COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
Country of Origin Information Service
UK Border Agency
13 August 2010
Dear colleague,
Re: Sri Lanka – Security and Development of Northern Province
The British High Commission in Colombo routinely monitors conditions in the Northern Province
in order to assess security and development. A team from the mission visited the districts of
Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu from 28 th June until 1st July 2010.
Security in Jaffna District
A Senior Military Official from the Sri Lankan Army based in Jaffna stated that the security
situation was returning to normal. No LTTE activity had been recorded and as far as he was
aware, there were no active remnants of the LTTE. Occasionally the Sri Lankan Army
discovered caches of arms. There had been no recent incidents of terrorism although there
were some social problems. With the military moving out of the towns the police required
educating in order to go back to normal policing. There had been several instances of petty
crime, domestic disputes and unsocial behaviour (drunken youths riding around on
motorcycles). Some military personnel have therefore gone back onto the streets in an attempt
to clamp down on this, but they will move out when the situation improves. Regarding military
groups operating in the area he stated that the Eelam People‘s Democratic Party (EPDP) were
now under control. Prior to the parliamentary elections there had been a few incidents but no
arms were raised. He said that he was sure that did not carry firearms any more.
A Senior Military Official from the Sri Lankan Army based in Jaffna told us that de-mining was
continuing in the district and in his opinion it would be two years before all mines were cleared.
The Sri Lankan Army were working with a number of mine clearance organisations and met
regularly. He added that the army are conducting a programme of mine education with the local
population. Unfortunately there had been two recent incidents of IDP injuries following
explosions of mines/mortars. Looking to the future, he said that instead of the military having
many small camps throughout Jaffna District, as they had now, these would be closed and all
personnel would be based in three main garrisons within the district.
A Senior Government Official in Jaffna said that security was no longer a problem and that the
community was able to move freely. Last year there had been a rise in the incidence of crime,
which he blamed on anti-social behaviour post-conflict, but this had been addressed. The police
were now more proactive. With regard to paramilitary groups he said that the EPDP had ‗some
stray people who had returned‘, adding that it was difficult to find out who had weapons and
who did not.
A group of MPs from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said that the only threat is from the Sri
Lankan Army, adding that paramilitary groups such as the EPDP were diminishing. A particular
294 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.