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"To us
all towns are one, all men our kin. |
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"To us
all towns are one, all men our kin. |
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Sri Lanka's Genocidal War - '95 to '01
British Refugee Council, Sri Lanka Monitor reported in its December 2000 issue:
Arbitrary
arrests and Detention
"Reports say that arrests by security forces have increased in Jaffna since LTTE�s Great Heroes Week in November. Ten youths were taken into custody in early December. Jaffna NGO, Human Development Centre�s Nishali Selvalingam was detained, but was released in early December...
A team from the police Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) arrested three people in the east on 20 December, including Kalmunai teacher D Sathiyamurthy, and took them to Colombo. Relatives say no reasons were given for the arrests and have informed the Human Rights Commission (HRC). Between January and November, the HRC received complaints on the arrest of 207 young Tamils in Amparai District. Eleven have disappeared. In Batticaloa and Amparai districts, 418 youths were in detention in December.
The government appointed a new Committee of Inquiry into Undue Arrest and
Harassment (CIUAH) in mid-December. The nine-member Committee will again be led
by Lakshman Jayakody and include the new Justice minister Batty Weerakoon and
other ministers - GL Peiris, SB Dissanayake, Lakshman Kadirgamar and Douglas
Devananda.
The Committee will receive complaints on illegal detention under the Prevention
of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency regulations, delay in cases, harassment by
security forces during and after arrest, non-issue of arrest receipts, police
registration, holding relatives as hostages and problems faced by people from
north-east Sri Lanka.
In a complaint to the CIUAH, six Tamil youths in Kalutara prison say that they
are in detention for a long period even after the Attorney General (AG) informed
courts that there is no evidence to prosecute them. S Suthakaran was arrested at
Valvettiturai in Jaffna in August 1999 and is currently held in Kalutara. The AG
informed court in February 2000 that there is no evidence to institute action
against him.
Batticaloa Technical College lecturer S Thiyagarajah says that he is held in
Kandy�s Bogambara prison since his arrest on 18 July. He was not informed of the
reasons for the arrest and was produced in court only on 10 November. According
to the Defence Ministry, 436 Tamils, including 64 women, were arrested under the
PTA in 2000 and cases have been filed against 350. Other reports say over 4,000
Tamils are in custody, most without trial, under the PTA and Emergency
regulations..."
Mannar Catholic Bishop Rayappu Joseph has condemned the Special Task Force for attacking civilians in Kathankulam, north of Mannar town, on 25 December. The STF is reported to have shot dead a youth and forced people out of a cinema to identify him. When they could not identify the dead youth, the STF began attacking, injuring some of them. The Bishop says that he would be complaining to President Chandrika...
In Vavuniya District, the Airforce shot dead A Kamalanathan and S Sivakumar on 11 December at Poovarasankulam, alleging that they were LTTE members. Cheddikulam resident K Selvakumar, 42, was abducted from his house on 15 December and murdered. As a group allied to the Army is suspected, the Vavuniya court ordered the military commander to co-operate in investigations...
