COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
case was mentioned of a gang rape of a local woman by four soldiers. All four have been
arrested and await trial. They added that whilst the army had said that they were going to deal
with crime, they were content to allow abductions, kidnappings, extra judicial killings to frighten
the diasporas. It was claimed that many Sri Lankan born foreigners were unable to obtain MoD
clearance to travel to the north.
A Human Rights spokesman based in Jaffna told us that pre and post elections there had been
a spate of 5 or 6 abductions. They opined that this was done to justify a military presence in the
area, and all but two were resolved with either the payment of a ransom or the person just
turned-up. There is no longer a curfew in Jaffna and with the relaxation of the Emergency
Powers the military and police are no longer entering houses. However, the military are ever
present on the streets. Petty crime is still taking place and crimes are reported to the police, but
the trust between the public and the police is not there. They added that there has been no
evidence of the new Tamil police recruits yet. Most police stations now have Tamil speakers,
but they are rarely seen on the streets.
The Human Rights spokesman when asked about paramilitary groups said that the EPDP were
powerless now. Their members were still seen with weapons within their compound, and
occasionally in villages, but their leadership had told them not to carry weapons. There had
been a rumour that the Eelam people‘s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) were
regrouping.
A Vice Chancellor from the University of Jaffna said that the people of Jaffna now had free
movement and could access most things. He added though that this had bought about an
increase in crime, alcoholism and a lack of discipline.
High Security Zones (HSZ)
A Senior Military Official based in Jaffna said that the HSZ in Jaffna District (Valikamam North)
originally covered 37 sq. km. This had been reduced 27 sq. km. and would within the next
month be reduced to 24 sq. km. He added that the buffer zone around the HSZ had now gone.
A Senior Government Official in Jaffna told us that 21,000 families were waiting to be resettled
in the HSZ, but added that many people, around 2,700 families, were now in the former buffer
zone (a 600m band of land around the HSZ).
A group of TNA MPs told us that there were still 100,000 persons displaced by the HSZ. Many
of these persons were currently residing with host families.
Muslim Community in Jaffna
The High Commission delegation met with the congregation of the Mohameedeen Jumma
Mosque in Jaffna. Their spokesman told us that in 1990 the entire Muslim community in Jaffna
was expelled from the peninsula by the LTTE, at gunpoint with 2 hours notice. They had lost all
of their property and belongings. For two decades they had managed to survive, and whilst 125
families had returned to Jaffna, many others who wanted to return were waiting for something to
be done to assist them. We were told that there were camps in Puttalam full of Muslims who
wanted to return to Jaffna. Whilst people sympathised with their plight, nothing was ever done
about it. There used to be 16 mosques in Jaffna, now there were only 6. Muslims used to own
5,000 homes in Jaffna, now only 10 families had their own homes. Many of their former homes
were badly damaged or occupied by others. The Muslim community had always been held in
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.
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