Siva Parameswaran
A war-affected grieving mother from the Eastern Province, who was among those in the forefront seeking to find those who have gone missing or victims of enforced disappearances, was summoned by the police alleging she tried to reinvigorate the now military defeated Tamil Tigers.
Tambirasa Selvarani from Amparai district, who heads the Association for the Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances (ARED) in that district is among those elderly mothers who are searching for their children even after the brutal civil war came to a bloody end in May 2009, who are searching for their beloved one who either made to forcefully disappear or handed over by the family members to the state security forces.
She was summoned by the Thirukovil police for an inquiry to record her statement by the Counter Terrorism Investigation Department(CTID)-dubbed the ‘Terror Police’-on the 8th of October to be present at the Women and Child division of the police station.
The Officer in charge says she was summoned to the police station based on a complaint made by the Navy and the Army to the CTID Headquarters.
As part of the investigations, Ms. Selvarani says she was asked for details about her past and present.
“Apart from a file containing my personal details that were handed over to the OIC by the police department, a set of questions from the CTID were also given to them to be asked from me. Everything seems preplanned”.
She was also asked about her association with the LTTE, by the officer who inquired her.
“How many years were you with the LTTE? During that period how many military persons you killed?” she told local journalists after the inquiry.
Adding further Tambirasa Selvarani told the local journalists, that the inquiring officer asked here citing reports that efforts are on to reinvigorate the LTTE in India and France even after the Sri Lankan government announced they were annihilated fifteen years back.
“Are you heading such action in Sri Lanka?”
However, the police officials did not produce any proof of their said to be reports of recreating the LTTE again, but kept asking her about the issue.
“I am 53 years old now. Coming 12th December I will be 54. I don’t even have the physical strength to look after my own needs. In such a case how or where am I going to do such things? It was only you who said they have been defeated, annihilated etc?”.
Even while she replied as such, Selvarani was asked repeatedly, “Did you not do so?”
“There is nothing like that. I am not doing anything like that Sir, nothing like that” she said in her reply to the OIC. She told the local journalists asking such unfounded questions about her past is creating mental trauma in her.
The unrelenting police officer was trying to destabilize me mentally and kept on asking the same question in different forms, she adds.
“Is it not those said to be victims of enforced disappearances and being searched for are former LTTE carders?
“They are different. Those martyred are gods now. We are searching for the children whom we handed over to the security forces, or those who surrendered to them” she replied back.
She says the police officer in an intimidating manner asked her their motive for searching for those who disappeared, to which Tambirasa Selvarani retorted by saying they were just demonstrating to seeking to know the fate of their beloved ones.
When the police officer questioned again if the protest was for the welfare of all the Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslims, The Amparai district President of the ARED shot back saying “Our aim is to find the fate of all those and bring out the truth”.
“Yes, whoever it is. All are human beings. We should know what happened to all of them”.
Not satisfied with her answer the police officer questioned her about their motive saying if those disappeared were found out, then the truth about who made them disappear would be known, and “you want them to be punished?”
Selvarani told the OIC, that the perpetrators should not be killed, they should be punished by due process of law.
“Yes, that has to happen for sure. They should be punished, not killed, they should know how and what prison life is and endure that”.
ARED Amparai President, Tambirasa Selvarani told local journalists the police officers showed here pictures from the file folder about her, which had photos of events and demonstrations where she participated both locally and abroad including her participation in the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
The Association for the Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances in the North and East Provinces, is a civil society group created to search for the tens of thousands of people who disappeared during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict.
