The High Court Judge and judicial district judges of Jaffna have held a meeting of police officials to discuss the escalating killings, abductions, robberies and threats by armed squads, reports TamilNet.
The details of the discussions held in the Jaffna District on Tuesday at the High Court premises will be revealed to the media in due course, officials said.
It is widely expected that the judiciary will tighten its control over the shocking law and order situation
On Monday, the SL government agent in Jaffna, Imelda Sugumar, accused the police of inaction and corruption and said that she preferred a further involvement of the SL military in policing, rather than depend on the police.
Sugumar, at a press conference, said that the police had not functioned in appropriate ways in response to the killings, abductions etc., and that she had personally noticed the inaction and lack of patrolling by the police.
However, the judges decided to discuss matters with the police.
The police will convene a public meeting at Veerasingham Hall in Jaffna today, allegedly seeking the support of public opinion.
The public, SL government officials and civil representatives are to participate in the meeting and would be allowed to come out with their problems, opinions and suspicions about case procedures, the police superintendent of Jaffna said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, public opinion in Jaffna is strongly against any further deployment of the occupying SL military in policing, as there have been overwhelming experiences in the past of atrocities at the hands of the genocidal military.
Already by creating the excuse of a law-and-order crisis situation, the institutionalising of military rule has taken place and provoked much opposition and anger amongst the public.
However colonial the rule is, public opinion is that the civil administration should deal only with the police – according to media circles in Jaffna.
The SL police are also said to be against deploying the SL military on the streets.
Meanwhile, Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) made an appeal to the Speaker of the Sri Lanka Parliament to take immediate steps to send an all party delegation to the Northern Province to assess the situation on the ground amidst complaints that people in Jaffna live in fear because of the rise in abductions, killings and extortion by armed gangs.
EPDP, one of the paramilitary groups supporting the government state security machinery, have been accused of encouraging abduction, killings and extortion in Jaffna by civic groups.
A recent disclosure of a confidential note by a US ambassador revealed that the paramilitaries operate with impunity carrying out criminal acts sanctioned by officials at the highest level in Colombo.
Wickremasinghe further informed parliament that he would take up the Jaffna situation at the party leaders meeting with a view to holding a full-day debate on the Jaffna situation.
Earlier, Jaffna MPs told parliament that the crime rate in Jaffna is on the increase following the end of the war and wanted the government security establishment to take action against criminals involved in kidnapping, robberies and murders that are threatening civil life in the district.
• Elsewhere, a classified State Department cable dated May 1st, 2009, released by WikiLeaks and posted in the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, revealed that Sri Lanka’s alleged attempts to negotiate arms deals with the Iranian and North Korean Governments violated the US’s Iran Non-proliferation Act of 2000 (INKSNA), and the United Nation’s Security Council Resolution 1718 (UNSCR 1718).
Lanka Logistics & Technologies Limited, a Sri Lanka government-owned firm, was named in the classified document as the Sri Lanka party involved in the illegal arms deal.
Lanka Logistics & Technologies Limited is a state-owned limited liability company operating under the Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order.
Gotabaya Rajapakse, brother of Sri Lanka’s President, held the post of chairman of the firm and exercised complete control over arms purchases, according to Colombo media reports.
Recent intelligence reports indicate that a Sri Lankan company responsible for the acquisition of equipment and services for the Sri Lankan military is negotiating the purchase of RPG-7 Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers (RPGs) and Multiple Rocket Launchers (MRLs) from North Korea’s primary weapons trading firm.
Some of these proposed arms imports appear to ‘violate UNSCR 1718,’ the leaked cable said of the North Korean deal.
On the illegal attempts at importing lethal weapons from Iran, the cable said, ‘Iran’s Ministry of Defence Logistics Export Centre (MODLEX) has recently provided a multimillion-dollar quote to the Sri Lankan Navy for the installation of naval equipment.
‘Moreover, an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Force element located in Sri Lanka provided details to an Iranian shipping company for the sale of weapons to the Sri Lanka Army.’
The cable noted that ‘any arms purchase contracts entered into by Sri Lankan entities with North Korea or Iran, if implemented, could trigger sanctions against the entities involved under the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA).’
The leak confirms the recent New York Times story of alleged purchases by Sri Lanka of rocket launchers from North Korea in the Spring of 2009, despite protests by American diplomats.
A senior Sri Lanka official involved in procurement of arms reacted to the NYT report telling the local media that ‘there hadn’t been any transactions with NK for a long time.’
Lanka Logistics also appeared to have played a major role in the beginning of the feud between presidential candidate ex-General Sarath Fonseka, and the Rajapakses.
In the Sunday Leader in December 2009, Fonseka said that after the war he vetoed a multi-million dollar proposal by Lanka Logistics to purchase further large quantities of artillery shells from China to the value of 300 million US dollars.