Mr Jayawardena says that he explained to the Swiss ministers that peace talks were taking place between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE and no agreement for lasting peace had been reached. The Sri Lankan government has indicated that resettlement of internally displaced people (IDP) would receive priority over reception of refugees from other countries.
Some European nations seem to believe that the ceasefire agreement guarantees safety of civilians. British government ministers have mentioned Sri Lanka as a safe country where refugees could be returned. However, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission have reported hundreds of violations, since the ceasefire. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the repeal or amendment of which is a primary objective of the EU’s High Level Working Group, continues in force intact. The problems of detainees under the PTA remain to be solved.
Veerasamy Yoganathan, 63, who was held under the PTA for 84 months and produced before court more than 80 times, but without trial, was released in April, after his plight was highlighted in Colombo newspapers. Mr Yoganathan says that a number of others, including Thandavan Rajalingam of Passara in the Hill Country, are held for several years without trial. Most of them had suffered torture at the hands of the security forces.
S Lingaratnam was arrested in July 1992 in Trincomalee. No reasons were given for his arrest. He suffered extreme torture and a confession was extracted from him. He was produced before a magistrate in July 1995 and a case was filed in the High Court only in October 1996. Since then, the case has been postponed 63 times. Sixty five year-old S Thatchanamurthy is detained under the PTA for the last eight years and has been mentally affected. Other prisoners say he has not been provided proper treatment.
Meanwhile, according to the Sri Lankan newspaper Sunday Times, an officer in the British High Commission in Colombo has been suspended for demanding Rs 500,000 ($5,260) for some visas and sexual favours from applicants. The newspaper report also alleges that ineligible persons were granted visa and genuine applicants complained of rude treatment and other forms of harassment in the visa section.
According to a BBC report on 2 May, nine people, including former US State Department officers Acey Johnson and Ms Long Lee, have been charged in a California court for corruption in the issue of visas at the US embassy in Colombo. The charges follow a 11-month long investigation.