Human Rights Watch based in America has condemned that the evacuation of these people merely because they belong to the Tamil community on the basis that there are threats to security is a naked human rights violation. It further points out that such acts can only fan the flames of communal hatred.

The US government has in its statement condemned the eviction of the Tamils by the police as a measure that can worsen the national ethnic relationship. The European Union too has condemned this act.

It is the unanimous view of the all sections of the society that this act was a violation of the provisions of the constitution and it is an act of ethnic cleansing.

Tamils raise the question as to whether government recognizes that there is a separate state in the north –east by dispatching the evicted Tamils to the north-east. It must be remembered that when there were communal disturbances in the country in 1958, 1977, 1983 and so on, Tamils fled to the north-east for safety.

It is strange that the government which boasts that the Tamils are safe in the south and that the government is conducting the war only to save the Tamils from the LTTE has now evacuated them from Colombo lodges. It thereby sends a message to the Tamil people that they are not citizens of Sri Lanka.

The forcible evacuation of the Tamils is a violation of the constitution of Sri Lanka. It is a violation of the fundamental right to equality, equal protection under the law, right to freedom of movement and a right to choosing a place of residence in any part of Sri Lanka.

Although the Emergency Regulations place a restriction of the movement of a suspect, they don’t in any way restrain the movement the community. There are no provisions in the Emergency Regulations to place any restrictions on the right of a citizen to choose a residence in any part of the country.

Although there is no provision for a public litigation as found I India, Dr.Packiyasothy Saravanmuthu, the Director for the Centre for Policy Alternatives, filed a fundamental rights application challenging the forcible evacuation from the lodges. Supreme Court, hearing the fundamental rights application, has issued an interim order restraining the police from evacuating the Tamils.

We like to recall that M.Ellancheliyan, Vavuniya District Judge, held that the procedure that demands Tamils traveling from the north to the pother parts to the country should obtain a pass is a violation of the law.

The President must take necessary steps to stop all violence unleashed on the Tamils. International community must exert adequate pressure on the government to bring peace to the country.

An English translation of the Editorial in Virakesari, a Tamil daily, based in Colombo.

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