The relatives of the youths have not been given any information and their whereabouts remains unknown. According to reports, another person was also similarly arrested. On 18 June, S Nanthakumar was abducted in a white van at Madathady in Trincomalee District. Tamil MP Joseph Pararajasingham brought the new development to the notice of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe when they met in Colombo on 12 June.
Before July 2001, when Emergency was in force, Presidential Directives under Emergency regulations provided for the issue of arrest receipts and security forces were required to provide relatives information on the reasons for arrest and the place of detention. Thereafter, arrest and detention of LTTE suspects continued under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The ceasefire agreement of February 2002 provides that arrests will take place under normal law and not under the PTA. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure Act (CPC), there is no obligation for police to provide any information to relatives.
In terms of the CPC, a suspect must be produced before a Magistrate’s Court within 24 hours, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate. But the CPC does not say that the suspect must be produced before the Magistrate’s Court having jurisdiction over the area where the arrest took place. Some people arrested in the north-east are produced before the Magistrate’s Court in Colombo after several days and the police often claim that time was spent on travel.
Tamil killings in the east continued in June. The LTTE are suspected to be behind the killings, but the Tigers have again denied involvement. On the night of 6 June, Sinniah Samuel and his 18 month-old daughter Abisha were killed in a grenade attack at Arayampathy, three miles south of Batticaloa town. By-stander Sivagnanam Libina, 8, was wounded. Mr Samuel had worked for Tamil groups EPDP and EPRLF. The EPDP have complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that their cadres Samsudeen Asmin and Nallathamby Varathan were threatened with death by armed LTTE cadre in early June in Batticaloa.
As the Army and police intensified security operations, EPDP’s Ponniah Ramachandran was shot dead in Kallady on 15 June. Three others, including Yogaratnam Jilomi, were wounded in a grenade attack in the same area. The security forces re-introduced checks on roads leading to LTTE-held areas at Valaiyiravu, Chenkalady, Karuthapalam and Paddiruppu on 16 June.
Former EPRLF cadre Pakiyarasa Kumaranathan was shot dead at Veeramunai in Amparai District on 23 June. Four days later, EPDP supporter Nadesan Sutharsan was killed by two gunmen. Former Army intelligence officer Veerapathipody Punniyamurthy is missing from 23 June. His wife has made complaints to the ICRC and the SLMM. The EPDP office in Batticaloa came under grenade attack on 3 July, but no one was injured.
A hartal (general strike) took place in the Tamil areas of Batticaloa and Amparai districts on 12 June against continuing security force harassment and arrests. Observers in Batticaloa say that the LTTE-inspired hartal was launched mainly to demand the release of three Tiger members, including Thimilaitivu area political leader D Sathiyaraj. Schools and shops were closed and there were no bus services.
Mr Sathiyaraj was arrested on 5 June in connection with the murder of Razik Group member Kathirgamathamby Navasooriyam on 19 May. He was produced before the Batticaloa Magistrate’s Court and remanded. In retaliation, the LTTE abducted policemen AGN Senadheera and DS Nihal on 10 June in Chenkalady and say that they will be held until Mr Sathiyaraj is freed.
T Soundararajan was seriously wounded in an attack by the police Special Task Force (STF) on eight Tamil youths in Mandur on 12 June. The youths were on their way to Vellaveli to collect things for Navithanveli Kannagi Hindu temple. They were attacked after refusing to work in the STF camp in Mandur. Amparai MP Chandranehru has complained to the Defence Ministry demanding action against the offenders.
When hartal was observed in Tamil areas on 12 June, a grenade was thrown on a Muslim shop in Valaichenai town wounding four. M Hanifa, 41, and A Meerasaibu, 60, were seriously injured. In another grenade attack on 15 June, seven Muslims, including Atham Lebbe, 55, sustained injuries. A third bomb in Valaichenai town damaged a Muslim-owned shop on 26 June.