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Sri Lanka's Genocidal War - '95 to '01
"Human rights agencies have expressed concern over the indiscriminate and arbitrary arrests of Tamils in Colombo. Cordon and search operations were intensified in the run-up to the Armys Golden Jubilee celebrations on 10 October 1999.
During the first two weeks of October, over 2,000 Tamils were rounded-up in the Colombo suburbs of Narahenpita, Kotahena, Wellawatte and Grandpass and 100 were detained. Colombo region DIG TN de Silva says some of those detained did not have police registration or permits to enter Colombo.
In mid-October, the Committee of Inquiry into Undue Arrest and Harassment (CIUAH) indicated that it would investigate the mass arrest of Tamils....
Tamil MP R Yogarajan complained to the CIUAH that soldiers and policemen who arrested 60 Tamils on Armour Street in Pettah on 15 October failed to identify themselves and breached a CIUAH directive that debars demanding proof of police registration from the people.
Following the complaint, MP Yogarajan was questioned by the police, accused of using his influence to release six LTTE suspects from custody. Mr Yogarajan says that they had been arrested in the streets without any evidence of links with the Tigers.
At a meeting arranged by the CIUAH with senior police officers in early October, MPs pointed out that the police were not observing, among others, the following directives on police registration:
1) Photographs of applicants should not be demanded; 2) all members of the family should not be asked to come to the police station; 3) people coming to the station for police registration should not be finger-printed; 4) the police should not demand a Grama Sevaka (Village Headman) certificate; 5) the police should not limit the period of stay in Colombo...." (British Refugee Council publication Sri Lanka Monitor, October 1999)
