveerar Naal
The Mannar Magistrates court imposed a ban on observing Maaveerar Naal across the Mannar district.
The court passed a judgment yesterday that effectively enforces a ban on commemorational activities in Mannar from 21st to 27th November 2020, after Mannar Police filed a case requesting Maaveerar Naal remembrances to be prohibited.
Following the court order, Attorney S. Dineshan later confirmed the ban on “commemoration activities that fall under the court’s jurisdiction between November 21st to November 27” and revealed that the court imposed a specific ban and restraining order from Maaveerar Naal commemoration activities against five specific persons, including Vanni parliamentarian and Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) member, Charles Nirmalanathan.
The order also specified that “all members of the general public are prohibited from taking part in Maaveerar Naal commemorations.”
Dineshan added that the ban has been implemented due to the current restrictions in place due to COVID-19 and that violators of the order may be arrested.
See the full Mannar court order here.
Vavuniya Magistrate bans Maaveerar Naal commemoration
Vavuniya Magistrate Court issued orders today to ban eight persons from taking part in Maaveerar Naal commemoration activities next week. The Vavuniya Police notified that the order included multiple Tamil politicians from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), including TNPF parliamentarian and General Secretary Selvarajah Kajendran.
Earlier this week, Kajendran questioned the Sri Lankan police why they were surveilling and intimidating volunteers who were preparing Thuyilum illams ahead of Maaveerar Naal.
See the full Vavuniya court order here.
Further appeals
Sri Lankan police across the Tamil homeland have appealed to local districts court in an attempt to prevent Maaveerar Naal commemorations this year.
Petitions have been filed by Sri Lankan police citing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) as the reason to prohibit the Maaveerar Naal commemorations between 25th to 27th November in Jaffna.
A petition filed to oppose requests to deny Maaveerar Naal commemorations taking place this year, has been adjourned Jaffna High Court today.
HC dismisses four petitions challenging prevention commemoration events
Jaffna High Court today (20) dismissed four petitions challenging the efforts of the police to prevent LTTE commemoration events in the north.
The magistrate’s courts in Vavuniya and Mannar had issued injunction orders yesterday, preventing the organizing of commemoration events.
However, four petitioners had been put forward seeking a writ order to derogate the police’s actions, DIG Ajith Rohana said, issuing a statement. The Senior DIG and Health Services Director of the Northern Province were named as the respondents of the petitions.
The petitioners have told the court that commemoration events were scheduled to be held in the Northern Province from the 25th of 27th of November, the police spokesperson said further.
Additional Solicitor General Sumathi Dharmawardhane, Deputy Solicitor General Haripriya Jayasundara and State representing the Attorney General and Senior State Counsel Zaheera Bharri had presented submissions, representing the respondents.
The High Court had accepted the argument made by on behalf of the State, in line with the provisions of the 13th amendment of the Constitution, DIG Rohana added.
He went on to note that the verdict delivered by the high court is historical and the police will be taking legal action against any unlawful assemblies in view of commemorating LTTE cadres.