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SRI LANKA: Court Stays Eviction of Tamils From Capital

Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Jun 8 2007 (IPS) - The nationalist government of President Mahinda Rajapakse received a rap on the knuckles from the country&#39s apex court Friday when it ordered a stop to the indiscriminate deportation of ethnic Tamils from the national capital to their homes in the island&#39s north and east.

The interim order was issued on a fundamental rights application made by the independent Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) arguing that evicting Tamils from Colombo was ‘&#39wrongful, unlawful and illegal and violates the fundamental rights of those persons who were so evicted&#39&#39.

The Sri Lankan constitution provides equality before law for all and ensures that no citizen shall be discriminated against. It also provides for freedom of movement and the right of citizens to choose residence within Sri Lanka.

‘&#39Forcibly evicting them from Colombo and transporting them back to areas in the North and East not only raises serious breaches of human rights but further polarises the ethnic communities and marginalises the Tamil people of the Sri Lanka,&#39&#39 the CPA said in statement released soon after the court stay.

In a move to distance himself from evictions, President Rajapakse ordered a disciplinary probe against the police officials responsible. "Allegations that officials exceeded their authority in implementing this initiative will be thoroughly investigated and appropriate remedial action will be taken," a statement issued by the President&#39s office said.

On Thursday, police scoured lodgings and boarding houses in Colombo, evicting hundreds of Tamils and transporting them to Vavuniya district 250 km to the north where territory held by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE) begins.


Nimal Dissanyake, presiding judge of the apex court, said the government was "misguided" in carrying out the deportations. "This unfortunate situation arose due to wrong advice received by the government," he said while posting a hearing of the CPA petition for Jun. 22.

"This is a victory for all those who believe in democracy in this country, we will keep fighting till the government respects basic human rights," Sunanda Deshapriya of the Free Media Movement said speaking with IPS.

To many the deportations brought to mind memories of the 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms that deeply polarised the country&#39s majority Sinhalese community from the Tamils and led to a fierce ethnic war in which some 70,000 people are estimated to have died till date. Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had assiduously pushed for peace with the LTTE until he narrowly lost to Rajapakse in the November 2005 presidential elections, compared Thursday&#39s evictions to Hitler expelling Jewish people from Germany.

Since Rajapakse&#39s election hostilities between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE escalated steadily, ignoring a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire that had largely kept the peace since February 2002 when it was signed by the warring parties.

By April the Sri Lankan army had wrested control of the eastern region around Batticaloa while the air force carried out a bombing campaign against LTTE positions. The fighting rendered an estimated 90,000 people homeless and forced them to join another 60,000 people already living in refugee camps according to the United Nations.

The LTTE has retaliated with air raids on Colombo using light aircraft. They have also renewed pledges to carry on the fight to carve out a separate homeland for Tamil minority that makes up less than a fifth of the island&#39s 20 million people.

"Nothing could be more inflammatory in Sri Lanka&#39s polarised climate than identifying people by ethnicity and kicking them out of the capital," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement issued from New York on Friday.

Adams said in his statement that the "Sri Lankan government is sending the dangerous message that it views most of its Tamil citizens as a threat to security.&#39&#39

The government&#39s embarrassment was worsened by the fact that it came during a visit to the island by Yasushi Akashi, Japan&#39s peace envoy to Sri Lanka, who is in the island to persuade the government and the LTTE to resume peace negotiations.

And the United States embassy called on the government to ‘&#39stop 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&#39&#39.

"The court has stopped the discrimination temporarily. We hear reports that those already moved to the north and east would be sent to their home towns stay order or not. The government&#39s attitude has not changed,&#39&#39 Mano Ganeshan, leader of Western Province People&#39s Front, told IPS.

CPA said a separate petition would be filed in court to get those who have been transported out on Thursday back to the capital.

 
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