COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
high esteem as businessmen, but now the government were giving all of the licences to the
Sinhalese, and the Tamil community were receiving assistance from both the Sri Lankan and
Indian governments. They complained that the Muslim community had no voice. They had no
political leaders and because they were only a 5% minority, they had no MPs. Furthermore they
said that they were not recognised internationally and were not accepted as refugees by foreign
governments.
Security in Kilinochchi District
A Senior Military Official based in Kilinochchi opined that the military and local community were
getting on well with each other. He told us that the military had to observe the local community
in case there were still LTTE in the area, however, he stressed that hardship meant that the
local community were diverted to restoring their properties and livelihoods. There had been no
sabotage or retribution. The crime rate was low, mostly petty crime, theft etc. The army assisted
the local police with policing the district as there were low numbers of police officers. He said
that the local police were quick to find fault with the army, referring to an incident where soldiers
were recently arrested by the police. We were told that many of his soldiers spoke Tamil
following a programme of language training by the army. Arms caches were still being found,
many from information received from locals, mostly after they had stumbled across them whilst
repairing property or farming land. The army had also recently discovered five bodies dressed in
LTTE uniforms in a well. EPDP had an office in Kilinochchi but none of their operatives carried
weapons. He stated that no other groups operated within the district.
A Senior Military Official said that there was a lot of demining being carried out in Kilinochchi
district by the military and NGOs, which was being monitored by the Presidential Taskforce. He
stressed that this was a very slow business as there were 3 or 4 bund lines which were believed
to be heavily mined.
A Senior Government Official in Kilinochchi told us that there were no security issues in the
district. There were small incidents of crime, such as robbery, which were evident in any
community. She added that the crime rate was much lower there than in the south.
A Senior Government Official in Kilinochchi stated that demining was still being carried out in
the district. There were several bunds which were proving particularly difficult so the whole
process would take time. She said that fortunately there had been no recent casualties from
exploding mines, but added that all returning IDPs are educated at transit points about
identifying minefields and the different types of unexploded ordinance.
A group of returned IDPs in Pooneryn, Kilinochchi, told us that since coming back they had not
had any problems with the military or the police. They knew that both military and police were in
Kilinochchi town, and along the main roads, but they did not bother to come into the village.
Checkpoints
A Senior Military Official in Jaffna said that within Jaffna District all of the checkpoints had been
removed and the Navy had removed all checkpoints to the islands.
A Human Rights spokesman based in Jaffna told us that checkpoints still exist, although they
are not in fixed positions. The army just tend to stop vehicles and check driving licences. After
30 years of fearing the LTTE they have nothing to fear now. Many officers have nothing to do
but harass the locals, making sexual innuendos to women and throwing stones at passers-by.
296 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.