TNA files HR petition against forced registration in Killinochchi, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2011, 03:17 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance Tuesday filed a fundamental rights violation petition in the Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court against the forced registration of the districts of Jaffna and Killinochchi by the Sri Lanka Army. Parliamentarians Maavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachchandran, Appathura Vinayagamoorthy and Easwarapatham Saravanapavan of the Jaffna district and Sivagnaam Sritharan of the Killinochchi district have signed the petition. The petition was filed by Attorney-at-Law Mohan Balendra, legal sources in Colombo said.

Defense Secretary Gotabahaya Rajapakse, Jaffna Security Forces Commander Mahinda Hathurusinghe, Army Spokesman Udaya Madawala, Jaffna Government Agent Ms Imelda Sukumar and the Attorney General are the respondents.

The petitioners have sought the immediate intervention of the court to stop the alleged forced registration of the residents and photographing for a mandatory fee of Rs.100 per person.

The petitioners have said the residents of Killinochchi district are being forced by the security forces to sign forms printed and written in Sinhala language.

The petitioners further said in their petition that the forced registration of residents of the two districts, singling out them from citizens from other parts of Sri Lanka, is tantamount to degrading them to the level of common criminals and thus violating their right to freedom enshrined in the Constitution.