Sri
Lankan Military Conducts Massive Anti-Tamil Sweep Through Colombo
By
K. Ratnayake
05 December,
2007
WSWS.org
The
Sri Lankan government unleashed the largest-ever cordon-and-search operation
in Colombo on Sunday, detaining hundreds of people, mainly Tamils, and
heightening communal tensions throughout the country. The immediate
pretext for the operation was to “flush out” Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters blamed for last week’s bomb
blasts in Colombo and nearby Nugegoda.
While the
Western Province command was nominally in charge, the military top brass,
acting under the instructions of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse,
were directly involved in planning the massive sweep. The defence secretary
is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse and has been intimately
involved in plunging the island back to war over the past two years.
An estimated
18,000 heavily-armed troops and police were mobilised to comb the predominantly
Tamil areas of Colombo, including Kotahena, Wellawatte, Bambalapitya,
Kirulapone, Narahenpita and Pettah, as well as the suburbs of Dehiwela,
Mount Lavinia, Ratmalana, Wellampitiya and Nugegoda. Many of the residents
are Tamils who have fled the war in the North and East or plantation
workers from the central hills districts looking for work. Raids also
took place in other parts of the country.
Roadblocks
were set up covering all the major highways into Colombo. Vehicles and
their occupants were checked. Any Tamil was regarded as suspect. Many
Tamils travelling on buses were taken into custody. Eyewitnesses reported
police as saying: “We arrest any Tamil who we come across.”
In all, over
2,000 Tamils, including women and children, were detained and taken
to police stations. Speaking in parliament on Monday, opposition MP
Mavai Senathirajah said 419 of those arrested, including 41 women, had
been sent to the Boosa detention camp despite the lack of any incriminating
evidence. Boosa is in the largely Sinhala south of the island.
Senathirajah,
from the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA), claimed that detainees
did not have enough drinking water, adequate toilet facilities or room
to sleep at the Boosa camp, which already had hundreds of prisoners.
Others arrested on Sunday are still crowded into police cells in Colombo.
The Tamil
minority suffers systematic official discrimination. Tamils coming to
the capital are compelled to register at police stations in their residential
areas. On Sunday, however, even those who had fulfilled this requirement
were not spared.
Over the
past two years, the Rajapakse government has maintained emergency rule
and reimposed and strengthened anti-terror laws, which allow for indefinite
detention without trial. Tamils living in Colombo have also been subject
to extortion, abductions and killings by paramilitary groups associated
with the security forces.
The military
is continuing its siege of the capital’s Tamil areas. Soldiers
have been deployed on both sides of residential streets and have been
manning the entrances of some housing estates. Residents told our reporters
that they have to prove their identity and are subject to a de facto
curfew after 9 p.m. Security forces have been deployed outside some
schools.
The operation
has provoked widespread anger. The opposition United National Party,
which tacitly supports the war, criticised the government in parliament
on Monday for its “arbitrary” actions. Even the Sinhala
chauvinist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna declared that the arrests had been
“unreasonable”, while at the same time criticising the TNA
for failing to oppose the LTTE’s actions.
In a bid
to quell the outcry, chief government whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle announced
the release of around 1,600 of the more than 2,000 detained, but warned
of similar operations in the future. He also appealed to the opposition
parties to help in the process of separating “terrorists”
from innocent people.
The government
exploited two bomb blasts on November 28 to justify the communal crackdown.
The first took place at the office of Social Services Minister Douglas
Devananda, leader of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP). The
party is part of the ruling coalition and its paramilitary units operate
alongside the military.
A female
suicide bomber blew herself up inside Devananda’s office, killing
his coordinating secretary and injuring several others. While the LTTE
has not claimed responsibility, the bombing has all the hallmarks of
its suicide operations. Several attempts have been made on Devananda’s
life.
The second
blast took place at a large textiles shop in the Colombo suburb of Nugegoda
at about 6.05 p.m. According to eyewitnesses, a person entered and left
a parcel at the counter, then left immediately and vanished. While the
manager phoned the emergency numbers, the police did not arrive for
30 minutes. The bomb exploded when a nearby traffic policeman amateurishly
inspected the parcel. Sixteen people were killed on the spot and another
five died from their injuries.
There is
no direct proof that the LTTE was responsible for the second blast.
However, the two bombings came just one day after LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran
delivered his annual heroes day speech, in which he blamed the “Sinhala
nation” for the government’s renewed war and declared an
end to the 2002 ceasefire.
The LTTE
has previously targetted ordinary Sinhalese in reprisal for the military’s
atrocities against Tamils. Such attacks by the LTTE are reactionary
in character, fuelling communal divisions between working people and
providing the government with an excuse for police-state measures.
Last Sunday’s
military operation in Colombo occurred under conditions of growing opposition
to the government’s renewed war and its impact on living standards.
While this search was directed against Tamils, the government has used
increasingly repressive methods against the media, opposition politicians
and anyone critical of its policies.
It cannot
be ruled out that the government and security forces were using the
crackdown as a dress rehearsal for the imposition of martial law in
the capital.
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