Lanka police stop Tamil protesters from coming to Colombo

Colombo: Minority Tamils in Sri Lanka on Wednesday held demonstrations in Colombo to highlight the plight of the next of kin of the disappeared persons? the legacy of the nation`s decade-long civil war, even as police prevented hundreds from proceeding to Colombo.

An opposition politician and Tamil minority activist Mano Ganesan said police in the northern town of Vavuniya blocked hundreds of the next of kin of the disappeared from leaving for capital Colombo to protest extra-judicial killings and the disappearances of their loved ones. Buses carrying family members of Tamils, who had disappeared in confrontation with the military, were prevented from leaving Vavuniya forcing them to cancel the event in the capital, Ganesan said. They were to hand over a petition to the chief government administrator -- the District Secretary. Responding to accusation of police blocking the movement of buses to Colombo, military spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said the police stopped an organised movement of several buses in view of several complaints of stoning of buses in the area. The demos came as Sri Lanka remained under the focus at the ongoing sessions of the UN Human Rights Council. The US is to move its second resolution in as many years later this month which would call for urgent steps for reconciliation and accountability from the government of Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, another group ? claiming them the victims of the LTTE`s campaign of terrorism - marched to the UN compound to hand over a letter requesting the UNHRC to account for their loved ones. The organisers of the `Dead and Missing Person`s Parents Front` said "this was a demonstration of only a fraction of the reality of terrorism that we defeated in Sri Lanka". The letter said to contain the names of over 3,000 people who have gone missing excluding those from the government troops. PTI