As women living in Mannar, we are often subjected to military checks. Sometimes we have sanitary napkins inside our bags. Even if there are new packets that have not been even open, the army asks us to open the packet and show it. They make indecent jokes and make us uncomfortable.
My husband is a fisherman. On a day when they were not allowed to go to sea, I went to the naval base to ask why. Then the military officers scolded me saying that ‘this is our president, our country, we will only let you go to sea if we want.’
I make an income by home-gardening. One day the soldiers from the navy base came and asked me to give all the vegetables to them. I said I live by selling them, I can’t just give them away for free. Then they said that you will not be allowed to sell after this. There are barber shops, cloth shops, vegetable shops, and restaurants belonging to the navy everywhere. There is no room for ordinary people to trade in this area because of the army.
Baskaran Parvathy
Mannar
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