Amila Jayasinghe
Sending the Jaffna University students, recently arrested for lighting lamps in commemoration of the LTTE Martyrs’ Day, to a rehabilitation camp, without producing them in courts, is legal, the Joint Opposition charged.
Addressing the media in Colombo today, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran said the issue is quite serious, as it has happened at a time when the government has pronounced terrorism has come to an end.
“The 40 students were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, without producing them before a Magistrate, and without any detention order they have been sent to rehabilitation camps claiming that they did so at the students’ request,” he said, rejecting the claim.
He said, “It is in fact, a joke. It is time for those to speak up for the rights as it affects the fundamental rights of civilians.”
Referring to the recruitment of 109 Tamil women to the army, Sumanthiran alleged that the women were recruited in a proper manner and no gazette notification has been issued in this regard as yet.
He also questioned in which language the training is given to the recruits and said, if they are being trained in a language other than their mother tongue, it is another serious issue.
Sumanthiran also said six recruits have already left the programme and 16 were admitted to the Kilinochchi Hospital due to mental trauma. He questioned as to why they were taken in secrecy and as for what purpose they were taken into the army in the first place.
(Ceylon Today Online)
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