Government minister and Ceylon Workers Congress leader S Thondaman has urged the police to avoid arrests without evidence. The National Peace Council says that indiscriminate arrest and torture to intimidate the population in the north contributed to the full-scale civil war of today and warns against pushing the Hill Country into becoming the next theatre of military operations.
Reports say that Deputy Inspector General of Police Sirisena Herath has initiated peace committees in all areas of the Hill Country. The Plantation workers will be involved in these committees. The objectives of the committees will be to protect dams, electricity installations and tea factories and to collect information on new arrivals on estates.
A Tamil couple was arrested in Kandy in late August on suspicion of LTTE links. Farmer, M Somasundaram of Kandapola, who was arrested on 25 December 1997, is currently held at the Nuwara Eliya police station. In early August, Nuwara Eliya MP M Sivalingam called for the trial or release of many Hill Country youths held in custody.