Searches in Colombo instill fears among Colombo resident Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2010, 02:18 GMT]
The re-commencement of registration of Tamils with the police and targetted search operations have created a renewed sense of insecurity and injustice amongst the larger Tamil population that is detrimental to national reconciliation, said Democratic People's Front Leader Mano Ganesan, according to Colombo media. Ganesan has requested Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa to intervene to halt the police registration of Tamils in the Wellawatte Police division in Colombo saying that the searches are discriminatory and against the spirit of reconciliation.

Earlier, the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka in a statement noted that "the practice of registering Tamils and security search operations of private residences even late at night were carried out during the period of war and terrorism. Today more than 14 months have elapsed since the war ended, and there have been no acts of militancy or terrorism in this period that would necessitate a revival of the harsh measures of the past. Two months ago Sri Lanka's Parliament approved the repeal of a large number of emergency laws which was projected worldwide as a sign that normalcy had returned to Sri Lanka," the NPC statement noted.

Responding to a query from the media last week the Police spokesman said that action was taken under the Police Ordinance in this respect.

NPC statement said, "The Police Ordinance gives power in respect of detection and prevention of crime. It cannot be applied in an ethnically discriminatory fashion."