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In mid-December at least six civilians drowned trying to make it by overcrowded boat to government-controlled territory. 24 Many of these displaced persons had fled previously from areas to the north and east, such as Mutur, Sampur, and Kantale in Trincomalee district. Four displaced persons who fled Kathiravelli told Human Rights Watch how the LTTE tried to prevent them from leaving for government-controlled areas. One man explained how the LTTE blocked a large group of civilians, first firing into the air and then shooting one IDP in the leg: Near Pannichchankeni at Murgan Temple they stopped us. We were about 560 families. They were about 150 armed LTTE. They said, ‘Don’t go, you must stop here and go back to your village.’ We said, ‘We’re suffering from the shelling and there’s no security here….’ We pushed ahead past the temple but the LTTE came from behind and assaulted some people. They shot one person in the leg and they hit people with palmyra [a kind of palm tree] strips and gun butts. I don’t know the guy who got shot. He was about 30 years old and he was trying to push an LTTE soldier. 25 The LTTE has restricted IDP movement at other times over the past year, most notably on August 4, 2006, when about 27,000 civilians—Muslims and Tamils—fled shelling in the Mutur area in Trincomalee district, and headed by foot towards Killevedi town. En route, LTTE forces stopped them, claiming the road ahead was mined, and directed them towards Kinanthmunai in LTTE-controlled territory. Along the way, LTTE cadres separated the men from the women and children and forced the men to walk past two masked informants, who were apparently looking for members of Muslim armed groups or the Karuna group, which had been active in Mutur. The LTTE removed from the line at least 32 mostly young men, nearly all of them Muslims, tied their hands behind their backs and pushed them to the ground. After an altercation 24 “Six Civilians Drown Fleeing Sri Lanka Battle Zone,” Agence France-Presse, December 15, 2006. 25 Human Rights Watch interview with displaced person, Valaichchenai, February 26, 2007. 25 Human Rights Watch August 2007
in which an LTTE cadre shot and killed one of the civilians, the army was alerted to the LTTE presence and began to shell the area. The shelling reportedly killed several LTTE cadres (including the LTTE commander) and one of the masked informants. Everyone fled the scene. Families became separated, including parents from their children. Another civilian of this group died—a woman—but the circumstances are not known. 26 The surviving displaced persons all eventually reached camps in the vicinity of Kantale. Violence and intimidation by the Karuna group More than 150,000 Tamil displaced persons are currently staying in IDP camps and private houses along the coast in Batticaloa district. 27 The government has failed to provide them with the security and protection they need. The main threat for those in government-controlled areas comes from the Karuna group, which throughout late 2006 and early 2007 has intimidated, threatened, and at times abducted displaced persons. The Karuna group’s presence vastly expanded in early 2007 with the group’s political party, Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), opening new offices around the district, some of them staffed with abducted children and young men. Armed members of the group are routinely visible along the main coastal road and in Batticaloa town. International humanitarian workers reported seeing checkpoints near TMVP offices in Batticaloa town run by men and boys in civilian clothes. According to displaced persons and humanitarian aid workers who spoke with Human Rights Watch, armed members of the Karuna group have been seen in and around various Batticaloa area camps, threatening and sometimes using violence against displaced persons. An international humanitarian worker told Human Rights 26 Human Rights Watch interview, Colombo, August 22, 2006. See also University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), “Hubris and Humanitarian Catastrophe,” August 23, 2006, http://www.uthr.org/SpecialReports/spreport22.htm (accessed May 23, 2007). 27 Recent months saw two large IDP waves from the Vaharai area to government-controlled territory in Batticaloa district: December 12-18, 2006, and January 26-28, 2007. Return to War 26
Page 1 and 2: Sri Lanka Return to War Human Right
Page 3 and 4: Karuna group ......................
Page 5 and 6: I. Summary What I am saying is, if
Page 7 and 8: extrajudicial killings to unlawful
Page 9 and 10: 2002. Since January 2006 more than
Page 11 and 12: against them, and list the location
Page 13 and 14: Emergency Regulations (372 Tamils,
Page 15 and 16: The mother of an abducted boy from
Page 17 and 18: disappearances. The police released
Page 19 and 20: commission, highlighting examples o
Page 21 and 22: Methodology This report is based pr
Page 23 and 24: discriminating against Tamils in th
Page 25 and 26: intimidation to force civilians who
Page 27: International humanitarian law proh
Page 31 and 32: the Savukady camp in Batticaloa to
Page 33 and 34: they would no longer be responsible
Page 35 and 36: In mid-May the government began a n
Page 37 and 38: On May 29, UNHCR commented on the g
Page 39 and 40: Grama Niladari Divisions (the small
Page 41 and 42: The salvos landed in and around the
Page 43 and 44: didn’t take him to the hospital b
Page 45 and 46: While describing the loss of civili
Page 47 and 48: saw no weapons, no bunkers or artil
Page 49 and 50: V. Enforced Disappearances and Abdu
Page 51 and 52: months of 2007. 84 A government com
Page 53 and 54: In one illustrative case documented
Page 55 and 56: The Valvettiturai police registered
Page 57 and 58: would send him by bus or train to T
Page 59 and 60: wife tried his cell phone several t
Page 61 and 62: then that his brother had paid, alt
Page 63 and 64: as the disseminators of “LTTE pro
Page 65 and 66: It is evident that many of the [dis
Page 67 and 68: The government’s lack of commitme
Page 69 and 70: A lodge-owner who had 29 out of 36
Page 71 and 72: arguing that evicting Tamils from C
Page 73 and 74: VII. Emergency Regulations In Augus
Page 75 and 76: Given the wide ranging powers provi
Page 77 and 78: Large-scale arrests of Tamil youth
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held, how many had been charged wit
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Various United Nations principles i
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In addition, the regulations establ
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individuals and groups working to r
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At a public meeting on April 6, 200
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On April 30, 2007, unidentified gun
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“We have blocked it as per a gove
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conference said they had already ca
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astards with the law we need to use
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humanitarian worker with direct kno
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The government dismissed the allega
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With the change of administration i
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IX. Karuna Group and State Complici
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stating that it “has no complicit
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of the government commission lookin
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Over the past 18 months, the govern
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Lack of witness protection A key pr
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president cannot appoint any commis
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Watch asked the Sri Lankan governme
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persons and refugees, and SLMM in r
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7. Death of 51 persons in Naddalamo
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Members of the IIGEP have also expr
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In the current context, in particul
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domestic and international criticis
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To the Liberation Tigers of Tamil E
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• Urge the Sri Lankan government
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H UMAN R I GHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Ave
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