Sri Lankan students held

Tue, 16 Jan 2001, 00:00 WIB | Source: REUTERS

COLOMBO (Reuters): The Sri Lankan army has detained nine
university students in northern Jaffna amid a campaign to push
the government to match a unilateral ceasefire declared by Tamil
separatists, the government said on Monday.

The detentions come before a proposed rally in Jaffna city on
Wednesday, at which students said they planned to pressure the
government to agree to a ceasefire called last month by the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

A government statement said the students were taken into
custody on Saturday about eight km north of Jaffna "whilst
pasting posters and distributing printed material pressurising
the government to declare a ceasefire on the LTTE".

Under Sri Lanka's tough emergency regulations, in force almost
continually since the war started in 1983, police and the
military have wide powers of arrest and detention.

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