Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangaree in a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa has raised several issues faced by the people in Jaffna including the presence of offices of a political party, adjoining check-points manned by the Army.

Anandasangaree said the people of Jaffna have innumerable problems and hardly anyone had attended to them. He strongly urged President Rajapaksa to listen to the problems of the civilians from various people without depending on one or two persons. I have nothing against any individual. But to what extent you can depend on one or two for matters relating to the North and whether you should also consult people like Mr. D. Siddarthan, Mr. T. Sritharan, me and such others is a matter for you to decide, he said in his letter.

Among other issues Mr. Anandasangaree said the main grievance of the people of Jaffna was the presence of offices of a political party, adjoining many check-points manned by the Army. This, they feel, curtails their freedom of movement and is also one of the reasons why and how certain culprits escape after committing offences. There is absolutely no need for any political party, especially with arms, to have too many offices here and there, giving opportunities for harassment of civilians, Mr. Anandasangaree said.

He also said one general complaint by many was that a political party forces people to buy their weekly.

Each paper cost Rs. 30. Army personnel at these check points have no control over these matters and the people buy the paper out of fear of the army who are normally very cordial in their movements with the civilians.

Mr. Anandasangaree also noted that detention orders served on suspects caused a lot of inconvenience and injustice to many.

I can assure you that if any one is arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting anybody, such person in most cases is innocent and in some cases acted out of fear for the LTTE and the real culprits slip out.

There are some unfortunate instances in which very old people and innocent ladies had been detained under detention orders for long periods. Serving of detention order in such cases, if avoided, will improve the relationship of the government with the civilians, to a great extent, he said.

During the past few years a lot of people, men and women, young and old, are either being killed or abducted by some unidentified persons, he said. The whereabouts of the abducted persons are not known.

Some people think that a few of them might have been detained somewhere by somebody illegally or legally by some Government Authority. Their expectations may not be true in all cases and may be true in respect of some.

To put an end to their agony and anxiety, kindly instruct all concerned persons to kindly disclose the names and addresses of all those who are in the custody of Government Authorities.

What the parents want to know is whether they are alive and in safe custody.

Hence kindly prepare a list of such persons and have it released to the press, Mr. Anandasangaree said.