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| Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lanka registers Tamils in capital |
| 2008-09-22 |
| Thousands of Sri Lankans who have fled the country's war zones, nearly all Tamils, lined up on Sunday to register under what police say is an essential security measure to crack down on Tamil Tiger militants. From 8 am (0230 GMT), people queued at schools, temples and other public buildings to give their details to police, who earlier this week ordered all who had fled five war-affected districts in the past five years to come and be counted. Police have estimated that is roughly 100,000 people. Details: The order, which affects those who moved to the Indian Ocean island's capital, Colombo, and the surrounding Western Province, came as the military was on the doorstep of the headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in the north. "We had to give the address where we live, family details and the date we came to Colombo and when we are going back. They also asked what my children were doing," retired administration officer M Balakrishnan told Reuters." Balakrishnan said he was treated well and given refreshments. But several others declined to say anything for fear of upsetting police, underscoring the deep distrust between Tamils living in the capital - who regularly complain of harassment - and security forces dominated by the Sinhalese majority. The Tamil Tigers, on US, European and Indian terrorism lists, have fought one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies to establish a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, and silenced more moderate Tamil political voices in the process. Since independence from Britain in 1948, the island nation has been ruled by governments led by the majority Sinhalese people, who are 75 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million population. As the military has intensified an 18-month campaign to wipe out the LTTE in the north, more bombs blamed by authorities on Tiger sleeper agents have targeted civilians in Colombo. Analysts fear more government military success will mean more blasts. There have been five in the last three weeks alone, the worst of which wounded 45 in a crowded market on Aug. 30. Activists said the registration drive was likely to deepen divisions, coming a year after the Supreme Court nullified as unconstitutional a government attempt to send those who had fled rebel-held districts back home. "At the end of the day, you are only instilling some sense of second-class citizenship and deepening a perception of discrimination," said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, of the independent think-tank The Centre for Policy Alternatives. A senior government official said registration was necessary despite any internal or external criticism it would draw. "We are at war, and 100 percent of the detonators and explosives we have found in the city were in Tamil areas. It is easy for rebels to hide there, and we can't take the risk," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. |
| Posted by:Fred |