The comedy of errors that was enacted in Colombo last week was a dark one, which exposed the ugly malignancies of racial discrimination that poison our nation.
As the trauma of the lodger eviction unfolded, an opposition parliamentarian moved some 600 Tamil lodge residents into Kovils in Wellawatte and Pettah to prevent them from being forcibly sent back to the north east. MP T. Maheswaran who tore his shirt in parliament in a show of solidarity with the evicted lodges, moved in swiftly to alleviate the circumstances of more than 300 Tamil lodge inmates whom the government decided to ‘remove’ from Colombo, a move that was roundly condemned within hours.
Tamil civilians were evicted from lodges in Colombo being cited as threats to national security. They were carted to temporary shelters in the north only to be brought back on the orders of the President 24 hours later. The police evictions resulted in an unprecedented outcry which was in dire contrast to the indifferent reactions seen in the face of human rights violations in the recent past.
However, the judiciary seemed to have reacted swiftly against the blatant discrimination targeted at one segment of Sri Lankan citizenry with the Supreme Court ordering an immediate halt to the evictions. President Mahinda Rajapaksa too has called for a report from Inspector General of Police as to the circumstances that led to the forceful evictions of Tamils from Colombo. In the aftermath of the overwhelming condemnation from the international community, led by the United States, civil society organisations and the media, the Rajapaksa regime seemed, at least for the moment, listened to saner council on not to further jeopardise its already stained position in the eyes of the international community and its own people.
Meanwhile it has been reliably learned that the evictions were carried out on the orders of a defence advisor whose name had surfaced with regard to the murder of five Tamil students in Trincomalee in January 2006. The latest drama began on Thursday June 7 when police escorted over 350 Tamils residing in lodges in the Pettah and Wellawatte areas. According to the Police these individuals had failed to prove their identity and also not been able to provide a valid reason to remain in Colombo. They were herded to five buses and sent off to Vavuniya and Trincomalee. The IGP has sort to justify this action by stating that these people were posing a security threat to the capital and that most of them had in fact volunteered to go back to their home towns in the north and east.
The lodge owner of Uthaya Rest in Wellawatte said 12 Tamil lodgers were taken away from his lodge out of which six people returned later. “When the police came and said that they had orders to remove people who are overstaying in Colombo without any valid reason we couldn’t do anything, except to let the police do their job. They didn’t force anyone, but when the police told them to go what else can they do but to leave. What happened was sad, but more than that it was terrifying.” said the lodge owner.
On Thursday when the police evicted over three hundred Tamils from Colombo, they came in search of “unauthorised” residents to Wellawatte too. At Uthaya Rest a family of four were evicted and sent to the north. The breadwinner of this family had worked at the Jaffna Municipal Council before coming to Colombo with his wife and daughter in search of his son who was taken in to custody. The son had come to Colombo about a month ago to get married to his fiancé who is in Canada. She was expected arrive in Colombo. The family had attempted to get their son released from custody but when, on Thursday, the police arrived they were not able to produce any documents to validate their stay. Therefore they were ordered to leave Colombo. They came back on Saturday, when they were told that they could return. They also received the news that the bride was waiting in earnest for the wedding to take place.
A 67 year old woman, who is suffering from high blood pressure, staying in Ideal Guest Inn in Wallawata said, “I came to Colombo to go abroad. I have two sons. One is in Canada and he said that he would sponsor me and told me to come there. And when the police came I asked them to let me be. I said that I had the immigration letters to go to Canada but they didn’t listen or look at any of my documents. I fainted in Vavuniya because I’m sick and the Vavuniya police said that I could sleep in the bus. At least they were kind enough to do that”.
Another lodger, a 46 year old man, who has come to Colombo with his son, with the intention of sending him abroad, was taken to Vavuniya. The tragedy of this story is that he was sick and was only discharged from hospital a few days ago. He said, “I contacted Chikungunya and was hospitalised. I had to pay a bill amounting to Rs, 34,000. I came to Colombo to send my son abroad because at present, in Sri Lanka, it is very hard for a Tamil boy to find a job. I showed my medical reports, but they didn’t listen. We were taken away. We don’t know where exactly it was. First we were told it was Jaffna, then Trincomalee and finally ended up in Vavuniya.”
The evictions however, brought about an unprecedented outcry from all segments of the political divide except from the government. Even the JVP, ardent supporters of the government’s military campaign against the LTTE, was clear with their position. JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated in parliament that the JVP’s support for the government was to fight terror and not to harass innocent Tamil civilians.
The Government Spokesman once again compounded the situation by arguing to justify the evictions which were in fact halted by Supreme Court. Government Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukkwella told the press, “during the last 10 years 90 percent of the LTTE attacks that took place in Colombo were planned and carried out from lodges”. He added that the security forces had no choice but to evict those who did not have a valid reason to stay in Colombo and those who failed to prove their identity. The President later asked for a report from IGP Victor Perera on the evictions and also ordered those sent off to the North and East be brought back to Colombo.
Meanwhile Supreme Court issued an injunction to the Police to stop the evacuation of residents staying in Colombo lodges. A fundamental rights petition was filled by the Center for Policy Alternatives requesting that the evictions be stopped.
The Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Inspector General of Police Victor Perera, Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and the OICs of the Wellawatta, Kotahena, Pettah and Wattala police stations have been named as respondents in the petition.
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Respondents to be sent notice tomorrow
By Stanley Samarasinghe
Necessary steps will be taken to send notice to all respondents on Monday (11) through the Supreme Court, in the case filed against the eviction of Tamils from Lodges in Colombo, the instructing attorney M. Balendran told The Nation.
Inspector General of Police Victor Perera, OIC Wellawatte police OIC Pattaha, OIC Kotahena, OIC, Wattala, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, Air Force Commander Air Vice Marshal Rohan Gunatilaka, Navy Commander Wasantha Karanagoda, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Attorney General have been named as respondents in the case.
All the respondents were ordered by Supreme Court to be present in court on June 22. The court also restrained them from taking any steps to prevent Tamil citizens, living in Colombo 01, from living in any part of Colombo.
The Court comprised Justices N. E. Disanayake N. G. Amaratunga and Andrew Somawansa. The Centre for Policy Alternatives and its Executive Director Paikiyasothy Saravanamuttu filed this fundamental rights application seeking effective redress in respect of infringement of the Fundamental Rights of Tamil citizens in Sri Lankan Society.
Mr. M.A. Sumandiran supporting this application told the Court that all citizens have a right to visit, enjoy and stay in the capital of the country to which they belong. He added that the respondents had denied these facilities to Tamil citizens since the police were not able to distinguish between ordinary Tamil citizens and members of the LTTE.
The court granted the petitioner leave to proceed with the case and also decided to hear the case on June 22.
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Worse than 1983 says Maheshwaran
UNP MP, T. Maheshwaran defined the eviction of the Tamil lodge dwellers as a serious violation of human rights by the government and likened the action to being worse than 1983.
“A Sri Lankan can live in any part of the island. This is a totally wrong act. Even the IGPs, know that this is wrong. However, they had to do it because it was an order from the higher authorities. What Keheliya Rambukwella said in Parliament and the IGP’s statement to the media that the lodgers went willingly were lies. We will prove that very soon.”
Referring to the incident Maheshwaran said that the eviction had been brought to his notice through phone calls by the lodgers themselves. He said that he had promptly made arrangements for over 600 lodgers to spend the night in six kovils in Colombo” Maheshwaran said.
He added that the next morning, at around 6 a.m. he had contacted the Defence Secretary and with his approval, asked those who were taking shelter in the kovils to go back to the lodges. “They were all scared. Some people were sent to relatives’ places. Yesterday (June 8) I went to Vavuniya and brought everyone back to Colombo. Today (June 9) they were sent back to their lodges from the Wellawatta Police,” he added.
He also said that the evicted Tamils had suffered many hardships till they reached Vauniya. Many children had even relieved themselves on the bus in the absence of toilet facilities.
Except for Hela Urumaya everyone in parliament had stood by the fact that the eviction was wrong, Maheshwaran said. “Nimal Siripala de Silva, Dinesh Gunewardene, Rauf Hakeem, some of them even personally spoke to us and said this was wrong.”
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“Eviction not without reason” - JHU
The eviction of hundreds of Tamil civilians from the lodges in Colombo during the last couple of weeks has been met with diverse opinions. While some, especially those in the government, assured that this activity was carried out with the full cooperation of the community that was evicted; others saw far-reaching consequences that could arise from this event.
Hardcore Sinhala nationalist party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) was of the belief that although this move could further antagonise Tamil people against the government, it was not without reason that the event took place.
“There are two ways of looking at this issue,” JHU Parliamentarian Athuraliye Rathana Thera said.
He said on the one hand there was the threat of 1000 kilos of explosives being brought to Colombo and claymores exploding, killing civilians and security force personnel, on regular basis.
“Some of the people in the lodges cannot prove their identities. Therefore it is certain that they are from Kilinochchi. This is according to the government defence spokesperson,” Rathana Thera added.
On the other hand, he said, these activities should not be carried out in a way that violates the rights of the Tamil people.
“The government cannot cause distress to the Tamil community,” he said.
Regarding the comment that has been voiced to the effect that this issue brought to mind the memories of July 1983, Rathana Thera said, he disagreed with this completely.
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Rambukwella’s embarrassment
When the eviction orders were carried out in lodges around Colombo, government ministers engaging in parliament sessions found themselves in a precarious position, facing embarrassment of unprecedented proportions.
Some 300 Tamils, who were temporarily seeking shelter in lodges in Colombo, were taken by force and dumped in Vavuniya on Thursday.
The following day the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) demanded an explanation from the government.
As the TNA protests continued, the government members left their benches, unable to respond to queries or face the accusations.
Defence Spokesman and cabinet minister Keheliya Rambukwella immediately telephoned President Mahinda Rajapakse and sought advice as to how he should now defend the government.
Rambukwella informed the President that government members had been too embarrassed to face the Tamil as well as opposition parliamentarians and that he had been left to answer the queries.
The President had been severely perturbed and requested the Minister to say something that would mitigate the circumstances.
Rambukwella told the President that it was the first time in his political life that he had found himself ‘speechless’. He added that it was also the first time that he was asked to make a speech against his conscience.
The President had remained silent.
Subsequently when the President had met the minister at Army Commander Sarath Fonseka’s daughter’s wedding in Colombo the same day, he had told the minister that he had no idea why such a thing had taken place.
(http://www.nation.lk/2007/06/10/newsfe4.htm)
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