‘Security Forces not to blame for incidents in North’

Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne said in Parliament yesterday, that the Tamil National Alliance should not attribute all incidents taking place in the North to the security forces. He said that all their allegations have been unfounded and as a proportionate, very less incidents have been reported from the North, compared to the rest of the country. He said that there were some internal clashes within the TNA and some of those attacks might have been the result of those internal clashes.

He requested the TNA not to attribute all such incidents taking place in the North to the account of the security forces. He said the police and members of the security forces being involved in such attacks were unfounded.

He made these observations in Parliament yesterday in response to a special statement made by TNA MP R. Sampanthan under Standing Order 23 (2).

TNA leader Sampanthan said that the Government should take immediate action to stop violence directed against the Tamil people in the North.

He said the attacks on Tamil people had been taking place with the active support, sanction and collusion of the government.

The full text of speech: “On Saturday, March 30, 2013, a mob of around 50 persons who came in procession along the A9 highway carrying the national flag attacked a meeting held at the Tamil National Alliance office of S. Shritharan MP in Kilinochchi, by pelting stones. In addition to S. Shritharan MP, S. Senathirajah MP, E. Saravanapavan MP and M. A. Sumanthiran MP were present at that time.

The Members of Parliament were engaged in meeting with about 100 residents of Kilinochchi relating to matters of concern to the Tamil People. This attack took place in the presence of the Kilinochchi Police, who did nothing to prevent it, resulting in 13 people being injured and causing extensive damage to property.

This attack was recorded on video and camera and the persons involved are easily identifiable. However, not one person had so far been arrested in relation to this violence up to date, despite the presence of the police at the scene, when the attack took place. In fact, one assailant who was apprehended by those present at the meeting, was identified to be an officer of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lankan Police. He was handed over to the Deputy Inspector General of Police who arrived at the scene later, but was released shortly thereafter. Two others, who were similarly caught in the act and handed over to the Police, were promptly released.

“This is not the first time that such attacks had been carried out on TNA meetings. On June 16, 2011, Army personnel in full uniform, attacked a TNA local authority election meeting at Alaveddy in Jaffna, where five Members of Parliament were present. Although the assailants were in uniform and identifiable, to date no person has been arrested in relation to that incident. More violence had been unleashed against the people the day before the local authority elections at that time, particularly in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.

Army personnel had gone from house to house and confiscated National Identity Cards and Polling cards of the people and warned them not to vote for the TNA. I made a complaint to the Commissioner of Elections with full parliculars and consequently, some of those people had been able to vote and the TNA emerged victorious. During the Eastern Provincial Council election, several acts of intimidation, undue influence, misrepresentation, bribery and other malpractices had been committed by persons inclusive of security intelligence personnel, supporting the ruling party. These matters were brought to the notice of the President, the Commissioner of Elections, the Inspector General of Police and other authorities. However, no tangible action that could erase the impact of such misdeeds and ensure a free and fair election was taken, raising grave doubts in regard to the independence and integrity of the electoral, police and public service authorities entrusted with the duty of conducting elections.

Several other meetings and rallies too had been similarly disrupted and more recently, on February 15, 2013, military intelligence personnel disrupted a hunger strike by the Tamil people at the Durgai Amman temple premises in Tellipallai, which was also attended by the Leader of the Opposition. There too, persons who were arrested by the Police were released by the Army.

“Mr Speaker, you will observe that the common feature of all these attacks is that they have been carried out by or with the connivance of the security forces and the police and even though the assailants were identifiable, no arrests have been made. These are also carried out under the watchful eyes of the police. This is clearly indicative of the complicity of the authorities.

“The most recent attack was in the early hours of the morning on April 3, 2013, on the Kilinochchi distribution office of the Uthayan newspaper by armed assailants. Of the four staff members who were injured, one is in a serious condition. Property has also been damaged. The attack took place when a vehicle carrying copies of the newspaper for distribution arrived at the Kilinochchi office.

The incident is the latest in a series of brutal attacks on the Uthayan staff during the last few months. In December 2012, the Editor T. Premananth was hospitalized after military officers and plain-clothes policemen beat him repeatedly while he was covering a protest at the University of Jaffna. In January this year, an Uthayan employee who was distributing newspapers in Velvettithurai, had been attacked by four armed men who also torched his motorbike. The victim was admitted to hospital with a fractured arm. No arrests have been made in relation to any of these attacks. The Uthayan is an independent newspaper that publishes news, perhaps not palatable to the government. This demonstrates the lack of media freedom and the threat to freedom of expression in the country.

“These attacks on the democratic rights of the Tamil people of the freedom of association, freedom of opinion and freedom of expression in the North and East, are clearly carried out with the active support, sanction and collusion of the Sri Lankan Government.

They are a vain and counter productive attempt to suppress and persecute Tamils for their political aspirations. We call on the Sri Lankan Government to immediately stop the violence directed against the Tamil people. We reiterate that to prevent a non-recurrence of the past, Sri Lanka must expeditiously commence a meaningful and genuine process of reconciliation based on the ascertainment of the truth, ensuring justice and providing adequate compensation for the victims of violations committed by all parties.” he said.