Are The Police Selectively Enforcing The PTA?

| by Dinouk Colombage

Courtesy: The Sunday Leader

( May 13, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Questions continue to mount over the Police Department’s apparent lack of interest in arresting the several individuals who were seen on camera waving the LTTE flag at the UNP-TNA May Day rally held in Jaffna.

Police spokesperson, S. P. Ajith Rohana, told The Sunday Leader that the senior D.I.G of police for the Northern Province was heading the investigations. Asked why no arrests had been made, Rohana responded that “all the evidence is being examined by the investigating team”.

The LTTE flag on display at the UNP-TNA joint May Day rally and The mystery man clearly seen here carrying the LTTE Flag; police have still been unable to identify him

The spokesman denied that under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) these individuals could be immediately arrested. “We have to clarify whether or not such an incident would come under the jurisdiction of the PTA.” He further added that there is a lot mystery surrounding the incident and the police cannot go and arrest individuals without any proof.

This interpretation of the law is in stark contrast to what was seen on April 30 when 30 Tamil youth were taken into custody by the Terrorist Investigation Division of the Kuchchaveli police station.

TNA leader, R. Sampanthan, explained to The Sunday Leader that on that occasion there had been no evidence supporting the arrests. “These people were taken into custody by the police for suspicion of being involved in the murder of a member of the EPDP (Eelam People’s Democratic Party). I secured their release after 30 minutes as the police did not have any evidence linking them to the murder,” he said.

Sampanthan further added that shortly after their release five of them were taken in again by the police and transported to Colombo. “There are now between 15-20 Tamils being held by security forces in Colombo on suspicion of having been involved with the LTTE,” he stated.

Rohana agreed that these youth were in police custody; he explained, “we are investigating them for involvement with the LTTE. If they are found to be guilty of carrying out terrorist activities they will be prosecuted, if they are only former LTTE cadres they will be sent for rehabilitation”.

Without any solid evidence linking these individuals to the LTTE questions have arisen over why they were arrested in the first place. Sampanthan explained that he had met with Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and hoped that they would be released shortly. He further stated that he did not believe they should have been arrested in the first place.

However, Rohana explained that under the Prevention of Terrorism Act the police were within the law to take into custody those they suspected of having LTTE links. If this is the case then the question is why the police has not issued immediate arrest warrants for these individuals seen waving the LTTE flag at a public gathering.

UNP Member of Parliament, Ravi Karunanayake, explained that the party had urged ITN (Independent Television Network) to present their source for this visual footage. However, they had not made any formal complaint to the authorities.

Asked why they were delaying such a move, he stated that, “we have asked Rosmand Seneratne (Chairman of ITN) to give us the information regarding their source for the visuals before we make any official complaint”.

Karunanayake and Sampanthan both agreed that these individuals should be arrested for having waved the LTTE flag at the event. Sampanthan further questioned how such an individual was able to avoid the large number of police that was present at the rally. “I am surprised that the police have been unable to find these individuals despite having the assistance of the armed forces.

They were able to round up 30 individuals in Trincomalee on the grounds of suspicion of involvement with the LTTE but they cannot find this man,” he said.

Despite Rohana’s insistence that the police had to identify the men who were involved in the incident, no progress appears to have been made two weeks after the incident. This is made worse by the fact that their faces are clearly seen in the video footage of the incident.

When Lakshman Hullagalle, Director General of the Media Centre for National Security, was contacted he explained that it was not their concern as “no formal complaint has been made with us.”