Sri Lanka's Tamil regions protest for prisoners' release

Minority group organised shutdown in northern and eastern regions after government rejected a universal amnesty plea

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Tamil provinces staged a shutdown Friday for the first time since the crushing of the Tamil Tiger rebels six years ago protesting at the government's failure to release prisoners jailed over separatist violence.

Tamil political and civil society groups organised the shutdown in the island's northern and eastern regions after the government rejected their demands for a universal amnesty, instead releasing 30 prisoners on bail.

The northern capital Jaffna ground to a halt, residents told AFP by phone, with businesses, schools and state offices closed and public transport halted.



"Everything came to stop today. No one was seen on the road, no buses were running," Govindan Kumaravel, a shop worker in Jaffna said.

Mavai Senathirajah, a Tamil lawmaker in Jaffna, said the shutdown was a "very useful protest" adding that it was "the first such (protest) in the north since the war ended in 2009".

More than 100 Tamil prisoners went on hunger strike last month in protest at being held for years, many without charge, for suspected Tamil Tiger activity during the country's bitter 37-year war.



They halted their protest following an assurance from President Maithripala Sirisena to expedite their legal procedures.

But instead of the blanket amnesty for nearly 200 Tamil Tiger suspects, which protesters had demanded, authorities opted to grant conditional bail to about 30 prisoners Thursday.

"There is someone who has spent the last 26 years in jail without being charged. He was just 19 when he went to jail," Dr P. Sathyalingam, Health Minister in the Tamil-controlled northern provincial council said.



Tamil groups are also demanding the government repeal the anti-terrorism law implemented during the civil war used to arrest many of the prisoners.

President Sirisena was prevented from attending a planned opening of a court complex in the eastern town of Batticaloa Friday because of the shutdown, the Justice Ministry said.

The decades-long conflict killed more than 100,000 and ended in 2009 when government forces moved in to crush the rebels.