Three-member committee to probe Velanai incident

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 July 2002, 17:34 GMT]
A three-member committee has been appointed to probe the incidents that took place at Velanai in the Jaffna district on 27th October 2002, the Ministry of Defence said in a press release issued Friday. In that incident, LTTE political activists Semmanan and Thayalan were beaten up by navy personnel and masked men beleived to be members of a para military group Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP).

The committee headed by a retired Air Vice Marshal Harry Gunatilake has been empowered to inquire into the Velanai incident to ascertain those responsible for the attack and to recommend suggestions to prevent such clashes in future.

Mr. Oliver Weerasinghe and Mr.C.V.K.Sivagnanam are the other two members of the committee.The Secretary of the committee is Mr.Nalaka Kalubana.

The committee will hold its sittings at the Jaffna secretariat and will record statements from the public. The Committee has been asked to submit its report on or before 31st July this year.