Sri Lanka: Tamil prisoners end hunger strike

November 11, 2017
Issue 
Jaffna University students stage a hunger strike in solidarity with Tamil political prisoners.

Three Tamil political prisoners, who had been on hunger strike for 38 days, ended it on November 4.

The decision came after a delegation of Jaffna University Student Union leaders promised to build a grassroots campaign for the freedom of all political prisoners.

Tamilnet said the students and their supporters pledged to organise a “village to village information campaign”. By “mobilising the masses”, they aim to pressure Tamil members of parliament to make freedom for political prisoners a condition of support for the Sri Lankan government’s budget.

For the past two years, Tamil National Alliance MPs have unconditionally supported national budgets. This is despite the budgets including military spending at a higher level than during the Sri Lankan government’s war against the Tamil independence movement.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people protested outside Palaali miltary base in the predominantly Tamil Northern Province on November 5 over the refusal of the army to return stolen land.

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