Court directs AG to look into grievances of Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 12:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Wednesday directed the Attorney General (AG) to appoint a committee to look into the grievances, harassment and hardships suffered by Tamil people in Colombo and its suburbs due to the arrest and checks carried out by the government security forces, legal sources said. The Court issued the directive when a Fundamental Rights violation petition filed by the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) came up for inquiry.

The SC directed the AG to see that such committee has representatives of Justice Ministry, Police Department, and Attorney General Department.

The bench of the SC chaired by the Chief Justice Mr.Sarath N.Silva issued this directive to the AG when the counsel for the petitioner Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) brought to its notice that Tamil residents in Modera have been asked by the law enforcement authorities to reveal their bank accounts and balance money in their accounts in forms supplied to them.

The Counsel Mr.K.Sumanthiran further submitted to court that Tamil residents in Maradana have been told by government security forces that they could not stay in their location more than the stipulated period.