Mr Arulsagaran was not present on 26 March to examine the CID report. The police had “forgotten” to arrange for the magistrate to travel to Jaffna from Colombo. On the same day, municipal workers found many human skeletons in Jaffna’s Duraiappah stadium.
Tamil MPs have demanded foreign forensic experts to be included in the Chemmani probe. Others say soldier Somaratne Rajapakse should be allowed into Jaffna to identify the mass graves. Mr Rajapakse, who was convicted in the student Krishanthy Kumarasamy murder case, says he knows the location of the graves where 400 Tamils killed in Army custody in 1996, are buried.
The current Presidential Commission has a mandate to inquire into disappearances before January 1995 and has no authority to probe the Chemmani disappearances. As the Commission began its enquiries in Jaffna on 15 March, the peninsula’s NGO consortium expressed concern over arbitrary arrests and violation of basic human rights. Reports say over 30 people were detained in February. S Sasikaran, a returnee from the Vanni, was arrested at Karanavai in Vadamaratchy on 7 March.
Five members of a family from Kottady are detained at the Kankesanthurai Army camp. The Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC) has been given access to a list of 1,408 names of detainees in the military base during 1996 and 1997. Meanwhile, current detainees in the camp have complained to the HRC that they are not provided sufficient food.
The Jaffna people are also deeply concerned over government preparations to acquire 12,000 acres of private land in Kankesanthurai and Palaly areas under a gazette notification issued on 7 October 1985. Resettlement has not been allowed in these areas which includes 35 of the 435 Grama Sevaka (Village Headman) divisions in Jaffna. Although presidential secretary P Balapatabendi denied government intention, reports in late March said that President Chandrika has ordered stay of the acquisition.
LTTE’s Pistol Group shot and injured two policemen at Nallur in early March. Two soldiers were wounded in a landmine attack near Jaffna town on 17 March. An alleged Army informant K Mayilvaganam was abducted from his home in Erlalai by suspected LTTE cadre on 23 March and shot dead.