The Senior counsels of the Attorney General’s Department today (24) made submissions before the relevant courts in the Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Jaffna districts to prevent Maaveerar naal commemorations to be held this week.
On November 20 the Mannar Magistrates court imposed a ban on observing Maaveerar Naal across the Mannar district. The court passed a judgement effectively enforcing a ban on commemorative activities in Mannar from 21st to 27th November 2020, after Mannar Police filed a case requesting Maaveerar Naal remembrances to be prohibited. The order also specified that “all members of the general public are prohibited from taking part in Maaveerar Naal commemorations.” Police in the North have appealed to the relevant local district courts to prevent Maaveerar Naal commemorations this year.
Maaveerar Naal is a remembrance day observed by Sri Lankan Tamils to remember the deaths of militants who fought for the terror outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It is held each year on 27 November, the date on which the first LTTE cadre Shankar is said to have died in combat in 1982. Tamil political parties have insisted on marking the day even following the end of the war and the LTTE resulting in tussles with the Sri Lankan authorities.
