The repatriation will be phased and the accord envisages the return of 350 asylum-seekers in the first year. The Sri Lankan authorities will issue valid travel documents to the returnees, subject to acceptable proof that they are Sri Lankan nationals. The agreement is expected to be reviewed after two years to consider further extension.
The agreement says that ‘both parties accept that Sri Lankan nationals who do not or no longer have the right of residence in Denmark will return in conditions of safety and dignity’. Two weeks earlier, Emergency rule was extended to the whole of Sri Lanka. NGOs have highlighted the unsafe conditions in Colombo and other parts of the island for Tamils and the continuing violations of human rights.
Colombo human rights agency, the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE), says, "emergency circumstances have often aggravated violations of the rights of the minority communities. It is most unfortunate that the PA government has used war as a weapon to attack democratic norms and practices". MIRJE is concerned that Emergency should not escalate harassment against the Tamil community.
Police say they arrested two important LTTE cadre in early August in Dehiwela, who were part of a 25-member LTTE unit involved in attacks on telecommunication facilities and electricity transformers in recent months. Senior Police Superintendent L Perera says new explosive devices have been found and warned people to brace themselves for further Tiger attacks.
Army Captain KS Wickremaratne was shot and injured on Vajira Road in Bambalapitiya suburb on 25 August. A Tamil suspect named Thivakaran was arrested on the same day. Police say that following the arrest of two Tigers in Wellawatte suburb on 1 August, it has been revealed that several members of LTTE’s Pistol Group which carries out selective assassinations has infiltrated the capital. Police say they also found over 100kg of RDX explosives in a house at Aludeniya in Kandy, intended for the purpose of attacking senior politicians and military officers.
Round-up of Tamils continues in the capital and other areas. Over 75 Tamil youths were arrested in Wattala on the night of 14 August and 25 were detained. Twelve others were held in mid-August at Kaluwella in Galle District, 65 miles south of Colombo. MIRJE says: "Notwithstanding the existence of Presidential Directives on arrest and detention and mechanisms such as the Human Rights Commission and the recently established Anti-harassment Task Force, ordinary civilians continue to be arrested by persons in civilian clothes. They are not informed of the reasons for their arrests. Their families are not informed as to their whereabouts, nor is any receipt issued to record their arrest. They are held incommunicado and subject to all forms of harassment and ill-treatment".
The Anti-harassment Task Force (AHTF) headed by Culture minister Lakshman Jayakody, which began sessions in early August, decided to establish a separate police unit to carry out investigations on complaints of security force harassment by citizens and for liaison between detainees and their families. All arrests under Emergency regulations and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) must be reported to the AHTF.
AHTF member and MP, MM Zuahir said on 10 August that police arbitrarily arrest Tamils in Colombo and thereafter look for a reason to detain them. It was revealed before the AHTF in August that Peradeniya University Engineering student Balasingham Prakash was arrested at the Pettah suburb bus stand. Pettah police have denied the arrest and his whereabouts are unknown. Human rights lawyer A Vinayagamoorthy says that since 1983, he has filed 10,000 fundamental rights applications relating to arrest and detention and only in less than 10 cases the accused were determined by the court as LTTE members.
There are currently over 725 Tamil detainees in Kalutara and Colombo’s Welikada prisons, including several who are held for over three years without trial. Several hundred others are detained in police stations and military camps. Mr Vinayagamoorthy says many have suffered torture.
Farmer V Jeyaseelan says in a fundamental rights application that he suffered torture after his arrest by the Army in Batticaloa on 20 December 1997. In another application JP Thamila says she was arrested on 19 April when she came to Colombo to obtain a visa to join her husband in Italy. Currently she is detained at the Mt Lavinia police station. Agrarian Services Department’s A Sarojinidevi, arrested 16 July, is held at the Terrorist Investigation Division on Chaitiya Road. She has not been informed of the reasons for her arrest.
Thirteen Sri Lankans returned by Russian authorities from Moscow were arrested at the Colombo airport in mid-August. Press reports say bail for them was fixed by the Negombo magistrate at Rs 3.5 million ($583,000). Each person had paid Rs 450,000 ($7,000) to an agent for travel to Switzerland.