2ND LEAD

Tension grips Tamil business community in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 11:54 GMT]
Tension has gripped the Tamil business community in Colombo and its suburbs after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers called on them to register their assets with the local authorities. The soldiers had called on the community with a printed form which has to be filled with every miniature detail from the type of enterprise, to assets such as vehicles, etc, members of the family, relatives and employees. The Tamil business community is perturbed over this new regulation since they have already registered themselves with the relevant police divisions.

The Tamil Business Community is also anxious since the forms printed in Sinhala were distributed by the army since that kind of duty is usually assigned to the police.

The Deputy Minister for Vocational and Technical Training P. Radhakrishnan has already taken the matter up with the Premier, Ratnasiri Wickramanayakake who is also the Minister for Internal Security which covers the Police Department.

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been distributing forms in Sinhalese language only to Tamil traders in the city of Colombo since Thursday calling for particulars for the purpose of special registration, according to an urgent letter sent by Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan to Prime Minister, R. Wickremanayake, requesting him to instruct SLA to explain as to why such details are being collected from Tamil traders only, sources in Colombo said.

A fear among the Tamils has risen as this act of targeting Tamil traders by SLA soldiers could be a measure to supply precise details to criminals to be used in abduction, extortion and robbery, civil society sources in Colombo said.

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