Punani
| Punani, Punanai | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| State : |
 Sri Lanka
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| Province : | Eastern Province | ||
| District : | Batticaloa | ||
| Next city: | Batticaloa , Polonnaruwa | ||
Punani , also Punanai ( Tamil : புனானை) is a settlement in the east of Sri Lanka in the Batticaloa district, which is mainly inhabited by Tamils .
Punani is located on the A 11 national road and on the railway line between Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa near the border of the respective districts, a few kilometers east of Welikanda.
Civil war
The Trincomalee district directly to the north was largely controlled by the LTTE . There was a reception camp for the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) , which was set up to accommodate the Tamil civilian population from the northern region around Vakarai, which was part of the conflict zone in the civil war that lasted until May 2009 .
In December 2006, according to the army, between 1,500 and 2,000 Tamils fled to the reception camps in Punani and other places in the area, prompted by the army. Previously, in July 2006, artillery fire was reported from the Punani army base in the direction of Vakaneri, which is about 10 kilometers east of the coast. According to observers, the army was located in an undisturbed area of operations in the fight against the LTTE, and the army was accused of abusing the civilian population by the LTTE as human shields. Attacks by both parties in the Punani area have also occurred before.
According to an aid organization, several hundred refugees from Punani returned to the Vakaneri region in March 2007. In April 2008, however, there were still 21,201 internally displaced people in the entire Batticaloa district.
The third fighting party, which fell out over a leadership dispute with the LTTE in 2004, was the Karuna rebels, who were also responsible for attacks in the Welikanda-Punani region.
leopard
Punani became notorious for a man-eating leopard who killed at least 12 people in 1924 before he could be shot.
Once widespread across the country, there may only be a few hundred leopards of the subspecies Panthera p. kotiya in protected and remote areas in the north and east and in national parks. There must have been a large number of leopards in Sri Lanka in the 19th century. Between 1872 and 1899 alone, 8473 animals were officially shot, for which a reward was paid. Around 1900, when around half of the country was still covered with forest, the number of leopards was estimated at 1660. Reasons why wild leopards in Sri Lanka are now threatened with extinction include the decline in natural forest areas, illegal hunting for their fur, and the use of agricultural pesticides which accumulate in the food chain.
Leopards only become cannibals in exceptional cases. Reasons may be old age or the loss of teeth, which limits the ability to grab the usual prey.
literature
- Christopher Ondaatje: Man-Eater of Punanai: A Journey of Discovery to the Jungles of Old Ceylon . HarperCollins, New York 1992, ISBN 0002157470
Individual evidence
- ^ Another message from November 2006: Sri Lanka Frontline: LTTE preparing for massive attack in the East. Nov 2, 2006
- ↑ The Nation: Vakarai under siege: December 17, 2006
- ↑ days long flight through the jungle. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Dry Lands Project . December 22, 2006, accessed January 6, 2018.
- ^ Peace Secretariat of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam: LTTE Batti-Amparai Political Head Kaushalyan killed in ambush in Punani. Feb 8, 2005
- ^ CHA Situation Report Eastern Province (Ampara & Batticaloa). May 2007 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 75 kB)
- ↑ IASC: Situation Report 122. 10. – 17. April 2008 ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Rediff.com: Prabhakaran's eastern challenger. March 9, 2004
- ^ Dan Mc Dougall: Human cost of Sri Lanka's jungle battles. The Observer, April 1, 2007
- ↑ Christopher Ondaatje: The true story behind the Man-Eater of Punanai. Daily Mirror, March 27, 2007
- ^ The Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust: The Leopard Project.
- ↑ Manrecap.com MANRECAP: The Leopard. ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
