The Committee of Inquiry into Undue Arrest and Detention (CIUAH) says that only details of detainees in Colombo and Kalutara are being provided and has called for full details of detainees under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency regulations from the Commissioner of Prisons. CIUAH chairman and Justice minister Batty Weerakoon saw 48 Tamil detainees in Badulla prison during a recent visit, whose details have not been provided to the Committee. The CIUAH has proposed a committee of lawyers to visit prisons and collect information.
The CIUAH has expressed dissatisfaction over cases under the PTA and Emergency regulations dragging on for months and sometimes for years. The Committee observed that this was mainly due to security force witnesses failing to turn up for cases. CIUAH also noted that the police had no authority to refuse extension of permits to Tamils from the north-east visiting Colombo. Many complaints have been received that the police were refusing extensions and forcing people to return to their home areas.
The police say LTTE suicide squads form the north-east have entered Colombo to assassinate three government ministers. On 12 March, the police arrested four Tiger suspects in a house on Waidya Road in Dehiwala. A suspect who attempted to commit suicide by taking cyanide was rushed to hospital and saved. Police also found suicide kits and explosives in the house.
Security forces carried out cordon and search operations in Mt Lavinia and Dehiwala on the night of 16 March and detained 24 Tamils. Two days earlier, ten Tamils were taken into custody on Armour Street in Pettah commercial district and 14 Hill Country Tamils were arrested in Wattala, north of Colombo.
Batticaloa human rights lawyer Kanaga Namanathan was arrested at his home in Kallady on 18 March by a police team from Mt Lavinia and taken to Colombo. He had issued a certificate of character to a Tiger suspect arrested in Dehiwala. Batticaloa trader Rajaputhiran Sylvester, suspected of involvement with the suicide squad was also taken into custody the following day.