COLOMBO, 12 March 2007 — Sri Lanka’s president yesterday chided his top police officers over a new wave of “execution-style” killings and demanded immediate action to end a climate of terror. President Mahinda Rajapakse expected “responsible intervention” by the police to stem a wave of killings, abductions and extortion rackets, some of which have been linked to police and troops, his office said in a statement.
“The president expects a more responsible intervention from the police to prevent the current wave of crime, the violence, extortion, human rights violations,” the statement said, adding the killings were an attempt to discredit the government internationally.
At least 10 people have died in execution-style killings in the past two weeks, including five near the capital, Colombo, and another five in central Sri Lanka.
The statement came ahead of today’s meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, where escalating abuses in Sri Lanka are to be discussed. Diplomatic sources here said Colombo was keen to avoid a resolution that could censure its rights record.
On Saturday the president gave senior police officers, including chief Victor Perera, five days to prepare a comprehensive report on the latest killings. Perera said last week that a “large number” of officers and troops had been arrested on charges of abduction and extortion.
The victims of the crimes have not been identified, but Perera has offered “unlimited money” as a reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone involved.
International human rights organizations say rights abuses have increased during an escalation in fighting between troops and separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas. At least 4,000 people have been killed since December 2005, despite a Norwegian-brokered truce in the decades-old ethnic war in force.
A Tamil lawmaker yesterday appealed for international intervention as thousands of refugees continued to flee the northeast fearing heavy fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.
More than 105,000 refugees, almost all ethnic Tamils, have already sought shelter in areas under government control, according to the military and the International Committee of the Red Cross. “There are now over 40,000 new refuges, but they don’t have enough food and proper shelter,” said Senadhiraja Jeyanandamoorthy, a member of Parliament from Batticaloa district representing the Tamil National Alliance, widely seen as a rebel proxy party.
