Batticaloa MP G Krishnapillai who visited Welikada prison in Colombo in early February says that 61 women and 18 men are held under the PTA. Two women are detained with their children. Jaffna MP A Vinayagamoorthy met Justice minister WJM Lokkubandara and discussed prolonged detention of Tamil youths without trial. He informed the minister that some were in detention for over four years and some held despite court orders for their release.
The Attorney General (AG) KC Kamalasabeysan said on 4 February that he had received the necessary information on PTA detainees from the Prisons Commissioner and their cases will be reviewed. The AG has indicated that detainees under charges of not providing information to the security forces on terrorist activities, may be released.
In a letter to the AG in early February, Kalutara prisoner I Krishnavarathan says he was arrested in December 2000 when he brought his family to Colombo. He suffered severe torture at the hands of the police Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) and was forced to sign a confession under torture. The confession was in the Sinhalese language which he does not understand. His case has been postponed because a witness failed to attend court for the last four hearings.
In a fundamental rights application, Maheswaran Kugadas, 25, a resident of Arayampathy in Batticaloa says he was arrested in a lodge in July 2000, after he came to Colombo to go abroad. No reasons were given and no arrest receipt was issued to relatives. He was held for a week at the Pettah police station and then handed over to the TID. He alleges that the TID extracted a confession from him under torture. No charges have been brought against him although 19 months have elapsed since his arrest.
The police seem to be in state of confusion regarding registration of visitors to the capital from other areas. Some senior officers say police registration is necessary and others have taken the view that it is not needed. The Emergency regulations requiring registration lapsed in July 2001. TULF leader M Sivasithamparam urged Defence Minister Tilak Marapane in a mid-February letter to urgently clarify the position.
Meanwhile, press reports say that three officers and another soldier have been arrested from the Kirillapone suburb Army camp in connection with a number of robberies in the capital. They had carried out the robberies after entering houses under the pretext of search operations. The Police say they have recovered Rs 3 million ($32,000) worth articles from them.