The Supreme Court has noted the principle laid down in the Sri Lankan Constitution that ‘no person shall be arrested except according to procedures established by law’ and has ruled in cases of detention under Emergency regulations that there must be reasonable grounds for suspecting a person.
Human rights agencies have protested for several years about arbitrary arrests and degrading treatment of Tamils. Thousands of Tamils were taken into custody in March and April in Colombo and surrounding areas. The AG’s intervention came after a meeting with Tamil political parties and Hindu religious organisations who demanded that arrest and detention should be strictly in accordance with the law and presidential directives providing safeguards to detainees should be observed.
Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leaders M Sivasithamparam and Neelan Tiruchelvam, giving evidence before the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission on 9 April, pointed out that fundamental rights of Tamils in Colombo were being violated with impunity and arrests take place, in many instances, despite possessing all the necessary documents, solely on the basis of ethnicity.
Some 2,000 Tamils were arrested on 31 March in Kotahena, Pettah and Kochchikade suburbs, including over 500 women. In April, a large number of Tamils were taken into custody in Colombo, Dehiwala and Wattala. Those arrested in Dehiwala in early April say they were beaten up by the police and warned not to inform the ICRC about the assault. They were also paraded before thalayattis or masked informers. Kotahena suburb was searched on several occasions in the night and many were detained, including a number of people residing and working in the city.
As the 14 April Sinhalese and Tamil New Year approached, the security forces launched large-scale search operations. Police say the operations were to detect hidden weapons, following information provided by four LTTE suspects in custody, to launch an attack on the Telecom headquarters in Fort suburb. The police plan to introduce public video surveillance in the streets of Colombo.
Lodges which provide cheap accommodation for people arriving from the north-east were also searched. A woman who lives in a Kotahena lodge says her two daughters had been arrested for the second time. A new police rule introduced on 1 April requires those staying in lodges to complete a form with a photograph certified by the Grama Sevaka (Village Headman) of the area, in addition to police registration. A copy of the form will be retained by the lodge owner. A committee headed by Social Services minister Premalal Dissanayake has recommended the establishment of a hostel in Colombo which can hold 5,000 people from the north-east.
Speaking in Parliament on 22 April, Justice minister GL Peiris said that the government plans to issue special identity cards to Tamils arriving from the north-east, to distinguish them from Tamils living permanently in Colombo. Observers say the new plan will have no effect while impunity among security forces remains.
A Hill Country Tamil student from Liyangahawela in Badulla District was arrested in late April at Galaha in Kandy District while on a visit to attend a wedding. At the time of the arrest, the student had with him, his National Identity Card (NIC), an identity card issued by the National Youth Services Council and a school identity card. The police detained him for a week without informing his parents before producing him in court.
On 1 May, Inspector General of Police WB Rajaguru announced new rules for replacing lost NIC, passport or driver’s licence for people from the north-east. Hitherto, north-east people could, if a document is lost in the south, lodge an entry at the nearest police station and with a certified copy of such entry apply for a new document.
According to the new procedure, the person who loses the document will be required to complete a special application form, a copy of which will be sent to the police station where the applicant permanently resides. A certified copy of the entry will be provided only on receipt of approval from such a police station. There is dismay over the new procedure which will lead to long delays. People from LTTE-held areas, where there are no police stations, will be particularly affected.
Tamil MP Joseph Pararajasingham, speaking in Parliament in April, highlighted the widespread police involvement in bribery in the arrest of Tamils. Mr Pararajasingham also said that Tamils arriving from other countries at the Colombo airport were treated differently and harassed and that he was aware of detention of Tamil youths from abroad on the unsubstantiated allegation that they were involved in raising funds for the LTTE.