SLN arrested Vanni civilians held back in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 16:08 GMT]
Only five of the 92 civilians fleeing war in Vanni and arrested Tuesday by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on the seas of Point Pedro have been handed over to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camp in Kodikaamam Government Tamil Mixed School (GTMS) while the fate of the rest 87 civilians remains unknown, Kodikaamam sources said. None of the arrested civilians has been produced in Point Pedro Magistrate Court either until Wednesday evening. Independent sources in Jaffna said that civilians fleeing war from Liberation Tigers held areas coming into Vavuniyaa and Jaffna peninsula and arrested are subjected to intensive screening by the SLA and that many of them have disappeared without any trace, a trend that continues.

Information was given to Jaffna Secretariat Tuesday to make arrangements to shelter the 92 civilians arrested by SLN in Point Pedro, Secretariat officials said.

Only five of the above 92 civilians arrested have been handed over to the SLA detention camp in Kodikaamam GTMS while it is not known what had happened to the rest 87 civilians.

At present altogether 1600 civilians are detained in the SLA detention camps in Thenmaraadchi, 1030 in Mirusuvil Roman Catholic church premises and 570 in Kodikaamam GTMS.

Earlier, civilians fleeing war from Naakarkoayil in a boat had disappeared without any trace, sources in Vadamaraadchi said.

Meanwhile, government websites reported that 92 civilians fleeing war from Liberation Tigers held territory in Vanni being arrested by SLN on Point Pedro seas.

The arrested civilians are sometimes detained in the SLA camps first for three or four days where they are thoroughly screened and interrogated, the independent sources said.