Batticaloa mobile communications cut off

Mobile communications in the Batticaloa district have been cut off as part of routine security measures for the ongoing military operations in Thoppigala and adjoining areas.However aid groups operating in the district have raised concerns over the move as they believed it might hamper communications between their staff operating on the ground.Although most UN operation heads in the North and East are equipped with satellite phones for communication purposes and most of the foreign and local ground staff depend on ordinary mobile phones to communicate with each other.

Aid groups and NGOs operating in Batticaloa said the timing of the breakdown in communication would severely hamper ongoing assistance programs for thousands of displaced people who are facing a serious food crisis.

“UN agencies including the World Food Program are now assessing the food and shelter situation for the war displaced and the lack of mobile communications is hampering the activities,” a UN official said.

However a military official told the Daily Mirror the move to curtail mobile communications was a procedure followed recently even in Jaffna when operations were launched to resist an LTTE attempt to infiltrate the peninsula.