“Allow our children to live freely” – MP Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy

Monday, 07 January 2013 

TNA MP Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy has said there was no basis behind the argument that there are “Tigers” still in the North when the Sri Lankan government continues to tell the international community that the war is over. He has questioned as to why the government wanted a large military presence in the North if the war was over and called on the government to “allow our children to live freely.”

The parliamentarian has made this comment in response to comments made by the Army’s Jaffna Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe to the media that about 1,000 former LTTE cadres were to be taken into custody to rehabilitate them.

He has added that the North and East areas are the homeland of the Tamil people and that there’s no armed struggle in the area. Therefore, the Tamil people believe that they should be able to live freely. The MP has observed that it could not be allowed to label Tamil youths as “Tigers” in such a scenario.

He has further noted that it was the military and military intelligence personnel who were responsible for most of the crimes in the North.

Suppression of youth in the North

Tamil youth are being continuously apprehended under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) following direct orders of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. About 48 youths have been taken into custody and detained under the PTA in the last month. Meanwhile, Army’s Jaffna Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe has told the media that 1,000 more Tamil youths were to be taken into custody.

There are currently four Jaffna University students detained at the Welikanda army camp being rehabilitated.