SL under flak for evicting Tamils from Colombo

Colombo, June 8: Sri Lanka's major political parties of all ethnic divide and human rights group have vehemently condemned the government's move to evict hundreds of ethnic minority Tamil civilians from the budget-lodges in the capital yesterday.

Although the police has defended this move as part of their programme to further strengthen the security measures in the capital city, which witnessed two claymore blasts a couple of weeks ago, the political parties and the rights group have condemned it as a gross violation of the country's Constitution.

Speaking in parliament in this regard, leader of the main Opposition United National Party (UNP), Ranil Wickremesinghe, said the eviction of Tamils from the capital was similar to the situations faced by Jews in Germany and Black Africans in the hands of Whites in the word's history.

'We are also concerned about the security of the country. If the government suspects anyone, they can produce that person before a magistrate and remand or release the suspect,'' Mr Wickremesinghe said.

The government defended the move and claimed that it facilitated the voluntary departure of the Tamils staying temporarily in Colombo lodges.

According to the government report, a total of 376 persons consisting of 291 males and 85 females have left for their homes in seven CTB (Ceylon Transport Board) busses in Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Jaffna and Trincomalee districts.

Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) slammed the government move describing as it a ''high-handed'' and ''foolish action'' that would promote the division of the country and cause further mistrust between the ethnic communities.

''Terrorism must be defeated, but it is essential that innocent Tamils are included in the fight to defeat terrorism,'' JVP parliamentarian, Anurakumara Dissanayaka said, adding that the latest move by the government would only create more room for the LTTE to carry out their activities and create more sympathy among the Tamil people for the them.

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader and Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Rauf Hakeem has said the situation was worse than the 1983 riots against Tamils in South as it was the State which is responsible for the act this time around.

Mr Hakeem said those who had come here for medical treatment or to send their relatives abroad had also become victims of yesterday's eviction.

In a joint appeal to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a group of NGOs and human rights groups complained that the criteria for their expulsion seemed to be determined arbitrarily by the police and the army and asked him to immediately halt the evictions.

''Even in some cases where lodgers were able to explain their presence here to establish their bona fides, were told that Tamils who were not permanent residents of Colombo and had no right to be in here or to leave,'' it said.

''While we are full cognisant of the current security situation and the need to maintain close surveillance of the city and its environs, in terms of the human rights principles that guide us in our work as human rights defenders, we are convinced that the above process is not capable of guaranteeing security,'' the groups said in the letter.

''We reaffirm the principle enshrined in the Constitution of Sri Lanka which guarantees all Sri Lankans the right to choose their own residence [temporary or permanent], and freedom of movement and maintain that what has taken place here today is a flagrant violation of this principle, and a disgrace to humanity,'' it said.

The local media rights group, the Free Media Movement (FMM) slammed the government action and said the eviction amounted to ethnic cleansing.

''Actions tantamount to ethnic cleansing is what we believe as the anti-thesis which is required to address the root causes of terrorism in Sri Lanka,'' the FMM said.

Meanwhile, some of the rights groups are organising a rally here in Colombo in protest of the government's move to evict Tamils from the capital city.

UNI

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