1200 Tamils languishing under custody in Western Province - SL Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2008, 14:35 GMT]
Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) parliamentarian and a deputy minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, P. Rathakrishnan, has compiled a report with details of around 1,200 Tamil youths of both sexes, languishing in the detention centres and prisons in South after being arrested in Colombo and its suburbs recently. Mr. Rathakrishnan has told media that he would demand the advisory committee of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry to expedite the inquiries against the detainees and the police to ensure that innocent Tamil civilians are not harmed when enforcing 'law and order.'

The victims, most of them from north, east and upcountry, are detained in Boosa detention centre, prisons located in Kalutara and Welikada and in several police stations in the western province.

Due to the indiscriminate arrests by the police several families have been deprived of their breadwinners and have been suffering without any income to run their day to day life.

The Colombo district parliamentarian of the UPF has compiled a report with full particulars of those detained without inquiry, according to human rights sources in Colombo.

The Advisory Committee of the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry is to be convened shortly with Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake in the chair. The meeting is expected to be attended by the SL Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa, SLA Commander Sarath Fonseka, Inspector General of Police Jayantha Wickremaratne and several Deputy Inspector Generals of the police.