TID harasses disability activists in Batticaloa with increased surveillance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 May 2018, 21:22 GMT]
The much-feared ‘Terrorist Investigation Division’ officers attached to various police stations in the district of Batticaloa have increased their surveillance on the activists of Disabled Peoples’ Organisations (DPOs) in ten of the fourteen administrative divisions in the district in recent days. The majority of 8,600 beneficiaries organised through the DPOs are disabled ex-LTTE members, according to the civil sources at Batticaloa District Secretariat. Already, one-third of disabled LTTE members are reluctant to be associated with the DPO. For example, there are 530 disabled persons in Koa'ra'laip-pattu South (Kiraan) division. But, only 300 of them have registered themselves with the DPO in the division, the sources further said.

The TID investigators are continuously harassing the leading activists in the DPOs with questions on what they are discussing in the monthly meetings with the fellow members.

The Sinhala investigators are demanding explanations on all the activities being organised by the DPOs.

The SL TID has also tasked its paramilitary recruits among DPO members to spy on others, the civil sources in the district said.

The TID is monitoring the funds coming from the Tamil diaspora organisations such as schools, temples, sports clubs and the Paralympic activities, the sources further said.

There are around 8,600 disabled persons across the ten divisions with majority Eezham Tamils in the district. There is one DPO per administrative division.

Many of the disabled former LTTE cadres are also complaining that the SL military intelligence and TID officers are blocking them from getting employment far away from their residential divisions. The TID starts to harass the families if a disabled former LTTE member in the family begins to commute.

The SL Police and military intelligence also attempts to restrict the contact between the public sector officials and the disabled ex-LTTE members, the sources added.

Usually, divisional health officials and administrative officials use to attend the monthly meetings of the DPOs.