Government orders Tamils in Colombo to register with the Police

The Sri Lankan Government  told thousands of people living in its capital "without any valid reason" to return to their villages, calling them a national security threat and ordered Tamils originating from the north and residing in Colombo for the last five years to register themselves with the police.

The registration process took place on Saturday September 20 and Sunday September 21 at police stations and selected public premises in the city.

The citizens were required to submit a one page declaration giving details of their origin and purpose of their current stay in the capital city.

The move came days after Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa expressed concern over the sharp increase in exodus from northern region to the national capital and its surrounding areas in the last few weeks.

Whilst on one hand, due to international pressure, the Sri Lankan government dropped leaflets in LTTE administered territories requesting the civilians in those regions to move into government held territory on the other hand Rajapakse does not want them to move out of the conflict zone and reach Colombo.

Ignoring the fact that Colombo being the commercial and administrative capital with many government department offices and the only international airport in the island would naturally attract people from other provinces, Rajapakse said that presence of such a large number of outsiders was not normal.

"In August, 6950 people have come to the Colombo police division and are temporarily living in lodges, houses and various other places. This is not normal," the defence secretary said.

"Among other things it causes a lot of security risks."

Rajapakse told the Daily News that thousands arrive in Colombo each month from other parts of the war-torn nation, many of them ethnic Tamils fleeing fighting in the north.

"I prefer most of these people who had come from other areas to Colombo and suburbs and who are staying here without any valid reason to go back to their areas," Rajapakse was quoted in the state-run Daily News.

Police Spokesperson SSP Ranjith Gunasekera speaking to reporters said there has been an exodus of civilians from areas such as Jaffna, Vavuniya, Kilinocchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar as the army made inroads and liberated areas that were under the control of Tamil Tigers.

"These civilians fleeing from uncleared areas are also arriving in large numbers to the western province especially to the Colombo district," Gunasekara said.

Gunasekera further said the police force has decided to obtain the details of such arrivals for maintaining records in different police areas of the western province.

Colombo came under intense pressure from international human rights activists in June last year, when hundreds of Tamils were evicted from the city and told to return to their villages, some in conflict areas.

They were later bused back to the city after the Supreme Court intervened and rapped the government.

Rajapakse, who is President Mahinda Rajapakse's younger brother, said 6,950 people had come to Colombo in August alone and are now living in lodges and houses. He called the situation "abnormal" and "alarming."

"If some people have come from the east or any other place to Colombo and if they are staying here without any reason they should go back to their places," he said.

"That is the most preferable thing."

Tamils have to obtain police permits to travel to the rest of the country under a system put in place to prevent the separatist rebels infiltrating the capital following a series of attacks.

The Tamils, mainly from the north and east, come to the capital in the hope of obtaining passports to travel abroad and escape the war.

Police Spokesperson SSP Ranjith Gunasekera told reporters inc Colombo that the move was aimed at protecting the people at large and the government did not intend to harass any one.

However observers see this as another step by the Rajapakse government to intimidate and drive out Tamils from Colombo.

In June last year the Sri Lankan government started forcibly evicted Northeast Tamils staying in Colombo and driving them out to conflict zone in bus loads. The action was only halted following an international outcry.

At the time, international governments including the US, the EU, and India along with opposition politicians and number of international human rights organisations expressed their concern and condemned the exercise.

The US led the condemnations saying the "action can only widen the ethnic divide."

"The United States condemns the forced removal of Tamils from Colombo. Such measures violate the Sri Lankan Constitution's guarantee that every citizen has the right to freedom of movement and choice of residence within Sri Lanka," the US embassy said in a statement.

"We call upon the government of Sri Lanka to stop the forcible removal of its citizens from Colombo, to make public the destinations of those already removed, and to ensure their safety and well-being," it added.

The European Union in a strongly worded message issued by the embassy of Germany, currently President of the 27-state bloc condemned the government actions as “blatant violation of internationally recognized human rights”