Tamils in Colombo "without a valid reason" are being sent back to their villages, Sri Lanka's police chief said last Friday.
Hundreds of Tamils, many from poor rural areas, live in boarding houses in Colombo while they work, search for jobs or seek employment abroad.
Many Tamils in Colombo complain they are being deliberately targeted by the security forces, detained and searched as the military conflict with the LTTE heats up.
"Because there is no a special label to identify an LTTE terrorist and a civilian, we took the decision to send them back to their villages after they finished their work here in Colombo," Inspector General of Police Victor Perera told a news conference.
"Some people who have arrived in Colombo do not have a valid reason to stay," he added.
"Anybody can come to Colombo, there is no restriction. But they can't stay loitering in Colombo. We have decided to provide transport facilities for them to go back to their own villages."
The police instructed the owners of 68 lodges in Pettah to expel Tamil tenants to their ‘native places’ within 24 hours, warning that the military would step in to force the evacuation if they failed to comply.
Chief Inspector Jayaratne summoned the lodge owners last Thursday on short notice to convey the warning.
Individuals in Colombo for medical treatment, individuals waiting to go abroad for education or employment, families in Colombo to meet with family members visiting from abroad and those with military clearance are among more than 5000 Tamils who were instructed to vacate the lodges, according to lodge owners in Pettah.
"Even those who were scheduled to leave Colombo to India on Sunday were not allowed to stay in the lodges after Friday," a lodge owner told TamilNet.
"Are you from North, go back to Vavuniya. Are you from Hatton, go back to Hatton," Inspector Jayaratne told the lodge owners, stating he had clear instructions from higher authorities.
The move comes after two suspected Tamil Tiger bomb attacks in the capital in a week and a string in recent months. Officials suspect that Tiger cells are installed in the capital and seeking to stage attacks, AFP reported.
But the planned restriction on Tamils rang alarm bells.
"If a democratic society takes this course of action, it is unacceptable because it is clearly a serious violation of their human rights," said Jehan Perera of the National Peace Council.
"This is a very harsh decision."
"This is the first time such a thing has been spoken about officially, so it suggests the conflict is deteriorating," he added. "This is a new low."
While Tamil political parties expressed their objections, police Saturday moved in to check the identity of inmates living in lodges before deciding whether they would be allowed to remain in Colombo or face immediate eviction to their villages, The Sunday Leader reported.
Police said that lodge occupants with no proper identity would be ordered to move. Tamils in possession of regular identity cards living in lodges and in rented houses in Colombo say they live in fear that they may be arrested anytime if the police feel suspicious.
Muttiah Pillai, a lodge owner in Pettah said “There are families and individuals coming from the north-east areas and from the hill country. Some come for medical treatment, some for studies, while others come to obtain visas and a few to earn little money... We can’t believe why they are doing this to all Tamils, he said.
Though his hometown is in Jaffna, Mr. Pillai has lived in Colombo since 1966.
According to him, police claimed there were 250 suspected LTTE cadres in Colombo and it was difficult to find them because of the numbers of Tamils living in the lodges of Colombo.
S.B. Yoganathan, another lodge-owner in Pettah said that people coming to Colombo from the north and east had to get the clearance from the Army. A copy of this clearance note was needed to stay in the lodges he said.
“There are many Tamil youth desperately wanting to go abroad but haven’t any financial support. They are unable to find jobs either in Colombo or in their hometowns. Due to this some of them come with agreements with unregistered agencies and have no proof that they are hoping to go abroad. Ultimately these youngsters end up in jail as suspects” he said.
S. Sridhar, a lodge owner in Pettah said that most of the families stay in Colombo for long periods, as they were either too afraid to go back to their home towns, or faced delays in obtaining passports and at times when either breadwinner of the family or a child is hospitalised over a long period of time.
Colombo District MP Mano Ganeshan, speaking on the crisis said the problem faced by these people should be seen as a humanitarian crisis. He demanded that authorities treat Tamils as human beings and not as cattle.
“With the support of the UNP, we are watching the situation closely and hope to take up this issue in Parliament” he said.
Following complaints of the police enforcing an eviction order on lodgers in Colombo, UNP MP’s Ravi Karunanayake and Lakshman Kiriella visited the Pettah police and held discussions regarding the issue.
However when Mr. Karunanayake confronted the IP of the Pettah police station, he claimed that there had been an overreaction to a comment, The Sunday Leader reported. He claimed it was impossible to evict nearly 10,000 persons to catch a suspect or two.
Hundreds of Tamils, many from poor rural areas, live in boarding houses in Colombo while they work, search for jobs or seek employment abroad.
Many Tamils in Colombo complain they are being deliberately targeted by the security forces, detained and searched as the military conflict with the LTTE heats up.
"Because there is no a special label to identify an LTTE terrorist and a civilian, we took the decision to send them back to their villages after they finished their work here in Colombo," Inspector General of Police Victor Perera told a news conference.
"Some people who have arrived in Colombo do not have a valid reason to stay," he added.
"Anybody can come to Colombo, there is no restriction. But they can't stay loitering in Colombo. We have decided to provide transport facilities for them to go back to their own villages."
The police instructed the owners of 68 lodges in Pettah to expel Tamil tenants to their ‘native places’ within 24 hours, warning that the military would step in to force the evacuation if they failed to comply.
Chief Inspector Jayaratne summoned the lodge owners last Thursday on short notice to convey the warning.
Individuals in Colombo for medical treatment, individuals waiting to go abroad for education or employment, families in Colombo to meet with family members visiting from abroad and those with military clearance are among more than 5000 Tamils who were instructed to vacate the lodges, according to lodge owners in Pettah.
"Even those who were scheduled to leave Colombo to India on Sunday were not allowed to stay in the lodges after Friday," a lodge owner told TamilNet.
"Are you from North, go back to Vavuniya. Are you from Hatton, go back to Hatton," Inspector Jayaratne told the lodge owners, stating he had clear instructions from higher authorities.
The move comes after two suspected Tamil Tiger bomb attacks in the capital in a week and a string in recent months. Officials suspect that Tiger cells are installed in the capital and seeking to stage attacks, AFP reported.
But the planned restriction on Tamils rang alarm bells.
"If a democratic society takes this course of action, it is unacceptable because it is clearly a serious violation of their human rights," said Jehan Perera of the National Peace Council.
"This is a very harsh decision."
"This is the first time such a thing has been spoken about officially, so it suggests the conflict is deteriorating," he added. "This is a new low."
While Tamil political parties expressed their objections, police Saturday moved in to check the identity of inmates living in lodges before deciding whether they would be allowed to remain in Colombo or face immediate eviction to their villages, The Sunday Leader reported.
Police said that lodge occupants with no proper identity would be ordered to move. Tamils in possession of regular identity cards living in lodges and in rented houses in Colombo say they live in fear that they may be arrested anytime if the police feel suspicious.
Muttiah Pillai, a lodge owner in Pettah said “There are families and individuals coming from the north-east areas and from the hill country. Some come for medical treatment, some for studies, while others come to obtain visas and a few to earn little money... We can’t believe why they are doing this to all Tamils, he said.
Though his hometown is in Jaffna, Mr. Pillai has lived in Colombo since 1966.
According to him, police claimed there were 250 suspected LTTE cadres in Colombo and it was difficult to find them because of the numbers of Tamils living in the lodges of Colombo.
S.B. Yoganathan, another lodge-owner in Pettah said that people coming to Colombo from the north and east had to get the clearance from the Army. A copy of this clearance note was needed to stay in the lodges he said.
“There are many Tamil youth desperately wanting to go abroad but haven’t any financial support. They are unable to find jobs either in Colombo or in their hometowns. Due to this some of them come with agreements with unregistered agencies and have no proof that they are hoping to go abroad. Ultimately these youngsters end up in jail as suspects” he said.
S. Sridhar, a lodge owner in Pettah said that most of the families stay in Colombo for long periods, as they were either too afraid to go back to their home towns, or faced delays in obtaining passports and at times when either breadwinner of the family or a child is hospitalised over a long period of time.
Colombo District MP Mano Ganeshan, speaking on the crisis said the problem faced by these people should be seen as a humanitarian crisis. He demanded that authorities treat Tamils as human beings and not as cattle.
“With the support of the UNP, we are watching the situation closely and hope to take up this issue in Parliament” he said.
Following complaints of the police enforcing an eviction order on lodgers in Colombo, UNP MP’s Ravi Karunanayake and Lakshman Kiriella visited the Pettah police and held discussions regarding the issue.
However when Mr. Karunanayake confronted the IP of the Pettah police station, he claimed that there had been an overreaction to a comment, The Sunday Leader reported. He claimed it was impossible to evict nearly 10,000 persons to catch a suspect or two.
